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

CorvoSol said:
I have never played any other Tales games. Tales of the Abyss is my first game in the series. And sure, maybe FF12 drops a bunch of names, because that's become an increasing problem in Final Fantasy over the years, but that really doesn't excuse Tales of the Abyss for its awful technobabble.
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This is pretty standard par for the course tales stuff

Fonons = cryas = aer = mana

Its all the same stuff just with a different name for a different world. And this game does explain the things unlike FFXIII

The technobabble in Abyss isn't hard to understand at all, maybe you're just not paying attention
 
BassForever said:
This is pretty standard par for the course tales stuff

Fonons = cryas = aer = mana

Its all the same stuff just with a different name for a different world. And this game does explain the things unlike FFXIII

The technobabble in Abyss isn't hard to understand at all, maybe you're just not paying attention
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It's not that it's terribly difficult if I want to sit down and go "Oh this lame bullshit means this" it's that I wish the game didn't force me to wade through it's terrible terminology. If this shit is so simple to follow, why hide it behind this awful wall of horrible technobabble?

And I refuse to believe Daathic Fonic Hymns is in any way acceptable. That shit is a mouthful. All of this stuff really is. Dialogue lasts thrice the time it needs to because I'm stuck listening to the voice actors try and get through the horrible flimmidy flammidy they're saying without laughing at it.

The game's terminology is really busy when it doesn't need to be, and the "explanations" that the cast gives only really serve to further distract from what's being talked about. The fact that I'm on a boat being attacked in the middle of a conversation about wonky sentient sound magic for like, the third time in 5 hours isn't good.

It's not that a game can't have its own lingo and execute it, but something about the way this game does this just really, really falls flat. I do resent the implication that I'm an idiot for not getting this game's jargon, though. I'm sorry for dissing everybody's favorite game.
 
I don't remember being that confused while playing Abyss, but you can't expect me to remember the terminology after beating it :P

Abyss is definitely the most technobabble-heavy.
 
Personally, I think FoF changes are the best thing to ever happen to the Tales series. I wish they'd bring them for another title.
 
Well I have been playing Abyss the whole day. Reached
Yulia City.

Man, everything that happened in that mining city whose name I can't write or pronounce... there are not words. I can't.
DIE LUKE DIE.

I wasn't expecting to see
a child get killed. That reminded me when Marble got whipped in Symphonia or what happened to Mint's mom in Phantasia. I was like D:
 
Son1x said:
Personally, I think FoF changes are the best thing to ever happen to the Tales series. I wish they'd bring them for another title.
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I always hear that FoF was hated by a lot of people because it was too difficult/annoying to predict/work with for a single player.
 
I got about halfway through Tales of Xillia and had to stop. It has been awhile since I played it, so I think Im going to start over again.

Im curious which order I should play these 3 tales games since I just got Tales of Symphonia. I have Tales of Graces f, Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Xillia in my backlog. I really loved Tales of Vesperia and it is one of the few games I got all the achievements in. Im thinking of starting with Tales of Symphonia, then play Tales of Graces and finish with Tales of Xillia. I figure I will start with Symphonia because playing Graces and Xillia will make Symphonia seem very dated.
 
KniveSmith said:
I always hear that FoF was hated by a lot of people because it was too difficult/annoying to predict/work with for a single player.
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o_O....sounds like people didn't know how to set up their team mates.

Plus Sunlight Chambers made things tons easier mid-late game.
 
KniveSmith said:
I always hear that FoF was hated by a lot of people because it was too difficult/annoying to predict/work with for a single player.
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I liked FoF because it gave positioning more importance, but it was sort of a pain to set up. It was always more of a "Cool, there's a FoF right where I need it!" than a "Oh god I really need a FoF right now!".
 
demidar said:
I liked FoF because it gave positioning more importance, but it was sort of a pain to set up. It was always more of a "Cool, there's a FoF right where I need it!" than a "Oh god I really need a FoF right now!".
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I don't think it was that bad considering Anise has Limited and Tear has Nightmare early on.
 
My first play through abyss on hard I never once used fof or chambers on my artes lol man was I was scrub game is much easier with them (not hard to begin with though)
 
demidar said:
I liked FoF because it gave positioning more importance, but it was sort of a pain to set up. It was always more of a "Cool, there's a FoF right where I need it!" than a "Oh god I really need a FoF right now!".
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I could see where some of them could be a pain to set up, but for the most part, it's not too bad.

Having shortcuts handy and knowing what can/will combo helps a bit.
 
It was probably the best system for Free Run and multiplayer, but I could see the single player's issue if you didn't want to micromanage spell casters' spell lists or use up one of your precious right stick command slots. Although now that we're starting to get a standard of having an L1 Shift for up to 16 command slots, I hope we can get a similar system in the future. It felt like the combination artes in Xillia were designed to be a more single player friendly version of FoF combinations.

Edit: When it came to learning combos, the game kind of gave it away that a combo existed whenever you learned a new arte. When looking at the arte's description, you could hit a button to look for more information, and if a page was missing then it meant the arte didn't have a combo. Alternatively, once you got that arte customizing subsystem, artes without FoF change ability had an entire customization line blocked out. Once you knew that arte could combo, then you just had to have Tear or Anise spam Light and Dark spells to quickly find out.

Oh, and I loved the fact that you could use an FoF change to link into a Mystic Arte, and the fact that you could link Normal->Arte->Arcane->FoF Change->Mystic Arte. It's been a while, but I think you could insert something extra in there too. Spell casters could also do FoF combos with other characters' spells or their own if they were fast enough without having to put themselves in danger as long as their target was in the FoF circle. And even if they weren't, in the case of something like Healing Circle, you could use manual targetting to make the FoF change happen anyway as people were retreating.

...I really liked FoFs...
 
SaintZ said:
Well I have been playing Abyss the whole day. Reached
Yulia City.

Man, everything that happened in that mining city whose name I can't write or pronounce... there are not words. I can't.
DIE LUKE DIE.

I wasn't expecting to see
a child get killed. That reminded me when Marble got whipped in Symphonia or what happened to Mint's mom in Phantasia. I was like D:
Click to expand...

The Tales series does pretty well in covering up the dark aspects of their stories with the cute graphics and whatnot.
 
KniveSmith said:
It's been a while, but I think you could insert something extra in there too.
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There's the FoF glitch. If you use an arte that would trigger a FoF change just before the field formed, the game wouldn't register the combo and you got a free arte after. That's especially useful with Luke because he can do it alone if you time his fire or earth artes right.
 
I finally finished Tales of the Tempest. Can't say I liked it, in fact I have a hard time to find a good side in this, I guess the graphics are okay. It really is just a mess.
I don't think even a "Tales of the Tempest R" can't salvage anything here, they are better off making a completely new game.

So that makes the first Tales game I didn't like, maybe I should play Dawn of the New World next.
 
How much longer do I have in Vesperia?
I just beat Alexei on top of the tower and following that got the whole gang back together. I saved when I got Baul
 
Ordered Tales of Vesperia for the ps3... and I don't understand Japanese.
I have done something like this before for the Kingdom Hearts Final Mix games,but in there I already played the normal games.
I have a guide for the ps3 version and download the english cutscene,so this should work,in theory at least.
Now it looks like I'm getting a 360 for free...
Well,at least I can use the 360 for Lost Odyssey.
 
BassForever said:
5-10 to beat the main game depending on how many side quest you do, the third act is the shortest
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I just beat this. This was my first Tales game and it was pretty good. I really enjoyed the characters and the skits between them... (Estelle wanting to build graves for all the monsters we kill... LOL)

Which Tales game would you recommend next? ;)
 
I would say Symphonia re-release or Xillia. Both are on PS3. Symphonia, while I wouldn't call it a "classic", seems to be one of generally more well liked entries, and was pretty important in making the series (slightly) more popular in the west. Xillia is the newest (localized) entry and has a sequel getting localized this year.
 
If the cast and character interactions was your favorite thing about the game I'd say Vesperia was the strongest in the series in that aspect and Symphonia is the runner up.

edit: Namco didn't announce this but on PSN it's purchasable separately from its mediocre sequel for $20. I'd really recommend that instead of the $40 pack of both if you want to play Symphonia.
 
Big Papa Husker said:
I just beat this. This was my first Tales game and it was pretty good. I really enjoyed the characters and the skits between them... (Estelle wanting to build graves for all the monsters we kill... LOL)

Which Tales game would you recommend next? ;)
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Symphonia or Xillia you should play next, put Graces f and Abyss on your list as well but I wouldn't play those till later because while Graces f has the best gameplay and Abyss the best story they both have some really annoying characters that might drive you crazy.
 
Kiraly said:
What Tales of has the best story?
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Of those I played (and understood), I'd say:

- If you just consider the main plot: Symphonia, maybe (though I'm the least sure about this point, since I have a hard time recalling the plot of most Tales games beyond maybe a few parts, I should sometimes replay them)
- If you include the banter between the characters: Vesperia
- If you include the effort to detail the world: Abyss
 
Kiraly said:
What Tales of has the best story?
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Abyss, the characters themselves can grate but its intentional (if you enjoy it or not is another argument)

After that I'd say its either Symphonia, Phantasia, or Vesperia. Vesperia's first two acts are amazing, but its third act is laughably bad, Symphonia and Phantasia are more consistent through out and are very similar.

Can't comment on Rebirth, Hearts, xillia 2, or destiny 2 due to lack of english versions.
 
BassForever said:
Abyss, the characters themselves can grate but its intentional (if you enjoy it or not is another argument)

After that I'd say its either Symphonia, Phantasia, or Vesperia. Vesperia's first two acts are amazing, but its third act is laughably bad, Symphonia and Phantasia are more consistent through out and are very similar.

Can't comment on Rebirth, Hearts, xillia 2, or destiny 2 due to lack of english versions.
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Phantasia's story is pretty boring outside of the beginning and the end where they dump plot all over you. :P I love the world though.

I'd say most people would say it's either Vesperia or Abyss depending on whether you can stomach the characters/random plot terms exclusive to that game.

If you include Japanese releases, Xillia 2 is probably the best story, and Rebirth being one of the worst stories in JRPGs of all time. :P
 
FSLink said:
Phantasia's story is pretty boring outside of the beginning and the end where they dump plot all over you. :P I love the world though.

I'd say most people would say it's either Vesperia or Abyss depending on whether you can stomach the characters/random plot terms exclusive to that game.

If you include Japanese releases, Xillia 2 is probably the best story, and Rebirth being one of the worst stories in JRPGs of all time. :P
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Nice to hear,I was planning to pre-order it asap anyway.
 
FSLink said:
Phantasia's story is pretty boring outside of the beginning and the end where they dump plot all over you. :P I love the world though.

I'd say most people would say it's either Vesperia or Abyss depending on whether you can stomach the characters/random plot terms exclusive to that game.

If you include Japanese releases, Xillia 2 is probably the best story, and Rebirth being one of the worst stories in JRPGs of all time. :P
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A lot of my enjoyment of Phantasia's story comes from the PSX version which has a crap load of skits which really helps to flesh out the characters. Going by the SNES or English released GBA version I'll admit the story isn't as good
 
BassForever said:
A lot of my enjoyment of Phantasia's story comes from the PSX version which has a crap load of skits which really helps to flesh out the characters. Going by the SNES or English released GBA version I'll admit the story isn't as good
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Yeah I don't consider skits part of the story, I file them under characters. Phantasia definitely has decent characters. :p
 
FSLink said:
Yeah I don't consider skits part of the story, I file them under characters. Phantasia definitely has decent characters. :p
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I'm kind of grouping story as an overall package of plot and characters because for me a big chunk of my enjoyment of the Tales games is the characters and their chemistry.
 
I'm 25 hours into Abyss and I agree about the story being interesting. And while Luke gets better, the rest of the cast is really bland. I only like Jade tbh.

From the Tales that I've played I'd rank them like this story-wise:

Phantasia > Abyss (potentially) > Symphonia = Xillia > DoTNW >>> Graces.

I think I enjoyed the plot and twists in Xillia better but the story has a lot of similarities with Symphonia so I'll rank them equally.

Phantasia was my first Tales, so I may be blinded by nostalgia but the story was the thing that drove me into it in the first place.
 
My list for story would probably be something like:

Xillia 2 > Vesperia > Xillia 1 > Symphonia = Abyss* > Destiny > Hearts > Legendia > Eternia > Phantasia > Innocence > DotNW > Destiny 2 = Graces >>>> Tempest > Rebirth

* Abyss I feel has a better story and better developed cast overall than Symphonia but the pacing really kills it for me.
 
FSLink said:
My list for story would probably be something like:

Xillia 2 > Vesperia > Xillia 1 > Symphonia = Abyss* > Destiny > Hearts > Legendia > Eternia > Phantasia > Innocence > DotNW > Destiny 2 = Graces >>>> Tempest > Rebirth

* Abyss I feel has a better story and better developed cast overall than Symphonia but the pacing really kills it for me.
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From what little I've played, I agree with this ranking.
 
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