Board 8 > What is the best Tales Of game?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Might as well throw this up.
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Vesperia, but I havent played Xillia 1-2, Zestiria or Berseria yet.

Limited sample size for me, but Symphonia > Abyss > Xillia.
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Anyway, my vote is for Berseria, which is more or less the game I would recommend to people who are generally frustrated by some of the recurring elements in the Tales series.
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Berseria but Abyss and Xillia 2 are very close. Close enough that I might change my mind now and again.
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I've still only played Abyss and Xillia, but Abyss > Xillia.
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of the ones I've played...

Abyss > Xillia > Symphonia > Graces > Vesperia

Abyss: amazing characters, incredible world-building, all kinds of bells and whistles, and so good to go back to
Xillia: Great cast, good story, linking is awesome, and characters who are fun as heck to control
Symphonia: Hard to go back to since the battle system is so dated, mostly good cast, good story
Graces: Incredible cast chemistry and amazing battle system, but a lack of development and virtually no plot really bring it down
Vesperia: Yuri is amazing and the battle system is fun, but the plot has as many holes as Swiss cheese, most of the other characters are unmemorable, the villains suck, and the world-building felt downright lazy

will play Xillia 2 soonish
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Berseria. Vesperia is a close second. Those two are far ahead of the rest.
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Vesperia > Xillia > Graces f > Symphonia > Phantasia > Symphonia 2

still have a lot of Tales to play through
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Cross-posting from the other topic with a bit more commentary:

Berseria >= Abyss >= Xillia 2 >>> Graces f > Vesperia > Symphonia > Xillia > Symphonia 2 >> Zestiria

Berseria/Abyss/Xillia 2 are the top tier. All really excellent. There's a notable drop-off after them.

Graces f heads up the next group because it's just so much fun to play. f Arc adds some really fun moments too. Vesperia and Symphonia are close but I think Vesperia is just the more polished game. Xillia is just the "kinda there" entry. Symphonia 2 frustrates me so much because it has so much potential that ends up ruined by the dumb design choices to make it a monster collector and locking the original casts' levels and equipment. Fix those and it could jump up dramatically.

And then Zestiria is just... no thanks. It's not terrible IMO but it's the clear loser.
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Abyss > Symphonia > Phantasia > Symphonia 2 > Eternia
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Guess I'll talk about each one on the list then shoutout ones for Other

Abyss - Probs my overall favorite. I know Luke is a point of contention but I really liked him and the plot and the gameplay

Symphonia - Nostalgia and whatnot but probably still has the most 'fun' plot and characters of the series

Graces f - Still easily my favorite gameplay in the series. Story and characters are... fine and don't particularly stick out but are servicable.

Berseria - Probably the best overall story and character cast. I liked everyone, it was unique AND interesting from beginning to end. I had big issues with the gameplay even though I liked concepts of it but it got to a point I turned it to easy cuz I was getting sick of it and just wanted to see the story.

Vesperia - I have some issues with it to consider it top tier like many people here (sometimes the gameplay mid game wasn't my thing, the plot becomes super uninteresting by a certain point). Thankfully the likable cast and unique main character make it stick out enough for me to like it.

Xillia - I wanted to like it but I got so bored of it like 1/3 or so of the way. The cast was boring as hell, I did not like the link system, and otherwise the battle system did not stick out in any way.

Destiny (PS1) - Slow as fuck compared to future titles. Its remake is a bazillion times better.

Never played Xillia 2 since I didnt finish Xillia 1
Never played Zestria cuz that gameplay and characters looked meh

Most stick out Western released game not mentioned is probably Hearts R but that's not saying much due to weird localization
Most stick out Japanese only game is probably Destiny (PS2) or Innocence Vita.

I really liked Tales of VS (grinding aside) and wish that it got localized on a non-portable system..
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Uh....Phantasia?
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I didnt even end up finishing Graces f. I got to right before you get to the f part of the game I think, but man was the plot and cast so boring. Its sad such an amazingly fun battle system is wasted on it

Berseria > Vesperia > Symphonia

Giving the edge to Berseria for its main cast, even if they were difficult to root for a lot of the game.
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pjbasis posted...

Uh....Phantasia?

I get the impression that almost nobody in the English-speaking world actually plays the pre-Symphonia games at this point.
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AxemRedRanger posted...

pjbasis posted...

Uh....Phantasia?

I get the impression that the pre-Symphonia games don't get played a lot at this point in the English-speaking world.

Based on 'Other' currently clocking in at 1 vote, I think I made the right selection of choices
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Being the second "Other" vote, mine is Legendia. I own but haven't played Zestiria, Berseria, and Hearts though.
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Luke is a fantastic lead. If Velvet wasn't almost as good I'd probably still have Abyss at #1. Of course my second Berseria playthrough was a couple months ago, and I haven't played Abyss in 5 years, so that could theoretically switch back again.

KamikazePotato posted...

AxemRedRanger posted...

pjbasis posted...

Uh....Phantasia?

I get the impression that the pre-Symphonia games don't get played a lot at this point in the English-speaking world.

Based on 'Other' currently clocking in at 1 vote, I think I made the right selection of choices

Could have taken out Zesteria, nobody is gonna pick that one <_<
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I dunno if any will top Vesperia for me. The cast is just so fun in it. Yuri is hands down the best Tales of guy Ive seen so far and that says a lot when the series has a lot of great guys like Luke and stuff. Yuri is just basically the perfect JRPG protagonist to me though

Yuri's great, but I wish he had more depth. Yuri is basically the same character throughout the entire game.
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I have played Graces F, Vesperia, and Berseria.

I have not beaten any of them. They were all really fun though, I just took a break from them and never got back to them.
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That isnt an issue when youre consistently amazing. I mean he doesnt go through any growth because hes already developed and that also helps him stand out because there are very few JRPG protagonists like that from my experience

I'll spice up my normal ranking by putting them all in tiers.

Abyss Tier
Abyss

Among my all-time favorite games
Berseria
Xillia 2

Among my all-time favorite RPGs
Vesperia
Graces F

Great but haven't left a lasting effect on me
Xillia
Symphonia

Fun but quite flawed
Hearts R
Legendia

Not worth the time
Zestiria
Symphonia 2

I'm planning to get to the remainder of the English releases very soon, hopefully by the end of this year.
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Berseria > Symphonia > Graces > Vesperia > Xillia > Abyss
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Vesperia > Berseria > Symphonia > Abyss
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Abyss living up to its reputation by being at the very top or bottom of almost every ranking.
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Ranking of what I did finish

Vesperia > Abyss > Symphonia > Legendia > Symphonia 2. Legendia just looks so awkward when you go into battles and stuff

I really Legendia more than Symphonia but the second half of the game where they forgot to do any voice dubbing killed it for me
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Having to go back through almost every dungeon didn't help either!
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I appreciate that Berseria is ranked very highly by the people who've played it. Wish it had come out before the Tales series began shooting itself in the foot.
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Like I said in the other topic, Berseria was the first post-Baba Tales, and I can only hope it goes up from here.
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Oh I guess I'll go off the mark and say I'm probably one of the few here who apparently likes Symphonia Dawn
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If Symphonia 2 made those changes I mentioned I'd probably like it more than Vesperia and Symphonia 1!

I liked Emil and Marta. =(
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Still don't know why anyone would vote Vesperia for this poll. Sure, Yuri is an incredible lead, but the game's seriously lacking in every other aspect compared to other games in the series. I don't understand how anyone could rank a game first just because of its protagonist and only that.
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BlueCrystalTear posted...

Still don't know why anyone would vote Vesperia for this poll. Sure, Yuri is an incredible lead, but the game's seriously lacking in every other aspect compared to other games in the series. I don't understand how anyone could rank a game first just because of its protagonist and only that.

I love me some protagonists

play Shadow Hearts and you'll understand
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xp1337 posted...

If Symphonia 2 made those changes I mentioned I'd probably like it more than Vesperia and Symphonia 1!

I liked Emil and Marta. =(

Pretty much my opinion.

I didn't want Pokemon in my Tales game, especially with them overwriting the OG Symphonia crew for most of the game.
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Yuri's potential as a protagonist is kind of wasted though. His arc just kind of fizzles out 2/3 of the way through, and it was honestly the only part of the game I was interested in.
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Oh don't get me wrong, the protagonist is a huge deal. Yuri is amazing, but the rest of the cast is lacking, there are too few moments of chemistry, the plot is terrible, and... even Yuri could've used more development in the game proper, honestly. The fact that they needed to make a prequel movie for just that is telling.

Can you hook me up with Shadow Hearts? I need $$ for that.
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Shadow Hearts Yuri is definitely the superior Yuri. Might be the best Yuri ever!
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btw I tried to play Shadow Hearts at my last convention. Did not go well due to all the noise >_>

I believe that was the second game... gameplay was good, but I just couldn't enjoy myself being unable to hear it.
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KamikazePotato posted...

Anyway, my vote is for Berseria, which is more or less the game I would recommend to people who are generally frustrated by some of the recurring elements in the Tales series.

Hey that's me.

Berseria is the first Tales I've actually honest-to-goodness liked (I'm currently playing it). Only played Symphonia and Abyss before this, and while I second the Luke hype (and Tear is pretty good too, though not as bold/unique), neither game had much else that worked for me. I kinda want to try Vesperia too at some point but I was very burned out on the series when it first released.
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KamikazePotato posted...

Shadow Hearts Yuri is definitely the superior Yuri. Might be the best Yuri ever!

Sure would be nice if that series had ports or anything. When Sony first announced digital PS2 games I thought it was going to be a great way to obtain some of those harder to get PS2 JRPGs, but apparently not whoops

well that would've required people to buy the Shadow Hearts games to give anyone a sense that there was a demand for them
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AxemRedRanger posted...

Having to go back through almost every dungeon didn't help either!

well I mean you did that in Symphonia too
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from the ones I've played:
Vesperia >>>> Abyss > Berseria >>>> Symphonia > Zestria
Vesperia is the only one I'd say is "good".

Fwiw i think legendia gets a bad rep and is above graces f for me
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Im probably only a quarter through Berseria and it may be my top
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Bump.
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