Board 8 > What's your fav Tales game

(+) Yeah! (+)

sgfdjtrdtfdkia

Symphonia with a close 2nd from Vesperia and Xillia as the certain 3rd.
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Either Berseria or Vesperia.
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You are going to get shit for putting pre-Symphonia instead of Phantasia, but not from me.

Didn't really neeeeeeed Zestiria there.
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I went back to Symphonia last year and that is a touuuugh game to go back to. Certainly some goggles on that one, but I get it.
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i also agree Zestiria as its own option could have been cut but i wanted to put pre-symphonia and didn't feel like putting pre-symphonia - phantasia

https://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/9/93770/2362290-nes_talespin.jpg
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I've only played Symphonia and Vesperia. Going with the latter.
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Berseria is the only good one
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Vesperia absolutely could be #1 for me if it wasn't 360 exclusive in the west so i would have played through it more than once.

fucking namco

https://twitter.com/BandaiNamcoEU/status/648515012449972224

Abyss > Xillia
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I can't speak for 2D (I own Eternia but nothing to play it on!), but;

Abyss > Berseria > Vesperia > Graces* > Symphonia > Xillia > Zestiria**

*gameplay is the only reason this is over Symphonia

**an unbeleivable example of a game falling apart in the third act, to put it lightly
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Symphonia > Abyss

But I haven't played either in ages so nostalgic glasses.
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KommunistKoala posted...

Berseria is the only good one

I like other games in the series but yeah, Berseria crushes the rest regardless
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Really didn't expect it at all, but Berseria took the crown. And I'm a pretty big fan of the series!

Until now, Xillia 2 was my favorite, followed by Vesperia, Graces and Abyss.
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NioraptH posted...

JP exclusive Innocence R represent

i literally put that option for you

Bonus thoughts!

Gameplay: Xillia 2 > Berseria > Vesperia > Graces > the rest

Story: Abyss > Berseria > the rest

Cast: Berseria > Vesperia > the rest

Vesperia would have a pretty good shot at being the best if its story wasn't all over the fucking place.
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Rumor has it quite literally all over the place, with 3 writers that supposedly wrote each act independently.
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LapisLazuli posted...

Rumor has it quite literally all over the place, with 3 writers that supposedly wrote each act independently.

I could easily believe it, this is 100% what it feels like. Each act independently is pretty great, and the cast stays golden throughout, but being so completely disjointed really brings the plot down overall when you pull back to look at it.
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Abyss >= Xillia 2 > Graces f > Vesperia > Symphonia > Xillia > Symphonia 2

something like that. Abyss and Xillia 2 are the top 2 and everything else is really close together and could be flipped around.

Currently playing Zestiria with plans to play Berseria when I'm finished. Zestiria would probably place around Vesperia/Symphonia on that ranking if I were to put it there right now.
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xp1337 posted...

Zestiria would probably place around Vesperia/Symphonia on that ranking if I were to put it there right now.

My reccomendation is to continue waiting to rate it.

Because that WILL change.
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lol

Well, I didn't actually include it in the ranking for a reason!
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I hate to be a downer on a game you are playing and enjoying. Anybody who was watching my playthrough topic can attest to how much I was praising the game.

I just don't want others to experience the stark crash that I did. After 40 hours I assumed everyone else was just wrong and let my gaurd down.

I paid for my arrogance.
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IMO Abyss has been significantly better than all the others I've played.
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I've played Vesperia, Abyss and Symphonia.
Vesperia was awesome, Abyss was ok, Symphonia sucked.

I've only beaten Vesperia and Symphonia.

That being said, Vesperia by a mile.
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I haven't played a single second of an Tales game, even though like 8 of them have been in my house >_>
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Only ever played Symphonia and Graces

I somewhat prefer Graces.
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Of the four I've played:
Abyss > Symphonia > Graces > Vesperia

Xiahou Shake posted...

LapisLazuli posted...

Rumor has it quite literally all over the place, with 3 writers that supposedly wrote each act independently.

I could easily believe it, this is 100% what it feels like. Each act independently is pretty great, and the cast stays golden throughout, but being so completely disjointed really brings the plot down overall when you pull back to look at it.

I've heard those rumors as well. It would also explain why the backstory of half the cast isn't quite there and why there aren't that many great scenes of chemistry between more than two cast members. I personally feel that the cast is pretty weak aside from Yuri, Raven, and Judith.

Vesperia has some of the best gameplay in the series, but its weak plot, criminally underdeveloped cast, and lack of motivation for the cast to be traveling together really don't serve it well. After I wrote the sticky topic for the board, I didn't keep going back to it.
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LapisLazuli posted...

I hate to be a downer on a game you are playing and enjoying. Anybody who was watching my playthrough topic can attest to how much I was praising the game.

I just don't want others to experience the stark crash that I did. After 40 hours I assumed everyone else was just wrong and let my gaurd down.

I paid for my arrogance.

Wait zesty gets worse??

Im 10 hours in praying it will get better
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I think the middle stretch is good and the best part. Once the game starts wrapping up is when it goes off the rails kind of badly.

As for the topic, I've only played Zestiria and Berseria, and Berseria is much stronger overall.
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I have to go with Xillia 1 because it was the first one I ever played, with Xillia 2, and Berseria (so far) tied with second, followed by Zesteria (as good as Rose is), and then Graces F and what I remember of the brief bits I played of Destiny.

I haven't played Symphonia, Abyss, or Vesperia though.

SantaRPidgey posted...

LapisLazuli posted...

I hate to be a downer on a game you are playing and enjoying. Anybody who was watching my playthrough topic can attest to how much I was praising the game.

I just don't want others to experience the stark crash that I did. After 40 hours I assumed everyone else was just wrong and let my gaurd down.

I paid for my arrogance.

Wait zesty gets worse??

Im 10 hours in praying it will get better

It does get better. There are small bits of Zesteria that are some of my favs.

But it's a fucking cliff. There was a 5 hour period where I was posting updates every 5 minutes about how utterly blown away I was at just how bad the game had gotten, and how fast. I mean, there are signs, but then you just get hit with one moment after the other of failure. It was infuriating, and all because Hideo Baba couldn't keep his dick in his pants.

There are about 15 minutes towards the very end before the final dungeon that are legit a high point for Tales, which makes of all the worse.
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Vesperia, its not close.

B8 continues to overrate Symphonia as it was likely the first Tales game they played and on a Nintendo console.

Symphonia's great though


so is Emil Castagnier
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I've only played two Tales games, so Symphonia > Abyss but both are pretty great.
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Of what I played Vesperia easily. Not surprised Symphonia is doing so well, but it has aged really poorly and was never too amazing to begin with either

Symphonia is the one that had the most impact, simple as that. It may be a weak entry in the series but it's still OK, and is the only one many people have played.
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it's not a weak entry in the series at all though
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It's a weakER entry in the series, though as someone who likes the series a good bit I think it's still a fine game. It's not an actual weak entry like Legendia or Hearts, of course.

Still, just playing it again last year was....interesting. Not exactly a combat system I can get behind, just a bit of a mess. Still, a lot of fond memories there. I played that game so much that it only took a few days to beat! Definitely a huge eye opener for me in regards to jRPGs, I'd barely touched them before that. So I gues I owe Symphonia a bit of a debt.
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Symphonia is my second favorite. It and Berseria are the only two games in the series with good pacing.
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Symphonia > Graces of the two I beat.

Couldn't finish Abyss because it was bad.
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Uh-oh. I was secretly hoping I had passed whatever point Zestiria got bad that was being mentioned and still liked it.

but it sounds like i'm not. and in fact i might be rather close to it. >_>
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Abyss > Berseria > Xillia 2 > Graces > Vesperia > Xillia > Hearts > Symphonia > Legendia > Symphonia 2 > Zestiria

Still need to go through the pre-Symphonia stuff at some point.

I consider Symphonia to be the worst of the good Tales games. I look on it fondly because it was my introduction to the series, which has become my absolute favorite game series, but everything about it is pretty middling. Every game above it on that ranking does at least one thing significantly better. Its character cast is average, the story is pretty generic, the music is forgettable, and the battle gameplay is pretty simplistic especially compared to Graces or Hearts.

It's still a 7.5/10ish game, but that puts it solidly below all the 8s and 9s that Tales typically puts out.

And re:Zestiria, that game is just bad all the way through. Not "bad for Tales standards" or "good to a certain point when it all falls apart" or "bad but with some good ideas." Bad all the way around and it will forever be a black mark on the series. And since it's so connected to Berseria, they can't even retroactively call it a spinoff like they did to try and erase Tempest from people's memories.
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Symphonia > Berseria > Vesperia

If only Berseria had better OST and environments.
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Symphonia has not aged well but I feel like people have good nostalgia about it so it wins because that's Board 8 (and GameFAQs in general).
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Zestiria has some neat ideas for combat (that are undermined by the stupidity of the AI) and Edna is the absolute best.

can't call it all-around bad given that
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xp1337 posted...

Uh-oh. I was secretly hoping I had passed whatever point Zestiria got bad that was being mentioned and still liked it.

but it sounds like i'm not. and in fact i might be rather close to it. >_>

You will know. There will be a part right before where you think you've reached it and in the grand scheme of things YEAH, but you will know when it really hits.
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Only played Symphonia so technically it's that but fuck calling it my favorite
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