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[FSLink]

Got my copy in the mail today.


The hate Graces gets is completely baffling to me.

It is, hands down, the best battle system of any Tales to date. It's a good game.

I play games for gameplay, where as some people put more weight to characters/story. I acknowledge the characters/story in Graces are weaker, but for some people a bad story/characters make or break a game.

The Tales series in general I mainly play for the gameplay and subsystems and any characters/story that end up being good is just a bonus. Otherwise I'd never be able to enjoy games like Destiny 2 and Rebirth.

 

[Vazra]

Got my copy in the mail today.


The hate Graces gets is completely baffling to me.

It is, hands down, the best battle system of any Tales to date. It's a good game.

Maybe it has the best combat but it doesnt save the forgettable OST, the horrible dungeon design, Weak Cast and mediocre story.

 

[FSLink]

Maybe it has the best combat but it doesnt save the forgettable OST, the horrible dungeon design, Weak Cast and mediocre story.

Those don't bother me except the dungeon design (and the accompanying dungeon music). A game will carry itself with strong gameplay and the music is decent in battles anyway.
Weak cast and mediocre story wouldn't be the first time for a Tales game at the time Graces came out either.

It's a reason why importers thought people would enjoy Xillia over Graces despite many people agreeing Graces having the better battle system/equipment system/title system.

I personally don't mind weak cast or story in games since if I wanted a strong cast/story, there's other media that's stronger in those aspects. Not that games can't do it, but I don't expect it.

 

[Hours Left]

I play games for gameplay, where as some people put more weight to characters/story. I acknowledge the characters/story in Graces are weaker, but for some people a bad story/characters make or break a game.

The Tales series in general I mainly play for the gameplay and subsystems and any characters/story that end up being good is just a bonus. Otherwise I'd never be able to enjoy games like Destiny 2 and Rebirth.

I love story and characters too, generally more than gameplay, but even that isn't as bad as some people make it out to be in Graces. The story is cliche as hell, and Asbel is about as interesting as a damp dishrag, but it's not that bad. Malik, Sophie and Pascal are good characters, and Cheria and Hubert have their moments.

Spoiler

(Even Richard at times.)

The Graces cast isn't even the worst of the English games. (Hello Abyss!)

Graces is a solid entry in the series overall, and it features the most satisfying battle system to date. Not to mention a great crafting system and a metric ton of post game content. The hate it gets is completely unwarranted IMO, and it's not even one of my favorite games in the series.

 

[FSLink]

Like I said in a lot of these topics, people's heads would explode if they played Rebirth. Easily one of the stronger games in the series in terms of gameplay and subsystems, but has arguably one of the worst stories in an JRPG.

I think the Xillia games or Destiny remake has the best strong gameplay:strong cast/story ratio.

Destiny's story is simple but effective, cast is amazing, and great OST/graphics/game content.



Another thing I love about Graces is how great the UI is and how speedy battle transitions/Mystic Artes are. Everything just flows right for the gameplay.

 

[Hours Left]

Like I said in a lot of these topics, people's heads would explode if they played Rebirth. Easily one of the stronger games in the series in terms of gameplay and subsystems, but has arguably one of the worst stories in an JRPG.

I think the Xillia games or Destiny remake has the best strong gameplay:strong cast/story ratio.

Destiny's story is simple but effective, cast is amazing, and great OST/graphics/game content.

Destiny R is the clear winner in overall awesomeness.

 

[Vazra]

Like I said in a lot of these topics, people's heads would explode if they played Rebirth. Easily one of the stronger games in the series in terms of gameplay and subsystems, but has arguably one of the worst stories in an JRPG.

I think the Xillia games or Destiny remake has the best strong gameplay:strong cast/story ratio.

Destiny's story is simple but effective, cast is amazing, and great OST/graphics/game content.

Destiny 2 wasnt as offensive as many said. Rebirth I can tolerate since im only reading the mess. Hearing the aberration of a story on english would probably traumatize me.

 

[FSLink]

Destiny 2 wasnt as offensive as many said. Rebirth I can tolerate since im only reading the mess. Hearing the aberration of a story on english would probably traumatize me.

Destiny 2's story kind of sucks in the direction they took it from Destiny. I wouldn't say it was terrible bad, but it was just okay.
What drags it down is the main character imo.

 

[ZeroX03]

I love story and characters too, generally more than gameplay, but even that isn't as bad as some people make it out to be in Graces. The story is cliche as hell, and Asbel is about as interesting as a damp dishrag, but it's not that bad. Malik, Sophie and Pascal are good characters, and Cheria and Hubert have their moments.

Spoiler

(Even Richard at times.)

The Graces cast isn't even the worst of the English games. (Hello Abyss!)

Graces is a solid entry in the series overall, and it features the most satisfying battle system to date. Not to mention a great crafting system and a metric ton of post game content. The hate it gets is completely unwarranted IMO, and it's not even one of my favorite games in the series.

My only issues with the characters in Graces are Asbel and Cheria, and almost every JRPG has insufferable male/female leads. Milla and Jude. Luke. The Future arc let the characters cut loose and talk more casually, which really improved things for me (especially the skits). I played Xillia after Graces, but still have much fonder memories of Graces. That's not to say Xillia is bad, just a lot less memorable for me.

Graces battle system is just fantastic, post-game is good, crafting is good. Characters can be very funny. Story is a write-off, but Xillia and Abyss were too to me.

 

[Zafir]

I love story and characters too, generally more than gameplay, but even that isn't as bad as some people make it out to be in Graces. The story is cliche as hell, and Asbel is about as interesting as a damp dishrag, but it's not that bad. Malik, Sophie and Pascal are good characters, and Cheria and Hubert have their moments.

Spoiler

(Even Richard at times.)

The Graces cast isn't even the worst of the English games. (Hello Abyss!)

Graces is a solid entry in the series overall, and it features the most satisfying battle system to date. Not to mention a great crafting system and a metric ton of post game content. The hate it gets is completely unwarranted IMO, and it's not even one of my favorite games in the series.

But it's still all opinions though. Abyss, for example, I mostly liked the cast, they were flawed, but that was half the point of the game, for them to overcome it. They gave me more enjoyment than Graces F's cast which was just, average outside of Malik, and maybe Pascal, although I didn't particularly like pascal.

The combat in Graces F was good though, yes, consequently I could never call it a bad game or anything.

Edit: It is worth noting I haven't played Rebirth or Destiny 2, due to no EU release(or US from what I remember?)

 

[MechaX]

I usually don't do digital purchases, but I am actually glad they separated Symphonia from Dawn of the New World. I was holding off on buying this because while I liked Symphonia, I didn't have a lot of nostalgia for it and I have absolutely no interest in replaying Dawn of the New World.

But instead, I just did an impulse buy off of PSN for Symphonia alone. Hopefully the 30 fps won't be too much of a deal breaker.

I wish there was a way to just turn every character to Japanese except Kratos (although, Cam Clarke's Shining Bind in this version hurts me).

 

[ec0ec0]

Is that what the PS2 version had?

Supposedly there was another Gamecube that wasn't replaced in the PS2 version

Is that still in the game?

GAMECUBE!!

 

[Finalow]

The hate Graces gets is completely baffling to me.

It is, hands down, the best battle system of any Tales to date. It's a good game.

the battle system is great, the rest isn't even good or decent. you know, usually in jrpgs story and characters mean something.

I'm finding ToS battle system pretty solid but yeah, not as good as the more recent Tales of games.
any tips for uhm, ex skills that might be op or good party members? Right now I'm using Loyd, Reine, Genis and Kratos, Colette isn't really useful.

 

[TEJ]

Graces had a shitty overworld. People trash on FF13 for being nothing but corridors but Graces isn't much better, it just hides it better.

 

[R0ckman]

Does anyone know the equipment setups for the old cast in Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World? Each time they join you? I was curious to see how effective they actually are in the old game. Thanks!

 

[PKrockin]

the battle system is great, the rest isn't even good or decent. you know, usually in jrpgs story and characters mean something.

I'm finding ToS battle system pretty solid but yeah, not as good as the more recent Tales of games.
any tips for uhm, ex skills that might be op or good party members? Right now I'm using Loyd, Reine, Genis and Kratos, Colette isn't really useful.

Early on Lucky Unison (The bar will sometimes stay full after a Unison Attack) is good on anyone. Needs Taunt and Personal. I think it also stacks. Double and triple Unison Attack combos are so fun.

More decent compound EX Skills I've been using early on:

Lloyd: Dodge + Vitality, EX Defend (sometimes avoid staggering)
Lloyd: Dash + Sharp eyed, B. Guard (don't stagger when backstepping)
Colette: Tough + Sharp eyed, Item finder (increases item drop chance)
Colette: Sharp eyed + Dodge, Gald finder (more gald drops)
Colette: Vitality + Dodge, Nullifier (sometimes receive no damage)
Genis: Spirit + Magical, Technical (reduced TP consumption)
Kratos: Dodge + Vitality, EX Defend
Kratos: Magical + Personal, Reprise (reduced TP consumption on spells used consecutively)
Raine: I don't think any of her early ones are that good honestly

A good one for Raine once you start getting Lv3 gems is Nimble Mage (Personal + Speed Cast), which lets her move immediately after casing a spell.

Ultimately you probably want
Lloyd: Whatever
Genis: Concentrate, or Randomizer if you play as him
Colette: Life Up, Spirit Up, Life Thief, Spirit Thief, or Item Getter for stealing
Kratos: Super Blast or Concentrate
Raine: Concentrate
Sheena: Whatever
Presea: Glory, or Power Charge skills if you play as her
Regal: Glory

 

[Finalow]

the hell is this sound when you walk? I'm in Izoold right now, if you walk on wood or stone, it's fine, on grass/soil my ears just die. how hard could have it been to fix it.

anyway, I could say I only saw two "major" plot scenes so far, first one was when

Spoiler

Marble dies and it wasn't bad at all, even if I it doesn't make much sense why the soldiers all run after that.

also Geneis is a kid and everything but I feel like they should have done more dialogues about it, after or before that event, more drama could have been good.
second one was the one after you

Spoiler

get out from the prison and meet that blue hair guy villain. and lol at the how you get out from your cell.

that was kind of bad overall.

oh, I love that wanted poster and the dialogues around it.

 

[PKrockin]

Escaping from the cell is complete nonsense, I always laugh when I get to that point.

 

[MechaX]

I tried to put it on Japanese, but I just can't do it, voiced skits or not.

I didn't realize that I was this used to the English version, for better or for worse. I could not get used to Lloyd and hearing Japanese Kratos was just like "my god, he sounds super old

Spoiler

I KNOW.

, can't deal with this."

 

[Bladenic]

I'm almost at the coffee scene. Will make 2 save files for JP and English.

 

[MoxManiac]

The storylines and characters in pretty much all the Tales games are insipid, it's not really something I'd use to rank them with.

 

[Finalow]

every desian grand cardinal

Spoiler

I've met just runs away

, y why you so scared man. =(
edit: I guess it might be a minor spoiler.

Early on Lucky Unison (The bar will sometimes stay full after a Unison Attack) is good on anyone. Needs Taunt and Personal. I think it also stacks. Double and triple Unison Attack combos are so fun.

More decent compound EX Skills I've been using early on:

Lloyd: Dodge + Vitality, EX Defend (sometimes avoid staggering)
Lloyd: Dash + Sharp eyed, B. Guard (don't stagger when backstepping)
Colette: Tough + Sharp eyed, Item finder (increases item drop chance)
Colette: Sharp eyed + Dodge, Gald finder (more gald drops)
Colette: Vitality + Dodge, Nullifier (sometimes receive no damage)
Genis: Spirit + Magical, Technical (reduced TP consumption)
Kratos: Dodge + Vitality, EX Defend
Kratos: Magical + Personal, Reprise (reduced TP consumption on spells used consecutively)
Raine: I don't think any of her early ones are that good honestly

A good one for Raine once you start getting Lv3 gems is Nimble Mage (Personal + Speed Cast), which lets her move immediately after casing a spell.

Ultimately you probably want
Lloyd: Whatever
Genis: Concentrate, or Randomizer if you play as him
Colette: Life Up, Spirit Up, Life Thief, Spirit Thief, or Item Getter for stealing
Kratos: Super Blast or Concentrate
Raine: Concentrate
Sheena: Whatever
Presea: Glory, or Power Charge skills if you play as her
Regal: Glory

ok, thanks. I only have 2 gems right now so I guess I can't do much yet.

 

[Roto13]

The hate Graces gets is completely baffling to me.

It is, hands down, the best battle system of any Tales to date. It's a good game.

Everything else about it is either forgettable or bad enough to drag the experience down. Too much of that game is too terrible to be propped up by a battle system.

I hated the characters and the dungeons almost seem like they were designed to be as tedious and uninteresting as possible.

 

[Finalow]

I'm almost at the coffee scene. Will make 2 save files for JP and English.

I lied. it's actually HOT.

so many feels.

 

[PKrockin]

ok, thanks. I only have 2 gems right now so I guess I can't do much yet.

Most often they're in chests in dungeons, or occasionally dropped by bosses or found on the world map. You should be finding one or two in each dungeon from now on. Later on they get even more common. By the time I released all the seals I had about three gems per party member.

 

[Ultimadrago]

I lied. it's actually HOT.

so many feels.

Especially "laughter"

 

[ussjtrunks]

Anyone got any comparison shots between the emulated pc game and the hd colection?

 

[PKrockin]

Pro tip: The charms that protect against status effects also offer elemental resistance. Press Start to see elemental attributes.

Press the right stick down on a character's status screen to see any additional effects like HP regeneration, added damage to certain enemy types, etc.

 

[Persona7]

Since I got the spice orange cube, I want to pick up the Symphonia Gamecube one of these days. It's such a beauty.

Yeah, the mint green Symphonia gamecube is really nice.

 

[PAULINK]

finally I can act out all of my fanfictions

 

[ohlawd]

oh gawd laughed my head off at Lloyd.

 

[Eusis]

The Xillia audio thread reminded me: how is the audio quality in this compared to Graces and Xillia again? I wanted to make sure whether they screwed it up again or not, and it's probably best to hear what someone wearing good headphones thought since that's the best way to be sure.

 

[Persona7]

lol

 

[Dimentionalist]

Everything else about it is either forgettable or bad enough to drag the experience down. Too much of that game is too terrible to be propped up by a battle system.

I hated the characters and the dungeons almost seem like they were designed to be as tedious and uninteresting as possible.

I didn't hate Graces' dungeons (in fact I liked most of them), but there were a few that drove me mad. Especially the final dungeon in Lineages and Legacies. That platform maze... and Bathus Citadel. My least favorite part whenever I replay the main arc.

The worst Tales dungeon design HAS to go to Innocence DS, though. Just boring mazes. No puzzles. No Sorcerer's Ring. Just pure, uninterrupted tedium and constantly spawning baddies. Thank heavens Innocence R remade all the dungeons from scratch (and actually made them good).

 

[RedSwirl]

Holy shit. Symphonia has a ton of 2D art assets that Namco didn't touch at all. I'm not surprised the textures are still the same and that's fine to be honest, and what more could they have done with the FMVs, but the portraits, icons, and text, which all show up very frequently, look like they have sort of a Gaussian blur all over them. To make this game in a "real" HD edition would probably require a lot more work than it's ever going to get. Surprisingly the 30fps framerate isn't that much of a drag.

This is just a rental though. I'm still deciding if I want to put the PSN version of Symphonia on my wishlist or just stick with the Gamecube version and run it on Dolphin someday. The only real benefit I see to this version is getting the original Japanese voice acting in an English release, but I'm not sure yet if it's actually better than the dub. Not being able to understand the audio just mitigates its cheesiness a bit.

I'm way fucking behind on Tales games anyway. Symphonia is still the only one I've actually played, and I've had unopened copies of Abyss and Vesperia sitting on my shelf for years.

 

[ohlawd]

I looped DotNW's OP thrice. No orchestrated OP either.

bullshit to the max. These shitty jpop songs, man.

 

[Seda]

Treasure Hunter Title obtained.

I remember that giving me headaches in the past, haha.

 

[Shahed]

Treasure Hunter Title obtained.

I remember that giving me headaches in the past, haha.

Good luck for the rest! I took one look at the trophy list for this game (FFX HD also), and decided it was too much time and effort considering the amount of games I need to play at the moment. Managed to do Kingdom Hearts though!

 

[Zafir]

The worst Tales dungeon design HAS to go to Innocence DS, though. Just boring mazes. No puzzles. No Sorcerer's Ring. Just pure, uninterrupted tedium and constantly spawning baddies. Thank heavens Innocence R remade all the dungeons from scratch (and actually made them good).

Shame we'll probably not get to play the remake in English. :/

 

[RedSwirl]

If I'm not mistaken, the Gamecube version of Symphonia had a DOF filter all over it right? That seems to be gone in the PS3 version (was it in the PS2 version?). That and the unchanged old textures make this version look much less clean. What have the results been with this game on Dolphin?

 

[Animekatt]

FYI: The theme code from the CEs are now working. Was posted over at the Gamefaq forums, and decided to try it myself. It works. The theme is pretty awesome.

 

[RPGCrazied]

FYI: The theme code from the CEs are now working. Was posted over at the Gamefaq forums, and decided to try it myself. It works. The theme is pretty awesome.

Dynamic? I'm guessing its just a wallpaper.

 

[Animekatt]

No, it's static. There's different pictures that can change when you switch games/go in and out of apps.

 

[Rising_Hei]

Abyss has the best story and characters imo, i loved the character's evolution in that game, too!

 

[RPGCrazied]

I always wondered, is the skits voiced in the Japanese version of Abyss too? Sometimes I really wish I could understand Japanese speech.

 

[FSLink]

I always wondered, is the skits voiced in the Japanese version of Abyss too? Sometimes I really wish I could understand Japanese speech.

Yup, voiced skits have been a staple since Phantasia PS1. If you have HD Loader or a way to play burned disks of your backup (and I believe it'd work with PCSX2 as well if you have a computer strong enough), there's an undub where you can get Japanese voices to include skit voices.

 

[Vazra]

No piracy talk in here guys.

 

[FSLink]

No piracy talk in here guys.

That isn't piracy, but edited to make more clear.

 

[PKrockin]

If I'm not mistaken, the Gamecube version of Symphonia had a DOF filter all over it right? That seems to be gone in the PS3 version (was it in the PS2 version?). That and the unchanged old textures make this version look much less clean. What have the results been with this game on Dolphin?

Yes, thank God. I guess it's kinda nice if you're playing in 480i but it makes everything look like shit in HD.

 

[RPGCrazied]

I never played DoTNW, so I don't know the cat's name, but the figure from the CE just doesn't want to sit on the stand, its always falling over. I really don't want to add glue to it, but its tempting. lol