Tales Series

Yeah, but none of those should be a problem to begin with. His Alvin form is slow, so you have double Snap Pivot with Milla and Jude, while taking down Rowen should be your first priority. When the trio shows up, you should only ever concern yourself with Elize, so when it goes down the other two are cakewalks. Of course, none of this makes Xillia's godawful damage formula any better, so your damage output will still suck, but you won't have to stop every other combo because red spike counterattack of DOOOM (those things hit harder than anything else he has), instead healing you if the other forms choose to attack. Your toughest foe in Xillia is the game's constantly dying FPS. Anything more than 6 people on-screen and the game implodes.

Welp, I'm done with the future (Nanaly! :D), after meeting Fortuna. Time to go save Reala, who ran off on me. Which makes the game a tad more frustrating, since Judas is not a powerful enough spellcaster to replace her.

Can't Nanaly act as backup spellcaster?

Nanaly...doesn't really work, since her TP is not very good, her Intelligence stat is the lowest after the two melee boys, and at this point in the game, she has only a couple mid-tier spells. At the same time, some BS mobs have started showing up where you have a couple of walls upfront and some spellcasters at the back. There's a complete asshole of an enemy at the Draconis called Focalor that likes standing in the back and throwing a random Embrace End at you which murders whoever is hit. That's why Nanaly is best kept to distract these guys with arrows.

Judas is the best secondary caster when Reala is not around. He has a relatively solid selection of spells, with Light and Dark being his best ones. His Negative Gate, Prism Flasher and Air Pressure are all very good, and his cast times are low. His TP recovery is at least satisfactory, though not Reala's levels of eternal TP.

So I'm back at the present where Elraine stole Woodrow's Lens (but he's alive, at least), Reala went to face her cause she feels like crap for calling Kyle a naive idiot, and we're running to the Grand Straylize temple to save her with our shiny ship. And after a really boring fight against Elraine, Reala's pendant finally shines at the sight of Kyle! He's her hero!

Charging into the Draconis to reclaim the Lens, but we're stopped by Gaap Elraine's boyfriend and he sends Glasyalabolas on us. I have only this to say: this guy might be the toughest Tales boss ever. Seriously, he takes forever to kill, has no weaknesses, his behaviour becomes erratic once he's below 30,000 points and he has a cheap Sniper Storm wave that he can randomly throw at the back of your casters. I was level 34, which is a bit low for Hard, but I pulled through. Reala only needed one water point to learn Embrace End. I now shudder at the thought of Magnadeus.

And then the Draconis explodes, sending us into an alternate reality where Elraine has messed with the timeline of at least 100 years past, Dycroft exists, people can't live without the Lens she provides and she basically rules the world. Ugh. Gotta say, I'm more than 20 hours in and still no Harold. Where's my final party member already!

edited 19th Jul '14 2:56:44 PM by lu127

Sylph is a bitch. Bitches. Whatever. I hate them.

Nanaly does NOT work? (?_?) I would swear she is the most competent in the party after Judas. I will just say that I started maining her around that time. A couple arrows > low level spell to deal with those distant casters. Of course, once you get Harold it's back to Kyle-Loni-Reala-crazy ass scientist. Late game there is no place for the hybrids. It's either a tank or pure mage.

For the confused, here is the Time Fugitives' timeline jumping checklist:

Present > (Bad) Future > Present > Corrupted Present > Distant Past (Aerther Wars) > Recent Past (end parts of the first Destiny!) > Ideal Present ( STAHN IS ALIVE! And you can cure Nanaly's brother!)

GAAP. GAAP. GAAP. GAAAAAAAAP! (and that's only on Destiny 2. Eternia has a very nasty Celsius. Symphonia has Early Sylphs (see ) and S2 has the Terrible Duo. Legendia has Stingle (Insta-death counterattack? CHEATER.) Abyss has... Sync, I guess. Vesperia has Gattuso and Mr. Brilliant Cataclism. Graces has Kurt and Ms. Killing Field. Innocence has Giantess Z. Hearts has Strigau. Yeah... merit where it is worth.)

Don't try Early Sylphs until you have Nurse. When you get there after Tethealla, Sheena and Zelos have earth weapons. Put the earth ring on Lloyd and go after Shield Sylph first if you don't have enough Wind resist on Raine. (I have to say here that Xillia Sylph is my favorite... and is hot for a tsundere semi-loli.)

edited 20th Jul '14 10:42:22 AM by FlightMaster

Anyone play Tales of VS?

What's with all the Ars Goetia names in D2?

Oh, she works, but not as a Reala substitute. Judas's spells are better for that. Also, her arrows have a limited range, so if you find something like 3 walls and a caster in the back, it's gonna be annoyingly difficult to catch them even with Frigid Glare.

Would be really frustrating, but he can be cheesed with Kyle attacking and then playing cat-and-mouse (that makes his SP drop) while your casters wail on him. Barbie, on the other hand...

Sylphs were BS, true, but nowhere near this frustrating. Gattuso and Alexei weren't that bad, especially since you can fight Alexei with Flynn the undying tank. Flynn <3. Kurt and Emeraude I never really saw the fuss about, especially Emeraude. Her evasion sucks. Glasya-labolas can go die though. Fucking Fearful Storm murders everyone if he decides to cast it.

I dunno man, every boss is a Goetia demon. And a random mook named Focalor.

Gattuso is a lot less vicious on repeated playthroughs of Vesperia (at least, 360 version), even on higher difficulties, since he's relatively easy to combo due to large size, no tech outs, and an automatic stun in the arena as a secret mission. The only issue is the pups and they fall fairly quickly due to lolDamageFormula. Alexei on the other hand is a son of a bitch on 360!Vesperia since you don't have Flynn with his absurd damage reduction skill and massive tanking power, so an unlucky Brilliant Cataclysm can total party kill (although it can be somewhat mitigated if playing with friends by having everyone separate, so that it will only really hit a couple of people).

I remember hating the pups. Fireballs on their stupid faces! For Gattuso, I just played it coy in front of the flowers and then wooosh, Blast Field~ That was kind of a fun move.

'kay, time for the distorted present. The world is now split into three cities named after colours (Azure Vangelo, Crimson Speranza, Gold Realta), everyone lives by receiving power from Lens and this is all Elraine's fault. She went back all the way to the Heaven-Earth wars to make Barbie a hero and establish Fortuna as the saviour. She certainly is backwards. Up, up we go on Dycroft and meet another Goetian! Dantalion and his archer minions. I was able to get the max 80 Grade out of this fight -proudface- even though he kicked my ass before I found the nice knockback strategy, which should make up for all the Grade I lost against mooks.

Elraine! The twist of the century is here. Judas is....Leeeeeeeeeeon Magnus. Nobody saw this coming of course. It is a complete shock. It makes every other Tales reveal pale in comparison. And then that bitch sends us into happy-happy dreamworlds from which only Reala can release us because she doesn't get any dreams. Oh hey, she actually said she loves Kyle. And she's actually using the strongest Japanese expression for love. That's a first, no other heroine I've seen has done that. Anyway, chibi!Kyle's dream has the reveal that Barbie killed Stahn (Dymlos goes away and this happens. Tsk, tsk.). Still dunno how Rutee was a-okay after that, but hey at least Loni apologises for hiding it. Then it's Nana's dream, where her brother is alive but Loni makes her snap out of it, at which point I shall start making marvelous shipping fantasies. *_*

Heeeeeey, Leon only gets a nightmare instead of a good dream! Seems like he doesn't believe he deserves to be happy. But we totes forgive him for everything cause he's broken and I wouldn't leave my best boy behind. And our renewed gang now travels to th age of the Heaven wars to set the past to right! Only to meet miss crazy scientist Harold! Oh my gosh, Harold is insane.

Waaaaaaait, so the game introduces my final character at the last stretch, and after everyone has had their establishing character developement moment? That is...a strange choice, to say the least. Hmm, is that Dymlos? Oh my gosh, Harold's totally trolling him. And Igtenos! Chaltier! Ritora! Karell—-he and Harold are twins? How strange. So we gotta save Atwight and Clemente...waitwaitwait, those are the two most broken Swordians along with Chaltier! How in the world did they get captured! I call plot hax.

Trivia time: Harold is a Klonoa fan. You can find red Moo plushies and a Moo portrait in her room. I bet she invented video games too.

edited 21st Jul '14 2:02:23 PM by lu127

I've never played either of those games...but I feel that I would hate everything that has to do with Leon since hes a edgy, angsty "cool" guy. Just reading it makes me wretch.

edited 22nd Jul '14 12:21:32 AM by SkormSnow-Strider

You have my sympathies

But he's not angsty. ;_; He's a huge tsundere in the first game, and a mentor figure in the second. Shockingly, his real name is Emilio Katret and not Gilchrist. Wonder why both kids have their mum's names.

Invading Dycroft to save Atwight and Clemente! My god, Harold is a crazy cook. And a very good hacker. Shit, Barbie just tried to murder Dymlos, only for Atwight to tell him off! Oh man, can't believe this guy is into Atwight. We Can Rule Together...and then he kidnaps her to tick off Dymlos. But he can't go save her because he can't risk the army just for Atwight. Oh dear, this sets off Kyle.

Harold sends us to save Atwight (oh Dymlos, I can't believe we're saving your girlfriend), only for us to get caught into Barbie's trap. But then, Harold and Dymlos show up and beat him with the power of Harold's new Swordian! Oh Harold. She told Dymlos they'd be doing a test for a new weapon, only to bring him to save Atwight. Who proceeds to slap him because he irresponsibly left the army only to save her. And then they have a lovey-dovey scene. Tsk, tsk, tsundere swords. Harold's strangely perceptive.

Note to self: I hate the past era's world map. I keep getting lost. At least the fights don't take long, since I have Ancient Nova blasting everything.

I posted this theory before (and I think it got shot down) but with Lu playing Destiny 2, and the talk of Leon, I got to thinking about the remake so here it is:

Spoilers if you haven't beaten Tales Of Destiny 2, or don't know the plot:

the Tales Of Destiny remake is Leon's chance at a Peggy Sue.

At the end of Destiny 2, time is put back on it's proper course, so Stahn never died, and Leon was not revived. However, Reala decided to give him a chance to fix his previous mistakes. While she can't let him change what happened, she can let him change the course of events, hence his being less of a dick in the remake, and doing a Heroic Sacrifice instead of dying a traitorous dick. She left him enough vauge memories so that he could die in a better way than the first time, even if he still died.

And that's my two cents.

So I was playing around with Akinator (that 20 questions genie thing), and I was going for Ion.

At some point it asks me "Does your character die young?"

TOO SOON.

@ Lu: Well... seems you and I have differing opinions on what makes a boss hard. But bosses who invoque My Rules Are Not Your Rules would be one. Also, the "Get Back Here!" Boss and MK Walker that can only be beaten by breaking their AI.

Ritora? Don't you mean Raiker? (Dub Name Change. But still. 'Garr' and 'Karyl' also came out of nowhere.)

You answered yourself. Atwight and Clemente, the humans, are a female and an old man. The most likely to get captured. The Swordians (the weapons) which have those broken arte lists still had not been invented.

• Dymlos: We can't risk the entire army to save one person. Stay here!
• Lloyd: How are we going to save the world if we can't save the people in front of us?
• Kyle: Who is this guy...? Anyway, he is totally right!
• Atwight: DYMLOS! You let kids come rescue me instead of doing it yourself! But you still came in the end. I love you.
• Me: And that's the good kind of Tsundere, kids.

@ Rob: Yep, it got shot down. Lu still has not reached the end, so spoilers:

Elraine took Leon out of the time stream seconds before he died, trying to gain a new peon as she did with Barbatos. But he rejected. Lacking an useable identity, he put on the Skull Mask and tried to redeem himself by helping Kyle agaisnt Elraine (Judas is Kyle's pet name for him.) When the game ends, all timeline changes by Elraine and her pawns where nulled, so Stahn never died and Leon went back to that cave. Reala? She spent her ENTIRE pendant (it's made of Lens, they are used by Fortuna's prophets to perform 'miracles'.) to avoid being erased when Kyle and co defeated Fortuna. It is the only sensible explanation as to why everything but her was nulled and everyone forgot about their adventure but she remembered.

@ Sapphire: Lots of spoilers, gal! Original Ion, Fon Master Ion (replica) and Sync (failed replica) ALL died young. (And Sync died twice!) Florian, the last Ion replica, is still there at least...

Any good fics? I just finished Legendia's chapter and started Abyss' on my fic challenge. I want to have Abyss done before Xillia 2 releases, to publish what I have to celebrate... my PS 3 owner friend came up with this while playing Xillia:

• Jude and Milla = Ordinary guy + Magical Girlfriend. So what if Sophie had looked 18-20 when she first met Asbel? (And continued to look 18-20 when the Adult Arc arrives?)
• The Gold Magic Knight is a being fueled by battle and violence. What if it was a monster who fed on love? (Some kind of succubus queen? The Devil Beasts would be minions.)
• Wishful thinking: what if instead of a Wonder Chef we got a Wonder Tailor? To manage costumes and attachments and NPC skins and... *fangasm*

edited 23rd Jul '14 2:54:29 AM by FlightMaster

Zesty news: As it turns out, the whole "Sorey" BS has nothing to do with the localization. It's Namco of Japan's romanization.◊ So, his name was never supposed to be Slay, but Sorey.

Dengeki also has romanizations for the rest of their names, and as usual, they're hilarious. Sorey's best friend is Mikleo, fire lady who has a marriage contract with Sorey is Lailah, shirtless crazy wind guy who's voiced by Seto Kaiba is Zaveid, and our princess is...Arisha. DAT engrish. Parasol girl and wind guy with a hat are still Edna and Dezel, thankfully.

It's Ritora~ in katakana. Which is rerally weird, cause apparently that's what the Japanese say when they mean "Littler". Kinda dumb.

But they purposefully sent the old man and the medic for the negotiations so they wouldn't seem threatening! Talk about the plan backfiring. Dymlos, ya sillypants.

There is one, sort of...Vesperia and NDX have the Oshare Guild (Fashion Guild), which consists of a tailor lady making stuff for you. In Vesperia, she combines single attachments into attachment sets (you can have Judith wear her Krityan protector ears along with hairpins! Looks gorgeous), while in NDX she combines costumes you have high levels in to give you extra ones like Alchemist. The process is called Zmash (oh Japan).

Back to headquarters, Dymlos is to be punished for his reckless by being put in charge of the vanguard that will storm Dycroft. Even though he already intended to do that. And he complains that it's not really a punishment. Oh Dymlos, ya silly, lopholes are where it's at. We run to Harold's lab, where we witness the first use of the Swordians! Harold just invented magic. Why she herself could already use it without a Swordian, I don't know, but I best it has to do with science. Before the final battle, Kyle is conflicted because th assult on Dycroft will end with Karell's death, but Judas says they can't change history. Harold agrees, even though she doesn't know her brother will die.

And as we try to shut down Belcrant, we are greeted by....Barbatos! You bastard. He reveals to Harold her brother's impending death and says his new enemy is Kyle, cause he's pissed after getting his ass kicked so many times. And so we fight!

Oh man.

This is so gonna suck. He resists every element and is still aggressive as ever. And has an almost unbreakabble guard. I'm switching my best boy out, he's too frail. Nanaly is where it's at. Excuse me, I now have to go get my ass horribly kicked.

Trivia time!

• Karell says his Swordian, Berselius, does not actually contain his own essence, like the rest of the Swordians contain their masters'. It contains Harold's personality! So, if that asshole Miktran hadn't transferred his soul into Berselius as he died, Hugo would have a Swordian with Harold's personality! ...I want to see that. Namco, I demand a What If? scenario based on this.
• If the name written on her journal is to be believed, Harold's name is actually Jennifer Berselius.

edited 23rd Jul '14 11:43:09 AM by lu127

Lailah's a name. It's an alternative spelling of Layla; they're pronounced more or less the same.

Barbatos:

Defenses: evasion: off the chart.
Attack: guard breaking.
Resistances: Every element halved.
Total number of losses: over 9,000~.

I seriously got my ass kicked until I found a nice exploit. Prism Flasher, Ancient Nova and Execution are the best thing ever. They push the sucker back so he won't enter corner rape mode (it is very difficult to push him back so he won't murder you). Also, my new armour saved me. I synthesized an armour that caused paralysis upon a succesful guard, so when Barbie hit me, he got paralyzed. Even so, the guy is harrowing and Hard was just overkill. He might just be even more difficult than Glasyalabolas. Enemy AI in this game is just unforgiving.

One humiliating defeat later, I bring Zesty news:

These shots show Sorey's field commands (known as Map Actions) that will prolly serve as platforming/puzzles.

• Sword Swing: Sorey's map action. It allows him to cut down spider webs and ivy to clear the way.
• Silver Flame: Available after Lailah joins. Sorey can use it during dungeons.
• Phantom Mist: Available after Mikleo joins. It creates a barrier that hides Sorey from enemy sight. Sorey's movement speed drops when using it, but since enemies can't see you, you can use the terrain to your advantage.
• Arm of the Chief: Available after Edna joins. Allows Sorey to smash rocks that block his path.
• Instant Shift: Available after Dezel joins. When activated, it allows Sorey to teleport straight in front of him. We'll be using it to cross cliffs.

I just got started on playing Tales of VS today and hey I actually kinda like using Kyle even if his health is pitifully low.

Sort of relatively newish poster, found this thread, love the tales games. I have played Xillia, Graces F, Making my way through Symphonia and have pre ordered Xillia 2. Thought I may ask what are your guys thoughts on Xillia 2, compared to Xillia?

edited 25th Jul '14 12:17:39 PM by RadiantMoonlight

Loots of people consider it better.

Would make sense it being better, given that they probably improved stuff and added more characters, so looking forward to using Gaius.

Is the boss system still the same where enemies break out of comboing, that was one of the few things I disliked about Xillia.

It also wasn't rushed out for an aniversary like the first one.

Xillia 2's systems aren't as incredibly stupid as Xillia's.

Boss mechanics are improved. There's a combo system that makes use of weaknesses. Basically, you start a combo with an element the enemy is weak to, and you can keep it going as long as you chain different elements. Bosses won't break out of this, but if you don't use it, they will counter you.

Other improvements include the Link AI not being mentally awful (you can customize them to do stuff while linked instead of standing around dazed), generic link attacks so you can chain any arte into one, much better mystic artes that can be chained from linked artes instead of just arcanes, non-idiotic damage formula and actually completed movesets so no one is gimped (Leia finally has air to ground artes!)

Not improvements include:

• A crapton of stuff is recycled. Locations, ports, items, NPC models and the worst: boss monsters. You will have a serious deja-vu with the Gigantos, since many of them have copy-pasted Xillia's code.
• There are no new linked artes between the original Xillia party members. They do have new linked artes with the new party members (Gaius, Muzet, Ludger) but there's a lot of recycling here too.
• You can no longer switch party mebers during combat. Ludger is stuck to the first slot for the entire first playthrough, and party composition can only be changed in towns.

edited 25th Jul '14 1:06:45 PM by lu127