Topic: Tales of Series General Discussion

Kind of surprised this doesn't exist yet, but I guess I'll make it.

A couple of news tidbits.
New trailer for the western release of Tales of Xillia 2. It's definitely one of the best trailers I've ever seen.

I'm glad they've been making an effort to patch up the series' shoddy presentation.

Also, this month a ton of new Tales of Zestiria news was announced
http://www.rpgfan.com/news/2014/1509.html

And here's a trailer with subs.
http://kotaku.com/cant-understand-the-new-tales-of-zestiria-t...

Last time there was a Tales sequel, it didn't work out so well... but this one looks much better than Dawn of the New World. Overall, Tales has been possibly my favorite JRPG series with only a couple of missteps in its history (Legendia and DotNW).

I just hope that the MC in Zestiria gets a name change for the Western localization... "Slay" is laughably bad.

It's funny. Tales of Symphonia is my favorite game in existence. But I have literally no interest in playing DotNW. Not only does it go off of the Zelos ending, which I personally don't think makes much sense as canon, it also completely scraps what was one of Symphonia's greatest strengths. A strong sense of adventure with an open, explorable, and often non-linear overworld.

Xillia seriously did not need a sequel. At all, it did not warrant it. However, this could be a result of me absolutely despising Jude's love interest decisions. He disappoints me to no end.

I'm going to kick off my involvement in this thread by saying that I've played Symphonia, The Abyss, DotNW, and I've tried to play Vesperia and Phantasia, but Phantasia lost my interest early on, and I didn't own Vesperia, so I never got far in it.

I personally found the chibi at style of the overworld avatars charming and to some degree more relatable, but I'm weird, anyways. I also liked Dawn of a New World, but think that making it a Tales game was a HUGE misstep.

I loved Dawn of the New World until I found out that Lloyd and friends could not level up past 50 and you absolutely MUST play as Emil or Marta and no one else can lead your party. It feels much too restricted. Having to switch to the character that I want to play as in EVERY battle is cumbersome over time.

I've played Symphonia, Abyss, and about half of Innocence. I'll never get to play Vesperia unless its announced for a Sony or Nintendo console. Symphonia is my favorite game of all time, but Abyss and Innocence were a bit more disappointment.

But I'm with you, I really wish they revisited Symphonia's art style. Anime styles are nice, but Symphonia had so much charm in it.

I'm hoping Zerestia is even half as good as Vesperia. Graces f and Xillia were both major disappointments. I don't want that gen's Tales games to end on such a low note, especially since I essentially bought the PS3 for Tales games. :/

Import impressions weren't entirely favorable, IIRC, but it sounded like it wasn't the disaster DotNW was. Granted, Xillia was pretty flawed on nearly every level, and it sounded like Xillia 2 makes an admirable attempt to address those issues...it's just that it apparently creates it's own issues in the process...

We'll see, I guess. I'll probably buy it, but I can't imagine I'll ever get to it. I have absolutely zero urge to finish Xillia...

...How bad was Dawn of the New World?

What did you dislike about Xillia? I've been kind of interested in checking it out.

The beginning was handled about as poorly as possible. Lots of jumping around, to the point where it's difficult to make sense of what's going on. The battle system is clunky as all hell. My bro and I grinded for over an hour just trying to get used to it, but I never did. The sphere grid system is just like the FFX sphere grid, where it only offers the illusion of choice but is actually very linear. The areas were big and largely empty, the polar opposite of the problem with Graces F where everything felt so cramped...even its graphics and music weren't very impressive, IMO...

Was the game itself linear? Since Symphonia I've been looking for another non-linear entry, but so far Innocence and Abyss have disappointed.

Again, Tales of Symphonia was linear. It only offered the illusion of choice. If that's what you want, Xillia has plenty of that.

I think we have different definitions of non-linear. I'd call anything that offers different paths at points non-linear, whether those paths converge or not doesn't really matter. So even though the story took you to the same place, Ocarina of Time was overall non-linear, because you could do the dungeons in different orders. Now, if that non-linear leads to different story paths, then I'd call it non-linear story.

ToS gave you several opportunities where you were presented with an open area where you could tackle multiple things in different orders. This non-linearity really improved the sense of exploration, as you had freedom to look around and tackle challenges in whatever way you want, in a way making that experience your own. I get that it doesn't impact anything in the long run, but why does it have to?

But the story didn't change, Your choices didn't matter. Why would you consider that nonlinear when games like Elder Scrolls and Deus Ex exist? What do you call those? Super Ultra Non-linear? Even Mass Effect and Chrono Trigger did a better job of making sure your choices at least had consequences.

Like I said thats the difference between a non-linear story and a non-linear game. Non-linear gameplay is designed around giving you freedom in your gameplay experience, that's what everyone's been clamoring for in Zelda.

A non-linear story is a nice bonus, but it not having it doesn't take away from that freedom.

And for the record ToS did have a few non-linear story mechanics as well with the whole Kratos/Zelos and team affinity mechanics. Nothing to write home about though.

I played Dawn of The New World first when I downloaded both 1 and 2 on my PS3 and now I cannot seem to get back to finish ToS 1 again for the 34th time. I am not looking forward to the puzzles and facing the optional Dark Skeleton boss 3x to get his OP weapons.

Just began playing Xillia. So far it is fun

I actually just finished Abyss a few months ago, so I'll give my brief thoughts. Spoilers ahead

The dungeons were fantastic. Far better than Symphonia's.

The exploration was borderline non-existent. The game was completely linear, and even collectables were marked with search points such that you could see them from really far away. The incentive to look around was really minimal in the overworld. On the other hand the Sorcerer's Ring upgrades were an interesting feature that did a good job of encouraging exploration within areas.

I also don't like the crafting mechanic of Din's shop. Maybe I never got a hang of it, but I only got old equipment from her.

The battle system was fun as always, but I really didn't enjoy playing with any character other than guy. Everyone else was just too slow, and I never got a hang of fighting with Luke. But I thought the boss battles aside from the final boss were pretty good. Is it just me, or does the 3DS version run at a low framerate?

hi!!! this is the first post I do hahaha n.n

I have to say I really love tales of series, it is indeed my favorite saga...

I have played every single title includign xillia 2, except summoners lineage, and I have to say Xillia 2 does not eel like a sequel, more like a spin off with a different arc, kinda like Graces F Lineage and legacy, but the mission system adds a lot of replayability

I think the 3ds version runs at lower framerate