Tales of Series

[Foolio]

Replaying Graces after having left it for a while (and also having played Vesperia PS3 and Xillia), I have to say it's way better than I originally gave it credit for. When I got my platinum last time I had a long list of complaints: dualizing is terribly overcomplicated, they make it "too easy" to identify sidequests and where to go next, the music wasn't that strong, too much micro-managing with titles. And then nitpicks such as, when you purchase something at a shop it kicks you out of the current menu afterward instead of letting you browse more from where you were.

Thing is, yeah the music was probably better in Vesperia and previous titles too, and the battle system is really different. Takes ages to get used to and is kind of hard to master compared to games like Vesperia and Symphonia where you can exploit it pretty badly (especially free run on Vesperia). But coming back to it, the battle system is really interesting and dynamic. It's one of the better ones for sure. And after Xillia... well after Xillia, the music seems amazing and the lack of a world map less annoying. And the English voice acting is pretty damn spot-on. Pascal is amazing.

Anyway I'd rank the ones I've played like this: Symphonia > Vesperia PS3 > Graces f > > Xillia > > > > > > > > > > > Symphonia 2.

It's actually pretty close between my top 3.

[tatermoog]

What's wrong with Xillia, if you don't mind me asking? I believe it got higher review scores in Japan (not necessarily a sign of quality), and I was looking forward to it making a North American debut much more than Graces.

[stephen]

The characters are pretty weak and uncharismatic, the gameplay is shallower than Graces and doesn't make use of some of its better features, and even though it's more "open" in the environments, they're fairly bland and same-y. The graphics are nice though, at least for a Tales game.

[tatermoog]

The characters are pretty weak and uncharismatic, the gameplay is shallower than Graces and doesn't make use of some of its better features, and even though it's more "open" in the environments, they're fairly bland and same-y. The graphics are nice though, at least for a Tales game.

...well, poop. Guess I can live if it never gets localized. Thanks for the response.

On an earlier note, finished my Graces F platinum tonight. There comes a point in every game where you decide, "hey, I'm deep enough into this game that it could be fun to go for the platinum." Make very sure you research before you decide to do so with Tales of Graces F. The Inn Requests trophy took about 27x longer than I originally expected, and charging the Eleth Mixer to maximum was everything that's wrong with a trophy. I don't regret it quite as much as my decision to platinum FFXIII (DAMN YOU ADAMANTOISE), but it certainly was a grind at the end.

[Foolio]

Yeah my last trophy (last time around) was the Eleth Mixer. What you do is buy the +500 bonus after your first run, then on your second run (or keep repeating if you do many) get it to 9500, beat the game and get +500 again. The breakdown for max energy leveling (ie how much "experience" the pot needs to keep leveling) puts the highest tier at 9500-9999 where it's a pain. But basically you just put the double cooking book on, the energy increase one, and then cook I believe it was miso oden over and over at Lhant Hill. Best exp for that. And when your energy runs out you use the Turtlez Flute and refill.

Inn requests are annoying but it's actually not that hard to get the special weapons if you know what to dualize.

As for Xillia. It looks amazing and due to its production value I'm fairly sure they will localize it. But it's... boring. The world is empty and like Graces there is no overworld so you are traveling through regions of wilds. They all look the same. Over and over. It's so awful. Soulless. There are no sidequests. Okay there are a handful. 99% of them are "go to this area and defeat a random mob." That's not a quest. Where are the actual side stories? Minigames? I was overall unhappy with it. In the end it was playable but that's it to me.

[tatermoog]

Yeah my last trophy (last time around) was the Eleth Mixer. What you do is buy the +500 bonus after your first run, then on your second run (or keep repeating if you do many) get it to 9500, beat the game and get +500 again. The breakdown for max energy leveling (ie how much "experience" the pot needs to keep leveling) puts the highest tier at 9500-9999 where it's a pain. But basically you just put the double cooking book on, the energy increase one, and then cook I believe it was miso oden over and over at Lhant Hill. Best exp for that. And when your energy runs out you use the Turtlez Flute and refill.

Did exactly this. Still sucked.

As for Xillia. It looks amazing and due to its production value I'm fairly sure they will localize it. But it's... boring. The world is empty and like Graces there is no overworld so you are traveling through regions of wilds. They all look the same. Over and over. It's so awful. Soulless. There are no sidequests. Okay there are a handful. 99% of t

I actually understand the decline of RPGs since PSX, since increased productions values on games overall--especially the prevalence of completely-voiced games now--has made it difficult to create RPGs in the old style with modern values.

But why in the world can't anyone do a good world map any more? Please save us, Ni No Kuni.

[Kaboom]

Can I get some general impressions and thoughts about Tales of the Abyss? Not even necessarily in comparison to other Tales Of games, just more on its own merits as a good standalone JRPG. I've been craving one for my 3DS to better balance out the pick-up-and-play Marios and Icaruses and what-not that make up most of my library, and so far Abyss is looking like my best choice.

[Crossword]

For the most part I liked it. The combat and systems are pretty easy to get into for a Tales first-timer like me (though I can't imagine maining any of the mage characters), and there were plenty of side quests and extras to go after and discover.

My main complaints with the game was that most of the towns were pretty small and unmemorable, and during the last quarter of the game the pacing grinds to a halt. Most of it is just the party going from one town to the next and talking to people with only three new dungeons to visit, one being incredibly short. Just plot, plot, plot. Be prepared for a lot of backtracking in this game.

But despite that I did enjoy Tales of the Abyss quite a lot, and it's a good, meaty game that took me sixty hours to beat. If that's the kind of game you're looking for, I'd definitely recommend it.

[tatermoog]

Can I get some general impressions and thoughts about Tales of the Abyss? Not even necessarily in comparison to other Tales Of games, just more on its own merits as a good standalone JRPG. I've been craving one for my 3DS to better balance out the pick-up-and-play Marios and Icaruses and what-not that make up most of my library, and so far Abyss is looking like my best choice.

Adding to what Crossword says, it's a little backtrack-heavy (a consistent issue in some Tales games), but the combat system is pretty darned satisfying. In terms of plot, the main character stays in douche mode longer than most RPGs, but most of the cast is likable by the end, and Jade is an all-time great Tales character.

Nothing special in terms of visuals or music, but that holds true for most in the series.

[stephen]

Finally got myself a Vita and ordered Tales of Innocence R (normally I wouldn't have bothered since I already beat it on DS, but I want a solid RPG to play on this beast) and Little King's Story 2.

[Cyber-Robin]

Is it just me or is the regular game pretty easy for Graces and then the bosses like...INSANELY difficult? It's not as if you can easily grind either since enemies only respawn after so long it seems :/

[tatermoog]

Is it just me or is the regular game pretty easy for Graces and then the bosses like...INSANELY difficult? It's not as if you can easily grind either since enemies only respawn after so long it seems :/

Not the case for all of them, but I agree. Big issue is that you have to manages deaths more frequently in boss battles, and the game doesn't do a great job with that. Too many times where you use a life bottle, only to see the character stand up and then get shredded before they could move.

Enemy Mystic Artes are also of the devil, though a well-timed hourglass can help with that.

[Cyber-Robin]

yeah I took on Kurt and seemed to go through Life Bottles like water.

Although aside from one (the boar thing) all of the bosses are signposted with a Save spot.

And did anyone bother changin up their party as the game went on? I Seem to have just put Sophie (Revive) and Cheria (Healing) all the time. And then usually using Malik. Seems no incentive to use Hugo at all.

Guess I might have to if I want trophies for the titles.

[tatermoog]

There are some sections of the game where you're locked to a few characters towards the end, so you might want to give the rest a little play, but I rarely saw any reason to go outside of an Asbel/Sophie/Malik/Cheria roster.

Cheria was the only one I never pulled out of my party.

And if you do want all the trophies, yes, do be swapping out characters, and you should probably lock any ability after a character has earned the "[Name of Art] Master" title.

And one last edit: some people regard Kurt as the hardest boss in the game, so don't feel too bad on that one. I had more trouble with some of the last bosses.

[Foolio]

Since I already had a plat on this game, in English I've just been playing through it on Evil (well, as soon as I played enough battles on Hard to unlock it). Let me tell you if you think normal enemies are too easy, that will fix it for you. On Chaos it's nearly impossible without bonuses. Hell, I remember getting destroyed on Chaos by regular mobs even on 10x exp and 2x SP. Especially late in the game.

Kurt is like the first boss that properly lays down the ass-whooping if you've been avoiding configuring your party and their strategy, artes, etc.

Also in general I never put Cheria in my party unless I need additional healing (most bosses and certain mobs) or unless I'm taking out Sophie (which is not that often). I focus much more on damage dealing so depending on the situation I either go Asbel/Sophie/Malik/Hubert of Asbel/Sophie/Malik/Pascal, or in rarer cases Asbel/Sophie/Hubert/Pascal.

Hubert has low HP and his AI tends to die, A LOT, but the truth is he is a combo beast and he alone can lock down enemies and even bosses for extended periods of time. Plus his accel mode is amazing. But anyhow sometimes it makes a lot of sense to give Asbel to the AI and play as Hubert (if he was dying on his own) or Malik (if you're tired of micro-managing his artes).

[stephen]

Yeah playing on higher difficulties is really fun. I unlocked all the way up to Chaos in my first playthrough when I found out you needed to fight a certain # of battles on higher difficulty levels for some of Hubert's? titles, and when you get to Chaos, you really need to be about 20 levels higher than you normally would in order to have regular enemy battles not be a battle for your life. But once you can handle them, the EXP/SP multipliers will help you stay highly leveled which is nice. Also, much better drops and shards. Although the bosses are way way harder because the stat multipliers mean that if it's three times harder than a normal enemy on regular, it will be nine times harder than the regular enemies on Chaos.

[KaizokuFan22]

Our team was Asbel/Hubert/Cheria/Sophie for mostly a good combo of Healing Circle and First Aid, but It ended up being on the ending Section of a team of Asbel/Richard/Sophie/Cheria due to the same plus Richards Sword deluge or Soul attack.

Such a great game

[Yuudi]

I can't wait for what you have to say about Innocence R. Heard that it was really different from the DS version.

[stephen]

I wish I could tell you by now! I ordered it on March 31st and they still haven't shipped my order.

[Yuudi]

Danm. I hope it gets to you soon. I still have to finish Graces F but the other I'm playing with is kind of hard to get to play a hold of. And they don't want me to countine without them.