Tales of this thread Page 4

Started by Sydian September 7th, 2015 9:25 PM
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U.Flame

Maker of Short Games

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Posted January 17th, 2023
1,322 posts
14.9 Years
Woo Tales thread! So I was super hyped for Zestiria, but I didn't get the chance to preorder...nor can I even afford it now. Still hyped though, trying to avoid spoilers.

So I recently got Hearts R, and I quite liked it.
Spoiler:
The story and ending weren't exactly disappointing, but it wasn't emotional enough to make me cry. Usually most Tales games do.

I think most complaints about the translation don't take into account that most localizations change things up a bit. Though I can agree that without a dub, it's kinda weird to notice the inconsistencies between the text and the voices. Like changing Shing's name to Kor. Even without knowing Japanese it's obvious the characters aren't calling him Kor.

Now that Zestiria's out, is there any word on the Innocence translation possibility? They said they were focusing on Zestiria so now what's their plan? I believe Hearts R did well enough for them to consider it, so I'm hoping. Played DS Innocence with the Absolute Zero English patch, and it turned out to be one of my favorite games, with one of the most interesting settings and characters.

So one thing I've wanted to talk about is Xillia's battle system. Is it me or does it seem really unbalanced? Like, most of the time I'm either doing massive damage or none at all, and it's impossible to keep up a combo. Xillia 2 fixed a lot, especially with the comboing. God I love Xillia 2, truly one of my favorite games, next to Abyss.
Spoiler:
Freakin dark story, super emotional. Cried throughout the whole fight with Ludger's brother and even harder during the following scenes. And holy **** the whole Victor thing.
I love the much more modern setting, with things like phone and memes being a thing.
The more you learn about something, the more you realize just how much you don't know. I've shelved my more ambitious ideas in favor of smaller, more feasible projects and contributions. While I still have an ongoing project, and still intend to experiment with improving Gen 3's multiplayer, it's been much less stressful doing smaller things, like entries for Anthroyd's MAGM contests.

Of which you can check out here:
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ソラ

May My Heart Be My Guiding Key

Age 32
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Seen April 7th, 2023
Posted March 18th, 2023
2,002 posts
15.2 Years
Now that Zestiria's out, is there any word on the Innocence translation possibility? They said they were focusing on Zestiria so now what's their plan? I believe Hearts R did well enough for them to consider it, so I'm hoping. Played DS Innocence with the Absolute Zero English patch, and it turned out to be one of my favorite games, with one of the most interesting settings and characters.
I honestly dont see them bringing over Innocence as it isnt one of the popular Tales. Tales of Hearts R was a must, its probably one of the most popular beyond fans. I got bored of ToI-R fast, I felt like the game was mostly a chore. Hearts R I loved (still havent gotten the english version...lol), I do have the DS version of Hearts (anime edition) and i plan on playing it, But its in my back log.

I also heard mixed things about ToZ, not gonna say them. But I have second thoughts on buying it. Or waiting for the price is low, the main reason I am picky with games now is the money, i have a daughter to raise and I cant blow it on games I may dislike or think its a chore, i cant blow off 60 bucks (USD) for a game.

Dragon

lover of milotics

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Posted October 24th, 2022
11,170 posts
9.7 Years
You know, speaking about ToZ... maybe I've been a little too hard on it? I mean yeah, it has it's obvious faults (like that trolly camera haha). But I must admit, the game leaves a great lasting impression on me; the characters are lovable and memorable, and while the story gets kinda.. bland at times, there are really some epic and emotional moments that I remember all to well, making me more into the game, you know?

It's not perfect by any means, but, I'd say, maybe it's a good game to recommend to people down the road to set a certain tone for Tales games, or if they want to get into the series. Sure, the battle system gets kinda.. mindless, but it does leave room for strategy with equipment and combo ties. It's actually pretty fun in that regard! Just a thought!


"Let the fools who stand before me be destroyed by the power you and I possess...
DRAGON SLAVE!"

ソラ

May My Heart Be My Guiding Key

Age 32
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Posted March 18th, 2023
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15.2 Years
Well I dont usually listen to critics, I listen to my close friends. Most of them told me to wait until it drops, it isnt the best Tales, and its not as well as people thought it would be.

Sydian

fake your death.

Age 30
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Posted November 29th, 2021
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15.2 Years
I've kind of been in the mood to get back to Xillia 2 and work on affinity + debt + final dungeon. And play a bit of ng+ for Ludger's voice. I don't see myself fully completing Xillia 2 again bc I don't think I can handle it, haha. Also, whoever mentioned liking the more modern setting of the Xillias, I definitely agree. I kind of groaned at the more medievall thing Zestiria had when I went to that right after consecutive Xillias, haha. I mean, I know, roots and all, but Elympios was so refreshing.

Well I dont usually listen to critics, I listen to my close friends. Most of them told me to wait until it drops, it isnt the best Tales, and its not as well as people thought it would be.
I think you should play it safe and wait on a price drop. I wouldn't call it horrible, though. It's playable, but it's disappointing in a lot of aspects.
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ソラ

May My Heart Be My Guiding Key

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Posted March 18th, 2023
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I think you should play it safe and wait on a price drop. I wouldn't call it horrible, though. It's playable, but it's disappointing in a lot of aspects.
that's what im doing. I think imma wait until the drop.
as of right now, I've been playing Tales of the Abyss, and Tales of Xillia.
Abyss is beyond my favorite Tales in the series. Xillia 2 is my 3rd, and ToV(Ps3) is my 2nd. I have also been playing a bit of Vesperia again as well every now and then. haha.

Cherrim

Age 34
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20.4 Years
Yeah, wait for a price drop. I think it'll happen pretty soon because even Xillia and Xillia 2 had pretty big price drops/sales within 6 months and Zestiria is by far an inferior experience than both of them. :s

Or just skip it until it's crazy cheap and play older Tales in the meantime...! :D I started playing Phantasia PS1 recently and I'm so surprised at how good it is. I remember trying to play the GBA version and it was so bad, not to mention apparently it was a terrible localization, so I guess I was really surprised at how much I've been enjoying it. Even the battle system isn't as frustratingly dated as I thought it would be.


paired with professor plum.

Sydian

fake your death.

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Posted November 29th, 2021
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Or just skip it until it's crazy cheap and play older Tales in the meantime...! :D I started playing Phantasia PS1 recently and I'm so surprised at how good it is. I remember trying to play the GBA version and it was so bad, not to mention apparently it was a terrible localization, so I guess I was really surprised at how much I've been enjoying it. Even the battle system isn't as frustratingly dated as I thought it would be.
I almost bought the GBA port and I had a voice in my head telling me it was probably a bad decision, so I'm glad I didn't, haha. Are you playing on emulator?
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alisaie

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Seen March 14th, 2023
Posted February 3rd, 2022
13,598 posts
14.8 Years
Phantasia GBA is so bad lmao. I got as far as Dhaos' castle before giving up on it. Does remind me that I should see about playing the PS1 version sometime on Emulator though. Guess I can add that to the list of Tales of Games I need to play (which is pretty much all but Symphonia, Dotnw, Abyss, and Vesperia oops). I have Legendia but I have problems playing it because it's not multiplayer. :x Honestly I think that's why I haven't tried playing any of the games prior to Symphonia because it's just... not the same if I don't play them alongside my sister. .

Cherrim

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20.4 Years
I almost bought the GBA port and I had a voice in my head telling me it was probably a bad decision, so I'm glad I didn't, haha. Are you playing on emulator?
Yep. I'm just playing it straight up in Japanese so I didn't have to worry about deciding on a fan-translation to use but apparently there are two out there and they're both really good. Much better than what bamco did with the GBA version which, aside from accidentally spellchecking "Ragnarok" to "Kangaroo", was apparently just a really boring, dull script.


paired with professor plum.

ソラ

May My Heart Be My Guiding Key

Age 32
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Posted March 18th, 2023
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15.2 Years
Yeah, ive been playing Abyss mostly. Since my drug addict brother stole my old 3DS with Abyss in there, I finally got a replacement game, and been playing it. :)
on the side Ive been playing Xillia too (I never finished Milla's side in english, I want to finish it). I also plan on replaying Xillia 2 (mostly for Ludger's voice.)

Sydian

fake your death.

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Posted November 29th, 2021
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Yeah, ive been playing Abyss mostly. Since my drug addict brother stole my old 3DS with Abyss in there, I finally got a replacement game, and been playing it. :)
on the side Ive been playing Xillia too (I never finished Milla's side in english, I want to finish it). I also plan on replaying Xillia 2 (mostly for Ludger's voice.)
I was thinking about replaying tox for Jude's side since I played Milla's and then tox2 for Ludger's voice. It's imperative that I hear it more. lol

I started a replay of Abyss back in winter when I got the 3DS version, but never finished cause school got hectic. I think I might go back to that one after I play Vesperia. Or maybe right after I finish Earthbound, idk.
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I can't believe this thread exist inside a Pokemon forum {D:}

Well, I knew this franchise from a magazine back in primary school. I fell in love at the first sight with the battle system. It's not strategy like how Final Fantasy is, but a real time action battle that is more fun in my mind. After that, I decided to try out Abyss in my PS2. Not only that the system is fantastic, the story is just awesome! ^^

But, sadly, I can't play most of the series. The main reason is because I can't afford to buy the consoles and the game itself. Most of the time, I watch almost all of the series from a playthrough in youtube. As of now, I've played only Abyss, Eternia, Symphonia, and Graces. ;-;

And about Zestiria, I've been wondering why no one talk about Alisha here. :P

Satoshi Ookami

Memento Mori

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14.8 Years

And about Zestiria, I've been wondering why no one talk about Alisha here. :P
Because we all know she's the best girl even without talking about it =D
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Nah

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Yeah I'm kinda quoting old posts but was pretty sure I had gotten far enough today to open them (and I was right) and I wanna say things so.....

Spoiler:

Okay BASICALLY, I don't understand why Bamco insists on killing off my favorite characters in their games like really??? Really??? You take Dezel away from me? :( I mean, I love Zaveid and could not wait for him to join the party but this is far from the way I wanted it Bamco..................so far from it..............
Spoiler:

It would have been really nice if that whole thing had actually been woven into the narrative, rather than just completely dropped on us like that. I mean, it was nice to know that these characters had actual backstory, but it didn't really relate to the current plot in any way at all! It just kinda...happened. There was no build-up, and the game in the wake of it was pretty stale as well; it was like it never even happened. It's exactly like what happened with Eizen - that was a huge, HUGE deal for Edna, and it hasn't been mentioned since. There's a ****ing DRAGON on top of the mountain! Are we not going to do something about that? Are we not even going to look for something to do about it?!

Spoiler:

I was a bit surprised that Dezel died. They even did it when I was starting to like him a bit. It's not like Tales games are immune to major characters dying; Zelos can die in Symphonia, but chances are you weren't going to trigger his death on your first playthrough. But Dezel is supposed to die as part of the main canon story. I admittedly wasn't entirely sure how Zavied was gonna join the party or if he even was gonna join at all, but I didn't think that they'd....make room for him basically, by killing off Dezel.

Though my gripe with it really is that they just decide to give us Dezel's entire backstory all at once just minutes before he dies. Like wtf that's not how you do good stories c'mon (also wanna say it was kinda weird how the party goes off to Glaivend Basin after completing all 4 elemental trials to begin the search for Heldalf, but suddenly decides not to after Rose gets a job. Like no guys, we got important world-savey **** to do, Rose's contract can wait. It ended up being hella story relevant in the end, but still). And Dezel's backstory didn't make much sense to me. I really didn't completely understand it and that kinda annoys me.

Also I wish that Dezel's hat became an Attachment item and not a permanent fixture of Zavied.....wanted to put it on who I wanted to put it on.

So 2 spoiler tags down, like.....10 or something to go

btw, since that basically tells you what part of the game I'm at now, roughly how far am I now?


And since I've now spent a fair bit of time with the game I guess I'll post some of my thoughts about it.....

Guess the first thing I'll say is that I do like the new artes and battle system for the most part. It's a little weird looking at first, especially if you've played other Tales games, but once you get used to it it's actually pretty good, with the little arte triangle and the whole directionalty thing with martial artes. Also thank Arceus that they made it simple again to charge up energy for and unleash mystic artes, the way it was in Xillia 1 was ********. I also like how SC replaces the TP of past games, and so you don't need Orange Gels to be able to keep using your artes since you can just guard and other stuff to get SC back. Being able to switch around your seraphs in the middle of battle is pretty nice too, as is armatization, though it's annoying how your party is sorta restricted based on the number of humans you have (which hasn't been a problem for the majority of the game so far but it's annoying as hell when it does happen). There's also no one where I'm like "I don't ever wanna play you really" (like Regal in Symphonia or Karol in Vesperia) which is good since you have to shift your party around a bit sometimes. Though I wish one of the cast was a dedicated healer archetype, but oh well. Battle camera is complete ass but everyone knows that and I almost can't believe that they released the game with it like that. I suppose you could call the majority of the battles "mindless", but that's kinda true of the other Tales games too.

The skill and equipment systems though.....really not diggin' it. It's actually not the worst skill and equipment systems I've ever had to deal with (Xenosaga 2 gets that honor), but I'm ~30 hours in and I still don't understand how the **** it works, even after the games tries to explain it to you via monoliths and skits. It seems needlessly convoluted to me. Though really that's not the truly bad part about it, it's more how it seems that the game seems to think that everyone should get it (drop rates don't help either) and that occasionally causes battle issues. The new artes system is an example of changing something up for the better, the skill+equipment system is not imo. You want to make something easy to learn but difficult to master, not the other way around Namco.

Music is pretty good overall, but basically standard Tales fare so there's nothing completely outstanding either, except for the crucible battle music and the music for the 4 trail temples (this one is sexy as ****).

And then the story and characters. They certainly aren't bad; no really cringe worthy lines so far and it does make you laugh and stuff sometimes (but goddamn why does Lailah have to be into (bad) puns, I have to deal with bad puns enough already with Kieran and Ben), but it's not really anything to write home about either. If it's your first JRPG or even your first Tales game I don't think you'd be awfully disappointed at all. It's just that, if you're like me or most of the people in this thread, if it's not your first JRPG or Tales game.....it kinda leaves something to be desired too. After playing a bunch of JRPGs and 4 other Tales games I kinda want them to come up with a story and cast that'll blow me away really, and I doubt I'm the only one who feels that way. I have the same issue with Pokemon really; after 6 generations and 15+ years of the series, I sort of have this high expectation/want that is never really met despite the games always being very solid anyway. The story also suffers a bit from the sequence of events not always flowing together nicely and it often (so far anyway) likes to not give any story relevant info for long periods of time and when it does drop hints they're either extremely obvious (there's been several times when the cast understands something and I'm like "no ****ing **** guys") if not just outright say it
Spoiler:
oh hey btw Heldalf is Maotelus as a hellion
or just leaves you being like "c'mon I can't figure it out just tell me already =( " (though it may just be that I'm not terribly good at figuring out stuff sometimes). And while I do still have a decent chunk of the game to go I really doubt that what's left of the story is really going to be amazeballs or anything. Also Sorey is such a typical shonen protagonist it hurts.

Lailah is my favorite character to play as (and my sister has a penchant for to playing as Meebo Mikleo), but honestly my favorite character as a character is Edna; she's such a snarky little **** and I love it.

so yeah
tl;dr: Zesteria isn't a bad game and does some good things/things that are an improvement over past games, but also has some significant flaws that make me not love it either. Though I daresay that I think I may like it more than Xillia 1.
Nah ンン
“No, I... I have to be strong. Everyone expects me to."

Sydian

fake your death.

Age 30
they/them
Georgia
Seen May 22nd, 2022
Posted November 29th, 2021
33,354 posts
15.2 Years
Spoiler:

I was a bit surprised that Dezel died. They even did it when I was starting to like him a bit. It's not like Tales games are immune to major characters dying; Zelos can die in Symphonia, but chances are you weren't going to trigger his death on your first playthrough. But Dezel is supposed to die as part of the main canon story. I admittedly wasn't entirely sure how Zavied was gonna join the party or if he even was gonna join at all, but I didn't think that they'd....make room for him basically, by killing off Dezel.

Though my gripe with it really is that they just decide to give us Dezel's entire backstory all at once just minutes before he dies. Like wtf that's not how you do good stories c'mon (also wanna say it was kinda weird how the party goes off to Glaivend Basin after completing all 4 elemental trials to begin the search for Heldalf, but suddenly decides not to after Rose gets a job. Like no guys, we got important world-savey **** to do, Rose's contract can wait. It ended up being hella story relevant in the end, but still). And Dezel's backstory didn't make much sense to me. I really didn't completely understand it and that kinda annoys me.

Also I wish that Dezel's hat became an Attachment item and not a permanent fixture of Zavied.....wanted to put it on who I wanted to put it on.
Spoiler:
Yeah, I addressed the issues of dumping his story like that in a later post I made, I think. But yeah, it's really dumb the way they did that. I was wondering how Zaveid was supposed to fit in as well for a good chunk of the game, but yeah. :x That's not how I wanted it. Also agree about his hat; I really wanted Rose to wear it and Zaveid taking it permanently literally right after Dezel dies is kind of rubbing salt in the wound, especially to those players that really liked him.

...So uhhhhh I haven't played Symphonia but I kind of love Zelos already and you're gonna have to let me know how to not let him die because I don't want this happening to me again if I can do something about it. v__v lol
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Nah

Age 30
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9.5 Years
Spoiler:
Yeah, I addressed the issues of dumping his story like that in a later post I made, I think. But yeah, it's really dumb the way they did that. I was wondering how Zaveid was supposed to fit in as well for a good chunk of the game, but yeah. :x That's not how I wanted it. Also agree about his hat; I really wanted Rose to wear it and Zaveid taking it permanently literally right after Dezel dies is kind of rubbing salt in the wound, especially to those players that really liked him.

...So uhhhhh I haven't played Symphonia but I kind of love Zelos already and you're gonna have to let me know how to not let him die because I don't want this happening to me again if I can do something about it. v__v lol
Spoiler:

Oh....woops, I had forgotten that you haven't played Symphonia yet, sorry D=

But it's really easy to avoid Zelos's death. There will be this point late in the game where you're in Flanoir and 3 people will come knocking at Lloyd's door, wanting to talk with him. If you turn all 3 of them away, Zelos will die. If you choose to talk to any of them (except Kratos), he will live. Chances are even if you didn't know that, Zelos would live since I'd think that most people would be inclined to say yes to whoever comes to the door first, what would be the point in turning them away?
Nah ンン
“No, I... I have to be strong. Everyone expects me to."

U.Flame

Maker of Short Games

Age 27
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Unknown
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Posted January 17th, 2023
1,322 posts
14.9 Years
Honestly I didn't think the GBA translation was horrendous. Playable at least. The fan translations are superior, and they're working on the PSP port too! Can't wait for that!
The more you learn about something, the more you realize just how much you don't know. I've shelved my more ambitious ideas in favor of smaller, more feasible projects and contributions. While I still have an ongoing project, and still intend to experiment with improving Gen 3's multiplayer, it's been much less stressful doing smaller things, like entries for Anthroyd's MAGM contests.

Of which you can check out here:
Naillevaihcam
Magical Altering Gym Menagerie

Cherrim

Age 34
she / her
Toronto
Seen 8 Hours Ago
Posted 6 Days Ago
33,049 posts
20.4 Years
Spoiler:

Oh....woops, I had forgotten that you haven't played Symphonia yet, sorry D=

But it's really easy to avoid Zelos's death. There will be this point late in the game where you're in Flanoir and 3 people will come knocking at Lloyd's door, wanting to talk with him. If you turn all 3 of them away, Zelos will die. If you choose to talk to any of them (except Kratos), he will live. Chances are even if you didn't know that, Zelos would live since I'd think that most people would be inclined to say yes to whoever comes to the door first, what would be the point in turning them away?
Spoiler:
They changed that in the PS2/PS3 version. Or at least, Kratos doesn't necessarily come to the door anymore unless he's in the top 4 for affection, so it's actually just easier to miss his route, lol.


paired with professor plum.
Age 25
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Posted October 30th, 2021
559 posts
12.7 Years
I bought Tales of Xillia 2 recently. I should be nearly done with it. The Chapter 12 boss was really enjoyable, it left a lasting impression though maybe that's not a good thing since I haven't encountered another fight that was that good mix of amazing and difficult and its leaving me a little underwhelmed. I'll just hope the final chapter has its moments.

I find it funny how I go through this process every time I play a Tales game where I think I'm ready to replay one of the other Tales games I own yet once I hit the forty hour mark of the current one my interest wanes immensely.

derozio

door-kun best boii

Male
Akihabara
Seen June 27th, 2020
Posted August 16th, 2019
5,514 posts
14 Years
I just started playing Zestiria today. My first tales game since this is the only one out on PC, apparently. I only played for, like, fifteen minutes since I have an exam tomorrow and couldn't have afforded more time, but I look forward to getting into the game! Will be back to post my impressions and possibly discuss more of it with y'all.

Sydian

fake your death.

Age 30
they/them
Georgia
Seen May 22nd, 2022
Posted November 29th, 2021
33,354 posts
15.2 Years
I bought Tales of Xillia 2 recently. I should be nearly done with it. The Chapter 12 boss was really enjoyable, it left a lasting impression though maybe that's not a good thing since I haven't encountered another fight that was that good mix of amazing and difficult and its leaving me a little underwhelmed. I'll just hope the final chapter has its moments.

I find it funny how I go through this process every time I play a Tales game where I think I'm ready to replay one of the other Tales games I own yet once I hit the forty hour mark of the current one my interest wanes immensely.
Oh trust me, you have a good bit more lasting moments that are coming to you...I don't even wanna think about them tbh...
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Nah

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btw, does Rising Up and Existence To Be Feared ever play more than once in Zestiria or no?

Also....
Spoiler:
Is it mandatory that you collect the Earthen Historia/iris gems before talking to Mayvin in Lohgrin? I did collect a bunch of them, partly at my sister's request (at least all the ones the party seems to want you to get by that point about General Heldalf), but can you actually proceed in the main story without getting all of those or not?


And I'm already near the end of the game.....saw the usual long Tales "let's everbody have super serial talks before heading off to the final boss (for real this time!)" scene today. Gonna do some **** before that, but man, already getting there =(
Nah ンン
“No, I... I have to be strong. Everyone expects me to."

Arc

Male
ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ
Seen March 17th, 2018
Posted January 31st, 2017
2,023 posts
15 Years
btw, does Rising Up and Existence To Be Feared ever play more than once in Zestiria or no?
Rising Up becomes Glaivend Basin's main BGM. So, just take a visit whenever you want to hear it again.

For Existence To Be Feared.
Spoiler:
You'll have to fight Aizen for it to play again. I don't believe any other monsters get the theme aside from major dragons.

Also....
Spoiler:
Is it mandatory that you collect the Earthen Historia/iris gems before talking to Mayvin in Lohgrin? I did collect a bunch of them, partly at my sister's request (at least all the ones the party seems to want you to get by that point about General Heldalf), but can you actually proceed in the main story without getting all of those or not?
Spoiler:
Yeah, it's 100% mandatory. You can talk to Mayvin, but he'll shrug you off, if I recall correctly.