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Tales of Series | Community Thread | Localizing more games than Square Enix

B

Blasty

Member
SatelliteOfLove said:
Found the problem!
Click to expand...

I doubt it, I think I'm far enough into Graces that the battle system isn't going to change much. The battle system is pretty good, but isn't as good as Xillia's, IMO.

I'm playing more Vesperia right now, and I can't say I'm impressed yet. The battle system isn't very fun after playing Graces and Xillia. I'm not even that far and the combat is already getting tedious (like Abyss's). The worst part about the game is that it has the same awful field map that Abyss has. I do have a lot of faith that the game's other aspects will keep me interested.

Time to go play some more, I guess.
 
V

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
Finally done with Graces F after leaving it for months into the final dungeon. Terrible final dungeon in terms of design.

The story isnt as terrible as people say but if they tweaked it to be less repetitive with all The Power of Friendship it would have been a decent cutesy story as well as tweak a bit the characters. The combat system remains best combat system on the series with the full cast being fun to play with which has been a complain I had with all of the games where I usually stick to the lead and another character.

Now I shall finish Xillia which I stopped playing cause I felt bad for not finishing graces.

Bladenic said:
Dawn of the New World, despite its issues, is actually really fun to play. Battle system is pretty ace and Emil and Marta are both fun to play as.
Click to expand...
If they didnt cut out the overworld and let people level up and change equipment of the original cast among a few things people wouldnt complain as much.

Imo the combat system aged better than Vesperia.
 
V

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
FSLink said:
and a console Tales of VS please...and let the Gundam Extreme VS team handle it instead of whatever idiots did the PSP Tales of VS.
Click to expand...
Tales of VS needs serious work to be good. May the Gundam guys make a miracle.
 
P

PKrockin

Member
Just popped in Symphonia GC to refresh my memory about it before Chronicles comes out. Damn this game plays slick. All the menus and shit transition instantly, saving and loading is instantaneous, no noticeable load times for events, going into houses or battles... the only thing I noticed was about 1 second of loading going between the world map and the field. So great. I'm sure they'll fuck this all up in the HD version though.

Everyone who didn't like the sometimes long awkward pauses between lines in Xillia should play this game. No waiting for long, cinematic camera sweeps and motion captured animations here. Just a few basic animations and a mostly static camera, like older RPGs. And I might be in the minority here, but frankly I kind of like it that way. Motion capture in such an anime series just gives me an uncanny valley effect. The more it's abstracted or replaced with hand-made animations, the easier it is for my brain to accept.
 
Yu Narukami

Yu Narukami

Member
I finished Graces after 75 hours. Did the Future Arc and a few sidequest, no Zhonecage though. Seriously this game should have finished 20 hours earlier, it drags for way too long.I liked the game overall but I was happy to finally finish it.
 
Tizoc

Tizoc

Member
Having recently finished Tales of Xillia I find it hilarious that
all of Gaius' knights die and only he survives
 
L

LaunchpadMcQ

Banned
Started playing Tales of Vesperia on the PS3 a few days ago. I know how to read some Japanese from college and I catch some bits of the dialogue, but it was only an introductory course so I've been relying on the "let's play" type forum post the translation crew made. So far, it's been pretty good to me, and the game is phenomenal. I've played Symphonia, Xillia, and Graces f, and this is easily the best cast of characters of the bunch. They all seem to have some depth to them that they haven't quite revealed yet, and Yuri is probably the best JRPG protagonist ever. I just got to the part where
Judith and Flynn join the party on the tower who's name escapes me. I suspected Judith was underneath the armor, and fully expected Raven's response to her... voluptuousness. Yuri's response of barely giving a damn that she was hot, only that it was a plus to have eyecandy, I found pretty funny and true to the character. I can also see how they're playing with the political and societal themes from early on, it's a very relevant story by comparison to the other two Tales games I've finished.

Anyway, I'm totally into this game. I was thinking of starting Abyss as well due to the hype I've got on right now, but I'll focus on this and play some different games so I don't saturate on Tales awesomeness.
 
P

Proven

Member
Nothing really jumped out to me about Xillia's OST other than Milla having a great default battle track. Graces had a lot of combat themes that vibed with me.
 
S

Soriku

Junior Member
The only battle themes I really liked in Graces were Fodra's and Little Queen's. Xillia had several good ones. The final boss theme is great for one.
 
F

FSLink

Banned
I really liked Graces' use of different battle tracks in different areas even if I didn't love some of the battle themes they used. I hope they reuse this idea since it's much more interesting than the Part 1->Part 2->Part 3 battle themes they usually do for the series.

Other than that the soundtrack is really meh and probably one of the worst in the series. As far as my favorites in the series, I prefer the Aselia games' OSTs and the Xillia's.
 
V

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
Tales of Xillia easily >>>>>>> Graces on OST. What the hell is he talking about. Even Legendia which Im not a fan of >>>>Graces.
 
P

PKrockin

Member
SatelliteOfLove said:
I found the OST complete, and one of Sakuraba's most complete in years.

Overworld tracks, Town themes, Battle themes...all had a great flow both in quality and as a complete whole. As ToX2 is said to be better, I am very glad to be awaiting that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, Xillia doesn't have a bad soundtrack at all. It was pretty appropriate and pleasing to listen to across the board, one of the boss battle themes aside. I'd say average or a bit above average. Just nothing stands out to me as really good. I actually liked Jude's "buttrock" battle themes, and The Lands of Other Countries.

The only Tales game I'd say that has a truly great soundtrack was Symphonia. Maybe Phantasia too if my memory serves, and maybe Dawn of the New World if you count a game that has mostly remixes of existing music.
 
V

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
Things I would like to see improved/changed on Tales of Series.


  • World Building: If making a world like Xillia drop in some random special events/enemies to give that field a better purpose of existing or go back to Vesperia style of world. On towns make NPCs more lively and go out of the town and move to other towns. (This wouldn't be with all NPCs tho as I understand it can be somewhat tasking)
  • Story: I like the idea of Xillia 2 story so they should totally continue with those little moments of giving us choice of what to do in the game. Make sure to make em worth towards the end of the game even if it means making multiple endings.
  • Dungeons: Follow Symphonia dungeon designs with decent puzzles. (No annoying puzzles like Graces)
  • Enemy AI: It would be nice for better tracking and add more behaviors to the enemies outside of battle. In battle behavior some enemies can stay as they are but later in game more enemies should block, dodge and counter like the player does if they are humanoid and beasts should be more aggro. This way with proper enemy AI we wouldn't need the terrible breaking out of combo garbage we had on Xillia
  • Art Style: Go either with Vesperia or an improved version of Symphonia. Those styles are simple and eye pleasing. Go pull a Guilty Gear XRD at it if possible. Doing this we wont have messy texture quality like Tales of Xillia. Also 1 should handle the artstyle. I don't like the idea of having 2-4 guys designing the cast as it tends to look somewhat generic in order to fit into each other styles. Kōsuke Fujishima should stay doing the art but try to not phone it in with the designs.
  • OST: Give a bit more freedom to Sakuraba. Everyone knows he can do much more than what he actually bring to the series.
  • Systems:
    • Improve on Xillia's Store system
    • FOF from Abyss should return for combat with some tweaks to it
    • Eleth Mixer should return
    • Eliminate Save Spots and let me save anywhere
    • Free Run stays
    • Graces Skills
    • Graces Dodge System
    • Cooking like Xillia
    • Unison Attacks Return
    • Make the whole cast fun to play (I had fun with the whole cast in Graces but not the case in most of the games)
 
L

Levyne

Banned
BassForever said:
Legendia has the best ost in any Tales game, its really the only good thing about it
Click to expand...

I personally think it's a bit overrated. Like people have to throw the game a bone for having something not terrible. Being more sensible, it tends to have some sort "instrumentation" that I don't seem to care for much.

To back up my earlier post, symphonia tracks that I am unable to forget. Roughly in order.

Last Battle-Decision

I love the percussion in this one, and I believe it hits harder because it is a faster tempo version of the previous theme so the emphasis on the more rhythmic arrangement is very obvious.

Like a glint of light

This is the first time the overworld battle theme changes, so it's very apparant when the player runs into it. Tales games typically swap themes when they undergo an "Act" change, but the additional separation of the world duality makes this more prominent, I feel. It is also has notable percussion, so you can start to see where my preferences are.

Sheena's Theme

I like how a good portion of her theme is more melancholy than most of the others (which tend to be relatively up beat.) This, for some reason, is simply more memorable to me for some reason.

Revival

This song just kind of comes out of nowhere. And since it is the ending, effectively, I'm sure nostalgia is an even bigger factor for this one track. There's payoff listening through this one as it takes the full duration to crescendo into the definite climax. I get chills when the Brass kicks in.

Fighting of the Spirit (It counts >_>)

What do you know, more percussion! This theme is just a perfect earworm I suppose. I'm unsure it needs a more thorough comment.

Renegade Base

This is just so different from most everything else is the game. It's kind of a cool mix of vocalization, percussion, and something resembling techo/electronica.

The End of a Thought

Another nostalgia song I suppose, considering the battle this is tied to. But it has perfect level of energy for the situation and then goes into a remixed version of that character's theme. I tend to love it when a theme is recycled smartly to tie ideas together.

And Fatalize is okay in small doses. I also like the Dry Trail theme and Asgard as well.

I dunno who is going to bother clicking all or any of those, but I felt like writing it out anyway.
 
B

Bladenic

Member
I really like Rest of The Heart and Talk About Sylvarant from Symphonia's OST. Would link but I'm on mobile. Lloyd Colette's themes are very nice as well.
 
S

SatelliteOfLove

Member
Levyne said:
I personally think it's a bit overrated. Like people have to throw the game a bone for having something not terrible. Being more sensible, it tends to have some sort "instrumentation" that I don't seem to care for much.

To back up my earlier post, symphonia tracks that I am unable to forget. Roughly in order.

Last Battle-Decision

I love the percussion in this one, and I believe it hits harder because it is a faster tempo version of the previous theme so the emphasis on the more rhythmic arrangement is very obvious.

Like a glint of light

This is the first time the overworld battle theme changes, so it's very apparant when the player runs into it. Tales games typically swap themes when they undergo an "Act" change, but the additional separation of the world duality makes this more prominent, I feel. It is also has notable percussion, so you can start to see where my preferences are.

Sheena's Theme

I like how a good portion of her theme is more melancholy than most of the others (which tend to be relatively up beat.) This, for some reason, is simply more memorable to me for some reason.

Revival

This song just kind of comes out of nowhere. And since it is the ending, effectively, I'm sure nostalgia is an even bigger factor for this one track. There's payoff listening through this one as it takes the full duration to crescendo into the definite climax. I get chills when the Brass kicks in.

Fighting of the Spirit (It counts >_>)

What do you know, more percussion! This theme is just a perfect earworm I suppose. I'm unsure it needs a more thorough comment.

Renegade Base

This is just so different from most everything else is the game. It's kind of a cool mix of vocalization, percussion, and something resembling techo/electronica.

The End of a Thought

Another nostalgia song I suppose, considering the battle this is tied to. But it has perfect level of energy for the situation and then goes into a remixed version of that character's theme. I tend to love it when a theme is recycled smartly to tie ideas together.

And Fatalize is okay in small doses. I also like the Dry Trail theme and Asgard as well.

I dunno who is going to bother clicking all or any of those, but I felt like writing it out anyway.
Click to expand...

This is one of those tracks that NEVER gets love. Thanks.

PKrockin said:
Yeah, Xillia doesn't have a bad soundtrack at all. It was pretty appropriate and pleasing to listen to across the board, one of the boss battle themes aside. I'd say average or a bit above average. Just nothing stands out to me as really good. I actually liked Jude's "buttrock" battle themes, and The Lands of Other Countries.

The only Tales game I'd say that has a truly great soundtrack was Symphonia. Maybe Phantasia too if my memory serves, and maybe Dawn of the New World if you count a game that has mostly remixes of existing music.
Click to expand...

Sakuraba does not do "butt" rock. He's pure 100% PROG all the way!
 
P

PKrockin

Member
^ Oh man, yeah, Dry Trail is amazing.

Soriku said:
I'll also throw out Law of Battle because I'm listening to it and I'm finding particularly awesome right now.
Click to expand...

Forcystus: "Inferior beings deserve to perish" *percussion and lead guitar immediately kick in*

Yep, pretty awesome.

I'm a big fan of pretty much all the Symphonia stuff posted, plus Asgard's theme.

I keep forgetting that I need to get around to Legendia sometime and hear what its music is like.
 
B

Booty Patrol

Banned
ctrl+f beat the angel

'0 results'

ibs51TF8segwLl.gif
 
B

BassForever

Member
Levyne said:
I personally think it's a bit overrated. Like people have to throw the game a bone for having something not terrible. Being more sensible, it tends to have some sort "instrumentation" that I don't seem to care for much.
Click to expand...

The only thing that kept me playing Legendia was the ost, thats how enjoyable I found its music. I certainly wouldn't throw it a bone just to not complete shit on it. Normally when people ask about Legendia I say "completely SHIT but the ost is really damn pretty"
 
P

Proven

Member
I left thinking I'd get a Xillia music post, but instead got an even better Symphonia music post. Someone needs to make a compilation of all the music posts in this thread.

Anyhow, Gravelord_Nito's post made me remember the main thing I hope about the next game. I hope that whatever battle system they decide on scales well with more players. Symphonia's Unison Attack is kinda boring and also asks the other party members to adjust their controls for it. Xillia was annoying in the sense that you could only build up the bar by linking with a party member, so with a group of four we never used any Mystic Arte more than once and only just to see it. Abyss was my favorite although possibly too hard to coordinate everything as a single player unless you micromanaged artes everywhere. Graces felt like the best compromise as a single player could still swap with the D-Pad during Overlimit and use a mixture of Overlimit powered and Combo Trait powered Blast Calibers.

My second wish (although possibly not a good one) would be to have more character specific mechanical counters. I liked the idea of what they did in Xillia with the link abilities like having Steal tied to Leia and the easy guard break tied to Alvin (and then subsequently annoyed that you couldn't actually play as Leia and use steal and that any knockdown arte could be used as a guard break making Alvin's link ability kinda superflous).

My third wish would be to continue the recent tradition of giving half the party healing artes, but make them all decent options. Xillia did give half the cast strong heals, but I'm worried that it was just a fluke since Jude was also the male protagonist.

My nth wish would be to have more aerial options open up earlier in the game. A number of the more freeform combo strings I got with Jude + Milla + Leia were pretty fun.
 
V

Vazra

irresponsible vagina leak
KniveSmith said:
I left thinking I'd get a Xillia music post, but instead got an even better Symphonia music post. Someone needs to make a compilation of all the music posts in this thread.

Anyhow, Gravelord_Nito's post made me remember the main thing I hope about the next game. I hope that whatever battle system they decide on scales well with more players. Symphonia's Unison Attack is kinda boring and also asks the other party members to adjust their controls for it. Xillia was annoying in the sense that you could only build up the bar by linking with a party member, so with a group of four we never used any Mystic Arte more than once and only just to see it. Abyss was my favorite although possibly too hard to coordinate everything as a single player unless you micromanaged artes everywhere. Graces felt like the best compromise as a single player could still swap with the D-Pad during Overlimit and use a mixture of Overlimit powered and Combo Trait powered Blast Calibers.

My second wish (although possibly not a good one) would be to have more character specific mechanical counters. I liked the idea of what they did in Xillia with the link abilities like having Steal tied to Leia and the easy guard break tied to Alvin (and then subsequently annoyed that you couldn't actually play as Leia and use steal and that any knockdown arte could be used as a guard break making Alvin's link ability kinda superflous).

My third wish would be to continue the recent tradition of giving half the party healing artes, but make them all decent options. Xillia did give half the cast strong heals, but I'm worried that it was just a fluke since Jude was also the male protagonist. Overall I want them to take elements from some of the games and improve upon them into one. Some things could easily work together.

My nth wish would be to have more aerial options open up earlier in the game. A number of the more freeform combo strings I got with Jude + Milla + Leia were pretty fun.
Click to expand...

IMO Unison Attacks can work if tweaked around the feature. It is dated but with some improvements and more visual flair it could work.
 
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