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[dakkumauji]

What Tales are you all playing this year?

I platinum'd Xillia like last month so I'm pretty burned out on Tales games at this point.

I'll probably want to play Vesperia PS3 soonish. I been stalling on it since I wanted to buy some HK PSN point so I could splurge on DLC costumes.

 

[Kincaido]

Started playing through Abyss in english for the first time (why am I doing this myself?) and I hear both JYB and Yuri Lowenthal in the first 30 mins -_-'

 

[Kasumin]

Eternia is still my favorite, didn't have the chance to play Vesperia yet though.

Eternia's such an overlooked gem. It came out at a bad time (at the end of the PS1's life) and it's so difficult to get ahold of nowadays. Was so glad I was able to get a hold of the PSP (non-glitchy) version from Europe.

I eventually gave in and bought the PS1 version, too. I managed to get it for $75, which for this game is a steal

 

[Dark Schala]

Oh God... Dark Schala hold me back. BassForever named Anise as his favorite Tales character.

It'll be okay. A lot of people think otherwise! It's normal to think otherwise. D:

Those menus shots are amazing. EDIT: It looks remarkably similar to Narikiri Dungeon X's menu. Was Innocence R the same?

Innocence R's menus are kinda blasé for me, but that's because I don't like the colour palette.

On a not-so-related note, I've been contemplating dropping money on Twin Brave, but I think it's still too expensive.

 

[FSLink]

Never played any of the series before. I am interested to try it out though. I was thinking of picking up Symphonia (GC) on eBay. What does everyone say?

Good choice for a starting game, but if you have a PS3, I'd get Graces f or wait for the Symphonia remake coming out.

Hm, I kinda like them, but yeah, the color palette is bad like Abyss's menu. I do think Abyss' menu is clever for having the photographs and making it like a journal/album.

Another good menu is Vesperia's, which obviously had some of the Eternal Sonata UI designers work on it...they're very similar.

Xillia/Xillia 2 also have amazing looking menus. When are we going to get some English menu shots of Xillia 1? *goes to spam the official Tales of page*

RE: Patty, here's an example of a combo she can do:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QVhJoiQ9xs0

She has a really fun playstyle, and she's a good support character having some lower level spells and being able to get people into Overlimit.

 

[Sinople]

I'd say so. Having Flynn join up at appropriate times, the new artes, costumes, bosses, weapons...

Patty isn't anywhere near as bad as Anise. The extra content's definitely worth it, in my opinion.

Thanks for the answers. I'll save some money and buy the PS3 version then.

 

[Dark Schala]

Hm, I kinda like them, but yeah, the color palette is bad like Abyss's menu. I do think Abyss' menu is clever for having the photographs and making it like a journal/album.

I knock Abyss a lot, but I am incredibly fond of how creative they were with that game's menu too. I wish more of the games actually went forward and did something like that. It fit so well with the notion that Luke had to keep a journal documenting everything and anything he came across.

In essence, it was Luke's scrapbook for the duration of the game, and you were sort of role-playing as Luke whenever you did anything in the menu. Really cute direction.

 

[FSLink]

In essence, it was Luke's scrapbook for the duration of the game, and you were sort of role-playing as Luke whenever you did anything in the menu. Really cute direction.

Yeah, if I recall right, they even had the synopsis written from his point of view (and I think Asch filled it in when he replaced him for a bit). Was pretty awesome.

 

[Seven Force]

Yeah, if I recall right, they even had the synopsis written from his point of view (and I think Asch filled it in when he replaced him for a bit). Was pretty awesome.

Wait, really? I never knew this. That's a pretty neat detail.

 

[RangerBAD]

The bad pacing, mediocre music, plot with a bunch of random jargon, and the cast being fairly unlikable to most people is why it would be.

 

[Dark Schala]

Mieu wrote a little entry between when (Akzeriuth spoilers; 1/3 into the game)

Spoiler

Luke was out of commission and couldn't write for a while

. Man, that was such a nice detail.

Shame that the other games didn't do something nice like that.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

So who's going to bet on the next Tales of game being revealed at TGS?

I can't recall whether or not Tales of games are usually announced at TGS or during NB events so just substitute in the proper location if I'm wrong.

 

[Bladenic]

Are you gonna pick up Xillia 2 again DS? It'll be cool if you do, we can talk about it, though I guess it's still better to do in the OT than here.

And yes, I love Milla's style with her Melee/spells. She has some awesome links with Ludger and Jude. And a party of Ludger/Milla/Jude/Elise is so hilariously OP. I feel bad but i dont think Leia, Alvin, or Rowen will see much use unless I'm just feeling like switching it up or experimenting. I just got

Spoiler

Musee

but I'm not feeling her in battle at all.

 

[CielTynave]

If we get any announcement there it'll probably just be Tempest R, after the last two TalesFes it seems like they're probably going to make the bigger announcements there and side/escort titles at other times.

 

[FSLink]

Mieu wrote a little entry between when (Akzeriuth spoilers; 1/3 into the game)

Spoiler

Luke was out of commission and couldn't write for a while

. Man, that was such a nice detail.

Shame that the other games didn't do something nice like that.

Yeah, it was Mieu who wrote in it, not Asch, my mistake.
I like the next entry starts off with:
"...What does Mieu think he's doing, writing in my diary? Oh well."

@RangerBad, I like Abyss, I was listing why some wouldn't.

 

[Flamfas]

Definitely, even though I tried Rebirth and loved what I played even though I couldn't understand any of it, I really want to give TODR a shot more than Rebirth.

On the bright side, they both have patches in the works :0

So who's going to bet on the next Tales of game being revealed at TGS?

I'd predict Famitsu, Jump Festa, or even a teaser website before TGS

 

[dakkumauji]

Still waiting on Tales of Radiant Mythology 4 for the Vita.

We need Winter Kanonno!

 

[FSLink]

Still waiting on Tales of Radiant Mythology 4 for the Vita.

We need Winter Kanonno!

They should really add a versus option for the RadiMyth series like Star Ocean 3's unlockable mode. I would love to use team Kanonno against a friend's custom team mixed with Tales characters.

I still have yet to finish a Star Ocean game despite being Tales' sister series and owning every entry. :/

 

[Hours Left]

It may be corny and cliche, but I love this series. I'm down for pretty much any and every game in this series and will buy them when released.

 

[Dark Schala]

Are you gonna pick up Xillia 2 again DS? It'll be cool if you do, we can talk about it, though I guess it's still better to do in the OT than here.

And yes, I love Milla's style with her Melee/spells. She has some awesome links with Ludger and Jude. And a party of Ludger/Milla/Jude/Elise is so hilariously OP. I feel bad but i dont think Leia, Alvin, or Rowen will see much use unless I'm just feeling like switching it up or experimenting. I just got

Spoiler

Musee

but I'm not feeling her in battle at all.

Yep! More than likely, yeah. It's a long weekend, though, so I might not start until maybe next week/after I beat a game that's fairly short. As for discussing it, could drop some discussion in here with respect to balancing, physics, speed, gameplay characteristics, etc., but with respect to plot, I'd be more comfortable discussing it in the game's OT, just so that people won't be spoiled on it.

But yeah! Milla is definitely one of the few Magic Knights I like in the series because you can pick and choose how fast she casts and she's perfectly fine as a melee attacker since she isn't very slow. Edit: Oh, and I like her animations. Her animation time doesn't detract from pacing your combos well, and it's easy to string them together with her (especially with 3-hit combos with no knockdowns + Negative Holder in the first game). I had Ludger/Milla/Jude/Elise in my party for the last character chapter I did, and unsurprisingly, they were great. I usually used Jude/Milla/Elise/Leia to begin fights back in Xillia 1 and it wasn't very tough to top off HP while trying to steal items (switched out Milla or Leia for the other two from time to time depending on the battle's pace). It's a complete shame that they took out the ability to switch people in and out of your party at will during battle because I abused that a ton in Xillia 1, especially during Link Chains.

The last character I was testing out before I put it down was (Chapter 8 spoilers)

Spoiler

Gaius

, and I genuinely liked him despite his slow swing speed. The reach on his sword generally makes up for that lack of speed, and it acts as a decent defensive measure. I suspect when I can buy/make an accessory that makes every arte cost 1 TP, that'll alleviate any sort of pressures of trying to prevent a lot of TP consumption as his artes are expensive as hell to use. I'll still have to practice with him a little more to make him work better in my favour.

I think you'd be wrong about not using Rowen a lot, though. He can be used to do the exact same thing he could do in Xillia 1, and that's completely break the game to abuse the EXP bonuses afforded to you when you create a higher-hitting combo.

That's what I do in Tales games a lot. I spend hours trying to learn one character in terms of their attacks, range, speed, physics, and options alone. :lol

 

[FSLink]

It may be corny and cliche, but I love this series. I'm down for pretty much any and every game in this series and will buy them when released.

A big part of why I love the series are character skits. They even make the games with mediocre casts much better due to them. The Symphonia port better have voiced skits.

Gaius looks like tons of fun. I'll probably just stick with Ludger/Milla/Elise/Leia or Jude though once I start playing again.

 

[Seven Force]

Skits were the main thing that pushed the Graces cast (except for Malik and Pascal, who were already awesome) from "awful" to "passable". Really love the charm it adds.

 

[FSLink]

Skits were the main thing that pushed the Graces cast (except for Malik and Pascal, who were already awesome) from "awful" to "passable". Really love the charm it adds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGXUh73SNJ0
Yup. I love the skits.
Richard is also notably amazing in the f arc thanks to them.

Mystic Artes are another reason. Again, I really enjoy fighting games and the flashy combos you can do (my main game is Ultimate Marvel vs Capcom 3), so seeing "supers" are always a treat. They should really bring back the battle command item from Phantasia.

 

[Seven Force]

Haha yeah, Richard and Malik made an amazing trolling team.

 

[BatDan]

Any word on if Johnny Yong One-Voice is showing up in Xillia? He was kind enough to stay out of Graces.

 

[FSLink]

Any word on if Johnny Yong Two-Voice is showing up in Xillia? He was kind enough to stay out of Graces.

Fixed. Can't forget about his range as Emil normal and evil version! ;P

 

[rockmanjoe]

The combat in Destiny Remake is so much fun.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

So who's going to bet on the next Tales of game being revealed at TGS?

I can't recall whether or not Tales of games are usually announced at TGS or during NB events so just substitute in the proper location if I'm wrong.

Lately Tales games are usually announced in June or December. They announce stuff in Fall occasionally, but they seem to have reserved Fall for announcing fairly insignificant games like the Vita remakes or mobile/browser games.

I wouldn't be surprised if in December there's an announcement of the next game, or at least some hints.

 

[luka]

I've never been a huge fan of the series (I haven't actually played one until about a year ago) but right now I own Phantasia PSX, Destiny Director's Cut PS2, Vesperia PS3, and Xillia. I haven't actually finished any of them yet but I have put about 10-15 hours into each. I think the music in Xillia is fantastic, and the combat is ace in Destiny. Skits are always great.

Hopefully I'll find time to finish them this year before I get totally swamped with work, but I'm kind of putting all my effort into get caught up with Kiseki.

 

[dakkumauji]

Any word on if Johnny Yong One-Voice is showing up in Xillia? He was kind enough to stay out of Graces.

It wouldn't surprise me if he voiced Ivar. That bastard Ivar.

 

[Aeana]

It wouldn't surprise me if he voiced Ivar. That bastard Ivar.

That wouldn't fit at all. :\

 

[AzureSkies]

Haven't touched Vesperia since I picked up the Last of Us, but If I'm in the desert

Spoiler

trying to find the parents of some kids

how far am I in the game?

 

[Lucis]

 

[FSLink]

Haven't touched Vesperia since I picked up the Last of Us, but If I'm in the desert

Spoiler

trying to find the parents of some kids

how far am I in the game?

A bit over or around 30% I think.

 

[AzureSkies]

A bit over or around 30% I think.

Thanks. I'm going to probably be devoting my time next week to finishing the game, if it's possible as I won't have access to any of my consoles until the end of August (I'm going back to England for summer) and that point I'll be wanting to play Xillia.

 

[Pejo]

The thing that always eats away at me, is Tales of Vesperia. It so far has been my favorite Tales game overall. I loved the characters, combat, world, and story. I got to right before the end of the game for the xbox 360 version, but then when I heard there would be a PS3 version with extra content, I stopped playing and never finished it.

I know it's probably never coming stateside, and I heard a few people refer to some deal MS had with publishing in the west, can somebody link me/explain why we'll never get the "complete" version for PS3? I really need to hook my xbox up again and play through that bad boy.

 

[FSLink]

I know it's probably never coming stateside, and I heard a few people refer to some deal MS had with publishing in the west, can somebody link me/explain why we'll never get the "complete" version for PS3? I really need to hook my xbox up again and play through that bad boy.

It's not MS most likely because Eternal Sonata PS3 made it over just fine.
It's just a ship long past sailed. They don't have the resources to localize the new content (and somehow coordinate the old VAs to record new lines), and I think everyone here would rather have them localize the newer titles than to waste time and money to try to get that over.

Just play the 360 version, it's a great game in its own merits, and most of the new content is small or end-game stuff (party arena, new mystic artes). If you end up enjoying it, there's nothing stopping you from getting the PS3 version later on and there is a translation patch in the works too:

http://talesofvesperia.net
Will require a modded PS3 of course.

EDIT: If someone could just link that URL or even this post in the OP that'd probably be best. I know some people who aren't up to date on Tales of do wonder if there's an actual reason, so there's the reason and a "solution".

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

I don't think anyone LOVES Tales of, or at least loves every game, or everything about them. I myself have only played thru and went deep in post-game of ToS, ToA, ToV, and ToGf.

I'm most into the combat and character building, which are consistantly in what I've played top-notch and inventive. I'm a mild fan of the art, which scratches a colorful, nostalgic itch deep in me, despite some indulging trainwrecks here and there. Characters? They were building up to something good in ToV, but there's some serious work to be done here (this is where I go into my "After P4 and Trails of, it is simply not acceptable any more to...blahblahblah" spiel). I am very disturbed by the microbilkments methodology Scamco's dove into reguarding Tales games; ToV's late and post game was swimming in side missions and boss fights that rewarded gear and tunes, much of which has vanished behind a paywall in later installments, and is currently vying with character/story beats in terms of Tales' weakest link as a series.

I'm mildly interested in ToX, mostly because of ToX2, which sparked a deep attraction in me that's paid off in the past with other games.

Favorite characters I guess would be Rutee, Tear, (this series has a neat thing about having so many healers being roguey knife nuts to break the mold), Yuri, Rita, and Raine.

DO NOT beg/ask/talk about Tales of Vesperia PS3 localization. Doing so will get you an instant ban. It’s a tired subject and we don’t need the community thread tainted with this subject.

Hossannah!

Let's fight about it.

Dem's fightin' words!

Innocence R is budget now so it wouldn't be too bad to invest in it whenever possible. The demo was enough to convince me to give it a whirl since it seems much better than the original version of Innocence. It's just too bad that Hearts R doesn't seem to follow suit. (Have fun with Lunatic mode; I know I did.)

Funny that you talked about the fighting genre when I completely suck at fighters. For some reason I'm halfway decent at Tales, so I guess it's an easier way for me to learn how to chain longer combos better even if it doesn't involve that many buttons nor does it involve a fightstick. And I could do it at higher difficulties, which is a plus. I guess I just like the flow in terms of it being a faster-paced think-on-your-feet Action RPG. Even if the rest of the game could be considered a junk food RPG by some.


That isn't strange; I don't like Abyss much either, and I don't think disliking Abyss is a rare opinion on GAF in general from what I've seen.

And its one of its best features.

I always have this nagging worry that would get watered down in the recent contraction. The old chestnut of "People play it for the story" and all that. This generation has beaten that kind of resignation into me. Thankfully, game after game, it's never come to pass. Tales is still up there taking Fighter elements and raising ARPG combat to an art form.

 

[Flamfas]

I know it's probably never coming stateside, and I heard a few people refer to some deal MS had with publishing in the west, can somebody link me/explain why we'll never get the "complete" version for PS3? I really need to hook my xbox up again and play through that bad boy.

I think the biggest factor was timing. Shortly after Vesperia 360 released, Namco went on a kick of trying to develop games for western audiences rather than localize Japanese titles. After this didn't work out (notably, Enslaved was a flop), they went back to try and bring their Japanese titles. Vesperia was just too old by that time. Look at how late we are in getting Xillia (almost TWO YEARS later), and imagine how much more behind we'd be if we had to wait on Vesperia PS3 before getting Graces f.

 

[Rhapsody]

The thing that always eats away at me, is Tales of Vesperia. It so far has been my favorite Tales game overall. I loved the characters, combat, world, and story. I got to right before the end of the game for the xbox 360 version, but then when I heard there would be a PS3 version with extra content, I stopped playing and never finished it.

I know it's probably never coming stateside, and I heard a few people refer to some deal MS had with publishing in the west, can somebody link me/explain why we'll never get the "complete" version for PS3? I really need to hook my xbox up again and play through that bad boy.

They confirmed saying that there was no MS deal. They haven't said why they never released it.
I guess they passed on it and when people voiced that they wanted it badly, it was already too late since they already have their hands full localizing Graces at the time along with Xillia after.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

On the bright side, they both have patches in the works :0



I'd predict Famitsu, Jump Festa, or even a teaser website before TGS

Oohh I forgot about those. I can totally see details being slipped out before TGS.

Lately Tales games are usually announced in June or December. They announce stuff in Fall occasionally, but they seem to have reserved Fall for announcing fairly insignificant games like the Vita remakes or mobile/browser games.

I wouldn't be surprised if in December there's an announcement of the next game, or at least some hints.

I wonder if things will be different since the PS4/Xbone are releasing this year (not sure if both will be in Japan by the end of the year).

I imagine for something like that they might want to show off what they are working on before the consoles are released. At least that's what I'm kind of hoping for.

 

[FSLink]

I don't think anyone LOVES Tales of, or at least loves every game, or everything about them. I myself have only played thru and went deep in post-game of ToS, ToA, ToV, and ToGf.

I'm most into the combat and character building, which are consistantly in what I've played top-notch and inventive. I'm a mild fan of the art, which scratches a colorful, nostalgic itch deep in me, despite some indulging trainwrecks here and there. Characters? They were building up to something good in ToV, but there's some serious work to be done here (this is where I go into my "After P4 and Trails of, it is simply not acceptable any more to...blahblahblah" spiel). I am very disturbed by the microbilkments methodology Scamco's dove into reguarding Tales games; ToV's late and post game was swimming in side missions and boss fights that rewarded gear and tunes, much of which has vanished behind a paywall in later installments, and is currently vying with character/story beats in terms of Tales' weakest link as a series.

Vesperia is the closest to perfection even if I do prefer Destiny remake's gameplay better. A stronger 3rd act, better cutscene direction (and fix Production IG's FMV work because it looks really bad here) would have done wonders.

The story tends to be servicable in titles not Destiny 2 JP/Rebirth (lol)/Graces, but even they are saved by the character skits and strong cast somewhat.

 

[Flamfas]

I didn't think Rebirth's story was so bad; I actually quite enjoyed it. Maybe not a masterpiece, but I found it above Graces.

Oohh I forgot about those. I can totally see details being slipped out before TGS.

Oops, I didn't mean "before" in a strictly chronological sense - Jump Festa is actually in December, after TGS. I just meant I find those more likely venues for reveals than TGS.

A lot of titles have been revealed in Famitsu, and Xillia, Xillia 2, Twin Brave, and Innocence R had teaser sites before we knew anything about them. Vesperia was announced at Jump Festa, and I know Namco had Hearts R details there last year.

 

[Dark Schala]

Bluntly speaking, Rebirth's narrative is one of the worst narratives I have experienced in the entire RPG genre, to be honest with you.

People had a ho-hum time with Symphonia's nods to racism here and there? Rebirth's entire narrative's about that, and it smacks you over the head with it constantly. Symphonia's way of handling it was much better than this when it was a side-element and not part of the core foundation of the narrative. It's so insipid; and the pacing's kinda off. Character interaction in the game is ok, but that's all it's got going for it in terms of the narrative.

That game's battle system's amazing. Definitely one of the best Tales games to play for me, up there with Graces and ToDr. So good.

 

[kewlmyc]

Yay, subscribed

 

[Aeana]

Yes, Rebirth has one of the worst stories in gaming. The cast is also pretty crappy. I am pretty sure most people would despise it had it released in English, going by the reception Graces got.

 

[Young Magus]

Mieu wrote a little entry between when (Akzeriuth spoilers; 1/3 into the game)

Spoiler

Luke was out of commission and couldn't write for a while

. Man, that was such a nice detail.

Shame that the other games didn't do something nice like that.

I actually forgot about that, the journal was pretty neat. I remember going back and reading all the entries, really liked the detail and content, gave Luke a lot a character

Spoiler

especially towards the end.

Edit:

Bluntly speaking, Rebirth's narrative is one of the worst narratives I have experienced in the entire RPG genre, to be honest with you.

People had a ho-hum time with Symphonia's nods to racism here and there? Rebirth's entire narrative's about that, and it smacks you over the head with it constantly. Symphonia's way of handling it was much better than this when it was a side-element and not part of the core foundation of the narrative. It's so insipid; and the pacing's kinda off. Character interaction in the game is ok, but that's all it's got going for it in terms of the narrative.

That game's battle system's amazing. Definitely one of the best Tales games to play for me, up there with Graces and ToDr. So good.

Yes, Rebirth has one of the worst stories in gaming. The cast is also pretty crappy. I am pretty sure most people would despise it had it released in English, going by the reception Graces got.

Interesting to say the least, how would you rank the Tales stories going by game-to-game?

 

[FSLink]

I actually forgot about that, the journal was pretty neat. I remember going back and reading all the entries, really liked the detail and content, gave Luke a lot a character

Spoiler

especially towards the end.

Yeah, it really helped his character. In retrospect, I wonder if that was a factor in why I didn't mind his character and liked his development, when most of my friends who probably didn't read the synopsis disliked or hated him, haha.

Regarding Rebirth, besides the racism plot:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69SmvbpaYUU

KUREA KUREA KUREA KUREAAAAAAA

As far as ranking the stories game by game, I think most people would agree the list is something like Xillia 2 > Xillia >= Vesperia > the rest of the Team Symphonia entries > Hearts > most of the Team Destiny entries > spinoff titles that don't have much of a story >>>>>> Rebirth

The story in the series isn't really something noteworthy honestly. I do really like Phantasia's opening act + the majority of Destiny's, but that's just nostalgia speaking.

 

[Seven Force]

The Xillia games have decent (relative to the rest of the series) plots? Huh.

 

[FSLink]

The Xillia games have decent (relative to the rest of the series) plots? Huh.

Well it is a reason why everyone who imported expects people who disliked Graces would probably enjoy Xillia (and Xillia 2 if it comes over). The new cutscene direction also really helps too.

I haven't beaten Xillia 2 but an impression from the GameFAQs Xillia 2 board by Kouli (who wrote the Vesperia sidequest guide and done some impressive Tales of videos):
"Surprisingly, up there with Xenoblade, Ao no Kiseki and Bravely Default. For a Tales game, that says quite a lot."