Whee. That was fun. The combination of an addictive game and a lot of free time isn't pretty.
This was only the second in the series I've played, but the Tales games are growing on me very quickly. I now have the urge to pick up Destiny for PS1, and probably do a bit more bitching about Phantasia in the future.
Reasons this game was awesome.
Combat. I liked it here a little bit more that I did Eternia. The changing planes of attack made a little more effort and thinking involved. At first I thought the pauses to switch all the time were going to be a pain, but they were completey effortless. And the team attacks ended up being a great feature too. I wish I played around with it more. Anyways, this added too a combat system that was already top of the line (only VP and Grandia reach the same tier IMO) and made it better.
Dungeons. This surprised me. Eternia's dungeons were all very straightforward. I actually didn't mind that at all, because it just made the game's focus on it's obvious strength, combat. But here they just steadily developed the length and level of involvement in the dungeons, and they were for the most part excellent about half way through and after. The various forms of the sorcerrer's ring gave it almost a Wild Arms appeal, with various tools to apply to each situation.
Cooking! Okay, this isn't really any different from Eternia, but still, cooking is one of the best ideas in any RPG. Avoids the tedium of manually recharging after battle, but still leaves some of the wear and tear you should go though during a dungeon. And actually, this had an autocook feature after every battle, so it is a little better than Eternia!
Characters. All the little cut scenes and conversations really fleshed out the personalities. I felt the exact same way with Eternia. The story may not be anything particularly special, but the conversations and various interactions with the characters are so well done that it hardly matters. Just a lot of scenes that make you laugh or smile or whatever. Is this a strength for the rest of the series as well? I remember Shouta saying something about it once...eh...
Music was sorta meh....a few memorable tracks but overall pretty bland.
Minigames were a step down from Eternia, but still some pretty fun ones.
Down sides -
Dialogue got to be a little preachy and over the top towards the end. Despite the conversations being a big plus overall, there were still some we could do without.
One of the biggest dissapointments was the lack of the Craymel Cage system. That was such a big part of Eternia, and one of my favorite parts of the game. Without it, there was less to mess around with in terms of ability setups, summons became less important, and the role of offensive magic in battles was diminished. The last point isn't all bad though, because there was more character in combat diversity this way.
FINAL JUDGEMENT! This game is awesome. Easily one of the best 3 RPGs this gen, if not best. Everyone should play it. And Namco should give me Tales of Destiny 2.
This was only the second in the series I've played, but the Tales games are growing on me very quickly. I now have the urge to pick up Destiny for PS1, and probably do a bit more bitching about Phantasia in the future.
Reasons this game was awesome.
Combat. I liked it here a little bit more that I did Eternia. The changing planes of attack made a little more effort and thinking involved. At first I thought the pauses to switch all the time were going to be a pain, but they were completey effortless. And the team attacks ended up being a great feature too. I wish I played around with it more. Anyways, this added too a combat system that was already top of the line (only VP and Grandia reach the same tier IMO) and made it better.
Dungeons. This surprised me. Eternia's dungeons were all very straightforward. I actually didn't mind that at all, because it just made the game's focus on it's obvious strength, combat. But here they just steadily developed the length and level of involvement in the dungeons, and they were for the most part excellent about half way through and after. The various forms of the sorcerrer's ring gave it almost a Wild Arms appeal, with various tools to apply to each situation.
Cooking! Okay, this isn't really any different from Eternia, but still, cooking is one of the best ideas in any RPG. Avoids the tedium of manually recharging after battle, but still leaves some of the wear and tear you should go though during a dungeon. And actually, this had an autocook feature after every battle, so it is a little better than Eternia!
Characters. All the little cut scenes and conversations really fleshed out the personalities. I felt the exact same way with Eternia. The story may not be anything particularly special, but the conversations and various interactions with the characters are so well done that it hardly matters. Just a lot of scenes that make you laugh or smile or whatever. Is this a strength for the rest of the series as well? I remember Shouta saying something about it once...eh...
Music was sorta meh....a few memorable tracks but overall pretty bland.
Minigames were a step down from Eternia, but still some pretty fun ones.
Down sides -
Dialogue got to be a little preachy and over the top towards the end. Despite the conversations being a big plus overall, there were still some we could do without.
One of the biggest dissapointments was the lack of the Craymel Cage system. That was such a big part of Eternia, and one of my favorite parts of the game. Without it, there was less to mess around with in terms of ability setups, summons became less important, and the role of offensive magic in battles was diminished. The last point isn't all bad though, because there was more character in combat diversity this way.
FINAL JUDGEMENT! This game is awesome. Easily one of the best 3 RPGs this gen, if not best. Everyone should play it. And Namco should give me Tales of Destiny 2.
And Craymel Cage is Eternia only. Symphonia is along the lines of Phantasia.. for the most part.
