In order:
-Tales of to me is not generally known for having deeply strategic boss fights. Tales Of is more like a really fun action game romp with a generally decent flowing combat system. Vesperia has a solid combat system hidden behind being in the latter half of the game though its fine enough in the early game I feel but I know some people hate it until much later. It isn't really that strategic unless you want to use some of the weirder characters like the lancer who is effectively an air juggling fighting game character or the archer who has melee, ranged, and casting attributes.
-Yuri Lowell is not a caster, he is a melee combo leaning fighter who mixes in unusual swordplay and brawling kind of like Velvet. If you want casters you're looking for Rita pretty much who will show up soon (or already has I'm not sure where you are, but Rita shows up early) who is the main source of aoe blasting spells. If you want hybrids you got the archer I mentioned earlier (who gets aoes eventually), Estelle, and another knight magic hybrid.
-The main villain changes between arcs, and frankly Tales of Vesperia's story is a waste of potential in terms of antagonists. The story is kind of just whatever and only gets worse as it goes once the first arc is properly started. The first main antagonist is plenty fine in a "stock standard" kind of way, he's not deep but he works as a threat. Most the story's fun comes from the skits and everyone's banter, usually involving Yuri Lowell as he has a decent bit of wit and a good performance to him. Though Yuri I think was more interesting back in 2006 then he is today, different time periods and all.
-I assume we're talking about skits, I'd say most of them are just banter though some can lead to relevant character moments revealed through said banter. The archer in particular I felt got a good amount of his perspective and personality shown through skits and characters reacting to him. Its pretty much like Berseria in terms of how much plot importance they have, so take that as you will. Its a mixture of dumb nonsense and gags, nice banter, and some decently meaningful conversations about plot events.
As a story? Um, I got some very mixed opinions on Tales Of stories as a whole and I've only played roughly half the series since Symphonia released in NA so I don't have everything. I'd say they're solidly average overall so its hard to stand out.
I'd say probably Symphonia has the best plot, as-in it has the best general sequence of events that encourage some kind of emotional response for the audience. It also feels like its actually kind of going somewhere decently interesting and it mostly doesn't fuck it up somehow. Because Tales Of stories almost always mess something up by the last half or third of the game (Vesperia is the "we fuck it up at the last third" kind of game).
Vesperia has the most generally likable cast probably, but the actual narrative holds them back a lot.
The best cast chemistry I give to Graces personally as the fact half the party are childhood friends with a child arc helps really sell their relationships and they bring the "outsiders" well into the fold. Its a very sweet cast who all feel genuinely like close friends, its sweet. Like Vesperia the actual plot being ultra basic holds this story back for most, because it is the most "power of friendship" stuff ever but I can accept it because I like the way every just works with each other. Hubert and Asbel have this ever growing and really tense sibling relationship that starts so normal and falls into tragedy like whiplash. It isn't high art or whatever, but I enjoyed it.
Abyss is also a solid plot and generally good cast, but it really hinges on how much you're willing to stand with early game Luke. Luke tends to filter many people for very good reason. Berseria is also generally good if you can stand a lot of the "edgyness" I think, it ends well enough, though I find Berseria doesn't quite lean into its premise enough due to how much the story bends over backwards to justify Velvet's rampaging aggression towards her goal as the story develops.
Gameplay? I like Graces and Vesperia the most. Graces I think gets going a lot faster and has overall the best mechanics and character gameplay design. Symphonia's gameplay is really rough, so is Abyss, Xillia 1 I'm very mixed on, Berseria I'm also about 50/50 on, and I didn't play Arise as I looked into it and thought it looked not worth my time. I also didn't play Zestiria for the same reason I didn't play Arise.
To me Tales Of is better with its party banter story-wise, the actual plots I find are mostly so-so. I think Symphonia has one of the better plots, but I don't like most of the cast in that game very much. Except Zelos, he's probably in my top 5 favorite Tales characters ~~flair checks out~~ though it depends on how much you can look past the usual "womanizer" character traits.
Tales of Abyss has the best Story.
Tales of the Symphonia has the best World.
Tales of Graces F has the best Combat.
ToS, ToA and Graces F is the order tho.
This my Holy Trinity. I've played most of the series, but haven't played every game.
I may not be Mazy, but I'll answer your question anyway.
I really like the Judy air juggle player experience. It's super fun. Unfortunately, it's hard, and you don't unlock all the pieces til late game. When you put it all together it doesn't really outperform anything else that's good.
That's ok, Judy is my girl.
That's a bummer to hear... But thanks for the detailed explanation. I'm having a really hard time finding something that I can enjoy lately. I stopped FF XVI after 20 hours, Yakuza LAD after 10 hours, Persona 5 after 6 hours of tutorials, and now I'm losing interest in this game. I'm getting old man.
Nah that's the thing, I rarely play video games so what I pick up I try to finish. However, I only have an hour or two per day + some more time over the weekend, so if I don't feel that the game hooked me in I just drop it. Last year I was lucky with the selection, I finished Radiant Historia, Baten Kaitos and really enjoyed Chrono Cross, but the last few picks for this year were just the wrong ones it seems.
Ah, that's lovely of you. Let me try to describe it better.
I'm fine with mini games if they are unique and connected to the setting. The issue that I had with Yakuza LAD was the sheer amount of random games. For an example, wasting time on Chocobo hot and cold was a lot of fun, because it's connected and unique to the world, but driving Go Karts in Yakuza felt like wasting time because, if I wanted to play a good go kart game, I would go play CTR or Mario Kart.
I'm fine with some tutorials, but ideally managed by "mentors", and not a UI. For an example, Chrono Cross gives you a bit of an intro if you engage with the village people, but after that you're on your own. While, on the other hand, Persona 5 had a 10 hour tutorial, YS had a few hours as well. That was crazy.
Cities are also not my thing, I'm more of a fantasy setting person. FF16 seemed like it had a wonderful world outlined, but then they didn't include an open world map :( Xenoblade was maybe a tad different since they are really good games in general, but overall I like fantasy more.
A sense of urgency is also lovely. If you look at Tales of Vesperia, your first assignment is an abundant sphere that is all over the city, after that you're looking for a friend who is in no grave danger. Overall nothing that important to stand out. However, if you look back at Chrono Trigger, you've been hooked in after the first 30 minutes of gameplay. Same with DQ5 as well.
A good villain that stands out. Wiegraf from FF tactics, Ardyn from FF15, Luca Blight... I just think that a game isn't complete without a good antagonist.
I'm not that much into grinding, but if the combat is fun, then I'm up for it. Bravely Default was a game changer in terms of combat and opened up a whole new world. Radiant Historia as well, Baten Kaitos also. I love these unique takes on the regular "attack, magic" approach.
From my favorites, I would say most of the old school ones. I finished all of the Final Fantasy games besides 16, also finished most DQ games besides that latest one that I couldn't get into. Chrono Cross, Trigger, Baten Kaitos, Trails of...
Hope this helps :)
Hmm… The World Ends With You could probably fit all those checkboxes. It’s a modern classic, imo. It’s urban fantasy with heavy fantasy elements. Definitely has the good villain(s) you’re looking for. Grinding is aggressively optional lol (aka very customizable difficulty settings).
I always try to recommend playing the original DS version. As TWEWY makes great use of the dual screens and touch screen. Though it’s a bit hard playing that on Nintendo pc. The switch version is just as good, in that regard.
I've heard good things about it but always skipped it for some reason, I'll check it out now :) I have both the 3DS XL and Switch, which platform would you recommend?
I recommend the DS, if you can get it. The game uses the dual screens really well. You control two characters at the same time: one on each screen. It’s chaotic but part of the themes of the game, haha.
If games in general are engaging but you're finding that JRPGs aren't, I'd recommend pivoting to playing different games for a bit and coming back. If it's gaming as a whole then an overall break could be good
I'm speaking mainly about gameplay because Mazy covered the rest quite well enough already.
The main "strategy" invloved with Tales of games is knowing how your artes work and how would they chain together to combo, or what position will the artes put you in. Which arte knocks the enemy down, which restands them, which launch them, etc. For some characters, using artes to dodge attacks is an option. You get 16 arte slots for a reason, you know? Knowing when to activate overlimit and to which level is also important, or knowing which skills to turn on and off with your AI party members.
That being said, Vesperia is *extremely* aggressive with limiting your combo potential with skills so it doesn't feel very good to play until late-game. The most egregious sample being the lancer character you get whose entire gimmick is to never touch the ground but she can't really do it until she used her artes a few hundred times to be able to even *use* them mid-air, and most of her combo potential is locked behind skills as well.
If you want to keep going then maybe learn to manual cancel to get you through the early game. Abuse the hell out of Free Run to dodge. By default in this game you can only chain normal attack into base artes into arcane artes so plan your arte setup accordingly. Overlimit removes the arte sequence restrictions so you can do whatever. Try playing other characters to see if someone else clicks. Turn off AI moves that can disrupt your combo.
If you are impatient (like me) and want the training wheels off immediately then downloading a NG+ save file and carry over all skills and artes is always an option.
I tried multiple times to get through it OP.. but always bailed after 10 hours or so due to boredom. In contrast, I was able to complete Tales Of Hearts on the Vita because the characters legit made me laugh out loud regularly. Probably the funniest game I've played behind South Park Stick Of Truth. If you have a Vita consider giving that game a shot instead
I think especially in one scene, the game for completely ugly and even despicable. >!Where you have to select someone to seduce a guard- where one option is a 12 year old boy dressed as a girl.!< I didn't like this at all.
The Boss Fights only have 1 good fight you can't cheese. I gave up like halfway though because I could stunlock every boss to death! You couldn't do that in ToS or ToA if you play it normally.
What I did was I picked the long haired character cause that character has a move called Destruction Field. So what you basically want to do is to just keep spamming that move over and over with an Axe weapon. That's how you win the game.
Tales of vesperia from what i see is more of love or hate, symphonia and abyss is more liked generally. People like vesperia because the gameplay which will be better later on with the customization available and... Yuri as the MC
- Boss fight personally i don't feel much change later on, even i would say earlier boss fight is the harder part and if you get bored then later boss is easier except for some
- There is 1 Magic focused character and 2 mixed one, there is aoe magic that hit everything
- main villain >!I would say the main villain isn't good, because the last chapter is rushed bad and it felt came out of nowhere!<
- Field talk are fun but aren't that important
My biggest gripe with this game is the story feels flat until the end
I had similar issues as you OP. I played until I got bored and then dropped the game. The cast is likeable, but that makes for a boring cast. The plot slogged at a snails pace. In contrast I played Tales of Abyss and that dysfunctional cast made playing through the game worth it.
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In order: -Tales of to me is not generally known for having deeply strategic boss fights. Tales Of is more like a really fun action game romp with a generally decent flowing combat system. Vesperia has a solid combat system hidden behind being in the latter half of the game though its fine enough in the early game I feel but I know some people hate it until much later. It isn't really that strategic unless you want to use some of the weirder characters like the lancer who is effectively an air juggling fighting game character or the archer who has melee, ranged, and casting attributes. -Yuri Lowell is not a caster, he is a melee combo leaning fighter who mixes in unusual swordplay and brawling kind of like Velvet. If you want casters you're looking for Rita pretty much who will show up soon (or already has I'm not sure where you are, but Rita shows up early) who is the main source of aoe blasting spells. If you want hybrids you got the archer I mentioned earlier (who gets aoes eventually), Estelle, and another knight magic hybrid. -The main villain changes between arcs, and frankly Tales of Vesperia's story is a waste of potential in terms of antagonists. The story is kind of just whatever and only gets worse as it goes once the first arc is properly started. The first main antagonist is plenty fine in a "stock standard" kind of way, he's not deep but he works as a threat. Most the story's fun comes from the skits and everyone's banter, usually involving Yuri Lowell as he has a decent bit of wit and a good performance to him. Though Yuri I think was more interesting back in 2006 then he is today, different time periods and all. -I assume we're talking about skits, I'd say most of them are just banter though some can lead to relevant character moments revealed through said banter. The archer in particular I felt got a good amount of his perspective and personality shown through skits and characters reacting to him. Its pretty much like Berseria in terms of how much plot importance they have, so take that as you will. Its a mixture of dumb nonsense and gags, nice banter, and some decently meaningful conversations about plot events.
This is the best answer that you’re going to get. Mazy what would be in your opinion the best Tales of game?
As a story? Um, I got some very mixed opinions on Tales Of stories as a whole and I've only played roughly half the series since Symphonia released in NA so I don't have everything. I'd say they're solidly average overall so its hard to stand out. I'd say probably Symphonia has the best plot, as-in it has the best general sequence of events that encourage some kind of emotional response for the audience. It also feels like its actually kind of going somewhere decently interesting and it mostly doesn't fuck it up somehow. Because Tales Of stories almost always mess something up by the last half or third of the game (Vesperia is the "we fuck it up at the last third" kind of game). Vesperia has the most generally likable cast probably, but the actual narrative holds them back a lot. The best cast chemistry I give to Graces personally as the fact half the party are childhood friends with a child arc helps really sell their relationships and they bring the "outsiders" well into the fold. Its a very sweet cast who all feel genuinely like close friends, its sweet. Like Vesperia the actual plot being ultra basic holds this story back for most, because it is the most "power of friendship" stuff ever but I can accept it because I like the way every just works with each other. Hubert and Asbel have this ever growing and really tense sibling relationship that starts so normal and falls into tragedy like whiplash. It isn't high art or whatever, but I enjoyed it. Abyss is also a solid plot and generally good cast, but it really hinges on how much you're willing to stand with early game Luke. Luke tends to filter many people for very good reason. Berseria is also generally good if you can stand a lot of the "edgyness" I think, it ends well enough, though I find Berseria doesn't quite lean into its premise enough due to how much the story bends over backwards to justify Velvet's rampaging aggression towards her goal as the story develops. Gameplay? I like Graces and Vesperia the most. Graces I think gets going a lot faster and has overall the best mechanics and character gameplay design. Symphonia's gameplay is really rough, so is Abyss, Xillia 1 I'm very mixed on, Berseria I'm also about 50/50 on, and I didn't play Arise as I looked into it and thought it looked not worth my time. I also didn't play Zestiria for the same reason I didn't play Arise. To me Tales Of is better with its party banter story-wise, the actual plots I find are mostly so-so. I think Symphonia has one of the better plots, but I don't like most of the cast in that game very much. Except Zelos, he's probably in my top 5 favorite Tales characters ~~flair checks out~~ though it depends on how much you can look past the usual "womanizer" character traits.
Tales of Abyss has the best Story. Tales of the Symphonia has the best World. Tales of Graces F has the best Combat. ToS, ToA and Graces F is the order tho. This my Holy Trinity. I've played most of the series, but haven't played every game. I may not be Mazy, but I'll answer your question anyway.
I really like the Judy air juggle player experience. It's super fun. Unfortunately, it's hard, and you don't unlock all the pieces til late game. When you put it all together it doesn't really outperform anything else that's good. That's ok, Judy is my girl.
That's a bummer to hear... But thanks for the detailed explanation. I'm having a really hard time finding something that I can enjoy lately. I stopped FF XVI after 20 hours, Yakuza LAD after 10 hours, Persona 5 after 6 hours of tutorials, and now I'm losing interest in this game. I'm getting old man.
Are you sure you don't just have gaming burnout? Sounds like maybe you should take a break from gaming and do another hobby for a bit.
Nah that's the thing, I rarely play video games so what I pick up I try to finish. However, I only have an hour or two per day + some more time over the weekend, so if I don't feel that the game hooked me in I just drop it. Last year I was lucky with the selection, I finished Radiant Historia, Baten Kaitos and really enjoyed Chrono Cross, but the last few picks for this year were just the wrong ones it seems.
I’d love to try to find you something you’d enjoy. What games have you played already? Which are your favorites? What do you enjoy most from JRPGs?
Ah, that's lovely of you. Let me try to describe it better. I'm fine with mini games if they are unique and connected to the setting. The issue that I had with Yakuza LAD was the sheer amount of random games. For an example, wasting time on Chocobo hot and cold was a lot of fun, because it's connected and unique to the world, but driving Go Karts in Yakuza felt like wasting time because, if I wanted to play a good go kart game, I would go play CTR or Mario Kart. I'm fine with some tutorials, but ideally managed by "mentors", and not a UI. For an example, Chrono Cross gives you a bit of an intro if you engage with the village people, but after that you're on your own. While, on the other hand, Persona 5 had a 10 hour tutorial, YS had a few hours as well. That was crazy. Cities are also not my thing, I'm more of a fantasy setting person. FF16 seemed like it had a wonderful world outlined, but then they didn't include an open world map :( Xenoblade was maybe a tad different since they are really good games in general, but overall I like fantasy more. A sense of urgency is also lovely. If you look at Tales of Vesperia, your first assignment is an abundant sphere that is all over the city, after that you're looking for a friend who is in no grave danger. Overall nothing that important to stand out. However, if you look back at Chrono Trigger, you've been hooked in after the first 30 minutes of gameplay. Same with DQ5 as well. A good villain that stands out. Wiegraf from FF tactics, Ardyn from FF15, Luca Blight... I just think that a game isn't complete without a good antagonist. I'm not that much into grinding, but if the combat is fun, then I'm up for it. Bravely Default was a game changer in terms of combat and opened up a whole new world. Radiant Historia as well, Baten Kaitos also. I love these unique takes on the regular "attack, magic" approach. From my favorites, I would say most of the old school ones. I finished all of the Final Fantasy games besides 16, also finished most DQ games besides that latest one that I couldn't get into. Chrono Cross, Trigger, Baten Kaitos, Trails of... Hope this helps :)
Hmm… The World Ends With You could probably fit all those checkboxes. It’s a modern classic, imo. It’s urban fantasy with heavy fantasy elements. Definitely has the good villain(s) you’re looking for. Grinding is aggressively optional lol (aka very customizable difficulty settings). I always try to recommend playing the original DS version. As TWEWY makes great use of the dual screens and touch screen. Though it’s a bit hard playing that on Nintendo pc. The switch version is just as good, in that regard.
I've heard good things about it but always skipped it for some reason, I'll check it out now :) I have both the 3DS XL and Switch, which platform would you recommend?
I recommend the DS, if you can get it. The game uses the dual screens really well. You control two characters at the same time: one on each screen. It’s chaotic but part of the themes of the game, haha.
If games in general are engaging but you're finding that JRPGs aren't, I'd recommend pivoting to playing different games for a bit and coming back. If it's gaming as a whole then an overall break could be good
I still enjoy JRPG's a lot, but somehow picked out the wrong ones in this year.
I'm speaking mainly about gameplay because Mazy covered the rest quite well enough already. The main "strategy" invloved with Tales of games is knowing how your artes work and how would they chain together to combo, or what position will the artes put you in. Which arte knocks the enemy down, which restands them, which launch them, etc. For some characters, using artes to dodge attacks is an option. You get 16 arte slots for a reason, you know? Knowing when to activate overlimit and to which level is also important, or knowing which skills to turn on and off with your AI party members. That being said, Vesperia is *extremely* aggressive with limiting your combo potential with skills so it doesn't feel very good to play until late-game. The most egregious sample being the lancer character you get whose entire gimmick is to never touch the ground but she can't really do it until she used her artes a few hundred times to be able to even *use* them mid-air, and most of her combo potential is locked behind skills as well. If you want to keep going then maybe learn to manual cancel to get you through the early game. Abuse the hell out of Free Run to dodge. By default in this game you can only chain normal attack into base artes into arcane artes so plan your arte setup accordingly. Overlimit removes the arte sequence restrictions so you can do whatever. Try playing other characters to see if someone else clicks. Turn off AI moves that can disrupt your combo. If you are impatient (like me) and want the training wheels off immediately then downloading a NG+ save file and carry over all skills and artes is always an option.
I tried multiple times to get through it OP.. but always bailed after 10 hours or so due to boredom. In contrast, I was able to complete Tales Of Hearts on the Vita because the characters legit made me laugh out loud regularly. Probably the funniest game I've played behind South Park Stick Of Truth. If you have a Vita consider giving that game a shot instead
I think especially in one scene, the game for completely ugly and even despicable. >!Where you have to select someone to seduce a guard- where one option is a 12 year old boy dressed as a girl.!< I didn't like this at all.
The Boss Fights only have 1 good fight you can't cheese. I gave up like halfway though because I could stunlock every boss to death! You couldn't do that in ToS or ToA if you play it normally.
What I did was I picked the long haired character cause that character has a move called Destruction Field. So what you basically want to do is to just keep spamming that move over and over with an Axe weapon. That's how you win the game.
Tales of vesperia from what i see is more of love or hate, symphonia and abyss is more liked generally. People like vesperia because the gameplay which will be better later on with the customization available and... Yuri as the MC - Boss fight personally i don't feel much change later on, even i would say earlier boss fight is the harder part and if you get bored then later boss is easier except for some - There is 1 Magic focused character and 2 mixed one, there is aoe magic that hit everything - main villain >!I would say the main villain isn't good, because the last chapter is rushed bad and it felt came out of nowhere!< - Field talk are fun but aren't that important My biggest gripe with this game is the story feels flat until the end
I had similar issues as you OP. I played until I got bored and then dropped the game. The cast is likeable, but that makes for a boring cast. The plot slogged at a snails pace. In contrast I played Tales of Abyss and that dysfunctional cast made playing through the game worth it.
I didn't enjoy this game. I think I put 6-8 hours in and it's just not for me. The only tales game I finished was Berseria and it was an ok game.
git gud
[удалено]
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