Just started the Water temple, pretty sure it's the last

>>378040067
Since the cons you listed are literally JRPG bread and butter stuff I'd say stop now before you realize you're barely done the tutorial

>>378040327
What can I say, I personally enjoyed better Zestiria than this, and Zestiria is mediocre as fuck.

>>378040067
If you like the gameplay, yes. The story gets MUCH better after the first world (when it stops being a FFX ripoff) and you get cooler party members. I didn't like the early parts either, but ended up loving the game.

>>378040067
>Dungeons are okay
they will get a lot worse
>The characters are extremely generic
yeah but some of them get a bit better, at least the new party members that you get later on.
>Should I stick with this game, /v/?
if you like the combat then yes, generic doesn't mean bad.

>>378040067
Before you drop the Tales series you have to play Vesperia...so fucking good!

>>378040067
>Symphonia
>difficulty spikes
What. Symphonia is easily on of the easiest tales games.

>>378041467
I fucking loved Berseria so I am not going to drop the series at all.

Just wanted to check the hype with Symphonia.

>>378041547
At some point in the game I had the decision to go to Palmacosta or keep exploring the land, and I did the latter.

The next 2 bosses were literal hell, specially the wind temple one.

>>378042016
Ya goofed anon.

>>378040507
yeah, I think I like Zesty more too.
I know I had a better time playing Symphonia but that was over a decade ago, and I wasn't big on anime back then so Symphonia felt fresh to me.

>>378040067
>Pros :
>Combat is fun
>Dungeons are okay

Rest assured, those two are going to shift to "cons" in a few hours.

Symphonia is literaly one of the worst game in the serie.

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Well if you did play Berseria first, it's going to be hard to play most other Tales games in retrospective.
Tales kinda gets by on its characters and combat. And while Berseria's combat is very ???? THINKFASTDEVOUR ad infinitum, its cast is leagues and miles betters than most other Tales games.
Only Abyss, Vesperia and Berseria really aim to break a bit of the animu cliche. Going further back or further to the sides in the franchise just kinda lands you on Generic Animu 2.0, which is the theme of the series.
In this case because the developers want it to be that way for nostalgia's sake.
Not that I agree with the choice, but at least it's an admitted one.

Jade>Anyone

>>378043413
>Only Abyss, Vesperia and Berseria really aim to break a bit of the animu cliche.
>Vesperia
>not animu

Vesperia is a very good game, but the scenario and characters are probably it's weakest point.
plus, Duke has to be one of the most retarded vilain I have ever seen

>>378044559

It's very animu, anything Tales is animu. I mean look at Berseria even.
>grown males arguing about beetles
>theresa casually talking about going around catching beetles for her brother
>two more skits about beetle-related shit
Who the fuck even brings up beetles in a conversation outside of japan? Nobody. Nobody does this. It's turboweeb crap.

But they do go a bit on the tangent with the plot. Not exceptionally, but more so than the other Tales.
Out of the three, Vesperia IS the most resemblant to the rest though, yeah.

>>378041467
don't listen to anon, Vesperia has a horrible list of characters. dumb cocky kid, bitchy mage, main character has no personality besides being an enabler, but it does have the best dog in any game.

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Symphonia is the worst 3D game. Yes, I'd say even Zestiria is better. But this really shouldn't be surprising considering how old the game is now.

Symphonia is really the series' jump into 3D which resulted in way better games being released like Abyss and Vesperia. A lot of people will get nostalgic about it, but it ain't that amazing. I will admit that some of the lines from the story are some of the most memorable in the entire series, but the game itself didn't age too well. I remember the dungeons being way more tedious than they ever should have been.

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>>378043413
>Jade>Anyone

Well /v/ which is the best Tales game, PS/N64 gen and newer.

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>>378045678

>>378045379
Did you just shit-talked Karol, Rita and Yuri ? Did you not remember how hard they worked together at their waiter jobs and all those deeply philosophical arguments over were to go next. Also don't forget Raven and Judith who make that bunch of adventurers so damn likable.

>>378041547
It is. Unless you screw yourself over and go for the hard route on your first playthrough.

>>378045953

Abyss.
Not because of anything else but because it's the middle point between good gameplay and good cast.
Most of the other games go for a godawful cast and good gameplay.
Or terrible ass gameplay and a good cast.

Abyss does a middleground on both.
Plus Luke was hilarious for a main character until he got the haircut of averageification.

>>378045379
Vesperia dick sucking is so annoying because a good part of is rooted in exclusivity. Or people who think they're also better because they modded their PS3.

>>378040541
To be honest, it does FFX's plot much better.

In FF X they were just whining and romanticizing Yuna's suicide quest, while Symphonia's cast is all about telling how fucking fucked up this shit is and at some point I didn't even know if bitch does it out of goodness of heart or just wants to fucking die.

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>>378040067
I mean, you can always just watch the OVA.

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>>378046340
Did you ever think that maybe it was just a good game with a fun cast and some of the most enjoyable gameplay in the series? I will dickride the shit out of Vesperia because it's just a good ass game.

>>378046471
Why?

>>378040067
>-The story is extremely generic
>-The characters are extremely generic
>-The world is extremely generic

Welcome to Tales, nigga.

>>378046549
fun cast is a reach. if you only had 3 good characters out of the 7, then you're way below the average

OP here, think I'm going to play a little longer and at least reach the next world.

>>378046217
>Unless you screw yourself over and go for the hard route on your first playthrough.

to be fair if this happens you'll get so good at the game nothing else will even remotely challenge you. except abyssion, I guess.

>>378046128
deeply philosophical arguments seems more like nonsensical bitching at one another until someone gives in.

>>378046353
What made it good for me is Colette's character; she goes along with the sacrifice thing not because she is pure or good of heart, but because she thinks herself worthless and believes sacrificing herself to be the only way to give her life some meaning. Very underrated character. >>378046471

>>378040067
>Water temple,
>Last one

youre not even 1/5 of the way

>>378047430
Last one of the ones of the first world.

>>378045639
>Symphonia is the worst 3D game. Yes, I'd say even Zestiria is better.
Oh please. I realize that it's become hip to relentlessly shit on "babbys first", but zestiria feels like a budget neptunia game compared to Symphonia.

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>>378040067
OP you was meme'd

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>>378040067
>>The story is extremely generic
Fantasy racism isn't all that unique, but Symphonia actually does a really good job of creating a world that demonstrates how insidious and self-perpetuating those kinds of social systems are, among other things. Its theme and basis of its plot is all about not necessarily racism but the cycle of discrimination and oppression and how it can effect the whole of the world [seriously you can substitute the half-elves for any oppressed minority group, not just racial ones] which is pretty damn profound. It's pretty much a perfect marriage of Anime-style JRPG and thoughtful storytelling.

>>-The world is extremely generic
A world where discrimination bred discrimination on a grand scale, a legendary hero's love for his sister led him to control the world with a religious farce, the protagonist is taken on a journey far beyond his scope that involves retracing the steps of the legendary hero they unknowingly oppose, and several levels of political intrigue collide is generic?

Maybe you're just too dumb for this game OP; it would make sense considering that your vernacular seems to begin and end at the word "generic". Tales of Symphonia is a masterpiece and it's much more mature thematically and storywise compared to most video games.

>>378047534
Yeah but I feel like combat's better so that's why I said that.

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>>378045953
It's vesperia PS3, despite the meme and shilling.

I'm like fucking 10 hours in the game, chill.

I doubt a Tales games of all things is going to be a masterpiece of storytelling.

>>378047557
>racism but the cycle of discrimination and oppression and how it can effect the whole of the world [seriously you can substitute the half-elves for any oppressed minority group, not just racial ones] which is pretty damn profound. It's pretty much a perfect marriage of Anime-style JRPG and thoughtful storytelling.

Yeah and it's been done to DEATH, this is what happens when you go for safe story telling..

>>378047613
Symphonia combat is simple and clean. Zestiria is a clunky monstrosity in comparison (while also being one of the most abusable games in the series). Dont even get me started on Zest's skill system.

>>378040067
You should have played this 10 years ago.

The hype you hear about this is from people that were starving JRPG wise on their gamecube and they finally got something to put their teeth into for years.

>>378047882
>I'm only 10 hours in!
Not an excuse considering how abundant the foreshadowing is. There is a skit when you first arrive at Triet where Genis mumbles that erasing every Desian on the planet wouldn't suddenly make the world a more tolerant place, shitting on Lloyd's simplistic worldview. If you couldn't grasp from that that the game has a lot more going on than what first meets the eye, you are an idiot plain and simple.

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>>378047281
>>378047557
My problem with this is that you have these strong themes and shit, and then you're looking at them through anime lens with needless melodrama and cliches.

>someone says plot important line
>what did you say?
>oh, nothing
>mfw I lost count how many times happens in ToS

>>378047034
And that's called Philosophy my friend

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>>378047557
OP blown the fuck out

>>378048267
Maybe I've just become numb to it or just generally expect not a literature masterpiece from Japanese games, but I can't remember any specific moments that go as you describe in Tales of Symphonia, in fact, game points out how MC is kind of dumb itself.

ToS is by no means original, but it's good at what it does.

>>378047557
I think my favorite part is how everyone notes on several occasions that Lloyd is walking the exact same path as Mithos to a t, but they still came to different outcomes because Mithos didn't fully understand what was it exactly what Martel wanted.

The game is all about people reflecting on each other, a person who can emphasize with other people really shouldn't be racist and treat other people like scum simply based on their upbringing. Mithos simply lacked empathy and twisted Martel's wish in his vision, while Lloyd didn't just want to do what Collete and others wanted to do, he wanted a solution that would satisfy everyone including himself.

>>378048626
The coffee scene is particularly bad.

>>378049102
You mean hot?

It's one of the only games I would use the meme "It gets better X hours in" which I would say 10-20 depending on how slow you are.

The story gets a lot better with many twists. The characters go through more development and your party becomes more dynamic, pacing improves, the villains become more fleshed out, and combat becomes more in depth with actual combos and plenty of artes.

The only drop in quality is the dungeons. They become much more frustrating later on with very slow and annoying mechanics. Still, they actually have puzzles so they're still better than dungeons post Vesperia.
>>378047557
>>378048502
Problem is OP isnt far into the game, so you're actually spoiling it for him.

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>>378049093
Lloyd also had a bigger and more varied party so different opinions helped.

>>378049102
Why it's bad? It's not even an misunderstanding, it's Lloyd catching on that there's something odd about Collete. He came up with a theory and proved it with experiment.

>Just started the Water temple
it seems you did the Hard Path, so yeah, facing the fake wind monster, the wind temple and the tower one are harder, but you get Sheena earlier. Be sure to get the summons if you are in that area, even Irifit and get the statue to the old man to get one of the best armors of the game later

>-So much backtracking
Use Noishe, the "dog". You need to find some rocks in the world to use him

>-Lack of voiced skits
HD version has it if you play with the japanese dub. English never had them
>hard
Early game is hard until the Tower of Mana or so. Set the difficulty in normal, defend a lot, combo a lot with Lloyd(set first aid of Kratos and Raine at each of Lloyd's slots), Kratos(go to tactics and make him go into the front and strike same enemy as Lloyd) and Raine as healer(tactics: make her stay in the back and let her do nothing or to stay away from the enemies). 4th character doesn't matter, because you are either forced to use a character to some bosses and either way Genis, Collete and Sheena are weak as shit early game so they will die pretty easily. Sheena is the only okay if you let with Power Seal, that will knock out enemies easily
Mid-game is when Genis is actually good, so set him is ex-gems to Strike, because his best moves are there. The only technical(T) that is worth is Indignation which you get much later on the road.

Play around with the Ex-Gems system. Make Raine based with concentrate and later do it with Genis. But Raine will be based and broken when she has that set

>Kratos
If you know that about Kratos then if you want him later on the game you need to do his events to get his affection higher. GC you always get his option, the HD you don't. And since collette is always high affection there is only 2 slots to get Kratos in there

>Should I stick with this game, /v/?
If you are having fun with the gameplay yes. 2nd planet dungeons are boring though, but the sidequests and extra bosses were neat

>>378049324
>tfw didn't know about Noishe 'till last 1/4 of the game
Exactly when you get air whatchamacallit.

>>378048626
>MC is kind of dumb
I actually disagree with this. The game shows that Lloyd is not booksmart, which works as a way to have other characters explain things about this world to him (and thus the player), but he is actually really good at catching on to things that are happening and people's feelings and intentions (like the coffee scene). Lloyd is not a generic dumb anime MC, and even the other characters don't realise this at first.

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No, you want bad cast and horribly executed storyline?
Go play Symphonia 2.

Oh my god I am suffering PTSD right now

Prequel never ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XW5PW6qbhxo

>>378049324
Why take Kratos when Zelos is the fucking best?

>>378049471
Well, that's why I said he's "kind of" dumb. His ADD is also somewhat annoying, but it's admiring how he's just frank, upfront and straight as an arrow, whenever he doesn't forget to put effort in.

>>378049324
>Play around with the Ex-Gems system
This. I thought Sheena sucked until I made her fast as the wind. Her movement speed and fast turn make her basically invincible, it's like Graces before Graces. Still weak on the offensive side though.

>>378049605
We already tried sequel, fuck that noise.

>>378040067
>Just started the Water temple, pretty sure it's the last one.
TOP KEK

>>378049819
Sheena is for polishing Lloyd's sword, if you see what I mean.

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>>378049469
Noishe is 100% useless, biggest disappointement for me, i thought it would be some sort of chocobo but no it's as slow as you.

>>378040067
Any way to answer OP, if after 10 hours you feel like shit posting and droping the game there is 2 main thing going on:

1) You are just tired of JRPG/Video game in general, so whatever you find is just an excuse to justify your ever growing disappointment with everything.

2) You sincerly dislike the game, Game don't "get better", usually past the exposition phase if you are not "charmed" it's fucking over, don't listen to anyone telling you anything get better after 20 hours, every JRPG i played i liked in from the first few hours and yes it got better but only from this perspective, not by forcing the slog.

It's very likely that you got over memed by internet and the symphonia fanatic, and then created big expectations for what should have been a modest adventure that you progressively grown into and fall in love with, congratulation you fucked up, go play something else.

>>378049613
You should have gotten both though. It doesnt make sense getting Zelos and losing Kratos because "Muh I can't fight now, sorry son. I will stay with your other dad"
Losing Zelos means nothing. Characters barely talk about what happened just "lol perhaps he shouldn't have been that mean to him, lol whatever", but when Kratos leaves they are always talking if "HE IS A TRAITOR? I TRUST KRATOS! BUT IS HE A TRAITOR? WHY IS HE TRAVELLING AROUND AND HELPING US? HE IS A TRAITOR?"

>>378050223
Noishe is 15% faster actually.

>>378050287
How on earth is this even possible?

>>378050358
Steamfags. Their first game was Zestiria and there's a lot of them on /v/

>>378040067
>Lack of voiced skits

Just turn on Japanese voices and enjoy

>>378050287
>Zestiria beating Phantasia, Abyss, Symphonia, and Vesperia

Makes me embarrassed to be a PC fag.

>>378050358
Photoshop

>>378050410
Don't Steamfags also have access to Tales of Symphonia chronicles? Also I'm pretty sure that most people had a PS2.

>>378050427
OP is most likely playing the GC version which is dub only with removed voiced skits and the Opening song.

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>>378051003
Ironic weebs probably hate Symphonia because it's just older.

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>>378051131

>>378049819
Sheena's even mid game can get some ex-skills to max tp and hp like crazy.
Kratos/Zelos can be broken with Super Blast
Raine is a beast with Concentrate, bitch will barely fall down even against Abyssion if you have good equip on her. Same as Genis
Presea and Regal with glory are beasts. More Presea, if you play as her then concentrate.
Lloyd has some ex-skill related combos which makes him better.
Collete only matter for getting items, or that ex-skill set that gives some % of exp to the team.