It has to be better than the last Tales game I played: Reve Unitia. Er... wait, completely different genre. Before that was Twin Brave, which was a different genre and I didn't like that either. I played the two R games and didn't think much of them. I think my feelings on the two Xillia games are very well-known here. RM3 was okay. I forgot what else came out between 2010 (Narikiri Dungeon X) and now.
I usually play Japanese versions of Tales games since Western version don't usually include JP voice. As for Japanese I can hear but I cannot read Kanjis....so I have trouble with menus/skills/items and texts that are not voiced.
In an alternate universe I would be pre-ordering this game to play with fluent knowledge of Japanese.
I still remember when I imported Xillia at release after learning how to read hiragana and katakana. I thought that would help me a lot in understanding things.
Turns out I could read things like "Fireball" in Milla's tutorial but not much else.
I'll be waiting for the ENG release as I don't like importing story heavy stuff anymore.
Fuck the haters. This fandom literally needs more haters. Like there's waaaaaay too much bias outside of the few of us.
Seriously speaking, I'd rather have hate on the shit that goes on Tales games because at least they'd point out mistakes, even if the reasons are wrong unlike those who praise games without even critiquing it properly. When I saw people praising Hearts R, a part of me died.
Milla is really weird with her ability setup. That'll take some getting used to. I like magic having two modes based on whether you tap or hold the button though.
Also loving the field chat or whatever it's called, even if Milla is only talking to herself so far.
Not really understanding exactly how AC works yet, but I'm sure I'll get it eventually.
I understand AC now. I read the in-game tutorial and I guess in the context of that it seemed like there had to be more to it, but I guess there isn't. And yeah, TP doesn't bother me as much as in Symphonia games so far. We'll see how it goes. I can say that post-prologue, Milla isn't fun to control at all. Now I kind of wish I started as Jude. I had assumed they would have separate stories for much longer, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Oh well, not a big deal since I can just control someone else anyway.
I just met Alvin, and he totally looks like he stepped out of Eternal Sonata. Looks pretty fancy for a mercenary.
I was a little worried about what Milla would be like based on her character description. I expected spoiled princess. I expected retreads of Luke scenarios from Abyss (what do you mean, I have to pay money ??). So far that hasn't been the case. However...
apparently she doesn't eat and doesn't know what hunger is. That's almost kinda worse.
EDIT: Just got introduced to the auto item system.
Gambits are the best thing FF12 gave to the world. Although I would have preferred gambit-driven cooking again.
I started a new game as Jude just to see how the story differs from his perspective. Honestly, I think the whole introductory scenario makes a lot more sense from his perspective than Milla's. Also, I really like playing as him. Love his backstep/teleport move.
The game finally explained the chain chance thing. I didn't realize I was so far behind everyone else.
First boss was really easy. Combat is pretty fun now. Nowhere near Graces fun for me, but it is definitely a gigantic step forward for Symphonia-style combat. It at least has great speed when playing as Jude.
As for the field/town framerate, I'm reasonably convinced it's 60. If it isn't, it looks fairly 60ish to me, which is good enough for me. It'd be nice if there was some full framerate video out there for one of the gurus around here to say for sure.
EDIT: Actually, I turned TruMotion on on my TV, and that looks more 60ish than the game, so I guess I'm wrong. But it's really smooth either way.
In this skit, Alvin is freaking Elise and Tipo out, telling them bedtime stories about how using spirit artes too often will eat away at the brain. Tipo's response is above.
Pacing is fine. Game is very linear.
The number of towns... hm, well, I guess there aren't really that many, but it hadn't occurred to me. What has occurred to me though is that every town's port looks completely identical.
I feel like the only person who's down on anything in this game. I won't go into it yet - I want to wait until I beat it - but it sure isn't all sunshine and rainbows for me. :/ I feel like Graces is a dramatically better game in every area except story/characters.
Yeah; the boring and featureless field maps are by far my biggest complaint. Feeling compelled to search them for shop build materials and Aifread's treasures just make it worse. The way symbol encounters work is also really quite irritating. You have to walk - soooo slowlyyy - from a good distance away to avoid alerting an enemy to get an advantage.
Considering how much of a disappointment Xillia was for me in the first place, I think I'm done buying the first versions of Tales games at the very least. Everything gets a more complete version later anyway.
Yes, of course. I'm tolerating it the best I can, but that aspect is far and away my least favorite thing about Xillia.
I'm managing though, and I'm having a generally good time with other aspects. I've come to appreciate the camera perspective in some cases, when I really didn't care for it before. Combat has grown on me a bit, too. I've passed where I quit before now, so we'll see how it goes going forward.
I don't think the bosses are that great, but I never thought the bosses were very good in Graces, either. They have some pretty serious balance issues. That said, I'm playing Xillia on normal since there is absolutely zero reason to play on higher difficulties, whereas I play Graces on second or hard due to the exp/gald boost, so I can't really compare directly.
My shop build multipliers haven't changed for an extremely long time, and I haven't seen a x3 in just as long. What affects that?
the "shell" was burst through, and we find out that Maxwell confined e'rrybody to Rise Maxima and Elenpios is the world outside
, so now I'm ready for Xillia 2 ~! ~!
I've been a lot slower going than is usual for me. I'm not sure how much of the game is left, but I kinda feel like I hit the halfway point or something.
Also, during the last scene, Wingal was talking and for a moment I thought it was JYB speaking Japanese. This is an omen.
The weird thing is that the game has several optional dungeons, some dedicated just to getting a fell arm or something.
I don't hate Xillia. I would say it's about mid tier, all in all. I just really ran out of steam with it before the game ran out of game. It could perhaps have been alleviated at least partially if I had tried controlling someone other than Jude, but I didn't really feel like learning the ins and outs of another character either. The combat is not bad - certainly better than Team Symphonia's output - and it might be the most interesting thing about the game. The game just lacks or completely mangled a lot of the stuff that keeps me enthralled with Tales games, so the hooks weren't there. I got so fed up with the lillial orb system once I realized that you end up learning everything ANYWAY because the useful abilities are spread out in such a way that they connect with other stuff and you end up learning nearby stuff, that I started using auto-navigate for everyone except Jude, and I think that's where my interest really started to wane.
This game's soundtrack is pretty great... (soundtrack tone/instrumentation/atmosphere spoilers in any spoiler tags)
reminds me of Eternal Sonata's a little bit, though in some places it reminds me of BK/SO
. A lot of it is kind of "unlike" Sakuraba, yet some of it is like Sakuraba. The OP form of "Progress" is not on the soundtrack, I don't think. I guess you'll have to buy FIVE for that.
Regarding the battle theme, final battle theme, etc:
I've really warmed up to the Jude battle themes. They seem fun to tab out and shred through on my electric guitar.
The victory theme is kind of shit, though. It's reminds me of the Radiant Mythology ones and that isn't really a good thing since I didn't like those either.
I still think Milla's themes are cool, but I'm really warming up to Jude's themes.
The Game Over theme ("Losing the Battle") is kind of cool; it kinda comes out of nowhere, and its quite atmospheric and ambient. I almost want to compare it to Final Fantasy XIII's Game Over theme, actually. That's what it reminded me of. The final battle theme progresses really really well; the buildup to the climax point and the instrumentation make it pretty awesome-sounding.
There are a few stunners on this soundtrack. For example,
there is a jazz theme (Disc 3, Track 5) that I really enjoyed. It's so mellow, and I think it's a town theme going by the name of the track. There is another jazzy theme on the same disc (Track 8) which I thought was good, but not as good as the previously mentioned jazz track.
Certain "scene"-sounding themes like
"Meaning of the Mission", "Her Treasure", are pretty good.
This soundtrack has some pretty good stringwork and piano work, especially in
Meaning of the Mission and "Illuminated Sunlight" (a calm, nicely-composed and paced melody whose centerpiece is a piano melody; it's really pleasant to listen to).
Regarding town themes, I think they were done pretty well. They don't sound as blasé as Graces' town themes did.
A lot of them are Asian-based in terms of instrumentation (ex: A Lord's City Towering in the Mountains, A Mountain Village in the Dawn, Village of the Spirits), so that was kind of a breath of fresh air to me. Other themes like "A Royal City Enveloped in the Night" and "Beloved Hometown" are good, and I guess they fit their areas (I know "A Royal City Enveloped in the Night" does for sure; I believe this is the first town theme), but they didn't really stand out that much to me like the other themes did. I also liked "The Lively Merchant Town" and "A Palace Bathed in Sunlight" as well.
With regards to the character themes,
I like Jude's ("Theme of Jude ~Determination~") a lot better than Milla's ("Theme of Milla ~Mission~"). Gaius's theme ("Theme of Gaius ~Supremacy~"), I felt rather indifferent towards.
I like it a lot better than Graces' soundtrack. A lot better. My boyfriend theorized that the other composers whom he worked with on the Vesperia, Hearts and Graces soundtracks kind of dragged those ones down. He might have a point as I don't think those soundtracks completely specified the composer-track breakdown (though the liner notes vaguely did... Sakuraba apparently did the "ethnic" town themes in Graces, for example, and some other stuff). This album, afaik, is completely composed by Sakuraba himself.
Having finished the game, it actually surprised me quite a bit. I was expecting more general stupid Tales team failings in various areas but there really wasnt. Its a really good game on pretty much all fronts to me. I'm going to try to avoid spoilers for most folks until a later post if someone wants to really know.
+ Best TS style battle system yet.
+ Link System is nice and adds a little more to consider to battles
+ Link Artes are sweet.
+ Pace of battles is quick
+ Movement systems are far better than most TS games.
+ Character roles and Artes balance is good
+ Each character feels unique to play even compared to similar characters in other Tales.
- Still lacks a bit of pizzazz like TD battle systems.
- Link traits and skills could've been a bit fancier or more indepth
- More Artes would've been fine and most noticeable changes for the X number of uses would've been nice
- More Link Artes for everyone but Jude and Milla
- A few more AI options and specific options in the Link system would've helped.
This battle system is definitely the best of the Team Symphonia style systems. It's better than Abyss or Vesperia by a long shot. It's incredibly fast-paced and it's a lot of fun to play. The link system is great and is actually a usable main system unlike say Fatal Strikes and Field of Fonons. It adds a bit of consideration to which of the characters to link up with and when. Link Artes are also all different so knowing properties and what they do is helpful for some of the things you may want to do. They also added proper movement systems other than Free Run so you can use those to get around the field most of the time but Free Run still has nice uses in the game if you need it.
That said, it still lacks a bit of the open-ended combo system of recent TD games. This is both on Artes and systems front. If they could add something on either front, I think TS battle systems would improve quite a bit. ToDR would be an example of basing it around Artes design whereas Graces A combos would be an example of a system. I also think the Link system could've used a few more things to it to make it meatier.
On that note, there could've been more Artes. It felt like there was too few for how long the game was. While they all serve a purpose, it would've been nice to see some bigger and cooler attacks. Link Artes are also a bit lacking for everyone but Jude and Milla. They have the most and everyone has a few with each other. It felt a little lopsided. On top of that, the changes to some artes are very big for using them often. It's sometimes just adding a specific property like guard breaks or so and that makes it hard to notice at times.
A few more specific options would've been nice for the AI in this, particularly being able to tell them to keep their distance against certain enemies. The enemy AI targets your backline at times, steamrolling them. So being able to tell your AI members to run away or fight from a distance would have been much nicer.
Between Graces and this, Graces has a more open-ended combo system thanks to the special nature of A and getting B moves to a certain number of uses. So this has less free combo potential. On the other hand, Graces field feels cramped compared to Xillia, so it always felt like enemies were breathing down my caster's neck on Hard. The movement systems are rather comparable though Graces has a slight edge because sidestep isn't tied to an attack and it moves more. Where Graces kind of falters is that I often feel like it's a relatively slow combat system. Xillia is break-neck speeds even until the last battle which doesn't drag me down at all. They both have pluses and minuses.
+ Great story.
+ Careful attention paid to pacing and plot composition.
+ Great writing on the whole.
+ Presentation is great.
- Beginning can feel a little slow.
- Setting isn't quite as inventive as other Tales.
- A few spots could have had more story to really cement some stuff.
This is definitely the game's biggest strength and it really does it well. The story is, as I've said, definitely the best story we've gotten in a Tales game to date. The plotting, the presentation, the pacing, the composition of the story and pretty much everything is hit perfectly. You can really tell that they put a lot of effort into making a story that made sense, was always focused, and, kept in tune with the theme of the game. What this means is that every event in the game has a purpose and time is given to for each to play out properly giving it weight. I don't think there are events in the game that occur then just hand-waved or went through quickly and off to the next one.
Of this all, the thing that stood out the most was the fact that the writing never got lost at all. It was always on point. The theme of the game is very much a part of the central conflict in the story and all the interactions really reinforcement it, even to the end. I think very few games ever do this right.
I do have a few minuses in this area. The beginning is a little slow because you really don't know anything and there isn't nearly as much going on. However, it's not really dead weight either since it does a bit of character building and setting a few blocks here and there for the story. The setting is not nearly as inventive as other Tales games like say Abyss. It does have a few things but it's very straight-forward world for the most part.. That's not necessarily bad but it does feel just a tad vanilla because there aren't many esoteric mythology pieces or crazy cultural practices. The last minus is that there are a few points in the story where I think they could've add a bit more to really hit the point away or to get even more bang. It's not really a minus as much as it's "I'd like to see more about this world" kind of thing.
The minuses are really minor overall and don't detract from the positives of the story.
+ Characters are written really well.
+ They have proper relationships and connections with each other.
+ Every character is important to the story for the most part.
+ Everyone is freaking cool on all fronts even the villains.
+ Alvin is incredible, absolutely incredible.
- Unfortunately, Leia is the sole exception.
- There is one other character that also suffers as well but is a bit of a spoiler.
- More time spent on the villains would've been nice.
While I like certain individual characters and Tales casts more on a general level, I can't deny that this is a pretty damn great cast overall. Every character plays a role in the story, each gets their own time to develop, and there's a bit more to all the character's relationships than most Tales. On top of that, everyone has a really good design. I do have a few quibbles like Rowen looking like one of the Royal Guards from Suikoden 5 and Elise having goth loli fashion. The villains are great too, very awesome looking bunch.
I'll just reiterate it here but Alvin is incredible. He's an amazing character, period.
So on the downside, Leia just didn't get enough time from what I saw and her position in the story isn't very useful. The writers actually lampshaded this a bit but still, she's the weakest character by far in the cast. Her connection with the cast is fine and her position in being a foil is good as well but her development itself is rather half-baked and isn't even really related to the story itself like the rest of the cast. I won't talk about the other character in this post because of how spoiler-y it is but if anyone wants to know I can talk about it.
Last point is well, I really like the villains in this and it's because of how the story is written. I would've loved to have seen them more on screen and the like. It's not that they're bad, it's just I want more with them.
That's all I've got for now, I think. If anyone has questions, I can answer them. It'd be easier than writing another one of these things.
...kayos pls. That was back when i was fresh out of undergrad and had a loftier outlook on life. -_____-
I'm going in blind. I didn't really care much about it before until Aeana and Ryouga told me about what the game's going to be like a few weeks ago. Then I cancelled my order last week. Then I reordered it today.
So I have noooooo idea who any of the people are in Zestiria, what most of the systems are really like, whatever the heck a seraphim is in this context or a human or whatever thing they're going to do to make the story about the theme of racism again, outside of some of the info I read last week. I know about the preorder hi-ougis because that made me laugh out loud because it seemed like a Namco thing to do.
And to be honest, I want to keep it that way. It's better to go in knowing nothing about a game you're not too enthused for than going in knowing everything and making judgement calls on everything beforehand. That's kinda how I've been approaching a lot of games since last year and it's worked out pretty well.
...kayos pls. That was back when i was fresh out of undergrad and had a loftier outlook on life. -_____-
I'm going in blind. I didn't really care much about it before until Aeana and Ryouga told me about what the game's going to be like a few weeks ago. Then I cancelled my order last week. Then I reordered it today.
So I have noooooo idea who any of the people are in Zestiria, what most of the systems are really like, whatever the heck a seraphim is in this context or a human or whatever thing they're going to do to make the story about the theme of racism again, outside of some of the info I read last week. I know about the preorder hi-ougis because that made me laugh out loud because it seemed like a Namco thing to do.
And to be honest, I want to keep it that way. It's better to go in knowing nothing about a game you're not too enthused for than going in knowing everything and making judgement calls on everything beforehand. That's kinda how I've been approaching a lot of games since last year and it's worked out pretty well.
I agree with 90% of the criticisms, but I don't know about other people.
Tales games usually have a couple of really stupid things that knock it down a few notches, like the stupid shop system (that they're bringing back. Whyyyyyyyyyy).
I've come to settle on Graces f as one of the better Tales of games, behind Vesperia (and Xillia 2 behind Graces f),
From what I've seen, the gameplay will be great. "How great" is the question. To be honest, I'm very negative on the Kamui system. It's taking Xillia's Link system further and I didn't like that either, but I'm open to getting my mind changed.
If they are using two human and two Seraph combinations I think there needs to be a distinction between the human characters and the Seraphs. Much like how Lost Odyssey had its distinctions between humans and Immortals.
Y'all know more than I do, haha. I don't even know what the Kamui system is (don't tell me!). ¯\_(ツ_/¯
I just use hi-ougis in a functional sense; sometimes to end a combo, or get something in quickly before I see an animation stop, stuff like that. I don't really use them for the flashiness; nice to see once and unless there are extensions, I don't really care.
Edit: Kayos didn't even pull out my quote from my Xillia replay from the end of the thread. kayos pls.
I get the feeling no matter how good the combat is, the rest of the game won't hold up.The aesthetic looks so dreary and I'm not really feeling the cast (I haven't seen the OVA).
At the very least, I'm hoping the plot/cast won't be the aimless, wasted potential found in Xillia. I suppose I'll be listening closely to import impressions.
Not pictured in the above quotes is the period where I got so fed up with Xillia that I quit for a year, then finally went back and finished it up just before Xillia 2 released.
Y'all know more than I do, haha. I don't even know what the Kamui system is (don't tell me!). ¯\_(ツ_/¯
I just use hi-ougis in a functional sense; sometimes to end a combo, or get something in quickly before I see an animation stop, stuff like that. I don't really use them for the flashiness; nice to see once and unless there are extensions, I don't really care.
Not pictured in the above quotes is the period where I got so fed up with Xillia that I quit for a year, then finally went back and finished it up just before Xillia 2 released.
Not pictured in the above quotes is the period where I got so fed up with Xillia that I quit for a year, then finally went back and finished it up just before Xillia 2 released.
Not pictured in the above quotes is the period where I got so fed up with Xillia that I quit for a year, then finally went back and finished it up just before Xillia 2 released.
Also have to agree on Xillia running out of steam quickly, I never did beat the game.
Jude is one of my favourite tails MCs since it seems he got his shit together. The only thing that bothered me with Jude, besides his name literally meaning Jew in german, was his lacking confidence. It was a weak character plot.
I'm really turned off by it in Hearts R. People in the thread were saying It was the best tales of ever or something and I think it's fairly shoddy. I like the soma progression system and that's about it. Everything feels really cheap and ugly, there's random encounters instead of enemies on the map and I feel cutscenes and scenes are missing with the way events are connected together compared to a traditional tales game. I probably won't beat it.
The skits about the sexual allusions are embarrassing. The one about the peanuts made me think if I was starting to get too old to play this kind of game anymore. Also hated it a lot in Danganronpa 2 since it's much worse. Don't remember it being that awful before, I stopped after Graces F and I didn't remember being this bad. I mean there is the usual let's compare our breast size skit in pretty much every newer tales but I feel like it's getting worse.
I'm really turned off by it in Hearts R. People in the thread were saying It was the best tales of ever or something and I think it's fairly shoddy. I like the soma progression system and that's about it. Everything feels really cheap and ugly, there's random encounters instead of enemies on the map and I feel cutscenes and scenes are missing with the way events are connected together compared to a traditional tales game. I probably won't beat it.
The skits about the sexual allusions are embarrassing. The one about the peanuts made me think if I was starting to get to old to play this kind of games anymore. Also hated it a lot in Danganronpa 2 since it's much worse. Don't remember it being that awful before, I stopped after Graces F and I didn't remember being this bad. I mean there is the usual let's compare our breast size skit in pretty much every newer tales but I feel like it's getting worse.
There are scenes missing. There are entire gameplay segments missing. Example:
when Shing gets captured by the knights in Straga, in the DS version, you control Hisui and the rest of the gang and they have to go bust him out of confinement. In R, they just show up after a couple of dialog boxes.
I hope the DS version gets a translation so people can check it out and see how much better it is.
There are scenes missing. There are entire gameplay segments missing. Example:
when Shing gets captured by the knights in Straga, in the DS version, you control Hisui and the rest of the gang and they have to go bust him out of confinement. In R, they just show up after a couple of dialog boxes.
I hope the DS version gets a translation so people can check it out and see how much better it is.
I'm really turned off by it in Hearts R. People in the thread were saying It was the best tales of ever or something and I think it's fairly shoddy. I like the soma progression system and that's about it. Everything feels really cheap and ugly, there's random encounters instead of enemies on the map and I feel cutscenes and scenes are missing with the way events are connected together compared to a traditional tales game. I probably won't beat it.
The skits about the sexual allusions are embarrassing. The one about the peanuts made me think if I was starting to get too old to play this kind of game anymore. Also hated it a lot in Danganronpa 2 since it's much worse. Don't remember it being that awful before, I stopped after Graces F and I didn't remember being this bad. I mean there is the usual let's compare our breast size skit in pretty much every newer tales but I feel like it's getting worse.
There was a link to a translation blog and it went into detail about how the Hearts R translation is really shoddy. I wonder if it was added in during the translation process (or made worse) and if it was in OG Hearts. I kind of took the blog at their word because I can't read Japanese.
Are the Tales games linear in terms of romance or anything? I'm watching the PVs for Zestiria and what I think is the main heroine looks so bleh. Also the protagonist looks really lame with those feathers in his hair.
The only Tales game I own, is Tales of Innocence R, and I did not like it at all and stopped playing part way through. How does this game compare to the others?
Are the Tales games linear in terms of romance or anything? I'm watching the PVs for Zestiria and what I think is the main heroine looks so bleh. Also the protagonist looks really lame with those feathers in his hair.
The only Tales game I own, is Tales of Innocence R, and I did not like it at all and stopped playing part way through. How does this game compare to the others?
I watched the OVA and both the Sorey and Mikello are pretty great chars. Totally expected them to be dumb cheerful hero and closed up jelly tsundere guys and they didn't end up that way at all.
There was a link to a translation blog and it went into detail about how the Hearts R translation is really shoddy. I wonder if it was added in during the translation process (or made worse) and if it was in OG Hearts. I kind of took the blog at their word because I can't read Japanese.
Well, it's not in the original Hearts any more than the average Tales. Most of the skits in Hearts R are new, as far as I can recall. This was necessary of course, since it has new characters. Gall wasn't even in the original game.
