Lurker > Axl_Rose_85

KamikazePotato posted...

JRPG final dungeons are typically not very good in general.

Yeah, Persona 5 Royal would like to have a word with that.

I have Hearts R as well but haven't given it a shot yet. I think I lost the desire to play a Tales game after playing Zestiria and only played Berseria because I heard good things about it.

Symphonia > Vesperia > Berseria > Abyss > Phantasia > Xillia > Graces f > Destiny > Eternia > Legendia

All the Tales games I've beat so far. Couldn't stomach Symphonia 2 and Xillia 2. Didn't even bother with Zestiria after how boring the start was and heard from people that the start is actually the best part.

Arise will be ranked soon.

The main problem I had with the plot exposition towards the end is not so much the exposition itself but the delivery. I think the overall story is solid.

It is just a bit jarring to have a 10 minute scene explaining everything in crystal clear detail and then the very next moment you get like 3 skits trying to drill the same thing you just heard with characters literally repeating the same lines again.

All that wouldn't have been as bad if Lenegis wasn't such a small area where you literally get a scene every few steps and then the forced backtracking of course. I really feel like the last two areas could have been handled much better from a gameplay standpoint. Speaking of, the final dungeon was not good either. I was really disappointed how it was just so boring in the most unimaginative way.

I have a lot of good things to say about the game too though which I'll elaborate upon once I'm done with everything.

Tales of Arise beated!

The Ending was really good.

Onto the optional content that I couldn't tackle because of being under-leveled and the post-game content.

Gonna post my thoughts after I 100% the game.

Endgame is leaving a really bad taste in my mouth so far. For reference I just started the final area of the game.

I thought I was just tired last night but the game literally turned into a 9:1 ratio of Story to Gameplay for all the wrong reasons.
The game since acquiring the starship has been simply, walking a few steps. Scene. Few more steps. Skit. 3 more optional skits. Walk few more steps. Scene. Rinse and repeat for about like 4+ hours. And most of those scenes contain dialogue of very little substance. Most of it is reiterating things that have been drilled to your brain at this point. No comic relief or lightening the mood skits like previous games either. Just straight talking about the same plot elements already explained thoroughly in just a scene before.

I really liked the game and thought it could be a contender for one of the best Tales of game but this has really taken the wind off it's sails.

8

My third favorite Dragon Quest story

Holy shit these are a LOT of scenes. It is getting a bit redundant walking a few steps - scene - 3 or so skits - repeat.

I think I've been playing too much today because some of those scenes are really losing my attention with how dialogue heavy and beating around the bush they are.

I'm at Lenegis. I believe this is the end of the game or close to it.

Nominate Final Fantasy VIII

I wouldn't count any Dark Souls or Bloodborne bosses as a super boss because the line between mandatory and optional is a very thin one there. Otherwise every DLC boss is a super boss and a lot of them have a difficulty which would qualify for them to be so.

FF6 has no business being eliminated before any of the games before it and any of the games after 10.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Absolutely gorgeous.

A lot of the content that just opened up is actually endgame stuff that you are definitely not a high enough level for yet. It's honestly a little confusing.

I have been fighting pretty much every battle I could in the game and I'm still usually lower level than most of the bosses.

I take it you either start gaining levels like crazy the next few areas or there's some serious grinding in store for me?

Beat the fifth realm and just got fast travel back to all realms. Looks like I'm side questing for a while.

I thought nothing could possibly top Elde Menancia's aesthetics but my god was Pelegion one of the most hauntingly beautiful palaces I have seen in any game.

Whiskey_Nick posted...

Eliminated Day 6: FF6

WTF. Hahahaha

Sceptilesolar posted...

Lingering Will from KH2, I suppose. It's a very cool fight.

Cool fight but I always have more trouble with some of the Data Organization XIII fights (Larxene and Vexen especially) than LW but that is because LW is so well designed whereas some of the Data fights are really not.

8

The best Zelda story.

Demi- Fiend (Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga)

Strife2 posted...

If it is short, that can be a good thing. Really old school approach.

I agree it is a good thing because Tales games usually have terrible pacing for what are usually 60-70 hour games.

I'm just curious how much longer I have because I am enjoying this game quite a lot.

Just finished the fourth realm and reached the 2nd area of the fifth realm. That was quite a turn of events. Why does this feel like endgame? My characters are barely level 30 and it already feels like the plot is heading towards its conclusion.

I'm only 26 hours in the game right now. Is this just the shortest Tales of game main story and side content wise? I'm curious how long it has taken people over here to 100% the game.

Can't wait for the amazing finals that would be FF2 vs FF11

Squall is the only reason why Dissidia doesn't get a 1 from me. Him ending Ultimecia mid dialogue is one of the most memorable scenes in a video game.

Like the what the fuck was up with that scene involving Rinwell, Law and the fourth lord? It was so terrible I started laughing. Like the skits after that battle make it even worse in retrospect.

The writing just straight up fell off a cliff here in the fourth realm when it has been solid throughout the game.

Is this the usual Tales of mid game lull?

Also this realm feels a lot smaller than all the ones before it and aesthetically it is a far cry from how beautiful the third realm was.

Yeah it is a little better than Sub Space Emissary but that is not a very high bar to clear.

2

Nonsensical but it was good to see my favorite Final Fantasy characters interact with each other.

Retro Vote

The House in Fata Morgana - 9

Amazing overall story when it all comes together. Certain parts I found quite boring which is why I docked that one point. Those parts were Door 1 and 4. 1 was an unbearably bad start, 4 was unnecessary even though the game really tries to tell you that it is not.

Also wish the game wasn't made on such barebones budget where they can't even afford to put in sprites for certain characters that are quite relevant to the plot.

6

Vesperia is more about the characters, interaction and world building than the overall story.

I was blown away by it playing on the 360 back then but when I revisited it on the PS4, I noticed so many glaring flaws in not just the story but the structure of the game as well.

It still holds dear to my heart but I can't in good conscience say that the story deserves anything more than the score I just gave it.

Also the third act is unnecessary which was something I said even back then.

I'm 16 hours in and about to fight what I think is the main boss of the third realm. I assume this is about the halfway mark. I have been doing all the subquests possible up until this point except that level 43 giant zeugle at the beginning area of the game. I really like the QoL improvements in this game and the extremely tight pacing has also grown on me.

I generally take 70+ hours for a first playthrough of Tales games but I realize more has happened in those 16 hours of Arise than what usually happens near end game in most of the games in the series. I welcome this change. I think JRPGs especially get bloated for the sake of being long and epic, which usually means a lot of fetch quests and filler to unnecessarily pad it.

I honestly completely forgot we were talking about a series with main characters named Cless/Cress lol, Sorey, Asbel (haha), Kor Meteor (WTF?), Senel (need I say anymore now)

I also need to point out that Dahna and Rena couldn't have been more generic sounding names for places/civilizations whatever. The two names literally rhyme with one other.

Those are the only bad things I can say about the game now and I'm only about 6 hours in.

Starting to enjoy the game since it's opened up a lot more.

I do wanna say the two main characters' name sound fucking stupid though. Couldn't they have thought of something better than Alphen and Shionne? It sounds like they got it from auto generate names when naming a silent protagonist.

I love LiS1 so much. That game and The Walking Dead S1 were the two standout games of its kind and both still holds up as classic of that genre.

LiS:BtS felt largely unnecessary and while it had some nice moments it felt more like an expanded DLC than anything.

LiS2 didn't grip me at all but to be fair I only played episode 1 and didn't have the desire to play the rest.

I'm looking forward to this game though because it sounds like something that captures the essence of the first game.

As soon as I'm done with Tales of Arise, this game is up next.

Squall

I just started this last night. So far the combat feels like Ni No Kuni II more than Tales. The pacing has been like The Rise of Skywalker though, too much happening too fast not in the most engaging way.

I'm not sure what to think but I'm very very early in the game.

Ethan Winters (Resident Evil 7, 8)
Mia Winters (Resident Evil 7, 8)
Gonjiam: Haunted Asylum (2018 Korean Movie)
Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil Village)
House Beneviento (Resident Evil Village area)

I take it this is better than Life is Strange 2?

World of Ruin was amazing. I think people just hate the fact that most of the stuff including getting all your party members back is optional, that and Phoenix Cave being an obnoxious party split dungeon.

I love how WoR portrays Celes as the main character and how she rallys all the others who have lost hope and given in to despair to stand up against Kefka.

Story is truly exceptional for it's time. Still the best overall 2D RPG if Suikoden II didn't exist.

9.5

ninkendo posted...

And I always laugh that Symphonia Dawn of the New World isn't included in the mainline series while other direct sequels like Destiny 2 and Xillia 2 are.

Dawn of the New World doesn't even exist for me.

I refuse to acknowledge it's existence as Symphonia's sequel.

Must play now

10

Perhaps the biggest emotional rollercoaster a video game has taken me on. Unlike the naysayers of now, I say it still holds up extremely well.

I remember MGS4 being treated like the greatest thing since sliced bread when it came out. It was every bratty gamer and their mother's favorite new toy before those same people started turning on it when a vocal few made their negative opinions known. The hate bandwagon started a snowball effect slowing turning the MGS4 hate to the size of a boulder that even Chris Redfield would shy away from punching.

I thought it was one of the best games released in a long time back then and even now it holds up as one of my favorite conclusion to a video game series. But I also admit it is not without its share of flaws.

However I often say that I prefer a fun flawed game that triggers an emotional response from me than a flawless game that fails to do so. MGS4 falls in the former category. Yes it has flaws both gameplay and storyline wise but the highs far far outweigh the lows in both categories. Those highs are enough for me to call it still a Top 20 caliber game in my books more than a decade after it's release.

I don't know how anyone can give Subspace Emissary anything other than a 1.

1

10

Although I rate it as a game below MGS1 and 4, I cannot fault the story in the slightest. It is the perfect MGS story in such a setting.

I do think people put certain things like the codec conversations on a pedestal when most of it boils down to Para medic gushing about a movie and Big Boss repeating the line "Nope. Never saw it" which got old real fast.

9

2

Story is just so embarrassingly bad, wholly unnecessary with so many cringe scenes I'd be ashamed of playing infront of any other human being.

Unrelated but I really do like the gameplay in X-2. The ATB battle system is done so well and the game itself is fun to play when you aren't watching the laughably bad plot unfold.

Neutral

No

5.5

3

Filler Gear Solid with some terrible plot elements and few good ones. Gene sucked as a villain and as did young Roy Campbell being the cliche I was once a "cool" guy.

It was inverted for a long time because most games were inverted controls by default during the PS1 and PS2 era but now it is regular camera controls all the way for me.