Now that the English translation has been out for a while, what's everyone's thoughts on Phantasia X?
I'm very curious what the general consensus is on this version of the game. All I really know about this version is that it has new in-battle sprites with more "realistic" proportions (but only for playable characters, humanoid enemies and the "?????" people from the intro battle still use the original chibi sprites), and that there's a new party member.
How is the game in general? Does it look and play well? How does it compare to prior versions of Phantasia?
How do people feel about the new battle sprites? Did you find yourself enjoying them?
How is the translation? Is it well-written and accurate, with dialogue that feels natural, and no unnecessary embellishments (such as needless swearing, pop culture references that weren't in the original script, sex jokes that weren't in the original script, and so on)? Are the names and terminology consistent with official translations of other Tales games? Does it feel like an official translation that Bandai-Namco themselves would have put out?
And what's everyone's opinions on the new character? I personally am really not a fan of when ports/remakes/remasters add a new character who didn't exist in the original game. In all cases, I find these kinds of characters detract from the story and the party's dynamic rather than add something meaningful to it, and it's glaringly obvious that they weren't part of the game when it originally released. But maybe this character is different, who knows? How does everybody feel about Phantasia X's new party member?
Overall, would you consider this to be the definitive, perfect, there-is-no-reason-to-play-any-other-version Tales of Phantasia experience, or does it have some issues that hold it back from being able to definitively claim that status and may give someone a reason to prefer a different version, such as if the aforementioned new character is bad, or any other potential problems that exclusively exist in this version?