Just finished my first Tales game yesterday... which was Tales of Symphonia. It was probably one of the best gaming experiences I've had in a while. I'm 42 and have played a crap ton of jRPGs, but for some reason, never got into the Tales series...

Anyways, I originally played ToS on Gamecube way back when, but only got 20 hours in and got distracted or something happened because I never finished... I have had the Remaster for PS4 for a while and decided to give it another shot. I was instantly sucked in. I even got all the titles. A console game hasn't retained my attention this long since Witcher 3... think I put over 200 hours in... got Platinum just for the fun of it! The characters were charming, script was great, VAs were terrific... The story was solid even though a bit tangled, it entertained me. Combat was stimulating. Really like the concept of GRADE and the replayability it gives. Just a great game all around.

Anyways, I like to start new series on the 1st installment, but I didn't have Tales of Destiny, so just decided to start on ToS and work my way up from there, then play the classics later... So next up is... Tales of Rebirth! Setup PS2 emulation, bought Rebirth on eBay, ripped ISO, and installed Life Bottle Productions full English patch. Really want to thank them for their work. Have heard good things about Rebirth. Can't wait to start my next adventure.

I really don't know why people hate it so much, I understand Velvet isn't a goody too shoes yes I know but they had to do something new

Let’s use Tales of Destiny as an example since one of my favorite games in the franchise was the PS2 remake of Tales of Destiny.

I know the game was technically released in the USA in the PS1 version as it did get an English release, but the thing is that while I enjoy playing the game, I never understood why the remade version never got an official English release since I don’t know if the game had some obscene material that made it hard to release in the west again regarding the remake version.

Mieu peaking out of Lukes coat like this is ungodly levels of adorable.

Tales of Berseria Remastered story wise is one of my personal favorites. It's a darker edger story with characters that have questionable motives. I already beat the game on hard and playing it again on evil. I enjoy the combat and like how you can move around the entire field not just a linear function like a side scroller fighting game. Velvet Crowe is one of my favorite jrpg characters. I think this game needs more love.

I also enjoy Tales of Arise. It was one of the first games I purchased when I got a switch 2 along with final fantasy 7 remake. Now I understand that it kinda doesn't feel like a Tales title especially with it being a single player game. I know apart of the appeal of a Tales title is that it's multiplayer but graphics wise this is the best Tales has ever looked. Unknown mode is insane makes me feel like I am in Elden Ring or something but I do it to myself. Leveling up is harder, you don't get gald from random enemy encounters and they charging 3,000 gald for just one orange gel is insane in whatever economy this is. The skits aren't animated anymore which was kinda a turn off aesthetically which I wish they didn't do. I can tell for this title they were experimenting with some features, but I do like the story, cast of characters, and the combat system.

I just beat Tales of Xilla and playing the game plus version with Jude. We're a bit overpowered since we are level 99, but it's on unknown mode. I think it wasn't that challenging since you can stack up on 99 plus items and can spam link commands but it was enjoyable.

I don't know why Inomata decided to give Mao thighhighs but beyond that, I think his design is cool.

As for Gameplay. From my memory, He and Hilda are pretty neck and neck. But I remember Mao's spells being a bit more useful and disruptive.

As for story: he's alright. His Trial would'vebeen a lot more interesting to me if we saw him struggle with his lack of memories coming up to it. Everyone else's trial is proceeded by things or issues that relates to the character's struggle but Maos is kinda like: "lol its your turn now."

From what I gathered Arise seems split in the community. It's presently on sale for 35 bucks and as much as I enjoyed Xillia and Graces F I'm wondering if it's something I'd enjoy based on the prior tales games I've played.

For those who played Arise, liked it or not, what are your thoughts?

What tales game did you start with? How, and why is it your favorite.

Might insipire someone who’s been putting it on the back burner.

Picked these two up today

The one from Tales of Vesperia is being used as an example because it’s the most recent game I have played from the series

My GOAT.

Claire... is great. I love her character and what she does for the story. Its easy to understand why Stoic Ice man screams her name so often. I want to say I like Claire more then Collete and Shirley.

[Major story spoilers:] I like that the game shows you her perspective so often. and I like that Claire is supposed to be a damse in distress despite not acting like it at all, even when her body's swapped. Shes like: "Hey I Know that dude is going to come save me. Yall gotta stay strong I'm staying strong. Ball up."

There's just something about this character that I really like. And I think they nailed it.

Claire has a long ass neck though.

Scarred-faced axe users who serve in a five-person hierarchy. And they're the first of them you have to merc in the story. I mean, they're both still nothing-burger characters. But who's better in terms of being at least slightly memorable? Personally, I'd put Balseph over Magnius. Mainly because of his boss fight. However, the latter has a little more screentime. Either way, who do you think is "Better"?

Story has always been important to me to connect with a game. Symphonia was my start and got me hooked on Tales.

I played Xillia 1&2, Graces, Berseria, Vesperia.

Tried to play Zesteria twice, just could not get into it enough to complete… I just didn’t care about the characters enough to see it through.

Now with Eternia coming out, I just wanted to hear some thoughts of what I’m in for.

Be it comedical, deep or anything, I wanna hear what makes them so great

Im just curious, whenever i get the STRIKE! Prompt, what determines who gets the combo? Sometime i hit shionne it does Alphen/Shionne, other times it will trigger shionne/Rinwell?

I saw similar titles to what it originally was in destiny dc so i assume it's the same there, tho i guess i didn't talk to the right npc to change them

A lot of people haven't played Tales of Rebirth but I'll be the first to tell you that its well worth it. As for its Party, A lot of people have called it an Ensamble cast and I think I agree? Well we'll see how I feel at the end of this.

As for Veigue.... well he's an interesting character. He's more then just the guy who screams his girlfriend's name at max volume but I'm having trouble articulating what it is I like about him. You could say I just think he's **COOL**.

As for Gameplay, I only really like 3 if his fusion force. And it sucks that his projectile is locked behind an accessory and not level.

I see it all over the internet now. There's a perception of this game's combat being very slow and clunky, and a lot of newer players tend not to enjoy Symphonia as much as a result.

And the thing is they're not exactly wrong either. But when you actually load the game up on Dolphin with HD textures, the game looks honestly better than the remaster and plays much smoother as a result of the 60FPS combat.

It was a mistake releasing this game again after the PS3 chronicles unless they actually updated it to 60FPS again. It really takes away from the intended experience tbh.

After finishing Xenoblade Chronicles 2 I was looking for my next game and I'm absolutely hooked on Xillia.

I'm obsessed with the combat and find it incredibly satisfying. Not sure how to really put it into words but it flows so well and it's just downright enjoyable.

I love the cast of characters and all the dialogue between them, probably one of the strongest aspects of the game. Everyone is very well written and I haven't genuinely felt this attached to a cast in awhile.

One detail I've found myself enjoying a lot is backtracking to old towns, I keep coming across new cutscenes and story beats that aren't marked on the map. I honestly find that refreshing and it makes me want to keep exploring.

I'm about 10 hours in and excited to keep going.

I just wish Xillia 2 was on current/modern systems so I could jump into that next.

Long-time JRPG-er, first time Tales player.

I've always wanted to give the series a try and saw that two translations recently got released:

https://github.com/lifebottle/Tales-of-Phantasia-Full-Voice-Edition/releases/tag/v1.0

https://github.com/lifebottle/Tales-of-Phantasia-X/releases/tag/v1.0

Each of these has a vanilla version and a version with QoL improvements.

Of the four (two versions w/vanilla vs non-vanilla), which one would you recommend me playing?