Tales of series

[Ronnie]

Anyone else a fan of this series? Favorite game?

I finally picked up Berseria this week and have become addicted to it. Only clocked in about 5 hours but I'm loving the characters and story so far. Combat's fun too.

[Refa]

I've only played Symphonia and Abyss (I probably enjoyed Symphonia before, but it's been a long time since I've played either).  Gameplay wise, I'm definitely interested in playing the more mechanics heavy games like Graces F and the PS2 Destiny remake.  Story wise, though, I'm becoming less and less interested in the series as my tastes change.  Nothing about the newer games catch my interest, and the games that I did play had very long, plodding stories.  I'm also not a huge fan of the composer's work on the series, even though he's done good elsewhere (off the top of my head, Golden Sun comes to mind).

[Reality]

I've played only Phantasia and Symphonia. Symphonia was an alright game.

I dislike Phantasia though. There was stuff about it I liked (story, opening sequence), but it is too flawed to be a good game. I've seen people describe it as a SNES/Super Famicom hidden Gem but I reject that because it compares REALLY badly with other RPGs on the console. The main problem is as the first game in the series, they did not balance enemy hitstun. this means that the player can combo anything and everything to death and almost never have to take damage since even bosses can be locked into their flinching animation. Because of this-  the game gets repetitive fast, as the fighting game-esque combat makes random encounters last longer than normal rpgs on its own, but without any chance of danger, it goes straight into problem territory. Despite a solid story it also has kind of an identity crisis- At times it feels like it's trying to be Seiken Deketsu 2 (mostly the maigc life tree and Dhaos attacking the industralized human city to preserve the planet's life source) and other times it feels like it's borrowing from final fantasy 6 (brief subplot about the use of mechs and a mana-draining cannon, also the unvisited other world). The bad gameplay is the main problem. Most if not all of the later games give enemies some super armor or invicibility frames after you knock them down so you can't just cheese everything like in this game. It also starts some of the inconsistent series tradition- Some dungeons teleport you out after killing the boss, some dungeons give you a yes/no teleport option, and some most force you to backtrack out of the thing on foot. Speaking of backtracking it's a little bad in general- you have to walk the length of the continent on foot twice during the unicorn sidequest. The game is just all around problematic due to it's lack of identity (it uses 20% animesque sprites and 80% the look of the standard squaresoft SNES RPG), bad combat, and repetitiveness. I don't recomend that fans of the series play it all, even if they are interested in the series roots. Most of the stuff in this first game is "thematically' preserved in later games anyway (Derris Emblem in final dungeon as  a puzzle that teleports your charathers away, the summons, two interlocked worlds one more magical than the other, elf-human relations). 

[Nobody]

I tried playing Symphonia and Xillia, but I never got far into them. Early this year my sister got Berseria, I played it and it was great, it had one of the best stories I've seen in a video game. So yeah, not really a fan of the series, but I absolutely loved Berseria.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I own all possible parts for the PS3 and completed all at least once yet except for the two Symphonias. And I also own Abyss.
I love this series because of the mix of deep story, interesting character cast and enjoyable gameplay.
As for the gameplay I prefer Tales more than a classic roundbased RPG because you attack on you own and not by giving any commands. So it's less RNG based than a RPG like Final Fantasy for example.

Storywise Berseria and Abyss are my faves because they're very deep and have lots of depressing moments.
Gameplaywise Abyss is my favorite because lots of dungeons are gimmicky with fun and challenging puzzles.
The only games I don't really enjoy are Symphonia and Zestiria.


 

[DragonLord]

Only played Abyss on the 3DS but I absolutely loved it. Due to me not having any Sony consoles, I haven't played any of the more recent ones. I'm looking forward to the Tales of game planned for the Switch though.

[Cute Chao]

I have a lot of them.

My favourite is Xillia. I don't know why - I think just the world and characters engaged me the most. I absolutely adore Alvin, and even named a pet after Gaius (him and the FE character). The main females are really cool, too, and I love the story and voice acting.

Xillia 2 was okay, but it didn't grab me so much. Plus the main young girl was annoying...

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Quote

I'm looking forward to the Tales of game planned for the Switch though.

The next Tales game will be released for a Nintendo console!?
Didn't expect to see this ever happen again.

It's the first argument for me to get a Switch.

[Interdimensional Observer]

Played Symphonia (plus DotNW) and Abyss all the way through, most of GBA Phantasia (ugh!), and most of Graces F. Symphonia was important in my upbringing, it was the first non-Mario/Pokemon JRPG I really got into, and while time has made me see the game's flaws, I still deeply cherish it.

While I didn't complain of it too much at the time, Phantasia GBA is awful- laggy gameplay, bad voice acting (expected for a GBA game), spells freezing the action. I did all but the final dungeon and the optional dungeon- the game randomly wiped all memory before I could complete either. Still, it was interesting seeing the series's roots, and I got it used and cheap.

Abyss improved on the gameplay of Symphonia, and I liked Jade (though his jokes did repeat themselves by the end unfortunately) and Guy, Luke wasn't bad either, nor Sync on the villain side. The plot was on a comparable level with Symphonia overall, doing better in some ways, worse in others. Dungeon design IIRC was a small step back from Symphonia- which had crazy puzzles of fun and torture, but perhaps this was for the better?

Graces- the combat gameplay is amazing, but the plot after the child arc and the civil war played things too safe and became crap. Dungeons had degenerated into corridors with braindead puzzles. The cast was just weak. The new title system made titles meaningful for once, but at the same time a total chore if you want to 100%. I did like the Eleth Mixer.

Dawn of the New World- Pokemon and Tales shouldn't mix. And I loathe the inability to level the original ToS crew. Emil and Marta were bleh, but at least the former was fairly fun to play as. Richter was sort of interesting. The plot was eh overall.

I bought Xillia on sale, haven't played it yet. And I wish Vesperia's PS3 version had left Japan.

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Played Symphonia HD on my PS3. Got about 40 hours in, and the game showed no signs of ending, so I quit. 

[Ronnie]

11 minutes ago, Gustavos said:

Played Symphonia HD on my PS3. Got about 40 hours in, and the game showed no signs of ending, so I quit. 

So close. Only 9 more hours til you're home free lol.

[Interdimensional Observer]

57 minutes ago, Gustavos said:

Played Symphonia HD on my PS3. Got about 40 hours in, and the game showed no signs of ending, so I quit. 

Tales games tend to be long, and loaded with sidequests and missables too. ToS can be divided into roughly 3 arcs.

Just what point are you at exactly? That would be helpful to know.

[DragonLord]

6 hours ago, Reimu Hakurei said:

The next Tales game will be released for a Nintendo console!?
Didn't expect to see this ever happen again.

It's the first argument for me to get a Switch.

I don't want to get your hopes up, we don't know if it's new or not. Just that a Tales of title is planned for a release before the end of the fiscal year (March 2018).

[Rapier]

17 hours ago, Nobody said:

I tried playing Symphonia and Xillia, but I never got far into them. Early this year my sister got Berseria, I played it and it was great, it had one of the best stories I've seen in a video game. So yeah, not really a fan of the series, but I absolutely loved Berseria.

Isn't it obligatory to play Zestiria to understand Berseria since it is a sequel?

 

I've played Phantasia first because everyone and their grandfathers praised it wherever I looked. I got disappointed because there is nothing "manual" in the combat system, contrary to what it advertises. I expected something like Summon Night: Swordcraft Story's combat system, where you actually have control over your character, but it was limited to pressing a button and seeing characters run and stab things automatically. It really is impressive to see voice acting and animations in a SNES game, but at the end of the day what I care most is the gameplay, and it was boring to me. I had the same problem with the PS1 one with talking weapons (whose name I forgot).

Then I played Tales of Innocence and found the truly manual combat system awesome. It was everything I wanted in a Tales game, and it was finally delivered to me. I stopped playing it for some reason, but that's when I started getting interested in the Tales series. My next game was Dawn of the New World (I skipped Tales of Symphonia and went for the sequel because I only had a Wii), which I found enjoyable (Symphonia is on my list but I heard bad things about the PC port).

I'd like to play the others, but I only own a Wii, a 3DS and a PC. I started playing Zestiria but I still have to progress through the beginning of the game. So far, it is my priority, followed by the one that got a 3DS remake/port(?) which iirc is Tales of Hearts/Xillia, then Berseria.

[LucarioGamer812]

I have a few of the Tales games, mainly Symphonia 1 and 2, Vesperia, and Zestiria, the thing is I have yet to actually start any of them. The only tales game I really kinda know is Vesperia, and that's moreso due to Yuri, Flynn, and Estelle's appearances in the Project X Zone games. (Also off topic but I think it would have been amazing if Yuri Lowell was voiced by Yuri Lowenthall)

[Nobody]

10 minutes ago, Rapier said:

Isn't it obligatory to play Zestiria to understand Berseria since it is a sequel?

It's actually the other way around, Berseria is a Prequel to Zestiria, not a Sequel. So no, you don't need to do it. There are some references and a couple of returning characters, but that's about it.

From what I hear, playing Berseria before Zestiria actually makes Zestiria better to some people.

Edited August 5, 2017 by Nobody

[Rapier]

Oh, alright. Have you played Zestiria? If so, how do both games compare to each other?

and why does Berseria have to cost 130 bucks ffs

Edited August 5, 2017 by Rapier

[Nobody]

I haven't, so I can't really comment on it

[Ertrick36]

I've only ever played the original Symphonia, and I haven't even beaten that one.  I did like it quite a bit; I often played as Presea because I've always liked playing the power-house type characters in these kinds of games, though I just liked that I could play as anyone in the party instead of just one specific character.

I have watched my sister play Tales of Bersaria, though it seems like it might be a bit too edgy and sad for my liking.

On a side note, I've never once finished a single JRPG.  No Final Fantasy, no Tales of... the only RPG that originated from Japan that I've beaten is FE, and it's obviously not a JRPG in the traditional sense.  The furthest I've ever gotten was either disc 2 of Xenogears (insert obligatory gushing paragraph about the music in that game) or the end of disc 3 in Final Fantasy 9.  The problem is they're all so long, and while the stories typically are engaging... the gameplay typically just isn't.  It's a reason why I like FE so much; the gameplay tends to be just as engaging as the characters (and sometimes plot) are.

[Ronnie]

9 minutes ago, Ertrick36 said:

On a side note, I've never once finished a single JRPG.  No Final Fantasy, no Tales of... the only RPG that originated from Japan that I've beaten is FE, and it's obviously not a JRPG in the traditional sense.  The furthest I've ever gotten was either disc 2 of Xenogears (insert obligatory gushing paragraph about the music in that game) or the end of disc 3 in Final Fantasy 9.  The problem is they're all so long, and while the stories typically are engaging... the gameplay typically just isn't.  It's a reason why I like FE so much; the gameplay tends to be just as engaging as the characters (and sometimes plot) are.

Have you considered Pokémon? Addicting gameplay, charming story, still a JRPG, and fairly short.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

7 hours ago, DragonLord said:

I don't want to get your hopes up, we don't know if it's new or not. Just that a Tales of title is planned for a release before the end of the fiscal year (March 2018).

Even if it's a remake of a game for a former generation console (PS, PS2) I'd still be looking forward to.


Also I'd recommend to play Zestiria before Berseria because all the people who played Berseria first might get disappointed by Zestiria's gameplay and overworld.
Although Berseria is the prequel it doesn't matter which game you play first for plotreason.

[CeruleanMage]

I've beaten Tales of Eternia, Tales of Phantasia (snes and gba versions, never finished the ps1 version though) and stopped playing Tales of Destiny for the ps1 after a short while. I remember playing a little bit of Tales of Innocence but stopped (much like tales of destiny) and I tried playing Tales of the Abyss on an emulator with my crappy family computer and you can imagine how well that turned out. Other than that most of my experiences with the Tales of series has mostly been through watching various youtube videos of it.

[DragonFlames]

I love the Tales games. I haven't played a single one I disliked and I replay all of them very frequently. The gameplay is extremely fun, the characters and stories are amazing.
Needless to say, the Tales series is one of, if not my absolute favourite franchise that exists today.

I started with Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World back when it came out on the Wii and I loved (and still love) it. I also played the original Symphonia (as part of the remaster), Abyss (the 3DS port which I hear is the superior version), Hearts R, Vesperia, Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria and Berseria. It's really, REALLY hard to pick a favourite, but if I had to pick one, it would have to be the two Xillia games, if only because the second half and ending of Xillia 2 actually, legitimately made me cry.

[Magical CC]

Phantasia, Eternia, Destiny, Symphonia, Abyss, Innocence, Zestiria and Berseria are the ones I have played. I also played a bit of Legendia but put it on hold.

[Etrurian emperor]

I love the series but that love isn't exactly returned. Its really hard to keep track of a series that does so much console hopping and if they most often land on a console you don't own its a bit grating. I keep up with the series a bit but the only three I played were Symphonia, Vesperia and 3ds Abyss. 

Symphonia is one of the games I have the fondest feelings for in general and I'd say its the best of the ones I played. Its not the most interesting since its basically ''JRPG the game'' but like blazing sword its the most balanced of its series. Its got a good cast, good story, decent world building, good villains and so on. Perhaps it doesn't shine in one particular area as much as other games do but it doesn't screw up in any category either. You could also argue Symphonia being the definite collection of JRPG tropes was what we needed since the gamecube was really lacking in those sorts of games. 
I have a very long list of completed games, the majority of them almost 100% co op with my brother(so he could do all the bad dungeons) and I never really lost an interest to revisit the game.
Having Kratos Aurion tends to make your game the best by default too. 

I have more mixed feelings on Abyss. Its definitely a more interesting game than Symphonia but at times those interesting things also hold it back. Abyss is plagued by technobabble. As deep as the world is the game really does a poor job at explaining it. Phonon is the special fantasy magic thing the world resolves around but its a long time before anyone actually stops to explain what Phonons are supposed to be. Until then you just have to take a characters words for it when he says Phonons are causing this and that. Hyperresonance is also such a weird phrase not very well explained. 
The cast play off each other in more interesting ways with their own likes and dislike towards certain party members and all having their own goals but at times they are a bit to dysfunctional. At the end Luke was also really starting to get on my nerves while I liked both his bratty phase and his redemption arc a good deal. 
And I just don't like the main villain. He fails to be noble, sympathetic or even sane while the game does try and portray his cause as one worth fighting for, just not the way he does it. I can swallow Symphonia's villian's plot being insane because he belongs in the loony bin but that's not the case with Abys's main villain. One the other hand I think the minor villain groups from most Tales games would find it very hard to live up to the god generals, especially Sync and Lago. 

The graphics were a giant improvement over symphonia and especially the animations blew the wooden ''fights'' from Symphonia out of the water. 
It being a 3ds game  means there wasn't any co op which I consider a downgrade after Symphonia and Vesperia. 

Vesperia was great in a lot of ways and it really perfected the cell shading style. The game really nailed the feeling that the party was on a great adventure to see the world....but perhaps because of this the story feels very disjointed and there's a real villain problem. When the big mastermind was revealed to have actually been that really important guy in the world I actually struggled to recall who he was supposed to be because he never made a lasting impression before. He certainly did so afterwards with that beautiful voice of his but its still a mark against him. His plans aren't very clear either. I love the German assassin Yeager but the game kinda tosses him away with little fanfare. 
Yuri is definitely the best tales Hero as far as I'm concerned. Lloyd and Luke started as and to some extend remained just boys but Yuri had a very mature, big brotherly feel to him in his interaction with the other party members. His little vigilante thing also adds something though they could have handled it better. 

I wasn't always entirely feeling the cast. I like each of them individually but I don't think they played off each other all that well. They lack the inter party play of Abyss and I didn't think they had the same social click that the Symphonia cast does. The skits all being voiced was a great addition though and the cast tended to be very lovable during those skits and in the main game too. 

I hate, hate, HATE Tales of Graces. I feel rather personally mistreated by that game. Its always a bit of an adventure to see if a Tales games gets on a console you own. In this case it did, it went to the Wii which I owned. I recall not really knowing if it would leave Japan but eventually I learned that it did.....for the PS3 which I didn't own. I waited and waited but the Wii version never came despite the game existing for the Wii and it already being localisation for the PS3. I was even more in love with Symphonia then I am now and Vesperia left a very favorable impression so I was very grumpy about this. 
I don't really appreciate a game studio building up hype, leave me in uncertainty before stomping all over that initial hype despite having the means to just go fulfill that hype. Graces can go die in a fire for all I care. At least the other PS3 games never pretended they were available for me. 

Edited August 22, 2017 by Etrurian emperor