Tales of Phantasia (SNES) is the first of the series to emerge, therefore, it features the most primitive of the Tales of Series' Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS). The PSX version however, features the Progressive LMBS (P-LMBS), which basically makes use of Tales of Destiny's system. The Tales of Series' LMBS is a unique battle system which is set in real-time, giving players the experience of engaging in an active battle, as well as trying to use their heads actively (unlike in those turn-based systems where you actually take minutes to think of your next move :P)...

  Being the first of the whole system, this version of the LMBS is set in a 2-dimensional graphic terrain that stretches longer than the usual screen width. Once a character reaches the end of the screen, the game camera will scroll to the edge, thereby showing more of the battle field. Control of the characters is limited to only one character in this system (in the latter systems, you could switch between characters), while the other three relied on the game's AI and your specified commands. A menu could also be brought out, which functions mainly for item usage, equipment change, and skills/spells assignment/usage.
  The main difference between plain LMBS and P-LMBS is that P-LMBS is based off, and runs with, Tales of Destiny's Enhanced LMBS. The only differences noted between LMBS and P-LMBS for the PSX is that the graphics seem to be cleaner, but aside from that, gameplay is pretty much the same.
|