Having finished the game, it actually surprised me quite a bit. I was expecting more general stupid Tales team failings in various areas but there really wasnt. Its a really good game on pretty much all fronts to me. I'm going to try to avoid spoilers for most folks until a later post if someone wants to really know.
+ Best TS style battle system yet.
+ Link System is nice and adds a little more to consider to battles
+ Link Artes are sweet.
+ Pace of battles is quick
+ Movement systems are far better than most TS games.
+ Character roles and Artes balance is good
+ Each character feels unique to play even compared to similar characters in other Tales.
- Still lacks a bit of pizzazz like TD battle systems.
- Link traits and skills could've been a bit fancier or more indepth
- More Artes would've been fine and most noticeable changes for the X number of uses would've been nice
- More Link Artes for everyone but Jude and Milla
- A few more AI options and specific options in the Link system would've helped.
This battle system is definitely the best of the Team Symphonia style systems. It's better than Abyss or Vesperia by a long shot. It's incredibly fast-paced and it's a lot of fun to play. The link system is great and is actually a usable main system unlike say Fatal Strikes and Field of Fonons. It adds a bit of consideration to which of the characters to link up with and when. Link Artes are also all different so knowing properties and what they do is helpful for some of the things you may want to do. They also added proper movement systems other than Free Run so you can use those to get around the field most of the time but Free Run still has nice uses in the game if you need it.
That said, it still lacks a bit of the open-ended combo system of recent TD games. This is both on Artes and systems front. If they could add something on either front, I think TS battle systems would improve quite a bit. ToDR would be an example of basing it around Artes design whereas Graces A combos would be an example of a system. I also think the Link system could've used a few more things to it to make it meatier.
On that note, there could've been more Artes. It felt like there was too few for how long the game was. While they all serve a purpose, it would've been nice to see some bigger and cooler attacks. Link Artes are also a bit lacking for everyone but Jude and Milla. They have the most and everyone has a few with each other. It felt a little lopsided. On top of that, the changes to some artes are very big for using them often. It's sometimes just adding a specific property like guard breaks or so and that makes it hard to notice at times.
A few more specific options would've been nice for the AI in this, particularly being able to tell them to keep their distance against certain enemies. The enemy AI targets your backline at times, steamrolling them. So being able to tell your AI members to run away or fight from a distance would have been much nicer.
Between Graces and this, Graces has a more open-ended combo system thanks to the special nature of A and getting B moves to a certain number of uses. So this has less free combo potential. On the other hand, Graces field feels cramped compared to Xillia, so it always felt like enemies were breathing down my caster's neck on Hard. The movement systems are rather comparable though Graces has a slight edge because sidestep isn't tied to an attack and it moves more. Where Graces kind of falters is that I often feel like it's a relatively slow combat system. Xillia is break-neck speeds even until the last battle which doesn't drag me down at all. They both have pluses and minuses.
+ Great story.
+ Careful attention paid to pacing and plot composition.
+ Great writing on the whole.
+ Presentation is great.
- Beginning can feel a little slow.
- Setting isn't quite as inventive as other Tales.
- A few spots could have had more story to really cement some stuff.
This is definitely the game's biggest strength and it really does it well. The story is, as I've said, definitely the best story we've gotten in a Tales game to date. The plotting, the presentation, the pacing, the composition of the story and pretty much everything is hit perfectly. You can really tell that they put a lot of effort into making a story that made sense, was always focused, and, kept in tune with the theme of the game. What this means is that every event in the game has a purpose and time is given to for each to play out properly giving it weight. I don't think there are events in the game that occur then just hand-waved or went through quickly and off to the next one.
Of this all, the thing that stood out the most was the fact that the writing never got lost at all. It was always on point. The theme of the game is very much a part of the central conflict in the story and all the interactions really reinforcement it, even to the end. I think very few games ever do this right.
I do have a few minuses in this area. The beginning is a little slow because you really don't know anything and there isn't nearly as much going on. However, it's not really dead weight either since it does a bit of character building and setting a few blocks here and there for the story. The setting is not nearly as inventive as other Tales games like say Abyss. It does have a few things but it's very straight-forward world for the most part.. That's not necessarily bad but it does feel just a tad vanilla because there aren't many esoteric mythology pieces or crazy cultural practices. The last minus is that there are a few points in the story where I think they could've add a bit more to really hit the point away or to get even more bang. It's not really a minus as much as it's "I'd like to see more about this world" kind of thing.
The minuses are really minor overall and don't detract from the positives of the story.
+ Characters are written really well.
+ They have proper relationships and connections with each other.
+ Every character is important to the story for the most part.
+ Everyone is freaking cool on all fronts even the villains.
+ Alvin is incredible, absolutely incredible.
- Unfortunately, Leia is the sole exception.
- There is one other character that also suffers as well but is a bit of a spoiler.
- More time spent on the villains would've been nice.
While I like certain individual characters and Tales casts more on a general level, I can't deny that this is a pretty damn great cast overall. Every character plays a role in the story, each gets their own time to develop, and there's a bit more to all the character's relationships than most Tales. On top of that, everyone has a really good design. I do have a few quibbles like Rowen looking like one of the Royal Guards from Suikoden 5 and Elise having goth loli fashion. The villains are great too, very awesome looking bunch.
I'll just reiterate it here but Alvin is incredible. He's an amazing character, period.
So on the downside, Leia just didn't get enough time from what I saw and her position in the story isn't very useful. The writers actually lampshaded this a bit but still, she's the weakest character by far in the cast. Her connection with the cast is fine and her position in being a foil is good as well but her development itself is rather half-baked and isn't even really related to the story itself like the rest of the cast. I won't talk about the other character in this post because of how spoiler-y it is but if anyone wants to know I can talk about it.
Last point is well, I really like the villains in this and it's because of how the story is written. I would've loved to have seen them more on screen and the like. It's not that they're bad, it's just I want more with them.
That's all I've got for now, I think. If anyone has questions, I can answer them. It'd be easier than writing another one of these things.
