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[lsslave]

I would put symphonia behind Tales of the Abyss and FFX, but it is up there as one of my favorite games last gen.

It had a cliched storyline that had every damn cliche in the book, but it was a damn fine game. As someone previously said, it had cliches but on the whole it had heart and soul which made it better than most RPG's out there.

I think that the idea of a cliche is actually a bad thought, for most people a cliche is "comfortable"

Most fantasy novels have yet to drop the Lord of the Rings cliche, like seriously Drizzt (of course I might be wrong, never really read the books...) is just a dark elf version of Legolas meets Strider (before the "king" stuff and during the "ranger" style of the character so I chose to use ranger name ) and they are insanely popular books for their readers!

Final Fantasy IX, which is (in my opinion) the best of the PS1 era Final Fantasy games, gets ragged on ALL the time for a "lame lead character" whereas I preferred Zidane (THIEF WHOOO!) as a main character compared to the typical super-strong warrior.

Part of Symphonia's allure is that it uses the cliches to make a predictable yet still awesome story, although I think that is because the characters are actually well developed

 

[CrushDance]

Im glad that the Wii is getting the sequel..

http://ruliweb2.empas.com/ruliboard/read.htm?main=nin&table=game_nin02&num=10128&page=&left=

and it does look good..

Nooo it doesn't.

 

[rakka]

Im glad that the Wii is getting the sequel..

http://ruliweb2.empas.com/ruliboard/read.htm?main=nin&table=game_nin02&num=10128&page=&left=

and it does look good..

Lawl

 

[fernoca]

You to be serious here. I do not, I repeat do not, understand what you people are rambling on about half the time. Creeps.

Nah, don't mind me..
In any case...
I'm planning to pick this up, but I hate RPGs with:
-Random encounters
-Slow turn based battles
-Saves too far from each other

Does it have any of those 3?

 

[ZealousD]

I'm planning to pick this up, but I hate RPGs with:
-Random encounters
-Slow turn based battles
-Saves too far from each other

Does it have any of those 3?

Nope.

- You see the monsters before you can encounter them (you can even freeze them in place and walk around them)

- Fast/Action-based battle system

- Saves are spaced well.

 

[Hcoregamer00]

Nah, don't mind me..
In any case...
I'm planning to pick this up, but I hate RPGs with:
-Random encounters
-Slow turn based battles
-Saves too far from each other

Does it have any of those 3?

Why haven't you picked up a tales game?

This takes away all your complaints, Abyss and Symphonia both have none of them.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

WTF @ the Presea image. I beat the game and I still don't remember her ever smiling.

 

[fernoca]

Thanks Zealous and Hcore..
I didn't get the game before because I was technicaly multiconsole but with limited resources.. :lol

Now I'm uniconsole (Wii) with even more limited resources..so a good RPG for $19..is not a bad deal.

 

[CrushDance]

WTF @ the Presea image. I beat the game and I still don't remember her ever smiling.

Did you go to the moon? You have to go to the moon and defeat the God Ymissial and collect the heavens curtain.

Then go back but you have to o this trick while flying your rheiard and merge the two worlds together. Then go down and get the mature beast title for Presea. After you get that go back to Ozette and do the tree cutting minigame.

Cut 500 trees in 5 minutes and you get to see Presea smile.

 

[tetrisgrammaton]

this thread reminds me that i want to get around to playing tales of phantasia again

 

[Hcoregamer00]

Thanks Zealous and Hcore..
I didn't get the game before because I was technicaly multiconsole but with limited resources.. :lol

Now I'm uniconsole (Wii) with even more limited resources..so a good RPG for $19..is not a bad deal.

I suggest playing symphonia first because Abyss has the far superior battle system, and once you played abyss it is hard to go back to any 3D tales game that doesn't use the system.

Thankfully Tales of The World: Radiant Mythology incorporated the Abyss battle system.

But you definitely are missing out, the battles are fast and intense, there are no random battles, and the game has save points all over the place.

 

[PepsimanVsJoe]

Did you go to the moon? You have to go to the moon and defeat the God Ymissial and collect the heavens curtain.

Then go back but you have to o this trick while flying your rheiard and merge the two worlds together. Then go down and get the mature beast title for Presea. After you get that go back to Ozette and do the tree cutting minigame.

Cut 500 trees in 5 minutes and you get to see Presea smile.

You know for a minute or two I actually thought that was real. Mainly because I'm so used to retarded sidequests for useless junk in RPGs. =/

 

[vanguardian1]

I've played Destiny (PSX), Symphonia (GCN), and Legendia (PS2), and while I enjoyed all 3, Symphonia is still my favorite.

Needless to say, the announcement of a Symphonia sequel for Wii was one of the biggest announcements to me so far this year.

 

[Hcoregamer00]

I've played Destiny (PSX), Symphonia (GCN), and Legendia (PS2), and while I enjoyed all 3, Symphonia is still my favorite.

Needless to say, the announcement of a Symphonia sequel for Wii was one of the biggest announcements to me so far this year.

I don't see abyss on that list of games.

 

[CrushDance]

You know for a minute or two I actually thought that was real. Mainly because I'm so used to retarded sidequests for useless junk in RPGs. =/

:lol

It's just a ending screen. You get it when you beat the game.

 

[vanguardian1]

I don't see abyss on that list of games.

As soon as I can muster myself into town, I'm getting it, don't worry. Getting out of the house for any amount of time is a nightmare for this one. ~_~

 

[Seraph830]

Ok seriously, why are all those images stretched to ugly? Its doing the pretty graphcis of this game a diservice.

 

[Jiggy]

I played ToS for five minutes or so yesterday. I must have had it on the 1/2 experience setting or something on my most recent file, because I got my face handed to me.

Which was another good aspect of the game. Actual challenge, in a single-player non-strategy RPG.

 

[CrushDance]

Ok seriously, why are all those images stretched to ugly? Its doing the pretty graphcis of this game a diservice.

TOS looks like shit. Shows just how weak game cube was, that's why wii is only game cube x2. Still a shitty system, even resizing those pictures makes them look much better.

 

[BrokenSymmetry]

 

[AzureNightmare]

:lol @replies to thread

 

[CoolTrick]

ToS is a great game. As someone who considers himself a seasoned RPG player, it was a breath of fresh air. Sure it had cliche characters/storyline, but the charm was strong, and the presentation was phenomenal. The whole atmosphere of the game reminded me of Skies of Arcadia in many respects, something I cherish about both games. Can't wait for the sequel.

Agreed completely.

 

[flipping_heck]

ToS is awesome, go away haters.

 

[trejo]

I disliked most of the story and some of the characters for the most part and could guess every single plot twist 10 hours before it happened, yet, I have nearly 180 hours of playtime logged in over a span of 3-4 playthroughs. That's how awesome this game is.

 

[rakka]

TOS looks like shit. Shows just how weak game cube was, that's why wii is only game cube x2. Still a shitty system, even resizing those pictures makes them look much better.

You're kidding right?

TOS visually doesn't even compare to some GC launch titles, dunno why you're judging the system's power with that game.

I suppose the PS2 and Xbox were shitty systems too?

 

[Borys]

Fixed.

Oh jeez :lol :lol :lol

 

[GaimeGuy]

I disliked most of the story and some of the characters for the most part and could guess every single plot twist 10 hours before it happened, yet, I have nearly 180 hours of playtime logged in over a span of 3-4 playthroughs. That's how awesome this game is.

I guessed the plot twist of

Spoiler

Kratos being Lloyd's dad

before I even got the game, when I saw the pre-title screen anime FMV video online.

Spoiler

They looked similar enough...

.

Speaking of which, The End of A Thought is one of my favorite tracks in the game. That battle was awesome.

 

[SantaC]

ToS was amazing, but ToA is even better. They're both awesome games and they're better than any FF game imo (except for FF8 maybe)

 

[Magicpaint]

ToS was amazing, but ToA is even better. They're both awesome games and they're better than any FF game imo (except for FF8 maybe)

Erm, they piss all over FFVIII.

FFVIII is one of the worst FF games.

 

[SantaC]

Erm, they piss all over FFVIII.

FFVIII is one of the worst FF games.

opinions, opinions

I guess it is nostalgia with FF8

 

[Steiner_Zi]

ToS was amazing, but ToA is even better. They're both awesome games and they're better than any FF game imo (except for FF8 maybe)

How can you compare these generic, full of cliches Namco RPGs with the genre-defining FFs?
Namco has gone too far with new Tales crap coming out every 1-2 months in every console that's out there... I wouldn't mind if they actually didn't have the exact same story (see Tales of Eternia - Tales of Symphonia).

Screw Tales. It has gone from being a cult rpg series into a cash-in. Give us Eternal Sonata.

 

[SantaC]

Namco has gone too far with new Tales crap coming out every 1-2 months in every console that's out there.

ehhh, the big budget Tales (main) games came out in 2003 and 2005. Also, not many Tales of games gets to the west.

 

[Steiner_Zi]

ehhh, the big budget Tales (main) games came out in 2003 and 2005. Also, not many Tales of games gets to the west.

You mean the only good Tales games came out in 2003 and 2005.

 

[HolyCheck]

yeah top 5 favorite game ever for me, it was filthy good


edit:

somebody tell me about the symphonia sequel. same characters? same places? story? same battle system?

story three years in the future, graphics three years in the past, new characters, old characters will be there tho.

 

[the thoroughbred]

If i was the devs for these games i would release a Collectors edition or something.

Baten Kaitos 1 & 2, on one disc, with Wii or GC controls.
Tales of Symphonia Platinum pack for £10 more with the GC title in too.

I would buy both, as I haven't played either.

 

[rakka]

story three years in the future, graphics three years in the past, new characters, old characters will be there tho.

N64 was NOT 3 years ago.

edit:

conker 64

tales wii

 

[HolyCheck]

three years back from when ToS came out

 

[rakka]

three years back from when ToS came out

thats better

 

[djtiesto]

Loved the game, even though the story overstayed its welcome... Great combat system, and oh man I really need to get around to playing Abyss one of these days.

 

[Seraph830]

TOS looks like shit. Shows just how weak game cube was, that's why wii is only game cube x2. Still a shitty system, even resizing those pictures makes them look much better.

It looks pretty good to me. not sure what your little bash gamecube/wii tantrum was about.

What dosent look good is stretching good screens and art to be widescreen.

 

[Hcoregamer00]

ehhh, the big budget Tales (main) games came out in 2003 and 2005. Also, not many Tales of games gets to the west.

Bingo, the big budget tales games are released very infrequently.

It is 2007 and Tales of the Innocence is coming out, it also looks to be a very high production DS title. Which means that there is no high production tales game until 2009

ToA2 please

 

[alexel]

ToS was great, but man ToA just shits all over it. ToA = one of the greatest RPGs of all time for me.

 

[Code_Link]

Baten Kaitos was certainly better (and Baten Kaitos Origins is OMG SO MUCH better), but Symphonia was awesome in its own right. I still need to play Tales of the Abyss, because it looks fantastic.

 

[BolognaOni]

A, Tales series, a blast to play when they get the battle system right, but other than that pretty forgettable. Personally though, that's all that really matters in an RPG to me.

Now, if they could just cut out some of the story...

Although I do like that synopsis feature, you can just skip all the bad dialog and read that to figure out where you have to go next!


Sure, you can bash tales games as being fluff, compared to the high and mighty Final Fantasy series, but, it doesn't make them any more or less fun. Honestly, I enjoyed Symphonia quite a bit more than FF VII-X. If those were truly defining the genre, I wouldn't really be interested in JRPGs anymore (then again, that statement is not altogether false...).

 

[Mithos Yggdrasill]

As you can see from my name, I'm a BIG fan of this game. And a BIG fan of Mithos. Story-wise, one of my favorite game ever.

 

[Jiggy]

I think that the idea of a cliche is actually a bad thought, for most people a cliche is "comfortable"

Most fantasy novels have yet to drop the Lord of the Rings cliche, like seriously Drizzt (of course I might be wrong, never really read the books...) is just a dark elf version of Legolas meets Strider (before the "king" stuff and during the "ranger" style of the character so I chose to use ranger name ) and they are insanely popular books for their readers!

Final Fantasy IX, which is (in my opinion) the best of the PS1 era Final Fantasy games, gets ragged on ALL the time for a "lame lead character" whereas I preferred Zidane (THIEF WHOOO!) as a main character compared to the typical super-strong warrior.

Nothing new about thief heroes, really. Robin Hood. Zorro's a bandit, but close enough.

You're right to suggest a cliche isn't a bad thing, though. Every character can be boiled down to one of a few broad roles if you really feel like it:


-The hero on a journey (Lloyd, Colette, Genis to an extent)
-The wise (and usually older) mentor who instructs the hero (Kratos, Raine for Genis)
-The rival who frequently puts obstacles in the hero's way (Sheena for a while, then Kratos)
-The rogue whose motives are unclear at first, and who thwarts both the hero and the villain or villains (Yuan, Botta, etc.)
-The trickster who generally makes mischief, and who because of an apparent lighthearted nature also has the potential to easily deceive (Zelos)
-The child or childish prophet or seer who has some sort of penetrating insight, but who people usually don't believe at first, if ever (Colette--witness the Sword Dancer skits)
-The older character who seems to have not gained any experience or maturity with age or who's permanently hung up on a traumatic event from the relatively distant past (Mithos, Regal)
-The villain whose values oppose the hero's (Mithos)


That's just off the top of my head. There are more, but you get the point. And you could do it for most any game or story. Not that all of those roles will be used in every story, but they encompass most things a character could possibly do or be.

 

[CrushDance]

You're kidding right?

TOS visually doesn't even compare to some GC launch titles, dunno why you're judging the system's power with that game.

I suppose the PS2 and Xbox were shitty systems too?

.

Ok seriously, why are all those images stretched to ugly? Its doing the pretty graphcis of this game a diservice.

It looks pretty good to me. not sure what your little bash gamecube/wii tantrum was about.

What dosent look good is stretching good screens and art to be widescreen.

 

[Hcoregamer00]

ToS was great, but man ToA just shits all over it. ToA = one of the greatest RPGs of all time for me.

That is why I was saying, albeit not in such a crude manner.

 

[SantaC]

I still need to play Tales of the Abyss, because it looks fantastic.

Looks fantastic is not the right word, but it plays fantastic.