Tales Of ... series - Vesperia out on Steam

[HoboForEternity]

how edgy is the main chick?

 

[Mojobeard]

So how I play these games is I take some days off, drink a lot and eat pizza. And Zestiria didn't deserve that. But this one is pretty good.

I'm about 8 hours in right now. The gameplay is more musou. You pretty much mash X, Y or B depending on the enemy type (or just whatever you want) and then press RT whenever you got 3 or four diamonds. Then the game RNGs the whatever super finisher is best for the enemy type. If there's a boss you sometimes press LT. Then anime cutscenes happen and you adjust cosmetics. It's alright.

It's not as good as Vesperia, about Symphonia tier, definitely not as shit as Zestiria either. The characters are good, plot's not, the usual. I'd recommend it.

 

[Deleted member 7219]

So how I play these games is I take some days off, drink a lot and eat pizza. And Zestiria didn't deserve that. But this one is pretty good.

I'm about 8 hours in right now. The gameplay is more musou. You pretty much mash X, Y or B depending on the enemy type (or just whatever you want) and then press RT whenever you got 3 or four diamonds. Then the game RNGs the whatever super finisher is best for the enemy type. If there's a boss you sometimes press LT. Then anime cutscenes happen and you adjust cosmetics. It's alright.

It's not as good as Vesperia, about Symphonia tier, definitely not as shit as Zestiria either. The characters are good, plot's not, the usual. I'd recommend it.

Interesting. I basically want to "herp derp" my way through the combat in games like these, because mashing combos is not my idea of fun. So you just press RT and the enemy essentially goes down without the need for any further button input? That's an improvement over Tales of Symphonia.

I might get it when it is on sale.

 

[Mojobeard]

So you just press RT and the enemy essentially goes down without the need for any further button input? That's an improvement over Tales of Symphonia.

I explained it poorly. RT makes you go beastmode, makes you unkillable/unstunnable for the length of its combo. And by combo I mean mashing a face button. You also hit harder, wider and stun enemies easier. Activating it uses one "diamond". Killing or stunning an enemy recovers one back.

Basically imagine getting the Mario star invulnerability back every time you stomp on a goomba. If you manage to kill or stun even a single enemy with the RT combo, you can stay in that mode forever by just activating it again at the end of the combo.

But so yes, you can just herp derp, even play one handed. Just activate RT, mash X.

 

[Mojobeard]

If you're thinking of buying it, a word of caution. There's some bugs, irritating if not game breaking, in the game right now. Frame rate can suddenly tank from the horrible unplayable 60 to a silky smooth 14 in certain areas. Your buddies AI can stop working indefinitely, where they stop using artes and only guard. Ultra wide screens don't work properly. And so on.

This thing http://steamcommunity.com/app/429660/discussions/0/142261352640205850/ mostly fixes the frame rate / frame pacing problems, but some areas may still need you to cap the fps to 30.
Also the beachwear DLCs aren't out yet

 

[cruelio]

Tales of Basura.

 

[tet666]

Y

If you're thinking of buying it, a word of caution. There's some bugs, irritating if not game breaking, in the game right now. Frame rate can suddenly tank from the horrible unplayable 60 to a silky smooth 14 in certain areas. Your buddies AI can stop working indefinitely, where they stop using artes and only guard. Ultra wide screens don't work properly. And so on.

This thing http://steamcommunity.com/app/429660/discussions/0/142261352640205850/ mostly fixes the frame rate / frame pacing problems, but some areas may still need you to cap the fps to 30.
Also the beachwear DLCs aren't out yet

Thanks i try the upcoming CPY demo first then.

 

[Red Rogue]

What do you think lads? Anyone else played yet?
I've got the urge for a console JRPG and I'm between Tales Of Berseria, Persona 5 soon, or maybe that FFX2 remake. I never played FFX2.

 

[Abu Antar]

There's a demo if you want to try it.

 

[Crooked Bee]

I've been playing this. So far the combat is too simplistic and easy (on Hard); I actually thought Zestiria's combat and skill system, etc., for all their problems, were relatively more complex and involved. At least they actually got me interested in trying out different stuff. This is just button mashing all the way. But I dunno, maybe I remember Zestiria wrong.

Also both optional bosses and regular enemies have been just laughably easy so far. That wasn't the case in Zestiria.

Other than that, it's just generic anime/JRPG 101, as almost all other Tales games (they should really make more games in SMT-ey settings like Xillia 2). The protagonist is pretty edgy, and as 'evil' as a Tales game protagonist can get though, if you're into that - but I fully expect her to change her ways and become a saint by the end of the game. The companions have been terrible so far.

But I am withholding my final judgment until I've finished it. This may be one of those overly long JRPGs that only open up after 20 hours or smth. But so far it's just button mashing. Then again, I did more or less enjoy Zestiria and didn't enjoy Symphonia. So I must be the odd one out when it comes to Tales games.

 

[HoboForEternity]

No swimsuit costumes no buy. The events leading ip to this point that tales gamecfinally have a good female main char is so we can dress her in a bikini

 

[Great Deceiver]

I've been playing this. So far the combat is too simplistic and easy (on Hard); I actually thought Zestiria's combat and skill system, etc., for all their problems, were relatively more complex and involved. At least they actually got me interested in trying out different stuff. This is just button mashing all the way. But I dunno, maybe I remember Zestiria wrong.

Also both optional bosses and regular enemies have been just laughably easy so far. That wasn't the case in Zestiria.

Other than that, it's just generic anime/JRPG 101, as almost all other Tales games (they should really make more games in SMT-ey settings like Xillia 2). The protagonist is pretty edgy, and as 'evil' as a Tales game protagonist can get though, if you're into that - but I fully expect her to change her ways and become a saint by the end of the game. The companions have been terrible so far.

But I am withholding my final judgment until I've finished it. This may be one of those overly long JRPGs that only open up after 20 hours or smth. But so far it's just button mashing. Then again, I did more or less enjoy Zestiria and didn't enjoy Symphonia. So I must be the odd one out when it comes to Tales games.

What would you say is the best Tales game? I tried playing Zestiria and thought it was way too slow to get going and combat was too easy. I never made it past a couple of hours. Never tried any of the other games.

 

[Hyperion]

General consensus is probably Tales of Vesperia with Abyss not far behind it. Yuri (ToV) is regarded as one of the best protagonists the series has had, with his zero tolerance for bullshit, but the rest of the cast blows. Luke (TotA) is...divisive, to say the least, but has Jade's sarcastic ass to make up for it, and Guy being a bro through and through. Both had excellent combat by the series' standards, using the original side scrolling style, but with the addition of being able to Free Run.

Vesperia is only available in English on X360 without a patch, unfortunately. Stupid move on Bamco's part to release it only on the system people didn't buy for JRPG's, but whatever. Abyss is a ps2 or 3DS title, making it readily available for emulation.

http://www.talesofvesperia.net/ This is the Vesperia fan translation patch, but has limitations, such as not being able to use past 3.55 firmware on the ps3, it seems.

 

[Crooked Bee]

Haven't played Vesperia but Abyss is alright. I haven't played many of these actually, just three or four I think.

Also, Zestiria's combat becomes significantly more challenging later on, in my experience, unlike Berseria's so far. The first few (or even many) hours are piss easy in all Tales games, and they all take a lot of time to really get going. So if you want challenge and fast pacing from early on, Abyss isn't for you either. Not sure about Vesperia, but I assume it's about the same in that regard, too.

 

[Emmanuel2]

What would you say is the best Tales game? I tried playing Zestiria and thought it was way too slow to get going and combat was too easy. I never made it past a couple of hours. Never tried any of the other games.

I've played several that are accessible to a PC + emu. I won't have an opinion for Vesperia, Xilia or Graces F and I'm still trying to find a Hearts R copy. I only did Mania/Unknown + Solo for some of the 2D ones, the 3D ones are just too slow to warrant a second playhtough.

The best gameplay is a tossup between Destiny DC or Narikiri Dungeon X IMHO. If we're not including the 2D ones for some reason, I guess Zestiria because it has some actual gameplay input and actual depth in terms of systems and next would be Symphonia: DotNW. I'd rank Abyss and Symphonia in terms of gameplay as one of the lower ones and didn't enjoy them as much as a storyfag would, but still worth a single playthrough for the skits and characters.
Tales of Rebirth is said to have one of the best gameplay but isn't translated yet.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

Abyss gets top honors in my book. People don't like Luke, but I didn't find him that bad. He's meant to be a heel, his entire character arc is centered around it, and I found the reprimands from the rest of the party to be entertaining at least. Luke's shittiness gives Jade more opportunities to shine. Great game if you have a co-op partner, too, if you focus on getting some good synergy with your respective character's field of fonons. I liked how you could use gems to enhance particular moves that you liked. And if you really can't stand Luke you can just play as Guy instead, there's maybe 1 fight in the game that requires you to play him.

I tried to play some of the 2-D games again, but.... eh. I have the same problem with them that I do with the Secret of Mana games, in that once you get spellcasters 90% of the combat becomes watching their spell animations fire off while the rest of the battleground is paused. Really breaks up the pace of the game. Eternia didn't have this problem and coincidentally I thought the battles were pretty great in that game, at least in Manual mode. Honestly reminded me of SF2 Super Turbo or something. Big, meaty and satisfying strikes that were just fun to land. Too bad the plot and characters were really forgettable / annoying.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I tried Abyss for a bit and holy shit, it takes forever to get going. I guess the animu level in this series is over 9,000 and really not for me at all.

 

[Krraloth]

Also, Zestiria's combat becomes significantly more challenging later on, in my experience.

It does become more challenging if only because the game lets you use normins and support skills to mix up enemy compositions, especially as reinforcements. I think that Tales should really give you control of the difficulty from the start of the game instead on tying it to actual battles fought or story-gate it. I personally played the game in Intense if only because item skill system is a huge pain in the ass and Chaos boosts the enemy parameters (not to mention giving them iron stance randomly) so much that casters will one shot you and bosses become bona fide mmo raid bosses complete with retarded teammates who keep getting killed over and over again.

 

[Emmanuel2]

I tried Abyss for a bit and holy shit, it takes forever to get going. I guess the animu level in this series is over 9,000 and really not for me at all.

I can't stand even average levels of Animu unless their gameplay really stands out. Abyss in particular takes around 1/3rd of the game to get going sometime where Luke realizes he needs to stop bitching. At one point, I just went fuck it and played the game in order to read more skits and how the character develop because they were more interesting than the combat and story itself.

If you want something abit more action-y in terms of pacing, try Narikiri Dungeon X. It has no bullshit backtracking, no overworld, and DMC-like /v/ style tournament gameplay where the actual combo-ing comes from positioning, planning and how fast/practiced you are as a player and not just attack -> base artes -> advanced artes -> mystic, even the low level artes has some use as a launcher, delay, positioning tool, etc. If Tales had a game that was remotely like DMC 3/4 this would be it minus the on-the-fly style switching flying guards, chaining JCs and trickster tricks.

I tried to play some of the 2-D games again, but.... eh. I have the same problem with them that I do with the Secret of Mana games, in that once you get spellcasters 90% of the combat becomes watching their spell animations fire off while the rest of the battleground is paused.

The newer ones: Hearts DS, Destiny DC, Destiny 2, Rebirth, NDX, Sergeant Keroro Tales of Spinoff, etc. removed that gameplay quirk. I heard that it was partly because of engine limitations.

 

[Great Deceiver]

I think the game that best pulled off this realtime combat with button combos thing was Valkyrie Profile, but that was almost 20 years ago. Has nothing better really been released?

That had some animu-ness but it was bearable, and the soundtrack kicked ass (same guy that does the Tales series soundtrack, incidentally). Also, the japified norse mythology story was worth a few chuckles at least, and it was nowhere near as ridiculous as some of the shit in these other games.

 

[IceyD]

how edgy is the main chick?

I'd say similar to Lightning in FFXIII. A lot of hardcore remarks directed at no one but herself.

Though I just got past a scene where she roundhouse kicks an 8 year old and now I'm in love tbh.

 

[Arkeus]

No swimsuit costumes no buy. The events leading ip to this point that tales gamecfinally have a good female main char is so we can dress her in a bikini

It has swimswuit costumes!
However it's actuallly less risque than Velvet's default so....

Anyway, I have been playing it a lot, and enjoying it a lot. Combat is somewhat easy but I still suck and end up having character dying which tanks my grade, especially against multiple groups of enemies at once.

Characters are fun. It does a good job of having secondary characters talking to each others about stuff and having a consistent tone and personality.

 

[sebas]

Worth 50 bucks fun or just fun?

 

[Crooked Bee]

If you like simple combo-based combat and/or long traditional (and animu-heavy) JRPGs, maybe.

I tried Abyss for a bit and holy shit, it takes forever to get going. I guess the animu level in this series is over 9,000 and really not for me at all.

Yes, the series is infamously animu. Just ask @eric_s why he called his company Tales of Game's (to mock this series basically, iirc).

Personally I don't like animu (never even really watched any anime except by chance), so I rarely like the characters or story in this or most other JRPGs, but I actually enjoy how slow-paced and long these RPGs are (there's something about longer RPGs that I enjoy -- which is also part of the reason I loved Trails in the Sky FC, although that game was just great in general). Especially if the gameplay is decent enough / not too atrocious.

 

[e-mailio estevez]

I like the slow pace, too, only problem is once you start a Tales game you know you're in for a *real* commitment if you actually plan to finish it.

I haven't actually finished one since Vesperia, mostly due to that.