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[King of the Potato People]

I gotta say, this trend of "the characters in Graces are awful, I hate it. By the way, Symphonia is my favorite" is blowing my mind. I don't like any character in Graces besides maybe Malik, but I'll take all of them over Lloyd and Colette. I want to hate them to death.

Collete is a bad melodramatic character (no argument there), Lloyd isn't a great character but there's not a scene where he starts knelling and crying. Lloyd isn't bright (and the game makes fun of that) but he's determined, it takes hours and hours of being knocked down by Hubert and Cheria until Asbel gets determined.

 

[Ultratech]

Everyone should play Destiny DC.

Yup.

 

[Riposte]

I found trying to dodge attacks with party members to be really awkward. Made some bosses especially annoying. I came away from the game feeling like it got random at times and the best way to solve it is by doing super long combos... which I'm not really interested in doing. If I'm completely wrong, I'm all ears.

 

[Deified Data]

Liked the combat, but the lame-ass story couldn't motivate me through to the end.

 

[Seda]

I found trying to dodge attacks with party members to be really awkward. Made some bosses especially annoying. I came away from the game feeling like it got random at times and the best way to solve it is by doing super long combos... which I'm not really interested in doing. If I'm completely wrong, I'm all ears.

Well it helps to do the certain skills that hit the bosses' weak points.

 

[Coxy]

I think Destiny is the best Tales game but Graces definitely made me like the series again after Abyss and Legendia turned me off.

I honestly would argue the cast is pretty likeable, especially Pascal, Malik and Richard, there's some really good banter in the skits, particularly in the future arc.

 

[FSLink]

I found trying to dodge attacks with party members to be really awkward. Made some bosses especially annoying. I came away from the game feeling like it got random at times and the best way to solve it is by doing super long combos... which I'm not really interested in doing. If I'm completely wrong, I'm all ears.

No you had to take advantage of the Dualise system and weakness system more. Fighting bosses on Evil or Chaos I never felt I had to do a super long combo.

 

[Error]

I didn't say the story was good, it's just there and it's inoffensive that's more than enough for me. The cast is also not offensive or anything, other Tales have a better cast of characters I'm sure but that's not a deciding factor in my enjoyment of games. I guess after all this grimdark in most rpgs, one that comes along with the power of friendship and stuff doesn't seem as cliche, it actually felt like a breath of fresh air.

And I don't know why people say some stuff can't be skipped, every cutscene and skit can be skipped.

What shocks me is that some people prefer TP over CC, I just don't see any conceivable way where TP is superior to CC.

 

[Riposte]

Well it helps to do the certain skills that hit the bosses' weak points.

Well, yeah, that's how you stun them no? Hence you can keep on hitting them safely.

EDIT: Mind you, I did quite like the game overall. Especially conceptually. Just didn't like what it was turning into with these super tough bosses.

Also Tales fans compare the characters/plot in these games too much. You do it way more than Final Fantasy fans at this point. It is tiresome.

 

[PedroPanache]

Have you played Radiant Historia, Persona 4, Disgaea 4 & Xenoblade?

I've played Persona 4 (it, is, of course, bloody fantastic), I own a Wii, but just haven't got round to buying Xenoblade yet (it's on my to-do list), and Radiant Historia is DS, right? I own a 3DS, but it's never been on my radar.

 

[Esura]

I agree with the OP for the most part, although I did love the skits, especially the ones with Sophie and Pascal. The characters are pretty awesome and I love everything about the characters. They kind of stick with me more than the Vesperia and Abyss crowd.

 

[FSLink]

What shocks me is that some people prefer TP over CC, I just don't see any conceivable way where TP is superior to CC.

Yeah this is more baffling. I argue Xillia/Xillia 2 kind of suffers for using TP along with CC (called AC here) . It only weirdly limits you early on but then TP regen per attack gets high enough it doesn't matter. Makes me wonder why would you need to keep TP...

 

[Alex]

Seriously? SO4 is on a whole different level for me. The story and cast is offensive, something i wouldn't label Graces as.

I've played all the localized Tales games and honestly, the gameplay in Graces feels leagues ahead of the rest. Like the OP, i don't think i can ever go back to a pre-CC Tales game anymore.



I'm really curious why so few feels the same way. None of the stories in entire Tales series (or 90% of JRPGs tbh) can be considered above-average.

I'm not here to slam and bash video game plots for being video game plots, there's plenty of charm and good, dumb entertainment I get out of the stuff that even as an adult. I've been playing JRPGs all my life, and I wouldn't keep buying them if I didn't enjoy some of the settings, characters and general contexts, , but it's certainly an acquired taste.

But for Tales, by far and large, my feeling is "meh", even by video game standards. Vesperia and Destiny are the ambassadors for this series in that regard and they're still cut from the same completely unremarkable cloth. They're at least passable though as wallpaper, and nothing in the series enters truly hateful territory except Symphonia, Will never understand that one, outside of it's presentation it didn't really have anything going for it from any angle, in my opinion. I especially can't imagine it'd be very fun today, although, to be, for the first and only time, a little fair to Symphonia though the general game flow of Vesperia and Graces F has really aged several of the middle-tier titles something awful.

Abyss was on my GOTY 2006 list when it came out but trying to replay it on the 3DS after Graces F.... Oh my god, I think I lasted a whole two hours.

I agree with the OP for the most part, although I did love the skits, especially the ones with Sophie and Pascal. The characters are pretty awesome and I love everything about the characters. They kind of stick with me more than the Vesperia and Abyss crowd.

Graces had a few solid characters, like Pascal and Malik, they were just largely background noise for the doldrums of the main cast.

 

[WickedLaharl]

I thought the game was OK but it doesn't hold up to vesperia at all. The battle system is amazing in graces f but it couldn't carry the shit chars, dungeons, story, music ect

It would have been better if all you did was move in a straight line and fought battle.

-

 

[RPGCrazied]

The only thing I like in Graces more than any other Tales is the fighting. I really don't like TP/MP, always have to worry how to manage that and regain it with items. You really don't have that problem in Graces.

That said, I liked Vesperia more. Better characters/story.

 

[Error]

Well, yeah, that's how you stun them no? Hence you can keep on hitting them safely.

EDIT: Mind you, I did quite like the game overall. Especially conceptually. Just didn't like what it was turning into with these super tough bosses.

Also Tales fans compare the characters/plot in these games too much. You do it way more than Final Fantasy fans at this point. It is tiresome.

Hitting weaknesses not just deals more damage, you also stagger them more easily letting you unleash a bunch of hits without the boss just brushing them off like they were nothing.

Some bosses are bullshit I admit. Cedric,

Spoiler

Emurade

, the parasite fight inside the Rockogagong. Holy shit those were fucking HARD.

 

[SpaceBridge]

Oh yeahhh!!![/QUOTE]


I'd love to try it out, but that disco outfit is just so silly.

 

[Riposte]

Hitting weaknesses not just deals more damage, you also stagger them more easily letting you unleash a bunch of hits without the boss just brushing them off like they were nothing.

Some bosses are bullshit I admit. Cedric,

Spoiler

Emurade

, the parasite fight inside the Rockogagong. Holy shit those were fucking HARD.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying, no?

Originally I planned on beating the game on the second hardest difficulty (maybe third harder overall, isn't one locked?). After getting stuck on the Rockogagong boss fight for about 3 hours, imagine my horror (/pride) when I discovered at some point I switched the difficulty up without realizing it lol. Like throwing off DBZ-style training clothes, I cleared it on the first try on my original difficulty.

 

[Coxswain]

Seriously? SO4 is on a whole different level for me. The story and cast is offensive, something i wouldn't label Graces as.

The SO4 cast is worse visually, but the characterization and writing is basically identical between the two games:


- Dumb main character who 'just wants to do the right thing' and spends a ton of time moping

- His "childhood friend" who huffs and puffs and sticks her cheeks out and goes "Hmph!" a lot while she's getting mad at him, alternated with getting all quiet and shy and weepy like a little girl who needs to be saved

- Some monotone girl stuck in the body of a child who "doesn't understand things" which is supposed to be an endearing or funny character trait

- Some vaguely effeminate 'best friend' character who likes and looks up to the main character for being just so darn swell, and who goes nuts/gets possessed and then starts doing evil shit

- A manic, hyper-enthusiastic young-ish girl who doesn't understand personal boundaries or have any sort of propriety (whether that takes the form of jumping up and grasping onto another character to start licking their face and falling asleep in their bed, or constantly trying to 'touch' another character and never bathing, which in both cases are supposed to be "hilarious" endearing running gags)

- An aggressively boring older man who realistically has no fucking reason to put up with the group of awful, awful children he's been saddled with, but who can't even really be bothered to muster up a "Holy shit you people are retarded", and is therefore guilty of the same character crimes via inaction

- Some other guy who was part of an allied military who joins the game last to fill the role of the overly strict hardass but who mostly just ends up not doing much of anything


The difference between the two is, once a character joins the part in Star Ocean 4, most of their continued involvement in the plot consists of standing in the background during cutscenes while the main character and maybe one or two others talks to whatever NPC is involved, and most of the really vile shit is constrained to a handful of fully avoidable scenes per character that you can skip easily and without ever losing out on plot-critical information.
In Graces, the characters are front and center, at almost all times during the story. At any semi-major cutscene or plot junction, the game makes absolutely damn sure that you see everything that has to do with every member of the cast, and integrates them all into the plot pretty much every step of the way. And the optional shit is put into skits, which are mostly meaningless bullshit that you can skip, but which sometimes contain information that actually improves your understanding of the plot - and there's no way to tell which skits are actually relevant until you've actually watched them.

The Graces cast is the Star Ocean 4 cast, for the most part. Star Ocean 4 is like a toilet that doesn't flush but people have been using it anyway. Graces is that same shit, but it's smeared all over the walls and carpets of every room in the house.

 

[kayos90]

No Dark Schala post? I'm disappoint.

 

[Error]

Oh yeahhh!!!


I'd love to try it out, but that disco outfit is just so silly.

you can change his outfit early in the game, with the Yuri one if it bothers you that much.

 

[Rpgmonkey]

Lloyd really annoyed me, more than Asbel.

They were horrible at balanced dialogue and screentime back with Symphonia. Felt like Lloyd, Colette, Kratos, and Zelos were the ones who did almost all the talking in the game, while the rest were on the backburner and stood around until their five minutes of fame came up. But at least Kratos was somewhat sensible (though dry) and Zelos had a somewhat funny moment sometimes, Lloyd and Colette's dialogue and mannerisms got pretty redundant and repetitive.

In Graces it seemed like there were many more moments where the other characters are more relevant than Asbel, so he didn't really bother me as much.

 

[Riposte]

- Some monotone girl stuck in the body of a child who "doesn't understand things" which is supposed to be an endearing or funny character trait

You know this shit wasn't on the same level.

EDIT: Kay?

 

[Esura]

Graces had a few solid characters, like Pascal and Malik, they were just largely background noise for the doldrums of the main cast.

Sophie's development and her interactions with the rest of the cast was some powerful stuff though.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

I've played Persona 4 (it, is, of course, bloody fantastic), I own a Wii, but just haven't got round to buying Xenoblade yet (it's on my to-do list), and Radiant Historia is DS, right? I own a 3DS, but it's never been on my radar.

Yup, Radiant Historia is a DS game. I can't recommend it enough, one of the few recent rpg's that actually seems to avoid a lot of the stupid old fashioned ideas while retaining a lot of the awesome old fashioned ideas while having a fun new battle system.

Also check out Growlanser : Wayfarer of Time if you have a PSP. Pretty unique battle system.

 

[Seda]

I didn't like the Vesperia music that played with the Yuri costume though. It fits for that boss battle in it's original game, but for every single battle?

 

[Celegus]

Rebirth is #2 for me, I just like Graces's auxiliary systems more.
The people who hate Graces because of its story/characters would DESPISE Rebirth, though. It does have the worst plot point in gaming.

Worse than Star Ocean 3? Is that even possible? Can someone post a spoiler of what it is in Tales of Rebirth? It's not something I'd go back to and play.

 

[Error]

SO4 story is made much worst because of the long, drawn-out, unexciting cutscenes which consisted of long dialogue exposition with characters that looked like mannequins.

the cutscene direction in SO4 is some of the worst I've ever seen.

 

[MechaX]

You know this shit wasn't on the same level.

EDIT: Kay?

Yeah, Sophie didn't have a moment that was anywhere near as bad as nappy time.

 

[-NeoTB1-]

Loved Graces f. The battle system was awesome. Take that and put in a game with better characters/setting/story like Vesperia and you would have the best of both worlds. IMO, of course.

 

[Ravage]

I'm not here to slam and bash video game plots for being video game plots, there's plenty of random, kooky and ultimately middle-school esque stuff that even as an adult I can get a of laugh or some charm out of. I've been playing JRPGs all my life, and I wouldn't keep buying them if I didn't enjoy some of the settings, characters and general contexts.

But for Tales, by far and large, my feeling is "meh", even by video game standards. Vesperia and Destiny are the ambassadors for this series in that regard and they're still cut from the same completely unremarkable cloth. They're at least passable though as wallpaper, and nothing in the series enters truly hateful territory except Symphonia, Will never understand that one, outside of it's presentation it didn't really have anything going for it from any angle, in my opinion. I especially can't imagine it'd be very fun today, although, to be, for the first and only time, a little fair to Symphonia though the general game flow of Vesperia and Graces F has really aged several of the middle-tier titles something awful.

Abyss was on my GOTY 2006 list when it came out but trying to replay it on the 3DS after Graces F.... Oh my god, I think I lasted a whole two hours.



Graces had a few solid characters, like Pascal and Malik, they were just largely background noise for the doldrums of the main cast.

I should have used the word plot instead of story. Plot-wise, nothing this gen come close to Nier but that's okay. The creative settings are the main reason why i love this genre after all, and this is an area i don't think the Tales series has ever excelled in.

In Graces, the characters are front and center, at almost all times during the story. At any semi-major cutscene or plot junction, the game makes absolutely damn sure that you see everything that has to do with every member of the cast, and integrates them all into the plot pretty much every step of the way. And the optional shit is put into skits, which are mostly meaningless bullshit that you can skip, but which sometimes contain information that actually improves your understanding of the plot - and there's no way to tell which skits are actually relevant until you've actually watched them.

A very valid point, but i still don't agree that the cast of Graces is anywhere near the holy trinity of Edge Maverick, Serah and Meracle

Spoiler

(and Welch and every f***ing character in that game).

. It's the combination of their dialogue and actions...it just feels like a whole different level y'know

 

[Papercuts]

What is the name of that song that plays in the Catacombs? I want to relisten to its 3 note awfulness.

 

[grandjedi6]

The SO4 cast is worse visually, but the characterization and writing is basically identical between the two games:


- Dumb main character who 'just wants to do the right thing' and spends a ton of time moping

- His "childhood friend" who huffs and puffs and sticks her cheeks out and goes "Hmph!" a lot while she's getting mad at him, alternated with getting all quiet and shy and weepy like a little girl who needs to be saved

- Some monotone girl stuck in the body of a child who "doesn't understand things" which is supposed to be an endearing or funny character trait

- Some vaguely effeminate 'best friend' character who likes and looks up to the main character for being just so darn swell, and who goes nuts/gets possessed and then starts doing evil shit

- A manic, hyper-enthusiastic young-ish girl who doesn't understand personal boundaries or have any sort of propriety (whether that takes the form of jumping up and grasping onto another character to start licking their face and falling asleep in their bed, or constantly trying to 'touch' another character and never bathing, which in both cases are supposed to be "hilarious" endearing running gags)

- An aggressively boring older man who realistically has no fucking reason to put up with the group of awful, awful children he's been saddled with, but who can't even really be bothered to muster up a "Holy shit you people are retarded", and is therefore guilty of the same character crimes via inaction

- Some other guy who was part of an allied military who joins the game last to fill the role of the overly strict hardass but who mostly just ends up not doing much of anything


The difference between the two is, once a character joins the part in Star Ocean 4, most of their continued involvement in the plot consists of standing in the background during cutscenes while the main character and maybe one or two others talks to whatever NPC is involved, and most of the really vile shit is constrained to a handful of fully avoidable scenes per character that you can skip easily and without ever losing out on plot-critical information.
In Graces, the characters are front and center, at almost all times during the story. At any semi-major cutscene or plot junction, the game makes absolutely damn sure that you see everything that has to do with every member of the cast, and integrates them all into the plot pretty much every step of the way. And the optional shit is put into skits, which are mostly meaningless bullshit that you can skip, but which sometimes contain information that actually improves your understanding of the plot - and there's no way to tell which skits are actually relevant until you've actually watched them.

The Graces cast is the Star Ocean 4 cast, for the most part. Star Ocean 4 is like a toilet that doesn't flush but people have been using it anyway. Graces is that same shit, but it's smeared all over the walls and carpets of every room in the house.

And a steakburger and a week old Mcdonalds hamburger are still both hamburgers, but that doesn't make them the same quality.

Graces's characters, story, writing and voice acting are miles above Star Ocean 4.

 

[Coxswain]

You know this shit wasn't on the same level.

EDIT: Kay?

No, it wasn't on the same level. Sophie was way worse than the girl from SO4. The nadir of what's-her-name's awfulness is where basically that she has one incredibly bad scene where she starts talking about "nappy time" and falls asleep on the main character's arm.

Sophie, on the other hand, had 20+ hours of actually being significant to the game's plot, having a whole awful, awful amnesia/'she's more than she seems to be' story thread, tilting her head to the side in confusion when anyone says fucking anything to her, and looking at one character raising her fist and saying "yay", before mimicking the action and saying "yay" herself.


I don't even think the girl from SO4 had dialogue at all for half the game, outside of basically saying "hello" when a new character joins the party and a couple of non-story scenes that don't involve any characters besides her.

 

[Alex]

Nothing in the Tales series (even Symphonia!) hits quite the lofty peaks of suck like Star Ocean 4 did, that game was an abomination to the point where even I can't suffer it for the combat.

You can't just throw it up to tropes, not in this specific sort of Japanese entertainment. It's pretty much all tropes and archetypes, you have to go for the specifics and general qualities of it, of which SO4 sadly has none. Which is a shame, because even though it's berated a lot, I thought there was a lot of good going on in SO3.

At least Resonance of Fate was completely <3. There's the console JRPG this gen, moreso than Nier, which didn't get the love it deserved. Good characters, fun vignetting, really great mechanics. Loved it, would probably take another one over another VP even.

 

[JustAnotherOtaku]

I agree OP...kinda.

Vesperia
Graces
Symphonia

That's my top 3. Graces should be up there because of Pascal alone <3

 

[Error]

Yeah, that's what I'm saying, no?

Originally I planned on beating the game on the second hardest difficulty (maybe third harder overall, isn't one locked?). After getting stuck on the Rockogagong boss fight for about 3 hours, imagine my horror (/pride) when I discovered at some point I switched the difficulty up without realizing it lol. Like throwing off DBZ-style training clothes, I cleared it on the first try on my original difficulty.

that fight takes a bit of planning on higher difficulties like Evil, Chaos and even then it's hard as fuck.

what I did was to put Pascal and Malik in the party and have them cast only AoE spells to keep the parasites locked in place and not allowing them to spam the spells they use. I had Asbel spam Concussive Blast which has impact based damage and the parasite where weak against it iirc. After I set up the fight like that I beat it in 2 tries. Oh and I had Sophie just heal and not attack.

 

[pancakesandsex]

Worse than Star Ocean 3? Is that even possible? Can someone post a spoiler of what it is in Tales of Rebirth? It's not something I'd go back to and play.

Spoiler

The main villain uses magic to make everyone in the game world extra racist. The story to that point was already about strained race relations.

That explanation is a bit reductive, but it's more or less how it goes down. YMMV on whether you think this is the worst thing ever, or best thing ever (because it's incredibly silly, but played totally straight).

 

[Esura]

No, it wasn't on the same level. Sophie was way worse than the girl from SO4. The nadir of what's-her-name's awfulness is where basically that she has one incredibly bad scene where she starts talking about "nappy time" and falls asleep on the main character's arm.

Sophie, on the other hand, had 20+ hours of actually being significant to the game's plot, having a whole awful, awful amnesia/'she's more than she seems to be' story thread, tilting her head to the side in confusion when anyone says fucking anything to her, and looking at one character raising her fist and saying "yay", before mimicking the action and saying "yay" herself.


I don't even think the girl from SO4 had dialogue at all for half the game, outside of basically saying "hello" when a new character joins the party and a couple of non-story scenes that don't involve any characters besides her.

Sophie has little knowledge of anything in that world so of course she is confused often. And all of them do the "Never Give Up!" fist pump.

 

[MagiusNecros]

Sophie has little knowledge of anything in that world so of course she is confused often. And all of them do the "Never Give Up!" fist pump.

That's on the list of terrible anime cliche.

 

[Ravage]

Nothing in the Tales series (even Symphonia!) hits quite the lofty peaks of suck like Star Ocean 4 did, that game was an abomination to the point where even I can't suffer it for the combat.

You can't just throw it up to tropes, not in this specific sort of Japanese entertainment. It's pretty much all tropes and archetypes, you have to go for the specifics and general qualities of it, of which SO4 sadly has none. Which is a shame, because even though it's berated a lot, I thought there was a lot of good going on in SO3.

At least Resonance of Fate was completely <3. There's the console JRPG this gen, moreso than Nier, which didn't get the love it deserved. Good characters, fun vignetting, really great mechanics. Loved it, would probably take another one over another VP even.

Wow i just realised that we have alot in common! Do you happen to like Atelier and Yakuza series too?

 

[Coxswain]

Sophie has little knowledge of anything in that world so of course she is confused often.

Writing a character who has little knowledge of anything in the world so that you can write about how wacky and hilarious it is that they just don't get it is basically the problem here, yes.

 

[Error]

That's on the list of terrible anime cliche.

It happens after a battle and it's actually quite cool, because it's obvious that it's intentionally cheesy.

Sophie is inoffensive come on, Limle is just wow... That had to be done on purpose.

 

[Weltall Zero]

I feel like some battered husband, going back to a genre that just bitch-slaps me and busts me up every time I buy a new JRPG. Star Ocean 4 bust my right cheek up, Final Fantasy XIII cracked my ribs, Eternal Sonata knee-capped me, Final Fantasy XIII-2 broke my right arm, and Tales of Graces F knocked my left eye out of its socket. But, hey, this time its going be different, this time I can believe the promises, this time Ni No Kuni is going to treat me right and give me the respect I deserve.

You seem like a magnet for average/terrible JRPGs, man, why don't you research the ones that are loved the most around here, especially for non-JRPG hardcore fans? I would stay away from Ni No Kuni; I played the demo and it's beautiful but felt boring as hell to me (this is a trend with Studio Ghibli games, I own Jade Coccoon for the PS2 and while original, it's not exactly stellar).

Instead, go with Xenoblade and Radiant Historia, this generation's finest JRPGs. Please, listen to us.

 

[aravuus]

Spoiler

The main villain uses magic to make everyone in the game world extra racist. The story to that point was already about strained race relations.

That's fkcing great! I gotta play this game

 

[grandjedi6]

No, it wasn't on the same level. Sophie was way worse than the girl from SO4. The nadir of what's-her-name's awfulness is where basically that she has one incredibly bad scene where she starts talking about "nappy time" and falls asleep on the main character's arm.

Sophie, on the other hand, had 20+ hours of actually being significant to the game's plot, having a whole awful, awful amnesia/'she's more than she seems to be' story thread, tilting her head to the side in confusion when anyone says fucking anything to her, and looking at one character raising her fist and saying "yay", before mimicking the action and saying "yay" herself.


I don't even think the girl from SO4 had dialogue at all for half the game, outside of basically saying "hello" when a new character joins the party and a couple of non-story scenes that don't involve any characters besides her.

Pretty sure we've had this same discussion with you couple times before. And it always just comes down to that no one else hated Graces's characters quite as much as you did. For most people, Graces is a mile above Star Ocean 4's, even if they're still both based on anime archetypes. Graces' improved voice acting, writing, execution and sillier story, as well as less sexual creepiness, just put it above Star Ocean 4's story/characters.

Graces = sometimes/eventually annoying as hell
Star Ocean 4 = annoying from the second they appear.

 

[MagiusNecros]

It happens after a battle and it's actually quite cool, because it's obvious that it's intentionally cheesy.

Sophie is inoffensive come on, Limle is just wow... That had to be done on purpose.

Just stating a fact.

 

[SaberVulcan]

No is not... no way in hell...

Tales of Vesperia
Tales of Symphonia
Tales of Phantasia

Tales of Graces is mediocre

This thread is making me feel that I should really finish Tales of Vesperia. I put like 35 hours into it and stopped during finals week, never went back.

I did thoroughly enjoy Symphonia though.

 

[PedroPanache]

You seem like a magnet for average/terrible JRPGs, man, why don't you research the ones that are loved the most around here, especially for non-JRPG hardcore fans? I would stay away from Ni No Kuni; I played the demo and it's beautiful but felt boring as hell to me (this is a trend with Studio Ghibli games, I own Jade Coccoon for the PS2 and while original, it's not exactly stellar).

Instead, go with Xenoblade and Radiant Historia, this generation's finest JRPGs. Please, listen to us.

Well, I did build a new PC with a view to having Dolphin run at full speed, so I'll eventually pick up Xenoblade. Also, just had a look at Radiant Historia, and surprise, surprise, it never got released over here in PAL-land. It's like the good old days of the PS1 era again. Still, looks really interesting, and here's hoping that the developers actually understand what a paradox means, unlike some nameless developers I could mention.

 

[Sir_Crocodile]

Still hoping someone translates Cross. Itching to try the new phantasia battle system.

Well, I did build a new PC with a view to having Dolphin run at full speed, so I'll eventually pick up Xenoblade. Also, just had a look at Radiant Historia, and surprise, surprise, it never got released over here in PAL-land. It's like the good old days of the PS1 era again. Still, looks really interesting, and here's hoping that the developers actually understand what a paradox means, unlike some nameless developers I could mention.

Come on dude, that's always been the case with handheld games

I had to import Dragon Warrior Monsters on the gb