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TOS sold out nationwide
- Thread starter NotMSRP
- Start date
It's decent, even better than average, but it's not the second coming of Christ or anything. The battle system brings some new features to the RPG genre, but as a result it often seems as if the game is a jack of all trades and master of none. For example, I find myself wanting more control over the AI for the characters I'm not controlling during battle, and though you can input commands on the fly during combat, by the time I end up interrupting combat enough to do that, I feel like I'd rather be playing a turn-based RPG. The other option is to just sit back during combat and let the AI do its thing, but that lends the game a sort of Progress Quest vibe.
ToS isn't mindblowing, but it is fun. But if you haven't played Skies of Arcadia Legends already, your time is better spent there.
Yeah, I've done that, and it helps a bit. It still doesn't give you quite the control you'd have over the characters in a turn-based RPG, though. On the other hand, because of the streamlined battle system, battles are hectic as hell and take about 25 seconds. It's an interesting trade-off (control and micromanagement for speed and mayhem), but I'm not sure that I wholeheartedly approve of it.
I agree that it's a different style. And for the record, most battles can be completed in 4-15 seconds, in my experience. And I certainly wouldn't want to see this form of combat REPLACE turn based or phased combat. But there's CERTAINLY room for it, and it works damn well all things considered. 
worldrunover
Member
You people are making me want to buy this game. Stop it!
Personally, I switch between my characters and control them each fully all the time. Hit X to bring up menu, then each time you hit the Z button you switch to the next char in line.
So most of the time to switch to someone I tap X, Z, Z. Fast enough for me. And of course you have a lot of freedom over how the AI acts (besides creating their strategy you can ever turn off spells you don't want them to use).
So most of the time to switch to someone I tap X, Z, Z. Fast enough for me. And of course you have a lot of freedom over how the AI acts (besides creating their strategy you can ever turn off spells you don't want them to use).
Gameplay-wise, yes it is definitely better than eternia. The story sucks, but is probably more tolerable than Eternia's.
I stopped Eternia about 3/5's through the way in out of boredom, same reason as you. I don't see that happening with ToS, it's definitely a lot better from a gameplay perspective.
Mumbles said:
Yup.
Addressing others: Succinct = flame bait, it seems. My advice, if you consider it flame bait, stay away. Splinter Cell won awards and I wouldn't touch that frustration fest with a ten foot pole. Oh the horrors, not liking a highly rated game. Magazine and website reviews rate a C- with me. Or are you too new here to catch my drift?
Diomedeskun
Member
The late game charcters are much better. Also, while the basics are swiped from numerous other games and anime, the story is very well told and unites those elements perfectly. The characterization is quite deep due to the skits.
The Z-skits serve the part of fleshing out the story and showing some of the questions that we always assume characters SHOULD have about everything going on. I for one love the system, plus some of the Z-skits are either very deep or hilarious. You can't really get too much creativity in stories these days, it's more a matter of what parts you can put together hah.
5{\0\0\0\0\0\0\0\0ez]I also really liked the story. =(
Especially considering the Z-skits. I love getting inside the character's heads after major events. Some of the group conversations play out really realistically (and some very hilariously =) )[/QUOTE]
I also loved the characters (...except Colette). Their interaction was the best part of the game, storywise, and made that part of the game really fun for me. I liked how at the beginning Sheena was constantly pissed off by Zelos, but towards the end, she ignores most of his comments.
Especially considering the Z-skits. I love getting inside the character's heads after major events. Some of the group conversations play out really realistically (and some very hilariously =) )[/QUOTE]
I also loved the characters (...except Colette). Their interaction was the best part of the game, storywise, and made that part of the game really fun for me. I liked how at the beginning Sheena was constantly pissed off by Zelos, but towards the end, she ignores most of his comments.
Musashi Wins!
FLAWLESS VICTOLY!
P90 said:
Frankly, I feel free to mosey on in to any old thread and call trolls stupid. I'm not new enough to be rattled by your bad opinions. I merely called you on an obvious dig at a game that from all appearances >>>>> you. I'm sure you're an unsung genius, just like the game, and we can agree (at least) to disagree.
wipeout364
Member
too bad they skimped on the voice acting
I don't think so, I would have liked the skits to be voiced as I liked the voice acting in general (maybe I had my expectations set so low it turned out good). I certainly would have not minded the skits between Sheena and Zelos voiced nicely.
Zelos: "Hey lets give us nicknames!
Ill be "Mr. Zelos", Lloyd will be "Hey you", Genis will be "Brat", Presea will be "Cute little one", Colette will be "Cute Angel" and Raine will be "Gorgeous beautiful wonderful lady."
Sheena : "Did you see my move?"
Zelos : "Oh yeah, I saw it baby."
Sheena : "For some reason I get the feeling you were focusing on something else..."
Zelos: "Hey lets give us nicknames!
Ill be "Mr. Zelos", Lloyd will be "Hey you", Genis will be "Brat", Presea will be "Cute little one", Colette will be "Cute Angel" and Raine will be "Gorgeous beautiful wonderful lady."
Sheena : "Did you see my move?"
Zelos : "Oh yeah, I saw it baby."
Sheena : "For some reason I get the feeling you were focusing on something else..."
The quality of the VA isn't nearly as bad as haters here made it out to be, and overall didn't bother me. But the skits can't be sped up like normal text, only either watched as is or skipped entirely. Slowing down the skits to the pace of normal conversation would have been unbearable.
SolidSnakex
Member
belgurdo said:
It'll likely be Fable and SMT3 battling it out for RPG of the year. With more open ended gaming being the big thing now that'll put those 2 over.
Oh yeah forgot about Fable. Not too sure about Nocturne, it'll be a quality for sure but I don't think it'll have enough mainstream "pull" to win many awards. Being on the RPG crowded PS2 doesn't help it either (Fable & ToS being on RPG light platforms helps them stand out and demand attention moreso imo)SolidSnakex said:
SolidSnakex
Member
jarrod said:
What'll seperate SMT from the others is that it's nothing like them. Most of the upcoming PS2 RPG's are more straight forward RPG's while SMT takes an open ended approach that's more similar to KoTOR than the others.
i'll vouch for the 'vastly better than eternia' as well. the gameplay is so much more polished and responsive than any of the other games in the series -- period. i dug out destiny II (PS2) and phantasia (PS1) this weekend just to fuck around with them, and didn't even bother spending more than 45 minutes between them. thus somehow i'm deep into my second playthrough of symphonia. it just sorta .. happened. got to tethe'alla in 8.5 hrs.
SolidSnakex
Member
etiolate said:
Only for games like The Sims, where there's no real point to them other than to live your characters life. Most open ended games are far from aimless.
Mejilan said:I agree that it's a different style. And for the record, most battles can be completed in 4-15 seconds, in my experience. And I certainly wouldn't want to see this form of combat REPLACE turn based or phased combat. But there's CERTAINLY room for it, and it works damn well all things considered.
You know, now that I've put more time into it, I actually agree with you. Once you get Unison Attacks and your characters are leveled up enough to have a variety of special attacks (which is about the time the average battle time drops from ~20 to ~10 seconds), the battle system starts to pay off, and ToS seems less like a shallow, button-mashing beat-'em-up and more like an RPG that requires at least a little thinking. It takes about six or seven hours for that to happen, though.
I came within a hair of eBaying this game three times this weekend, but now I think I'm going to have to play it through. Every time I start to really enjoy myself, the game throws me something like an statistically overpowered boss, or a poorly explained objective, or a cliched cutscene, to remind me that it's not perfect. But then it goes back to being fun again. The random times when Raine
bitchslaps other characters for shooting off at the mouth
Diomedeskun
Member
I agree that it is far better than the other games in the series that have made it here. Destiny was a very weak game with some fun elements that have made their way to the rest of the series, but its encounter rate was ridiculously high and its difficulty too low (it may be the only RPG I have played and never seen the game over screen, as I usually die twice in most average difficulty RPGs, yet in Destiny the hero only even fell in battle against one boss).
Eternia was much better than Destiny, but it was still a very average RPG that was more fun than most, but lacked depth. It had some great sidequests (perhaps even better than Symphonia), but the game was still too easy on normal.
Symphonia adds a great deal more strategy to battle, as you could simply button mash through pretty much every battle in the others. Blocking is now important, as is Unison timing. I do miss the Craymel Arts development from Eternia a little, as well as the more useful summons, but Symphonia is much better.
Eternia was much better than Destiny, but it was still a very average RPG that was more fun than most, but lacked depth. It had some great sidequests (perhaps even better than Symphonia), but the game was still too easy on normal.
Symphonia adds a great deal more strategy to battle, as you could simply button mash through pretty much every battle in the others. Blocking is now important, as is Unison timing. I do miss the Craymel Arts development from Eternia a little, as well as the more useful summons, but Symphonia is much better.
Jupiter Jones
Member
I loved the game, mostly because of the characters and the humor. But the plot was so predictable, following the same path a lot of recent RPGs have gone. It was obvious who Kratos was the minute he appeared on screen, for instance. Despite that, it's still a great game.