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Hungrywolf
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"Tales of Symphonia" , posted Mon 9 May 12:39post reply

I finally got around to buying this game for my Gamecube and it's eating up all of my time. I love it and wish I'd bought it when it was first released, though it would've cost more. So, what other Tales games are there that I should know about? Also, I've been considering picking up Skies of Arcadia too and was wondering what people think of that game.







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Saiki
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"Re(1):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Mon 9 May 12:59post reply

Tales of Phantasia - awesome
Tales of Destiny - Good
Tales of Eternia - Average
Tales of Destiny 2 - Garbage
Tales of Rebirth - Meh
Skies of Arcadia - Average

These are just my personal opinions and are based on the Jpn version of each game.





Grahf
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"Re(1):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Mon 9 May 14:37post reply

Coincidentally, I just started my second playthrough of ToS, this time with four players. It's loads of fun, but does anyone know of a way to make the camera stop following Lloyd in battle? I tried turning off camera auto-zoom, but that seemed to make it even worse.

P.S. As for your question, I can't help you out since this is my first Tales game as well.





Time Mage
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"Re(2):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Mon 9 May 17:02:post reply

quote:
Coincidentally, I just started my second playthrough of ToS, this time with four players. It's loads of fun, but does anyone know of a way to make the camera stop following Lloyd in battle? I tried turning off camera auto-zoom, but that seemed to make it even worse.

P.S. As for your question, I can't help you out since this is my first Tales game as well.



About the camera issue, I've read that the only way to stop it for sucking is setting your group's spellcaster (if you have any) to P1, and that way, since usually the distance between the spellcaster and his/her target is large, the zoom will be open enough for the rest to see something.
In the PS2 they fixed this camera issue, but you'll have to resort to tricks in the GC game. At least the GC users get to (ab)use the Tech Glitch, hehe. Having Indination and Prism Swords at the same time, or Resurrection and Revitalize are a blessing.



Oh, Hungrywolf, about Skies of Arcadia Legends: Buy it, you won't regret it. This game has "something" (maybe it's the characters, in my opinion), that makes people enjoy it, even if from a distant point of view it could seem a mediocre game.





[this message was edited by Time Mage on Mon 9 May 17:04]

Pollyanna
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"Re(2):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Mon 9 May 18:49post reply

quote:
Tales of Phantasia - awesome
Tales of Destiny - Good
Tales of Eternia - Average
Tales of Destiny 2 - Garbage
Tales of Rebirth - Meh
Skies of Arcadia - Average

These are just my personal opinions and are based on the Jpn version of each game.



When ToP first came out, it was totally amazing. Now, I wouldn't have as much fun with it, but...for its time, it blew my mind.

I don't think ToD2 is garbage though. Or...well, I don't think the gameplay is garbage. The story was absolute crap, but there's not one Tales game that has an even decent story as far as I'm concerned. They all have typical plots with anime stereotype characters that are charmingly executed, but hardly engaging. So when the plot to ToD was especially lame, it didn't bother me because I LOVED the battle system and the graphics.

I like Tales of Rebirth fairly well, but the weapon/armor upgrading system is SO STUPID that it practically ruins the game for me. That, and the characters aren't interesting enough. They talk all the damned time and they just don't have enough to say.

The characters in ToS had a lot of interesting things to say, but...not enough for the length of the game. They had 25-30 hours of interesting things, and after that, they were tiring.





Ammadeau
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"Re(1):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Mon 9 May 20:30post reply

I'd say ToD2 is garbage on the gameplay side as well. The way they had the stamina bar or whatever it was where you had to stop attacking right in the middle of a fight was beyond stupid, and fighting smaller enemies was for some reason extremely awkward. At least the music and sprites were good... though the rest of the art was horrible like the rest of the game.

The best Tales game is Tales of Nikari Dungeon 2 by the way. Cosplaying heroes never gets old.





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rid
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"Re(2):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Mon 9 May 21:33post reply

Tales of Phantasia is what the Gods play in their SFC, PS and GBAs.

Destiny, Eternia and Narikiri 2 are great too.





Saiki
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"Re(3):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Tue 10 May 01:46post reply

quote:
I don't think ToD2 is garbage though. Or...well, I don't think the gameplay is garbage. The story was absolute crap, but there's not one Tales game that has an even decent story as far as I'm concerned. They all have typical plots with anime stereotype characters that are charmingly executed, but hardly engaging. So when the plot to ToD was especially lame, it didn't bother me because I LOVED the battle system and the graphics.

I like Tales of Rebirth fairly well, but the weapon/armor upgrading system is SO STUPID that it practically ruins the game for me. That, and the characters aren't interesting enough. They talk all the damned time and they just don't have enough to say.

The characters in ToS had a lot of interesting things to say, but...not enough for the length of the game. They had 25-30 hours of interesting things, and after that, they were tiring.



TOD2 is garbage bcuz it had a horrible battle system with that stamina bar.
The story was weak and the characters couldn't make up for it either.

The same really applies to ToR as well though. And I was bitter that they only had all of like 3 classic Tales of battle moves and didn't have a single cameo from past Tales of games....





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"Re(3):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Tue 10 May 02:42post reply

quote:
Tales of Phantasia is what the Gods play in their SFC, PS and GBAs.


Exactly what Rid said. SFC Phantasia is less polished than the PS one and has WAY too many fights...but the PS one is a glorious piece of work with fun acting and a LOT of it (on the map screen), good systems, pretty music, and a lot of charm and personality, archtypal characters or not. The battle system is just too fun. In fact, I remember there being a partially translated script for the PS one, so get that one even if you don't know Japanese. It really is one of the most fun RPG's I've ever played.

Arcadia? I think there's a thread on the previous page about that (hmm, now where was it, the Cafe needs a Search tool) that basically said it had a lot of generic stuff that somehow combined into something really fun that was more than the sum of its parts. I always wanted to play it.





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Pollyanna
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"Re(4):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Tue 10 May 05:22post reply

I'm surprised to see so much hate for the ToD2 system. The Tales fans I've talked to before mostly regarded it as the best in the series. This is the first complaint I've heard about stamina.

Which game do you think has the best fight system, then? ToS? I thought the ToP system was very good, but...in a different way. It was more like a traditional RPG in that you're directing your party, more than using someone in it.

System aside, I guess my opinion is biased because I think all the Tales games have pretty bad plot and characters, so when you get a horrible stinker like ToD2, it doesn't matter as much. ToS had a few decent plot points, as did ToP, but both run you around unecessarily and have typical, unsatisfying conclusions. I play all the Tales games, but I'm not a fan per se, so I can see people telling me I'm an idiot that doesn't understand anything.





Maou
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"Re(5):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Tue 10 May 07:13post reply

quote:
so I can see people telling me I'm an idiot that doesn't understand anything.


..........heheheh, nah, I'd leave that to Rid, since it's really only PSX Phantasia that I adore. Granted, I wish certain things were fleshed out more, particularly the villain, who becomes very interesting but only in the finale. Which leads me to "typical, unsatisfying conclusions." I dunno, I thought Phantasia had a great ending (the song, "I Miss You" is one of Sakuraba's best), especially regarding the villain, and I felt genuinely sad when I had to leave those characters behind when my game was over. I wonder if it's possible to categorize characters as "anime stereotypes" too early and then miss some legitimate charm. I'll remember Chester vs. Archie forever, along with Klarth and Cless's banter.

Something about Phantasia's world, I'd call it its 「世界観」, is very intriguing and appealing, and each village has its own music and character. Get this one, Hungrywolf, you won't regret it.





人間はいつも私を驚かせてくれる。不思議なものだな、人間という存在は...

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"Re(4):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Tue 10 May 16:42post reply

Since someone is talking about Arcadia, it is my duty to say it again : this game is what the concept of "overrated piece of shit" has been created for.





ねんがんの ネ申ゲーをてにいれたぞ!

Hungrywolf
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"Re(6):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Wed 11 May 12:24post reply

Well, I really liked Symphonia. I had a lot of fun with it and I enjoyed the story and the characters. I finished it today. I did feel there were such few animated scenes that they might has well not have done them at all, even though they were nice. In a game like Lunar: SSS (which I love) there were a lot of animated scenes so it seemed worth it but with this they were so sparse they could have left them out. I liked the multiple costumes that are available. I think I'll play through it again and I'll try to do all the sidequests this time

Spoiler (Highlight to view) -
(like fixing up Luin)

End of Spoiler

. All in all, I though it was a really good RPG. But I don't think I'll ever love a RPG like I do Earthbound.







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ONSLAUGHT
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"Mmmmhh..." , posted Wed 11 May 12:48post reply

quote:
Since someone is talking about Arcadia, it is my duty to say it again : this game is what the concept of "overrated piece of shit" has been created for.


Elaborate, please.

Thanks





Maou
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"Re(7):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Wed 11 May 13:30post reply

quote:
In a game like Lunar: SSS (which I love) there were a lot of animated scenes so it seemed worth it but with this they were so sparse they could have left them out.


Ya, the one puzzling thing about Phantasia (and the rest I assume) is that despite its strong anime-style character designs, there's very limited animation in the games. The world map face-box conversations in Phantasia still help give you a good feel for the charas beyond their deformed sprites.

And by the way, for similarly awesome old-school RPG's, give Lunar2 a whirl, it's the equivalent of The Empire Strikes Back/The Lord of the Rings to Lunar~SSS's Star Wars/Hobbit. Or something. Analogy-tastic.





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Pollyanna
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"Re(8):Tales of Symphonia" , posted Wed 11 May 14:31post reply

The animation scenes in the Tales games are spectacular, though. Even after I stopped caring about ToS, I was fueled on by hopes of an animated ending. It wasn't as good as the ToD2 ending, but...whatever.

I think it's silly to demand more when you already have such high-quality animation. It'd break the budget. As long as I get my opening and ending, I'm happy.

ToR has quite a few cutscenes, though.