The "Tales of" Series

[Shekinah]

Demolator, there's a reason the God-Generals keep showing up. Also, Natalia might grow on you. She grew on me, at least, when her true colors were shown later on.

As for what I didn't like about Symphonia:

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The whole story could have been a lot shorter if Colette had just said something about what the Cruxis Crystal was doing to her, but no, she constantly lies throughout the story. The main villain comes across as a whiny bitch, doing everything he does because "they didn't like me because I was a half-elf, waaaaah!" It was disappointing to not see the real consequences of what racism was capable of, even with a T rating. Overall, it had potential, but just flopped. The cast of characters came off as anime clichés with one or two exceptions and the villains were about as bland as oatmeal. They had no real character to them other than "we're half-elves, now die!".

Graces:

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I do understand the criticism of the plot, especially concerning Richard. Asbel did technically have it coming from Cheria, if you listen to her perspective. Her only friends left Lhant (either by force or by choice) and they didn't bother to contact her. I'd be pissed, too.

I'm not seeing where Richard's evileness was seen as normal. It peaked during the "kill the archduke" arc, but that could easily be dismissed as stress from the situation he was in. When he was full-on possessed, they wanted to save him, not kill him. It took a while for them to get there, though.

Also, when Lambda is shown that "kindness and goodness always wins," he just scoffs and basically says, "Yeah, right, prove it." He doesn't really get a redemption, but he is definitely a tragic villain. Spending the rest of his life with the other villain of the story was a pretty good way to end his subplot (even if the second villain seemingly came out of nowhere, plotwise).

[Sylthia]

Man Six God Generals Abyss spoilers

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Really really really REALLY wish there was a way to not kill Arietta, felt terrible after doing that

I agree, although

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I wish there was a way to kill Anise, or at least kick her out of your party. She's the one Tales character I actually hate.

[Shekinah]

Wait a minute...

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You guys actually like Gloomietta?

[Demolator]

[QUOTE=Shekinah;15913112]Demolator, there's a reason the God-Generals keep showing up. Also, Natalia might grow on you. She grew on me, at least, when her true colors were shown later on.

As for what I didn't like about Symphonia:

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The whole story could have been a lot shorter if Colette had just said something about what the Cruxis Crystal was doing to her, but no, she constantly lies throughout the story. The main villain comes across as a whiny bitch, doing everything he does because "they didn't like me because I was a half-elf, waaaaah!" It was disappointing to not see the real consequences of what racism was capable of, even with a T rating. Overall, it had potential, but just flopped. The cast of characters came off as anime clichés with one or two exceptions and the villains were about as bland as oatmeal. They had no real character to them other than "we're half-elves, now die!".

Well I can understand why they keep showing up, I mean it's only natural since they're the antagonists

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Also yes I know about Van

, they're just kind of really annoying (except Dist).

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I kill ONE liger queen and Arietta's on my trail harder than Liam Neeson in Taken.

As for Symphonia:

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That's actually pretty true but it was true to Colette's character so I was okay with that. As for Mithos, I wouldn't call him whiny until around the end where you kill Yggdrasil for the first time. Yuan's the man though, I think we can all admit. I thought most of the racism played well, but then again I'd be a fool if I said I knew the true extent of racism. To be fair though, that's a really good point about those Desians, except I thought Pronyma and Forcystus (if you saw the skit) were fairly well developed. Chances are they were oppressed too at some point though so I think the whole "now die" thing is understandable (from an evil standpoint). Also, are you counting Yuan and Kratos as villains as well? I didn't think they were bland or cliches at all (though I don't know my cliches very well).

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Also, I'm okay with Gloomietta but I have yet to hear her say something besides "You killed mommy!" And yeah, Anise is a bit annoying. She's the only one I never fight with, too.

[Illieas]

SYmphonia

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Well it was shown early that Collete doesn't like people worrying about her as she transformed into an angel or transformed into a crystal later. so it is a character quirk. It really don't hold it against her much. Her demure nature can grate on people but i thought she was fine. as for villans, losing your sister is a good motivator for hatred. I always kinda saw the racism as a side deal. It has times it happened but on the whole mostly about a crazy villan turning people into crystals and trying to rez his sister.

For charcters i feel every tales of series is cliche'. pretty much for the start you can get a good summary of what they are like. example asbel and lloyd are standard heroes. believe in goodness in the world and reject how the world is framing the situation. Cheria is the standard childhood girlfriend who is more tsundere ( can't spit out she likes him). collete is more the ditz/shy girl. Malik and Kratos the seasoned vet. It is generally why i like vesperia characters. Yuri is different from most Tales of fare

I like the story setup of symphonia the best. they are on a grand journey of to preserve the land. most JRpgs start that way and end that way. nope, it is all the villans plan for shells for his sister. also that power stone you're using that is people. It does kinda take too long and should have been condensed. But overall for it subverted some of my expectations and was an enjoyable ride to rewrite the world

graces

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Argh one of things that bugged me is Cheria didn't send letter either or go see them. Two way street an all but yes asbel was dumb a letter something. you left her hanging.
as for richard, They never really outright say he is infected with evil. Asbel spends all the time saying I can talk him out of it the whole way. till they hit the planet which then explains he has evil entity in him.
Final is kinda iffy for me. It felt less resolved than what i had hoped at least the regular ending not the F.

[Sylthia]

For Symphonia,

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We don't actually see that much half-elf discrimination first hand. It's mostly told, rather than shown which is unfortunate. The worst we get is Raine and Genis not being let into the special no-half-elves allowed club-house and getting arrested once, which isn't even until later in the game.

For Abyss, Big, big spoilers for Arietta, don't read if you haven't beat the game yet.

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She cranks her hate for you up to 11 once you kill Ion. Anise seems to get off scot-free, which seems odd, especially considering how hard the party was on Luke.

[Wolf_Haley]

Liger, Abyss

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You gotta remeber she viewed that Liger as her mother and the eggs as her siblings, the girl is extremely damaged and everyone she views as family has either been killed or taken away from her *Ion*. I like Anise but her not catching more **** from the party was dumb as hell

[Demolator]

My only major problem with Symphonia's story was that

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Dealing with the Desians was far too spread out. I know it wasn't the main goal of the party, but when Chocolat gets moved after the party tries to save her, the party just kind of forgets about her for the next 20 hours and she's not even the reason they go back to the Iselia ranch.

[Bucky]

For Symphonia,

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We don't actually see that much half-elf discrimination first hand. It's mostly told, rather than shown which is unfortunate. The worst we get is Raine and Genis not being let into the special no-half-elves allowed club-house and getting arrested once, which isn't even until later in the game.

Symphonia (half-elves)

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There's the death penalty with no appeal for half-elves accused of crimes. But we don't see much discrimination in Sylverant.

[Sylthia]

Symphonia (half-elves)

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There's the death penalty with no appeal for half-elves accused of crimes. But we don't see much discrimination in Sylverant.

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That was my point, mostly though. We're told about all these things, but we don't really see much of it first hand. We see more crimes by the half-elves against humans (with the ranches) than the reverse. Genis and Raine are arrested, but are rescued two minutes later, so there wasn't much build-up for it.

[Shekinah]

Anyone notice how it seems like it's windy everywhere in Xillia?

[Sylthia]

Finally beat Xillia, although I still have to go back and do a lot of the side-quests that I skipped in order to finish the main story.

[Airk]

Part of the problem I have with Symphonia is that it actually tries to do too much, while at the same time not subverting its tropes enough. Yeah, fine, they dodge the "heroic journey" cliche, but wow, they pretty much plow right into the rest. The party is too big for half of them to get any decent development, so they're actually examples of their tropes rather than the witty subversions that make the Tales games with good characters good. Abyss is my favorite here, with the deft demolition of the Amnesiac Hero (yeaaaah) and the Staff Chick (actually the 2nd most badass person in the party. Saves the hero multiple times. Also, if you look at the party whenever there's a big explosion in the area, everyone is knocked on their ass except Jade...and Tear.)

I also felt like Symphonia would've worked better if it had JUST attacked racism OR religion, rather than trying to do both and a bunch of other stuff too. It results in a somewhat incoherent theme, IMHO.

[Sylthia]

Having beaten the game and seen no real mention of it, what exactly is a Xillia?

[Zevox]

wait wait people are liking graces over symphonia?

Eh, I'd consider them more or less equals, with Symphonia perhaps a tad better. Symphonia had the better story, but Graces still has the best combat in the series.

My ranking for the series thus far goes: Abyss = Vesperia > (Xillia, probably) > Symphonia ~ Graces > Symphonia 2. The rest I haven't played.

Although, spoilers for part 4 of Xillia:

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So, I've just arrived on Elympios, and they've made a point of having Milla realize how important Spyrix are to the people there. Which is nice and all, until she indicates that she might end up just accepting them, and just trying to make sure spirits are born in enough numbers that they don't deplete them.

Yeah, that part I really hope isn't how they end up going with this. Because seriously, however widespread and important Spyrix may be, just accepting something that results in killing things simply from its use is not okay. If it had been just about any other drawback, perhaps, but killing actual sentient creatures? Which she has repeatedly mentioned before that she can actively feel dying when those devices are used near her? No, just no.

[Sylthia]

Eh, I'd consider them more or less equals, with Symphonia perhaps a tad better. Symphonia had the better story, but Graces still has the best combat in the series.

My ranking for the series thus far goes: Abyss = Vesperia > (Xillia, probably) > Symphonia ~ Graces > Symphonia 2. The rest I haven't played.

Although, spoilers for part 4 of Xillia:

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So, I've just arrived on Elympios, and they've made a point of having Milla realize how important Spyrix are to the people there. Which is nice and all, until she indicates that she might end up just accepting them, and just trying to make sure spirits are born in enough numbers that they don't deplete them.

Yeah, that part I really hope isn't how they end up going with this. Because seriously, however widespread and important Spyrix may be, just accepting something that results in killing things simply from its use is not okay. If it had been just about any other drawback, perhaps, but killing actual sentient creatures? Which she has repeatedly mentioned before that she can actively feel dying when those devices are used near her? No, just no.

Without saying too much...

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The solution is a bit better than spirit genocide.

Having played Xillia, my rankings, taking into effect story, gameplay, and personal nostalgia bias

Graces > Vesperia ~ Symphonia ~ Abyss > Xillia > Legendia > Symphonia 2 > Phantasia

[Shekinah]

Having beaten the game and seen no real mention of it, what exactly is a Xillia?

Maybe "Xillia" is the plural form of "xill" and all this time we were playing as and sometimes fighting nasty bug people in disguise.

Ah?

Ah?

[Airk]

Having beaten the game and seen no real mention of it, what exactly is a Xillia?

I have no idea, but then, I don't know what the Graces were in Graces,the Symphonia in Symphonia, or the Phantasia in Phantasia either, so I'm just chalking this up to "Most of these games don't have titles that mean anything, so those that do are the exception."

[CoffeeIncluded]

Did anybody else find the scene where (massive spoilers until just after Jude's second solo boss battle At the start of chapter 4)

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Jude completely loses it after Milla dies, and Alvin tries to kill him and Leia, and he only snaps out of it after Alvin shoots Leia to be extremely disturbing? I think it's the part where Alvin grabs Jude and presses the gun to his head and Jude doesn't. Do. Anything that got to me the most.

[Demolator]

Just got to the final boss in Symphonia!

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I hate Mithos with all my heart and soul, I swear that kid will not stop teleporting, and I have trouble wondering how the kid can insta-cast all this stuff faster than Collette can with her items on. If I'd known he was going to be that much of a **** about it, I'd have leveled up quite a bit more.

[Shekinah]

Anyone else notice that there was no Sorcerer's Ring in Graces or Xillia?

[Bucky]

Just got to the final boss in Symphonia!

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I hate Mithos with all my heart and soul, I swear that kid will not stop teleporting, and I have trouble wondering how the kid can insta-cast all this stuff faster than Collette can with her items on. If I'd known he was going to be that much of a **** about it, I'd have leveled up quite a bit more.

Final boss spoilers

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Mithos suffers from the One Big Fat Target Disease that kills so many other bosses. By the time my group got to him, we had good enough coordination to shut him down almost completely.

[Zevox]

Anyone else notice that there was no Sorcerer's Ring in Graces or Xillia?

The thought crossed my mind once or twice while playing each. Didn't bother me though.

I do wish the games had a proper world map though, instead of just those series of outdoors areas in between towns. I guess it makes little difference overall, but I still miss the old style world maps.

[Demolator]

I now see the beauty in the storytelling of Abyss.

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Sync just threw himself off the tartarus, and maybe it's just because I read the part of Crime and Punishment where Svidrigailov killed himself, but that was a powerful scene.

Anyone know how to activate mystic arts? Because I think I can, there's an AD skill for it, but it just doesn't seem to work... Also, how do I make myself appear on the maps and stuff as another person?

[Shekinah]

To activate TotA mystic artes, you need the Special AD Skill (you get it at level 30). After that, you need to use a high-level arte (like Guardian Field for Luke or Moonlight Tempest for Guy) and hold the X button. That will activate it.

If you want to appear as another person on maps, you need the S Flag. It's in the Cheagle Woods behind a bunch of vines that need burned. There's a wood golem in the area, too. I think it's in the southeast portion of the forest, but I could be wrong. Best thing to do is explore the area and look for a wall of vines blocking your path. The S Flag is in a chest.

[Beowulf DW]

Just saw this thread, and I'm so happy that it exists!

I playing through Vesperia and Phantasia right now. I must say that the I was pleasantly surprised by the combat in Phantasia: it's much better than I expected from an older game.

[Sylthia]

Just saw this thread, and I'm so happy that it exists!

I playing through Vesperia and Phantasia right now. I must say that the I was pleasantly surprised by the combat in Phantasia: it's much better than I expected from an older game.

Which version of ToP? I played the GBA version, but I heard the others have a bit better gameplay.

[Beowulf DW]

GBA version, actually. It was the only version I have the hardware to use, short of an emulator, but I'm not quite comfortable with using those.

[Demolator]

To activate TotA mystic artes, you need the Special AD Skill (you get it at level 30). After that, you need to use a high-level arte (like Guardian Field for Luke or Moonlight Tempest for Guy) and hold the X button. That will activate it.

If you want to appear as another person on maps, you need the S Flag. It's in the Cheagle Woods behind a bunch of vines that need burned. There's a wood golem in the area, too. I think it's in the southeast portion of the forest, but I could be wrong. Best thing to do is explore the area and look for a wall of vines blocking your path. The S Flag is in a chest.

Ah alright, it said to hold X after using an Arcane Art (and those are pretty much all I use anyway), so I tried and nothing happened when I held X, but I haven't tried guardian field yet, thanks.

[Sylthia]

Shekinah and I finally got an HDTV. It definitely makes a huge difference, especially with the text. I still question the white text on an often light background in certain scenes, though.