If you don't play Symphonia first, the battle system from Abyss or Vesperia will spoil you and make it really hard to deal with. I can't stand not free-running. :P
I'd say Symphonia, Abyss, then Vesperia, don't bother with Legendia, and I haven't played the Wii Symphonia so I can't comment on that.
I have every system except for a PS3 so I don't think the system will be an issue. I totally admit I have no desire to go play on on the GBA (unless it's REALLY awesome) or PS1...
So I guess that leaves me with Symphonia, Symphonia 2 (is that what you're calling Dawn?), Abyss, Legendia, and Vesperia?
Vesperia is freaking expensive right now....mebbe I should go with Abyss or Symphonia?
Abyss or Symphonia are both solid choices. They both have their pros and cons (Abyss has an improved battle system but Symphonia's load times are much more bearable, for example) but if you're not getting Vesperia right away because of the cost, I'd go with whatever is cheaper.
Go with Symphonia over Abyss. The battle system in Abyss is much improved, but they replaced all the twists and whatnot with technobabble and angst.
Also, the game flows like a toboggan ride down a coal chute. I still cannot understand why they had so fucking much backtracking and moronic "Go to Daath, okay now leave Daath... now go back to Daath" bullshit.
The battle system really is great though. But if you're new to it, you don't have any frame of reference.
Also, Eternia (Tales of Destiny 2 in the US) is my favorite.
Symphonia sounds like a good one to start at from the responses...I completely agree with your comments about the battle system (playing newer games then going back to older just bites sometimes because of that) So I won't spoil myself first. I may never play Phantasia or some of the others, but we'll see.
So anyways, off to explore the gamestops for Symphonia tomorrow!
Hey Aroduc might want to update the OP with the news of ToV PS3 port, Tales of Grace and Tales of Vs.
Tales of Graces - Wii - 2009
- I think the designs are by Inomata
- The main character is Aspel Lant or something
- The theme of the game is protecting people, and the main character doesn't want to lose anyone ever again
Tales of VS - PSP - 2009
- Dissidia style 3D versus action fighter
- 4 players versus
- Yuri (ToV), Luke (TotA), Shing (ToH) and Rihita (ToSKoR) are shown
Tales of Vesperia - PS3 - 2009
- New character pirate loli girl, Patty Fleur
- The ToV anime movie is also revealed officially
FINALLY. Vesperia coming to the PS3 officially allows me to officially not care about replacing my 360. Assuming it comes stateside...but I don't see why it wouldn't.
FINALLY. Vesperia coming to the PS3 officially allows me to officially not care about replacing my 360. Assuming it comes stateside...but I don't see why it wouldn't.
Excited.
You don't see why Namco wouldn't bring over a port of one of their games? We got, what, *ONE* version of Phantasia (and the worst one, at that), never saw Rebirth, Destiny 2, or Destiny Remake, Eternia got ported to PSP in Europe, but for some reason never released here, Symphonia's PS2 port never came out here, and we'll probably never see any of the DS titles here.
Expecting the PS3 version of ToV to come across the water to the US is pretty insane given Namco's history.
FINALLY. Vesperia coming to the PS3 officially allows me to officially not care about replacing my 360. Assuming it comes stateside...but I don't see why it wouldn't.
Excited.
You don't see why Namco wouldn't bring over a port of one of their games? We got, what, *ONE* version of Phantasia (and the worst one, at that), never saw Rebirth, Destiny 2, or Destiny Remake, Eternia got ported to PSP in Europe, but for some reason never released here, Symphonia's PS2 port never came out here, and we'll probably never see any of the DS titles here.
Expecting the PS3 version of ToV to come across the water to the US is pretty insane given Namco's history.
FINALLY. Vesperia coming to the PS3 officially allows me to officially not care about replacing my 360. Assuming it comes stateside...but I don't see why it wouldn't.
Excited.
You don't see why Namco wouldn't bring over a port of one of their games? We got, what, *ONE* version of Phantasia (and the worst one, at that), never saw Rebirth, Destiny 2, or Destiny Remake, Eternia got ported to PSP in Europe, but for some reason never released here, Symphonia's PS2 port never came out here, and we'll probably never see any of the DS titles here.
Expecting the PS3 version of ToV to come across the water to the US is pretty insane given Namco's history.
Yeah, well.
Uh.
I'm an optimist, what can I say.
It'll be over just after they finish localizing the PS2 port of Symphonia.
Dragging this out of the mire again to say that I've started Vesperia and so far it seems so much better than Abyss it's not even funny. I'm about halfway through Abyss and it's just become so bland, with the exception of Jade - none of the characters are really that interesting and it doesn't help that their voice acting seems to have been done in that way where they read their lines minus context and get spliced together later. Then you've got characters like Ion, who are just awful.
The dialogue in Vesperia sounds like an actual conversation, Yuri is totally rockin' and it's great to finally have voiced skits. I just hope I can get most of the billion one-time-only sidequests without totally spoiling myself on every single plot complication.
Dragging this out of the mire again to say that I've started Vesperia and so far it seems so much better than Abyss it's not even funny. I'm about halfway through Abyss and it's just become so bland, with the exception of Jade - none of the characters are really that interesting and it doesn't help that their voice acting seems to have been done in that way where they read their lines minus context and get spliced together later. Then you've got characters like Ion, who are just awful.
The dialogue in Vesperia sounds like an actual conversation, Yuri is totally rockin' and it's great to finally have voiced skits. I just hope I can get most of the billion one-time-only sidequests without totally spoiling myself on every single plot complication.
Yeah, Vesperia is much better than Abyss...except for those fucking sidequests. I missed almost all of them, and it's kinda turned me off of ever finishing the game.
I'm currently playing Tales of Vesperia and I've got about 90 hours logged into it. I'm pretty sure that I'm right near the end, considering the events that are unfolding. ToV is probably the 2nd best RPG on the 360 (right behind ME).
The characters are friggin' awesome. Yuri is a badass. He's totally unlike your typical lead hero in a JRPG. It's been a long time since I played a JRPG with character development of this calibre. I like everyone and the game is very humourous. Haven't laughed like this at a game in quite awhile. For those of you who considered Blue Dragon to be "light hearted" play this and see what that term really means.
I highly suggest it to anyone who owns a 360 and wants a good RPG.
Ragnar Dragonfyre on
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Dragging this out of the mire again to say that I've started Vesperia and so far it seems so much better than Abyss it's not even funny. I'm about halfway through Abyss and it's just become so bland, with the exception of Jade - none of the characters are really that interesting and it doesn't help that their voice acting seems to have been done in that way where they read their lines minus context and get spliced together later. Then you've got characters like Ion, who are just awful.
The dialogue in Vesperia sounds like an actual conversation, Yuri is totally rockin' and it's great to finally have voiced skits. I just hope I can get most of the billion one-time-only sidequests without totally spoiling myself on every single plot complication.
As far as sidequest went I just used an online guide this guy named Kouli made. It's pretty good and straight to the point. Forgot the link though...probably remember it in a bit.
Yeah, I got the game at launch, and only found out about the guide after missing that Spear sidequest. I still managed to get most of the other missable items, though.
Well, that's why there's a new game + option in this game, and this time, they actually allow you to carry over your equipment
One thing that I accidentally spoiled for myself while looking for the Secret Missions (some of these were so obscure it was unbelieveable, my biggest peeve about JRPGs) in a guide:
The building of Aurnion. I haven't even gotten that far yet. I mean it was somewhat foreshadowed earlier in the game in a conversation between Karol and Yuri, so it wasn't a huge surprise. When they had that conversation I thought to myself "Cool, I'm definitely gonna get to build a town at some point." Still, wish I hadn't spoiled that one.
Ragnar Dragonfyre on
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GumpyThere is alwaysa greater powerRegistered Userregular
edited May 2009
Far too few of these have been released in England
It is the saddest thing, I want to play Abyss quite a lot
Vesperia had a better story, but I really didn't like almost any of the changes they made to the battle engine aside from adding the fatal strikes. I missed the FoF stuff since it forced some variety in battle, and I really hated how gimped the supers became. Everybody also felt like they were moving through a thick layer of sludge.
My two biggest problems with Vesperia is that it just sort of keeps going on for about 15 hours more than it has any business doing, and the writing make a huge deal out of Yuri's raging hypocrisy, but then it never goes anywhere and the characters just kind of ignore it entirely. He literally bounces from giving to receiving the exact same speech and is indignant about it the entire time.
Ugh, you actually *liked* the FOF stuff? That was the fucking worst.
Not to mention FoF wasn't useful until near the end of the game when you started learning the high-level elemental spells and the elemental skills. Most of the time enemies just moved around to much for you to get them going.
Ugh, you actually *liked* the FOF stuff? That was the fucking worst.
Not to mention FoF wasn't useful until near the end of the game when you started learning the high-level elemental spells and the elemental skills. Most of the time enemies just moved around to much for you to get them going.
I liked the FoF bit. You could ignore it completely if you wanted to, but I found it fun to play around with. And once you get the ability to use FoF-boosts in half-formed fields, it's pure fun.
Ugh, you actually *liked* the FOF stuff? That was the fucking worst.
Not to mention FoF wasn't useful until near the end of the game when you started learning the high-level elemental spells and the elemental skills. Most of the time enemies just moved around to much for you to get them going.
I liked the FoF bit. You could ignore it completely if you wanted to, but I found it fun to play around with. And once you get the ability to use FoF-boosts in half-formed fields, it's pure fun.
I just really don't like the idea of not having access to all of my abilities at once. Having to first use a particular spell and then hope I can get an enemy nearby just isn't fun. Granted, I didn't much care for having to spam the altered arte thing over and over in ToV to learn it either.
It keeps track of the attacks characters use. Any elemental attack forms at least a half circle. The next time that attack is used, it forms a full one. 100% of the time. If you never see them until the end of the game, it's because you're playing on entirely too easy a difficulty. They should be a staple of boss fights, especially early on when the auto-interrupt is invaluable.
Also, the circle is formed where the attack was targetted. But you know, I guess I can see how it could be hard getting an enemy to where they currently are.
Aroduc on
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
edited May 2009
Hmmm...let me correct myself then. It isn't so much that they aren't doable early game, it is simply that they aren't all that useful until late game.
Really, the FoF created by most low-level spells were useless unless you were using a physical skill that allowed you to put them out fast enough. As for overlapping them with spells and Tear's FoF skills, that was also doing. But really, those were hindered by their chant time. Basically, you were hoping that the enemy hadn't moved out of range by the time the chant was released.
Then you would have to add into the equation of whether or not enemies had elemental attacks that could cancel out your own FoF, then whether or not the FoF would be cancelled out becuase the game had met the limit for the number it could have onscreen. Sure, you could use the enemies FoF against them but most of the time those were for elements they were strong with so that was a waste of time.
So, imo, I would still say that they were viable or all that useful until the end of the game where you could get them out much faster. It isn't hyperbole moreso as an agrument of risk vs. reward. And early game the entire FoF mechanic was simply too much risk for too little reward, imo. I guess I just didn't feel the need to use it when I'd rather just pin the enemy down instead of trying to set them up for the FoF attack.
Most FoF skills knocked the enemy down and broke any chain you could perform afterwards. Other than that aspect that made them totally shit, they were fun to do.
Ain Soph on
:whistle:
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DragkoniasThat Guy Who Does StuffYou Know, There. Registered Userregular
Most FoF skills knocked the enemy down and broke any chain you could perform afterwards. Other than that aspect that made them totally shit, they were fun to do.
I guess that's what I want to say in simple terms. The FoF were more eye candy to me than something you really needed to do. So, I wasn't going out of my way to do them.
FoFs are super easy when you have an all human controlled party and just a tad more difficult without. If you're playing coop even with early low end artes/spells like Limited or Void Tempest you can get stuff off without too much difficulty. Once you throw in higher level spells/yellow capacity cores and you'll be mixing and matching moves/FoFs in unison.
The most valuable feature of FoFs is that you can't die while you're doing one. Guy is suddenly a machine with a yellow capacity core.
FoFs are super easy when you have an all human controlled party and just a tad more difficult without. If you're playing coop even with early low end artes/spells like Limited or Void Tempest you can get stuff off without too much difficulty. Once you throw in higher level spells/yellow capacity cores and you'll be mixing and matching moves/FoFs in unison.
The most valuable feature of FoFs is that you can't die while you're doing one. Guy is suddenly a machine with a yellow capacity core.
You also can't die doing 200+ hit combos that would normally be broken by a FoF skill.
Also, on the subject matter of Vesperia vs Abyss, I thought that Vesperia's story was disjointed, and didn't flow as well as Abyss. But Abyss loses with barely explained fonons and crappier characters (Jade being the exception)
There's a video out there with someone soloing Nebilim as Guy with no AD skills on, and it abuses the FoF invincibility thing to no end
I think the really scary thing about that video is that he more or less chews right through Nebilim until she gets serious, and then whoops, you notice that the video's less than a quarter done.
Posts
I can deal...I've got too much Shin Megami and Lost Odyssey in me lately and need something more light hearted.
I'd say Symphonia, Abyss, then Vesperia, don't bother with Legendia, and I haven't played the Wii Symphonia so I can't comment on that.
Abyss or Symphonia are both solid choices. They both have their pros and cons (Abyss has an improved battle system but Symphonia's load times are much more bearable, for example) but if you're not getting Vesperia right away because of the cost, I'd go with whatever is cheaper.
Also, the game flows like a toboggan ride down a coal chute. I still cannot understand why they had so fucking much backtracking and moronic "Go to Daath, okay now leave Daath... now go back to Daath" bullshit.
The battle system really is great though. But if you're new to it, you don't have any frame of reference.
Also, Eternia (Tales of Destiny 2 in the US) is my favorite.
So anyways, off to explore the gamestops for Symphonia tomorrow!
Excited.
You don't see why Namco wouldn't bring over a port of one of their games? We got, what, *ONE* version of Phantasia (and the worst one, at that), never saw Rebirth, Destiny 2, or Destiny Remake, Eternia got ported to PSP in Europe, but for some reason never released here, Symphonia's PS2 port never came out here, and we'll probably never see any of the DS titles here.
Expecting the PS3 version of ToV to come across the water to the US is pretty insane given Namco's history.
Uh.
I'm an optimist, what can I say.
It'll be over just after they finish localizing the PS2 port of Symphonia.
Or at least a safer bet than the PS3 version of Vesperia coming out in the US.
The dialogue in Vesperia sounds like an actual conversation, Yuri is totally rockin' and it's great to finally have voiced skits. I just hope I can get most of the billion one-time-only sidequests without totally spoiling myself on every single plot complication.
Yeah, Vesperia is much better than Abyss...except for those fucking sidequests. I missed almost all of them, and it's kinda turned me off of ever finishing the game.
The characters are friggin' awesome. Yuri is a badass. He's totally unlike your typical lead hero in a JRPG. It's been a long time since I played a JRPG with character development of this calibre. I like everyone and the game is very humourous. Haven't laughed like this at a game in quite awhile. For those of you who considered Blue Dragon to be "light hearted" play this and see what that term really means.
I highly suggest it to anyone who owns a 360 and wants a good RPG.
As far as sidequest went I just used an online guide this guy named Kouli made. It's pretty good and straight to the point. Forgot the link though...probably remember it in a bit.
Well, that's why there's a new game + option in this game, and this time, they actually allow you to carry over your equipment
It is the saddest thing, I want to play Abyss quite a lot
My two biggest problems with Vesperia is that it just sort of keeps going on for about 15 hours more than it has any business doing, and the writing make a huge deal out of Yuri's raging hypocrisy, but then it never goes anywhere and the characters just kind of ignore it entirely. He literally bounces from giving to receiving the exact same speech and is indignant about it the entire time.
Not to mention FoF wasn't useful until near the end of the game when you started learning the high-level elemental spells and the elemental skills. Most of the time enemies just moved around to much for you to get them going.
I liked the FoF bit. You could ignore it completely if you wanted to, but I found it fun to play around with. And once you get the ability to use FoF-boosts in half-formed fields, it's pure fun.
I just really don't like the idea of not having access to all of my abilities at once. Having to first use a particular spell and then hope I can get an enemy nearby just isn't fun. Granted, I didn't much care for having to spam the altered arte thing over and over in ToV to learn it either.
It keeps track of the attacks characters use. Any elemental attack forms at least a half circle. The next time that attack is used, it forms a full one. 100% of the time. If you never see them until the end of the game, it's because you're playing on entirely too easy a difficulty. They should be a staple of boss fights, especially early on when the auto-interrupt is invaluable.
Also, the circle is formed where the attack was targetted. But you know, I guess I can see how it could be hard getting an enemy to where they currently are.
Really, the FoF created by most low-level spells were useless unless you were using a physical skill that allowed you to put them out fast enough. As for overlapping them with spells and Tear's FoF skills, that was also doing. But really, those were hindered by their chant time. Basically, you were hoping that the enemy hadn't moved out of range by the time the chant was released.
Then you would have to add into the equation of whether or not enemies had elemental attacks that could cancel out your own FoF, then whether or not the FoF would be cancelled out becuase the game had met the limit for the number it could have onscreen. Sure, you could use the enemies FoF against them but most of the time those were for elements they were strong with so that was a waste of time.
So, imo, I would still say that they were viable or all that useful until the end of the game where you could get them out much faster. It isn't hyperbole moreso as an agrument of risk vs. reward. And early game the entire FoF mechanic was simply too much risk for too little reward, imo. I guess I just didn't feel the need to use it when I'd rather just pin the enemy down instead of trying to set them up for the FoF attack.
I guess that's what I want to say in simple terms. The FoF were more eye candy to me than something you really needed to do. So, I wasn't going out of my way to do them.
The most valuable feature of FoFs is that you can't die while you're doing one. Guy is suddenly a machine with a yellow capacity core.
You also can't die doing 200+ hit combos that would normally be broken by a FoF skill.
Also, on the subject matter of Vesperia vs Abyss, I thought that Vesperia's story was disjointed, and didn't flow as well as Abyss. But Abyss loses with barely explained fonons and crappier characters (Jade being the exception)
I think the really scary thing about that video is that he more or less chews right through Nebilim until she gets serious, and then whoops, you notice that the video's less than a quarter done.
"You might just DIE!" No kidding.
I had almost started feeling bad for Karol receiving abuse on a near-constant basis until he was all MAN GUYS THAT WAS EASY WASN'T THAT EASY.
Karol is a beast, it probably was easy to him.
Karol will never have a place in a game featuring Pipedog.
Pipedog will never have a place in a game featuring anyone else available for use at all ohmygod Rapede is retarded
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