Any other "Tales of" fans here? UPDATE: Oh this one part with Sophie is so funny (what she calls the peaches)!

[Estil | 1,264]

So as a lot of you guys know, I started my JRPG journey in 2013 with what I thought were the "big two" JRPG series, Dragon Quest/Warrior (granddaddy of 'em all) and Final Fantasy.  But a little later I discovered Tales of Phantasia which was a super impressive SNES game...which seemed to push the system to its limits with beautiful graphics with neat little touches like mirror effects and footprints in the snow; not to mention the eh, colorful dialogue (Krath's "locker room talk" and well, you gotta see Archie for yourself!), and it along with Star Ocean was the biggest SNES game ever (six megabytes or 48 megabits)...sadly they were released very much in the SNES' twilight and didn't make it out of Japan.  

Thanks for the PSIO system, I was able to easily play the next two games in the series, Tales of Destiny (similar in graphics/style to the first game so US gamers at least got something of an idea of what the first game was like) and Tales of Eternia (you guys know I love cute chicks in JRPG and so far I'd say Meredy is the kawaii champion of all JRPG chicks I've seen so far! ).  The fourth game Tales of Destiny 2 (the real one) on PS2 sadly not only didn't make it out of Japan but I don't know if anyone yet made an translated version.

I'm now working on the fifth Tales of game on PS3 (I did some if the GC version) and I love how not only how adorable Colette is but how she shares one of my main quirks of saying "sorry" too much.  And just like my wife used to call me out on it, when one of the other characters calls her out on it, she reflexively says "sorry" for saying sorry too much!  

The sixth game, Rebirth didn't make it out of Japan but apparently the last two PS2 games, Legendia and Abyss did make it to the US...thank God I have a PSIO equipped PS1 and Free McBoot equipped PS2 so I can play these without spending a frickin' fortune on the originals!!!

So that leaves after that the PS3/PS4 Tales of games (at this point the release dates/sequence gets rather confusing )...you know, the ones that have the trophies?  Should I continue going in sequence after Symphonia and do the two available PS2 Tales of games first or would like the PS3 ones better?  So far I got Symphonia, Xilla, Graces for PS3 and Vesperia, Berseria, Zestiria on PS4...I hope I'm not missing any others. 

So I guess there's actually a "Big Three" of JRPG series...looks like I still got a lot to get caught up on!  If only I hadn't had that stupid turn based phobia back then...  

Edited February 5, 2023 by Estil

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

There are a couple with direct sequels, but you don't need to play any of the others in any specific order. They all have their own independent story and characters.

I was a big fan of Tales of... games a few years ago, but the more of them I play, the less I like them. Xillia for example, I thought was just sooo boring..

Symphonia and Abyss are complete bangers though. I recommend those to everyone.

[MagusSmurf | 577]

The translation patch for Tales of Destiny 2 is currently in progress (100% of text is translated, 86% localized, 81% proofread) and should see a release this year or next. The PS2 Tales of Destiny remake has a complete translation patch. Tales of Rebirth has some kind of translation patch project going on as well but I'm under the impression it's not particularly close to finishing.

The consensus on the console games with 3D battle systems seems to be that the battles get better with each non-sequel game from Symphonia -> Abyss -> Vesperia -> Graces and then for the games from Graces onwards it kind of plateaus and comes down to personal preference but they generally stays above Vesperia level aside from possibly (probably?) Zestiria being a downgrade. So it might be difficult to go backwards on some of those. So Abyss next might be a good idea.

Abyss is polarizing but unlike with Legendia its overall reception is quite good and if you want "kind of like Symphonia" it's the obvious next game to go with, boasting very similar combat and production values to Symphonia. Just, uh. Well, there's like a non-insane 10% or something of its players that basically hates it for certain story reasons. Without giving spoilers, you'll...probably see why this might be the case pretty soon into it. I'd strongly recommend to not immediately bounce if this is the case for you and consider why the developers might have done that, but if you're totally unable to cope a few hours in then it might not be the game for you.

Symphonia: Dawn of the New World and Legendia have significant problems. Dawn of the New World has some funny skits but is...not really that good of a game. I guess ask yourself if you're okay just spending more time with the cast and setting of the first game even if the rest of it is pretty meh. Some people do like Legendia a lot and it does have some strong points but maybe don't go in expecting/needing a super-great game. Biggest but not only issue with Legendia is the battle system having issues so if you don't mind the possibility of the combat sucking sometimes I'd say try it at some point.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,521]

16 hours ago, Estil said:

So I guess there's actually a "Big Three" of JRPG series

Persona would like a word.  And MegaTen.  And Pokemon...

[Estil | 1,264]

1 hour ago, Reed Rothchild said:

Persona would like a word.  And MegaTen.  And Pokemon...

Pokemon's not really a JRPG, as such (you're not really leveling up a team of characters you're catching and leveling up Pokemon)...and who are those other series?

[Tulpa | 3,492]

9 minutes ago, Estil said:

Pokemon's not really a JRPG, as such (you're not really leveling up a team of characters you're catching and leveling up Pokemon)...and who are those other series?

Okay, now I'm going to let you have it.

You don't know Persona? The rock you live under must have a bigger rock on top of it.

[Brickman | 3,983]

12 minutes ago, Estil said:

Pokemon's not really a JRPG, as such (you're not really leveling up a team of characters you're catching and leveling up Pokemon)...and who are those other series?

Oh sweet summer child you have so far to go in your JRPG journey. Your whole view on JRPGs will forever be changed once you play SMT and Persona.

Also Pokémon is an JRPG. It’s Japanese and an RPG. You even just described it as such. You have a team and you level it up and follow a story where you’re role playing a Pokémon trainer.

[Estil | 1,264]

21 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

Okay, now I'm going to let you have it.

You don't know Persona? The rock you live under must have a bigger rock on top of it.

Well I guess I personally didn't know of Persona at least on a personal level!    But DQ/FF/TO were the first three...

[Estil | 1,264]

17 minutes ago, Brickman said:

Oh sweet summer child you have so far to go in your JRPG journey.

Ain't that the truth!  Look at all the Tales games I have left to experience!

[Tulpa | 3,492]

53 minutes ago, Estil said:

Well I guess I personally didn't know of Persona at least on a personal level!    But DQ/FF/TO were the first three...

No. Hydlide predates all of them, and between the first Final Fantasy and Tales of Phantasia there were at least nineteen that debuted, some of which are still going on. Ys, Phantasy Star, Dragon Ball RPG, Legend of Heroes, Fire Emblem, stop me anytime.

Persona is a spinoff of Megami Tensei, which predates Tales by eight years (and both Megami and Persona are still going.)

Edited April 9, 2022 by Tulpa

[Estil | 1,264]

On 4/8/2022 at 8:05 PM, Tulpa said:

No. Hydlide predates all of them, and between the first Final Fantasy and Tales of Phantasia there were at least nineteen that debuted, some of which are still going on. Ys, Phantasy Star, Dragon Ball RPG, Legend of Heroes, Fire Emblem, stop me anytime.

Persona is a spinoff of Megami Tensei, which predates Tales by eight years (and both Megami and Persona are still going.)

But Hydlide is that silly one that AVGN, Jeff Rovin, and even my wife clearly saw had an Indiana Jones theme and I know people complain about grinding in RPGs but this one, geez!  Then again, the overworld theme in Tales of Symphonia sounds way too much like Somewhere Over the Rainbow, that one part of the castle theme in Super Mario 64 sounds like "We-we-we wish you a Merry Christmas...", the start of Oath to Order in Majora's Mask sounds like "Oh-oh-oh say can you see..." and most interesting/weird/strange of all this resemblance (the first five seconds of each I mean and why THIS of all things??  How in the world do the first five seconds of these songs of all things match so closely???)

 

[Tulpa | 3,492]

16 hours ago, Estil said:

But Hydlide is that silly one that AVGN, Jeff Rovin, and even my wife clearly saw had an Indiana Jones theme and I know people complain about grinding in RPGs but this one, geez! 

Yeah, so? It's still a JRPG and had a whole series.

Even before Hydlide, there were some oneoffs like Dragon Slayer, Courageous Perseus, and Tower of Druaga.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Tulpa

[Estil | 1,264]

44 minutes ago, Tulpa said:

Yeah, so? It's still a JRPG and had a whole series.

Even before Hydlide, there were some oneoffs like Dragon Slayer, Courageous Perseus, and Tower of Druaga.

But it's not one of the major all-time great/legendary series like DQ/FF/TO (is that the right abbreviation for the Tales series?) is.  I did check out a bit of Persona on the original PS1 but I'd like to get caught up on the Tales stuff first.  Besides Symphonia which ones on the PS3 are truly the very best from that series and thus I should do next?  Or would doing it by release date suffice?  I didn't leave out any PS3/PS4 Tales games that I don't yet own did I?

[Tulpa | 3,492]

1 hour ago, Estil said:

But it's not one of the major all-time great/legendary series like DQ/FF/TO (is that the right abbreviation for the Tales series?) is.

But that's not what you said before. You said DQ/FF/Tales were the first three, and they're not. Not even close.

Even if we restricted to the "greats", Ys, Phantasy Star, Fire Emblem, and Megami Tensei/Persona are also among the "greats." Along with some others. It certainly isn't limited to three series. Tales is comparatively recent compared to some of the other long running series.

And I would argue just about every series you're into and the others listed owe a lot to Hydlide and the other early JRPGs.

It's cool that you're into these games, but you really need to look at the genre at a whole before making a pronouncement.

Edited April 12, 2022 by Tulpa

[Brickman | 3,983]

1 hour ago, Estil said:

But it's not one of the major all-time great/legendary series like DQ/FF/TO

Don't fall into the trap that some people do when they start their JRPG journey. Popular doesn't always equal all time greats. FF has some average games and really relies on a lot of their older games to keep their legacy alive. DQ is pretty solid all the way through imo and Tales has it's ups and downs (from what I've played).

I'd actually recommend you try a few different series instead of making your way through one whole series of something. It will give you a more rounded appreciation of the genre.

[Estil | 1,264]

33 minutes ago, Brickman said:

Don't fall into the trap that some people do when they start their JRPG journey. Popular doesn't always equal all time greats.  

Or more accurately, they're not for everyone.  FF2 (the REAL one, NOT the mislabeled (and watered down ) US version of FF4) and to a lesser extent FF8 come to mind.  Those are definitely NOT for beginners!  FF2 wouldn't be nearly as bad though if it weren't for your VERY limited inventory space.  But figuring out and making sense out of all that weird junctioning stuff in FF8 was REALLY confusing and I couldn't understand why boss battles were taking literally a half hour and I KNEW that's not the way it's supposed to go.  It made me feel really stupid as a gamer because I figured most everyone else who played the game upon its release probably had no trouble adjusting to all that.  So far a few of the JRPGs that really stood out for me was DQ5/DQ11 (why else do you think my only platinums so far are in both DQ11 versions?), Tales of Phantasia/Eternia and FF9.  So knowing that which PS3 Tales games will I probably enjoy the most?

As for trying a few different series I have done the Lunar Silver Stars on PS1 (disc 2 on the first game won't work on my PSIO for some reason; maybe the upcoming firmware update will fix it) and the first Grandia (Sue is probably my second favorite cute chick in JRPGs (Meredy in Tales of Eternia is first) with her catchphrase "Pretty easy, right Puffy?  Mmm hmm!!" and her adorable cheerleading routine!) on PS1.  I also did some of Star Ocean on SNES and I got ready on standby the PS4 version...you know, for the trophies  

Anyway you look at it, I got a lot of catching up to do because of my stupid pre-2013 turn based combat phobia   But I did go on record over and over and over as saying I appreciate games that give you your money's worth, right?

Edited April 12, 2022 by Estil

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

27 minutes ago, Brickman said:

Don't fall into the trap that some people do when they start their JRPG journey. Popular doesn't always equal all time greats. FF has some average games and really relies on a lot of their older games to keep their legacy alive. DQ is pretty solid all the way through imo and Tales has it's ups and downs (from what I've played).

I'd actually recommend you try a few different series instead of making your way through one whole series of something. It will give you a more rounded appreciation of the genre.

I would also advise against going for broke on a specific series. I like to finish one and let it breathe before moving on to the next. And then I usually go for a different series or game since stories in a series, especially Tales, are all presented very similarly. You risk burnout doing this.

@EstilSince you reference the PS3 and 4 and you also seem to really enjoy Tales of, may I suggest Star Ocean: The Second Story for PS1(since you have BC). If you are specifically looking for a Tales of game I recommend Zestiria, though they mostly do away with the "kawaii" stereotype with that one. But that's part of why I personally really like it. 

 

[Estil | 1,264]

8 minutes ago, Kguillemette said:

I would also advise against going for broke on a specific series. I like to finish one and let it breathe before moving on to the next. And then I usually go for a different series or game since stories in a series, especially Tales, are all presented very similarly. You risk burnout doing this.

@EstilSince you reference the PS3 and 4 and you also seem to really enjoy Tales of, may I suggest Star Ocean: The Second Story for PS1(since you have BC). If you are specifically looking for a Tales of game I recommend Zestiria, though they mostly do away with the "kawaii" stereotype with that one. But that's part of why I personally really like it. 

I'm leaning towards Xillia next as like Symphonia it too comes as a pair (I mean their wouldn't be a second one unless the first one was real swell right?) but Graces F does have that lavender chick that reminds me of Meredy's appearance (well one of their main colors anyway) and if she too has cute catch phrases/quirks well...

And what the heck do you mean by me having "BC"?  If you mean backwards compatablity on PS3 I have a PSIO equipped PS1 I do my PS1 games on.  At least this way I don't have to spend a frickin' fortune on getting the actual game (the disc/case/manual kind I mean).

Edited April 12, 2022 by Estil

[Kguillemette | 1,544]

9 minutes ago, Estil said:

I'm leaning towards Xillia next as like Symphonia it too comes as a pair (I mean their wouldn't be a second one unless the first one was real swell right?) but Graces F does have that lavender chick that reminds me of Meredy's appearance (well one of their main colors anyway) and if she too has cute catch phrases/quirks well...

And what the heck do you mean by me having "BC"?  If you mean backwards compatablity on PS3 I have a PSIO equipped PS1 I do my PS1 games on.  At least this way I don't have to spend a frickin' fortune on getting the actual game (the disc/case/manual kind I mean).

Yes, Backwards compatibility. Can't say I blame you about the disk prices these days!

You may well enjoy Xillia. I personally found it to be very boring and cliched. The big draw is that the main character is a sword wielding goddess that wears lingerie. I found that distasteful, but maybe it wouldn't bother you so much?

[Estil | 1,264]

6 hours ago, Kguillemette said:

Yes, Backwards compatibility. Can't say I blame you about the disk prices these days!

You may well enjoy Xillia. I personally found it to be very boring and cliched. The big draw is that the main character is a sword wielding goddess that wears lingerie. I found that distasteful, but maybe it wouldn't bother you so much?

Not at all; though I prefer cute and/or Disney Princess (like DQ11's Serena or DQ5's Nera/Flora) kind of chicks best

[Estil | 1,264]

On 4/8/2022 at 7:01 PM, Tulpa said:

Okay, now I'm going to let you have it.

You don't know Persona? The rock you live under must have a bigger rock on top of it.

So the first (and the others?) Persona has a casino feature?  It is always always ALWAYS a MAJOR plus for a JRPG to have a good casino feature similar to that in the Dragon Quest series...you know where with enough tokens you can get super nice gear that possibly could be quite overpowered for that point in the game if you do so as soon as you reach the casino?

For the record my favorite casino game by far is Duces Wild video poker (and Texas Hold 'Em if the game offers it, like Final Fantasy 13-2 does) though I don't know if any JRPG casino offers Duces Wild...usually it's just regular Jacks or Better.

I hadn't been to a for real casino in at least ten years and the last time I went I'm pretty sure their video poker machine didn't have a full pay table and it didn't even have a progressive jackpot!  So yeah maybe it's for the best I should just forget about the real casinos and just stick with the in-game ones.  Kinda silly though that the ESRB now has a "simulated gambling" qualifier though.

[Estil | 1,264]

Well at long last I did make it to the casino part in Symphonia...and it looks like it is indeed best that you use Regal (makes sense seeing as how he is the owner!!)...I started out with just 50 chips and already turned them into 5500!  Still a ways to go to get the million trophy...thing is though you only need about a fourth that many chips to get the two top prizes.

Any of the other Tales games have a casino feature (apparently Abyss has one; interestingly with a lottery type game...but it's on PS2, so no trophies )?  Apparently the Persona game @Tulpa mentioned has one and features video poker!    That (Duces Wild in particular) is my favorite casino game by far.  Texas Hold 'Em is pretty good too in say, FF13-2 but I wouldn't stand a chance playing it for real.  

Edited April 22, 2022 by Estil

[Estil | 1,264]

So I thought I'd give Abyss a try and may I make a small request if they ever give the game a remake (on Playstation so it has trophies of course)?  Please include Raine (from Symphonia) as a DLC "guest" character of some sort...so she can give Luke the head smacks and spankings he really really needs!!!  I mean I get he had a very sheltered upbringing and we were all that age once upon a time but dude, seriously...    

And I don't think this is really spoiling anything seeing as how this is before you even reach the first boss but I just cannot get over how kawaii  those Cheagles are!!  Especially when they put that Sorcerer's ring on that one around his waist and it looks like a little life preserver it is so...so...cute!   And the way he sometimes shouts "fire!" when shooting fire like he's a little Planeteer or something...I don't suppose you get Earth, Wind, Water, Heart powers later on, and when those powers are combined do you summon Captain Cheagle?

Edited April 25, 2022 by Estil

[Estil | 1,264]

So I'm now at the part in Abyss where you go inside a mine (I hope that doesn't spoil too much) and seriously, Guy is afraid of chicks? :,(  I mean I can understand being afraid of specific kinds of women like those angry second wave feminist types or those Joan "Mommie Dearest" types *shudders* but he's even afraid of attractive ones like Jade or cute ones like Natalia and Punky Brewster eh, I mean Anise?  That's okay, when I play I let Guy and Jade sit on the bench eating donuts (as whats-her-name from MegaMan Home Page would put it! ) while Luke and his "Angels" have all the fun!  

I still wish Luke would quit being so mean to Mieu...he has no idea how lucky he is to have an adorable sidekick like that!

[Estil | 1,264]

Well I just finished the main story part of Tales of Xilla!  I'll probably start on Tales of Graces F while I'm waiting for Xilla 2 to arrive.