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Tales of Series |OT| Tales of Reseteria
- Thread starter Brawly Likes to Brawl
- Start date
Yeah, this. Playing Berseria without knowing anything about Zestiria could even enhance the experience in a sense. The game takes its time to unleash its secrets and you're even lied about some stuff. Maybe because Zestiria was released first, it doesn't spend much time in infodumping the hell out of everything, making it quite refreshing compared to other JRPGs.
Recently I've been replaying the game with a few friends via co-op. We still need to get used to the camera though. Using Rokurou's Soul Break while the camera is far away from you is quite hard.
Picked up Tales of Symphonia on Steam awhile back and still havent tried it yet lol. Been meaning too for awhile now though, hopefully after finals Ill actually get a chance.
Have they said anything about doing any more remasters along the lines of Symphonia? Id really like to see Tales of the Abyss get a similar treatment.
Have they said anything about doing any more remasters along the lines of Symphonia? Id really like to see Tales of the Abyss get a similar treatment.
Team Destiny da GAWDS.
They cant story for shit tho.
They cant story for shit tho.
I should continue my Destiny R:DC playthrough
Dang it's been so long since I played a Tales game. Played and loved both Symphonia and Vesperia back in the day, but I haven't been back since, mostly due to having the wrong consoles. I can't wait to see what they have for Switch, Hopefully it's good, whatever it is.
Seeing tbis thread pop up reminds me that my PS3 Tales of Symphonia game is still saved at the lightning tower and I need to continue at some point.....
I really wish we got a Tales of Vesperia PS4 port in NA while we wait for the next mainline story.
Also, speaking of next mainline story, I really hope there is a well written, mature loce story embedded.
Ok, that's all
I really wish we got a Tales of Vesperia PS4 port in NA while we wait for the next mainline story.
Also, speaking of next mainline story, I really hope there is a well written, mature loce story embedded.
Ok, that's all
Love this series.
Graces f is my favorite fame because it has the best battle system.
I think I like abyss' story the most because of Luke and his development.
I think overall, Vesperia is the best game in the series...I'd love for that ps3 remake to come stateside.
Zelos is my favorite character in the series, followed by Hubert, and then Leon.
Holla~
Graces f is my favorite fame because it has the best battle system.
I think I like abyss' story the most because of Luke and his development.
I think overall, Vesperia is the best game in the series...I'd love for that ps3 remake to come stateside.
Zelos is my favorite character in the series, followed by Hubert, and then Leon.
Holla~
Oh boy, a spotlight! I better say something
This was from a thread at the old place asking everyone what their memories of the series were. It is kind of a random info dump, but I want it here for curious wanderers to see so nyeh
Ah, Tales of. A series that's been around since the Super Famicom days in Japan, Tales is well known for being the epitome of the JRPG genre. While it's generally considered to have B-tier writing and rely overtly on genre cliches and tropes, it eventually grew into its own with its distinctive focus on character interactions, which were fleshed out with the series' skit mechanic - conversations between the main characters that happen while exploring the various maps of the world. For a long time, it was considered the perfect fusion of an action game and an RPG, although that sort of genre blend has certainly become more common in modern times.
The series has been around for a long time, and has evolved about as much as any other long standing series. As such, there have been different eras of Tales:
The Classic Era
Games: Phantasia, Destiny, Eternia
The three that started it all. These games were a bit more vanilla than their successors, and the series' trademark skits hadn't really bloomed into anything substantial yet. Phantasia, in particular, feels quite different from any Tales game to come after it - while others are known for being relatively lighthearted or very "anime," Phantasia is much more grounded in its RPGness, more similar to Dragon Quest or the earlier Final Fantasies. Part of this has to do with the fact that Wolf Team hadn't split yet, and many members who would later go on to work on the Star Ocean series at Enix also worked on Phantasia.
The Golden Era
Games: Destiny 2, Symphonia, Rebirth, Legendia, Abyss, Innocence, Vesperia, Destiny Remake
This is usually the era people think of when they say they once loved the series. This is when Tales found its identity, I think. All of these games have a colorful and distinctive cast of characters and rely heavily on series mechanics such as stories with multiple acts, villains that fit neatly into a villainous organization, similar music, cooking, skits, and unique variations on the series' trademark action-based battle system. Unfortunately, Destiny 2, Rebirth, and Destiny's remake were never released in the west. There are translated playthroughs on Youtube and translation guides available, but we're still waiting on patches for them.
A unique aspect of this era is the split between Team Destiny and Team Symphonia. Team Destiny would make the 2D games, while Team Symphonia would make the 3D games. Each team's games had a distinct feel to them, with Symphonia's games going for a stronger main plot and more freedom of movement on the battlefield, and Destiny's going for gorgeous spritework and a more character-focused approach. Team Destiny's games were quarantined in the east, and a nasty rumor says that it's because Sony didn't want 2D games in this era... it's really too bad, although, if I'm going to be honest, Team Symphonia's games had better stories by a long shot anyway.
Vesperia is still the best looking game, and I think it's partially because it was the last game made for a powerful console to still use fixed camera angles.
The Modern Era
Games: Graces/F, Hearts, Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria, Berseria
Team Destiny would pump out one last game for the Wii (which was later ported to PS3), and would then merge with Team Symphonia to make Xillia. This era is generally considered to be an era of decline for the series, although I think the only game that's outright disliked by the majority of players is Zestiria. It's not that these games are bad, but there's several reasons they don't feel as compelling as the golden era of Tales - the franchise was beginning to feel stale after running on the same formula for so long, and the shift to HD development definitely harmed the games from Xillia and onward, with barren, open fields and a relatively lifeless world plaguing each game until Berseria. The battle systems became increasingly complex and convoluted, as well. Graces is hailed for having amazing gameplay, but its story was derided for delving too far into anime tropes. Needless to say, this set of games is divisive at best, although Berseria is considered a return to form for many.
My personal favorites are divided into gameplay and story. For gameplay, it's Destiny's remake, hands down. I made a RttP thread a while ago, but I'll copy paste it for the purpose of this thread.
For story, it's Abyss. I loved the theme of the story - the meaning of birth - and I feel as if it had the strongest main plot in the series. I LOVED the twist of
I loved how Luke didn't start out as your typical gung-ho hero with a heart of gold. Abyss has its issues, but overall, I really enjoyed its story.
I like most of the games in the series, and even enjoy the more cliche plotlines. Tales is the perfect fast food JRPG fix. But I think some games go above and beyond that fast food feel, and Destiny and Abyss are two of them. Phantasia, too, feels a lot more "respectable" than its successors - if that makes any sense - and is right up there as one of my favorites.
copy an old post of mine
This was from a thread at the old place asking everyone what their memories of the series were. It is kind of a random info dump, but I want it here for curious wanderers to see so nyeh
Ah, Tales of. A series that's been around since the Super Famicom days in Japan, Tales is well known for being the epitome of the JRPG genre. While it's generally considered to have B-tier writing and rely overtly on genre cliches and tropes, it eventually grew into its own with its distinctive focus on character interactions, which were fleshed out with the series' skit mechanic - conversations between the main characters that happen while exploring the various maps of the world. For a long time, it was considered the perfect fusion of an action game and an RPG, although that sort of genre blend has certainly become more common in modern times.
The series has been around for a long time, and has evolved about as much as any other long standing series. As such, there have been different eras of Tales:
The Classic Era
Games: Phantasia, Destiny, Eternia
The three that started it all. These games were a bit more vanilla than their successors, and the series' trademark skits hadn't really bloomed into anything substantial yet. Phantasia, in particular, feels quite different from any Tales game to come after it - while others are known for being relatively lighthearted or very "anime," Phantasia is much more grounded in its RPGness, more similar to Dragon Quest or the earlier Final Fantasies. Part of this has to do with the fact that Wolf Team hadn't split yet, and many members who would later go on to work on the Star Ocean series at Enix also worked on Phantasia.
The Golden Era
Games: Destiny 2, Symphonia, Rebirth, Legendia, Abyss, Innocence, Vesperia, Destiny Remake
This is usually the era people think of when they say they once loved the series. This is when Tales found its identity, I think. All of these games have a colorful and distinctive cast of characters and rely heavily on series mechanics such as stories with multiple acts, villains that fit neatly into a villainous organization, similar music, cooking, skits, and unique variations on the series' trademark action-based battle system. Unfortunately, Destiny 2, Rebirth, and Destiny's remake were never released in the west. There are translated playthroughs on Youtube and translation guides available, but we're still waiting on patches for them.
A unique aspect of this era is the split between Team Destiny and Team Symphonia. Team Destiny would make the 2D games, while Team Symphonia would make the 3D games. Each team's games had a distinct feel to them, with Symphonia's games going for a stronger main plot and more freedom of movement on the battlefield, and Destiny's going for gorgeous spritework and a more character-focused approach. Team Destiny's games were quarantined in the east, and a nasty rumor says that it's because Sony didn't want 2D games in this era... it's really too bad, although, if I'm going to be honest, Team Symphonia's games had better stories by a long shot anyway.
Vesperia is still the best looking game, and I think it's partially because it was the last game made for a powerful console to still use fixed camera angles.
The Modern Era
Games: Graces/F, Hearts, Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria, Berseria
Team Destiny would pump out one last game for the Wii (which was later ported to PS3), and would then merge with Team Symphonia to make Xillia. This era is generally considered to be an era of decline for the series, although I think the only game that's outright disliked by the majority of players is Zestiria. It's not that these games are bad, but there's several reasons they don't feel as compelling as the golden era of Tales - the franchise was beginning to feel stale after running on the same formula for so long, and the shift to HD development definitely harmed the games from Xillia and onward, with barren, open fields and a relatively lifeless world plaguing each game until Berseria. The battle systems became increasingly complex and convoluted, as well. Graces is hailed for having amazing gameplay, but its story was derided for delving too far into anime tropes. Needless to say, this set of games is divisive at best, although Berseria is considered a return to form for many.
My personal favorites are divided into gameplay and story. For gameplay, it's Destiny's remake, hands down. I made a RttP thread a while ago, but I'll copy paste it for the purpose of this thread.
After FFVII introduced me to the wonderful world of JRPGs, this was probably one of the first I picked up afterward. It was back when I would still rent games at the local rental place based on the box art/back of the box alone... a practice from another era. This must be what old people feel like when they look back at their time and see how different it was.
Anyway...
I'm playing the PS2 remake, the Director's Cut.
I played the PS2 remake back in 2006, but back then there was A) No translation for the game and B) I could speak literally no Japanese. Now that I've returned to it eleven years later, I can speak decent Japanese and there's a translation guide to help me along. I'm even learning some kanji along the way! So that's cool.
The story is exactly as I remember it, both from the 90's and from a decade ago. It's nothing extraordinary, but it's a charming and enjoyable story nonetheless. The basic gist of it is that you play as a team of warriors that can use talking swords with the souls of ancient warriors embedded in them. Each "Swordian" has an element assigned to them, making your team feel sort of like a bunch of sword-wielding Power Rangers. You've got the fire guy, the ice girl, the wind guy, the earth guy... you know, the works. I've always been a sucker for this kind of fast food style of entertainment, so I'm enjoying it as much my third time through as I did before.
The PS2 remake got rid of my major complaint from the PSX release. In the original game, you could equip other weapons along with the Swordians, but there was a catch. The weapons often had higher stats, but you needed the Swordian to use spells. This resulted in situations where you'd end up sacrificing higher attack for the ability to cast a fire ball - the Swordian was almost always the better choice, making alternate weapons sort of worthless. The remake has a "Rerise" system for the Swordians in place of a standard weapon slot, where you can allocate points to different stats. No more secondary weapons - there's customizable Swordians instead. This is a huge quality of life improvement. Characters like Leon and Garr (Woodrow in Japanese) have been reworked to use new fighting styles that are vastly superior to their original incarnations, so that's another plus. Of course, it also looks much nicer than the original PSX release.
This game is still the pinnacle of the franchise's battle system. While the PSX version had now-dated and clunky battles, complete with screen-stopping spells, the remake is fast and responsive. It uses the CC system that most western fans would recognize from Graces, and focuses heavily on air combat. Every character is fun to use, and I find myself having a lot of fun trying to get combos in this game, which is something I never found myself caring for or trying to do in any other Tales game. The spell effects, battle music, and character sprites are all beautiful, as well.
It looks like they added a "Lion Side" where you play through the story from Lion/Leon's point of view, so I'm playing that. I love, no, I love when games have multiple PoVs, so this is a really exciting addition for me. Seeing Leon's added scenes and inner thoughts makes him a much more human character than the standoff-ish, coldhearted guy he was for most of the original game.
So, third time through, and I can still say this is one of my favorite RPGs, and definitely my favorite Tales game. It's simple, fun, charming, and has a great cast of characters. I hope the fan translation comes along sooner rather than later so that more people can experience the remake in all its glory.
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For story, it's Abyss. I loved the theme of the story - the meaning of birth - and I feel as if it had the strongest main plot in the series. I LOVED the twist of
the world being kept up on pillars from a poisonous mist. I loved how you don't play as the "real" Luke.
I like most of the games in the series, and even enjoy the more cliche plotlines. Tales is the perfect fast food JRPG fix. But I think some games go above and beyond that fast food feel, and Destiny and Abyss are two of them. Phantasia, too, feels a lot more "respectable" than its successors - if that makes any sense - and is right up there as one of my favorites.
No, the only thing I can remember is that Luke left the city/castle (?) and went on a train ride? Did he really do that? Haha, it's been so long I can't even remember what I played, just that he annoyed me.
I'll pick up Berseria in the near future. I was hoping for a Tales of Switch game but it's been a little quiet on that front...
PS1 version had its place, but PS2 remake is the GOAT of the all GOAT, especially the director's cut version.
I still think Vesperia is the best Tales
But I did enjoy zestiria(minus the bloat to get the platinum). So far berseria is good storywise. Haven't played much too distracted by other games.
But I did enjoy zestiria(minus the bloat to get the platinum). So far berseria is good storywise. Haven't played much too distracted by other games.
Actual controversial opinion: Berseria is not a very good game. And I'm being polite.
It's like they took all the criticism that was (rightfully so for the most part) raised about Zestiria and tried to "fix it" while forgetting what makes a good game in the process.
The only good thing I can say about Berseria is that it's the only Tales I played whose story had focus (and kept it thoroughly) and (despite a godawful last dungeon) had an extremely satisfying ending. Oh and 60 fps from the start of course, even if that's mostly a Zesty comparison issue.
But pretty much everything else was a fucking mess. "Dungeons" were worse than Zesty, the cast has no chemistry for like 3/4 of the game, the new equipment system was as management-heavy as Zesty while being utterly shallow, the music is crap (well, except for Zesty's reused themes), the story in itself is full of weirdness to a point it would make Star Ocean 4 look like freaking Hamlet, and of course the battle system had this win-or-lose flow which could have been interesting if said battle system wasn't so simplistic in the first place.
I wasn't expecting much from the game but it still managed to disappoint me. I know pretty much everything about Bersy screams "B-team", so I still keep hope that the next Tales will be a decent iteration, but we'll have to wait and see. Hopefully it'll turn out well.
Fully agree. I ranted a bit about it on the other forum. The battle system (well, the single button part) is so disappointing, I have no idea what people like about it. Music is at an all-time low and the story is Graces level bad, but instead of friendship, we have edgy Velvet.
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This thread is exciting to me. Ive been meaning to take up the tales platinum challenge for a while now.
Doubly so with the possibility that the ps3's 4.81 exploit may open the way for a lot of people to play the patched vesperia.
Doubly so with the possibility that the ps3's 4.81 exploit may open the way for a lot of people to play the patched vesperia.
If by B team you imply there's a A team then no, there's only one Tales of team more outsourcing than before, some veterans left and a few new members came (all of that probably being a direct consequence of the Tales studio merge with Bandai Namco)
Berseria was just a game developed more quickly than a new full fledged mothership title reusing things from Zestiria. A bit like what they did with Xillia 2/Xillia (but not as much thankfully)
While I agree the battle system is disappointing, the dungeons are just awful, and the music is just not that interesting.
I feel like the story comparison is just unfair. Velvet arguably takes too long to develop, so you get her shtick for far too long, and then it's kind of suddenly solved through one dungeon. However, it's no where near the same level of Graces and its tiresome friendship theme. All the other characters manage to be fairly entertaining in Berseria despite "Velvet gonna be Velvet", where as in Graces you've basically only got two characters which aren't bogged down by all the stupid friendship stupidity. I feel like the story itself holds up better in Berseria too.
Well that price drop happened. Looking forward to getting into it.
I don't know about the characters. Malik is fine, Hubert becomes a badass. Pascal is basically Magilou. Cheria is the standard childhood friend of the MC. Sophie is also kind of badass. Asbel, while at times unbearable, is not that far from the other boring, tropey MCs of the Tales series.
Graces also sports the by far best battle system in the entire series. There is no doubt for me which is the better game.
Tales of Berseria was great. It's the first JRPG I played following FFXV and it shit all over XV. Berseria also had the best mystic artes in a while.
While there isn't really an A team or B team (so this is more of an additional footnote than a refutation of what you said), I think an interesting thing of note is that a decent chunk of Zestiria's staff didn't work on Berseria or worked on it in a lesser capacity. Berseria was somewhat carried by people who were Zestiria's support/secondary or outsourced staff, while several people who were in leading positions on Zestiria seem to have been transitioning towards another project. They kinda did something similar with the Xillia->Xillia 2->Zestiria transition.
The most interesting disappearance at the moment is probably Symphonia/Abyss/Vesperia project lead Takashi Hasegawa, who has only been a part of the general Tales writing team on the projects from Xillia onward. He still seems to be at Namco but instead of doing the same with Berseria it appears that after Zestiria he's been working on something else. I mainly think it's interesting because he has history and experience in leading projects that were major next-gen/technical shifts for the series (Symphonia, Vesperia), so I'm curious to see if he skipped Berseria because they're tapping into that experience with their first post-PS3 project.
I tried Link when it came out but it wasn't very fulfilling for me. I do play Rays daily though.
Berseria is great. The battle system is Graces F-lite, with none of the stink that Graces F has in general.
Next one is supposed to be current-gen only right? We can hope its a new engine too. I loved Berseria, but I do get the complaints about the dungeons. The trials were a little simple in Zestiria, but they had so much more charm in those than the dungeons in Berseria
This better not be some heel beef trickery.
I shouldn't really go for a JRPG when I've got Xenoblade 2 in mind in 2 weeks but the words Black Friday compel me.
Yes. And since Bandai Namco moves essentially all non-mobile development to Unreal Engine 4 we can expect that with Tales as well.
That's what Magilou is for, to eat the enemy magic while they're casting it.
Vesperia and Symphonia are the only ones I managed to beat. Graces F and Xillia I tried but didn't quite get to the ending. Got burnt out.
It seems a lot of Xillia and Zestiria's development length, and the issues the games have, came from them attempting major engine updates. I believe they said a lot had to be redone to accommodate Zestiria's scale and features and they had a hard time getting it all working for example, which is why they've referred to as a new engine from Xillia despite the similar outward appearance. They've had bad luck so far with their attempts at advancements eating up more the time and money that would have gone towards polish and more elaborate content than they expected.
I assume the next one is also taking a while because of a big technical shift, but that's probably a switch to Unreal Engine 4 looking at most of Bamco's console games rather than another attempt at extending the Tales engine, so maybe they'll get better results this time.
The remake was fun, though I was disappointed in the post-game bonus dungeon after seeing that the original game's was a recreation of Tower of Druaga.
