The "Tales of" Series

[Zevox]

It is nice to have the extra shortcuts. It almost gives you more shortcuts than moves. You'll also get an item to let you assign more auto-items.

Yeah, I've already gotten a few of those. I don't use too many auto-items though.

But sheesh, just ran into another ridiculous boss battle. Spoilers for your return to Fenmont:

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Agria, that girl you fought back at the start of the game. Holy ****. Not only does she rarely take hitstun from anything but water magic (and even that she seems able to just ignore sometimes), but she summons fire elementals in droves, and her attacks hurt like hell and cause burn more consistently than any other fire attacks I've seen. Oh, and she's the first boss able to use a mystic arte, which also hurts like hell and seems to always cause burn.

The kicker? She can heal herself with Lemon Gels. I don't think they give her the full 60% they do you, but they do enough that I was once shocked to see that, while I was off handling one of her elemental friends, her health had actually gone up from about 19k to over 40k, despite my allies fighting her for that period. That's out of a starting health of around 75k.

I eventually won, but damn, that was a ridiculous fight that took forever and cost me way too many items. Including an Omega Elixir...

[Sylthia]

I don't really need to use items for the most part, but you get titles by letting the AI do it, so I always try to keep stocked on apple and orange gels and have them use them once HP/TP dips below 70%.

[Demolator]

I was so close to getting Xillia, but then my buddy told me how awesome Abyss was and I went and got that as fast as I could. I've been playin' Symphonia though, it's so great. I took my PS2 and Abyss with me to the beach though since I haven't played it much (because who needs the beach anyway).

[Zevox]

I don't really need to use items for the most part, but you get titles by letting the AI do it, so I always try to keep stocked on apple and orange gels and have them use them once HP/TP dips below 70%.

Meh, I stopped caring about titles when I realized that in this one they're nothing but an in-game version of achievements. I just wish I could turn off the notifications for them the way I can for actual achievements.

I did set auto-items to use apple/orange gels when stats drop below 20%, but that's just because I'd never use them otherwise, so I may as well. I don't actually stock up on them, they just come from random monster drops and chests. The main auto-item I actually use and keep stocked are Life Bottles, though I only ever need to restock them after a rough boss battle.

[Sylthia]

I was so close to getting Xillia, but then my buddy told me how awesome Abyss was and I went and got that as fast as I could. I've been playin' Symphonia though, it's so great. I took my PS2 and Abyss with me to the beach though since I haven't played it much (because who needs the beach anyway).

I assume you mean you're hotel room, and not the actual beach? Symphonia and Abyss are both great games. I would almost recommend playing them in the order they came out if you can. It's hard to go back to the older battle systems once you've played the newer ones. The generally get better each game (the battle system).

Meh, I stopped caring about titles when I realized that in this one they're nothing but an in-game version of achievements. I just wish I could turn off the notifications for them the way I can for actual achievements.

I did set auto-items to use apple/orange gels when stats drop below 20%, but that's just because I'd never use them otherwise, so I may as well. I don't actually stock up on them, they just come from random monster drops and chests. The main auto-item I actually use and keep stocked are Life Bottles, though I only ever need to restock them after a rough boss battle.

I don't care as much about the titles themselves, but they are the way you get grade in Xillia, so it's good to get as many as you can if you plan on doing a new game plus.

[Shekinah]

About the red-clad girl...

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Anyone else think Agria is like a distaff counterpart of Zagi?

[A Rainy Knight]

Can someone explain to me what "grade" and "titles" are? I hear about them a lot and I see that "Grade +0.74" or whatever after each battle, but I still haven't been able to figure out what they are in-game.

[Zevox]

I don't care as much about the titles themselves, but they are the way you get grade in Xillia, so it's good to get as many as you can if you plan on doing a new game plus.

Well, at least they're not totally useless, then. Still, I don't do much with grade in most cases myself.

About the red-clad girl...

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Anyone else think Agria is like a distaff counterpart of Zagi?

Well, she's certainly crazy enough to be, that's for sure.

Can someone explain to me what "grade" and "titles" are? I hear about them a lot and I see that "Grade +0.74" or whatever after each battle, but I still haven't been able to figure out what they are in-game.

Grade is a score you gain over the course of the game for doing various things, which you can trade in for benefits when starting a New Game+. For instance, you can typically spend grade to import your known artes, known skills, held items, or character level, as well as things like getting a multiplier to all experience and/or gald you acquire.

Titles are a mechanic that seems to have been in every Tales game (that I've played, anyway), though only sometimes does it mean anything. In Symphonia and I think Abyss titles affect how your stats grow, so equipping certain ones might result in higher scores in certain stats long-term. In other games they don't have any practical use, but they'll be announced with the character's name when competing in the game's Arena. In Xillia they seem to have been relegated to being an achievement system, and aren't even able to be attached to specific characters, which is pretty disappointing for me.

[Sylthia]

Can someone explain to me what "grade" and "titles" are? I hear about them a lot and I see that "Grade +0.74" or whatever after each battle, but I still haven't been able to figure out what they are in-game.

Grade is what you use to buy bonuses in new game plus, which is when you start a new game after beating it once. It's gained in different ways. Until Vesperia, it was mostly gained through doing well in battles. Starting with Graces it was gained through different ways, like getting titles.

Titles are things you gain by doing various things in-game and are sort of like achievements, but in most games, they have some sort of in-game value. In Symphonia, they give various stats a bonus during level up, in Graces, they are how you learn new moves, etc.

In many, but not all games, the costumes are also associated with a certain title.

EDIT: semi-ninja'd

[Ulm11]

Okay, raise your hand if you also figured (spoilers!)

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that Alvin was the Designated Tales Traitor.

Though it really doesn't look like hell be let off as easily as in other games. I don't know for sure yet, I just fought Presa and Wingul.

Also, I don't think they're all the way human. And is anyone else getting Abyss God-generals vibes from them?

I know this is kind of old but I have to comment on this.

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The first time I saw Alvin in the lab after the Lance of Kresnik sucked up the four I didn't trust him. Almost every time there was a villain on screen he could only make me trust him less, and by about the midpoint of the game I took of the sunglasses I put on him just so I could more clearly catch the next set of shifty looks between Alvin and whatever villain happened to be on screen at the time. I don't think I have ever seen a character suffering from a chronic backstabbing disorder like Alivn does.

The whole God-general vibe I definitely feel as well. For me it started when it seemed as though Elise and Jioa had a sort of similar dynamic as Largo and Natalia did, but as the various characters got revealed it seemed as though the only character really missing an opposite was Milla as I saw the weird link being stronger between Jude and Gaius.

On Gaius, was anybody caught completely off guard by the whole Jude will join me in time speech over Jude's comatose body?

[Airk]

Well, she's certainly crazy enough to be, that's for sure.

Zagi was such a total stupid throwaway trash character though; He didn't even really have anything to do with the plot, nor, indeed, any discernible personality other than "I kill j00, Yuri Lowell!"; Agria already seems like she actually has something to do with the story, which puts her out of Zagi's league, thank god.

Titles are a mechanic that seems to have been in every Tales game (that I've played, anyway), though only sometimes does it mean anything. In Symphonia and I think Abyss titles affect how your stats grow, so equipping certain ones might result in higher scores in certain stats long-term.

Stat growth in Abyss is done via Capacity Cores; Titles just give costumes and weird benefits like causing slow healing while running around the map.

In Xillia they seem to have been relegated to being an achievement system, and aren't even able to be attached to specific characters, which is pretty disappointing for me.

Maybe I'm just not enough of an Old School Tales Fan, but really, what difference does this make? It's not as if there's been any sort of lost functionality, and in games like Graces where there were so many damn titles, they lost all character specific meaning anyway, because you were pretty much only ever picking them for mechanical benefits, whereas in a game like Abyss, they didn't really do anything that most people would notice other than the costume titles. I guess it's a neat little character building 'feature' to give characters 'titles' that way, but it's certainly not something I would 'miss' or be disappointed by the lack of.

[Airk]

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I think that if you're having problems with a boss (or anyone, really) healing themselves with items, having Leia steal the item in question seems to keep them from using it. Or at least, it worked for me.

The hard part can be getting a knockdown, but I was able to reliably knock down at least the boss mentioned earlier pretty easily with, of all things, Teepo Roar.

[Shekinah]

Zagi was such a total stupid throwaway trash character though; He didn't even really have anything to do with the plot, nor, indeed, any discernible personality other than "I kill j00, Yuri Lowell!"; Agria already seems like she actually has something to do with the story, which puts her out of Zagi's league, thank god.

You definitely have a point. Zagi could have been removed and no consequence would have come as far as the story is concerned. I think he was just there for comedy's sake based off the snark Yuri gives off about him/to him.

Doesn't stop me from referring to Agria as Zag-she. :P

[Zevox]

Stat growth in Abyss is done via Capacity Cores; Titles just give costumes and weird benefits like causing slow healing while running around the map.

Huh, I'm misremembering then. Still, I think there was another besides Symphonia that had them affect stats like that.

Maybe I'm just not enough of an Old School Tales Fan, but really, what difference does this make?

I rather like the idea of titles as something that can influence a character's stat gain myself. And however they're used, I'd like them to have some practical impact on things. In contrast, I dislike achievements for being basically pointless. Though as I mentioned, if titles in Xillia give you grade, at least they're one step above actual achievements in that respect. I'd still prefer something with a more immediate impact on the game to something that only kicks in on a New Game+, though.

Anyway, I wound having to drop the difficulty for a boss fight today.

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Nachtigal. Yeah, I actually hadn't progressed much since the fight with Agria the other day, largely because of how rough that bastard was on hard. I had several occasions where he literally wiped my party completely from full health with his Mystic Arte. I could perhaps have won without the difficulty drop by being extremely patient, playing a very runaway-and-cast game, and using a bunch of items, but decided it wasn't worth it.

The contrast when I dropped to moderate difficulty was stark, let me tell you. He fell from 100k hp to 60k, took hitstun much easier, and wasn't able to wipe out a full-health character with his Mystic Arte anymore (though it did still hurt enough to kill one that was at 3/4 or so). Made him so much more manageable, yet still not completely lacking in challenge. If the rest of the boss fight proceed like the last few have, I may just have to kick the difficulty down to moderate for all of them, and just use hard for the normal fights.

[Airk]

You definitely have a point. Zagi could have been removed and no consequence would have come as far as the story is concerned. I think he was just there for comedy's sake based off the snark Yuri gives off about him/to him.

Technically, I think Zagi has relevance to the plot during his very first appearance, when he's actually there to kill FLYNN (who isn't even in the castle, or indeed, the CITY, so the big Z is not off to a strong start) and Yuri & Estelle just kinda smack him down because he decides to pick a fight with them instead.

As far as I'm concerned, he just should've stayed dead. His only other redeeming contribution to the game was setting up Judith for her deadpan "I really think you need to cut your ties with this 'Zagi' character." on board the Heracles, and one good line does not justify a throwaway character showing up and being stupid like six times. I mean, FFS, how did he even GET to Tarqaron?

Doesn't stop me from referring to Agria as Zag-she. :P

You are apparently not alone, as rumors have it that her 'code name' on the dev team, prior to her actually having a name and a place in the game was "Zagiraude" ;P

[Airk]

[quot=Zevox]And however they're used, I'd like them to have some practical impact on things. In contrast, I dislike achievements for being basically pointless.[/quote]

So if I'm reading this right, you would rather have had them removed entirely?

[Zevox]

So if I'm reading this right, you would rather have had them removed entirely?

Compared to their current incarnation? Yeah, more or less. It's not like we haven't had perfectly good mechanics for accumulating grade before, after all, there was no need to tack it on to this new achievement-like title system.

[CoffeeIncluded]

Also, I like being able to keep track of my grade.

[Airk]

Also, I like being able to keep track of my grade.

It's been a while, but I don't remember grade ever being "hidden information" in the games I've played...?

[Shekinah]

It's been a while, but I don't remember grade ever being "hidden information" in the games I've played...?

In previous Tales games it was hard to keep track of grade unless you recorded it after every battle. It was impossible to tell in Graces, since side-quests were how you earned grade in that (I think).

Gonna play around with Elize for a bit, see if the Teepo on/off thing helps with linked artes (particularly with Alvin).

[Sylthia]

In previous Tales games it was hard to keep track of grade unless you recorded it after every battle. It was impossible to tell in Graces, since side-quests were how you earned grade in that (I think).

Gonna play around with Elize for a bit, see if the Teepo on/off thing helps with linked artes (particularly with Alvin).

There were a lot of ways to get grade in Graces. Titles, sidequests, what difficulty you beat the game on, etc.

I like being able to know exactly how much grade I have at the moment with Xillia.

[Zevox]

So, I'm guessing that I've just hit the end of part 2.

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Wherein you fight your way through Fezebel Marsh, the Lance of Kresnik fires, and everything goes off in a completely unexpected - and at this point not really understood - direction? Or did I miss a part ending and this is actually the end of part 3?

Just trying to keep up with about how far I am into the game here.

[Ulm11]

So, I'm guessing that I've just hit the end of part 2.

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Wherein you fight your way through Fezebel Marsh, the Lance of Kresnik fires, and everything goes off in a completely unexpected - and at this point not really understood - direction? Or did I miss a part ending and this is actually the end of part 3?

Just trying to keep up with about how far I am into the game here.

Not sure if I should spoil this or not, but your right. A handy way to check your progression through the story is to use the tiles, as each time you complete a chapter you gain a corresponding title.

[Sylthia]

So, I'm guessing that I've just hit the end of part 2.

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Wherein you fight your way through Fezebel Marsh, the Lance of Kresnik fires, and everything goes off in a completely unexpected - and at this point not really understood - direction? Or did I miss a part ending and this is actually the end of part 3?

Just trying to keep up with about how far I am into the game here.

You're close, although I think

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Chapter 2 ends when you defeat Nachtigal. I think the part leading up to the part when the Lance fires is part of Chapter 3.

[Shekinah]

I think we're finally getting close to the end...

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Just saw Agria and Presa fall off a cliff.

[CoffeeIncluded]

You'd be right, Shekinah.

Ugh, I have less than 3 hours left in the game and I'm leaving Monday morning for college. And I have to fly home and pack too.

[Sylthia]

You'd be right, Shekinah.

Ugh, I have less than 3 hours left in the game and I'm leaving Monday morning for college. And I have to fly home and pack too.

Good luck with college. What year are you going into? Packing can be deceptive. It always takes longer than you think it should.

[Shekinah]

You'd be right, Shekinah.

Ugh, I have less than 3 hours left in the game and I'm leaving Monday morning for college. And I have to fly home and pack too.

I'm right? That's... underwhelming. I was hoping for more in Xillia as far as character evolution goes and solving some of the plot holes. I'll save that rant for private, though.

Packing is boring, but the results are good. Best of luck at college!

[CoffeeIncluded]

I'm right? That's... underwhelming. I was hoping for more in Xillia as far as character evolution goes and solving some of the plot holes. I'll save that rant for private, though.

Packing is boring, but the results are good. Best of luck at college!

Eh, there's still several hours left in the game.

Good luck with college. What year are you going into? Packing can be deceptive. It always takes longer than you think it should.

Thanks, guys! I'm going into my junior year. And actually, packing isn't that tough. The trick? I never fully unpacked!

[Sylthia]

Thanks, guys! I'm going into my junior year. And actually, packing isn't that tough. The trick? I never fully unpacked!

I still have stuff in cardboard boxes from several years ago.