Tales Series

I thought Tales did a better job with sequels though than FF but they have about the same number of them.

Tales had the Destiny games, Xillia, the Zesty/Berseria world, and the Yggdrasil games(Phantasia,Symphonia ). That's four expanded continuities.

FF had IV, VII Compliation(though that was less actual sequels and more milking the Cash Cow to dehydration), X and X-2, and that damn Lighting trilogy. That's four too.

So they do about the same in regards of connecting games through story. But I will argue Tales did a better them of making the story grow organically, i.e. they didn't lengthened the story by adding in details that were invented wholeclothed. Like for example, the After Years created a villain that wasn't hinted at all in the original game to start the conflict of the plot. Without making this new villain, there would be no sequel to tell.

But Dot NW, while Centurions were never mentioned in the other games, they do help transition the world to how it was in Phantasia, compared to Symphonia, explaining why the world doesn't rely so heavily on mana anymore in Phantasia. That's organic grwoth of the story. Plus, most of the conflict came from the fact, Lloyd fused two worlds with their own culture and geography together. The idea that everyone would be hunky-dory after that is illogical. It's a deconstruction of the happy ending. Because nothing works out that well. The world's geography and functioning is drastically changed, like the new tree having trouble supporting it, and the two cultures don't exactly get along. Now if the plot focused on that more and less Emil's man-crush on Richter, it could have been a lot more interesting.

Another good example of organic growth is Berseria, expanding details from Zesty as well as backstory of characters, like Zavied and Eizen.

I think X-2 was somewhat organic, as part of the plot was due to the fact that Spira's main religion got debunked. That would result in massive culture changes.

Overall, on Tales side, I already stated what I thought was organic. What was inorgainic was Destiny 2, though an interesting plot, almost everything plot was invented for the game, like Elraine and Barbatos. Though, it still sounds like a good plot. Xillia 2, I also found inorganic and a bad story. The only thing expanded upon is the Kresnik clan, but that's through the Origin's Trial thing, which made the game overly dark. Seriously, it's the Bokurano of Tales. That is one heck of a contrast from the first game.

On FF side, the only thing organic was X-2 and maybe some of the VII games. But many games of those were added to milk VII's popularity, not actually expand the story. A good example of this would be Genesis. Damn these Sephiroth clones, both in-story and meta-wise. And the trilogy? I don't think any of us wanted that story to continue past game one.

So I think Tales actually do a better job of making the story grow, and making good stories too. I can only think of melodrama when I think FF. Stop trying to be deep FF, you just come off emo-ish.

edited 24th Mar '17 4:37:22 PM by RedRob

I still find it hard to think melodrama and FF in the same breath when Final Fantasy V is a game.

Now that I calmed myself down, I admit that's a bit of an exaggeration. I blame the later games(stupid Lighting Trilogy), and the graphics, which makes almost everyone look like they're from a boy band, which is pretty much melodrama in human form. As anime as Tales get, at least the character designs are varied.

That and the relative lack of humor. Tales have a decent balance of drama and humor. FF, I can't think of much humorous stuff.

edited 24th Mar '17 4:23:44 PM by RedRob

That's because FF Games were made to be complete stories so their writers tend to go out of their way to tie up loose ends in the final parts of the game. But with a lot of Tales Games they leave a lot of plot threads hanging so it therefore leaves itself open to sequels. With FFVII it could have sequels and prequels because it unlike most other FF Games had a lot of open plot threads, because the creators kept throwing ideas that they didn't have time to expound on. Thus it could have a lot of sequels and prequels. Final Fantasy X due to the nature of the game also was purposefully given loose threads. Many FF Games actually do lack melodrama. They have actual drama, but not melodrama. Even the Lightning Trilogy was short in the melodrama department, and even then it really just came from Snow. As for humorous stuff, there's a lot of humor in FF Games even the later ones, they're just not as loud or exaggerated like it is in Tales Games. The humor is in the characters' conversations with one another.

Tales is actually way more animeiish than FF Games are and makes more of a use of exaggerated character ticks, designs, and tropes.

Tales Games tend to do sequels and prequels decently because they have a tendency to not really wrap up all of their plot threads so the games having sequels and prequels isn't out of the oridinary. Although Bers/Zest is different because they intended it from the very start (both games were worked on simultaneously- Although I think that Bamco is more likely to wait for a certain group of fans to move on before continuing with the story). Then there's Yggdrasil series that again because of the fist entry was so open they actually probably decided not to wrap everything up in one game.

edited 24th Mar '17 4:32:13 PM by TheTropeEater

In honour of Mother's Day today...Rutee Katrea.

Also Raine.

And Celica Crowe.

On to other news, the final episode of the X isn't going to air until April 29th. According to rumors, this is another one of utofable's schedule fuck-ups, or some stupid attempt to announce a remake of Zestiria for the Switch. Either way, I'm too busy watching Ex-Aid to care.

Also maybe Cheria, since she's sort of Sophie's mother.

I am not sure how I would feel about a Zesteria remake, but lets assume it is that: What changes would you want?

The obvious would be having Alisha playable all the time and getting rid of that fucking stupid active team limit. No more "exactly 2 humans and 2 seraphim or fuck you" bullshit.

Alisha being playable all the time doesn't make sense, and The X showed clearly just how little her story connects to Soreys especially if you remove what does connect it.

Unless it's a Gameplay and Story Segregation then sure that's a good idea.

Sergei would be preferable anyways and he's just an awesome ordinary guy

edited 26th Mar '17 10:31:28 AM by OmegaRadiance

Well, fix the camera for one. Though the remake thing is unlikely. More a joke going around on the subreddit, but it's stupid enough to fit in with the rest of the S2. Besides, who know what Bamco will do.

So I went over in my head what games got a remake. This is not going to count stuff that was just ported, like Abyss. So Phantasia is not counted, unless there was some updated content or something in the various ports.

First, is Destiny, then it's not until Vesperia we get a remake, though not sure it's really a remake, more updated content.(According to wikipedia, it's a port.) Then Graces f, which is also called a port, with updated content, though the added f make me more inclined to see it as a remake. Then we got the Rs, which are undisputedly remakes.

So let's examine why these games got this treatment. Destiny was one of the first and introduced the traitor archetype into the series. So just fan favoritism.

'Same thing for Vesperia, though the fact that Xbox is not well-liked in Japan also suggest it was to get better sales by porting it to PS. I suspect that was also the reason for Graces. Though this game lacked the fan favoritism.

And I'm not sure what lead them to remaking Hearts and Innocence. Only thing I deduced was that they're both DS games, though I'm not sure that has anything to do with it, other than being easier to remake on the grounds more improvements could be made.

So far, I don't see any reason for there to be a remake of Zesty, but same could be said for the R games.

Vesperia and Graces are not remakes. In any way. They run on the exact same engine. Adding extra content doesn't suddenly make it a remake. They are upgraded ports. In the same way Eternia PSP, Destiny 2 PSP, Symphonia PS 3, Rebirth PSP, and Abyss 3DS are ports of the games' original versions.

Destiny PS 2 is a true remake of the PS 1 game. Destiny Director's Cut is an updated port of Destiny PS 2. Tales of Hearts R and Tales of Innocence R are remakes as well.

Also wrong about Phantasia. It has both remakes and ports. Original S Famicom Phantasia was remade in 1998 for the PS 1. Full Voice Edition Phantasia is a port of that for the PSP with full voice acting added. Phantasia X is somewhere between a port and a remake. The battle system engine is 100% changed, as well as the sprites and UI, but the rest of the game is roughly the same. However, it also comes bundled with NDX, which is a remake of of a GBA turn-based game.

I'm kinda hoping that Zestiria doesn't get ported to the Switch.

Like I said, I want nothing to do that all that shit, and I'd hate for the first Tales Series game for a Nintendo system since the Japanese version of Graces to be a game like Zestiria.

Just leave it in it's hole. I'm hoping they make a new game or port something better. I'd settle for the PS 3 version of Vesperia really to be honest. Old game, but that version is something people have wanted for a while now...I think.

On another topic, on Tales of Link today...I rolled me an Eizen! :3

Then you rolled good.

Heldalf is lucky Eizen dragon'ed himself out of the plot.

People think it will be the theorized sequel to Zesty and Berseria on the Switch. Some even think we might have Velvet and Sorey playable at the same time in it.

Also I learned what became of Rokurou after Berseria. Died in combat fighting Hellions.

Considering him and Zaveid killed the previous Lord of Calamity he is indeed very lucky.

edited 26th Mar '17 11:42:53 AM by OmegaRadiance

Awwwwwww, that's a bummer.

I think it would be better to put a third game in that series on the same system it started.

I'd rather the Switch start fresh to be honest rather than picking up someone else's slack.

@Lu I do know that, I included them since I view updated content halfway between port and actual remake, and thus was a bit confused on what to view them as, but I figured might as well count them. Even if they're ports, they still can offer clues on how Bamco decides what games to upgrade and why.

Wasn't sure what the exact deal was with Phantasia, just knew it had various ports and I wasn't really interested into finding out all the differences. But thanks for the clarification.

Though, can anyone offer some insight into why the R games were made? I don't think the originals were really popular, unlike Destiny or Vesperia. And I don't think my theory for Graces' upgrade work for them as f was released a year after the original. The Rs were released 5 years after the originals. More than long to stop caring about the originals' sales.

On the Eizen v Heldalf topic, I imagine their curses would somehow combine effects to make things turn out worse than normally for Eizen.

edited 26th Mar '17 12:04:21 PM by RedRob

I guess I can finally do that one Berseria event now I have a single Berseria hero. Time to go to work.

So this happened in the X today. https://i.imgur.com/ohtoj2J.

I can't help but laugh.

So he went All Your Powers Combined then huh?

Well I guess it technically is better than the forced drama of the seraphs having to pull a Heroic Sacrifice via Siegfried only to have them survive anyway.

GO PLANET!

Also my second TOB roll got me Rokurou. Jeez he keeps following Eizen everywjhere

• Rokurou: C'mon man it'll be fun!
• Eizen: No.
• Rokurou: But you'll like the outfit!
• Eizen: I AM NOT GONNA BE JIN KISARAGI IN YOUR STUPID STAGE PLAY.