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The "Tales of" Series
I didn't see any thread for the "Tales of" series, so here it is. Needless to say, this thread will likely contain spoilers.
I just finished Tales of Graces f and am starting the second playthrough. I need to give it time to reflect, but I think it's my new favorite in the series. Xillia comes out soon and I got a PS3 pretty much for these two games.
Games I've played...
Phantasia
Symphonia
Symphonia 2
Legendia
Abyss
Vesperia
Graces f
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
How is Tales of Vesperia? I recently took notice of it after seeing its characters in Project X Zone, and I'm looking for some good JRPGs for the summer. Would it be a good place to start for someone who's never played a Tales game?
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
A Rainy Knight
How is Tales of Vesperia? I recently took notice of it after seeing its characters in Project X Zone, and I'm looking for some good JRPGs for the summer. Would it be a good place to start for someone who's never played a Tales game?
Tales of Vesperia is quite fun. All Tales games follow a real time battle system rather than turn based like most RPGs. The characters in ToV are all great, except some don't like Karol, although not me included. The story is great, although the last third seemed kinda thrown together. ToV would definitely give you an idea of how you like the series as a whole, especially the 3D games.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Quote:
Originally Posted by
A Rainy Knight
How is Tales of Vesperia? I recently took notice of it after seeing its characters in Project X Zone, and I'm looking for some good JRPGs for the summer. Would it be a good place to start for someone who's never played a Tales game?
It's fantastic. Still probably my favorite game of this console generation, really. Great characters and story, very fun battles. I'd highly recommend it.
Anyway, I haven't played quite as many as you Rezkeshdadesh. My favorites are Vesperia and Abyss (pretty much tied in my view), and I've also played Symphonia, Symphonia 2, and Graces F. I was kind of disappointed with Graces F story-wise, albeit partially because I was coming into after having Vesperia and Abyss as the last two in the series I'd played, and hoping it would be just as great as those. Still good though, and I like what it did with the gameplay mechanics. Symphonia I have a lot of love for as well. Symphonia 2, not so much - it obviously only exists to cash in on Symphonia's popularity.
I've got Xillia on pre-order already too, and am looking forward to that. We got confirmation that Xillia 2 will be localized next year recently too, so things are finally looking up for the series outside Japan. Maybe we won't have to wait two years longer than them to get the next one.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Graces main story was a bit meh, but I absolutely loved the characters and found most of them relatable. That with the battle system put it over the top. Before Graces, I think Vesperia was my favorite. I've yet to play a bad Tales game. Even ToS2 was okay, it just paled in comparison to other games.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
I freaking love the tales series! Vesperia has one of the weaker plots in my opinion but some excellent characters. Abyss has very strong character growth and plot, but be warned--the story is dark. Symphonia is great, and you should play Phantasia afterwords for Spot The Continuities. I'm playing Graces F now and cannot wait for Xillia!
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Ah good, it's time for the annual "Airk argues with Zevox about Tales of Vesperia" thread. ;P
I have mixed feelings about the Tales series. I picked up Tales of the Abyss on a whim during the late PS2 era. Went it with no expectations, and it blew me away, becoming my favorite JRPG ever. It pretty much did everything right in my book, and any problems it has are basically attributable to it being a PS2 game and therefore a little long-in-the-tooth at this point. Characters, story, and theme all came together very nicely, and combat was tons of fun.
I was really excited for Tales of Vesperia. The preview videos looked gorgeous. The art was great. The voice cast was very strong. The game itself...was....eh. It wasn't BAD, but it oozes wasted potential and the entire "third act" of the game is basically the designers throwing their hands up in the air and saying "Can't deal with this theme anymore, screwit, fetch quests and final battle thinly connected to the plot! GO AND SAVE THE CITYWORLD!" It has nothing on Abyss in terms of theme and plot, suffers from one character that I found completely intolerable (Though I confess, dressing him in a ridiculous outfit, pipe and mustache DID help!) and made a number of system changes that encouraged annoying grinding and generally made combat less fun for me. So... it's not a terrible place to start. Actually, starting with it will do a better job of equipping you with reasonable expectations for other games in the series than starting with Abyss will. ;)
Graces was...well, it inspired mixed feelings. It lacked Vesperia's absolutely gorgeous visuals - which is to be expected from a Wii port, I suppose - and the story and cast were nothing to write home about. (While there were no super annoying characters, there was only one cast member I could bring myself to actually care about.) But the battle system is SO GOOD. Holy crap. It's SUPER SMART. Though it still suffers from the one major issue that the Tales battle system is probably always going to have - battles at low levels are boring. I know they need to start you off slow and not overload you with crap, but the amount of time it takes to get enough abilities for battles to start being interesting is much longer than IMHO it should be.
I haven't played any of the Pre-Abyss entries in the series. I'll probably pick up the HD Symphonia Double-pack thing when it comes out over here next year.
I am looking forward to ToX quite a bit though; It's gorgeous (although we saw how that worked out for Vesperia. :P) and, most importantly, someone I know and trust, whose opinions align with me on these games has played it in Japanese already and loves it, so...yeah. High hopes.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
MAJOR SPOILERS, if you haven't played Vesperia yet, don't read. Disclaimer, I loved ToV and is toward the top of my list for favorites in the series.
Spoiler
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I agree that the plot after the fight with Alexai seemed a bit thrown together. I would have taken it a different direction. Granted I haven't played the PS3 Japan-only port, so I don't know if they fixed this.
They could have still had the saving the world as always, but they could have played more with the Yuri's chaos vs Flynn's lawfulness justice. Maybe Yuri goes vigilante one too many times (it would even be rule of three), and Flynn finally believes that he must bring his old friend to justice. The real Yuri vs Flynn fight came out of nowhere and felt a bit unfullfilling story-wise. Flynn doesn't need to be the final boss, but at least go somewhere with that theme that has been building all game. The subplot with Sodia went nowhere after she stabbed Yuri.
Actually maybe everything after Yuri gets stabbed and falls into the ocean is just some dream of his in the seconds before he dies. It would explain a lot.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
Rezkeshdadesh
MAJOR SPOILERS, if you haven't played Vesperia yet, don't read. Disclaimer, I loved ToV and is toward the top of my list for favorites in the series.
By all reports, the PS3 version doesn't "fix" anything. The parts of the game that are good are still good and the parts of the game that are dumb are still dumb, there's just more of it. And apparently playable Flynn doesn't really change anything either.
But anyway, yeah. I basically have pretty much the same opinion as you except that I'm WAY less forgiving. I don't see how a game that makes that big of a hash of its plot and theme for that much of a portion of its playtime can be in any way considered "top tier" material. There was SO MUCH cool stuff they could've done, and didn't. As a result, I feel like overall their attempt for a game about "your own brand of Justice" is basically a failure because they weren't willing to step up and make it real and meaningful.
Also, Yuri "I never suffer consequences for my actions" Lowell doesn't impress me anywhere near as much as he seems to impress most people.
So uh, I guess of the three games I've played in the series, it's:
Abyss > Vesperia=Graces F. (Both games had their strong points, but could have been a lot better. Also, combat in Graces was awesome, while combat in Vesperia was kindof a drag.)
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
I honestly prefer the Vesperia combat system, simply because I run out of CC so quickly in Graces, and them I'm dead weight until I can get enough CC back.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
Airk
Ah good, it's time for the annual "Airk argues with Zevox about Tales of Vesperia" thread. ;P
Nah, no need. We've had that discussion before. We disagree, and neither of us can convince the other of much. Might as well just agree to disagree.
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Originally Posted by
Airk
(While there were no super annoying characters, there was only one cast member I could bring myself to actually care about.)
Out of curiosity, which one was that?
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Quote:
Originally Posted by
A Rainy Knight
How is Tales of Vesperia? I recently took notice of it after seeing its characters in Project X Zone, and I'm looking for some good JRPGs for the summer. Would it be a good place to start for someone who's never played a Tales game?
It's a great place to start, but it's pretty hard at parts. The last third of the story, as mentioned before, is not very good at all; the fighting in the last third is awesome, though.
The main character is pretty cool and does interesting things for a JRPG main but they kind of drop his punishment and the consequences for his actions
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
The Tales series is so good! *-*
Beat Symphonia like 7 times (I'm not kidding). Beat Legendia... Honestly don't remember it very well. I might be one of the few people who actually liked Symphonia 2, Tried playing Phantasia forever ago, got myself stuck in an area WAAAYYYY above my level, gave up on that, haven't been able to play since (Not having a GBA slot in the new 3DS suuucks), Aaaand now I'm playing through Abyss. Got pretty far years ago, but I had since gave up on it. Interest rekindled when mt friends wanted me to DM a Tales based D&D campaign, so I restarted.
(...Hoooo, the rambling. o_o; )
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Well, you could always try getting a hold of the Playstation version. The only benefit to the GBA version was the hilariously bad voice acting (no seriously, everyone should try it at least once). Otherwise it suffered from severe slowdown and a few other issues.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
CoffeeIncluded
I honestly prefer the Vesperia combat system, simply because I run out of CC so quickly in Graces, and them I'm dead weight until I can get enough CC back.
For what it is worth, the bonus CC from new game+ helps a ton.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
this reminds me.
I should REALLY get around to beating the final dungeon of Symphonia 2.
will probably by doing some leveling first.
after that…probably thinking about someday in the distant future, getting Tales of the Abyss. cause dark + good plot + good characters is pretty much what I'm always attracted to.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
As someone who only played (and loved) Tales of Phantasia for the SNES, I always wondered which Tales game for the PS2 or PS3 is the best.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Ooh, a Tales thread!
I started off with the Abyss. I was handed it by someone and told that since I have a PS2, I should give it a try.
Well, I was skeptical at first. The story was good to be sure, but it took me a bit to get used to the combat. Once I got the hang of it, though, I was hooked. Loved the game, still do, and it's in my top 5 favorite games of all time.
Symphonia was meh. The story was good, though I wish it went further with certain plot points. The characters were very much hit and miss for me (although there are characters in the Abyss I can't stand either). It's good, but not great.
Legendia was even harder to get used to, especially since the story was kind of lacking. The characters really grew on me (except for the two mains). And the music is just fantastic. Really worth mentioning, and I need to hunt down the OST.
Graces f is probably also on my top 5 favorites now. The story could use some work, but the characters are amazing. I prefer CC over TP so I don't have to spend a bunch of money on gels. If you're lacking in CC, I recommend grinding for the titles that give bonuses to it. As someone who played Cheria alongside someone, I could only use Resurrection about... oh, three times in the whole game?
Vesperia is good and I like it, but as far as replaying it over and over again, I might end up passing. Partly because Xbox 360 hates me and hates carpet, and partly because the third act really drops the rating on this game. The characters are hilarious and pretty good in my opinion (even Karol), although I hear a lot of negativity surrounding Patty in the PS3 version. Haven't played it, but I can buy that she's not that good...
Also, Ristelle for the win!
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
Tengu_temp
As someone who only played (and loved) Tales of Phantasia for the SNES, I always wondered which Tales game for the PS2 or PS3 is the best.
I haven't played it since Jrpgs were a late phase thing for me. to give you an idea FFXII was my first FF. Symphonia my first tales.
General consensus is tales of symphonia is the best on the PS2 PS3 era. But really PS2 PS3 there have been only four western releases. tales of symphonia, tales of legendia, Tales of vesperia, tales of graces.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
I think you forgot Tales of the Abyss (with a 3DS remake) that came out on the PS2. I'd have to say that Symphonia was better then Legendia but I haven't finished Abyss yet to fully compare to Symphonia :smalleek:. As it stands now though I think I'd lean towards Abyss being a little better just because Jade snark is just that hilarious. Tear also makes a bit more sympathetic female lead than Collette does because I seem to recall thinking of Collette as a bit too passive and was more interested in some of the Sheena interactions for her much more central to the plot role once you Spoiler
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could freely hop between worlds.
I know it's probably not a BIG spoiler for Symphonia but better safe than sorry.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Shekinah
Ooh, a Tales thread!
I started off with the Abyss. I was handed it by someone and told that since I have a PS2, I should give it a try.
Well, I was skeptical at first. The story was good to be sure, but it took me a bit to get used to the combat. Once I got the hang of it, though, I was hooked. Loved the game, still do, and it's in my top 5 favorite games of all time.
Symphonia was meh. The story was good, though I wish it went further with certain plot points. The characters were very much hit and miss for me (although there are characters in the Abyss I can't stand either). It's good, but not great.
Legendia was even harder to get used to, especially since the story was kind of lacking. The characters really grew on me (except for the two mains). And the music is just fantastic. Really worth mentioning, and I need to hunt down the OST.
Graces f is probably also on my top 5 favorites now. The story could use some work, but the characters are amazing. I prefer CC over TP so I don't have to spend a bunch of money on gels. If you're lacking in CC, I recommend grinding for the titles that give bonuses to it. As someone who played Cheria alongside someone, I could only use Resurrection about... oh, three times in the whole game?
Vesperia is good and I like it, but as far as replaying it over and over again, I might end up passing. Partly because Xbox 360 hates me and hates carpet, and partly because the third act really drops the rating on this game. The characters are hilarious and pretty good in my opinion (even Karol), although I hear a lot of negativity surrounding Patty in the PS3 version. Haven't played it, but I can buy that she's not that good...
Also, Ristelle for the win!
That someone wouldn't be me would it? I forgot to mention we have Abyss for the 3DS as well. Also, I would recommend playing with others in multiplayer if possible. I've plated every game that had multiplayer available with my cousins and now my wife and it's loads of fun. It also helps since the AI can be a bit dumb at times.
I remember one time my cousin got mad at me because I didn't help him with the wind temple boss on ToS.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
CoffeeIncluded
I honestly prefer the Vesperia combat system, simply because I run out of CC so quickly in Graces, and them I'm dead weight until I can get enough CC back.
That's....kindof the point. You can't just attack all the time. It forces you to make decisions instead of just eating another lemon gel.
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Originally Posted by Zevox
Nah, no need. We've had that discussion before. We disagree, and neither of us can convince the other of much. Might as well just agree to disagree.
Yeah, I was mostly joking. Besides, it looks like everyone in this thread agrees with me about the flaws, if not necessarily the severity.
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Originally Posted by Zevox
Out of curiosity, which one was that?
Sophie, actually. I could pretty much take or leave the rest of the cast, but she really grew on me.
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Originally Posted by Lord Raziere
after that…probably thinking about someday in the distant future, getting Tales of the Abyss. cause dark + good plot + good characters is pretty much what I'm always attracted to.
Dark?
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I always wondered which Tales game for the PS2 or PS3 is the best.
I have to disagree with Illieas here - I don't think Symphonia is the winner of the PS2/PS3 era Tales; By all reports, it was an excellent game for its time, but hasn't stood the test of time as well as it could have (one of these reasons, as Ishikar mentioned, is that Colette is...so passive as to be barely a character.) I think Abyss takes this title pretty handily. But in the end, the only games in the series I'd actually suggest anyone be WARY of getting into are Symphonia 2 and Legendia, both of which apparently have fairly significant issues.
Edit: Oh. And as Rezkeshdadesh, these games are ALL (ALL OF THEM. Well, except for Abyss 3DS for obvious reasons) significantly MORE fun when played multiplayer. :)
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
Rezkeshdadesh
That someone wouldn't be me would it? I forgot to mention we have Abyss for the 3DS as well. Also, I would recommend playing with others in multiplayer if possible. I've plated every game that had multiplayer available with my cousins and now my wife and it's loads of fun. It also helps since the AI can be a bit dumb at times.
I remember one time my cousin got mad at me because I didn't help him with the wind temple boss on ToS.
How did you guess it was you?
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
Shekinah
How did you guess it was you?
Call it a hunch.
Also, to newcomers to the Tales series, watch the skits. A lot of the character development and best scenes in the game are in there.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
Rezkeshdadesh
Also, to newcomers to the Tales series, watch the skits. A lot of the character development and best scenes in the game are in there.
Why would you ever NOT watch the skits? (Though I do wish they spaced them out a little better sometimes, it's annoying to do something and then get like 3-4 skits). I mean, if there is something gamers are trained to do, it's push a button when a prompt about it pops up on screen. :P
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Playstation Tales of Phantasia doesn't prompt you when skits are available. It's more like Phantasy Star IV. You press the button after stuff happens, and you keep pressing it until they repeat themselves. If you didn't know it had skits, you could easily miss all of them.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
Airk
Why would you ever NOT watch the skits? (Though I do wish they spaced them out a little better sometimes, it's annoying to do something and then get like 3-4 skits). I mean, if there is something gamers are trained to do, it's push a button when a prompt about it pops up on screen. :P
You'd be surprised out how many people skip them, then complain that the characters are boring/lack development.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
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Originally Posted by
Rezkeshdadesh
You'd be surprised out how many people skip them, then complain that the characters are boring/lack development.
THe only problem i have is that a good deal are location or situation dependent to show up. SOmetime it shows up for a bit and then disappears. I have to say that the skits and ending quotes are the best part of the tales series to me followed by the combat system
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Illieas
THe only problem i have is that a good deal are location or situation dependent to show up. SOmetime it shows up for a bit and then disappears. I have to say that the skits and ending quotes are the best part of the tales series to me followed by the combat system
I think that's Namco's way of encouraging people to watch the skits.
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Re: The "Tales of" Series
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Illieas
THe only problem i have is that a good deal are location or situation dependent to show up. SOmetime it shows up for a bit and then disappears. I have to say that the skits and ending quotes are the best part of the tales series to me followed by the combat system
I'm not sure about of Xillia is, but with Graces pretty much every skit is at a save point or at one of the "discoveries" and doesn't seem to trigger randomly like most of the older games.
Graces also doesn't have an overworld traversable map like most of the older games, but seems to have save points about every five feet. Much to the chagrin of my wife, since if I see a save point, I'm compelled to save at it when I pass it.