Tales Of Series

[Elli]

I just recently finished the newest Tales game thats out here Tales Of Xillia I quite enjoyed the game, I found all the characters quite interesting and I specially liked Gaius he was so cool (Cant wait to play him in X2)

Well I am making this thread to talk about the Tales of series, what are some of your favorite Tales characters/games fond moments you have had playing the games, stories you would like to share? And to just chat about all the tales games in general.

Tales of Abyss: I quite enjoyed this game Luke really grew on me as a character I even got emotional playing this game specially when Luke was saying he doesn't want to die I nearly couldn't finish it... Lukes definitely my favorite out of this game

Tales of Xillia: Though the game was rushed I still found it heaps of fun and some of the skits were hilarious, I have only played judes side far might do Milla soon, I really liked Gaius & Jude in this one, Gaius was just plain awesome and I felt Jude really did grow up at the end and learnt to think for himself and I had lots of fun playing him.

I have yet to finish Tales Of Graces F yet but I would say I liked Richard & Asbel the most from what I seen.

I also have Tales of Eternia & Symphonia dawn of a new world haven't finished either though.... Waiting for Symphonia to come out on the ps3 though

And I want to get an Xbox just to play Vesperia XD

Edited September 25, 2013 by Shelie

[VincentASM]

I've only played Symphonia, Eternia and Abyss.

I have a copy of Graces and I'm probably going to grab Xillia 2 when it arrives, but I need to acquire a PS3 to play them first...

Symphonia was really cool and I liked Eternia, but--10 or so years later--I couldn't really get into Abyss Jade made me lol all the time though. Looking at the trailers for Xillia and Xillia 2, I don't really feel any excitement either.

Maybe the series just isn't for me anymore : P

Edited September 25, 2013 by VincentASM

[Ace Tactician]

So far I've only completed Tales of the Abyss and am currently playing Xillia.

Abyss: My fondest moment would have to be the hotel scene in Keterburg. That scene was so funny, I lol'd XD Jade is pretty much one of my favorites, along with Tear, Luke and Guy.

Xillia: I'm still playing this one, but I already like Milla and Jude. Alvin is also pretty cool, especially that one skit where he suggest Jude would still like Milla, even if she took the form of a guy. I ended up laughing right on the spot that night XD Also, Milla's servant Ivar reminds me of Prince Soma from Black Butler.

I plan on getting Graces f and Symphonia HD sometime.

Edited September 25, 2013 by Ace Tactician

[Elli]

I agree, I lol'ed so many times with Jade one of the biggest trolls ever! half the time I couldnt tell if he was serious or not. My mum loved Alvin haha I liked him to but not as much as her....She would always say something when it was him talking XD

[Magical CC]

I played Phantasia, Destiny, Eternia, Symphonia and I am going to play Abyss soon. I have no PS3 so...it is kinda sad that I cant play some great games from the series.

[pinkbubblegum]

I played... Phantasia, Destiny, Legendia and a little bit of Abyss.

I used to be a really big fan of the series back during the PS1 era but then I kept missing releases and now I haven't even played half of the games they've made xD;
I've loved all of the Tales game I've played so far though, save for Abyss (I couldn't get into it either. The lead was a bit too spoiled for my liking... And though I usually like the typically spunky Tales girl [Arche, Chelsea, Norma, etc.] I couldn't bring myself to like Anise :c)

I am planning to catch up with the series eventually though. It's just they have so many games out...

[Elli]

I played... Phantasia, Destiny, Legendia and a little bit of Abyss.

I used to be a really big fan of the series back during the PS1 era but then I kept missing releases and now I haven't even played half of the games they've made xD;

I've loved all of the Tales game I've played so far though, save for Abyss (I couldn't get into it either. The lead was a bit too spoiled for my liking... And though I usually like the typically spunky Tales girl [Arche, Chelsea, Norma, etc.] I couldn't bring myself to like Anise :c)

I am planning to catch up with the series eventually though. It's just they have so many games out...

Well I don't think many liked Anise.. I don't know how far you played in but Luke does have a major character development in the story I loved him a lot after it happened

[Magical CC]

With Tear around, who need Anise anyway?

[Silver Lightning]

Awwww yeah! Tales of Series is one of the best video game series for me! They really do feel like interactive stories and make me wanna keep playing to find out what happens next. And I always end up caring about the characters so much. So much character development too! These games also have an amazing core theme going on that it impresses upon the story. I like that, since it makes you think about how those same ideals are thought of in the real world.

OMG the feels I get from this series! T^T

These are all the ones I played (hope to play them all one day when I can find them and Japan stops hogging a bunch of them to themselves...):

Tales of Symphonia: First one I ever played and got me into the series! Beautiful story, beautiful world(s), beautiful characters (this really goes for ALL of the games)! I could go on all day about everything I love, but I guess I'll just limit it to what characters I liked and what I liked about the story. Zelos and Sheena were my faves (so funny!), and I really liked the idea that kept getting hammered into the story about acceptance and equality for all no matter who you are.

Tales of Legendia: Second one I played; dunno why but I just wasn't as impressed with it as I was with Symphonia and the other titles in the series, but I still felt the Tales charm and liked it for that, even if it was a little off beat. 'Course, it doesn't help that my least favorite character in the series features prominently in the game and that awful voice acting of hers (I really, REALLY don't like Shirley), but I do like the rest, with Chloe being my absolute favorite; Norma, Moses, and Jay are all tied for second and Will gets his own tier for using Kratos's english voice actor. One thing I liked about the story is the warped points of view every side kept having of each other; it makes it seem like there really are good and bad sides to everyone and that it's not so black and white (though I still found the Ferines and their constant whining about being wronged annoying)... :P

Tales of the Abyss: Holy waffles LUKE!!! Someone should change the tagline to this game to "Wanna see some serious character development go down? Play this game!!!". He goes from being so obnoxious to me wanting to hug him and tell him it'll all be okay, especially near the end. >_< Which brings me to what I love about the story: everyone has a right to live, no matter how they came into the world. Meaning of Birth, indeed! Also, I love all the musical themes and terms this game has; I was never sure why it was so prominent, but I liked it. Favorite characters are technically Luke and Tear, with Guy as second, and Jade has tier all on his own.

Tales of Vesperia: Really liked this game, especially since it had the oldest, arguably darkest protagonist in the series (that I've played) yet. Yuri was such a breath of fresh air; funny and lighthearted or dark and serious whenever he needed to be. And Estelle brought out all of my Colette feels again; I adore that girl! XD I think though that Rita is probably my favorite character, even if Raven also comes close. I like how the story uses that trope again on making all of the sides work together in order to fix the loss of their natural resource and stop a world ending threat.

Tales of Symphonia 2: Yes, yes, I know how just about everyone loathes this one, and its not high on the list of favorites for me either, but I can't say that I hate it since I did derive some enjoyment out of playing it. I didn't really like or understand Richter; other than a weirdly plotted story, he was the main source of dislike for me in the game, but I did to a certain degree like Emil and Marta. They're both just trying to get along with their own beliefs in a changed world, and on Emil's part, discover who he really is. There was enough characterization there to make me like them at least a little, and of course I loved being able to see the old characters getting along in the new world. I didn't really like Lloyd's new stoic personality (reminds me too much of Kratos, though there is some poetic justice in that..), since i thought his character was changed the most, but I guess I can't really blame him considering all the shit he got stormed with after the end of the first game. What I did like about the story was theme; the past, no matter how buried, will come back to haunt you and amends must be made and dealt with before things can truly move on.

Tales of Graces f: I liked this one for the most part, though I can't say I technically beat it yet since I'm still stuck on the final boss of the future arc. But as for the meat of the game and story, I liked all of the political conflicts going on within. Hubert and Pascal are hands down my favorite characters! I get most of my laughter from their antics, especially with each other! XD

Tales of Xillia: I have the least to say about this game, since I'm only about a third of the way through and obviously haven't beaten it (I've been so busy with work DX). So far though, I enjoy both Jude and Milla, since he's the youngest protagonist I've seen and she's the first female protagonist I've seen! And I will say that Jude is so far my fave; he's so adorkable and sweet and downright mature for a 15 year old.

No wonder he likes older women; I'm Milla's age, and I can see his charm too. XD

EDIT: Whoops, I forgot to mention I played and really liked Tales of Phantasia (Chester and Arche are my favorites!) but I never finished it since I was stuck trying to beat Suzu's parents and then I lost the game cartridge like a fool. I did watch the anime though, so I know the whole story and how it ends.....speaking of Tales anime, does anyone hope that they'll continue to make them with the same quality and length they did for Abyss? I mean, the Vesperia prequel movie was great and all, but I would've preferred a 26 episode series with characters I know and actually care about instead... xP

I am thinking of trying to play it again on an emulator if I still can't find it...

EDIT2: And I also forgot to mention that I played Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology and really liked it (its like Awakening in that you make your own Tales Avatar and play through a crossover story with a bunch of Tales characters), but I'm not sure if that counts for the series... XD

Edited September 25, 2013 by Silver Lightning

[Crimson Red]

I'm kind of a big Tales fan and I'm kinda not, I definitely like them and play them a lot but you won't see me speaking a lot about it like other games lol

I've only played Symphonia, Eternia and Abyss.

I have a copy of Graces and I'm probably going to grab Xillia 2 when it arrives, but I need to acquire a PS3 to play them first...

D:

Come on Vince, this has got to happen XD. I heard Xillia 2 had some serious downers with gameplay and crap though, and idk if you'll want to play that before Xillia for obvious plot reasons lol

Skimming through, so many people like Abyss but I can't figure out why. The characters all felt like douchebags to me, minus Ion, and the gameplay was really stale for me--aside from fonic artes I didn't feel like there was much to do, and the skill system was one of my least favorites. I didn't hate it, I liked it a little, but compared to Symphonia, Vesperia, or even Xillia, I just can't put it on the same level. ._. (FYI, I played both the original and the 3DS version from start to finish, so I'm basing it off of experience, not conjecture or rumors. And it's just an opinion :P)

As for a list of Tales games I've beaten... in no particular order

Tales of Symphonia

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Tales of the Abyss

Tales of the Abyss 3D

Tales of Vesperia

Tales of Vesperia PS3

Tales of Graces

Tales of Graces F

Tales of Xillia

Tales of Innocence

Tales of the Tempest

Tales of Legendia

I have Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology and Tales of Phantasia; the former I've yet to start, the latter I have hardly made any progress with as I just can't enjoy the Tales games nearly as much when it doesn't have the 3D combat/battle system that made me like it to start with (at least Legendia had great music and a touching story).

I'll probably end up beating Phantasia, Destiny, and Eternia eventually, if only for the sake of beating them, and I might beat Radiant Mythology and a couple other spin-offs if I get bored but they don't really get localized and I prefer to avoid Japanese games if I can, so eh... >_>;

My favorite has to be either Symphonia or Vesperia, Symphonia was, like many others, my first, and I have that emotional attachment to it, and Vesperia had an IMO amazing battle system, an interesting main character (Yuri's like an anti-hero... or maybe he straight up is one), and plenty of other things I loved about it (the music, the character development [mainly the rivalry/struggle between Yuri and Flynn], the fact that it went away from a lot of the typical things Tales games did, not to mention a good amount of end-game and post-game content, including a Kratos cameo T_T *Kratos-fanboy*). Xillia was solid but I found the character development to sometimes be weak and I actually didn't like Alvin for several reasons I didn't want to get into, not to mention I hate Elise (just her character design/voice/Teepo all annoy the crap out of me...). But Xillia's battle system was definitely fun and most everyone loves Gaius so it's still a solid game (oh and I thought the visuals were beautiful :)).

As a side note, Vesperia PS3 and Graces were in Japanese, I beat the English Vesperia... 2-3 times? and the Japanese one once, and I beat Graces... twice I believe, and beat Graces F once later (Graces had a meh plot but I loved the battle system so I didn't mind not understanding crap as long as I could have fun fighting dudes). Innocence and the Tempest used translation patches so they were mostly in English Tempest is awful don't play it, EVER

[BrightBow]

I got to play.

Tales of the Abyss 3D

Tales of Symphonia

Tales of Symphonia: DotnW

I found Tales of Symphonia and DotnW to be both rather average. They were just kinda boring and dungeons seemed to go on forever.

But I thought that Tales of the Abyss had a rather strong plot.

Sure, the execution of certain plot points was rather lackluster. But you can usually still see what they were going for.

I particularly liked the thematic of the value of ones life and the responsibility one has for taking them. Even the lives of supposedly faceless grunts.

The scene of Luke fighting an actual person for the first time was great.

You think the fight is nothing special... and then you see Luke so disturbed upon the realization that the just killed a person.

And you think Luke is just supposed to be whiny and needs to man up when he complains about the inevitable killing that their escape would cause And then his hesitation to kill causes Tear to get injured...

...and then she apologizes shortly afterwards, admitting that it was too much to ask from a civilian to just suddenly start killing people.

Scenes like that went under my skin because games tend to take such killings for granted.

But the best part was the build up to Luke's sacrifice. Sure, I knew the main character wasn't going to die at this point in the story. But that didn't matter.

What mattered was his character development.

From someone who seemed all to willing to give up his life because he didn't see a place for him to someone who realizes the value of his existence and the meaning it has to others and to himself.

A borderline suicide turns into a true heroic sacrifice as Luke realizes that he does want to live but still goes through with it because it's the rational thing to do.

Edited September 25, 2013 by BrightBow

[Gemma]

OMG the feels I get from this series! T^T

Yeah, the Tales of series really hits me this way too. Not only does it have amazing characters (with usually pretty decent stories) and gameplay, but the series has been really influential for me personally in my gaming experience, and even in my life experiences. Ahhh, it's hard thinking of where to begin! XD

I first played Symphonia with a group of my friends back when the game first came out. There was a lot of excitement surrounding the game for me, but having only played bits and pieces of it and the fact that I was quite young made it not really have that big of an effect on me. About 4 years later, right before Dawn of the New World came out, that same group of friends finally decided to beat the game (we never did before XP ) to get ready for the sequel. Playing the game again, I got a fresh and more mature look of it. Before Symphonia, I never really had played a video game like this. This was the first time a game (or really anything, for that matter) fascinated me with it's plot and all the deep background stories all the characters had. It was something that really had a lot of depth into it, and I got sucked into it. And I loved it! No story I experienced before really felt that epic to me. I was fascinated by the way my friends hyped over all the characters- it was all just too exciting. So after that, I couldn't get Symphonia off my mind. I wanted to know more about it. And here is when I started to experience the internet in a whole new way. Before all this, I just used the internet to send silly emails to my friends or play Runescape, Addicting Games, or whatnot. After searching the internet for stuff on Symphonia, I found so much new stuff. People used the internet to talk about video games with each other. People wrote stories and shared art all about their favorite games. It was like a dream come true. It sounds almost stupid and really obvious saying it now, but that discovery was really important for me. I just had to order Symphonia for myself and play through the whole thing. And it was just a magical experience. That's not to say Symphonia was perfect: even back then with my hype goggles on I could see that. But that game really had an impact on me. Symphonia had not only changed the way I experienced games, but it also opened the door up to entirely new types of games for me. (Ys says hi) I also got Dawn of the New World myself, which... was dissapointing. Both Marta and Emil angered me, the story barely had anything to do with the original, and having monsters instead of other party members fight for you the majority of the time (plus no original Symphonia character level ups) was really lame. But oh boy, when I learned that Tales of was an entire series... I was so pumped.

I remember it was when I was looking up some cool sprites for Symphonia that I learned this. Those sprites, it turns out, where from Narikiri Dungeon 3. When I saw pictures of all the characters and all the different games, I was like... no way! I immediately did some research on the series to find out if I could play all these games for myself. Having only Nintendo consoles at the time, I was disappointed to find that many of them were not only on Sony consoles, but on top of that only released in Japan. Whelp, looks like I wasn't getting into Tales any time soon. But no, I just had to play more of those games... I remember for whatever reason, the characters in Tales of Destiny really stood out to me. Especially Kongman, I thought he was such an awesome concept for a character. So, almost off an impulse, I decided to pawn an old PSX off a friend and order Destiny online. Now I had looked into the game quite a bit and even after hearing it wasn't the greatest, my curiosity couldn't hold me off. The Tales games just had such an interesting tone behind them that I couldn't resist. And the series being so unobtainable only made it more desirable. So... there were maybe some pretty childish feelings that I had, but they were so exciting and powerful at the same time. And so I played Destiny. And even though I was actually pretty afraid the game would let me down, I was pleasantly surprised by it. Destiny still has some of my favorite character designs of all time. The costumes are so shapely, colorful, and a just a little eccentric at times. And the character's personalities were pretty interesting too. Much of the cast was unfortunately quite underdeveloped, but they were a fun bunch for sure. I fell absolutely in love with Mary Argent/Agent, though~ She was hilarious character, kicked major butt in battle, and has my favorite design in the cast. She's probably my favorite character in the whole series, but that kinda fluctuates from time to time (between her and Regal Bryant, it's so hard to choose :P ) Destiny as a whole had a really unique charm to it, I thought. Sure, there are really, really long and tedious parts of the game that are kind of annoying, and the second half of the game felt weak in comparison to the first half. But, partially because the game feels rather old and quirky, there's an atmosphere in the game that I really like.

So, I knew Destiny had a Japanese remake that was supposed to be really awesome, but I never had any hopes of playing it. I didn't know a lick of Japanese. A shame, because there were a ton of other Japanese Tales games that I wanted to play too. Destiny had a sequel as well, and there were a ton of hype spin off games that had all my favorite characters. (Mary and Regal fighting alongside each other? Too cool!) I really wanted the chance to experience those games... man... I had to go for it. I really loved these games, they were my main hobby. And Japanese developed games had always been my staple throughout my childhood. So, I started teaching myself Japanese. I used online resources and started learning from gameplay videos of Japanese Tales games. I soon started taking Japanese class. This was another obviously big jump in my life. Not only had I started learning a foreign language, something I had never done before, but I also had found something to study that I wanted to work for. I always hated school and never took my work seriously not like that hasn't changed or anything, and it was a really different experience studying towards something I enjoyed and had a concrete goal for. Soon, I ordered Narikiri Dungeon 3 after finding that GBAs weren't region locked. It was my very first import game. I barely understood any of it, but I freaking loved that game. I still find it to be my favorite spin off game. (Radiant Mythology is a little bland for me)

Half a year later, I was feeling all the hype for Radiant Mythology 3. I never bought a Tales game on release before, and I was totally on top of all the news and such for the game. You know, good ole Japanese studying me could totally play that game when it came out. It was the big hype release, I couldn't miss out on it. So, I went and bought myself a PSP to play it when it came out. I imported both RM3 and the PSP version of Tales of Destiny 2, playing them simultaneously when RM3 was released in February 2011. My Japanese was better by now, and I understood much more of the games than I did Narikiri Dungeon 3. Those were some pretty awesome times... Tales of Destiny 2's characters won my heart. The character designs are right up there with Destiny's, but this time around all the main heroes are much more developed. I love Kyle's really naive and never give up type of love he has for Reala. And Loni and Judas are both so awesome, they both tie for third behind Mary and Regal for me. And freaking Barbatos. Killer villian with a killer theme~ The battle system in that game is by far my favorite, it's really deep and challenging- especially on the higher difficulties. My goodness... crazy stuff. Even though the language barrier was still a big problem, Destiny 2 is my favorite Tales game I've played. Just a totally awesome game. Radiant Mythology 3 was kind of a bore to me. I didn't like the quest system that much at all. I still haven't beaten it, but... meh. Some of the arena fights are totally pumping, though. I love a good challenging Tales fight~

And here I am now. I've just started college with much thanks to the aid of a Japanese scholarship though my Japanese is still terrible. And it all started with Tales~ Of course, the whole Japanese experience is a whole nother story. Currently, I'm playing through the PSP Phantasia and have a copy of Rebirth waiting in line. I've played Abyss and Graces f a bit with my friend (who I introduced the Tales series to) but the new games- Graces, Xillia, and Xillia - don't really appeal to me much. Same with the 3DS version of Abyss. And I'm still waiting for that day when I can play the PS2 remake of Destiny for myself...

So yeah, Tales of! I love sharing the love~<3

[Refa]

Well I am making this thread to talk about the Tales of series, what are some of your favorite Tales characters/games fond moments you have had playing the games, stories you would like to share? And to just chat about all the tales games in general.

I've only beaten Tales Of Symphonia (played some Tales Of Abyss), although I've been meaning to play more. Recommendations are welcome. :p I'm kind of interested in Graces F or Xilia, but they're kind of expensive, so I want to be a little more sure of ARE THEY WORTH IT before I plonk down da moneyz.

I like Zelos and Sheena's interaction, because at the end it wasn't like AND THEN THEY SLEPT TOGETHER AND ALL WAS RIGHT WITH THE WORLD. Just seemed a little more deep than thought. My other favorite moment was DEMON FANG FIERCE DEMON FANG RISING FALCON DEMON FANG FIERCE DEMON FANG RISING FALCON DEMO-you get the point.

Yeah, I play Tales for the gameplay, fight me

Oh yeah, Kratos was cool too.

Abyss was really fun from what I remember but I didn't get into the story as much because I was in my more...cynical years (I might still be in them....but less so hopefully!).

Maybe the series just isn't for me anymore : P

There's always Ys!

Unless you mean the actual place and not the game series, I don't think that's shown up for quite a while.

Tales of Vesperia: Really liked this game, especially since it had the oldest, arguably darkest protagonist in the series (that I've played) yet. Yuri was such a breath of fresh air; funny and lighthearted or dark and serious whenever he needed to be.

I haven't even played Tales Of Vesperia and Yuri is like my favorite Tales Of Hiro Protagonist.

So yeah, Tales of! I love sharing the love~<3

Wow, that's really rad man. Nice to know that video games can do more than influence us to murder people and cause all of our children to turn satanist overnight!

But now you make me want to spend more money on Tales games my wallet hates you

Now I want to see a Tales Of Speedrun. Thanks guys (no really, speedruns improve the natural qualities of life, I read it on a tabloid).

[Elli]

There's always Ys!

I must say Ys seven is awesome first YS game I ever played and I loved it, specially the music... I was blown away by the incredible soundtrack

[shadowofchaos]

I haven't even played Tales Of Vesperia and Yuri is like my favorite Tales Of Hiro Protagonist.

You speak blasphemy, despite me appreciating your appreciation of said protagonist.

Get a damn PS3 and play the PS3 port. I don't care whether or not you know Japanese or not. Play that amazing game.

[eclipse]

In order. . .

Phantasia - This game amused me, even if character development left something to be desired.

Symphonia - Didn't like half the playable characters as characters, was meh on most of the others. The guy who ran Iselia Ranch was the most interesting dude, IMO.

Symphonia 2 - I suppose homicidal feelings towards a certain redhead isn't abnormal, is it?

Abyss - I never warmed up to Luke, and that's okay, because the rest of the cast made up for him. Playing as Guy was so much fun~!

Graces - It was okay, I guess. I liked the math injokes more than the characters.

Xillia - If this game starred Rowen and the Chimeriad, I would totally buy it (even if Presa's outfit is stupid). I think half the characters got fashion advice from other universes. This is also the only game where I played a mage and didn't regret it.

Vesperia - I don't know which animals I have to sacrifice to get the PS3 version in English, BUT I WANT THIS!

I hope Xillia 2 comes over~!

Edited September 26, 2013 by eclipse

[mistralsoul]

The streaming channel I frequent has been jokingly nicknamed by the mods the "24-hour Tales stream", so I get exposed to a lot of Tales games there.

In reality, I've only played Abyss for the 3DS.

But still, the fact that Xillia is nicknamed "Tales of No Combos" there has a reason...

My opinion of Abyss is that, Van is stupid, and 80% of the plot could have been solved if people bothered explaining the situation to Luke and basically communicating properly in general.

Favourite character...is Flynn...despite the fact that I have never played ToV (vanilla or PS3).

Totally not because of Miyano bias.

I guess I like his knightly personality that is eerily similar to Yuri.

Next year, PS3 owners will get to pay off a debt of 2,000,000 Gald (ʳ ´º㉨º)ʳ

[Aleph]

Natalia turned out to be my favourite Abyss character because she's so S2 noble and selfless S2 and way prettier than Tear.

My favourite game of the 3 I've played is probably Tales of Lloyd. Mostly because of miss Fujibayashi