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Old 2008-08-18, 20:32   Link #181
DeotoxSlayer
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Join Date: Oct 2007
Quote:
Originally Posted by Chaos2Frozen View Post
So... Does it mean that there's romance BEFORE the start of the final dungeon ?



... Actually, don't answer that
erm...he said there was no romance as of the last dungeon(nmeaning up to the last dungeon) so that's a no. Kinda dissappointing.
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Old 2008-08-18, 22:41   Link #182
Varion
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DeotoxSlayer View Post
Seriously damn, major turn off(for me anyway), I can't believe they didn't put any romance in there.
I was really glad they didn't, the last thing the game needed was a mediocre attempt at officially pairing Yuri and Estelle up. There's enough little bits for people to argue they should be together - side conversations and the like - but if you're expecting something outward like a kiss or whatever you'll be disappointed. It sounds kinda bad but Yuri pretty much loves everyone - the whole party is like one weird extended family that look out for each other and I really liked that aspect. Probably the one most outwardly affectionate to Estelle is Rita actually Well, in her somewhat tsundere way.

As for the semantics, I said that because I'm only up to the final dungeon. They could go out into the sunset arm in arm and get married in the ending for all I know, I haven't played that far. I'll take back my answer if anything like that happens when I beat the final dungeon tomorrow (spent most of today getting a couple of outfits and farming grade for my second playthrough and was too sleep deprived to continue by the end), but I seriously doubt it.
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Old 2008-08-19, 11:57   Link #183
krisslanza
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I like games that don't "shove" a pairing down your throat. Since then it means if you try to break it up in your mind you've made crack ;P (Unless said shoved pairing is the one I want. Then it's ok <<b)

Now this means any pairing is fair game! Kukukukukukukukuku. >:3
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Old 2008-08-19, 12:25   Link #184
kujoe
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I thought the romance in Tales of the Abyss is fairly done well. It isn't in your face or anything like that, but is rather in the blooming stage, alongside the main character's coming of age. If it were something like Grandia 2 or Symphonia, where the cuteness of the girl feels just as forced, then I'd probably be disappointed.

I'm interested in knowing how the party chemistry is like in Tales of Vesperia. The characters of Abyss are quite mature for a Tales game—well, at the very least compared most of its predecessors—and I'm hoping that Vesperia will continue with this vibe.
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Old 2008-08-19, 15:27   Link #185
Varion
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Finished the game a few hours ago. Simple bullet point 'review' like I did for Ratatosk:

Pro:
- A fantastic artstyle and really beautiful graphics. The battle backgrounds had more detail than the first trailer suggested, and the towns and most of the area maps looked simply fantastic.
- Day, night and weather systems were a really welcome addition that more games need.
- Most solid incarnation of the battle system to date. Fatal Strikes weren't cheap like I expected and were fun and exciting to pull off, overlimit is more useful than in any previous instalment, and there is plenty of variety in the available characters, partly thanks to the addition of subweapons.
- Memorable, likeable characters. Yuri stands alongside Estelle from Sora no Kiseki as one of my favourite protagonists ever with his mature, confident yet approachable personality, Raven is hilarious, Rita is intelligent yet adorable and the only tsundere-type I've ever really liked, and Estelle and Karol were a lot more endearing than I originally expected.
- Character relations, too, were well done - Yuri and Flynn's relationship was given quite a bit of focus, and the party themselves felt like an extended family constantly looking out for one another no matter what.
- Jaeger is certainly one of the more memorable series villains. The incompetent knights, Deco and Boko, were a lot more funny than I expected them to be, although whether they will be in the English version is going to depend heavily on the localisation.
- Longest Team Symphonia game yet - most people will get a solid 60 hours out of it without extras, and the time will fly.
- On the same note, plenty of extras, which was something sorely missing in Ratatosk. New costumes and accessories, extra scenes to see, unlockable new artes, cameo characters, the battle arena... there's plenty there for those who want to seek it out.
- Solid battle music - 5 regular battle tracks and numerous boss themes. A handful of other tracks were memorable as well. The final boss music was significantly better than Abyss's feeble attempt as well.
- Interesting, twist-filled plot. Although it feels slower paced than Symphonia and Abyss there are plenty of interesting developments and it's easy to get drawn into the world and lore.
- Plenty of high definition anime cutscenes, definitely more than any previous game. The visual quality was overall very high, as well, although the character art did suffer at times.

Con:
- The most disappointing soundtrack of Team Symphonia's games overall. Most of the area music was very ambient, and most of the event music was too weak to really add anything to their respective scenes.
- Much like Symphonia and Abyss the villains lacked depth and memorability on the whole and didn't really get a huge amount of development. Zagi's lack of development especially was almost funny - for a recurring boss you fight so many times he really didn't have a lot to him.
- There were a few sections of the game where the atmosphere felt a bit lacking - you were told the world was in grave danger, but you couldn't really feel it.

In conclusion then, an extremely worthy addition to the series that anyone who's enjoyed a previous installment and has a 360 should pick up. I can't wait for the team's next game and really hope they continue their winning streak.
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Old 2008-08-20, 12:29   Link #186
Asamidori
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Valdra View Post
Jaeger is certainly one of the more memorable series villains.
Yea, he's...pretty unique.

Both the way he acts and the way he talks, argh. *headesk* Someone stop him from mixng English words into the sentences. T_T
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Old 2008-08-20, 13:40   Link #187
Varion
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Asamidori View Post
Yea, he's...pretty unique.

Both the way he acts and the way he talks, argh. *headesk* Someone stop him from mixng English words into the sentences. T_T
But that's the whole fun! Oh well, I liked him anyway.

Just got hold of the OST and found a plausible reason why the soundtrack is pretty bad as well. It seems they did half of what I wanted them to - got rid of Shinji Tamura - but replaced him with a guy called Hibiki Aoyama, according to the OST booklet, who it seems is even worse. On that note, if anyone is thinking of getting the OST before they've actually finished the game, do not look in the booklet if you don't want to be spoiled. There are some really huge ones in there. A lot of the tracks I liked sound even better on the OST, actually, especially the final boss music which sounds absolutely fantastic.

As another note, the difficulty options on this game are easy, normal and hard, with unknown unlockable via the grade shop. There is no very hard. Unknown also happens to be insanely hard if you didn't inherit anything. I went for just 10x exp and inherit titles, lost the tutorial battle and was doing 1 damage to the enemies in the first area. Finally managed to beat the first boss... at level 20 after lowering the difficulty to hard up until about level 14. I'm really not looking forward to some of the later ones that hit hard on normal as it is. 閃覇嵐星塵 anyone?
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Old 2008-08-20, 23:28   Link #188
Asamidori
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Valdra, did you bothered with getting the secret mission for the Jaeger fight in Zaude? I read things on how to do it, but I don't really get it. orz (Or rather, I can't tell what it's like for Jaeger to "guard break".)
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Old 2008-08-21, 13:39   Link #189
Captain Yoruichi
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Just a heads up for American fans - the Tales of Vesperia Collector's Edition is available online only. Or, at GameCrazy, apparently. But GameStop and other retailers will only have the regular edition in-store.

If someone already posted that, I apologize. ^_^
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Old 2008-08-21, 19:51   Link #190
Varion
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Asamidori View Post
Valdra, did you bothered with getting the secret mission for the Jaeger fight in Zaude? I read things on how to do it, but I don't really get it. orz (Or rather, I can't tell what it's like for Jaeger to "guard break".)
I did it, just about. You basically need to bombard him with attacks until he starts guarding then smash it in some way (with the nice 'smash' effect that shows you've done a guard break), then launch 時雨 in pretty much that instant. It's a lot easier if you've got a second pad and someone who can use it. Yuri's decent at breaking guards, Karol's supposedly pretty good but I never used him, as is Rapido with Sonic Dog... anyway, play as Raven, keep chaining overlimits and spamming 時雨 from a distance, while getting someone else to attack. Letting the AI do its thing works... somewhat, as overlimit increases the chances you'll get that attack in (this is basically how I did it in the end - Yuri kept ignoring the instructions and attacking, but he pulled it off) or you could keep telling Rapido to use Sonic Dog or whatever while still overlimiting away. Then when you get lucky he'll fall over and cry GOTTEN and you've got it.

On the plus side you get an Alexandrite for it, and they're awesome.
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Old 2008-08-25, 01:54   Link #191
Niu
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Actually, Jaeger's secret mission requires a specific timing.
Once you guard break Jaeger, for a few moment, he'll open up his arm. Now important, after a few seconds, you'll hear another guard breaking sound and Jaeger well start to grab on to his heart, that is the exact timing you need to shoot 時雨 in. Jaeger might not grab on to his heart if you attack him too much when he opens up his arm. So be patient, wait for the exact moment.
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Old 2008-09-05, 20:53   Link #192
Lebron
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Join Date: Dec 2005
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So, anyone playing through the US version? I have it, and IU, but can't figure which one to start first. I know a lot of my friends are enjoying this though. My orig plan was to start with IU first, then Tales. However, think I'm going to have to change that due to impressions from friends who've played both.


edit: Nice review Valdra, somehow I missed it earlier. Seems to be in line with what most of my friends have been telling me.



*goes and boots up Tales*
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Old 2008-09-06, 07:36   Link #193
Fynal_Fyre
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Awesome review Valdra, I know I'm going to enjoy this.
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Old 2008-09-12, 14:22   Link #194
Fynal_Fyre
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My tribute to Tales of Vesperia. All of these are free!



EDIT:

I should redo that one...more to come soon

Last edited by Fynal_Fyre; 2008-09-12 at 15:53.
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Old 2008-09-12, 21:45   Link #195
Asamidori
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I actually think some people suggest playing IU first before Vesperia. They say they couldn't really play through IU once they played Vesperia.



That's actually kinda discouraging for me, since I was pretty interested in IU. (I was planning to buy it if the camera doesn't murder me, but not sure now.)
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Old 2008-09-13, 05:23   Link #196
Lebron
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I kind of agree. After playing Vesperia, it's hard to go through IU. It's just weird, IU just seems kind of half ass'd compared to tri-Ace's other games. It just feels lacking, kind of like a "test" game. I guess it makes sense since Star Ocean 4 comes out in the spring(unless delayed) which is about 6 months away give or take. Pretty fast when you think about it. I guess they just used this to gain experience with the 360 hardware, and make the needed improvements to their engine--which seems to run/look better in SO4. I don't know. Guess we'll see come TGS when they have the playable demo.


as for Vesperia, it's been good so far. I'm quite amazed on how well they localized the game, especially Yuri's VA(Troy Baker). Oh and yeah, most of the music is pretty mediocre. Makes me wonder how much Sakuraba actually contributed to this one.
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Old 2008-09-13, 05:33   Link #197
kujoe
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lebron View Post
It's just weird, IU just seems kind of half ass'd compared to tri-Ace's other games. It just feels lacking, kind of like a "test" game. I guess it makes sense since Star Ocean 4 comes out in the spring(unless delayed) which is about 6 months away give or take. Pretty fast when you think about it. I guess they just used this to gain experience with the 360 hardware, and make the needed improvements to their engine--which seems to run/look better in SO4. I don't know. Guess we'll see come TGS when they have the playable demo.
Not really. Sometimes tri-Ace stumbles too once in a while. People just have high expectations with this developer.

Frankly, I'm not surprised. There was something about the videos that just got my attention. People were raving about the game, but it screamed half-assed to me. Like I said before, previews of this game really reminded me of my experience with Radiata Stories... which is quite comparable to IU actually. Radiata Stories and Valkyrie Profile 2 are two tri-Ace games that also underwhelmed me.

Luckily, my intuition saved me some money this time around. The reviews are very mixed for this game (and in a bad way, I might add), and since money doesn't grow on trees, I'd rather spend it on games that I feel good about. Tales of Vesperia is one of them, and hopefully Star Ocean 4 would turn out well too. But I still prefer Tales of the Abyss more overall because of the characters.
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Old 2008-09-13, 06:05   Link #198
Lebron
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Quote:
Not really. Sometimes tri-Ace stumbles too once in a while. People just have high expectations with this developer.
Probably, but you won't get me to admit it! I still think the release window between the two had at least something to do with it, but oh well. Every developer stumbles at least once I guess(didn't have issues with VP2 or RS).

Grr, it's going to be a while till I finish ToV though. Took my friend around 70 or so hours he said. With college actually starting to pick up, yeah, going to be long. Not to mention more games coming out...


Edit:
The Anime comes out in October, no? I need to remember to check that one out. Never really watched previous ones
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Old 2008-09-13, 07:04   Link #199
darkchibi07
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One of the reasons of getting this and an Xbox360 is to pull off this!

Spoiler for costumes spoiler?:
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Old 2008-09-13, 07:50   Link #200
problemedchild
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Quote:
Originally Posted by darkchibi07 View Post
One of the reasons of getting this and an Xbox360 is to pull off this!

Spoiler for costumes spoiler?:
lol, it wouldn't be too hard. Those two costumes are the easier ones to get.
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