Kirby's Rainbow Resort

I've been on kind of a Tales kick lately and thought I'd check to see if anyone on KRR was interested in discussing it as well. For those who don't know, the Tales series is a namco-bandai series of action rpgs with a focus on character development. It includes games like Tales of Symphonia, Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Vesperia.

We're finally getting Tales of Graces F stateside in almost exactly a month, so I've been in a mood for the games lately. I just recently purchased and beat Legendia, which has some fantastic music, but my favorite game in the series is Vesperia (it was my first and also the most recent to come out stateside (besides Symphonia 2, but it's a wii game so it's not nearly as pretty), so it kinda spoiled me). Abyss was fantastic too, though, and I definitely enjoyed Legendia and Symphonia despite their age. Favorite character is probably Jade or Moses, while favorite to play as was Karol (I even used Presea when playing through Symphonia because I love Karol so much). I'm considering trying phantasia next, or actually finally beating the Innocence fan translation I have (though I keep game overing in the dungeon I'm on and losing like two hours of gameplay so I might just wait to see if we manage to get Innocence R here by some miracle.

Anyone know if Phantasia's story is worth playing or is it just too old to have a good story? Gameplay being old is not a problem for me, but if the story is not worth it I don't want to bother.

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I've only ever played Symphonia, but I really want to get into the other ones in the series. It was such a good game !! Also spurred me on an angel-character kick that, if you were around from 2004-2007, you would know lasted a very long time and consumed most of my being.

I tried getting into Phantasia but I'm not sure if it's just that my emulator was slow or what -- the controls felt kinda gummy. Which was disappointing. =(

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If you've got a PS2 (or a PS3 that plays PS2 games) (or a 3DS and are willing to wait four days, you should try out Tales of the Abyss. It's got a similar feel to Symphonia, since it's about as old, but the graphics are a whole lot smoother and the characters are a lot better written. I think if I hadn't played vesperia first, Abyss probably would be my favorite.

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hahaha definitely willing to wait four days for a 3DS version ♥

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A....a thread solely about the Tales of series!? On the same day that i went and pre-ordered Tales of Graces F!?



The first game of the series i ever played was Tales of Symphonia, and it is still holding it's position firmly as my favorite game, as well as the game that started my RPG gaming. It was really the only game until Disgaea that i played through more than twice. After that i found Tales of the Abyss and Legendia next to each other at a Gamestop/EBGames nearby and got them as a set. I honestly preferred Abyss quite a bit over Legendia partly because the whole second part of the game was basically just mandatory character quests, as well as the fact that there is only really like two cities in the entire game. As for Vesperia, quite honestly i really did enjoy the game, however my opinion is slightly dampened because of how they essentially released a beta version of the game on the Xbox, then made the full version on the PS3....and then never ported it over. I still love the series though and i completely expect to enjoy Graces. I heard a rumor at one point that they were planning to port Xillia over as well if Graces F was well received over here, but then again that was before the studio went under so who knows whats gonna happen dood.
As for your question about Phantasia, i would say that on the one hand if you like retro games and want to see what happened long after Symphonia 1 and 2 then go right ahead. But if you tend to rely a lot on the multilinear battle system you may have a hard time adjusting to the one line battle system, not to mention the hammy voice acting.
Also as a little tidbit on the side, when i was first joining this forum, if someone had already been a prinny before me i was going to alternate between the Tales of mascots like Noishe, Miu, and the Oresoren... or just be chaos from Sonic Adventure dood. Now to listen to Tales of game ending songs again dood.

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"Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan!"
.......Avatar by Deguass

Yeah, Abyss is obviously loads better than Legendia in almost every way. I was pleasantly surprised by Legendia nonetheless, seeing as how my only friend that has played it told me that the main story was only about 25 hours and that the character quests were pretty much useless. I got 40 hours out of the main story and the character quests brought that up to 55 hours and also gave me exactly what I want from a tales game - lots of character development. Despite its flaws, Legendia has the best music of any tales game I've played so far, and the environments were beautiful. Wish I could say the same for the character models...

As for the one-line battle system, Legendia has gotten me pretty used to that. I'm more worried about...well...old RPGs and their tendency to have incredibly cliche stories with characters that are less people and more plot devices. Old RPGs are basically the opposite of what I want to get out of a Tales game, and that makes me wonder if Phantasia just won't have what I play tales games for.

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hmmm, well the only way i can think of to either confirm or relieve your worries about the story would be to spoil it, and honestly i generally don't like to spoil stories for someone (although i do joke about doing so because that's just how i roll). However if you just want a bit of a delving into their personalities somewhat you could always watch these dood.

or just, y'know, watch the anime dood

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.......Avatar by Deguass

Mamthew, Phantasia PSX is a good game and has a good story. Don't play the SNES or GBA versions. They are bad ideas. Not only is the gameplay worse, the story is severely dampered by the bad translation (fan or official, pick your poison.)

Prinny Bang, I'm going to be honest with you here. The Xbox 360 version is the better version. Trust me on this, I have experience with the content of the PS3 version. Certainly, Flynn joining the party is pretty awesome, yes. Should've been in the 360 version. That doesn't mean that it's worth suffering through hours of Patty Fleur. Patty is the worst. She is MOE ANIME DESU~ and also YARR A PIRATE and also OH YURI YOU'RE MY BISHIE and also she has amnesia! She is an anime singularity and totally throws off the group dynamic of the party because the other characters are anime but they are not just anime. Patty is just anime. Patty is, in fact, critical anime density.

I don't really like Patty. So the Xbox 360 version is just overall better, in my opinion.

Oh yeah also by the way courage is the magic that turns dreams into reality, thought y'all might need to know that.

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Meet the Magical Murder Crew, I suppose. There's also some other guys there, don't know what's up with him. You know anything about that, Zach?

I'm a huge fan of the series despite only playing one game.

I have Smyphonia and I have beaten it more times than I can count. I still haven't completed it 100%, though, and never will due to the uncle game. It is my favorite RPG and one of my favorite games of all time in general.

My sister has both Vesperia and Abyss. I'd really like to play those two, but I lack a 360 so I can only get Abyss.

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~Graphically Minded~

Youtube|Deviantart|Formspring

I've played a little of Vesperia, and I've completed both of the Symphonia Games, I've liked all of them personally.
But, Symphonia stands as my favorite quite easily, which may or may not have something to do with Llyod being my favorite Character. Also Kratos.

Anyway, I'm not quite as well versed in Tales of matters as Prinny. But I'm a fan so I figured I'd leave my two cents.

EDIT:

Also, Repede is the best character in Vesperia because he's a dog with a pipe.

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"I need a hero that can lead the people. One that can collect and unite them, no matter how afraid or confused they may be.. and it won't be me."

It just bothered me how so much of what they put into the PS3 game like new bosses, levels, characters, mystic arts, and especially the multi-man tournament, really should have been placed on the Xbox version in the first place if they were planning to put it in. Especially since all the new changes would literally be impossible to put on as DLC since it fundamentally changes the entire game. Honestly speaking, a lot of the reason i got upset about the PS3 version is that i went and spent like $80 or so on the special edition version of a game that, now that they added all that stuff onto the PS3, made it feel like i paid extra for a glorified beta version of a game they had no intention of bringing over the whole version of dood.

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"Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan!"
.......Avatar by Deguass

Truth.

Also, this may interest you. http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dl ... 1473wt_905 I bought one for the office.

I've got a friend who's a huge Tales fan and I got him figures of Rita Mordio and Luke fon Fabre last time I was at an anime convention. I might have to get myself Karol or Jade if I see some again.

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Help I want to play this game series but I don't know which one I should get first any suggestions?

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Lots of people I know have started with Symphonia. I think it's a good way to get into the series, despite being a prequel.

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~Graphically Minded~

Youtube|Deviantart|Formspring

Hmmm well, personally i would also suggest Symphonia, as it still stands as my favorite of the series. it has a good story, gameplay, and a pretty good soundtrack...like generally all of the other games. But really, it depends on what you want out of the series. If you want to see where the series began and still have a PS2, then either Phantasia or Destiny would be good so long as you can forgive the outdated graphics (course i could say the same thing about symphonia). If you would prefer something more next-gen, then despite my earlier complaining Vesperia would be a good choice (or just wait until Graces comes out in March). If you want something more in-between, Symphonia and Abyss would be good choices. If you just want a grasp of their general character over the series before choosing one of the titles, then Tales of the World would be an alright choice. And if you have access to Japanese ports and a grasp of the language, then i hear Innocence and Hearts were pretty good dood... along with all the remakes and sequels we never got like the second and third Tales of the World and Destiny remake. As for the battle systems are concerned, single line combat for Phantasia, Hearts, Destiny, and Legendia. For multi-line combat Rebirth and Symphonia. And for free motion Abyss, Vesperia, Innocence, and Tales of the World.
Course, since i really only know you play Pokemon games, i could suggest Dawn of the New World since it has a pretty decent monster capture/raising system in it.

....dood

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"Fu-Rin-Ka-Zan!"
.......Avatar by Deguass

That sounds like a pretty good list of recommendations. I'd recommend Symphonia (the original) personally, I think that was a lot of peoples' first game in the series.

why would you recommend dawn of the new world to anyone

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Meet the Magical Murder Crew, I suppose. There's also some other guys there, don't know what's up with him. You know anything about that, Zach?

because personally i think it was an alright game in the overall series. the game play and story were alright (although i still find that whole flashback nonsense near the beginning to be rather ridiculous), and being able to have a Noishe like monster as well as dragons and such was a cool idea. Sure it had its faults (like the old cast not leveling up past 50), but the main reason i looked down on when i first played through it is because it was a sequel to my favorite game. as such my expectations were much higher than i really should have had them for a sequel to a prequel, especially one that really didn't need or design for a sequel (...y'know, besides phantasia and all). In the end though i still rate it higher than i do Legendia dood.

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After looking at the opinions on which one to start with, I think I'll start with Symphonia and see where I go form there. I couldn't find a copy locally but I found a copy online and it should arrive in a week or two. So I'll post my opinion (and any questions) of the game then. Thanks!

Also, I found out Abyss is available on the 3DS and I'm thinking of buying that too. Is that game any good?

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