Tales Of Series appreciation thread.

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Tales Of Series appreciation thread.

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

I love Tales games, though some much more than others. Also, I must be the only one who loved Legendia, and especially Norma. She must have had a terrible VA in English to make people who played that version hate her.

I hope to God that Tales of Hearts is good, because the two outsourced DS Tales game were aaargh. The first was downright terrible, and the second showed moments of brilliance but at the same time had some horrible design decisions that somehow made me hate it more.

edit: the Tales of Symphonia sequel was a disappointment for me. There are only two real main characters, and both of them are annoying as hell. Also, the combat controls are bizarrely unresponsive compared to every other Tales game, which I have no explanation for.

Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 01:09 on Aug 21, 2008

# ¿ Aug 21, 2008 01:04

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 22:08

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

I have to say that while I love Tales games, I almost never like their stories, they are either inane or complete nonsense (like other JRPG stories, but even more so). I think of them as only a framework for silly character interactions to be built on.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2008 02:05

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

It's really a shame that Tales of Destiny 2 never came out in the US, because it has the best character in a Tales game yet, Harold.

Scholar, engineer, mad scientist, and on the absolute HEIGHT of fashion.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2008 19:07

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Skychrono posted:

I hope that answers your question.

Ha aha ha!

I just checked my version of Word (2007), it reports "ragnarok" as being misspelled, but doesn't offer any spelling suggestions.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2008 20:38

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Lots of Tales games have racial discrimination at the heart of their stories, but being written by Japanese people in a country that is 99.999% Japanese, who pretty much only know about racial discrimination from movies and such, they hardly ever handle it well.

# ¿ Aug 21, 2008 22:04

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Calaveron posted:

Has anyone played ToS2? Is it any good? From what I've seen of videos, it seems ok, but the game limits you so much in the character department, it sounds kind of sucky.

Yes, and I did not like it. It clearly didn't have anywhere near the production resources of a full blown Tales game. I did enjoy it more than that PSP Tales game though, but that's not saying much.

# ¿ Sep 6, 2008 09:05

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

DontDateRobots! posted:

How far into it would you say you got? And how was the story? (does it tie in with Symphonia's clusterfuck of plot twists, or is it more of a stand-alone thing set in the same world? Or is it a little of both?)

edit: Looking at the wikipedia pages, I notice each game is given a "characteristic genre name," which seems to just be a pile of utterly nonsensical engrish. Does anyone have any idea what that stuff is supposed to be, or is it just another case of japanese people being weird and japanese?

example: apparently, "Tales of Legendia's characteristic genre name is Bonds Are Beginning to Spin Legends RPG." The more you know

About fifteen hours in, the standard length I give RPGs before I decided to continue them or not. The story was that Lloyd is apparently running around destroying villages in the old Teseria, including the main characters' villages, and no one knows or will say why. At the time I quit, that mystery had gone on waaay too long, with every original Tales character I ran into being frustratingly tight-lipped about it, and I got pissed off. But also, and this is much less forgiveable, the controls during combat were way less responsive than any previous game for some reason. I can't explain it, but there was always this massive-seeming delay between when I pushed the attack button and the time an attack came out. I thought it was some kind of hardware problem at first, but I switched wiimotes and it was the same...

Yeah, most Tales games have a weird extra thing in its genre listing. My translation of them would be (from their official pages):

Phantasia: the legendary RPG
Destiny: the RPG named destiny
Destiny 2: the RPG of escaping from destiny
Eternia: the RPG of eternity and bonds (of friendship)
Symphina: the RPG of resonating with you
Symphonia 2: the RPG of the trusting heart that resonates with you
Rebirth: The RPG of your rebirth
Legendia: oddly, the official page just lists it as "RPG"...
The Abyss: none listed
The Tempest: Spirit awakening RPG
Innocence: The RPG of connecting feelings
Hearts: The RPG of meeting hearts

Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 19:06 on Sep 6, 2008

# ¿ Sep 6, 2008 18:50

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Skychrono posted:

New "Tales of Hearts" CG vs Anime pics up.

http://kotaku.com/5050395/anime-cutscenes-vs-cg-cutsences-+-fight

The first picture of big-hat-girl, in CG, makes her look more like Kefka than a little girl. Hmm.

I'm very interested to see which version of the game sells better. I personally don't understand why anyone would pick 3D CG characters like those if there is a 2D hand-drawn alternative.

edit: the comment on the blog Kotaku linked to said "I can't look at the CG and not see a group of cosplayers". Now that he's said that, I can't either...

# ¿ Sep 16, 2008 17:38

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

You know what's awesome? Zellos's lightsaber. Even when I got more powerful weapons than that, I just couldn't stop using it.

# ¿ Sep 18, 2008 07:31

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.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2008 08:24

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.

# ¿ Nov 9, 2008 20:04

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

I agree entirely with IGN's review of TOS2 (6.7), and as they alluded to, if this is anyone's first Tales game, it would definitely turn them off of the series, or at the very least give them the wrong impression of what Tales is all about.

edit: and it's especially too bad because it isn't written in stone that direct Tales sequels like this have to be bad; Tales of Destiny 2 was awesome.

# ¿ Nov 15, 2008 20:50

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Bandai Namco have revealed their secret weapon in the Tales of Hearts marketing campaign: mabo curry convenience store bentos! Nothing can stop the Tales juggernaut now.

# ¿ Nov 19, 2008 19:39

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

You beat ToS2 even though you hated it? Wow, I'm glad I don't have your dedication to the Tales series.

# ¿ Nov 28, 2008 23:22

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Syvalion posted:

Considering the next main Tales game is a Wii title, you're going to be wondering for a while.

Well, unless you count Tales of Hearts. I guess we will see if it properly carries the franchise though. It is the first portable game that the Tales regulars have developed directly.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2008 03:05

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Eddain posted:

They probably spent all their time working on Sheena and neglected everything else about the game.

Well then they should have made the game with just Shiina. I might have bought it anyway, she's my favorite Tales character. Her or Harold.

# ¿ Nov 29, 2008 07:11

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Blackbelt Bobman posted:

was Legendia any good? I haven't heard much about it.

I really liked it, but I played it with the Japanese voices, I heard the English voices were horrible and especially ruined Norma, who was my favorite character in the Japanese...

# ¿ Nov 30, 2008 09:27

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Skychrono posted:

And, this may be hypocritical, but the art in ToL looked EXACTLY like Samurai Champloo - especially the guy with the hammer and glasses.

Same character designer. And yeah, I wish famous Japanese character designers like Fujishima and Toriyama and such even OCCASIONALLY try to make a really different looking character. I guess that's not what the Japanese market demands though.

# ¿ Nov 30, 2008 19:51

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Heath posted:

I've noticed that Japanese game artwork seems to lean more toward consistency than originality.

I've heard the argument that Japan in general leans more towards consistency than originality. And I agree.

# ¿ Dec 6, 2008 20:43

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Tales of Hearts got a review in Famitsu, but I only know the score, 9/8/8/8. Not like it means much anyway, I doubt the reviews would even mention whether it was better than previous DS Tales games due to being made by Tales regulars, which is all I want to know. I have played all the previous portable Tales games but haven't liked any of them enough to finish them.

Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 10:32 on Dec 13, 2008

# ¿ Dec 13, 2008 10:29

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Uh, why isn't either version of the Tales of Destiny PS2 remake on that list? I bet they sold more than all of those combined.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2008 21:35

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Well, all I know is that ToD did well enough to warrant an updated version with lots of new content. And I think it has the best game mechanics in Tales so far. I haven't played Vesperia though.

But the main reason I suspect its sales numbers blow all those others away is that it's on the PS2, which I think there are more of in Japan than there are people and toy poodles combined.

# ¿ Dec 13, 2008 21:55

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Eddain posted:

It looks like Namco is going the Square-Enix route of pushing out remakes and side-games while working on their main titles.

Oh, they've been doing that for a long time, there are like four versions of Tales of Phantasia, and at least three Tales of the World games on the GBA, and then Tales of Fandom things, which must cost next to nothing to produce since they are just still graphics, voice acting, and text.

As long as it gives them the funds to put out an awesome full-blown Tales game every few years, I am happy.

# ¿ Dec 14, 2008 03:05

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

The next main line Tales game is on the Wii? Oh motherfucker. Every time I think of finally getting rid of my Wii, which I haven't even plugged in in months, I hear an announcement like this.

Also, please God let it have a classic controller option.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2008 09:14

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Revolver Bunker posted:

I'm actually more excited about the new game then ToS2. I played a little bit of it at the Penny Arcade Expo this year and wasn't very impressed with ToS2. And maybe someone can answer this for me. Is there gamecube controller support for ToS2? I think Vesperia may have spoiled me on Tales games.

NO. That's what makes me seriously worried about this new one. ToS2 had many flaws but for me, the weirdness of playing it with the wiimote/nunchuck setup was chief among them, especially when it is pointless except for a minimally implemented wiimote puzzle solving thing.

# ¿ Dec 15, 2008 09:55

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

I think a lot of fangirls voted in that poll, if it is like Namco's official polls. All the pretty boys end up at the top.

Harold didn't even make the top 50, that makes me so sad.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2008 08:18

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Natalia? She ruled, I had her as my controlled character for almost all of Abyss.

Glad to hear Hearts is good. How is the voice acting, in quantity and quality? Also, is the enemy variety good? Tales of Innocence sucked there, waaaaay too many palette swapped enemies.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2008 09:02

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Zo posted:

Not as bad as Symphonia 2, which I actually stopped playing for a while now, thank god. In battle, everybody is strong and I constantly change my party to have the right elements for whatever dungeon I'm in.

Never played ToI but there's a surprisingly huge amount of enemies here. If there are palette swaps I haven't noticed more than 5 or 6 out of several dozen enemy types, and I'm only a bit past halfway through (I'm guessing). Except on the field, there's only like 4 different sprites you bump into to initiate fights.

And yeah voice acting is top notch for a DS game. Only about 1/3 or 1/4 of skits are voiced though.

Thanks. One last question though; ToI had HORRRIBLE HORRIBLE DUNGEONS, which were mazes of identical looking rooms, with no automap system. Does ToH have this problem?

edit: what's with millions of people understanding hiragana, katakana, grammar, but no kanji? Weren't those all taught to you at roughly the same time?

# ¿ Dec 22, 2008 22:49

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Vyse_23 posted:

The class I just finished this quarter didn't even introduce katakana, much less kanji. The only reason I can read any katakana is from self-teaching. I haven't taught myself kanji yet, simply because of how many there are.

Well, take heart, only about 500 represent 80% of written Japanese, and 2000 are 95% or something. Once you get past about 200 kanji, learning the next kanji becomes cake.

Anyway, Tales of Hearts sounds good, I will have to partake of it someday. I really need to limit my gaming expenses though, and I'm already buying Gundam Musou 2 this month.

# ¿ Dec 22, 2008 23:54

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Xythar posted:

Well there's like 46 kana and about 5 million kanji, learning one takes a hell of a lot less effort than the other. I always have a hard time motivating myself to learn stuff that's just rote memorisation anyway.

Well but I'm telling you, after the first 200 you start seeing patterns and then it becomes not at all rote memorization.

# ¿ Dec 23, 2008 01:25

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

SpazmasterX posted:

Marginally

More than marginally, I'd say. He changes so much for the better that if you are beyond that point in the game you activate some skit that you were probably meant to see at the beginning of the game, Luke reverting to his old way is jarring.

# ¿ Jan 13, 2009 08:23

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Some guy in the PS3 thread said a PS3 version of Vesperia was announced, with new content. Woo!

Also, the fourth character poll is finished. The pretty boys continue to dominate...

# ¿ Jan 21, 2009 03:14

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

gently caress, it was apparently a fake, a fake magazine scan. gently caress.

# ¿ Jan 21, 2009 04:01

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Vyse_23 posted:

Well, it did cause Japan to sell out of their stock of 360s, but the most recent information I've heard is that Namco has discontinued it.

Oh, stores in Japan went out of stock on 360s a few different times while I was there. This was simply because each store had about two 360s each.

# ¿ Jan 22, 2009 21:13

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Calaveron posted:

SO4 does indeed look really awesome. Never played an SO game before, though. How do they play?

Not too dissimilarly to a million other action RPGs, really. When you get an enemy encounter, it goes into an arena and one character you control directly and two AI teammates button mash the enemies to death.

I love Star Ocean 3 almost as much as a Tales game. Compared to a Tales game it has better music, as good characters and story (which is to say highly dubious), but more pacing problems and other small annoyances.

Samurai Sanders fucked around with this message at 06:50 on Jan 23, 2009

# ¿ Jan 23, 2009 06:48

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

I REALLY like how they handled Jade being roughly the same level as everyone else, yet being so feared. They should do things like that more often.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2009 00:54

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Slio9 posted:

This seems as good a place as any to ask, I bought a PSP pretty much solely to play Tales of Eternia on, as I still hold that one as the best in the series, though I'm currently playing Vesperia right now, anyway. I was wondering what the deal was with Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology. It looks a bit off for a Tales game, and I was wondering if it's worth it to pick up.

I sure didn't enjoy it. It's basically only the combat gameplay of a Tales game, without the other things that make a Tales game good, like the comraderie between all the characters.

# ¿ Mar 18, 2009 20:14

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Skychrono posted:

Tales of Vesperia for PS3 announced with another playable character, as well as a bunch of other Tales games.

http://www.kombo.com/article.php?artid=12777

Uh...what's the April fool's readout on this announcement?

# ¿ Apr 1, 2009 21:39

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

Policenaut posted:

It also appears that they're announcing a Tales of Vesperia anime (or at least commenting about it) on the second scan. Do they even do April Fools in Japan?

It was surprisingly (to me) well-known over there, though I don't think anyone but magazines actually partakes in it.

# ¿ Apr 1, 2009 21:52

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# ¿ Apr 27, 2024 22:08

Samurai Sanders: Nov 4, 2003; Pillbug

I'd say under 30, and it's definitely way more jaggy than the GC version. I ended up giving up on it.

# ¿ Apr 2, 2009 20:46

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