The "Tales of" Series

[Minato]

Le gasp! A Tales thread! HOW DID THIS THREAD ELUDE ME FOR SO LONG
So quick question for y'all, top 5 favorite tales games?
For me its:
1.Abyss
2.Vesperia
3.Symphonia
4.Phantasia
5. Hard tie between Radiant Mythology 3 and Destiny.

Hm... Mine would be maybe

1. PS2 Destiny
2. PS3 Vesperia
3. Phantasia
4. Graces
4. Symphonia

My list always changes around. Top 3 relatively stay the same. PS2 Destiny I have a lot of nostalgia for, and I love the characters, setting, and battle system most. It's also a decent length Tales game too, so it doesn't overstay its welcome for me. Vesperia's just all around solid and pretty. Phantasia is my first, and I love the scenario. Graces and Symphonia are tied. The first has a really addicting battle system, good pace, and awesome skits. Symphonia has great music, fun dungeons (imo), and nice characters.

Honorable mentions are Abyss for its ending and Xillia 2 for its story, and Eternia on how the final boss fight ends.

 

[SSBMLahti]

Le gasp! A Tales thread! HOW DID THIS THREAD ELUDE ME FOR SO LONG
So quick question for y'all, top 5 favorite tales games?
For me its:
1.Abyss
2.Vesperia
3.Symphonia
4.Phantasia
5. Hard tie between Radiant Mythology 3 and Destiny.

Hmmm...

Tales of Symphonia
Tales of Graces F
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Legendia
Tales of Xillia 2

Tales of Zestiria looks like it will be replacing one of those

And I'll probably provide some reasoning behind those placements another day

 

[PATH O__o]

Tales <3 <3 <3

My top three are Symphonia, Abyss, and Vesperia, in that order; although I've yet to finish Vesperia. I began Graces awhile ago, but sold my ps3 before finishing it. I've also played through the sequel of Symphonia, but like to pretend it doesn't exist. ;p

 

[Minato]

Namco's having a sale right now on PSN. Xillia+Graces bundle and Symphonia bundle is up at a really good price.

If anyone hasn't had a chance to buy it, now would be a good time.

https://store.sonyentertainmentnetwork.com/#!/en-us/namco-sale/cid=STORE-MSF77008-9_NAMCOSALE2014

 

[R0Y]

Playing Vesperia right now, 360 version. I can't wait until this series moves to PS4, I never got a PS3.

 

[El Penguino]

I have played Tales of Eternia, Tales of xillia 1 and 2.

And hell ya I loved tales of xillia 2 a lot.
Any other tales you guys could recommend. I keep hearing symphonia is great.

 

[Minato]

I have played Tales of Eternia, Tales of xillia 1 and 2.

And hell ya I loved tales of xillia 2 a lot.
Any other tales you guys could recommend. I keep hearing symphonia is great.

Symphonia is a good choice, yeah. The story is pretty similar to Eternia. It's the safe choice while Graces is good if you want a unique battle system.

 

[R0Y]

I have played Tales of Eternia, Tales of xillia 1 and 2.

And hell ya I loved tales of xillia 2 a lot.
Any other tales you guys could recommend. I keep hearing symphonia is great.

Tales of the Abyss (JP/NA PS2 or 3DS worldwide) and Tales of Vesperia (360 worldwide and JP PS3.)

 

[SSBMLahti]

Tales of Zestiria looks SO GOOD!

 

[kettering]

Once upon a time, there was this forum I was part of which Tales was the focus of. It was a really close community and stuff. Then people started leaving and the company itself started abandoning the one remaining administrator. Then sometime around last year Namco burned the forum to the ground. Probably necessary.

The only Tales games I've really played were Abyss and Symphonia. I've wanted to play more but I'm poor and don't go out and purchase awesome things like Swap Magic/whatever was cool at the time. Got really excited over the ToS port to the PS3 though!

 

[SSBMLahti]

Once upon a time, there was this forum I was part of which Tales was the focus of. It was a really close community and stuff. Then people started leaving and the company itself started abandoning the one remaining administrator. Then sometime around last year Namco burned the forum to the ground. Probably necessary.

The only Tales games I've really played were Abyss and Symphonia. I've wanted to play more but I'm poor and don't go out and purchase awesome things like Swap Magic/whatever was cool at the time. Got really excited over the ToS port to the PS3 though!

The Namco Tales forums are back up, but they're definitely not what they used to be and the community is basically non-existent.

There is Tales of Reservia which is frequented by a few of the members of the old forums.

I also feel like Abyssal Chronicles forum should be the main forum hub for all of Tales, but for some reason no one uses it

 

[kettering]

Yeah. I know about Reservia. Fysh, Moontoon and I created it, I nuked it one night when I was tipsy, then Taiyz and Moontoon were very appalled and recreated it. It looks much nicer now, though. Community remains the same as it did, unfortunately.

Though I'm not sure what you mean, the Tales Forums are back up? I still get a page asking for an authorization prompt.

 

[takai]

Tales of Xillia was my first Tale Of, now I'ma fan for life. It won me over with its charm, immersive world, surprisingly complex upgrade system and of course, great characters. I got Xillia 2 day of release, but only played about 2 hours of it. I always put bog JRPG's in the back burner until I'm really ready to tackle them. I bought the collectors edition strategy guide2 weeks ago, because I love to collect things, so that may help to get me back into it.

 

[SSBMLahti]

Yeah. I know about Reservia. Fysh, Moontoon and I created it, I nuked it one night when I was tipsy, then Taiyz and Moontoon were very appalled and recreated it. It looks much nicer now, though. Community remains the same as it did, unfortunately.

Though I'm not sure what you mean, the Tales Forums are back up? I still get a page asking for an authorization prompt.

http://forums.bandainamcogames.com/forumdisplay.php?12-Tales-of

 

[SSBMLahti]

I REALLY wished this thread was more active I'm on a Tales binge right now.

 

[Minato]

I REALLY wished this thread was more active I'm on a Tales binge right now.

Which Tales games have you been playing lately?

 

[SilentBob]

I'm not much of a fan of Japanese RPGs. I don't like any of the Final Fantasy games and the only one I really enjoyed was Chrono Trigger. Though I did play Tales of Symphonia back on the Gamecube and it was pretty fun. Though I couldn't finish it because it was only a rental. I wasn't able to buy many games back in the day considering the closest store selling them was over an hour away by car. I did start playing Tales of Hearts R on Vita recently. I'm 10 hours in and it's pretty good despite the translation errors. I've bought it to have a portable game to play at night while at my parents for the Holidays and I'll probably binge it until I finish it once I get home.

 

[SSBMLahti]

Which Tales games have you been playing lately?

The only Tales game I have been playing is Xillia 2, as I have completed every other Tales game I own and want to finish this one before Zestiria is released in Canada. I put Xillia 2 in my top 5 Tales games list earlier in the thread, even though I had barely played it. I have put about 20 hours into the game within the past 2 days, and I'm loving it.

I'm finally getting used to the combat- mainly how power hits and actual combos work revolving around starting with power hits and then rotating through various elemental attacks so enemies won't break out, etc. I noticed there's a lot of micromanaging in this game compared to most, as you have to balance story, sidequests, character quests, Kitty Dispatch, Allium Orbs, Skills, earning titles, creating all of the custom items, and finding all of the loot and elemental ores in areas.

It's like Xillia 1...but with added content that seems overwhelming and intimidating at first.

I'm not much of a fan of Japanese RPGs. I don't like any of the Final Fantasy games and the only one I really enjoyed was Chrono Trigger. Though I did play Tales of Symphonia back on the Gamecube and it was pretty fun. Though I couldn't finish it because it was only a rental. I wasn't able to buy many games back in the day considering the closest store selling them was over an hour away by car. I did start playing Tales of Hearts R on Vita recently. I'm 10 hours in and it's pretty good despite the translation errors. I've bought it to have a portable game to play at night while at my parents for the Holidays and I'll probably binge it until I finish it once I get home.

Why don't you like JRPG's my dude? And I've heard Hearts R has a sick combat system and a good story. I tend to skip the handhelds titles though.

 

[SilentBob]

Why don't you like JRPG's my dude? And I've heard Hearts R has a sick combat system and a good story. I tend to skip the handhelds titles though.

To be honest, there's no specific reason why I don't like JRPGs. The reasons tend to be different. Sometimes it's because I really don't like the character personalities and designs so I can't relate to them at all, other times I find the stories do not make any sense to me and other times I don't really like the setting the game takes place in. Mostly though, I'm not a fan of having to grind my way into beating a segment and random battles become insanely frustrating to me when I have a long way to walk to the next game segment or when I'm trying to figure out where I need to go next. I guess not being a fan of anime, with some exceptions, doesn't help either. I don't mean any disrespect to anyone who enjoys them though. There's nothing in existence that will please everyone and unfortunately most JRPGs aren't for me.

I must say though, for the longest time I never understood the importance of having different character types such as a physical attacker, a mage and healer in my party. So I was just spamming attacks and the spell that did the most damage all the time. I only understood how it works like three years ago and it explains why I've had such a hard time with these games. So I'm trying to revisit a lot of JRPGs that I've missed since the SNES times and unfortunately I don't have as much time as I had in my teens for video games. I'm really open to suggestions in this genre right now as long as it's not Final Fantasy because I've tried almost all of them in the past two years and they're just not for me.

The combat system in Hearts R is pretty cool. It's action based, you can setup your skills to create different combos when fighting and you have this guard and counter mechanic that keeps you on your feet. The story is cheesy but it's witty and it made me laugh quite a few times. I don't know if the hardcore Tales fans and JRPG fans in general in this thread would like it but I sure am enjoying it a lot.

 

[Aninymouse]

So, hey. Smash 4 hype has normalized a bit. Time to remember that other games exist.

Zesteria looks cool, but it's Playstation... so I'll never be able to play that one, either.

I really hope they develope another 3DS/New 3DS Tales. I know a Wii U title won't happen, but I really wish there was another game I could play.

I got Abyss for 3DS. It's good. I am a tad annoyed at how certain characters get resurrected constantly for no reason, story-wise, and the backtracking is horrendous, but in some ways this is an improvement on Symphonia. I like (almost) all the characters in Abyss, which is more than I could say for Vesperia. I like Natalia, but I feel like she got majorly short-changed. There was a lot of fascinating tension in her character, but then they kind of stopped developing her halfway through the game. I don't like Anise at all. She's cute at times, but at other times I wish she'd just... leave. I like everyone else a lot: Luke, Jade, Tear, Guy, Peony... The FoF system is next to pointless most of the time, sadly, unless your name is Guy or Jade.

 

[SSBMLahti]

Edit: I've decided not to pass judgment on Zestiria until after I have played it. I was basing my thoughts around streams and word of mouth.

I've been listening to the OST, and may I say that Go Shiina's tracks are AMAZING.

For example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rNeIZkZTRA&spfreload=10

 

[Minato]

Zestiria has some majors flaws. It's 1:00 AM and I have work in the morning so I will update this post tomorrow.

Just make sure to use collapse tags to hide the spoiler on you know what if you're going to go into detail.

And it's a little disappointing on certain things I'm hearing, but from the importers I know, they seem to enjoy a good amount of the game still. Honestly I think Tales have gone down this road hard ever since Xillia unfortunately. 360 Vesperia was pretty polished due to probably MS money while US got Graces f, a refinement of a game that was pretty complete (yet full of bugs on the Wii).

I hope people don't think too much about the Japanese Amazon reviews if they heard about that, since it happens for pretty much everything on Amazon Japan. I'm still looking forward to the game though (like the return of Graces style battles). It's just that this is the first Tales games I'm not importing since Symphonia. Not because of the bad stuff being said, but because we're supposedly getting dual audio. That and I've been burned out after the Xillias.

In this thread, I gave it a lot of praise, but it started falling towards a mid-tier Tales for me as time went on.

 

[Aninymouse]

So they're localizing Zestiria?

too bad i can't play it anyway

The Zestiria character design looks so good...

 

[Minato]

So they're localizing Zestiria?

too bad i can't play it anyway

The Zestiria character design looks so good...

Yup. An old interview said they were bringing it over, and it'll be one of the faster Tales localizations.

They promised that it'd be out within six months from the Japanese release.

 

[Aninymouse]

Yup. An old interview said they were bringing it over, and it'll be one of the faster Tales localizations.

They promised that it'd be out within six months from the Japanese release.

Well, at least they haven't given up localizing Tales games yet. Many times before, we (the Tales fans) thought they wouldn't bother with it anymore... Still wanting a 3DS title though Maybe the New 3DS will convince them.

 

[SSBMLahti]

Well, at least they haven't given up localizing Tales games yet. Many times before, we (the Tales fans) thought they wouldn't bother with it anymore... Still wanting a 3DS title though Maybe the New 3DS will convince them.

Thankfully they have been pretty prolific with localizing the series since Graces. The series has grown in popularity

I believe they did a Tales of the Abyss port on the 3DS. They seem to be sticking to Sony consoles though as they do seem to sell successfully on their consoles. No need to gamble with bringing the series to other consoles at this point

I'm about 120 hours into Xillia 2 and still on my first playthrough. Now that I've finally become accustomed to the battle system and learned some of it's intricacies, the game has finally gotten good.

 

[Aninymouse]

Thankfully they have been pretty prolific with localizing the series since Graces. The series has grown in popularity

I believe they did a Tales of the Abyss port on the 3DS. They seem to be sticking to Sony consoles though as they do seem to sell successfully on their consoles. No need to gamble with bringing the series to other consoles at this point

I'm about 120 hours into Xillia 2 and still on my first playthrough. Now that I've finally become accustomed to the battle system and learned some of it's intricacies, the game has finally gotten good.

I know about the port. I own it. Bought a new copy off Gamestop a while back.

The Tales games I've owned (don't have most of them anymore):

Symphonia GCN
Vesperia 360
Phantasia GBA
Dawn of the New World
Abyss 3DS

That's it. Probably the only ones I'll ever own, since I never will be a Playstation guy.

 

[Minato]

I hope Bandai Namco has learned from their mistakes to stay on one platform. They've jumped around a lot and even said that the DS would be their main platform for Tales in the past. Bandai Namco has been making some more annoying decisions as of late though.

 

[SSBMLahti]

I know about the port. I own it. Bought a new copy off Gamestop a while back.

The Tales games I've owned (don't have most of them anymore):

Symphonia GCN
Vesperia 360
Phantasia GBA
Dawn of the New World
Abyss 3DS

That's it. Probably the only ones I'll ever own, since I never will be a Playstation guy.

Is there a reason you won't purchase Sony products?

 

[Aninymouse]

Is there a reason you won't purchase Sony products?

It's not that I have anything against Sony, really. There are some PS1 games that are among the best I've ever played, like FF9 and Crash Bandicoot 1 & 2. But the thing is, there just isn't anything on Playstation that appeals to me, at all. I don't play shooters anymore. All the third party stuff is really bland. Final Fantasy lost me after 10, when it started to get just... ugly and uninspiring.

I like Nintendo games, by and large, because of the different mindset put into their games. It's hard to explain. Nintendo games just look better and make me happier, so I buy Nintendo hardware.

If Nintendo ever crapped out, to where I didn't even want to buy Nintendo anymore, I'd just stop buying and playing games. No company has ever been able to match the magic they have.

I love the Tales RPGs. Never disliked one I ever tried (even DotNW wasn't terrible). But, if people like @ Minato have their way, Tales games will stay on Playstation, away from me.

Vesperia was the only 360 game I ever bought, and only because my father had a 360. I was still living at home, then. If it was up to me to buy a Playstation or X-Box to just play one RPG, I couldn't justify that.

 

[Minato]

It's too bad, but I understand. No reason to get a console unless other games get your interest.

I've always been a Nintendo/Sony person. Last gen I got a 360 for various reasons, so I was lucky to get the chance to play English Vesperia (which is still my favorite Team Symphonia game). Then the game got ported to PS3 in Japan so I got that version too.

@ Aninymouse do you have a decent PC btw? Tales of Zestiria was listed under Steam last week or so, so there's hope for a Steam port. Honestly I'd like Tales to be ported to multiple systems or stay unified to a console. Last gen was difficult for Tales fans since there was a game on every console.

 

[Aninymouse]

It's too bad, but I understand. No reason to get a console unless other games get your interest.

I've always been a Nintendo/Sony person. Last gen I got a 360 for various reasons, so I was lucky to get the chance to play English Vesperia (which is still my favorite Team Symphonia game). Then the game got ported to PS3 in Japan so I got that version too.

@ Aninymouse do you have a decent PC btw? Tales of Zestiria was listed under Steam last week or so, so there's hope for a Steam port. Honestly I'd like Tales to be ported to multiple systems or stay unified to a console. Last gen was difficult for Tales fans since there was a game on every console.

Nah, dude. I mostly post at Smashboards from my 3DS because I don't own a computer. Sometimes I'll go to the library, since the 3DS browser is so limited (no flash, no png images, no memory-intensive web pages, no images over a certain size, no streaming music or video outside the YouTube channel).

 

[SSBMLahti]

It's not that I have anything against Sony, really. There are some PS1 games that are among the best I've ever played, like FF9 and Crash Bandicoot 1 & 2. But the thing is, there just isn't anything on Playstation that appeals to me, at all. I don't play shooters anymore. All the third party stuff is really bland. Final Fantasy lost me after 10, when it started to get just... ugly and uninspiring.

I like Nintendo games, by and large, because of the different mindset put into their games. It's hard to explain. Nintendo games just look better and make me happier, so I buy Nintendo hardware.

If Nintendo ever crapped out, to where I didn't even want to buy Nintendo anymore, I'd just stop buying and playing games. No company has ever been able to match the magic they have.

I love the Tales RPGs. Never disliked one I ever tried (even DotNW wasn't terrible). But, if people like @ Minato have their way, Tales games will stay on Playstation, away from me.

Vesperia was the only 360 game I ever bought, and only because my father had a 360. I was still living at home, then. If it was up to me to buy a Playstation or X-Box to just play one RPG, I couldn't justify that.

Makes sense. The only games I play now are Tales and Melee, so I don't have to worry about buying new consoles for years. I know what you mean by Nintendo games having their own "thing" though

 

[Elyssa Xey Hexen]

I hope Bandai Namco has learned from their mistakes to stay on one platform. They've jumped around a lot and even said that the DS would be their main platform for Tales in the past. Bandai Namco has been making some more annoying decisions as of late though.

At the very least you can enjoy the fruits of the past. It is a similar thing with Fire Emblem to me. Awakening was probably one of the weakest big ones in the series. However, despite what comes in the future there are 13 games worth playing. Get board with one simply more onto another one. Similar with Tales. There are several games I enjoyed and can switch around playing. It sucks I have played so few of them.

Symphonia1/2, Vesperia, Abyss, Phantasia, Xillia, and Xillia 2. Not to mention other games worth playing (questionable on Legendia).

 

[Milo AKA Papa]

-pokes head in-

TALES OF <3

I am ashamed I haven't noticed this thread until now...
PRAISE Vesperia and Legendia joking that's just my own opinion

 

[Minato]

The Tales of Vesperia PS3 english fan patch is completed now. Since it involves CFW and all, I'll leave it as that.
Considering you need a low enough firmware to run it, most won't be able to play it.

However, they posted the whole entire translation here http://hyouta.com/vesperia/

I really suggest importing the game and playing it with that site. Vesperia's a really polished Tales game (probably the most polished). Definitely one of my favorites, and there's a ton of extras making the game worth a playthrough if you have a PS3.

 

[Milo AKA Papa]

Thought I'd post this here, good stuff.

Spoiler

 

[ryuu seika]

Legendia, Symphonia, Xillia, Phantasia and Vesperia would be my top 5, though the order is unclear.

 

[dezeray112]

I've been playing the Tales series since 2011.

Games that I've played:

- Tales of the Abyss - 3DS
- Tales of Grace (PS3)
- Tales of Xillia (PS3)
- Tales of Xillia 2 (PS3)
- Tales of Symphonia HD Collection (PS3)

I am looking forward to getting Zesteria as well.

 

[SSBMLahti]

I just thought I'd mention that getting the Tales of Xillia 2 trophies suck.

That is all.