Tales of Series Discussion

Off-Topic
#1

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I am proud to be able to start this topic, because the Tales of Series is my favorite JRPG series of all time. It has been around for as long as I have been alive, but I did not discover it until I found a ROM of Tales of Phantasia for the Super Famicom, and played a bit of that. IT BLEW ME AWAY. A fighting game-esque battle system? An anime aesthetic? Top-notch Japanese voice acting? Relatable characters? Music by Motoi Sakuraba?! Sign me up!

Now, I’m not the most hardcore fan of the series (I only own eight of the sixteen mothership titles as of this post, and I have only completed two of them), but this series is a ton of fun, especially if you are as much a fan of niche games as I am. Each new game improves upon the last (with the exception of Legendia, which seems to go a step backward) when it comes to battle systems, and each one is a lot of fun to play through. There are a ton of little things that keep the games enjoyable, and almost every sidequest has something new to offer, be it titles, costumes, a powerful set of weapons, or a game-breaking spell.

The characters are the other reason this series is so popular. Every character is memorable (in a good or bad way, depending on your perception) and a lot of that has to do with the voice actors. When you’ve got talent like Tomokazu Seki, Kikuko Inoue, Akira Ishida, Jun Fukuyama, Norio Wakamoto, Masaya Onosaka, Nobuyuki Hiyama, Kenichi Suzumura, Chihiro Suzuki, Takehito Koyasu, Ikue Otani, Joji Nakata, Mai Nakahara, Kumiko Watanabe, Takahiro Sakurai, Kana Hanazawa, Shiho Kawaragi, Daisuke Namikawa, Miyuki Sawashiro, Tomokazu Sugita, Takashi Kondo, Daisuke Ono, and (dare I say it?) Hikaru Midorikawa, you really cannot go wrong with your characters. (I’ll wait here for a while so you can look up half of those names.)

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The Tales Series is also host to a myriad of music from four different composers: Masaru ‘Go’ Shiina, Kazuhiro Nakamura (no relation to the wrestler of the same name), Shinji Tamura (also known as Hibiki Aoyama), and the god of high-tempo battle themes himself, Motoi Sakuraba. For the majority of the series, Sakuraba does all the composing with Tamura by his side, and there is A LOT of music in these games. This music usually ranges from symphonic and even breathtaking at times, to forgettable and even ear-grating (looking at you, Graces). But for the most part, the best tracks in the game are the battle themes, and they are pretty fitting for the battles in each game. Some of Sakuraba’s best work can be found in Tales of Destiny 2’s soundtrack, which is full of amazing battle themes (Wheel of Fortune being my personal favorite in that soundtrack), and Go Shiina’s work on Tales of Legendia’s soundtrack has been widely praised for bringing a fresh air to the series. The more recent Tales of Zestiria soundtrack, where these two geniuses team up, has some of the best music in the series as a result. I recommend looking these up. :slight_smile:

Now, are these games flawless? Absolutely not. There will be something that will turn people away from a particular game, or even the series in general. But now I want to hear what all of you have to say about the Tales of Series, be it about a single moment in a game, the entirety of the game, or the entire series itself. Please, entertain me. :wink:

EDIT - 9/21/15: Because of the massive overhaul the forum is going through at the moment, the admins demand that I clearly define what constitutes as spoilers in this thread. Obviously no one has played every Tales game (unless someone has clearly not told me that they have), so please mark any events past the first boss battle in any Tales game as spoilers. Your post will be flagged if it does not meet this guideline. That doesn’t leave you guys with much, I know. But it’s better to be safe than to be banned. Keep up the discussion, guys! :wink:

EDIT - 12/25/15: Slight update due to the addition of Legendia to my ever-growing collection! :slight_smile:

EDIT - 07/03/17: Updated the popularity poll results to be more current, and tweaked some of the text due to the recent inclusion of Zestiria in my collection! :smiley:

Source: http://imgur.com/a/c7uOm
Source of 2017 Popularity Poll Results: http://www.siliconera.com/2017/06/04/tales-festival-2017-character-popularity-poll-results/

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Introduce Yourself!
Favorite Voice Actors / Seiyū? (Key-related)
Introduce Yourself!
#2

The only Tales game I’ve ever played to completion is Tales of Phantasia, but I would have no trouble listing it as my favorite RPG- if not my favorite game- of all time. I remember I bought the GBA version in the 4th grade because I had just gotten into anime, and it was the only GBA game with an anime art style at the store the day I went. It blew me away with its complex story and fun characters, and even today I still go back and replay the PS1 version on my PSP. I tried a few other Tales games after that, but none of them really grabbed me to the same degree that Phantasia did, so I never finished them.

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#3

My absolute favorite is Tales of Legendia. Such a good story, so much character development and dat music (best one in the whole series in my opinion). The music there is by Go Shiina, who also made some of the tracks for the newest Tales of Zestiria and all of them are awesome.

Other than that, I played Vesperia, Symphonia, Abyss and Hearts R, although I didnt finish Heart R.

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#4

The Tales series is a bit conflicting for me. I played through most of Tales of the Abyss on the 3DS a couple years back, and I really enjoyed it quite a lot, especially the story. However, the whole time I was playing I couldn’t help but feel like I had no idea what I was doing, even pretty far into the game. Combat especially just felt very… off. I don’t know how to express it, really, but I don’t think the game did a good job of easing you into it, so a lot of nuance of battling is just totally lost. Or maybe I’m just expecting something that isn’t there to begin with, who knows. The story in Tales of the Abyss was great, though. I’d love to go back and finish it one day.

Other than that, the only other Tales game I played was Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2, which I didn’t even play that much of to begin with. Although I do plan on messing around with it some more eventually.

#5

[quote=“SuikaShoujo, post:2, topic:1004”]
I tried a few other Tales games after that, but none of them really grabbed me to the same degree that Phantasia did, so I never finished them.
[/quote]That’s usually how Tales fans tend to pick out their favorites. The first game they play is usually the one they consider the best. I guess I might just be the odd one out with Symphonia, but that’s usually how it is.

[quote=“EndOfRefrain, post:3, topic:1004”]
dat music (best one in the whole series in my opinion)
[/quote]That’s pretty much the general consensus for everyone who has experienced Legendia. Music’s great, characters and story are good, rest of it is terrible. (Don’t take my word on that, because I haven’t played Legendia myself, but I have heard parts of the soundtrack.)

[quote=“LinkThinks, post:4, topic:1004”]
Combat especially just felt very… off.
[/quote]Abyss’ battle system is not my favorite in the series. Way too many mechanics are thrown at you, controls are a bit stiff and finicky, and it’s really hard to get a good combo in. Symphonia and Graces f have much better control and are much more fun, although you probably might miss Free Run and Graces’ battle system takes a bit of time to get used to.

[quote=“LinkThinks, post:4, topic:1004”]
The story in Tales of the Abyss was great, though.
[/quote]Indeed. The cast was also quite good, too. A lot of people seem to hate Luke a lot, but I really enjoyed his character. He actually reminds me a lot of myself. :slight_smile:

#6

Nice to see one of my favorite series of games get it’s own tread. Anyone else trying to stay away from zestiria news so that when it comes out they will have no idea what they are getting into?

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#7

the really only annoying part of Legendia in my opinion is random encounters. Even the battle system was more interesting for me, than Symphonia’s was. Yeah, Legendia didnt have Mystic Artes, but it had the absolute lamest Indignation ever, it looks so funny.

Also if anyone here wants to enjoy Zestiria, then you better stay away from the Tales fandom in the internet for now. I wont say anything more.

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#8

Its worth it, I loved Tales of the Abyss and a big big reason was because of Luke. The gambit of character pitfalls that Luke runs into feels so human to me. His growth feels less like someone wrote up a story that was designed to get him from point A to point B, it was more natural feeling to me to watch him start out as the annoying little kid he was, and watch him stumble his way through all these relationships that begin to surround him, and to see how he reacts when those that he holds closest begins to blow up in his face, and all the stumbles he has on his road to redemption…ok done gushing now it was good play Abyss the end.

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#9

As I mentioned in the General Gaming thread…

I’ve played both parts of Tales of Symphonia (loved both), Tales of Eternia and the first Tales of the World. I also watched the Tales of the Abyss anime.

To be perfectly honest, I have already forgotten almost everything about Eternia, and I probably would have forgotten much more about the first part of Symphonia if it weren’t for the second part that I played at a later point in time. Then again, I still listen to the OST of TOS.

This one may surprise you, but my favorite TOS game is Tales of Symphonia II - Dawn of the New World. I am well aware of the fact that its plot is somewhat forced, due to being a sequel to a story that’s actually already completed. It’s a common problem among sequels.
However, I really love the main cast - actually, pretty much all characters in that game are just great. What I find particularly interesting is the relationship between the ‘heroes’ and the ‘villains’ of the story. I mean, the main villain, Richter is pretty much Emil’s friend, The leader of Vanguard is Marta’s father. And let’s not forget that Lloyd was portrayed as an enemy most of the time (even though nobody, including the player, ever believed this guy to be even the least bit evil).
Speaking of villains, there were really very few characters that you could call truly evil, and I like that.

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#10

http://abyssalchronicles.com/?fn_mode=comments&fn_id=1372

An English Dub has been announced for Tales of Zestiria, as well as dual audio. HYPE!!!

The English voices actually sound pretty good. What do you guys think? :slight_smile:

#11

http://www.abyssalchronicles.com/?fn_mode=comments&fn_id=1387

This is a few weeks late, but Namco Bandai has announced that Tales of Zestiria will not only be getting a PS4 release, but for the first time in series’ history (not counting Tales of Eternia Online), Zestiria will be the first Tales game on PC!

The PS3 and PS4 version of the game will be released on October 16th in Europe and October 20th in the US. The PC release will be released in both countries on October 20th as a digital release on Steam. For those of you loyal fans who live in Brazil, all versions of the game come out on October 23rd.

I, for one, am very excited to play a Tales release on PC. It’s been such a long time since I’ve played a Tales game, and I am looking forward to playing another title on a platform I can actually play on.

Please refer to the above article for more information about the localization. What do you guys think of this wonderful news? :slight_smile:

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#12

As someone who ONLY has a PC and no other new consoles, this really is some exciting news! I’ll definitely be purchasing this come October.

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#13

WOOOWWWWW OOOHH MYYY GOODD FINALLYYYY THIS TOPIC <3 I’M SO HAPPYYY <3 ANOTHER FANDOM OF MINE <3 . Tales is the 3rd favourite fandom for me~~

Hype for Berseria ///// :smiley:

Btw My favourite Tales are Legendia, Xillia, and Eternia (still ongoing though…)

Looking forward to talk and share with everyone about Tales of series~~ here let me share my happiness to another Tales of Series fans :slight_smile:

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#14

[quote=“Ekalina, post:13, topic:1004”]
Hype for Berseria ///// :smiley:
[/quote]I’m actually a bit torn about Berseria. The fact that we’re actually getting a female protagonist is great, but that design… :confused:

[quote=“Ekalina, post:13, topic:1004”]
Btw My favourite Tales are Legendia, Xillia, and Eternia (still ongoing though…)
[/quote]Interesting. A lot of people tend to either hate or defend Legendia despite its apparent flaws, and Eternia is one of the more underappreciated titles in the series. (I still have yet to play through Legendia or Xillia…) :confused:

By the way, LOVE that fanart. Keele x Meredy is such a cute ship. <3

#15

Yes—Velvet design are so much ugghhhh…I think they a bit rush making this new series of tales…2015—look—we still have zestiria and then berseria is coming soon…

If you’re familiar with Xillia…I think you will feel like : what? isn’t that Milla—but they change her hair color into black + messy costumes!!! uummm—I also think this is might be fusion between Milla and Jude----their daughter maybe lol??—also Velvet eyes—looks like Milla but in the color of yellow like jude

Have you heard that Zestiria were under expectation to japanese fans? Maybe that is why Bandai Namco trying to make another tales in the same years to close their failing…hmm who knows…

You have to play Xillia and Legendia~~
Yes Meredy x Keele is the cutest <3

#16

I used to be in several interest groups on Facebook that focused on the series, so I am quite well-aware of how poorly-received Zestiria was in Japan.

It’s not like this hasn’t happened before, though. From what I heard, Xillia didn’t do so well either when it first came out. Many people complained that it was rushed to meet the anniversary deadline, which hampered the amount of content in the game as a result. In that perspective, Xillia 2 sounds like an apology for the first Xillia’s rushed production.

What sets Zestiria apart, though, is that as a 20th anniversary title, this had a HUGE amount of hype to it, because it was returning the series to its roots. The fantasy setting, the similar musical style to Phantasia and Destiny, the return of Fujishima’s infamous character designs, as well as new stuff like open-world design and seamless transitions into battle…this definitely felt like it was going to both advance the series and provide a nice call-back to older games.

Then the game came out. People complained about several things: poor camera during battles, terrible AI, framerate issues, bland dungeon and world design, Alicia being a temporary party member (the developers later released a DLC side story as an apology, but it didn’t help), and a weak story. It’s a fitting backlash for a massively-hyped game.

Now, it’s not uncommon for Bandai Namco to release Tales games within a year or two of the next one. Chances are that Berseria is their opportunity to take Zestiria’s engine and try to make a better game with it. If Berseria ends up being better than Zestiria, good. If it comes out on PC like Zestiria did, awesome. But until I play Zestiria, I’m not going to judge where the franchise is going just yet. I still have hope that Bandai Namco will do their best to make Zestiria more playable to their Western audiences like they did with Graces.

Even in the worst case scenario, where everything falls apart for the series, there’s always Star Ocean: Integrity and Faithlessness. :wink:

[quote=“Ekalina, post:15, topic:1004”]
You have to play Xillia and Legendia~~
[/quote] The main reason I am so excited for Zestiria’s Steam release is that I do not have a PS3. Therefore, playing Xillia is impossible. However, I have a PS2, so it’s a matter of time before I decide to grab Legendia. Thing is, though, there’s a ton more games I want more than Legendia, so it could be a VERY long time before I decide to buy and play it. :confused:

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#17

As someone who actually played Zestiria I can say it is not that bad, but the game really isnt the best for many reasons. It did so many things wrong. I am not going to say more about that for the sake of indirectly spoilering something.

Now to the topic of Berseria, I dont like the design of Velvet, she looks too much like Milla, which probably comes from, like someone already said, her design being rushed, because they wanted to get it out faster.

And last to Legendia. The only thing that I disliked was the random encounter system, they had something different in older Tales games, so there was no reason to have that. The battle system isnt really the best, especially since it was pretty clompy with putting in commands. It had some unique systems though, that I really liked. For example the throws Senel had, also let’s not forget the most epic Indignation, you will ever see.

I guess that’s all I have to say for now.

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#18

[quote=“EndOfRefrain, post:17, topic:1004”]
Now to the topic of Berseria, I dont like the design of Velvet, she looks too much like Milla
[/quote]Actually, I thought she also resembled Rutee from Tales of Destiny. The outfit looks pretty similar to hers. :confused:

[quote=“EndOfRefrain, post:17, topic:1004”]
As someone who actually played Zestiria I can say it is not that bad, but the game really isnt the best for many reasons. It did so many things wrong.
[/quote]Perhaps it might be one of the more poorly-made Tales games out there? Could it be up there with Destiny 2, Legendia or the original Graces? :confused:

Again, I won’t judge Zestiria until I play it, but rarely have Tales games gotten this much flak for such seemingly-insignificant issues. Graces had its gamebreaking bugs, but they were fixed in Graces f. Legendia may not be designed like most Tales games, but does that make it a bad game? Destiny 2 had a terrible battle system with unfair Grade distribution and an emphasis on mages over physical fighters, as well as a stupid story, but does that have any bearing on future titles? It was a mistake that was corrected in later games, so as long as Bandai Namco learns from their mistakes, I have confidence that the series isn’t digging itself into a hole it can’t get out of just yet.

#19

Hahahaha but it’s an advantage for me—I always run away from monsters and lazy for levelling up— but with Legendia system they forced me to fight everything—and as the result my level was over 80++++

#20

normally in Tales games I just take out every enemy that gets in my way and I am fine for the whole game.

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