Tales series fans - what is your favourite Mothership Tales Game?

[Dragon]

Tales is a long running JRPG series. It features an action-combat system with real-time combat. Each title in the franchise is grounded in the Linear Motion Battle system where characters move on a linear plane much like a side scroller. Over the years the series has evolved to allow characters to run freely without being restricted to a line or radial movement for dodging. The series has a deep combat system that encourages pulling off special moves called Artes and create unique combos.

..But if your a fan, you'd probably knew all that. However, that said, what is your favourite Mothership Tales game? Just to give you a list of them:

Tales of Phantasia
Tales of Destiny
Tales of Eternia
Tales of Destiny 2
Tales of Symphonia
Tales of Rebirth
Tales of Legendia
Tales of the Abyss
Tales of Innocence (and ToIR)
Tales of Vesperia
Tales of Hearts (and ToHR)
Tales of Graces
Tales of Xillia
Tales of Xillia 2
Tales of Zestiria

Personally I enjoy Tales of Vesperia as my favourite - probably one of the few Tales games where I don't hate much, if not any of the characters, haha. The combat system is easy to get into, as I wish that they'll develop that in future titles! Tales of Phantasia is a good mention too; it's oodles of fun, though a bit heavy on the random RPG encounters. Tales of Symphonia is also always fun to play! I really love the length of the game, and the amount of stuff you can do there. :3

 

[Hi!]

Only played Abyss and Vesperia, but Vesperia is a really awesome game. I love the battle system of the games. Abyss was good too, maybe better in the story department but these games' stories don't really seem all that amazing to me. Gameplay is fun though, and I had a good time with Vesperia's system and characters. Great looking game too, sweet cel shading.

 

[Arc]

Dragon, you forgot Eternia D:

Tales of Vesperia PS3 for me. Contains my favourite cast in all of the series, battle system isn't restricted in any way, a fairly decent sound-track, and it's not lacking content department.

Just a little bit of insight, a lot of my adoration for Vesperia comes from the battle system. Mainly because it was incredibly easy to break the game with Overlimit. I really do mean, BREAK the game and I believe I mention that I get a kick out of abusing any RPG mechanics to it's utmost fullest, hehe. Earlier, I said that the battle system wasn't restricted, to expand on that, there is a lot of combo variety. You can have some incredibly stylish combos that will make your jaw drop, something that a lot of newer games don't offer to a high degree.

How Judith played was also a huge factor in enjoying the battle system as well. She's an unorthodox character, and I know some people can't play her at all or properly since she's heavily air-oriented plus her jump cancels are a bitch to do sometimes. But, I instantly clicked with her, because of that a lot of my enjoyment was trying to master her and optimize her combos. Did I also mention that Judith is my favourite Tales character of all time?

Oh, I would like to mention something. The English fanpatch for Vesperia PS3 is finally finished. And with it, came the Japanese -> English Vesperia Dictionary/Glossary, with everything organized and sorted for your needs. Every single thing is translated from story, skits, item names, artes, etc. If you ever want to take the plunge for Vesperia PS3, now is the perfect time.

Shoutouts to Gattsuo, he can go drown in a tidal wave.

 

[Dragon]

Oh, I would like to mention something. The English fanpatch for Vesperia PS3 is finally finished. And with it, came the Japanese -> English Vesperia Dictionary/Glossary, with everything organized and sorted for your needs. Every single thing is translated from story, skits, item names, artes, etc. If you ever want to take the plunge for Vesperia PS3, now is the perfect time.

Shoutouts to Gattsuo, he can go drown in a tidal wave.

I heard that it would prevent updates though.. is that true?

 

[Arc]

I heard that it would prevent updates though.. is that true?

The fanpatch itself requires that the PS3 be on firmware version 3.55 or below and with a PS3 running homebrew. So, yes? Though, that's not the fault of the patch but mainly of the homebrew.

I was mainly boasting that a dictionary/glossary was posted online for those who don't have a PS3 with the proper requirements though.

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

Graces.
Sophie was the reason why I started being interested in Tales.

 

[Judge Mandolore Shepard]

When it comes the the Mothership Tales games, I have only played Vesperia and Abyss. Of those two games, Vesperia is my favorite for a couple of reasons. First off, it was the first Tales game I played. My second reason why I like Vesperia is because I find Judith to be very attractive.

 

[Megan]

I've played Phantasia (which I also happen to replay at the moment) and Eternia. I really like Phantasia, but I'm certainly not a fan of Eternia, one of the reasons being that I don't like any of the characters. I've also watched LPs from Graces and both Xilia games and while I'm not neccessarily a fan of the fast paced battles, I really like how much effort was put into character development.

 

[Nah]

I've played Symphonia, Vesperia, Xillia 1, and parts of Abyss and Dawn of the New World but let's not speak of that thing. Yes, only part of Abyss. My sister was the one who got it and I didn't join in until partway through the game but then the PS2 stopped working for a time and I haven't felt like like borrowing the 3DS version from her or starting up the PS2 version again now that it works.

ANYWAY, I suppose that if I had to pick a favorite it'd be Vesperia.....which seems to be a common answer here. Xillia's story and cast wasn't bad but I kinda liked Symphonia's and Vesperia's stories and casts better for the most part, and Vesperia's battle and skill systems are overall superior imo to Symphonia's (which is a little outdated now) and Xillia's (did not care for the link system and mystic artes needing it and stuff). And a few other little things. Abyss I can't really factor into this because of my limited playtime with it.

 

[Sea Salt]

Tales of Graces introduced me into the series, so it'll probably remain as my favorite (I've played Graces, Xillia, Abyss, and Vesperia.)

 

[Super Skitty]

I haven't played too many, only Vesperia, symphonia, and abyss. Vesperia is certainly my favorite though.Wish I had a playstation so I could play some of the others.

 

[pkmin3033]

Symphonia would be my immediate answer, but the more I think on it, the more Eternia jumps out at me as being the more impressive title. It lacks Symphonia's more grandiose and complex plot, and it's not as technically impressive, but there is a simplicity to it that I still find absolutely charming. The cast is much more engaging and establishes far more rapport than Symphonia's cast do - who often feel like they're a bunch of random strangers thrown together for the sake of convenience - and it's surprisingly tricky in places, which is something that Symphonia never was.

I still love that game to pieces, but I think it's more because it was my first Tales, and I was so happy to actually get it because I never thought I would. I really need to replay Eternia to see if my memory of the game holds up to the reality of a replay, because if it does it'd easily take the top spot...

 

[Dragon]

My greatest Tales memories lie within Tales of Graces f as well as Tales of Xilla 1. Tales of the Abyss as well as Tales of Symphonia deserves some major shoutouts for actually being my first Tales games to help me get more accommodated to the series, so that's a huge plus! I really like Symphonia's story, and Abyss has really cute characters (Anise <33), Graces has a battle system that I had so much fun with, and the same can be applied towards Xilla, except I really liked the characters and the story, as well!

Each Tales game has their own strength, but I think they're all pretty similar to me in that the characters are pretty much easily likable, or at least developed enough to not be one-dimensional.

If you loved Xilla 1 then might I recommend you Xilla 2? That game is really outstanding; the design is just as lovely as Xilla, the combat system is still fun, and even better, the music takes a turn for more of a jazzy approach, to a rock guitar approach in battles which you know me well enough to know that I'm a sucker for the music in games, haha. Oh and most importantly, the characters are flushed out a lot more. You get to see more backstory with them, as well as a affinity system with them to give you more bonuses/skills!

The only problem is the debt system.. and I'm not joking on this: you're going into debt in the game. So every so often you'd get nagged on paying a certain portion on the debt, and the worse part about that is that you can't proceed to the main story intill you do, but on a plus side, that does leave you more opportunities to do sidequests/backstories.

Eventually you'll get used to it though. But again, I do recommend trying that out~!

 

[alisaie]

To be honest I haven't played as many as I wish to because lack of the system(s) (though I have a PS3 so I should be getting to more....eventually) but between the few I have played it's most definitely Symphonia. In fact it's my all time favorite.

Abyss, being the other one that I have played and completed, is a close second or so. In fact there have been times when I thought about Abyss being my favorite. But then I go back to Symphonia and instantly I'm in love again. I'm fill with all the feelings and fun times that I've had with it, the great skits, the great storyline and ugh. I can just go on forever to be honest. I know it has it's flaws (what doesn't) and there are things that could have made it better but I love adore the game and world so much.

Also Kharlan Heroes hi can they have a game one day or something more than something in Tales of Fandom II okay thanks.

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

If you loved Xilla 1 then might I recommend you Xilla 2? That game is really outstanding; the design is just as lovely as Xilla, the combat system is still fun, and even better, the music takes a turn for more of a jazzy approach, to a rock guitar approach in battles which you know me well enough to know that I'm a sucker for the music in games, haha. Oh and most importantly, the characters are flushed out a lot more. You get to see more backstory with them, as well as a affinity system with them to give you more bonuses/skills!

The only problem is the debt system.. and I'm not joking on this: you're going into debt in the game. So every so often you'd get nagged on paying a certain portion on the debt, and the worse part about that is that you can't proceed to the main story intill you do, but on a plus side, that does leave you more opportunities to do sidequests/backstories.

Eventually you'll get used to it though. But again, I do recommend trying that out~!

Isn't Xillia 2 claimed to be pretty bad? Or was it the first one...?

 

[Dragon]

Isn't Xillia 2 claimed to be pretty bad? Or was it the first one...?

Both are good though!

Where did you hear that they were bad?

 

[Satoshi Ookami]

Both are good though!

Where did you hear that they were bad?

I think I read it on some forum? It was just something that stuck in my head.
If they are good, it's cool.

 

[Sylphiel]

Oh gosh. Like a lot of people in here, I haven't played a lot of the Tales games myself - my own list is Phantasia, Abyss, Legendia, so far - but of the ones I have played, Abyss was by far my favorite. I mean, Phantasia was pretty good but for whatever reason I didn't play it that much. Pretty sure it wasn't because of the game itself, though! And Legendia was...eh. That one I definitely didn't get into at all, something about it. Or maybe it was because it wasn't one of the Tales games everyone kept talking about and I was disappointed over that fact, lol. Maybe one day I'll try it out again just because it's sitting on my shelves here.

But Abyss, oh that one I loved. It wasn't even the first one of the series I played (I forget if it was Phantasia or Legendia that has that honor), but it was the first one that sucked me in. I always found the storyline to be a bit interesting. Okay, a lot interesting. Characters were decently okay, too. So as of right now, that one's my favorite.

Although - this thread reminds me that I actually have Symphonia waiting on the PS3 here, since I bought it off the store a while back. Been trying to get through other games before I started that one. That was one of the first Tales games I always wanted to try but never could because I didn't have the right system at the time. I should actually go play it soon. <<

It might make me change my mind about my favorite one I dunno!

 

[Cherrim]

Taaaalles!!! My second favourite series!

I love the Tales series. I discovered it with Symphonia and played everything that got localized since then, but then I got a little tired of it after Vesperia, which I found kind of dull. I picked up Graces f about a year after it came out and fell completely in love with the series again, though, and I haven't looked back since.

My favourite game in the series is Xillia, but I also reaaally love Abyss and Graces. I think Abyss is still the objectively best game as far as plot and characters go, but Graces has the most fun battle system by a large margin. But the mechanics in Xillia, the simple dungeons (shut up I love the lack of puzzles lmfao), and the characters just... they pulled me in so much. I played Xillia for the first time when it came out here in North America and I don't think a day has gone by since it came out that I haven't thought about the characters or the story. I didn't like Xillia 2 nearly as much but it's still up there as a favourite because of my lingering attachment to the Xillia crew. I just. I have a lot of feelings about Xillia. If only it hadn't been so rushed. ;__;

Actually, my personal gaming goal for this year is to finish up the rest of the titles that I've yet to play! So for me, that means: Phantasia (I've never beaten this one), Destiny 1 & 2, Rebirth, Legendia (again, never finished), and maybe Tempest. I've also got Innocence R to play at some point, although I have played the original Innocence.

One complaint I have about Tales is that the battle system has been going kinda downhill since Xillia, at least as far as multiplayer goes. What really hooked me on the series when I started it was the fact that you could couch co-op. My favourite Tales games? All games I played with friends or family. But Xillia was a chore when you had more than one person and was honestly, it was way better alone because you didn't have to worry about sharing the link gauge or stealing characters to link with. Xillia 2 was a little worse. And Zestiria? I never played it with anyone but ugggh I never want to. It caps out at two people as well, but the crappy battle camera ensures even playing alone you have a bad time, so I can't imagine how frustrating it would be with more than one person. >_>;; I miss proper co-op so much because my fondest memories of Graces are intense boss fights where all 4 characters are player-controlled and working together instead of hindering each other. :(

But yes! Tales is one of my favourite series of all time and I love the characters in the games to pieces.

 

[RedJ]

I wouldn't say it's absolute perfection, but I'll have to go with Abyss. Xillia comes in as close second and would probably stand a chance of actually beating Abyss if Namdai hadn't rushed it out for the 15th anniversary. I haven't played Xillia 2 yet and I'm not entirely sure I even want to based on what I've heard of it.