Board 8 > Does anyone know the definitive ranking of all Tales games?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Underleveled posted...

colliding posted...

Abyss (those load times)

3DS version FTW!

But it's on the 3DS :(

Port to PS4 please.
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colliding posted...

Graces has the best gameplay and really good skits. The cast, as individuals, aren't that great but they work well together. Berseria has the best cast though.

Once that party gets together there's no stoppong them.

Even the Eleanor who I was worried about being a wet blanket was excellent.
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Can we at least agree that Anise is just about the worst character ever made?

Warning: Major Abyss spoilers
Aside from just being an annoying brat, she is one of the worst at harping on Luke for killing everyone in that village (which he actually tried to save and it was a total disaster, and felt horrible remorse about it), then she knowingly and willingly sends one of her best friends to his death, and kills another with her own hand, and any remorse she shows is very superficial. She could have been salvageable as a character if she got hers in the end (I still wouldn't like her because she was annoying but she wouldn't be raging hateworthy), but no, the only thing she gets is a minor scolding from Jade.
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Anise isnt very good, but Id take her over Shirley from Legendia any day.

LapisLazuli posted...

colliding posted...

Graces has the best gameplay and really good skits. The cast, as individuals, aren't that great but they work well together. Berseria has the best cast though.

Once that party gets together there's nonstoppong them.

Even the Eleanor who I was worried about being a wet blanket was excellent.

Rokurou is objectively the least interesting playable Berseria character and he would probably be a favorite in nearly any other Tales game

colliding posted...

Graces has the best gameplay and really good skits. The cast, as individuals, aren't that great but they work well together.

This is what I'm talking about. The skits are constantly hysterical and the cast has some of the best chemistry I've ever seen. However, aside from Pascal, none of them stand out as individuals and would be nothing if not for the others around them.

Vesperia didn't have that. It also didn't have good development for several of its characters. Like why did we need a movie to find out about Yuri's time in the Knights?
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Anise is the huge elephant in the room for Abyss. Unlike every other character she doesn't improve and in fact gets worse. Like, Natalia specifically I remember not like the first time playing when I was rushing, but playing years later and doing 100% of the side content I was amazed by how great she was. Total 180 on my opinion of that character. Anise, though? Naw. I mean, at least she's INTERESTING and has stuff going on unlike some other characters from other games, but man...
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colliding posted...

LapisLazuli posted...

colliding posted...

Graces has the best gameplay and really good skits. The cast, as individuals, aren't that great but they work well together. Berseria has the best cast though.

Once that party gets together there's nonstoppong them.

Even the Eleanor who I was worried about being a wet blanket was excellent.

Rokurou is objectively the least interesting playable Berseria character and he would probably be a favorite in nearly any other Tales game

Exactly, and he's absolutely essential as a foil to Eizen as well, so he's got that to bounce off of even then.

Even bottom tier party members in Berseria are top tier for the series.

I do think the supporting cast isn't the greatest, but still fairly descent. Some characters coughthesiblingscough could have used a lot more, though.
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Underleveled posted...

Can we at least agree that Anise is just about the worst character ever made?

Warning: Major Abyss spoilers
Aside from just being an annoying brat, she is one of the worst at harping on Luke for killing everyone in that village (which he actually tried to save and it was a total disaster, and felt horrible remorse about it), then she knowingly and willingly sends one of her best friends to his death, and kills another with her own hand, and any remorse she shows is very superficial. She could have been salvageable as a character if she got hers in the end (I still wouldn't like her because she was annoying but she wouldn't be raging hateworthy), but no, the only thing she gets is a minor scolding from Jade.

I would've loved it if after Anise and Mohs murdered Ion in cold blood, Jade "accidentally" tripped her in the volcano and she fell face-first into the lava... and all Jade said was "My apologies." Would have been one of my all-time favorite moments. Anise is a massive hypocrite of the highest order and I don't particularly like how the party just shrugged her off being a murderer like that. There's a reason her VA, Melissa Fahn, said "no, no, it wasn't me! It was a soundalike."

Can agree that Anise is horrendous.
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Natalia was fine in the main story too. Like the others, she started out bad but got good. She was also my second-favorite to use in combat, after Guy.
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Underleveled posted...

Natalia was fine in the main story too. Like the others, she started out bad but got good. She was also my second-favorite to use in combat, after Guy.

I agree, just was a lot younger when I first played and she annoyed me. I didn't appreciate Abyss on my first playthrough at all. I do think she more than any other character benefits from her side content, though.
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LapisLazuli posted...

Like, Natalia specifically I remember not like the first time playing when I was rushing, but playing years later and doing 100% of the side content I was amazed by how great she was. Total 180 on my opinion of that character.

glad I'm not the only one who experienced this

I used to HATE Natalia. Now I like her, though nowhere near as much as Tear and Jade.
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I always use Tear in combat - anyone else just feels wrong since Tear is just so comfortable for me to control. It got to the point where I wrote an FAQ explaining how I do it >_>
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I liked Guy the best because the only Tales game I had played at the time was Symphonia in which I exclusively used Lloyd, and Guy was most similar.
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I think Natalia is a character that is difficult to appreciate when you're younger or on a first playthrough. Really the whole game in general I think is a lot more difficult to appreciate when you're younger and at the time of it's release in general. It was crazy how much more I liked it going back to it, and I would love to do so again.
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I do think it's going to be weird going back to Vesperia's battle system after Graces f and Berseria. I wish they could just copy/paste CC into Vesperia DE but I guess I'll just have to get used to it.

I've always had difficulty playing as the non main characters in Tales games. Even with the modern ones where everyone is totally viable, many characters have elements to their combat that are very clearly "doable, but an AI could handle it easier". Guy stood out as totally playable and straightforward at a time when it was a nightmare to play as almost anyone but the lead in these games.
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I liked Natalia even my first time through the game. Never did end up liking Tear though and Anise is also pretty bleh

As this topic is proving, there is no definitive Tales ranking. For a long time, Abyss, Vesperia, and Symphonia were generally regarded as the "Holy Trinity," but it's not like anyone ever agreed on an order for those three, either. And Berseria's leapfrogged Symphonia in a lot of players' eyes now. That said...

Abyss > Berseria > Graces > Xillia 2 > Vesperia > Xillia > Hearts > Symphonia > Legendia > Zestiria

would be my personal ranking.
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LapisLazuli posted...

I've always had difficulty playing as the non main characters in Tales games. Even with the modern ones where everyone is totally viable, many characters have elements to their combat that are very clearly "doable, but an AI could handle it easier". Guy stood out as totally playable and straightforward at a time when it was a nightmare to play as almost anyone but the lead in these games.

Another reason why Graces f is my favorite. Out of the ones I've played, it's the only one where I felt switching characters provided unique playstyles and tactical advantages. In the other games, the main character is so OP/fun to play there's no real reason to switch in my experience.

colliding posted...

I do think it's going to be weird going back to Vesperia's battle system after Graces f and Berseria. I wish they could just copy/paste CC into Vesperia DE but I guess I'll just have to get used to it.

CC is hopefully around to stay in the future, Graces can't be thanked enough for what it did there, and it still hasn't been topped. Vesperia still having the TP system holds it back TREMENDOUSLY, especially since I think it's the worst about TP management in the series. You can go through almost entire dungeons without being able to reliably use skills sometimes.

More than anything I want future games to return to how Graces handles difficulty levels. Such a mechanically excellent game.

If this were a perfect world, Vesperia HD would change to a CC system.
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NBIceman posted...

As this topic is proving, there is no definitive Tales ranking.

Even so I think it's clear that Zeseria has no love! Love the consistency there. Playing it last year was such a RIDE, I've rarely seen something crash and burn like that. It's amazing how it's so soundly replaced Legendia as the series' punching bag.
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Zesty just has nothing going for it in relation to the rest of the series. Even with Legendia, you could make the argument that it has one of the best OSTs. Zestiria's cast sucks, the music is middling, combat is terrible, the story's a mess... Most Tales titles have a leg to stand on in one of those departments even if the full package isn't great, but Zestiria is just bad all around.
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There's no definitive Tales ranking. Berseria and Vesperia probably come out on top the most. Graces f, Abyss, and Xillia 2 will come out as somewhat polarizing for different reasons. Symphonia likely rates high pretty consistently. Xillia and Zestiria are kinda just there.

For me personally it probably looks like: Abyss = Berseria = Xillia 2 >> Graces f > Vesperia > Xillia > Symphonia > Zestiria

Top 3 are way ahead of the pack. Graces f probably safe at 4th. Vesperia/Xillia/Symphonia all close. Zestiria the loser.
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I think the music in Zesteria is just fine! Also has two of the best tracks in the franchise with Rising Up and Zaveid the Exile.

Although I associate Zaveid the Exile more with Berseria than Zesteria, which is embarrassing for Zesteria for multiple reasons, lol.
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Oh, it has some strong tracks, but not enough for me to consider it a partial saving grace of the game like I do for Legendia.
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I still feel like cast wise Graces f was best in the first arc when theyre all kids (aside from it not having Pascal and Malik there anyways). After that the story is just so utterly generic/boring it was impossible to be interested in basically anything. It was just too easy to tell where it was going and it felt Kid the kind of plot that has been done a billion times. I never did get to the F part of the story though. I ended up stopping just before that because combat was all the game had going for it

Abyss is at the top. The rest is up for debate.
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Where does symphonia 2 rank? Don't see it on the lists.
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Symphonia is the most popular for sure by a pretty large margin. Not necessarily the best, but it's my favorite despite how poorly it's aged. Vesperia and Berseria get the least amount of vocal hate.
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Maniac64 posted...

Where does symphonia 2 rank? Don't see it on the lists.

Shhhhhhhhh.....
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Symphonia really has aged poorly. I tried replaying it for the PS3 a while ago and couldn't even make it to Zelos.

Maniac64 posted...

Where does symphonia 2 rank? Don't see it on the lists.

Oh, wow, I actually forgot about that one.

It's the worst. At best, it's equal to Zestiria.
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oh god symphonia 2 i forgot

In terms of what I'd expect general opinion to be: Last place (of those I listed/have played at least)

I have a... complicated... relationship with that game. I'm pretty sure if it didn't make the absolute worst gameplay choices (Mons as your party members, Original Cast being level and equipment locked at all times) that I'd actually think fairly highly of it. As in "possibly higher than Vesperia on that personal ranking of mine" but as is those choices are just so crippling that it probably only beats out Zestiria for me. ...maybe.
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I know what the definitive ranking is, but I will never tell
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Courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality. Symphonia 2 has one of the worst casts Ive ever seen in an RPG

zestiria > berseria > others out of what i've played

HeroicGammaRay posted...

zestiria > berseria > others out of what i've played

YEESH

Guess there had to be one.
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I kinda enjoyed what I played of Zestiria. Like 15 hours of it. I stopped because I got busy with work and never picked it up again.

But God damn am I excited to finally play Vesperia when it comes out on Switch.
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Tales is a really interesting series in that all of its games do different things really well so depending on what a person values you're going to get a different ranking from just about everybody.

In terms of being a complete package, I'd say Vesperia has yet to be topped.

Xillia 2 has IMO the best gameplay in the series but is basically a huge asset recycle.

Berseria has fantastic gameplay, characters and story but is hamstringed by a lower budget than the series usually gets - dungeons are basically empty repeating hallways. (Though to be fair Xillia largely has a similar problem.)

Abyss has (IMO) easily the best story but isn't really anything special gameplay wise and has characters that rub a lot of people the wrong way.

Graces has downright addictive gameplay and unreal party chemistry, but the story is laughably stock and the characters by themselves aren't super interesting.
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Underleveled posted...

I kinda enjoyed what I played of Zestiria. Like 15 hours of it. I stopped because I got busy with work and never picked it up again.

But God damn am I excited to finally play Vesperia when it comes out on Switch.

15 hours in the game would still be decent.
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Xiahou Shake posted...

In terms of being a complete package, I'd say Vesperia has yet to be topped.

Vesperia has a nonexistent main story and the one compelling plotline it does have gets forgotten about 2/3 of the way through. It's got the weakest story out of any of the Tales games I've played.

The biggest 'complete package' game is Symphonia but it's aged poorly in several respects.
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KamikazePotato posted...

Xiahou Shake posted...

In terms of being a complete package, I'd say Vesperia has yet to be topped.

Vesperia has a nonexistent main story and the one compelling plotline it does have gets forgotten about 2/3 of the way through. It's got the weakest story out of any of the Tales games I've played.

The biggest 'complete package' game is Symphonia but it's aged poorly in several respects.

"Hot take"
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Vesperia is my favorite Tales game but even I think the last third of the game is quite bad. If you want to look at the story as a whole from some birds-eye view it's a bit sloppy, but in the context of a video game it's very easy to ignore that when there's at least 30 hours of great enjoyable content before you even get to the bad stuff. Also I guess I should mention that given that the story is structured in a way such that the final parts don't retroactively ruin the things that come earlier, as might be the case in some other games. (And while this doesn't seem to be a popular opinion, Vesperia has my favorite gameplay of the Tales games I've played, which is something that remains even after the story becomes not so great)

And I do think the first two arcs of the game are really, really good. Cast is also great.
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Ring a Bell still the best Tales OP, though.

Tied with Meaning of Birth.
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I'm not gonna lie Ring a Bell probably plays a larger part in my enjoyment of Vesperia than I'd like to admit.

I am very easily swayed by good OP's. (See also SAO season 1, for example)
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Ring A Bell is so good

All time best Tales OPs coming through

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MB4bvAK__Ks" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JAfhSugeQCw" data-time="

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9bfp_ubBgbc" data-time="
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Meaning of Birth shade no thanks.
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Vesperia, Abyss, and Xillia 2 are definitely the three best OPs.
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