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[Bebpo]

Tales of Phantasia Narikiri Dungeon X
Release date: JP - 8/5/10; anywhere else - don't bother asking/complaining
Platform: PSP
Genre: RPG
Reviews: Famitsu 34/40

Well since no one seems to care about this game, here is a thread for the 2 people on this forum to discuss the latest Tales game.

Narikiri Dungeon X is kind of a big deal because it's basically the PSP's first original real Tales game. Similar to the recent PS2 Tales of Destiny, Narikiri Dungeon X is a completely redone version of Narikiri Dungeon, a gameboy sequel/spinoff to Tales of Phantasia. The battle system and graphics are completely new, and everything else has been heavily updated.

It also comes with an updated version of Tales of Phantasia as a bonus. It still looks old and dated, but the battle system has been made smoother. A new playable character and some quests have been added.

Narikiri Dungeon's new battle system is based on ToDr's aerial rave system but with a new shared TP gauge called the EBG which is like TP & CC mixed together along with some new stuff. As you do attack damage and defend and do just about anything you fill the gauge like with CC and when you use artes you pull from the gauge like TP. As the gauge rises your attacks do more damage, as it lowers your defense raises. When the gauge gets over 100% you can go into overbrave mode where you have unlimited attacks, everything links, and you do more damage and can do hi-ougis. After overbrave runs out your gauge drops back to 10%

There's also the Narikiri job system. You equip jobs that learn passive skills and artes every rank (CP in battle levels jobs). Each job plays differently and gives a lot of variety and approaches to any situation. There are also bonus costumes like Asbel from Graces and Kite from .hack.

There's also a weird password system that lets you get special things like the Asbel costume and other stuff from various promotions. This wiki page lists all the confirmed titles, items, and costumes available so far and their passwords:
http://www39.atwiki.jp/naridan_x/pages/43.html


The pre-order bonus is nice. Namco treats the Tales fanbase really well with great packages and pre-order bonuses. This time you get a skit dvd in an oversized cardboard holder signed by the six voice actors from the dvd. You also get the entire script of the dvd.

My early impressions so far is that the game is quite good. So far it's about on the level of ToDr or just a bit below in terms of overall quality. The sprites actually look really nice on the psp screen, the combat is very fun and juggle/dodge heavy, the dungeons are fun, skits look/sound great, load times are fine, and it's just a really polished 2d Tales game.

Map is 2d point n' click like Graces, which is fine.

It's also worth mentioning that this game probably has the best soundtrack in a Tales game since Legendia thanks to the absence of "tales music destroyer" Shinji Tamura who is the guy that makes all the super generic boring rpg music in every Tales game. Instead it's pure Motoi Sakuraba re-arranging tunes from his classic days on the original Narikiri along with new music for this version. *edit: apparently Tamura still has some involvement in this as well

Also worth noting that while the original Narikiri Dungeon spawned a whole lineup of Tales spinoff games with the Narikiri Dungeon series and Tales of the World Radiant Mythology series by Alfa Systems, the original Narikiri Dungeon that this game is based on was an actual real Tales game by the main Tales studio (as is this remake). It's a bit of a spinoff in a way similar to ToS2 as in it reuses locations from ToP and takes place 100 years later and features the entire cast of ToP as recruitable party characters, but otherwise it's a standard Tales rpg with story/town/dungeon progression.

 

[Hours Left]

Great OP, the game looks hot.

Another to add to the long list of games I won't get to play until I stop procrastinating and get my bilingual on.

 

[Jigsaw]

game looks really good,maybe we can play it in english in 10 years with a fan translation :\

Spoiler

go xseed

on a side note,is this the full voice edition of top1?

 

[Bebpo]

on a side note,is this the full voice edition of top1?

Yep.

 

[jiggle]

so weird that ToP is part of this
but they don't use any of the new sprites for the characters

 

[Grimmy]

game looks really good,maybe we can play it in english in 10 years with a fan translation :\

Spoiler

go xseed

I really hope that you're not counting on XSEED to be localizing any of the Tales games, because otherwise you'll only be disappointing yourself.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

So TOP Full Voice Edition is now completely redundant since this new game includes TOP Full Voice Edition with extra content as a bonus?

 

[Grimmy]

So TOP Full Voice Edition is now completely redundant since this new game includes TOP Full Voice Edition with extra content as a bonus?

Pretty much.

 

[Why would you do that?]

Actually, the game looks pretty interesting. I avoided reading threads about it because of the word "spin-off", but reading about it, it doesn't look any more "spin-off" than Tales of Symphonia 2...

As a fan of Phantasia, this game's been placed on my list of "must buy if fan translation appears".

 

[Magicpaint]

So TOP Full Voice Edition is now completely redundant since this new game includes TOP Full Voice Edition with extra content as a bonus?

ToP full voice edition is the actual extra content.

Narikiri Dungeon X, the meat is a remake of the GBC original, with actual Tales battle system (GBC version was a funky turn based system).

Sounds great and all, but I think I will be skipping this one for the time, because I'm behind Tales wise (and game wise in general), but the game looks very very nice. A lot of effort actually went into it.

 

[Nuclear Muffin]

ToP full voice edition is the actual extra content.

Narikiri Dungeon X, the meat is a remake of the GBC original, with actual Tales battle system (GBC version was a funky turn based system).

Sounds great and all, but I think I will be skipping this one for the time, because I'm behind Tales wise (and game wise in general), but the game looks very very nice. A lot of effort actually went into it.

Oh so there's no additional content within TOP FVE itself then? Also, do you get to play it from the start or is it an unlockable?

 

[mistuhcahlos]

The demo I played was awesome. I don't know anything about the Tales series, but I'm considering importing this. I really liked the battle system.

 

[Bebpo]

Oh so there's no additional content within TOP FVE itself then? Also, do you get to play it from the start or is it an unlockable?

They added a new playable character and apparently some quests related to her
And they improved the battle system. It's still the same system but it controls and feels better/smoother.

You get to play it from the start.

That being said, it still feels reaaaaaally dated. The battle system is so boring these days

 

[Rpgmonkey]

Those are some crazy signatures, especially the Rita and Pascal ones...

And I was just about to bump the other thread to ask if anyone played it yet. :lol

The demo of NDX was fun (couldn't get into ToP though), but I might pass on this. At least until I ever find it for cheap someday.

 

[ElectricThunder]

Awesome that effort seems to have been expended into this....maybe this will light some sort of fire of progress on the fan trans work on the original Narikiri games alongside this new one.

What's next, a remake of that odd Tales Summoner(?) game that I think was on mobiles way back when? :lol

 

[Yottamole]

Whoa, a new character for Tales of Phantasia? Any detailed info on her?

 

[Gospel]

Excellent thread title. I haven't gotten around to finishing ToP on the GBA yet, so I think I'll try my hand at this one.

 

[yankeeforever2]

I love how Namco just shits out so many tales titles and they don't even get released in America anymore:lol :lol

 

[Drkirby]

It also comes with an updated version of Tales of Phantasia as a bonus. It still looks old and dated, but the battle system has been made smoother. A new playable character and some quests have been added.

Wait, it comes with the full version of ToP PSP also? And it has been updated more since the last time?

God damn it Namco, I want this in English this decade D:

 

[Bebpo]

Oh and the game has 1000 achievements. They pop up like X360/PS3 ones with a little medal each time you unlock one :lol

Whoa, a new character for Tales of Phantasia? Any detailed info on her?

Her name is Londrine. They put her in both games by retconning her into ToP original ^^;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgJXxyVdC2I&feature=player_embedded

 

[Gospel]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EgJXxyVdC2I&feature=player_embedded

she killed someone with a rainbow


she just stole my heart

 

[Datschge]

Partly transcribed staff listing, not sure I really want to complete it outside the Tales Studio part. Anyway of note is that while Tales Studio indeed did everything, they apparently got quite some help from Digital Works Entertainment with creating the character sprites. But this shouldn't really be a surprise considering the 80+ completely different looking fully animated costume characters in the game, I'm quite sure that's the most of all 2D Tales games so far, portable or not.

It's also worth mentioning that this game probably has the best soundtrack in a Tales game since Legendia thanks to the absence of "tales music destroyer" Shinji Tamura who is the guy that makes all the super generic boring rpg music in every Tales game. Instead it's pure Motoi Sakuraba re-arranging tunes from his classic days on the original Narikiri along with new music for this version.

You may want to correct that. Hibiki Aoyama was involved according to the credits. And Shinji Tamura confirmed in his profile that he is him.

 

[graywolf323]

someone should show Namco the recent GameFAQs poll where Tales easily won as their most popular series - http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3995

and bring more of their games out here already >_<

 

[Jonnyram]

Give me it on PSN already, Namco.

 

[Hours Left]

someone should show Namco the recent GameFAQs poll where Tales easily won as their most popular series - http://www.gamefaqs.com/poll/index.html?poll=3995

and bring more of their games out here already >_<

It got over 18,000 votes against other big series like Soul Caibur and Tekken. (Beating the former by over 7,000 votes) and Namco still acts like there is no base in the US.

It may be spread across platform lines, but it's definitely there. The can capitalize on it if they want to, but that would require effort.

 

[Bebpo]

Give me it on PSN already, Namco.

duckroll did a topic a bit back about how there's zero Namco Bandai games on PSN. They'll put demos on it, but they refuse to put PS1 or PSP games on it for whatever reason. Although they did put out a few PS1 classics at the very start and apparently are thinking about giving it another shot.

Partly transcribed staff listing, not sure I really want to complete it outside the Tales Studio part. Anyway of note is that while Tales Studio indeed did everything, they apparently got quite some help from Digital Works Entertainment with creating the character sprites. But this shouldn't really be a surprise considering the 80+ completely different looking fully animated costume characters in the game, I'm quite sure that's the most of all 2D Tales games so far, portable or not.


You may want to correct that. Hibiki Aoyama was involved according to the credits. And Shinji Tamura confirmed in his profile that he is him.

Thanks for the info. I was going on the opening credits which only credit Sakuraba. I'm guessing he still does the bulk of the soundtrack (it's probably a small soundtrack as is).

 

[Datschge]

Btw. since it hasn't been mentioned so far, the changes to ToPX were done by Climax Entertainment. They also did the Tales of WallBreaker minigame in Tales of VS., and their job was described as bringing the ToP battle system to the speed of Tales of Eternia.

As for the Gamefaqs votes and all the outcry, I'm sure whoever is reading and writing on Facebook for Namco is fully aware of all that by now...

Thanks for the info. I was going on the opening credits which only credit Sakuraba. I'm guessing he still does the bulk of the soundtrack (it's probably a small soundtrack as is).

Yeah, over half of the tracks are arrangements of older pieces. A soundtrack comes out on 18th this month.

 

[Bebpo]

Also, Digital Works Entertainment doing a lot of the sprites makes sense. The battle sprites look good, but they look and animate unlike anything Tales studio has done on consoles or portables.

 

[Jigsaw]

duckroll did a topic a bit back about how there's zero Namco Bandai games on PSN. They'll put demos on it, but they refuse to put PS1 or PSP games on it for whatever reason.

for america i guess?they have psp and ps1 games in the european store

 

[duckroll]

Also, Digital Works Entertainment doing a lot of the sprites makes sense. The battle sprites look good, but they look and animate unlike anything Tales studio has done on consoles or portables.

I think Digital Works also did a lot of the Legendia battle graphics.

for america i guess?they have psp and ps1 games in the european store

Nope. I think you should go check more carefully. They released like 4 PS1 games many years ago, and none since. None of the classic Namco games are on PSN other than Tekken 2.

 

[Ferga]

god damnit, wish i learnt japanese in high school

 

[FSLink]

Map is 2d point n' click like Graces, which is fine.

You mean DotNW, right?

Anyway, I'll probably pick this up one of these days, loving the look of the battle system, and Narikiri Dungeon was a pretty fun GBC game that really needed a remake.

 

[Jigsaw]

I
Nope. I think you should go check more carefully. They released like 4 PS1 games many years ago, and none since. None of the classic Namco games are on PSN other than Tekken 2.

i saw ridge racer,soul calibur and tekken 6 for psp...no tekken 5,rr2,naruto,ace combat or tales of eternia though :\

 

[duckroll]

i saw ridge racer,soul calibur and tekken 6 for psp...no tekken 5,rr2,naruto,ace combat or tales of eternia though :\

PS1 games dude, PS1 games.

 

[Jigsaw]

PS1 games dude, PS1 games.

k,t2 is the only one but they do release new psp games now and then,that's the point

 

[Bebpo]

Yeah, I was thinking PSP games too since their latest ones like God Eater and Naruto and Tales never went up. Didn't realize a few had actually gone up at some point.

Still seems like current Namco isn't really supporting PSP releases on PSN.

You mean DotNW, right?

Anyway, I'll probably pick this up one of these days, loving the look of the battle system, and Narikiri Dungeon was a pretty fun GBC game that really needed a remake.

Well, once you get the airship in Graces it's click & point But yeah I guess it's closer to DotNW than Graces in terms of world map.

 

[duckroll]

It's not just Namco. In general, big Japanese games or games by big publishers don't go up on PSN. If they do, they go up on PSN later than retail. Tokimeki Memorial 4 and Project Diva 2 are examples of games with delayed PSN releases. Birth by Sleep, God Eater, Naruto, .hack//Link, Last Ranker, Tales, are examples of games which aren't on PSN at all.

Some titles do make it on PSN from time to time, like Valkyria 2, Phantasy Star Portable 2, Ys Felgana, Zero no Kiseki, Lord of Arcana, etc.

 

[Jonnyram]

Yeah, I was thinking PSP games too since their latest ones like God Eater and Naruto and Tales never went up. Didn't realize a few had actually gone up at some point.

Still seems like current Namco isn't really supporting PSP releases on PSN.

God Eater Burst is confirmed for PSN, but it's annoying seeing stuff like this not make it.

 

[Link1110]

I played a bit of ND, I never played the original, but I'm really liking it. The battle system is great, and the out of battle graphic give a Tales of Rebirth vibe. Of course, my own personal equivalent of the Sonic Cycle happened again with the new ToP remake.

Remake is announced
I get excited for them actually making the battle system not slow and annoying
New additions are announced and I get more excited
Game comes out and it plays like crap

This is the single most egregious example, though because it's on the same disc as a Tales game with a better battle system they could have used. Way to screw up AGAIN.

 

[Bebpo]

Haha, yeah Narikiri just makes ToP look/feel even more outdated than it already is. You have nice gorgeous big stills in skits vs. tiny little boxes. A complex battle system with all kinds of cool juggling and abilities vs. most simple Tales system ever. The map sprites look nice in Narikiri and really blahh in ToP. etc..etc...

They need to stop with these crappy ToP upgrades and do a full on remake like ToDr and Narikiri X.


I'm trying to switch between jobs every save point or two and get a feel for how each plays. Is it just me or is the Hunter job overpowered for normal encounters? You sit halfway across the battle area and shoot shoot shoot -> x shot, repeat. Whenever an enemy actually gets close to you, you side step back and repeat. Obviously you need a melee character out in front slowing them down, but for normal baddies it seems really strong.

I like the main swordsman job for the juggling. combos are always fun. Thief seems useful if you ever actually want to steal an item, but otherwise probably no advantage in battle. Ax man has nice range and I like how he smacks a bunch of enemies at once, but it's a bit slow for me.

Gonna use the Asbel password next time I play and check him out

 

[hosannainexcelsis]

It's not just Namco. In general, big Japanese games or games by big publishers don't go up on PSN. If they do, they go up on PSN later than retail. Tokimeki Memorial 4 and Project Diva 2 are examples of games with delayed PSN releases. Birth by Sleep, God Eater, Naruto, .hack//Link, Last Ranker, Tales, are examples of games which aren't on PSN at all.

Wait, Project Diva 2 is confirmed for PSN then? I figured it wouldn't see a release since the original never made it up. If this is true, I can hold off on importing.

 

[Mejilan]

Enjoy the goodies, dudes!
I'd love to join ya!

 

[Bebpo]

Playing more of this I've come to the conclusion that I think PSP is the natural home for 2d Tales. The battle sprites just look so sharp and detailed and good on the psp screen. Everything looks great. I think PSP (and since 3DS is around the same quality of screen, that as well) are a better fit for 2d Tales than even the PS2 was (since the sprites were still kinda pixelated even on ToDr). Hopefully they keep making 2d ones for portables since I'm pretty sure all console Tales are 3d only at this point.

Other job impressions:
Samurai - seems like a worse swordsman
Gunner - weird class. It has much worse range and hit detection than Hunter, but with quick reload you can machine gun enemies and build the EBG really quickly
From watching Mel, Lancer seems basically like Axeguy and Martial Artist seems really good. Priest is obviously good healing and Mage is good magic. I just put her on the mixed mage which seems the most efficient since it has healing and damage spells.

Also the partner chain system where you turn kuruuru into a clone of you seems really useful and fun...except that it drops your EBG down to 10% at the end of a battle which is kind of bad >_<

 

[duckroll]

Wait, Project Diva 2 is confirmed for PSN then? I figured it wouldn't see a release since the original never made it up. If this is true, I can hold off on importing.

Yes. 31st August on JP PSN for 5400yen.

 

[kiryogi]

Well having been banned for the past 3 weeks let me miss this boat a bit so bump here! ?I would have posted day one but yeah that ban thing... I was gonna have Bebpo post my impressions for me too but I didn't want to risk him getting banned. That and Scott Pilgrim has been owning my life all week. Doesn't mean I wasn't playing NDX tho.

So Naridan X... It's legit. A lot of what Bebpo has been saying what mainly what I'd echo. The soundtrack especially. I mean the first thing you notice with modern tales is how awfully generic the score is. But Phantasia was one of the ones that stood out. And here, since it takes place in the Phantasia universe, we get treated to some really nice arranged versions that stand out unlike most Tales BGMs.

Meanwhile EBG can still be abused a bit, but not as bad as the demo. (Maybe end game?) In fact the demo was a pretty special case. The game's been a lot easier than it was in the demo. You in fact don't even get overbrave until at least 1/4 way of the way into the game. Anyway, in terms of costs, at least early on, ougis really eat away at it. But it's not hard to regain it. You can almost say that you could spam as much as you want. But the new clash and impact systems add a bit of delay to your attacks. Such as when you and the enemy strike at the same time or when you land from high above. Which I think adds a little bit to the combat itself. They're pretty good about the aerial followups too. The character you're controlling will usually automatically leap into the air if the enemy they're facing is being juggled by another. Thus letting you follow up with some more aerial rave fun. One odd thing however, is that the combo counter only counts that you place, not anyone else. Not that big of a deal I guess? The AI is pretty decent too. Back from Vesperia, we can have the other members use gummies, life bottles and whatnot by their own discretion if they so wish. Less micromanagement!

Also to echo again, the sprites are indeed so clean and animate so well. And although with a lot of the costumes they seem like sprite swaps with minor changes here and there. They're all pretty unique in how they function. While the skill system isn't as deep as I'd like it to be, each costume has different skills you can use while you're wearing it. For awhile too, you can only change costumes in neutral areas or @ save points. Albert complains about enemies being around if you're not in a safe area. But later on you can get dispensable fitting mantles that let you change anywhere.

Now the story itself? It's almost a rehash of earlier tales at first with how you're actually running around gathering the summon spirits themselves. You play as the mysterious twins Dio and Mel, on their journey to right a wrong that they unleashed in the present time. They'll travel to all the different time periods that the Phantasia heroes reside in to gather the the spirits But deeper into it we get to learn more about the tragic history behind Dhaos and more... This is all fleshed out with full on skits and voiced events at every corner. It plays out like a typical tales game. With 3-4 new skits per new area at least.

Speaking of voiced bits... Since this takes place in the Phantasia universe, not only do we have the summon spirits, but the Wonderchef is back. Voiced by Satomi Sato. And she oddly looks like Ritsu Tainaka from K-on! Hair and all minus the eyes. But the big fanservice bit is she even speaks with her Ritsu voice and comments about how her friends from her world call her by the nickname ricchan

Uh I think that's it for now. I'm spent but I'll update more if I can think of anything else or if there's any other questions.

 

[Bebpo]

So I've been playing this slowly over the last month and just finished it up today.

Overall I thought it was great and the game really shines in the last 10 hours or so (of the 25-30 hour main story). The first half of the story is really non-existent and even dumb. It's basically the summon gathering half like ToP/Symphonia. The 2nd half where Narikiri has its own story is very short...but actually an ok tale that expands on ToP's storyline. Narikiri gives more development to Dhaos and the history of Derris-Kharlan. The combat also is better towards the end when you have the high-tier jobs available with lots of artes and spells and skills to make use of.

The job system turned out really well. Each of the main 8 job branches (with 3 ranks of jobs each) for each character (so 16 total + secret jobs) plays completely differently. So it's like you're playing a Tales game with 16 playable characters who all use different styles with completely unique move sets. Add to that all of the original ToP cast playable with their entire movelist but in a modern combo-juggling engine, and you have A LOT of variety to keep you entertained throughout. Some jobs are definitely more fun than others, and some are even better than the characters they are based on. Like Mel's martial arts style is essential Legendia's Senel but here it flows much better and is way more fun to use.

The battle system is ok. In a lot of ways it's the most advanced Tales system yet. You can do all kinds of juggling and connect lots and lots of moves into each other. But at the same time the core mechanics/physics are a bit weak. Most moves don't like to link to each other and you'll drop the enemy between attacks, which is even worse because once an enemy hits the ground from a juggling they're invincible on the ground for a few seconds unless you have a ground hitting arte (and the jobs that do make the battle system flow MUCH better). There's also the hi-ougi spam. The fact you can use items to get your EBG (your TP gauge) to 100% in 1 pine gumi + 1 orange gumi and then go into overbrave and do a hi-ougi, repeat. There's nothing to gimp this at all besides gumis not always being that cheap. And in fact it's like the game realizes this part is broken and so the final boss is practically unbeatable if you don't gumi -> hi-ougi spam over and over.

But if you are fighting normal enemies there's no reason to spam, so it's just a pretty fun good combat system with a lot of combat potential and a bit of disappointment that things don't always flow well. I'd put it below Rebirth and ToDr's battle system but above ToD2 and prior 2d Tales systems. Between it and Hearts, I think they're both pretty broken and spammy, so I'd call it a draw

Visually the game was awesome. There are SO MANY JOB SPRITES (over 80 jobs!) and they look fantastic. The animation count is fairly low so it's not as smooth as ToDr or Rebirth, but it still looks GREAT and the cameo costumes are great. When I got "Prince" costume I was like ?, and then I took it into battle and it was THE PRINCE FROM KATAMARI omggg complete with the Katamari vocal theme song playing every battle as I ran over the enemies. I was talking to duckroll and Namco should really do a crossover Tales game since Namco loves doing fanservice and this game shows they fit great. There's also Kite from .hack (complete with tri-edge hi-ougi), Asuka from Tekken 6, Haruka from Idolmaster, monolith from Xevious, and Asbel from Graces/Wonder Momo.

Katarmi cameo (audio is LOUD, be warned)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AupRT8fMF_E&feature=player_embedded

The music was good, but not a whole lot ended up sticking out. The voice acting was top-notch, but that's too be expected with Tales games since they put a lot of effort at making them "anime".

The game actually seemed like it had a decent budget too. Between the full anime OP, 80+ job sprites, full voice for the main plot (although EVERYTHING optional is non-voiced) lots of fmv cutscenes (usually bad CG), and two really nice credit rolls, it definitely doesn't feel half-assed, which makes me pretty happy when I'm paying full price for it.

And speaking of price, for the amount of content in the game. 25-30 hour storyline, 5-10 hours in optional content (tons of endgame sidestuff like ToP, Symphonia, Abyss, Vesperia), and the usual good Tales new game+ combined with an upgraded version of the original full voice ToP, if you didn't own either this is a pretty great deal. If you already owned ToP, well it's still a full length quality original Tales game, so I thought it was worth it. It's just not as exciting as an original Tales because instead of exploring a new world and meeting new characters, you're going through all the dungeons from ToP again and meeting the old ToP characters again as well.

One other thing I should mention though was that the dungeons SUCKED. Especially towards the end. They weren't the boring long straight lines like Legendia or Innocence, but instead they were the tree root looking dozens of branches, annoying to 100% with a high encounter rate dungeons. If you were exploring them fully, they just feel like they go on and on. I ended up using a lot of holy battles to backtrack out of dead ends because I didn't want to fight 5 mins of battles just to get back to the branch split. Also it seems kind of dumb that they made the dungeons so maze-like since if you make the mini-map full screen you can see the entire map with all the exits. So if you don't care about the treasures you basically have a horrible maze and they give you directions out of it, which seems like they were just confused. Also because of that you spend most of the dungeons with a giant map covering the visuals the entire time ^^;

But overall the characters were likeable, the story was alright, the combat was varied and a lot of fun, the visuals were great, and the game had a good amount of content. So Tales studio continues its streak of good Tales games lately. Now I gotta get back and finish ToDr!

And as usual the Tales ranking all Tales fans do everytime they finish a Tales game:
The best tales (Abyss/Graces/Symphonia/Vesperia/Rebirth/ToD2) > Narikiri Dungeon X > Hearts > ToI > Legendia > ToP >>>> ToS2 = Tempest

 

[Sagitario]

Like Mel's martial arts style is essential Legendia's Senel but here it flows much better and is way more fun to use.

Yep, Senel [which is Fighter or Monk, IIRC] and Thief styles are usually the most fun ones because they're so freaking fast.

And in fact it's like the game realizes this part is broken and so the final boss is practically unbeatable if you don't gumi -> hi-ougi spam over and over.

They weren't the boring long straight lines like Legendia or Innocence, but instead they were the tree root looking dozens of branches, annoying to 100% with a high encounter rate dungeons.

I detest those things in games... and ToI is also really bad with the tree roots dungeons (I hated the jungle and the volcano).

Katarmi cameo (audio is LOUD, be warned)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AupRT8fMF_E&feature=player_embedded
with Tales games since they put a lot of effort at making them "anime".

:lol
I <3 fanservice in the Tales games.

Thanks for the impressions/opinions, maybe someday I'll be able to play this game.