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Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry
Is there some sort of strategy to Odin in the PSX version of Phantasia? He keeps spamming that stupid spear thrust that knocks you down, preventing me from getting any moves in. Even better that he'll sneak in an Indigination or God's Breath to knock off half my health or more.

I can't think of any way it is possible to kill him outside of gaining 20-30 levels (currently at level 50).

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My Crab is Fight
Mar 13, 2007
New trailers for Tales of Hearts and RM2 from TGS.


Click here for the full 500x1688 image.


A pic of all the cutins from RM2 so far that someone inexplicably managed to grab.

My Crab is Fight fucked around with this message at 12:17 on Oct 12, 2008

Nate RFB
Jan 17, 2005

Clapping Larry
Tales of Phantasia on the PlayStation was fun and now I've beaten two Tales games :unsmith:


Click here for the full 640x480 image.


You're next, Abyss.

Ice Blue
Mar 20, 2002

Sorry, I get paid to shoot paintballs, honey, not the breeze.
Anyone know where I can get the Tales of the Abyss soundtrack? The anime opening has made me really like the music again.

My Crab is Fight
Mar 13, 2007
The ToI translation is progressing smoothly, with an update just posted. The release of the patch is probably gonna be early 2009 according to the man himself.

http://zettaizero.wordpress.com/2008/10/25/an-update/

Stow
Feb 14, 2004

BurningCourage posted:

New trailers for Tales of Hearts and RM2 from TGS.


Click here for the full 500x1688 image.


A pic of all the cutins from RM2 so far that someone inexplicably managed to grab.

For a really long time I thought that the compilation games could never put in the more unique characters like Annie. I hope they don't screw it up or make her worthless in the process, she was really rewarding to play coop with in Rebirth. I have no idea how they'll eventually work Judith in after seeing what she's capable of in Vesperia.

They better be hiding Jade in there somewhere.

My Crab is Fight
Mar 13, 2007

Stow posted:

They better be hiding Jade in there somewhere.

That Jade motherfucker gets everywhere.


Click here for the full 1242x1842 image.


He's in Tales of Hearts too, along with Judas and Lloyd.


Click here for the full 1039x1522 image.

DiminishedAngel
Jul 21, 2007

This Is My Story, Bitches
I would really appreciate it if they would release a Tales game for the PS3 already.

Heath
Apr 30, 2008

🍂🎃🏞️💦
I just booted up Tales of the Abyss for the first time a few days ago. I had to grind a bit to beat Sword Dancer but somehow I ended up winning with only Luke standing. When can I expect to fight him again?

Stow
Feb 14, 2004
About another 20 hours in, he's at a search point if I remember right.

BurningCourage posted:

That Jade motherfucker gets everywhere.


Click here for the full 1242x1842 image.


He's in Tales of Hearts too, along with Judas and Lloyd.


Click here for the full 1039x1522 image.


Wait, what the gently caress? I thought Hearts was going to be a full standalone game in the series. A bunch of playable cameos make me think otherwise.

Stow fucked around with this message at 12:03 on Nov 8, 2008

SpazmasterX
Jul 13, 2006

Wrong about everything XIV related
~fartz~
Vesperia is the first Tales game I ever played and it's officially one of my most favorite RPGs now. I'll definitely be taking a look at any future Tales games if they keep the battle system as good as Vesperia's.

Also, Yuri is one of the best JRPG protagonists ever.

My Crab is Fight
Mar 13, 2007

Stow posted:

Wait, what the gently caress? I thought Hearts was going to be a full standalone game in the series. A bunch of playable cameos make me think otherwise.

They may not be playable. I think the scan mentions something about them being a form of support attack. Perhaps they come in, do their thing and then disappear, kind of like assists in fighting games.

Xythar
Dec 22, 2004

echoes of a contemporary nation

SpazmasterX posted:

Vesperia is the first Tales game I ever played and it's officially one of my most favorite RPGs now. I'll definitely be taking a look at any future Tales games if they keep the battle system as good as Vesperia's.

Also, Yuri is one of the best JRPG protagonists ever.

Tales of the Abyss is practically the same game so you should probably check it out sometime.

Heath
Apr 30, 2008

🍂🎃🏞️💦
Abyss question:

Are Luke and Natalia supposed to be biological cousins? :?:

Samurai Sanders
Nov 4, 2003

Pillbug

Heath posted:

Abyss question:

Are Luke and Natalia supposed to be biological cousins? :?:
They're both royals in a small country, I assumed that meant they were so inbred they were like, double cousins or something.

Skychrono
May 11, 2007

I'll make you cry like I did when my daddy died!

BurningCourage posted:

That Jade motherfucker gets everywhere.


Click here for the full 1242x1842 image.


He's in Tales of Hearts too, along with Judas and Lloyd.


Click here for the full 1039x1522 image.


Does that say TOH2? Or is it referring to TOH 2D vs TOH CG?

My Crab is Fight
Mar 13, 2007
The file is called TOH2 because I had to resize it since the original was too big for Waffleimages :shobon:

CORN NOG
Sep 25, 2003

eh, better than wadded beef i guess?

I think what he's referring to is the section header about 2/3 down the page.

That picture posted:

[TOH]2 (moon language)

Cross
Mar 30, 2003

This was their new emblem.

Xythar posted:

Tales of the Abyss is practically the same game so you should probably check it out sometime.

I'd be careful about putting it that way, Abyss is a great game but you might be building it up a bit too much, especially if somebody's just played Vesperia.

I played about halfway through Abyss when it came out, and thought it was the best thing ever at the time, but for some reason it kind of fell to the wayside and I never got back to it. I restarted last month and played through it, and honestly I really didn't enjoy myself all that much after playing Vesperia. I probably would have had more fun if I didn't have it in my head that it was just going to be Vesperia with worse graphics. The only parts of Abyss that I would say aren't a big step down from Vesperia are the overarching plot, and the cast of villains.
Of course, this sounds like I'm just trying to dissuade people from playing Tales of the Abyss at all, and I'm really not. Just, play Abyss first if you plan on playing both games, and if you already played Vesperia, try to go in with lower expectations so you come out impressed, rather than the other way around.

DontDateRobots! posted:

I think what he's referring to is the section header about 2/3 down the page.
I'm pretty sure that's just saying that they have two big 'scoops' :v:

My Crab is Fight
Mar 13, 2007
^^Ah I see, then in that case I would say it's referring to how there's both an anime and CG version of that character.

miharu
Nov 28, 2004

Hm... yeah. I'm just gonna draw a penis.

Cross posted:

I'd be careful about putting it that way, Abyss is a great game but you might be building it up a bit too much, especially if somebody's just played Vesperia.

I played about halfway through Abyss when it came out, and thought it was the best thing ever at the time, but for some reason it kind of fell to the wayside and I never got back to it. I restarted last month and played through it, and honestly I really didn't enjoy myself all that much after playing Vesperia. I probably would have had more fun if I didn't have it in my head that it was just going to be Vesperia with worse graphics. The only parts of Abyss that I would say aren't a big step down from Vesperia are the overarching plot, and the cast of villains.
Of course, this sounds like I'm just trying to dissuade people from playing Tales of the Abyss at all, and I'm really not. Just, play Abyss first if you plan on playing both games, and if you already played Vesperia, try to go in with lower expectations so you come out impressed, rather than the other way around.

This. I tried Abyss after Vesperia, and Luke KILLED the game for me. I've heard he changes halfway through or something, but I quit after four hours. I couldn't put up with that after Yuri. :(

Namnesor
Jun 29, 2005

Dante's allowance - $100

miharu posted:

This. I tried Abyss after Vesperia, and Luke KILLED the game for me. I've heard he changes halfway through or something, but I quit after four hours. I couldn't put up with that after Yuri. :(

He really is frustratingly stupid early on, but about one-third into the game, he grows into his main character role very nicely.

deadwing
Mar 5, 2007

So, I loved Tales of Symphonia. I've started Tales of the Abyss a year or so ago, but it didn't grip me. Now, Vesperia is out. I don't really have enough time for two huge JRPGs, my backlog is already huge enough. Which one should I dedicate my time to? Keep in mind that I'd probably start Abyss again from the beginning, it's been so long that I forget all the characters anyway.

Cross
Mar 30, 2003

This was their new emblem.

miharu posted:

This. I tried Abyss after Vesperia, and Luke KILLED the game for me. I've heard he changes halfway through or something, but I quit after four hours. I couldn't put up with that after Yuri. :(

Well, he does go through a pretty radical change. The first time I played the game, I thought it was pretty brilliant, and I remembered post-change Luke being a solid, cool character. After Yuri, though, who is actually a solid, cool character, it just seems like Luke flips from one tired cliche to a different tired cliche.

Really, it's still better characterization than you get from most JRPGs, but I think it still really pales in comparison to Vesperia.

Samurai Sanders
Nov 4, 2003

Pillbug

DontDateRobots! posted:

I think what he's referring to is the section header about 2/3 down the page.
Oh, it just says "Two big scoops for ToH!" I guess they mean that new girl, and the fact that other Tales characters make cameos.

And I think I've said it before, but those 3D rendered character look laaaaame next to the drawn ones. I'll be interested to see how the sale of the two versions compare to each other.

ultrachrist
Sep 27, 2008
I played Tales of Symphonia a while ago and greatly enjoyed it. I recently bought Vesperia off of a co-worker for $20 since he was planning to trade it into gamestop. I wanted to play through Abyss first and I found it and have played for it several hours. Luke being a whiny douche doesn't bother me too much since the game acknowledges it, "Looks like Luke's done whining, let's move on", which suggests he'll change and it wasn't just the devs unknowingly making an irritating character.

I've been playing on hard and just fought the 3 boss fight at the top of the castle and it ended up 1v1 with Luke vs. the little girl and was pretty epic. I think the NPC told me there was something else to find in the castle but with Luke at 1hp and all my party dead, I had to choose "take the caravan".

Xythar
Dec 22, 2004

echoes of a contemporary nation

Cross posted:

I'd be careful about putting it that way, Abyss is a great game but you might be building it up a bit too much, especially if somebody's just played Vesperia.

I played about halfway through Abyss when it came out, and thought it was the best thing ever at the time, but for some reason it kind of fell to the wayside and I never got back to it. I restarted last month and played through it, and honestly I really didn't enjoy myself all that much after playing Vesperia. I probably would have had more fun if I didn't have it in my head that it was just going to be Vesperia with worse graphics. The only parts of Abyss that I would say aren't a big step down from Vesperia are the overarching plot, and the cast of villains.
Of course, this sounds like I'm just trying to dissuade people from playing Tales of the Abyss at all, and I'm really not. Just, play Abyss first if you plan on playing both games, and if you already played Vesperia, try to go in with lower expectations so you come out impressed, rather than the other way around.

I'm pretty sure that's just saying that they have two big 'scoops' :v:

I honestly can't think of how the gameplay is so much worse other than that Vesperia has a better overlimit system. To me they really are very similar games.

Early-game Luke is annoying yeah but I think Abyss probably has overall the better storyline.

Edward IV
Jan 15, 2006

ultrachrist posted:

I've been playing on hard and just fought the 3 boss fight at the top of the castle and it ended up 1v1 with Luke vs. the little girl and was pretty epic. I think the NPC told me there was something else to find in the castle but with Luke at 1hp and all my party dead, I had to choose "take the caravan".

I think the only other thing you can get out of the castle is to fight another boss as a part of a series of other bosses to give Luke a really good weapon. You still could have walked in your condition since there's a healing circle right after you leave the roof. Though the boss is a lot more powerful than Arietta so it wouldn't have been worth it unless you were at Level 20. You can still go back to fight it when you return to Malkuth territory before you go to Akzeriuth. By then, you should be strong enough.

WingsOfSteel
Nov 13, 2007

Even Dr. Octopus can learn something from the Internet!

Xythar posted:

I honestly can't think of how the gameplay is so much worse other than that Vesperia has a better overlimit system. To me they really are very similar games.

Honestly, the biggest problem I have going back to Abyss is the loading times.

I'm just used to better. v:shobon:v



I actually liked bitchy Luke a little bit, because he had a pretty good in-game reason to be that way, and he does get better.

Namnesor
Jun 29, 2005

Dante's allowance - $100

WingsOfSteel posted:

I actually liked bitchy Luke a little bit, because he had a pretty good in-game reason to be that way, and he does get better.

For a character to be genuinely hateable, then to transform into the best second only to Jade, that's quite an accomplishment.

Cross
Mar 30, 2003

This was their new emblem.

Xythar posted:

I honestly can't think of how the gameplay is so much worse other than that Vesperia has a better overlimit system. To me they really are very similar games.

It's a lot of little things, mostly, but they add up. The biggest and most obvious change is that you can't pan the camera back nearly as far, and the battlefields are much smaller, so combat always feels a lot more cramped. Fatal Strikes are another huge difference, although they make the biggest difference on multiple playthroughs once you work your way up to doing challenge runs, like Unknown without 10x Exp or carrying over equipment.
Apart from that, free-running is kind of broken in general because enemies don't have the AI to deal with it and very few of them have wide attack arcs. You can't attack out of a free-run, which means that you can't get enemies back up after knocking them down (pretty important for racking up combos or keeping stun-lock). FOF changes were kind of a neat idea, but you had way more control and flexibility over Altered/Burst Artes in Vesperia. The equipment-based skill system was also a lot better than Capacity Cores, I thought, but that's maybe not so directly related to the combat.

Character balance/variety is probably bigger than any of the general changes to the combat, though.
There's basically no reason to ever use Luke except when you have to, because Guy plays almost identically and completely outclasses him because he's so much faster (and really isn't signifigantly weaker to compensate). In Vesperia, Yuri and Repede play very differently and neither one really steals the other's thunder, not to mention Judith being a third, completely unique option for playing melee.
Natalia and Tear both heal in basically the same way (ie: Spells) so they work more or less identically in that regard, except Natalia is a bit worse at it. Whereas in Vesperia, Raven and Estelle are both viable as your main healer, but they bring completely different advantages and disadvantages to the table.
Karol and Anise are about equal I guess; Anise is a bit better as a fighter, but having spells is kind of worthless on her, and Karol having Support Artes makes him useful as a supplementary healer when you need it. Rita and Jade are pretty close, although I'd have to give the edge to Rita because thanks to Fatal Strikes and some of her Skills, even her low-tier spells stay perfectly useful throughout the entire game (on the other hand, Jade doesn't break the game the second he goes into Overlimit, so there's a plus for Abyss).

Like I said, it's a lot of little things, so it sounds nitpicky listing them off one by one, but all together it just sort of makes Abyss feel like the barebones proof-of-concept demo that got turned into a fleshed out game when they made Vesperia.

Xythar
Dec 22, 2004

echoes of a contemporary nation
I guess I wouldn't know, I just used Luke, Tear, Jade and Guy all game :shobon:

Ice Blue
Mar 20, 2002

Sorry, I get paid to shoot paintballs, honey, not the breeze.

Cross posted:

It's a lot of little things, mostly, but they add up. The biggest and most obvious change is that you can't pan the camera back nearly as far, and the battlefields are much smaller, so combat always feels a lot more cramped. Fatal Strikes are another huge difference, although they make the biggest difference on multiple playthroughs once you work your way up to doing challenge runs, like Unknown without 10x Exp or carrying over equipment.
Apart from that, free-running is kind of broken in general because enemies don't have the AI to deal with it and very few of them have wide attack arcs. You can't attack out of a free-run, which means that you can't get enemies back up after knocking them down (pretty important for racking up combos or keeping stun-lock). FOF changes were kind of a neat idea, but you had way more control and flexibility over Altered/Burst Artes in Vesperia. The equipment-based skill system was also a lot better than Capacity Cores, I thought, but that's maybe not so directly related to the combat.

Character balance/variety is probably bigger than any of the general changes to the combat, though.
There's basically no reason to ever use Luke except when you have to, because Guy plays almost identically and completely outclasses him because he's so much faster (and really isn't signifigantly weaker to compensate). In Vesperia, Yuri and Repede play very differently and neither one really steals the other's thunder, not to mention Judith being a third, completely unique option for playing melee.
Natalia and Tear both heal in basically the same way (ie: Spells) so they work more or less identically in that regard, except Natalia is a bit worse at it. Whereas in Vesperia, Raven and Estelle are both viable as your main healer, but they bring completely different advantages and disadvantages to the table.
Karol and Anise are about equal I guess; Anise is a bit better as a fighter, but having spells is kind of worthless on her, and Karol having Support Artes makes him useful as a supplementary healer when you need it. Rita and Jade are pretty close, although I'd have to give the edge to Rita because thanks to Fatal Strikes and some of her Skills, even her low-tier spells stay perfectly useful throughout the entire game (on the other hand, Jade doesn't break the game the second he goes into Overlimit, so there's a plus for Abyss).

Like I said, it's a lot of little things, so it sounds nitpicky listing them off one by one, but all together it just sort of makes Abyss feel like the barebones proof-of-concept demo that got turned into a fleshed out game when they made Vesperia.
What do you mean by breaking the game in overlimit? Is she that ridiculously powerful? Also, I kinda like Luke's style a bit more for some reason. I don't know why. I usually use both him and Guy in the party so it's not really a disadvantage for me to use him.

Cross
Mar 30, 2003

This was their new emblem.

Ice Blue posted:

What do you mean by breaking the game in overlimit? Is she that ridiculously powerful?

Basically, yeah, she is that powerful. If you haven't played Vesperia yet, spells don't have a cast time in Overlimit (the incantation is literally shortened to "blah blah blah"), and the four-stage Overlimit gauge means that she can keep a level 1 Overlimit going indefinitely. Rita is already one of the better mages in the Tales series even without Overlimit, so add that in and the game gets pretty lopsided.

SpazmasterX
Jul 13, 2006

Wrong about everything XIV related
~fartz~
^^^Actually the insta-phrase is dependent on the spell. For example, she says "blah blah blah" for Tidal Wave, but she'll shout "Meow!" for Gold Cat. :v:

Ice Blue posted:

What do you mean by breaking the game in overlimit? Is she that ridiculously powerful? Also, I kinda like Luke's style a bit more for some reason. I don't know why. I usually use both him and Guy in the party so it's not really a disadvantage for me to use him.

Rita's L3 Overlimit means free insta-cast spells. Couple this with your 3 AI partners doing nothing but taunting, and using the right skills, you can have infinite Overlimit and chain cast anything into oblivion in one combo.

It's also how you Grade farm.

EDIT: sort of beaten, but not.

SpazmasterX fucked around with this message at 12:22 on Nov 10, 2008

CORN NOG
Sep 25, 2003

eh, better than wadded beef i guess?

SpazmasterX posted:

Rita's L1 Overlimit in the endgame means almost-free insta-cast full screen multi-hit complete and utter destruction of anything that moves.

Fixed.

I used the accessory that makes all artes cost 1TP. That, the right skills, and assigning all the huge fuckoff spells to the right stick made me basically unstoppable. I could never stand to play as a mage in any other Tales game, but Rita is ridiculous.

In the unlikely event that you can't get back up to a level 1 OL by the time everything dies, you can just chug a Limit Bottle. They are sold in the casino, so about half an hour of double-up spamming in poker gives you basically an unlimited amount of bottles (plus more money than you know what to do with)

There's something beautiful about spamming so many full-screen and AoE spells so fast that the game's otherwise flawless framerate slows to a crawl. I haven't had so much fun just utterly breaking a game since Suikoden V :hellyeah:

Ice Blue
Mar 20, 2002

Sorry, I get paid to shoot paintballs, honey, not the breeze.

Cross posted:

Basically, yeah, she is that powerful. If you haven't played Vesperia yet, spells don't have a cast time in Overlimit (the incantation is literally shortened to "blah blah blah"), and the four-stage Overlimit gauge means that she can keep a level 1 Overlimit going indefinitely. Rita is already one of the better mages in the Tales series even without Overlimit, so add that in and the game gets pretty lopsided.
I've only played the demo so far. Is the OL bar shared by all the characters? I remember in Abyss it was per character. Also can only one character at a time go into Overlimit?

Xythar
Dec 22, 2004

echoes of a contemporary nation

Ice Blue posted:

I've only played the demo so far. Is the OL bar shared by all the characters? I remember in Abyss it was per character. Also can only one character at a time go into Overlimit?

Yes to the first, and no to the second.

Ice Blue
Mar 20, 2002

Sorry, I get paid to shoot paintballs, honey, not the breeze.
Wow. Seems like OL is much more important in ToV than it was in ToA.

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Xythar
Dec 22, 2004

echoes of a contemporary nation

Ice Blue posted:

Wow. Seems like OL is much more important in ToV than it was in ToA.

Considering that it lets you spam your artes with zero charge/cooldown time (and thus, link anything to anything), use burst artes and mystic artes, and gives you unlimited TP at level 3 and invincibility at level 4 - yes, it definitely is. Overlimit basically breaks the game with Rita.

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