Tales of X Games

Oglemi

Borf
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Ya the main character of Abyss is like the best example they have of showing character development via change in dialogue. He becomes far less obnoxious as the story progresses.

Mieu stays annoying unfortunately.
 

jrp

Banned deucer.
Mieu is adorable though

I would argue that Teepo is the most annoying mascot in the series
 

Layell

Alas poor Yorick!
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ba bump

We all enjoyed Zestria right? I really loved it after the 60 FPS hack.

Don't get Symphonia on Steam atm, it's a horrible port. Play it on Dolphin with widescreen hack and HD texture pack.
 

RODAN

Banned deucer.
i played like 3 hours of zestiria and got so horribly sick of mikleo that i ragequit. does it get better?
 

Layell

Alas poor Yorick!
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i played like 3 hours of zestiria and got so horribly sick of mikleo that i ragequit. does it get better?
He stops being your onscreen travelling companion once you meet other humans, and then a lot of the girls mock him a lot. Once better characters (Rose) come in they overshadow him a lot.

Battles really start getting fun once you have all four elemental companions.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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Haven't finished it yet but zestiria has been pretty fucking baller. The combat system is awesome but also way too overpowered lol, i feel like armatization should be harder to accomplish, but it's also really fucking necessary for like every boss fight so idk.

The best part of the game so far is just how fucking beautiful it is, it takes the cake by far aesthetically among tales games.

The story is decent but choppily done, like i feel like they needed to spend just a month or something working on transitions.

I'm wondering how much the decisions matter if at all thus far but i'll research that after I beat it.

Also Edna for fucking life, quickly becoming my all time favorite in the tales series
 
The game is too easy. Doing my first run through on intense but its still too easy. Chaos is too hard though.

Does the game get any tougher, like on the late game bosses?
 
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Acklow

I am always tired. Don't bother me.
I got Zestiria thanks to the sale. It's pretty good so far but Mikleo is literally Mr. Pretentious (and if he was a girl he'd be Mrs. Tsundere).
 

Acklow

I am always tired. Don't bother me.
So I have so much love/hate for Zestiria right now. The OST is absolutely amazing and the return to the combo mechanics that were used in Graces f are great, but I am sooooo confused w/the equipment system and worst of all the cameras in battles are so wonky. I like how although there are a few comic-relief moments, they aren't too detracting from the grim direction that the plot has taken so far (I'm at a village that is dealing with the disease outbreak). Characters are semi-likable/hatable which makes them relatable in some ways (but Leilah is fucking annoying when she plays dumb, ngl). The only final complaint I have is that Tales games really seem to like their Anime Walk Button (aka the button you press to stop running and to just walk as you hold it down). If only they changed it to a "speed up" button, which then I would press because then I would at least be under the illusion that I'm moving faster as I press a button down, but nope, we slow down when we press the button. Fun! *sigh* first world video game problems...
 
All the guy characters suck except Mr. Pendulum and hes predictable. Lailah and Rose are funny sometimes. Edna stank.

In terms of characters for a tales game, Symphonia and Abyss just seemed better than Zestiria.
 
The fact that moders could find the errors in the tales symphonia and fix a lot of stuff in like a day really upsets me. Common guys get your crap together.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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So berseria blew zestiria out of the water and is probably the best tales game to date after symphonia. Amazing story, amazing characters, great fixed and improved battle and camera system from zestiria, good difficulty, and enough side quests and stuff.
 

Kevin Garrett

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I don't know what game you played Oglemi, though your opinion matches those of the reviews more closely. As a long-time fan, I was disappointed (in part due to the lofty expectations from shining reviews).

Having just completed the main quest and many of the side quests, I'm really uncertain what direction the series is going in. The story is probably my biggest complaint. It starts off promising and fades quickly around the point when the Bloodwings require a set of four fetch quests that lead you onto the next plot point. The intrigue of the story was restored at a few points following that, but constantly had momentum killers during the therion hunt, which at times bordered on the outlandish even by Tales standards. This was unfortunate because the peak moment of the story for me was when Velvet returns to Aball midway through the game and it was sandwiched in between all of that nonsense.

Tales games always have moments that make you question everything they've told you up to that point and I feel like that was lacking for the most part. There are certain moments that played with my expectations:

1. Laphicet transcribed Arthur's book detailing Innominat to purchase the comb he gave to Velvet before dying.

This one was surprised me mostly because I thought it was clever for them to require you to remember a forgettable moment earlier in the game.

2. Phi turns out to be the unborn son of Arthur and Celica.

I was expecting it to be a vessel whereby they could reincarnate Laphicet, which was actually Arthur's plan for Innominat. Besides the grave at Velvet's house, little emphasis is placed on Celica's child leading up to that point.

The characters were great as usual, I took a liking to Eizen, Eleanor, and Laphicet. Rokurou was good in the skits, but forgettable in the story. I found Magilou to be annoying and unamusing until the end of the game, where they struck a balance that recovered her character for me. And then we have Velvet, who is a memorable character, but her development was spotty at best. Her quest was driven by revenge, but the feeling of loss was blurred that her actions hardly felt to carry any weight.

The battle system was well crafted overall. I did not like how skills were gained through items since I prefer to craft my party from the ground up when those options are at our disposal (i.e. Xillia). This one I'm sure I'm in the minority on, but I prefer having MP as the driving force for artes. As a result of this and the story, this title felt very much like Graces f to me. I'd put it right above Graces f, which I have at the bottom of my Tales rankings.

A few other observations I had: I was drawn to the side quests much more in this title than other Tales games because generally I am very driven to play through the main story without interruption. Those side quests got me interested in Zestiria, which I didn't play. I found the Zaveid content to be particularly enjoyable and enhanced with the inclusion of Go Shiina's musical track from Zestiria. Sakuraba had a brilliant theme for Velvet that was used to the max in a good way. I thought his recent efforts had been uninspired, so it was good to see him produce another standout track.

It's good that they don't have a new title on the horizon. The impression that they were giving me in recent years has been that they were the Madden/CoD of the JRPG landscape. The next title will hopefully harken back to when each title was a must play and not just a modification of its immediate predecessor.
 
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Oglemi

Borf
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For me, the biggest glowing point was the almost absence of the typical tales exposition. Velvet straight didn't give a fuck which was amazing. And idk, I thought she had amazing character development, going from being a completely innocent and loving teenager to seeing her life crumble before her eyes and seeing the biggest loves of her life die or betray her, being imprisoned for years, slowly learn to trust again after being freed only to find out her revenge path has been tainted by the fact that the person she was avenging had also betrayed her, to learning to love again, to feeling vindication and redemption, and finally forgiveness. It was an amazing risk story wise, particularly for a tales game to seat you in a moral gray area for the whole game and not just at the typical climax/game twist.
 

Kevin Garrett

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She had all of those things going for her, but something about it just wasn't very believable for me. I think it's because deep down I thought she still really cared when they showed all those moments of reflection amid her surroundings with reminders of her past. That's why the peak for me was undoubtedly the Aball return trip. Her portrayal was not a vessel of purely black or white, but a mix that conflicted each other. If only that could have been captured more thoroughly throughout, it would have made her development more convincing imo.
 

brightobject

there like moonlight
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Is Tales of the Abyss (3DS) worth it for 15 bucks? Some guy near me is selling it for such
 
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Oglemi

Borf
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Is Tales of the Abyss (3DS) worth it for 15 bucks? Some guy near me is selling it for such
Oh ya, 15 is Hella cheap for one of the better tales games. Fair warning, the main character is obnoxiously annoying for the first 10 hours of the game, but shows a ton of character development by the end. Also natalie and anise are some of my favorite characters to play as in the series
 

Acklow

I am always tired. Don't bother me.
A magician riding a giant teddy bear will always be a joy to play as for reals
 

Kevin Garrett

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Tales of Arises delayed beyond 2020. In reflection of my last comments here, I must say they are treating this new entry well by making sure they get it right. Coming off a couple lackluster entries, they are doing exactly what they need to do to recapture our imaginations.

I recently finished my second play through of Tales of the Abyss. It’s simply the best imho. I had my doubts at certain times, especially in the second act. Everyone knows how the first act requires patience to get through Luke’s immaturity, but it was not too bad because you’re so busy getting introduced to all of the characters and the major plot points. The second act sagged for me for two reasons: It felt very fetch questy for the main story and some of the methods for triggering the next event seem archaic in design.

But boy, the third act is flawless and leaves you with total fulfillment. The themes of identity and purpose are fleshed out so thoroughly, none more so than when they drop the mirrors track. It only plays a handful of times but each time is a crescendo for thoughts and feelings they have been building towards. The resolution of the story is completely unparalleled since it strikes a high not only for the narrative, but even greater for characterization.

A few things I noticed while playing: The battle system is really good. This was the first title with fully controllable movement in three dimensions and it feels really nice to play even all these years later. The other is how much I noticed it bothered me that skits and other minor scenes were not voice acted. It’s analogous to reading a log vs. watching a replay.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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I think my simultaneous favorite and hated part about the delay on Arise is that we haven't seen much of the game yet, and only 3 characters have been revealed thus far (which worries me that this could turn out like symphonia 2). We haven't been "promised" anything gameplay and story wise so I don't have any expectations yet that could be crushed on release, but the delays could mean that after however long they still don't like their own game much which obviously doesn't bode well. Hopefully they get it right.

Glad you enjoyed abyss kg! Need to play it again myself
 

Layell

Alas poor Yorick!
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Since this thread is bumped, might as well say I had a heck of a time with Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, with Sir Character Who Should Have Been Originally Playable.

I had some desire to 100% the game, but then I found out the DE bonus dungeon is about 10x longer than it has any right to be. I thought I was done with it 20% of the way through.
 

Oglemi

Borf
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So, Tales of Arise

Definitely one of the longer tales games this far, clocking it at 75 hours on my first playthrough. Absolutely beautiful game throughout, the backgrounds are incredible, the character design is some of the best yet, the battles look stunning albeit a bit too particle-effecty, and Hootle is far and away the best cutsie character thus far.

Story-wise, I feel they faltered quite a bit here. Overall it's too on-the-nose for the subject matter, and I feel like they intentionally played it too safe simply because of the premise (slave vs master). I feel like they thought that that was edgy enough and were afraid to take the story somewhere interesting beyond that. What's more, the story is overarchingly a love story, which bleh, and the level of deus ex machina was a bit grotesque even by Tales standards.

The series I feel has reached peak linearalization now too, unfortunately. There are sidequests galore, but long gone are the days of decisionmaking heralded in the past games, and there were zero puzzles to speak of, and very little off the beaten path secrets, if any tbh.

Battle system-wise is where the game shone brightest apart from aesthetic. Every character felt great to play as and unique, with our first shield bearing character in a long ass time and being done well. Difficulty wise the game gave me some trouble in the boss fights early on, I even lost twice to the second major boss. The required "finishers" were quite a bit overused and there was no variety after you see all the combos, which made it rather repetitive. They also made mystic artes insanely easy to use in this one, overall lowering their impact imo.

Overall I feel it's a decent entry into the series, but a definite step back from Berseria, placing it somewhere down near Zestiria for me. Hopefully if we get a sequel we'll see a more interactive story.
 

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