Pretty cool game overall. There were a lot of neat things about it, but some pretty bad game design decisions in other places.
The cast was pretty good. If I had to rank Tales casts, I'd say Abyss > Legendia > Phantasia > Symphonia. Not sure how I'd rank in the end. I think I liked Luke as an ass better than how he is most of the game. Too many "thanks" and "I'm sorries". The interactions between Ashe and Luke were pretty well done I thought.Guy is probably the best character though. Maybe Jade after that.
Theme song and cutscenes were fantastic. And overall, the story is pretty decent too. Some parts drag out a bit too long though.
As for bad design. Most of the dungeons are kind of forgettable. Most are too short. Too many Sephiroth dungeons too. the final dungeon was pretty good. I've always been a fan of boss marathons for some reason. Way too much going back and forth revisiting towns
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"Don't freeze up girl, you're looking quite a sight." - Adam Ant. "Baby, can you dig your man? He's a righteous man." - Larry Underwood
luke as a character and a human being (lol) improved over the course of the game and while his stupid spoiled child phase was funny it grew obnoxious and loathsome quickly and i couldn't have finished the game with such a ridiculous arrogant manchild as the protagonist
From: DSAutoResponder | #002 luke as a character and a human being (lol) improved over the course of the game and while his stupid spoiled child phase was funny it grew obnoxious and loathsome quickly and i couldn't have finished the game with such a ridiculous arrogant manchild as the protagonist
but that's just me
No, I absolutely agree. Luke is the only Tales character I actually like as a character and not a one-dimensional cliche.
Although I'm not particularly a fan of Luke's character, I do actually have to give his writing some praise. They actually pull off the transition from giant jerk to nice guy a lot better than most stories do. He legitimately f***s up, he slowly realizes how much of a dickwad he was, the party doesn't forgive him immediately, and he actually goes through a character transformation that seems natural and has some room to breathe. By the time he's become a better guy, you actually feel like he has gone through some genuine hardships and actually learned some hard lessons. He starts out too obnoxiously terrible and ends up way too obnoxiously nice, but I think it's a fairly well-handled character arc.