LogFAQs > #883952771

16. Tales of Legendia

This might be perplexing seeing Legendia as the top Tales of game in my rankings despite what I just said about Xillia. I played this after Symphonia and Abyss but before Vesperia and Graces. While it took some getting used to random encounters and the 2D fighting plane, I really got into not just the combat but also how unique it was (not that I can recall everything). That isn't unlike how I became attached to Xillia.

It all starts with the game taking place on a derelict ship (I forget if it's of the aquatic or aerospace variety). That gives you a different perspective of all the locations you visit and makes you wonder how it all came to be, in the process setting a pervasive tone throughout the game. I never once had a thought like that or felt that way in a Tales of game I've played before or since.

JRPGs, while not on the level of WRPGs, tend to have a high amount of characters relative to other genres. It stands to reason that not all of them will be winners, and you are bound to hate some. I honestly, from what I can recollect, cannot say that I have intense negative feelings toward any of the characters (not even Shirley), and that to me is quite the accomplishment given the series. Were they great? Maybe only one or two, but when Tales of games are prone to having a couple characters (or a dozen) make me facepalm over and over to the point of nearly giving me an ulcer, I'd have to say that this game was a rousing success.

This game is also home to massive post-game content. Maybe massive is a bit of an exaggeration, but at the time, I was not accustomed to having an entire campaign (though I suppose that Legendia's is a series of character arcs, one in particular being gut-wrenching) open to the player after the game finishes. Graces might be the only other game from the series that I've played that had one.

Legendia gets a bad rap, and I can understand since part of it seems to be a de-evolution of where the genre was heading, but it successfully carved out its own identity at a time when the series was seemingly going through the motions. Part of me wonders if this being a commerical failure (I don't know if it was, but I'm assuming it was) prompted Namco to go back to the Symphonia and Abyss formula. Most of me also wonders how amazing the game could have been if they thought of it post-Graces and combined the ideas they had with it and Xillia.
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KCF can't actually be a real person but he is - greengravy
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