Current Events > Which Tales of... game do you think has the best combat system?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Ignoring everything else about the game except combat, which one is your favourite?

Xillia. Its pretty simple and battle are quick so grinding is less of a chore.

Out of the four I've played (Abyss, Arise, Bers, Zest), Arise was the only one where I felt I understood what I was doing.

Dunno about it being the best, though. There wasn't much going on.

Graces F

I never feel like I achieve competence at the battle system when playing these games.

Arise was great except for its giant bosses.

Reigning Slash was also ridiculously overpowered but that wouldn't be so bad if the giant bosses were less awful.

I've played Vesperia, Zestiria, Graces F, and Xillia 1

Graces F had a flashy combat system but awful characters and story.

Zestiria isnt necessarily bad but zero customization (unless you grind very specifically ALOT in the post-game) - if the enemy is weak to fire, you use fire. If they're weak to ice, you use Ice. etc.

I had the most fun with Vesperia and Xillia 2's battle systems, mostly because I really like air combos and you could do really cool stuff in both of those games.

Vesperia. I like that era and it does it the best imo

Graces F was probably the best I've played.

Honestly I've liked all of them except Arise, I absolutely despise Arise's battle system with the shared CP pool, literal camera issues (this is 2022, when was the last time you played a game with camera issues?), orange gels costing three times as much as life bottles (that just shows you something is wrong with the combat system implementation), and other stuff.

I don't like how manual controls are implemented in the more recent entries in the series in that you can just totally whiff attacks. Yeah, I get that it's manual, but from what I remember of older games, if you targeted a monster, you would always target that monster with attacks, if you wanted to run around the battlefield to get a better position, you'd hit the free-run button, but as soon as you stopped you'd be right back to targeting the monster again. Nothing is more annoying than using Shionne's boost attack and firing off in a random direction, I've basically learned that I have to use a standard attack first since it will auto-target and then use the boost attack. That's just poor implementation in my opinion.

xillia 1 alvin and leia basically feel unplayable after playing them in the sequel and going back

the lack of charged blow basically ruins alvin's gimmick and leia gained a lot of artes and buffs all around

The Nintendo Master posted...

(that just shows you something is wrong with the combat system implementation)

orange gels were literally always better than life bottles but were way cheaper for some reason

I thought it was sort of agreed Graces F had the best combat abd pretty bad everything else, lol.

Xillia 2

I like Xilias overall, and l kinda liked the FOF in Abyss

Graces F by a mile

Bump

Graces F, anyone who says otherwise never played it.

TheDurinator posted...

Graces F, anyone who says otherwise never played it.

I have it platinumed soooooo

havent played arise but played all the others and definitely berseria

TheDurinator posted...

Graces F, anyone who says otherwise never played it.

I have platinumed Graces F and I still say it's Xillia 2.

Hearts R. It's fun, flashy, and has a lot of depth without punishing you for not fully utilizing that depth.

DespondentDeity posted...

I never feel like I achieve competence at the battle system when playing these games.

Chewisbeast posted...

Graces F

lol Cheria

Compsognathus posted...

Arise was great except for its giant bosses.

Reigning Slash was also ridiculously overpowered but that wouldn't be so bad if the giant bosses were less awful.

Tbh I don't think that Reigning Slash is really OP, I just think the way the combat system works there's no point in even trying to combo. It's kind of like Jude's Force Palm in the original Xillia. When bosses have super armor whenever they want you might as well go for the strongest single attack you have.

Anyway, to answer the OP: Vesperia and Graces F. They play quite differently but are the best at the type, in my opinion.

Arise, probably, but Velvet being Velvet in Berseria was pure fun.

From best to worst:

Xillia 2
Xillia 1
Abyss
Berseria
Graces F
Symphonia 2
Arise
Symphonia
Vesperia
Phantasia
Zestiria

I played Vesperia a few years back when it finally came out and it's pretty much the culmination of the symphonia battle system with all the additions and improvements from abyss, so nearly perfected. I found it a lot of fun to play even though I ultimately disliked the story and characters (or at least, found both to be weaksauce)

Don't know if the ps3 Tales games had better battle systems (from the little I tried in demos, wasn't a fan) but I finished Berseria few months back and the OP monster claw is basically the only reason I liked the battle system, did not like the change to the symphonia gameplay at all. That game is like the opposite of Vesperia, Berseria is entirely carried by its amazing cast of characters and overall good story.