That’s probably why it might be hard for some modern fans to get into the PSX games or the Team Destiny PS2 games. Nothing but random encounters there.
Well, what do we have here?
It seems that Bandai Namco has announced a Steam release of the PS3 version of one of my favorite games of all time, Tales of Symphonia. This opens up so many new possibilities for PC players, as there might lead to ports of other Tales games, like Abyss, Graces or Xillia.
As a side note, Tales of Zestiria is now available for preorder on Steam at a less-than-reasonable price of $49.99, and apparently if enough people preorder the game, Tales of Symphonia will be added in as a bonus. You can look at the article for more information, or look at the new Steam page for Symphonia down below:
What do you guys think about the news? Any Tales games you guys want to see on Steam? 
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Well, I wouldnt mind Tales games, that never made it to EU on PS2 like Abyss or Legendia to make it on steam. Only thing I’d hope for Legendia is that they dub the Character Quests, if they remaster it.
On a related tangent, it seems that Lloyd Irving, the ever-iconic main character of Tales of Symphonia, has been confirmed for Smash Bros., but…
https://twitter.com/SmashBrosJP/status/626649810884390912
Personally, I’m not too happy that he’s an alternate costume for the Sword Mii character and not a full character, but it gives us a little hope that some other Tales characters might make it to Smash. What are your thoughts on this reveal?
EDIT - 9/16: Just a tad late, but we have some new info on Zestiria’s PC (and PS4) release! Both will run at 1920 x 1080 resolution, but the Steam release will support up to 4K resolution. Draw distance is also twice as long as the PS3 version, and the PC version has a special option to make it even farther! Other graphical details are upgraded as well, and the PC version is very customizable in this regard. :3
Unfortunately, all versions of the game will be locked at 30 frames per second. The reasoning behind this, according to the official blog itself, is that “changing the framerate proved to have profound consequences on things like: animation, balance, difficulty, and overall fighting mechanics tuning.”
In all honesty, a prettier game does not always mean a better game. I personally don’t care so much about the graphics as I do about the bugginess of the initial release. I just want the game to be functional and able to run on my dinky little laptop, but maybe you guys have different opinions. What do you think of these new graphical specs? Are you guys excited for Zestiria coming out next month? Let me know! 
The original article can be read down here, if you’re curious:
http://blog.talesofgame.com/en/tales-of-zestiria-reveals-its-pc-specs-ps4-info/
EDIT (4/22/16) - Removed the Twitter preview for ease of reading; not that it really matters at this point. It’s old news~ 
to be honest, I dont give a damn about fps, as long as it runs on 30 fps steadily everything is fine and I honestly didnt expect anything else from the game. Just curious if they fixed the worst problem with the PS3 version, the battle camera was horrible.
I only really completed Symphonia and Dawn of the New World. I liked Symphonia but I HATED Dawn of the New World. I hate it mostly because of the monster mechanic. GIVE ME BACK MY OLD CHARACTERS. You can’t even level the returning characters up. And then the monsters just suck later anyways. And also because the first 30 minutes of Dawn of the New World is basically just way too many flashbacks of “Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality.” Also why the hell is Emil’s mystic arte so s*** compared to everyone else. Like everyone else does double the damage and Marta’s even heals… Also because I unknowingly got the bad end -.-
I don’t dislike DotNW, but compared to other Tales games, it just comes across as very lazy at times. In addition to the things you mentioned, the lack of a world map really irks me. I’m also forever salty about the whole Lilia thing. Who thought it was a good idea to step on the toes of every single person who ships Lloyd with anyone like that???
I do love Tenebrae, though. He’s a big part of what made the game bearable for me.
Oh yeah I totally forgot about that Lilia thing. It just came out of nowhere like wtf. I think maybe they were trying to make Emil conflicted with his view saying that Lloyd is all bad but still you don’t mess with all the OTP things that happened in Symphonia 1
What’s this about Lilia? I dont remember anyone with that name.
Exactly. It’s something that really doesn’t need to be in the game but it seems like it’s just there to piss people off. When Emil gets to Iselia he’s confronted by a kid who acts like Lloyd with double wooden swords and then Emil starts getting salty. It’s later revealed that Lloyd proposed to the kid’s mom, Lilia, for some reason I forgot but I’m pretty sure makes no sense. I’m pretty sure it’s kinda like a joke but still you don’t f*ck with Lloyd ships
Speaking of Lloyd ships, which character do you guys ship with Lloyd? Personally, I like playing it safe with Colette. She’s very pretty and is just as oblivious as he is, and they have great chemistry in the main story. Not to say anything against Sheena or Presea, but I just think Colette works better for him.
(And Presea is better off with Genis anyway… ;))
Lloyd x Colette, Genis x Presea, Regal x Raine, Zelos x Sheena? I think those are my matchups.
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Colloyd is my OTP of all OTP’s. Their relationship is just perfect in every way.
I might have tolerated Lloyd’s proposal if he’d only done it so he could help raise Lilia’s son, but then there was that skit about how he thought she was hot, which just really rubbed me the wrong way.
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I’d like to say Jude x Milla is great - but that ending to the first game really put me off. Their relationship is very well developed, the ending was too anticlimactic and kind of made me feel as if everything that had built was just going to waste. Xillia was such a great game though, and it’s unfortunate the second one was so inconclusive. The series should have been better, or at least it needs a third to patch things up in my opinion.
I have updated the first post to include rules regarding spoilers. Please go back through your posts and mark any spoilers past the first boss battle of any Tales game you reference. Failure to comply will result in your post being flagged. I have nothing against you guys, but I don’t want the admins shutting down this appreciation thread because of people complaining about being spoiled. Thank you for your cooperation, and for the awesome discussion we have here! Keep it up~!
There is so much to say about the Tales of Series. I will start off talking about Tales of Symphonia (TOS).
TOS on the gamecube was the first game that introduced me to the series. I ended up renting it at blockbuster because nothing else appealed to me at the time. The cover art reminded me of dragon warrior monsters on Gameboy color. After the beginning cut scene, witty teacher student humor, and the Oracle story progression I was hooked. There was no way a one week blockbuster rental would satisfy my enjoyment of the game. I decided to save up and buy it. And boy, was it worth it!
Last year I went to anime expo where I bought a package that came with collectible TOS figurine and complete soundtrack! I couldn’t have been more thrilled.
Soundtracks make good ringtones. 
For instance, the TOS soundtrack inspired this ringtone:
Well you see, my dad is kind of a Priest (I’d rather leave out the details as to why). To me, my dad is sort of a bit like Kratos. Since Kratos was an angel, and he betrayed Lloyd his son and yada yada. I can see some of the resemblance of personality. So, I have my Dad’s ringtone set to the first 30 seconds of Kratos’s theme song.
See here to view the sample: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsKAgfXX6Sw
The irony gets me and I end up grinning every time he calls.
I also have the song Dance in the Sunshine set to my default ringtone for anonymous callers.
Other tales games I have played include:
- TOS: Dawn of the new World
- Tales of Xillia
- Tales of Xillia 2 (Currently playing)
- Tales of Graces f (I own it but hardly played it… the game is very slow but I hope to get around to it eventually)
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Symphonia is a very good game, and an excellent place to start the series, imo. I started with Phantasia, but Symphonia was the one that really hooked me onto the series. If I might ask, are you aware that the updated re-release of the game is coming to Steam next year? It’s going to be quite exciting for people who don’t have consoles.
I used to listen to Symphonia’s soundtrack a lot after playing the game. I would have bought it if I had the money, but I soon discovered the soundtracks from some of the other games in the series and got distracted. I might consider getting Xillia’s soundtrack this year, if only because it’s cheap on Amazon at the moment.
I’m glad you’re branching out to other games in the series as well. I’ve personally played Phantasia, Destiny, Eternia, five minutes of Destiny 2, Symphonia, thirty minutes of Rebirth, five minutes of Legendia, Abyss, and the first ten hours of Graces f. I’ve only ever completed Symphonia and Abyss, but I’m enthusiastic about trying out newer games in the series, particularly Zestiria, which is also coming to Steam soon.
You haven’t played the whole of Graces? Why? It’s a shame, it’s a very nice game although the characters can be a little bland. I recommend picking it up again of you can.
And there you have it. If I ever find a PS3, I’d beat the game in a heartbeat. It’s incredibly fun so far and I love the characters (except for Pascal).
Ooops, I was on mobile and didn’t read your post well enough, sorry. It’s true that the original Graces wasn’t released outside Japan. I have to say I wasn’t so fond of the characters, well not all of them, but it’s still pretty great overall, enjoyable as with most Tales games and the story was quite good. And it did have the first canon romances I saw in a Tales game, they weren’t very well developed but it was still nice to see.
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