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Post by sithlorddahlia on Aug 18, 2013 3:05:09 GMT -5
I'm curious to know everyone's top 3 Mothership Titles of the Tales series. Feel free to give as much detail as to why.
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Post by AokiShizuku on Aug 18, 2013 6:46:03 GMT -5
I've only really played six mothership titles. They are; Vesperia PS3, Graces F, Symphonia, Phantasia X, Xillia 1 and 2. The other games that I really want to play are Hearts R and Destiny DC. Those are the ones that I really want to import and play.
(These are all my opinion so it's not absolute or anything, also there may be spoilers so just a warning.
Tales of Vesperia PS3: Why? This game has essentially everything right. Gameplay, characters, world, music and story. It's an all-around type of game. Like the jack-of-all-trades if you will. While it may not excel in any specific area, it does almost nothing wrong. All the characters are very likable and go through a considerable amount of development which is to be expected from a Tales game. However, this was the first occasion where I truly felt attached to the characters. When Karol's struggling to overcome obstacles, I could feel his resolve, When Yuri is angered, I can relate etc. Like many, my favorite character was Yuri. This was because his character was a nice change from the oblivious shounen teenage protagonist who just wanted to save the world. Yuri had already gone through some development way before the game began and the way Yuri acted around the party members was great.
As for the gameplay, I feel that the field system was simple. Nothing needed to be changed, I was fine with that. There was nothing major about the field other than running around and finding chests and using the sorcerer's ring. What made it fun was the environment you got to explore. The visual style of the game was very appealing (It's a tie between Xillia and Vesperia if you ask me. Both are my favorites). Battle wise, like the case with all Tales games is where the game really showed what it could do. Now, some may argue that the TP system is inferior to Team Destiny's CC system. People will use the reason that it TP doesn't allow much freedom as CC. I love this game's TP system as the mechanics unique to this game such as Overlimit (Well this version of Overlimit is unique), Fatal Strikes and Free Run cancel allow for many, many combo opportunities.
Note: Free Run cancels are (to my knowledge) exclusive to the PS3 version of the game. They allow any character to cancel an artes recovery animation. This resets the arte combo tree so things like Tension's hit count reset to zero.
Oh yeah another thing about Vesperia's gameplay. Bosses. In the PS3 version they got it right by allowing human bosses to tech out of combos but you were still able to combo them as shown in the above video.
Tales of Xillia 2: Oh Xillia 2. So wonderful. I realize the many people are in the process of playing Xillia 1 and have not played 2 so I will definitely keep this section spoiler free. This game did have it's faults, however it excelled in three areas. Characters, world and gameplay most definitely.
Let's start with the characters. The main protagonist is Ludger Will Kresenik, who is a silent protagonist (for at least the first playthrough) and like most silent protagonists, his social links relationships are key to side quests, skits and to the story as well. While he does represent the player in some form, I don't really like his role in the story. Purely because he has about 90% silent protagonist tropes. Let's move onto the heroes of the previous game. Unlike Symphonia 2, the characters have changed throughout the 2 year (It's either 2 or 1 I can't remember) gap between the games. Not only is it evident through appearance but through actions and personality as well. Yes, they went through development in Xillia 1 but the characters go through even more of it and we learn more about their backgrounds in depth through character episodes. I feel that these character episodes are done well as the plot of Xillia 2 allows the creators to do some creative things in how they illustrate say, Jude or Leia's background. I found everyone (Except Tipo) to be very likable and their interactions with each other are both entertaining and engaging. From all the Tales games I've played, these characters by far are my favorite. In summary, I love everyone but Ludger. Yes, Ludger is pretty much the main protagonist but I just don't like him. It's just me nitpicking.
About the world(s) of Xillia 2. While most of Xillia's world was accessible in the first game, you access new places but also you visit the same places with some change. Now, the lore is one of the many things that got me hooked to this game. In Symphonia 2 I felt there was too much change to the world and new (out of place) things were added making it a completely different experience. Xillia 2 does this, however, those things are relevant and therefore expand the worlds of Rieze Maxia and Olympus. These new additions were surprising yes but by the end I was happy of the end-result. My only gripe is that Olympus still isn't as expansive as Rieze Maxia still. Yes some new places are added buuut... I was hoping for more. Oh well. Story's great too
Gameplay. Oh yes. My most favorite Tales battle system yet. I'm sure a lot of people already know about Ludger's weapon-changing abilities. In Xillia 1 you could exploit elemental weaknesses of enemies and deal more damage. In Xillia 2, they added a weakness multiplier. First you hit an enemy with an element that they're weak to and the weakness multiplier appears. After that you can hit the enemy with various elements, adding more and more to the weakness multiplier. This addition made combos much more rewarding and bosses more fair. Those who have played Xillia 1 must know how annoying it is for bosses tech-ing out of every single arte making them near impossible to combo unless you stun-lock them. Weakness multiplier nullifies that and makes combo-ing much easier. Though... It's broken. A level 5 Ludger could combo an unknown boss to oblivion. Also, AC is my favorite system over TP and CC. Regenerates instantly compared to CC and there's no need for skills to chain into specific arte types.
Example:
Broken, but oh so fun.
Tales of Symphonia: (Were it favorite Tales games rather than favorite mothership titles, I would've put Narikiri Dungeon X here) Like many people, this was my entry into the series. Though I didn't really get into the series until my brother got me Vesperia PS3 many years later. I'm going to be perfectly honest, this game has quite a lot of sentimental value and it is pure nostalgia for me. It's been so long since I touched it so my explanation here will most likely be nostalgia-boosted but let's get to it. Characters and story are the shining factors here.
I honestly don't know what I can say that hasn't been said before. Characters have interesting backgrounds and each of them have quite a bit of depth to them and go through a lot of development. As for story, I really like the themes presented in the game. Such as the symbolism of racism shown through the conflict between Humans and Half-elves. Another theme that really got me was the deception done by certain characters. It really emphasized that you shouldn't always people based on soley appearance.
Other than that I can't really say much about Symphonia.
On another note, what Tales games should I play based on what I've said in this post?
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Post by Umbra on Aug 18, 2013 9:40:04 GMT -5
I have only played four mothership titles and beaten only three of those, but I will give my opinion on this anyway. It's worth noting that's it's been ages since I've played any of this games, so my memory about the games may be a little foggy.
3. Tales of Phantasy. I don't have any real reason for this being on my list other than that it looks and feels like a classic. It was the start of the series, and it had a certain charm to it (Maybe it was the chibi sprites?). Also, the characters were memorable to me and the music was fairly good.
2. Tales of the Abyss. This is just simply a great game for me. I loved the somewhat dark story, the battle system, characters, music--I loved everything about this game. It's surprising how a game like this can turn your hating for a character into a vicarious feeling for the character.
1. Tales of Symphonia. Without going into to much detail, I'm just going to list why this is my number one--the rest should fill itself in: betrayal, epiphany, destruction, exploration, a grave atmosphere, the cast (esp. Kratos), Kratos' theme, rising falcon. Everything I like about a game!
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Post by Youngster Joey on Aug 19, 2013 3:31:24 GMT -5
So, I've played Phantasia, Destiny, Eternia, Symphonia, Legendia, Abyss, Vesperia, about half of Rebirth, and maybe 20 hours of Graces. 1. Tales of the Abyss. I think this game is beautiful. Luke’s character development was done so well—well-paced, thoughtful, and more than anything, believable. I empathize a lot with Luke—I, too, would have seriously doubted the worth of my own existence and contemplated suicide had I been him. Normally, whiny or gloomy characters get on my nerves, but Luke’s “emoness” (for lack of a better word) was completely justified and appropriate. If anything, the difficulties he experiences made me like him even more. The other characters were done just as well; although none of them had quite the transformation Luke did, they still changed and grew with Luke. In the beginning of the game, they were just some random people traveling together, but by the end of the game, they felt like a true pack of friends. Bonus points go to Abyss for being one of the few games that’s made me think critically about the plot’s events long after I finished the game. 2. Tales of Symphonia. I’ve gone in and out of liking this game. It was my favorite game for a while, but then it got ruined by a classmate I introduced the game to (never introduce RPGs to fantasy-obsessed people with Asperger’s… you will regret it ). I’ve come around to the game in recent months after playing it a little with some friends. The game’s characters kind of suck—most of them aren’t particularly interesting and some are downright wooden—but I do actually really like the story. 3. Tales of Vesperia. Man, I really wanted to love this game. I really did. It had so much potential—great characters, dark, mature plot, fun gameplay… and then the scriptwriters developed brain cancer or something and wrote complete cliché JRPG garbage for the last third of the game. It’s like they stuck two different plots together or something, a la Quentin Tarantino’s film From Dusk til Dawn. Luckily, the characters and gameplay were solid enough that while I don’t love the game, I do at least like it. 4. Tales of Eternia. I don’t know why I like this game as much as I do. It’s a pretty average game—average characters, average gameplay, average story. I guess I like it because it’s unpretentiously simple, I guess? Some games try hard and are still mediocre, but Eternia just feels like it knows it’s mediocre and is OK with that. idk. I don’t know how to explain it.
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SummerWolf
Half-Elf
Playing Tales of Xillia
Posts: 48
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Post by SummerWolf on Aug 24, 2013 22:45:53 GMT -5
Tales of the abyss tales of xillia tales of graces
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Post by yunarukami on Sept 17, 2013 7:50:47 GMT -5
Tales of the Abyss, why? Favorite characters and battle system, as well as my favorite character in the entire franchise - Jade Curtiss! ~
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Post by DreamSword on Sept 17, 2013 9:28:56 GMT -5
Tales of Eternia. It has basically my favorite everything other than battle system. And even then I still love said system.
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MagJamz
Oracle Knight
Riki want to play with Monado. :3
Posts: 119
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Post by MagJamz on Jun 2, 2015 16:05:27 GMT -5
1. Tales of the Abyss. I think this game is beautiful. Luke’s character development was done so well—well-paced, thoughtful, and more than anything, believable. I empathize a lot with Luke—I, too, would have seriously doubted the worth of my own existence and contemplated suicide had I been him. Normally, whiny or gloomy characters get on my nerves, but Luke’s “emoness” (for lack of a better word) was completely justified and appropriate. If anything, the difficulties he experiences made me like him even more. The other characters were done just as well; although none of them had quite the transformation Luke did, they still changed and grew with Luke. In the beginning of the game, they were just some random people traveling together, but by the end of the game, they felt like a true pack of friends. Bonus points go to Abyss for being one of the few games that’s made me think critically about the plot’s events long after I finished the game. This along with the FoF mechanics made Abyss my favorite game of all time. It's one of the few games in the series that I play through for the story alone.
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Derman
Oracle Knight
I still don't have a knife tag on my golden birth knife
Posts: 194
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Post by Derman on Jun 3, 2015 9:22:41 GMT -5
If we measure the best game by the amount of fun I had, it's either Vesperia or Symphonia. But if we are talking about the "favorite" game, it's Innocence.
The plot was pretty good and original in the JRPG standards and I liked the cast and the art direction they took in the original DS version. What impressed me the most was the character's past lives:
At first we get whiny Ruca who happened to be badass commander in his past life. The we get Iria, who really has nothing special going on for her other than that one plot twist thing. Then we get Spada = Sword O.O, Ricardo = nothing really interesting other that his position in the past life, then Ange = Male O.O! and Hermana = Dragon :I. The best part was the whole "Innocence" theme.
I just honestly think if innocence was developed in Vesperia's place it could easily be the best one in the series.
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