Tales Series

True.

Also its funny that people used to liken Yuri to Batman (albeit a Batman that kills) since Troy Baker ended up voicing Batman in the Lego games and that one Telltale game.

that and I really don't see Yuri and Bats working together or at least the latter tolerating him (or Rose)

EDIT: Got the Zagi secret mission by keeping everyone in Defend mode and using Limit bottles til I was able to hit an Overlimit burst in the middle of his Cyclone Shot and get the duke. That was a bit annoying.

Edited by MightyKombat on Apr 15th 2019 at 3:30:27 PM

Finally picked up the Switch version of Vesperia. I played the vanilla 360 version once, but it was on a borrowed console, so I never had the chance to replay it or spend much time on optional stuff. I’ll take my time with it this time. Looking forward to seeing the new stuff, too.

Calling someone Batman due to brutal vigilantism (even though Batman doesn't kill most of the time if he's not being written by an Edgelord). Especially of they dress in darker colors that are pretty plain.

Darker Than Black got that with its protagonist Hei being called Chinese Electric Batman back then for the same reasons.

Yeah, when Batsy's written by halfway decent authors he has a staunch no kill rule. I'd not put it past him to frown heavily on Yuri's anti-Ragou/Cumore actions (even if they're such ridiculous moustache-twirling saturday morning cartoon villains that nobody would miss them.) Actually IIRC Bats worked with both The Punisher and Spawn once and he did not get on well with them at all (he tossed a batarang in Spawn's face when the latter asked for a handshake, yo, just 'cause Spawn killed a criminal)

Still, you'd think for a game that tried to put some moral ambiguity between Yuri's vigilante justice and Flynn's by-the-book methods that they'd make Ragou and Cumore, yanno, nuanced and not just Card Carrying Villains. Hell, even making just one of them sympathetic would be enough to add some ambiguity if Yuri either just caught the poor bastard in the crossfire or went too far in his "no mercy" mindset.

I think the idea was that murder is murder even if the villains were mustache twirling monsters like Ragou and Cumore, and that while no one would miss them. The nuance comes from Yuri accepting that was he did could be considered evil and a crime, and doing it anyway because he'd accept those consequences for doing what he thought was right. Doing evil to prevent a greater one. There's also some theming of jobs that need doing that people don't want to, and Yuri taking on that role, hence him choosing to be the Don's second when he kills himself after the events in Nordopolica.

I think the followthrough is supposed to be Phaeroh's desire to destroy Estelle, which Yuri rejects because while she can do harm, she isn't doing it purposefully and can control it, so it is unjust to kill her. Yuri, while he doesn't want to, considers killing her while she's under Alexei's control because she's now a danger without any way to stop herself, though Rita sciences up a solution to that one so it doesn't come to that.

Basically, I kinda read it as it being established that vigilante justice is evil, but less evil than some of the evil it can destroy. However, ultimately it's not a good long term solution and so establishing proper law is the optimal solution in the long term, hence why Flynn ending up as commandant and the formation of the alliance between the guilds and empire over the blastia is basically the major turning point for humanity as being redeemable and why Duke's justice is rejected.

Edited by Alfric on Apr 18th 2019 at 5:34:14 AM

I still think actually having to kill Estelle during her Brainwashed and Crazy moment would have been the best way to follow through on the idea that sticking to vigilante justice can really suck. Ragou and Cumore could have been the audience's primer to the idea, making it look really great because those two could easily escape the law. Killing the Don could have been played up as more ambiguous, then by the time Estelle's in line for death you get the point that it can really suck to have to carry out vigilante justice because everyone will hate you and you also might have to kill people you care about. Then instead of the shoehorned in environmental message we could have had to deal with the fallout of killing one of the two heirs to the throne. Or the game could have just ended there with Yuri as an outlaw forever but having done what needed to be done while Flynn sorrowfully has to pursue him. Or we could have had the environmental plot but with the added gravity of being pursued as enemies of both the knights (for killing Estelle out of necessity) and the guilds (for having killed the previous Don).

I also think the game really should have shown Flynn getting some success, because as written he can definitely come across as Lawful Stupid when the law is constantly shown as broken and corrupt.

Edited by PhiSat on Apr 22nd 2019 at 10:31:58 AM

I feel like part of Vesperia's problem is that it's a JRPG, so massages like "The law is the best way to fix things" are supposed to be taken at face value due to how Japanese culture works.

Of course, that falls flat when it's ported to countries like America which was literally founded when people thought the law at the time sucked balls.

I mean, in Vesperia the law at the time did suck balls, and it fixing things only really happens once Flynn takes charge and starts working with Ioder which is part of why it feels like he doesn't do anything since his role is technically background. He does show the power of organization that the law can bring whenever his squad pops in and saves the day, such as when he rams the Heracles or helps break up the war between the guilds and empire, but that doesn't really fall into justice so its hard to really say it fits that particular theme.

Maybe Flynn actually being playable in the post-360 versions helps this a bit?

He's only rarely in the party before the endgame

But at least he's properly in by then in the post-360 versions, yes?

Him being playable actually makes it like 3x worse, because instead of doing stuff offscreen that was arguably useful, he just follows Yuri around all the time like a useless puppy. Basically him joining has the narrative effect of making his philosophy look even more useless. It kinda gives you the impression that he can't do anything on his own.

Edited by Clarste on Apr 24th 2019 at 8:00:04 AM

I haven’t gotten that far yet, so I can’t comment on any differences there.

(Double post, but it’s been several days)

I just left Nordopolica on my Vesperia: Definitive Edition playthrough, and...OK, this is going backwards a bit, but Patty seems to end up in worse and worse situations every time I run into her. Assuming the trend continues, I’m not sure how they’re gonna top that last one.

I saw her wrapped up in a rug hanging from the ceiling on my file, its kinda adorable in a way. Is that supposed to be some sort of torture or capture or whatever?

I’m guessing capture?

Anyway, I was wrong. Running gag appears to be over. She just showed up again and there wasn’t anything weird going on.

Edited by SapphireBlue on Apr 26th 2019 at 12:14:28 PM

I ask because Linne seemed to have something similar in Under Night In Birth.

it was probably Patty being wacky tho.

i love that little imp

Depends on what you call 'weird'. Patty is one of those anime archetypes that are tougher than a cockcroach. And in gameplay, she is a mix of RM's Pirate / Mercenary class (gun and knife artes, like Alvin.) and Sorcerer (both white and black magic, think Reala or Harold.) so she is super adaptable and can fit any role pretty well. List of wackyness instances:

• Tries to enter Ragou's mansion through the front door. Is busted, so she escapes by Substitute Jutsu... Yuri is left with a life sized doll of her.
• Found trapped inside Ragou's mansion, hanging from a rope.
• Found being carried by a HUGE bug in the forest of Keiv Moc. Raven frees her with an arrow, she falls on Yuri's lap, gives him puppy eyes, Yuri is like 'not interested' and soundly drops her.
• Found inside a shark monster's innards. Says she was just 'playing' with it. Keeps traveling with the party until...
• The ghost ship. First time she is playable. Can't put her in Team A, says she won't leave Yuri out of her sight due to 'big breasted sirens' nearby.
• Leaves you in Nordopolica's harbour, but comes back halfway through the Weasand of Cados. She climbs out of a rocky pit like its nothing.
• Leaves again when you reach Mantaic. Heroes find her again in the desert dungeon, buried in the sands. Finally joins permanently. Whew!

Yes, she is one big ball of fun. Both in character and as a fighter. LOVE HER, PLEBS.

EDIT: On a less happy note, I finally got a call from the shop where I left the Vita for repairs. After a year and a half of not touching it... I discover it has the right stick busted! And after two weeks and 40 euros I will finally be able to PLAY it! GRRR!

We need an 'angry' emoticon.

Edited by FlightMaster on Apr 29th 2019 at 1:22:16 PM

So that's probably gonna take a while.

Also still no more news on crestoria or the new Mothership game. Or any potential Guest Fighter antics.

Didn't a page on here claim that fans were whining about Namco focusing on this series too much?

Okay, I calmed down. Vita repaired, 17 hours in P 4 G, just met Rise. (1) I have been playing with a guide to make up for the lost time -Hearts is waiting- and it changes a lot how you play. (2) It's not about difficulty, since battle gameplay is just Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors, its juggling your activities. Oh, and Very Easy makes you so overleveled and rich that it isn't fun. Don't do it, kids. (3) I do like that raising social links give you perks on the battle half of the game too, trend that apparently follows into P5. (4) I noticed that 'max all links' is only a silver trophy in P4 but a gold trophy in 5! But... is way easier to get in 5. (5) Lvl 10 Temperance means you can go to the Shadows' world AND hang out with social links later! That's like super broken...

Oh well... actual Tales Series related stuff here:

(1) It's funny how Adachi controlling traffic near Rise's grandma's shop is the closest Emil and Marta are gonna be ever again... even on a different franchise. So what do you think about Voice Actor cameos? You like characters referencing their past voice roles?

(2) The Score. Auldrant's way of having a 'player guide' for Real Life. Was it totally BAD? How could have the church improved its usage? I think fonstone readings should have been limited so that people only consult it for actual life-changing decisions. Anyway, it was flawed. Of course the Score shows good AND bad stuff, but if you can't change what is gonna happen even if you know it, what's the point in knowing?

(3) Difficulty levels. You think the Tales Series is well balanced? I say: higher challenges should give you higher reward (exp, gold, loot) to make up for it. Team Symphonia games are ridiculous on Unknown, but you can still recur to Training from Hell to get through. In Team Destiny games you get mostly Empty Levels so you MUST learn the gameplay gimmicks or die horribly. In conclusion: having game mechanics deactivated so that noobs dont need to LEARN the game: bad. But playing in higher diffs with the only change being you must grind for 10 hours insted of 1: bad again.

(4) Hearts have the best implementation of friendship values I have seen. They raise in a pretty organic manner, just by playing and being nice to characters, and unlock useful skills. I don't like that in Symphonia were hidden values and Xillia 2 were ultra hard to raise, practically forcing you to spam love potions. Should they return to this gimmick?

(5) Trophies. Do they influence your decision to buy certain games / systems? Do you think they should be tied to the system or to each game's save file? Finally, can you remember outrageus trophy requirements so bad their designers shoul rot in hell?

Ta-ta, until next time. (Yes, I do want new info on Crestoria or Whatervia.)

Edited by FlightMaster on May 4th 2019 at 3:44:17 PM

Everyone kept saying Xillia 2 got bullshit hard even on later playthroughs but other than Victor I barely had trouble with it.In fact on my new game plus I set the difficulty to the highest but because my party was stupid overlevelled I stomped everything that came my way so far.

Also in regards to VA jokes I don't think English Tales releases seem to do that much if at all. I'm still waiting for Milla to reference working in a general hospital for one.

So the series reached a milestone in sales. https://www.playstationlifestyle.net/2019/05/08/tales-of-series-sales-20-million/#/slide/1

The site is going to ask you to turn off your adblocker.

Then said site can kindly go fuck itself

And hey congrats to the Tales series, maybe now Namco will realize this series means something and give us the games it never Gabe us before

Also put Velvet in at least ONE big name fighting game you cowards

I would rather have a Tales Series Mascot Fighter.

The 3d LMBS is already a good foundation for a 1 VS 1 fighter. You can map your artes before the match a la Dissidia or they can be pre-mapped trees (think Graces but having FOUR trees like Berseria.) You can go the extra mile and have it be 4 player, but I would prefer the tag-in-tag-out system like Xillia / Berseria and have your party available at the click of a button.

Just my thoughts. You can turn the page now.

Edited by FlightMaster on May 13th 2019 at 1:08:42 PM