Post about Tales of games here.
Discuss what your favorite/least favorite one is and why.
Also, as someone who's never played a Tales of game, where is a good/best place to start, and which ones should I absolutely avoid? I've noticed Zestiria is pretty cheap now so I was considering picking that up. I've heard good things about Berseria as well though.
I played Zestyria, Xillia 1 and Xillia 2 on the PS3
Zestyria was very nice. I liked it very much. The characters are nice and the world looks beautiful and you get nipponese audio option. The soundtrack is gorgous and overall it was very fun to play.
Xillia 1 was nice too but it has no nipponese audio. However, I felt like the english dub was good enough. Overall it was very fun and they had some nice areas to explore. Then I also did not like the characters that much.
Xillia 2 is basically the FFX2 version of Xillia 1. It is pure fanservice and basically a recycled version of the original game. You get a very annoying silent main character and the focus is more on killing big monsters and doing side quests than progressing a plot. If you liked Xillia 1 you might want to play this one as well for the full experience but it will feel like a drop in quality.
Symphonia 1 is often named as the best Tales game and you might be interested in checking this one out too. Berseria is the newest one and you play as the villian.
Anti-hero really. Velvet is still ultimately out to save the world, she just doesn't care if a lot of people get killed in the process.
Usually you'll see in these threads people absolutely trashing on Zestiria and I have to agree that it's the worst one I've played. Just sitting down and playing it as your first game of the series will probably set your expectations kinda low for the other games, but that's honestly questionable whether or not that's a good thing. Playing Zestiria does make you appreciate Berseria more though, which is a vastly better game in almost every aspect.
Most people would say to start with Tales of Symphonia, though that game is pretty different from any game in the series Graces and up (Nu-Tales).
After finishing Berseria I decided to binge whatever Tales Of games I could reasonably get my hands on but I still need to play Xillia 2.
Out of the ones I played Zestiria was honestly the weakest. I'm really confused why they decided to support it over any other game in the series with a full high-budget anime. I guess just because it's the most vanilla and easy to pick up than any other game in the series?
The role you play in regards to Berseria's world is a bit hard to label because it changes significantly as you progress. You are honestly just outright villains at the start, but that role changes purely due to the circumstance of who you're trying to enact revenge on.
That anime was strange because it had characters from Zestiria and Berseria. Also Symphonia had a full anime series, Vesperia had a movie, and Phantasia had an OVA series. It seems like they wanted to make the newer games more popular.
Don't forget the Abyss 26-ep anime.
I happen to be ~40hrs into a replay of Destiny, one of my all time favorite rpgs. I've only played Symphonia of the rest, enjoyed the gameplay but story was meh for me. What other Tales of games should I play?
You made a general for a series you've never touched? I really don't get this tactic and definitely hesitate to cry shill over it, it's just baffling. I've noticed the guy who starts Atelier threads here does the same thing every time.
Its not a general. Its just a thread. Learn how to read, fam
Phantasia. The series only got worse with time. Also play Star Ocean if you haven't.
Yeah, Eternia was the last Tales game I really, really enjoyed. The 3D games aren't bad, but I can't get into them for some reason.
The first two only. 3 has some good ideas, but overall it's a mixed bag. 4 and 5 are complete trash.
I think they are really bad but I back you up on Eternia being a good game. Tales suffers the same problem as 3d Star Ocean, the combat (largely due to transitions) is too slow and the exploration is too weak to make me want to get into it. I forced myself through Abyss on the 3DS and wanted to kill everyone the entire time. Tales' writing staff is uniquely awful in my opinion, in a genre notated for awfulness.
Peaches look like little butts
Abyss was my first Tales of.
I thoroughly enjoyed it and recommend it everyone. I've since played every Tales of game available in English. I know everyone says Symphonia is amazing, but I got bored and could not keep playing it. It just wasn't interesting. Tales of Vesperia is one of the last amazing Tales of games before it transitioned to it's modern design via Graces. The post Vesperia games are great, but I will always miss the over world.
Thread reminder that Tales hit the pinnacle of goodlyness with Graces. I wish I could erase the memory of playing that godgame from my mind and replay it over and over again. Graces is simply the best. Never again will it be as great as that game.
Especially not with the new direction they're taking it. Christ almighty, Zestiria and Berseria were hot dogshit (the latter only slightly less so.)
Sorry i'm just now getting back to this thread.
So from what I've gathered in reading:
Berseris, Zestiria, and Symphonia are all pretty much worth playing. The former two if for nothing else but to be able to appreciate Symphonia and Graces even more. I'd say Xilia's games as well, but I don't own a PS3
I would also recommend the oldest title, Phatnasia. It was my introduction to the series and the music, setting, and story blew me out of the water first time I played it. I actually played a friends copy first which is really rare for me, but I had to get my own copy I liked it so much. I've only ever played it on the GBA, but I've heard that all versions are good for their own reasons. It's just hard to get a real copy of anything but the GBA version because every other release of it was JP only pretty much.
But yeah I would totally recommend starting with the first game. It's aged pretty well in my opinion.
Also the voice acting in the english intro scene is so bad it's good. Embed related.
Phantasia*
I just laughed my ass off at that a bit though.
Starting to feel like an FF thread
The GBA is probably the weakest port, the PSP version would be nice but that is still being fan translated.
Thanks user, i'll be sure to check it out.
Play Zestiria or watch the anime? I beat Beseria already.
Pick your poison. Both are shit.