The Tales series of role-playing video games has been around since the mid-1990s, but hasn’t seen quite the same level of worldwide success as other RPG franchises. However, one standout in the series remains a cult classic, and it debuted in the U.S. 15 years ago this month: Tales of Symphonia.

The game arrived in America on July 13, 2004, for the Nintendo GameCube. It followed the young man Lloyd Irving, who is tasked to accompany Colette Brunel on her quest to regenerate their world, Sylvarant, with an energy known as mana so that it can continue to exist. Alongside other party members Kratos Aurion and brothers Genis and Raine Sage, they travel to various temples that only Colette can unseal. They eventually encounter Sheena, who comes from a parallel world known as Tethe’alla; it is then that they learn that Sylvarant and Tethe’alla have been vying for the same amount of mana through the regeneration process. An attempt to sever the connection between the worlds inadvertently destabilizes them both, and Lloyd and Colette seek to merge the worlds by finding and using the Eternal Sword.

Tales of Symphonia saw significantly positive reviews, and sold well especially for a niche RPG, eventually moving 1.6 million copies – still the best-selling Tales game to date. Though the plot was considered somewhat cliché by RPG standards, the characters themselves were well-received and the move from a 2D to a 3D battle system for the series was also applauded.

Symphonia eventually got a direct sequel (unusual for the Tales series even today), Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World, which was released for the Wii in 2008 and later ported to the PlayStation 3. It also saw several adaptations in other media, including numerous manga anthologies and a more traditional manga series, novels, audio drama CDs and an anime series. Though the Tales series at large has since seen a dozen or so other games, Symphonia remains one of the most popular even today.