Tales Series

Phantasia, Destiny 2, NDX and...!

...Actually, that's it. I'm out. These guys sure fight a lot!

Either way thought just wanted to say Hubert's got a point.

Plus if my older brother treated me like shit when I was a kid and I grew up to be a far stronger lieutenant I'd personally enjoy booting the fucker out.

Granted, that's a pretty bad reason for kicking anyone out and reflects quite poorly on the kicker as well.

Well no one in Graces betrays the party, unless you consider Richard being possessed and being all "FRIENDS HURRAAGGGHHHH!". I don't though. The Graces character page claims that Malik was a traitor, but I honestly can't think of any moment where he does outside of that moment where he's under orders to fight you and has no choice but to and I've played all of Graces and the Future Arc.

Also, Xillia 2 progress time. I'm right before Chapter 9 and I've done all of the character episodes. Does naming the Xilia 2 party members that weren't playbale in Xillia 1 count as a spoiler?

edited 17th Sep '14 5:20:43 PM by DamascaRamza

Well TVT is all about misinterpretations and shit so...

Well that's just nice, PSN wouldn't let me add anything to my cart today so now I can't buy anything (awesome, tih).

Anyway, anything interesting I should know about Symphonia? Starting it tomorrow if the damn online network decides to function correctly.

edited 17th Sep '14 6:06:34 PM by Niitris

Shame about PS Store acting retarded.

Anyway PS 3 Symphonia is actually the PS 2 version now in English with brilliant lil extras and all that good shit.

Drive by post here, but after listening to a bunch of the mothership titles' soundtracks I feel that Sakuraba should definitely do more jazzy stuff like he did in the two Xillia games, They were a pleasant surprise after Graces's middling OST, and made them feel less samey than some of his other work.

And this was a super-catchy battle theme.

I find that the opposite of catchy, in that I completely forget what it sounds like the moment it stops playing, with no desire to hear it again. I don't hate it exactly, but it's pure forgettable from beginning to end.

Actually the only Tales music I can remember standing out at all is the town theme for Dahngrest in Vesperia. It's not really a series I associate with music at all.

The Xillias had such forgettable music. Xillia 2's first battle theme is quite possibly the most boring one in the series. Destiny 2 has my favourite regular battle theme, Dona Nobis Pacem, but Hearts has by far the best OST. Richea's Lullaby and the Spir Maze tracks really give it that fairy tale feeling.

So, there were a few gameplay videos from TGS. Alicia's Mystic Arte is Light Blast! And she even uses Eugene's lines. Nice throwback.

edited 18th Sep '14 2:13:40 AM by lu127

Milla's side has nice battle themes, though. Dat violin.

And I have Hearts-related questions:

• Did the game even addressed who are Shing's and Hearts siblings' dads? It's weird to know who their mothers are but not the fathers. I'm betting they're either killed off or ran away because their wives were too scary.
• In R, how to get Hisui's joke weapon?

Also, should we create separate pages for Tales of the World subseries, since they're pretty different from each other?

edited 18th Sep '14 3:47:45 AM by IrueruPunch

• As far as I remember, no. But they weren't around when the mothers were pregnant, so wow, that was a quick runaway. Some folks on the Japanese side on the fanbase think Shing's father might be Tecta, but my opinion is that there's zero evidence on it.
• Cat Island. It's right behind Bahmel Volcano. Get in, go out, watch a skit, talk to the woman there, put the cat ear attachment on Hisui (have him as your on-screen character), make Richea happy and you get the Kitty Twins.

What a great, responsible father they are

Shing's father being Tecta, I could see it, though. Tecta even gives him his Soma (the walking rod thingy, is it?) in one sidequest.

Thanks. I only missed the "put nekomimi on Hisui" part, so this should do.

Come on, guys, this is clearly the greatest piece of music ever written.

Using this game is probably cheating but Imma use it anyway.

Asterism already posted the best boss theme (srsly, The Trial is just amazing). But this is the best Sakuraba Tales track: Actually good dungeon music.

Btw, the boss tracks from Zestiria are likely Go Shiina's work. A lot of background chanting.

edited 18th Sep '14 10:10:55 AM by lu127

Does anyone know if it was intentional for Symphonia's music to sound so...I dunno, old-school? It's not bad by any means, but among other things, the sound quality didn't seem very good. It can't be because the original was on the Gamecube - that wasn't an issue with any of the other Gamecube games I've played. So was it a stylistic choice, or what?

I guess as a Phantasia throw back of some sort? I know the Summon Spirit boss battle music is from Phantasia and TOS is pretty much a prequel to TOP so...

Symphonia made me fall in love with Fatalize. I just can't take off Muzet's Sheena costume, since it plays Fatalize and makes everything 10 times better.

So I had some fun with Gaius today. Namely:

ETERNAL SWORD◊

Swordian and Master!◊

Oldschool hero bros!◊

First good Tales couple ever!◊

Gaius shall now forever be Cress.

Also, have another amazing theme from Hearts:

edited 18th Sep '14 2:28:27 PM by lu127

Man why do all the good costumes have to be pre-order only (Rutee-Sophie, Cless-jude)

Well except Dhaos-Milla which is a good thing because otherwise I'd be miffed as fuck.

Finally got through an hour of To S and I'm liking it so far, I can see why most people start off with this game. Helps that it gets straight to the action rather than needing about an hour or two first (like I heard most RP Gs do).

Can't quite explain how I feel about the characters and stuff, I'm not used to playing games for story lore and whatnot. All I can say is that there are very few characters I tend to dislike (usually unlikable jerks with no legitimate redeeming factors unless they're villains which would kinda be the point). Like everyone I've seen so far.

I totally failed on the first attempt at the temple (because not stocking up on items and missing save points is a great idea), past it now though. Getting a bit used to it all now even though it still kinda feels foreign to me.

I think most games in the Tales Series get to the action fairly quickly. Tales of the Abyss has a fairly brief opening sequence that introduces you to some of the characters and the setting as well as gives you a basic combat tutorial then it throws you straight into the first dungeon (Would you call those areas dungeons?). I can't recall the specifics of the Phantasia opening but I believe you were quickly thrown into the standard gameplay there as well.

Symphonia: Dawn of the New World had a pretty lengthy opening sequence that's compounded by the fact that a lot of people hate Emil in the beginning of the game but I didn't mind it. Tales of Innocence didn't really have a long opening sequence but it still annoyed me a bit for some reason.

Yeah, Phantasia gets you into the action in exactly 3 minutes. I'd say it's the fastest RPG to do that, from my experience.

Tales of Graces also lobs you into the lion's den when it start (Its not hard but it surprised me how brisk Graces was with getting to the point.)