Support NeoGAF

[The Praiseworthy]

I DID IT!!!

Who new learning few more artes in 2 hours only could actually helps me

Finished it in 52 hours with all my team level 80... my heartbeats were raising so fast in the last few seconds because I was so close to lose again.

Anyway.... this game I was hyped for in a long long time, because I really needed a classic JRPG this generation... so what I think about it now? hmmmmm let's see:

Presentation:
I was surprised by how good the VA in this Tales.. I really loved it and the graphics were fine to me because I loved the colors in this game and how clean it looked.. the characters design is my favorite in the series and the music isn't memorable but it did the work and I loved most of the battle themes.... the menu is pure classic with I ADORE and oh I really loved the skits with the full body anime art, so sad they didn't make it a stander in all the Tales games and Xillia, and the cut scenes are far far ahead of Abyss and Vesperia in the tearm of directing and how the camera changes and make a close up to the characters ect... and of course the full rendered cut scenes were an amazing additional to the presentation.B

Story: The childhood arc is my favorite part of the game because it really captured the feelings of being a kid... the story itself isn't special at all but the characters really made it up for me, and the F arc also fixed the story a little IMO and boy boy it was so hard for me to see

Spoiler

Sophie all grown up and really HOT "

because it was something I'm not used to it with this character in the whole game! anyway they story AND the world aren't even close to Abyss level sadly... but like I said it all was about the characters for me.C+

Gameplay:
O.M.G!
The most awesome and amazing battle system in years IMO... HOLY MOMMA this game had a fantastic battle system that I can't believe how well it was made.A

Last Word:
By the game's ending my heart felt broken... by all meanings because I've been waiting for ToGf for year and a half and I know I won't get this gaming experience again till another Tales is released for the west, which might be never or if we were lucky after a year from now

This is what an JRPG should be like ( with a better story of course ).... I missed games like this in this generation SO MUCH and this was something I really really needed to play, thanks Namco for bringing this wonderful Tales to us... it was truly an unforgettable journey for me.... and the Child Arc is one of my favorite 3 hours in gaming history, I loved it with all my heart <3

Overall: B+

 

[Dark Schala]

I DID IT!!!

Congrats! Are you going to try for the plat?

Were you playing on the easiest difficulty or something? I find it hard to believe you didn't just gain enough SP to level up titles naturally to get tons of artes. You gain more SP for titles on harder difficulties and are forced to obviously use more artes thanks to the difficulty, so learning tons of them is pretty natural on Normal and above. I remember I had Rejuvenate for Sophie slightly after Slime Queen when playing on Hard for example. I think I had more B artes than you for Asbel before I even reached the Slime Queen.

Yeah, if you were playing on Easy, I'd completely understand getting the bare minimum in terms of SP for the titles. If you were playing on at least Moderate, then you'd get more. Sometimes leaving titles management up to the AI might not be too advantageous for the player since you might not get artes that you want to use quickly enough.

For those who completed Graces, how would you rank the Tales games including this?

I only finished 2 but I reached halfway or towards the end for the rest so it goes like this: Graces > Abyss = Destiny > Phantasia > Innocence

Hmmm... I don't think I like to rate them like that. It's just like how I rate FF games; I don't rate them in a sequence because there's something in each game that I like, and it's hard for me to put one over the other.

I usually separate Tales games into 2D and 3D, or narrative vs combat. But I can safely say that Destiny R DC, Rebirth, Graces and Destiny 2 are my favourites since I don't come to Tales games for the story at all (though a good story or good character interactions would be a plus). So basically all the Udo games. :lol I have a very soft spot for Symphonia, though. I really like that game.

In terms of the strategy board, Xillia comes out on top, since you can prioritize which items can be used, whether you want other characters to readily link to each other, etc.

Tempest and VS are at the very end, though. I don't like those games very much at all. Outside of those two, I don't think there's a Tales game that I outright hate since I find redeeming factors in ones that I'm probably not enjoying a ton.

I haven't found in Graces something like this yet, the closest would be:

Spoiler

Victoria

,

Spoiler

Cedric

and

Spoiler

Emeraude

. But none of them have had anywhere near the same impact.

I used to do that when I was in school (and still do, mostly).

Nah, I agree. I liked that sort of banter in other Tales games, but was disappointed that it wasn't really here.

Aha, and I'm basically still in school, but it's more or less something I've done since I was a kid, so I do it out of habit now.

I actually did the exact same thing when I first played Nier. I got to the first boss in the game and I got stuck so I quit. I didn't actually go back to the game for six months and then I absolutely fell in love with the game.

My backlog is absolutely horrendous! I have around 25 games for the PS3, 3 games for the PSP, 5 for the DS, 1 for the Wii. If I add in all the Downloaded games I have on my PS3 I would have to add nearly 30 more!

I think I stopped playing around the second boss or so, but didn't really like it much. But picked it up afterwards and ended up liking it a lot. It's because of the nature of Nier that I wouldn't readily recommend it to other people because it might not be their thing. It really does seem like a like-it-or-hate-it sort of game.

My Wii backlog is almost nonexistent. But it's likely because barely anything came out for it last year so I had time to finish it off, and maybe the last things I played for it were Kirby, Skyward Sword and Xenoblade last year. My PS3 backlog is much bigger, though. I'm pretty sure if I had Steam on this laptop, I'd have a ton of games from Steam Sales in my backlog.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

Congrats! Are you going to try for the plat?

I don't think so.... it will need a lot of grinding, so instead I'm going to get as much Trophies I can get and that's it for me.

 

[IntelliHeath]

I don't think so.... it will need a lot of grinding, so instead I'm going to get as much Trophies I can get and that's it for me.

Just wondering, did you played whole game on easy or what?

 

[Yuripaw]

I haven't been able to play this for a few days, been real busy. I just started playing again tonight, and I'm at the point where

Spoiler

you go back to the Amarcian Enclave to go into the archive of wisdom to learn more.

What's bothering me is I still feel like I've missing out on sidequests the whole game. I honestly haven't noticed what could be a sidequest, or where they are. I talk to every NPC in town, and it always just seems they give me enough information to propel the story forward, or to do minor side stuff, but I've heard from people at work that there are even sidequests that have their own boss battles in this game. I haven't seen anything like that, and I'm at a loss where they are. It always seems like I can't even really explore, because whenever there's a part of the game that wants me to go in a specific path, it blocks me from going anywhere I'm not supposed to anyway.

 

[nintendoman58]

I haven't been able to play this for a few days, been real busy. I just started playing again tonight, and I'm at the point where

Spoiler

you go back to the Amarcian Enclave to go into the archive of wisdom to learn more.

What's bothering me is I still feel like I've missing out on sidequests the whole game. I honestly haven't noticed what could be a sidequest, or where they are. I talk to every NPC in town, and it always just seems they give me enough information to propel the story forward, or to do minor side stuff, but I've heard from people at work that there are even sidequests that have their own boss battles in this game. I haven't seen anything like that, and I'm at a loss where they are. It always seems like I can't even really explore, because whenever there's a part of the game that wants me to go in a specific path, it blocks me from going anywhere I'm not supposed to anyway.

Don't worry, you'll soon be able

Spoiler

to get a fast travel option that involves co-ordinates. You'll end up getting co-ordinates from some people and you will be able to scan locations for new areas with those co-ordinates to find sidequests.

 

[IntelliHeath]

I haven't been able to play this for a few days, been real busy. I just started playing again tonight, and I'm at the point where

Spoiler

you go back to the Amarcian Enclave to go into the archive of wisdom to learn more.

What's bothering me is I still feel like I've missing out on sidequests the whole game. I honestly haven't noticed what could be a sidequest, or where they are. I talk to every NPC in town, and it always just seems they give me enough information to propel the story forward, or to do minor side stuff, but I've heard from people at work that there are even sidequests that have their own boss battles in this game. I haven't seen anything like that, and I'm at a loss where they are. It always seems like I can't even really explore, because whenever there's a part of the game that wants me to go in a specific path, it blocks me from going anywhere I'm not supposed to anyway.

Sidequests such as events then you might miss some because few events required you to sleep at Inn and there are few events that are strictly timed because if you went ahead then you would missed few events because it would be at other location.

 

[grandjedi6]

 

[Celcius]

^^I agree lol

Even though I hated the ending so much I sold the game, I still gotta ask:

Spoiler

Why do the humanoids look like children? Also, what's the story behind the Fodra Queen? (I quit before got to her)

 

[Levyne]

My brother is fighting

Spoiler

"Lambda Angelus"

right now. Pretty intense stuff. He's cussing out Malik for dying so much

Update: Just lost when the dude had like 5000 hp left, trying again.

Update 2: Success after many a life bottle.

 

[Seda]

Malik, you worthless sack of crap.

 

[Koroviev]

^^I agree lol

Even though I hated the ending so much I sold the game, I still gotta ask:

Spoiler

Why do the humanoids look like children? Also, what's the story behind the Fodra Queen? (I quit before got to her)

But, but....the combos!

 

[kewlmyc]

Malik, you worthless sack of crap.

That's a weird way of spelling "best caster in the game, hands down".

 

[Esura]

I used Pascal more than Malik. I used Asbel, Sophie, Cheria, and Pascal for the final boss of the main game and the future arc. Malik came in handy for some boss battles but he was useless to me for most of them. Pascal is awesome. I don't care for Hubert either or

Spoiler

Richard

. They all stay in my reserves. I hate it when one of the females leave the party making me stuck with the reserves.

 

[scy]

Malik is probably the worst character in the game. Not that it's technically saying much since everyone is pretty much a beast. It doesn't help that he gets a pretty laughably bad Accel Mode.

 

[ZealousD]

I always feel like I'm cheating when I use an All-Divide on bosses, but at the same time they're such a big jump in difficulty from the normal encounters it's pretty much like I need them.

 

[Bladenic]

Malik is probably the worst character in the game. Not that it's technically saying much since everyone is pretty much a beast. It doesn't help that he gets a pretty laughably bad Accel Mode.

WHAT? Oh no you didn't just diss my fave.

Actually, if were talking a character purely based on alone merits, ie. how a character would perform solo, then he might be the worst. Of course with ranged attacks it's sort of a toss-up. But I def. disagree with Malik being the worst because his spells are ridiculously awesome and useful. In a party setting he is definitely more useful than Pascal and possibly Sophie.

 

[scy]

Mostly comes down to the fact that Pascal and Sophie deal damage faster than Malik does and Cheria is a better caster than him (/Indignation and Divine Saber are godlike). His A-Artes are slow so it doesn't really save that much time for his spells in the long run, not that the AI utilizes those that well anyway. Granted, I am terrible at controlling Malik but soloing with him was a stupid amount of ridiculously annoying.

For the record, Malik is my preferred fourth most of the time. Just stating that he's really not that good due to the way the combat system is. He's slow and the perks of his spells (area, stagger) can be covered elsewhere by the player.

But again, it doesn't really mean much anyway. Everyone is ridiculously good at something (well,

Spoiler

Richard is pretty terrible in general :x

) that "better" is practically negligible differences anyway.

 

[Bladenic]

Haha yeah the differences are negligible. And while I love Cheria's spells, their usefulness is somewhat nulled by the fact that her C. Attack is terrible (for a caster). And

Spoiler

Richard is kinda bad, but gosh I love Holy Lance and especially Shooting Stars. His A-Artes are really cool too.

 

[barrin87]

I don't really care to use Malik in battles but he is one of the most entertaining characters in the game, especially in the F arc.

So I honestly don't know how you guys have been able to get the platinum in 120 hours! I am over 100 hours now and am nowhere even close. I have only completed the first floor in the Zhonecage, have the three dragons to fight, and have some of the Inn requests to do. Then of course there is the new game +.

I freaking hate how many items and inn requests need things like rare and common metals! I can only get one each time from the locations and then have to do a few other things before I can go back to get another.

For titles I am doing alright though. I have 100 titles for everyone except Hubert and only need a few more for him most likely.

BTW, the Requiem quest was so strange but awesome!

 

[IntelliHeath]

I know this question have been brought up so much but I have issues to grinding my eleth mixer. I noticed that I only earn 2-3 each battle to level up my mixer.

my set up is

Book of Growth
Book of Potential
Book of Dissolution
Book of Striking
Tomato Parfait
Marbled Radish Steak.


I am willing to change my slots to whatever that would help me to get 9999 faster.

 

[kewlmyc]

Well I think Malik is awesome and is really good for chaining combos. The key is to only let him use Culling Flare, then he becomes godlike in a group.

He does suck solo, I'll give you that.

 

[grandjedi6]

Malik is great. He casts for amazing damage and has an abudance of HP. Cheria sucks though. On Chaos she gets killed off pretty fast, which is annoying since she's the one who needs to be resurrecting and healing everyone. Sophie is the way better healer in those contexts since she can actually stay alive for longer than 5 seconds.

 

[Bladenic]

Yeah Culling Flare is definitely his best spell. Though I LOVE Blazing Hearts. And Eleth Flare, Disruption, and Frigid Coffin are all so cool too. Malik <3

 

[scy]

@Malik/Casters/etc.: Cheria's low C.Atk is mitigated a bit by the large multipliers on her skills (and/or high base damage, I never did figure it out) and that it's pretty easy to just ... boost her C. Atk. Dualizing really does add a lot if you work on it, though I guess nothing in the game is really hard enough to warrant like ... +60 something equipment.

I really never had any trouble with her dying on Chaos though unlike what most say. I did dualize a fair amount and she had good defenses from that (well, not that much, just like +8 or so equipment) so I suppose that could help. Really, people dying in fights wasn't that big of a deal for most of the Chaos playthrough.

Indignation one-shotting half the game is a nice perk too.

I know this question have been brought up so much but I have issues to grinding my eleth mixer. I noticed that I only earn 2-3 each battle to level up my mixer.

my set up is

Book of Growth
Book of Potential
Book of Dissolution
Book of Striking
Tomato Parfait
Marbled Radish Steak.

I am willing to change my slots to whatever that would help me to get 9999 faster.

Well, Book of Striking doesn't actually do anything for your Mixer so unless you need it for the +Arte use, I'd drop it. Get Book of Satiation in there and then Crab Fried Rice (Activates after 10s) and then Fried Manju (Activates after 20s). If fights aren't lasting long enough for the latter, some of the combo foods would work like Borscht (Activates on 30+ Hits). You'll also want a post-fight food of Miso Stew (Activates with Mixer Eleth >50%).

So basically:

+Book of Satiation
+Crab Fried Rice
+Fried Manju (or Borscht)
+Miso Stew

I freaking hate how many items and inn requests need things like rare and common metals! I can only get one each time from the locations and then have to do a few other things before I can go back to get another.

Just put them in the Mixer and go do things. I kept them in there for a good portion of the game so I just had like 10+ of all the Metals near the end of the game.

 

[Sagitario]

Malik is probably the worst character in the game.

I... I... Um... WHAT?

That's a weird way of spelling Pascal. I really like Pascal outside of combat, though.
I have been rocking with Asbel, Cheria, Sophie and Malik.
I love how Malik is such a troll... and DAT ASS!

I was laughing so hard at this last night:

WHY DIDN'T I GET THOSE COSTUMES!?

Outside of combat [chapter 8], Cheria and Asbel just suck. Sophie is OK now that she has some kind of personality and Hubert, Pascal and Malik are good [really funny characters].

 

[Dark Schala]

Shit, I'd love to control Pascal when she's

Spoiler

some sort of mirror

. I've been saying that since I played the Japanese version and did that subquest. :lol

For the record, I like having Manlik as my fourth party member since his spells are all AoE, and he generally hangs back to cast them if I make him use B Only artes.

Redoing future arc now to get the Fodra Queen trophy. Haven't been levelling up my Arles Pot lately because I just want to get F Arc done and over with so I can use the clear save to start the NG+ and get the +500 bonus for an easy attack on the trophy (then finish it off). Getting the plat before my birthday seems reasonable now.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

I... I... Um... WHAT?

That's a weird way of spelling Pascal. I really like Pascal outside of combat, though.
I have been rocking with Asbel, Cheria, Sophie and Malik.
I love how Malik is such a troll... and DAT ASS!

I was laughing so hard at this last night:

WHY DIDN'T I GET THOSE COSTUMES!?

Outside of combat [chapter 8], Cheria and Asbel just suck. Sophie is OK now that she has some kind of personality and Hubert, Pascal and Malik are good [really funny characters].

How do I get these two events " !?

 

[Dark Schala]

How do I get these two events " !?

Well, you need to go back to the main arc for those. You don't get them in Future Arc.

For the Theatre subevent, you need

Spoiler

all 5 Princess Stories scripts. You can find them here:
1) The office in the Lhant Manor
2) One of the rooms in the Barona Inn (I forgot which)
3) Go through the backdoor of the Gralesyde Inn. check the box beside the door for it.
4) Backstage in the Velanik Inn in a box.
5) In a house in Zavhert (the house is on the screen that's closest to Mt. Zavhert). You'll find it in a bedside table.

After you get them, go to the Velanik Inn, go to backstage area and talk to the guy. Give him the stories and then the play will start.

For the beach subevent, you need to scan the world map with the shuttle and look for the coordinates X: -367, Y: -159 (should be around Strahta somewhere, so just keep looking for it). The beach resort will pop up. I think it's pretty straightforward with regards to how to start the event (ie: talk to the receptionist).

 

[IntelliHeath]

Well, Book of Striking doesn't actually do anything for your Mixer so unless you need it for the +Arte use, I'd drop it. Get Book of Satiation in there and then Crab Fried Rice (Activates after 10s) and then Fried Manju (Activates after 20s). If fights aren't lasting long enough for the latter, some of the combo foods would work like Borscht (Activates on 30+ Hits). You'll also want a post-fight food of Miso Stew (Activates with Mixer Eleth >50%).

So basically:

+Book of Satiation
+Crab Fried Rice
+Fried Manju (or Borscht)
+Miso Stew



Just put them in the Mixer and go do things. I kept them in there for a good portion of the game so I just had like 10+ of all the Metals near the end of the game.

Problem is that I have 10x damage, so my battles usually is finished under than 6 seconds. Only time that I managed to passed 10 seconds are bosses battle only.

 

[Dark Schala]

Problem is that I have 10x damage, so my battles usually finished under than 6 seconds. Only time that I managed to passed 10 seconds are bosses battle only.

In cases like that, I usually put other party members into 'passive', get rid of all the enemies but 1, wait for the 10 seconds to elapse and for the meal to trigger, and then get rid of the last enemy. I usually do that with Pascal/Malik or someone else whose titles I'm just trying to get for fun (since I've gotten their 100 titles trophies already).

Or you could put books in the mixer that halve your stats.

 

[barrin87]

Just beat the three Valkines Dragons! They were freaking tough! I had to beat them on Moderate and even then, the fire dragon took forever. I have been working on the Zhonecage as well and have the first three levels done so far.

 

[IntelliHeath]

In cases like that, I usually put other party members into 'passive', get rid of all the enemies but 1, wait for the 10 seconds to elapse and for the meal to trigger, and then get rid of the last enemy. I usually do that with Pascal/Malik or someone else whose titles I'm just trying to get for fun (since I've gotten their 100 titles trophies already).

Or you could put books in the mixer that halve your stats.

Hmm, I could try first suggestion. I already tried second suggestion and I still kill them fast. Bad case of overpowered characters by over-grinding and 10x damages.

 

[barrin87]

Is there any way to shut off Mystic Artes for your main character or at least control them better? The only one I ever get for Asbel is Stampede Strike.

 

[Sagitario]

A group of enemies just killed my entire party after battling for more than 1 hour without saving...

It was so weird. I couldn't even react because it happened so fast D:

3 out of 4 characters got killed suddenly ("WTF did just happen?") -> Life Bottle -> character got killed -> recently revived character [Cheria] got killed before the item bar depleted -> GAME OVER

:\

I have been playing A LOT. I think I need a little break from the game... maybe 1 day or 2

 

[Dark Schala]

Oh, dammit. Soooo, I'm fighting the F Arc final boss, ready to get the 60 seconds trophy this time. Ate Crab Croquettes to get the 2x critical boost prior to the beginning of battle.

Set these books to the Eleth Mixer:
-Book of Awakening
-Book of Swiftness
-Book of Glory
-Book of Partnership
-Book of Audacity

Titles equipped:
Asbel: Battle Sentinel (Mastered) - Blast Caliber damage+40%
Sophie: Globetrotter (Mastered) - Enemy Eleth Gauge Down
Hubert: Arte Artiste (Mastered) - Critical Rate Up During Combos
Cheria: Philanthropist (Mastered) - Enemy Eleth Gauge Down

Basically my tactics were: Asbel keeps hitting, Sophie's set to Aggressive, Hubert's set to Aggressive, Cheria rarely heals and just keeps throwing Arcane bottles. Easy mode, so no healing is required, especially at Lv. 120.

The boss didn't initiate the 'final attack' because I was too fast and using Blast Calibers left and right. Because of this, I said to myself, "oh yeah, I totally got this."

1.01.05 was the final time. Felt bad, man.

I wish there was a soft-reset. I don't want to do it the cheesy way and do a 1 hit KO sort of thing.

Edit: Yeeeeeeeah, 46.33 sounds about good. Finally did it. Eleth mixer is next and then plat.

Is there any way to shut off Mystic Artes for your main character or at least control them better? The only one I ever get for Asbel is Stampede Strike.

You need to have the Eleth Gauge number at 2 or higher to execute the higher-level blast calibers. You do this by:
- Saving the Eleth Gauge for later battles (ie: not using any blast calibers at all) so that the previous number can get carried over to the next Arles Rise.
- Hitting the enemies' weak spots while you're in Arles Rise so that the gauge can rise faster (also equipping titles for the party eleth gauge to rise higher would help too).
- someone said that the number of Arles Breaks that the enemy gets before you get into Arles Rise affects this, but I haven't tested it out.

 

[Crash Station]

Finally beat it. Final boss was intense when it had low(ish) health. Fun stuff.

I actually kind of liked the story and ending. Not enough to write up a long post going into detail, but it wasn't bad, especially after all the complaints I've heard about it. Maybe a little underdeveloped though. Think I can forgive that since I loved most of the characters, especially Pascal.

Gameplay-wise, I still think I prefer the Team Symphonia battle systems. This was just really weird to me and even though I had fun with it, I never really got used to it even by the end. Oh well.

 

[chickdigger802]

Beat the game. but due to ban, my rage has died down in the past week

Story: D- what story? I don't remember any of it, but I do remember tossing the controller due to something that happens near the end. But that's probably due to ....


Main character: F- What is he? The most selfish prick around.

Spoiler

He fails at every attempt to catch richard, and stops Sophie from saving the world because he can't? wtf. At least ponder the thought a bit.

Support cast: D For a game about friendship, there is surprisingly little chemistry around. Why did Cheria suddenly randomly forgot her coldness to Asbel running away? Wtf is Malik even around? He's worse than bioware dlc characters imo. I did like pascal though. And she was key to the story in a way.


Battle system: B loved it. Shame the AI doesn't love it. Would have been an A if I didn't spend all my life bottles reviving AI who don't know how to dodge 1 hit kill moves.


Other Systems: C I don't care if you 'must play on chaos' to use all the little systems or what not. If these systems don't matter on 'normal' then they are pointless in my book. Crafting is meaningless. titles are meaningless (i just had it on auto 3).


Visuals/world design/dungeons etc: C- I know this is a wii port, but the animations for non 'cinematic' cutscenes are terrible. Tons of tile reuse + no dungeon map makes navigation a pain.


Music: B- Forgettable, but not offensive except the horrbad Barona catacomb music.


But heck I finished the main story. in 45 hours. So I guess I still kinda liked it.


Will start on F arc after a break for this game.

 

[Dark Schala]

^I think you'll enjoy Radiant Historia a lot more going by your comments in your LTTP thread. Stocke is one of the best characters in a recent RPG.

Main character: F- What is he? The most selfish prick around.

Spoiler

He fails at every attempt to catch richard, and stops Sophie from saving the world because he can't? wtf. At least ponder the thought a bit.

Though to be fair, (ending spoilers)

Spoiler

his motive for stopping Sophie at the end was because he didn't want her--or anyone else, for that matter--to die. That's why he always hesitates whenever it comes to fighting Richard. Asbel is essentially an idealistic--but overly-benevolent--fool, and thinks the best of everyone, even when logic dictates that he shouldn't. This is the reason why I didn't think people were going to be enthralled with him.

I'm quite indifferent to the localized version of Asbel, in particular his English voice actor. At least Takahiro Sakurai made Asbel sound like he gave a damn most of the time. He captured Asbel's foolish idealism and toughness rather well. The English voice actor was pretty blah in comparison.

Anyway. It was certainly a pleasure getting the platinum for the second time. I love this game. I met my previously-stated goal of getting the plat before my birthday, with three days to spare.

Looking forward to getting the plat for the third time. Just not right now since I'm all Graces'd out. I had stopped my second playthrough of the Japanese version the day before the English version came out (I'd gotten to Chapter 7 at that time), and I kinda want to take a break from this game. Might juggle my second platinum run of Xillia with Assassin's Creed 2 and another game.

I didn't think people were going to like this game at all, especially given the cast and narrative (Team Destiny games' narratives are not as... dramatic... as Team Symphonia games' narratives at all, so I know people might've had high expectations for the narrative given the titles the NA audience has been exposed to). Pretty glad to see people in general liking the battle system. I personally love it, and it's pretty much the reason why I can come back to this game again and again, ever since Graces f's 2010 release.

 

[Sagitario]

Congrats on the Platinum, Dark Schala
But... a 3rd time? That's just a tiny little bit too much, don't you think? Specially when that time can be invested in other things, plus... remember that backlog? D:


Quick questions:
I have a Dreamer's Flange+4, Poignant, resell value at ~430K.
That only gives me 3 stamps at Turtlez, though [level 8].
Is there any way I can make the resell value higher? Is it worth the trouble or should I just buy another Rare Shotstaff, start over and sell it as a Dreamer's Flange+1 [130~190K]?

 

[Dark Schala]

Congrats on the Platinum, Dark Schala
But... a 3rd time? That's just a tiny little bit too much, don't you think? Specially when that time can be invested in other things, plus... remember that backlog? D:

Thanks! LOL, that's true, but I halfway committed myself to the second playthrough. I think I might finish it off a few months from now or something, when I have less games to play. I have everyone's 50 titles for that one, but in comparison:

-My 3rd playthrough is far more efficient and faster than my 2nd playthrough (I could see myself getting the plat after 120 hours as opposed to the 110 hours I took with this English platinum.)
-My Arles Pot was not getting much of workout during my second playthrough
-I'd barely been taking care of Inn Requests during that playthrough
-I probably might have to do a NG+ for that playthrough because I just feel like it's completely shoddy, inefficient, and reeks of poor time management.
-60 seconds trophies are right-on-track and are definitely okay.
-I hate Bathus Citadel/Basith Base. I hated it the first time, didn't like it the second time, and I'm pretty sure that I won't like it the third time.
-Hunting for Magical Shards is the worrrrrst. No, wait, dualization will be interesting again since it's all kana as opposed to English. I remember it took me a while to realize that different attributes had certain numbers of kana to think about when combining them.

It just turned into one of those games I just replay for fun even though I have other games to play. >.>

Quick questions:
I have a Dreamer's Flange+4, Poignant, resell value at ~430K.
That only gives me 3 stamps at Turtlez, though [level 8].
Is there any way I can make the resell value higher? Is it worth the trouble or should I just buy another Rare Shotstaff, start over and sell it as a Dreamer's Flange+1 [130~190K]?

I think it might be cheaper to buy another shotstaff and sell it as a +1, just because dualization costs go much higher as you keep dualizing further and further, and it might not be worth it to keep dualizing it to +5, +6, +7, etc. And you need two of those if you want to get the platinum (one is for an Inn Request (Perilous), and the other is for the Zone Cage (Perilous, and you need it to be +2)).

But it's up to you, really, if high-grade crystals are hard to come across for you. If you feel that they are, just keep dualizing it, and see if it'll turn a profit when you factor in the cost of dualizing the Flange further past +4. But to me, probably just making a +1/+2 perilous might be sufficient in terms of turning a profit.

Edit: Scy would probably have the better answer here. I usually just make two and hang onto them for the subquest that they're needed for.

 

[chickdigger802]

^I think you'll enjoy Radiant Historia a lot more going by your comments in your LTTP thread. Stocke is one of the best characters in a recent RPG.


Though to be fair, (ending spoilers)

Spoiler

his motive for stopping Sophie at the end was because he didn't want her--or anyone else, for that matter--to die. That's why he always hesitates whenever it comes to fighting Richard. Asbel is essentially an idealistic--but overly-benevolent--fool, and thinks the best of everyone, even when logic dictates that he shouldn't. This is the reason why I didn't think people were going to be enthralled with him.

I'm quite indifferent to the localized version of Asbel, in particular his English voice actor. At least Takahiro Sakurai made Asbel sound like he gave a damn most of the time. He captured Asbel's foolish idealism and toughness rather well. The English voice actor was pretty blah in comparison.

Anyway. It was certainly a pleasure getting the platinum for the second time. I love this game. I met my previously-stated goal of getting the plat before my birthday, with three days to spare.



Looking forward to getting the plat for the third time. Just not right now since I'm all Graces'd out. I had stopped my second playthrough of the Japanese version the day before the English version came out (I'd gotten to Chapter 7 at that time), and I kinda want to take a break from this game. Might juggle my second platinum run of Xillia with Assassin's Creed 2 and another game.

I didn't think people were going to like this game at all, especially given the cast and narrative (Team Destiny games' narratives are not as... dramatic... as Team Symphonia games' narratives at all, so I know people might've had high expectations for the narrative given the titles the NA audience has been exposed to). Pretty glad to see people in general liking the battle system. I personally love it, and it's pretty much the reason why I can come back to this game again and again, ever since Graces f's 2010 release.

Yep loving radiant historia characters.

Haha true. No one wanna play as the fool though. Especially in a post mass effect era where we expect to be able to make a choice or expect the guy to put some logic behind his actions.

It doesnt help that his companions don't ever question his decisions. You'd think his bro would throw up the counter point at least once.

And for an expert on this game. Any pointers on strategies setups and what not to keep the homies alive on harder difficulties?

 

[Sagitario]

I have 15 High-grade Crystals, so that shouldn't be a problem

I will sell the +4 staff for those 3 stamps and keep dualizing to +1 the Dreamer's Flange until I get my Book of Striking >_< , then I will start upgrading the other stores (I have focused on Lhant, Oul Raye, Gralesyde and Turtlez).
Thanks for the warning, I will keep those two Perilous Dreamer's Flanges.

I have like 90~95% of the inn requests done
I still need to steal that item from the Warrior's Roost enemy, I don't think it will be easy.

 

[Dark Schala]

I still need to steal that item from the Warrior's Roost enemy, I don't think it will be easy.

Yeah, I ended up doing that early on because I figured I'd one-shot the enemy if I did it later on. :/

I'm pretty sure scy would have a better idea of how to maximize profits with dualized armour later, though.

Yep loving radiant historia characters.

Haha true. No one wanna play as the fool though. Especially in a post mass effect era where we expect to be able to make a choice or expect the guy to put some logic behind his actions.

It doesnt help that his companions don't ever question his decisions. You'd think his bro would throw up the counter point at least once.

And for an expert on this game. Any pointers on strategies setups and what not to keep the homies alive on harder difficulties?

I can honestly say that there aren't a lot of RPG characters where I would find their actions logical these days. :/

Maybe Hubert wanted to get rid of him!

I've played the game so much on Chaos that I've just gotten used to dodging a lot (and it's best if you do it at a split-second before the enemy attacks so you get the CC boost). Pay attention to when some enemies have a red "!" before they attack so you can get out of the way. These attacks hurt a lot, and it's best that you get away from them no matter what. Maybe it's because I got the plat for FFXIII which made me fixate on enemy animations more (turtle farming), but looking at the animations would help when deciding to dodge or try to counter an attack.

Food helps. When you cook food during battle with the Eleth Pot (ie: stick the food in there and let it do its thing), you might be granted a battle bonus. This can be something that wards against status effects, or it can give you a boost to your XP, SP, or attack power. Crab Fried Rice, a food I use a lot, gives you Critical Rate x2 if it's cooked in battle (10 seconds after the battle starts).

Artes help out a lot. If you're concerned with dying, don't use Hubert manually because his DEF isn't very good, and unless you're pretty good with dodging, he might die while you're trying to combo a bunch of enemies while trying to get some crowd control done (but this is where you generally use bullets).

There are times when Asbel gets surrounded by enemies and whacked around a lot. I usually block and try to get out of there, or I use:
-Moonlight Circle (I noticed that this stuns enemies I don't expect to stun, so it isn't bad)
-Concussive Bolt (great for crowd control, especially when you double-tap to get a faster, but smaller bolt)
-Infernal Torrent (burn burn burn to the ground)

-Demon Fang and Incineration Wave are great against spellcasters since you can shoot them from a distance. Get rid of spellcasters first. They can make your life hell if you let them do whatever they want.

Remember if you're using some of his earlier B Artes, you can just hold O, and if he has CC left over, he'll do a TON of arte extensions (ex: with Frost Breaker, he uses that arte, then it extends into Moonlight Circle, then Infernal Torrent, then Void Sword, which is a great combo). That's only if you have the sufficient CC to pull it off, though.

His 'hold up with the left-stick' A-artes are pretty good in general. And if you're fighting humans, hold right and attack in general. A good idea is to check the enemy's stats to see what they're weak against and either:
a) Follow what the bottom of the chart says (ex: very weak against A-Artes, weak against B-Artes, etc), and just use those
b) Every monster is weak against a certain attribute. Your artes have certain attributes that are associated with them. Use the appropriate arte against the monster and you'll bash them harder.

With regards to keeping people alive, keep dualizing equipment to +whatever, and equip the resulting gems on them if they boost P. Def of C.Def. Increase Asbel's ACC because it's crap. Hubert's DEF is crap, as is Malik's and Cheria's, so that's the stat to work on for those guys. Give those guys better armour first, and dualize them if you think they need a DEF boost.

Titles like "Gorgeous Fashionista", "Striking Baron", "___ Hipster", etc. generally cut damage over 1500 in half or something like that. I think the damage limits improve if you master the titles. Those are pretty good when they're mastered and you want to reduce damage to your character. You can always equip them (just make sure to switch the title menu AI to 'manual' because it'll automatically move without your input after a battle).

Even then, though, I've had some melee attackers die to me (but I just had Cheria use a life bottle to pick them up because she takes effing forever to cast a Resurrection Spell). Unless I'm doing a 'no life bottle' playthrough, it isn't as bad because 1-2 people die during harder boss fights and that isn't a terrible loss.

For characters that aren't Cheria, I usually set them to:
Malik - Up to You/Cancel Spells - B Artes Only - Offensive - Guard/Heal when HP < 100%
Pascal - Depends on the battle, but if it's more difficult, I'll have her use A-Artes mostly since those fire at a distance away.
Everyone else: Up to You/Cancel Spells - Balanced - Balanced - Guard/Heal when HP < 100% (especially helpful with Sophie since she casts faster than Cheria)

With Hubert, sometimes I switch him to B-only if I notice he's not doing too well. That's because his B-artes fire from a distance so he's not constantly getting swallowed up by melee. This isn't the best way to use Hubert, but it's a good way to keep him alive.

If I notice someone really having a problem, I just switch them to Defensive so that they just counter and generally stay out of the enemy's way.

With regards to Sophie's Healing Artes, I turn off stuff like First Aid or whatever and just leave her with Cure and her resurrection spell. It's because she'll defer to her lesser skills first and I don't want her to use those at all.

I used a party of Asbel, Sophie, Malik, and Cheria more often during this playthrough, and I've noticed that I've had less deaths just because I have two casters who don't move in general since I've set them to B-Only. They die because they get swarmed by enemies, and if you're controlling a melee character, it's your job to distract the enemies from spellcasters.

I've always set Cheria to "Passive", "B Only", and "Heal/Guard when HP < 100%" in harder battles, and I put her in the 4th party slot. She rarely dies on me because she knows when to get the hell away from things (so she's generally the last person standing if I get into a situation where everything falls to pieces). I turn off all of her random skills like Insight, Veil of Faith, Fleetfoot, Remedy, Fairy Circle/Nurse/Pixie Circle (we don't care about those anymore if we're further in and have better stuff like Revitalize and Recover), etc. She always opts to use the easier things and you don't want her to do that, especially since the Circle skills aren't very great. Revitalize is the better skill, even if it takes longer to cast. I usually dualize her weapon or armour with a Blessing Shard because it'll increase the potency of her healing artes. For that matter, if she has a higher-level attacking B-Arte, turn off her lower-level stuff because you don't need that and she'll use the lower level ones more if they're not turned off.

Um. I think that might be about it. Practice generally makes perfect, but the best thing to do is level up your titles and take it slow when increasing the difficulty. Future Arc's enemies are generally much harder than the ones in the main game, though, at lower levels. Even with Accel Mode. Depending on how you feel with the battle system, you might want to make your characters go on the defensive in general or lower the difficulty.

 

[The Praiseworthy]

Well, you need to go back to the main arc for those. You don't get them in Future Arc.

Thanks a lot !!

LMAO I laughed so hard on the "YEEEEEES!!" line

and also on the

Spoiler

sexy cat

thing on the beach

please tell me more about cool and awesome events like these two.... I hate to miss ANYTHING!

 

[Esura]

Yep loving radiant historia characters.

Haha true. No one wanna play as the fool though. Especially in a post mass effect era where we expect to be able to make a choice or expect the guy to put some logic behind his actions.

It doesnt help that his companions don't ever question his decisions. You'd think his bro would throw up the counter point at least once.

And for an expert on this game. Any pointers on strategies setups and what not to keep the homies alive on harder difficulties?

Me, personally I don't mind as long as the reasons for the character being a fool makes sense within the story. Asbel's ideals is called into question multiple times in game by multiple characters. The entire first half of the game was him getting dogged out by various friends and family members.

Btw, a lot of the choices you get to dictate Shepard's behavior aren't the most logical actions at all, especially what he/she does in ME2 but I digress.

I'm scared to try expert on this game, or any Tales of game for that matter.

 

[barrin87]

You need to have the Eleth Gauge number at 2 or higher to execute the higher-level blast calibers. You do this by:
- Saving the Eleth Gauge for later battles (ie: not using any blast calibers at all) so that the previous number can get carried over to the next Arles Rise.
- Hitting the enemies' weak spots while you're in Arles Rise so that the gauge can rise faster (also equipping titles for the party eleth gauge to rise higher would help too).
- someone said that the number of Arles Breaks that the enemy gets before you get into Arles Rise affects this, but I haven't tested it out.

Cool, thanks for the information! And congratulations on the platinum!!!

So I have been going through the Zhonecage and I am loving the experience. I was working on the 6th floor and I was getting 100K-200K experience per battle on Normal. The last place I tried to grind was Sandshroud Ruins and I was only getting 10K-20K so this is much better.

The only crappy thing is that I can't unlock every level of the Zhonecage yet. I only have access up to level 7. What are some good items to have to unlock the higher floors?

 

[IntelliHeath]

Thanks a lot !!

LMAO I laughed so hard on the "YEEEEEES!!" line

and also on the

Spoiler

sexy cat

thing on the beach

please tell me more about cool and awesome events like these two.... I hate to miss ANYTHING!

I suggest you to replay whole game again and follow the faq carefully. You are more likely to missed some of good scene that are missable. I missed a lot during first playthrough and I still enjoyed 2nd because I missed a lot of missable events.

 

[Bladenic]

Not gonna be able to plat the game for at least two weeks due to finals. Meh. I'l probably post soon asking for help with how to proceed on getting those final weapons for the inn requests. And by that I mean how to get their correct natures. Such a pain. Otherwise, I gotta grind out that mixer (at 4000), replay future arc for the 60s trophy, then start a new game and blow through it for two 60s trophies relatively early on. I'll probably do some extra level and title grinding before the future arc, and also try to get the Zhonecage ultimate weapons.

 

[IntelliHeath]

I fear to work on those weapons and eleth soon.


I just arrived that Citadel where we have to fight against robots. My team are already reached to level 78 and currently playing on chaos since beginning of the game.


All I can say, Chaos + 10x Damage = insane. One mistake, you are more likely to die. Usually it's not problem for me because I kill them all fast as I can.