Tales of...

[KageSora]

They might have been able to handle them better, though, if they had taken a different approach.

[Ryuu2]

Man, in Dawn of New World, my party had Emil, and my three Orcrot. Which happened to be high levels, and my favourite one knew every spell I could teach him. I barely ever used Marta, unless I felt I had too, but I would wander around on screen as her occasionally. If I could use Raine, I did.

There were so many skits with Mart-mart and Tenebrae talking about why Emil wouldn't let Marta fight, and one of them involved her stealing as the gels so he would be forced to let her fight.

[edwardelricfreak]

I liked that the original characters were there. I wish they would have made them more relevant, though. Again, it was a very rushed game. If they could have just had more info in general about everything it would have been better, because as it stands, YES, they were tacked on.

 

The following are some story spoilers onoz:

The whole point of using Lloyd was to make you wonder what the hell was going on and wanting to continue the game and find out that it truly wasn't Lloyd. Because even after you finally meet the real Lloyd he still acts pretty shady. >:U /end spoilers

 

It's really a shame that you didn't use Marta much. She becomes a powerful (albeit broken) character and rips enemies a new one with her spells. That and she's pretty fantastic at healing. I do wish she had stuff that affected more than one member, though, like Raine. Marta reminds me more of Natalia from Abyss. Her magic was very potent, but for single targets, unlike Tear who had group-healing. Having Natalia and Tear both in the party is amazing.

 

But I really didn't mind as much that Marta didn't have group-healing, due to the fact that your monsters were all capable of learning Heal.

Edited December 16, 2013 by edwardelricfreak

[7Deadly$ins]

I understand why they used Lloyd from the player's perspective. But think about any random people who live in the world -- after all the stuff "Lloyd" ended up doing, his reputation is always going to have that there and I really really don't like that. I also felt like most of the characters were missing the right "feeling" towards each other and none of them were really doing anything particularly interesting. The game didn't justify it's existence to me, as a sequel to Symphonia. It would've been alright if they'd gone off and did it's own thing, but since it tethered itself to Symphonia while not really utilizing any of Symphonia's stuff appropriately, I feel pretty eh.

[KageSora]

There were so many skits with Mart-mart and Tenebrae talking about why Emil wouldn't let Marta fight, and one of them involved her stealing as the gels so he would be forced to let her fight.

IIRC, if you left Marta out for 20 battles, then 50, it would trigger one skit respectively.

 

Emil being left out of battle did the same--with them both making me feel horrible. The 20 battle mark has Emil wondering if he even has a purpose now that he's barred from battle, and the 50 mark has him wondering why he's even alive if he's not allowed to fight. ;_; I JUST FELT SO HORRIBLE AFTER GETTING THOSE TWO... (checks game script... Yep, his parting line is "it's true! NOBODY LOVES ME!" in the 50 battle skit. Poor Emil...)

 

Speaking of skits, though, "Monster Circus" was my favorite. IIRC, that's triggered after taming 100? monsters, and Marta talks about putting on a show with them. "We'll start by practicing with an illusion where I, the

Fantabulous Marta, appear to be devoured whole by a ferocious beast." That never fails to make me highly amused--mostly since I think she'd have a rather hard time convincing a monster to not try to eat her for real! (I think it's kinda funny to just imagine poor Emil trying to get one of his big monsters to just spit her out and it's like got her by the hair and she's complaining about it ruining her hair or something... It's a hilarious mental image, IMO)

 

 

Also, guys, if you don't mind, could you please mark the stuff about Lloyd as a major spoiler? I know it's an older game, but with the HD re-release coming up it'll be allowing people who haven't had a chance to play it yet get their hands on it--and that one does happen to be a really major spoiler!

Edited December 16, 2013 by KageSora

[edwardelricfreak]

It's really hard to not say anything about Lloyd, though...especially if that's the part someone isn't liking (which it exactly is).

 

Besides, I wouldn't say it's a major spoiler. I guess I could put it in white, though.

 

I'd say my favorite skit had to be when Richter cooked for Emil...

 

I really wish they'd sort of remake the game. Keep it the way it is, but add to it and actually fill out the game. I want it so bad. I'd pay millions of dolla bilz for that. if I had that much

[Ryuu2]

You want a remake of Dawn of New World?

That is coming out, next year. It's a combo of Symphonia and Symphonia 2, and it's redone a bit to look better and hopefully allowed us to level up the characters in Symphonia 2. I hated that my character would be about 20 levels higher than Sheena, whenever she appeared, and everyone else.

I never got the Emil skits, because that meant I would had have to go so long with Marta, and yeah, it was a little strange being the healer, and I just didn't like that either. I usually don't play as the healer, because then ya'know, gotta heal people.

[edwardelricfreak]

I know about the "remake".

 

I don't just mean prettier graphics and minor updates, though.

 

I want MORE to the game. I want them to go in depth with the Centurions and their relation with the Summon Spirits. I want them to actually tie in the monsters with the main story because they are VERY detached even though they're needed to strengthen Ratatosk. I want the Katz Guild "sidequests" to not be the same couple of dungeons with the same couple of scenarios, only with different difficulty levels.

 

I've said lots of things I wanted different in my last posts. I want them all taken ino account for a proper remake, not just an "HD remake" which I've known about for a looong time it seems.

Edited December 16, 2013 by edwardelricfreak

[KageSora]

It's really hard to not say anything about Lloyd, though...especially if that's the part someone isn't liking (which it exactly is).

 

Besides, I wouldn't say it's a major spoiler. I guess I could put it in white, though.

 

I'd say my favorite skit had to be when Richter cooked for Emil...

 

I really wish they'd sort of remake the game. Keep it the way it is, but add to it and actually fill out the game. I want it so bad. I'd pay millions of dolla bilz for that. if I had that much

I dunno, I'd consider it a major spoiler--I mostly just stick 'em in white and have a note at the start and end of it.

 

Oh god, though, that skit with the cooking is really freakin' great. I love it so much. Poor Emil.

 

I wouldn't mind a version with more stuff added and all--I mean, Kingdom Hearts managed it with their Final Mixes (sure it wasn't MASSIVE changes, but there were some added scenes that helped fill in some gaps and some other changes to make it more interesting). I'd personally just love to see what the hell the other centurions look like! And a bit less of the "separation of gameplay and story" where the monsters are concerned. (Though, to be fair, the first ToS had some issues with that, too--I mean, Colette being able to fly would have been super useful in several situations as a gameplay mechanic but they just sort of ignore it mostly outside of the story part...)

 

Personally, I'd like them to feature more Aster if they did a version like that. I mean, I'm excited as hell to see them doing that light novel with more of him and it actually getting translated apparently. But it'd be nice if there was more... Apparently there's a manga running in the Tales magazine about Richter and it's showing some of him with Aster, but man I want it in ENGLISH okay. ;_;

 

ahahaha... It's just hard when your favorite character gets extra info released ONLY in a language you can't understand and it's too expensive to import them anyway even if you could understand it.

 

 

@Ryuu2--I dunno if you can level them, I don't think so, though. You'd have to ask somebody who's played the JP version. I just started ToS, so it'll be a while before I get to a KoR playthrough... Especially since I'm really trying to avoid guides and relying entirely on what I remember from the NA releases ahahahah...

Edited December 18, 2013 by KageSora

[edwardelricfreak]

omg what if YOU COULD PLAY AS ASTER AND RICHTER IN FLASHBACKS AND STUFF

 

There have been games that let you play as flashback characters. I think even Final Fantasy 7 did! And uh, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky (because you don't get to in Time/Darkness). So it could totally work!

 

But yes, I would love them to just add more to the game. They could do so much, too, and not have to change the base of the game much. Just add. They might have to tweak a little bit to get it all to fit but I'm sure it's possible. Hell, I probably wouldn't mind if they just tacked on stuff and I could tell it wasn't quite incorporated perfectly but it explained more stuff and added to the game.

[KageSora]

I would kill for a game where you could play as Richter and/or Aster. Like, you seriously have no idea. I love them both to bits and I love Aster way too much to be healthy (I mean, he's tied for my favorite character despite how little is known about him). Hell, I'd love an entire game taking place between ToS and DotNW that focused on Richter and Aster... I mean, it'd never ever happen. But holy crap do I love those two so dang much...

 

I actually am not sure who I love most--Emil, Aster, or Richter.

[edwardelricfreak]

Technically I think you CAN play as Richter when he's in your party...I don't think I've ever done it, though? Or if I have I don't remember.

 

But YES if there were like...times when Richter is remembering/telling his story of him and Aster, it would be awesome if you got to play as them. I think they could either be level-locked or just take over whatever Emil and Marta's levels are (Emil to Aster and Richter to Marta respectively, and even when they level up it also levels up Emil/Marta when you get back to playing as them, so you don't lose anything). And then you could (sort of spoiler) find and fight Ratatosk as a boss! Maybe Ratatosk summons a bunch of monsters, too o: Course then even if you win, Ratatosk kills Aster onoz :c (end spoiler)

 

They could go sooooo in depth like that, omg. It would have been such a cool way to tell Richter's story. Actually, it would probably be an end game + thing, so it wouldn't be able to be done until the second time you play. That would really up the replayability, imo.

[KageSora]

Yeah, you can--but it'd be nice to play as him for more than just those incredibly limited segments.

 

Ah man, yeah, that would be awesome. I just... I just really love them so much, hahaha.

[KageSora]

So, Symphonia Chronicles is coming out this month!

 

I've been getting steadily more excited to play DotNW on my PS3--anybody else getting really excited for it?

 

And, of course, Xillia later this year, hopefully this summer.

[7Deadly$ins]

Picked up the limited edition of Xillia the other day but I still haven't played it. As for Chronicles, I'm pretty excited for the original ToS, at least. Probably going to play it at least five more times.

[KageSora]

And Symphonia Chronicles is now available worldwide!

 

The part I'm most excited about is that my favorite character--Aster--FINALLY has an official last name, according to the light novel that came with the CE. He's now officially Aster Laker~

 

 

I would personally advise anybody who is able to read Successors of Hope but who has not played Dawn of the New World to play DotNW before reading it.

 

It contains spoilers for the end of Symphonia, naturally since it bridges the two games, but it also contains what I would consider to be major spoilers for DotNW, too.

Edited March 1, 2014 by KageSora

[KageSora]

So, Aselia Con is this weekend.

 

Anybody besides me going to be there? (I figure probably not, but worth asking, haha)

[purpledragonclaw]

I just picked up Symphonia Chronicles and Xilia. I'll have to track down Graces, I can't find it in stores.

 

I had no idea there was a convention for the Tales series. How was it, Kage?

[KageSora]

Graces is a bit harder to find, yeah, sadly.

 

It only had it's second year this time, though it did well enough to--provided nothing happens in the meantime--get a third year! It's cool because it's a fan-handled convention. It's entirely fan-run.

 

It was pretty fun. They're still working out things with making sure there's enough programming and scheduling it perfectly and a few other things like gameroom hours, but for a convention that's in it's second year, by people who are basically running a con for the first time from what I can tell, it was pretty good.

 

It's a small con so far, so (almost) everybody was pretty nice. We haven't attracted the jerks and the psychos of the fandom yet, thankfully (mostly).

 

It's mostly just really fun to be around a bunch of other people who like the same series as you do, and next year I really hope to cosplay for the first time in almost ever.

[7Deadly$ins]

Well Graces can always just be purchased digitally.

[KageSora]

True, though if you're a person like me who prefers physical copies... It can be a bit hard, which sucks...

 

But yeah, that's always an option if you can't find a disc!

[TehUltimateMage]

Woah, I didn't notice this topic before. Hello everyone.

 

Let me tell you a bit about myself: my first Tales game was Symphonia, then Vesperia and Graces F. I have Abyss 3DS in progress now as well as Xillia. Not sure if I should get Chronicles (since I already own the original and DotNW), but it's compelling.

 

I've seen pictures of Aselia Con and it looked pretty sweet, but it's so far from me ;_;

[KageSora]

I like Chronicles, it's in HD and the ToS is the PS2 version that was in Japan so it's got a little bit of extra content.

 

Plus there's the trophies and it's nice to have ToS and DotNW on the same disc.

[Spekularyon]

i've only fully played symphonia, symphonia 2, and abyss

 

but abyss is one of my favorite games of all time ;_;

 

i got really excited for graces too, but i don't have a system that can play it

[KageSora]

So, Hearts for the Vita is officailly coming out in winter! It's apparently a GameStop exclusive, though.

 

And Xillia 2 has release dates, it'll be August. The 19th for NA and the 22nd for EU.

 

A CE as announced, it'll have some cool stuff. The DLC costumes (Emil, Yuri, Asbel) appear to be available in the CE only, and so far only the NA CE.

 

A Day 1 edition for ToX2 for the EU is gonna be available, too, no word on if there'll be an NA equivalent.

 

Amazon CE's are sold out, apparently, though GameStop still has them.

Edited May 9, 2014 by KageSora