Which Tales Game After Symphonia?

[Can]

Yo, I think I will finish tos soon (I love it so far), which game should I play after that? Any recommended tales games?

[Simon]

Tales of Abyss (PS2), if you have an emulator.

If you own PS3, you can try out Tales of Graces F and Tales of Xillia.
Tales of Xillia 2 is not too recommended because I think the story is bad. The "debt" system is kind of annoying. Elle is annoying too. XD (Just my opinion)

For STEAM Tales games, I highly recommend Berseria. Zestiria is not bad too. FYI, Zestiria takes place 1000 years after Berseria. You can start out either one in any order. It is recommended that you play both games to get a more rounded experience.

Berseria and Zestiria's battle system are based on Graces F. It is different from Symphonia, so you may need to take a while to get used to it. TP is replaced with some sort of "gauge" that depletes when you attack or doing sidestep/frontstep action. It only recharges when you stop attacking. (You can defend while the bar replenishes)

You can try out the Berseria demo to get the gist of it.

[Lissomia]

My personal top three (I've played them all, even the ones without English releases except Eternia) are:

1: Abyss
2: Berseria
3: Vesperia

HIGHLY recommend Abyss first, I'm a little biased because it was the second JRPG I ever played as a kid and I beat it about nine times, but the characters and story still hold up to today - it's fantastic!

Berseria's unique protagonist, Velvet, also makes that game incredibly engaging and it has a wonderful story as well.

Vesperia is also fantastic but I remember feeling it got a little boring in the final arc. I haven't played it in many years though so I perhaps should go and replay it!

(Would recommend Destiny but it's quite old now - I really enjoyed it, but I would wait for the fan translation of the PS2 version. Rebirth is also fantastic but it's only available in Japanese.)

[Zeno]

Abyss is probably my next favorite. It's plays like a smoother Tales of Symphonia. I personally like it almost equally.

I played it on 3DS, but you can also play it on PS2. Not sure if there's any significant differences.

Berseria is good but plays much differently, so be aware of that. Zestiria has a weak story, but if you're grasping for straws and just want to play anything tales, it's an option.

[Aifread]

Abyss is the closest to Symphonia. It had the same dev team and lead scenario writer. Just know that it takes a while to get rolling and the main character isn't immediately likable. Alternatively, you could try out the first Tales game, Phantasia, which Symphonia is a distant prequel to.

[Asakura]

Actually if u have a wii or ps3 you should play tales of symphonia 2 dawn of a new world

It takes place 4 years after the events of tales of symphonia

[Zeno]

Originally posted by Itzkidjason:

Actually if u have a wii or ps3 you should play tales of symphonia 2 dawn of a new world

It takes place 4 years after the events of tales of symphonia

Do this if you want to ruin your tales of symphonia experience.

I'm kidding, some people like it, I personally love Emil and Marta, but keep in mind a lot of people really don't like this game. It's not really a tales game either, more of a spin-off.

[Aifread]

Yeah, it is a spin-off and not a full-on sequel, which is why it's never been officially called "Tales of Symphonia 2." Interestingly, the original story idea was for it to take place 400 years after Symphonia, presumably with Genis and Raine as the only surviving characters from the first game. But then the higher-ups told the scenario writer, "No, Lloyd HAS to be in it," despite her feeling everything was perfectly resolved in Symphonia. Which is kind of how I feel. There's absolutely no need for a direct sequel and trying to continue the story after everything was so well wrapped up can only tarnish it. Honestly I think fans at the time were more interested in a prequel starring Mithos than anything else.

Phantasia is genuinely cool to play through though and see all of the references and allusions Symphonia made. It's a way more satisfying experience as a sequel than DotNW in my opinion. It can feel a bit dated at times and the characters aren't as fleshed-out, but the story is solid and it really does feel like the same world in a different place in history. The fact that not all the story connections are obvious and can take you by surprise makes it fun to try and figure them out. I didn't even realize Symphonia was a prequel until I got to Ymir forest and took a really close look at the world maps of both games.

[Zeno]

Originally posted by Aifread:

Yeah, it is a spin-off and not a full-on sequel, which is why it's never been officially called "Tales of Symphonia 2." Interestingly, the original story idea was for it to take place 400 years after Symphonia, presumably with Genis and Raine as the only surviving characters from the first game. But then the higher-ups told the scenario writer, "No, Lloyd HAS to be in it," despite her feeling everything was perfectly resolved in Symphonia. Which is kind of how I feel. There's absolutely no need for a direct sequel and trying to continue the story after everything was so well wrapped up can only tarnish it. Honestly I think fans at the time were more interested in a prequel starring Mithos than anything else.

Phantasia is genuinely cool to play through though and see all of the references and allusions Symphonia made. It's a way more satisfying experience as a sequel than DotNW in my opinion. It can feel a bit dated at times and the characters aren't as fleshed-out, but the story is solid and it really does feel like the same world in a different place in history. The fact that not all the story connections are obvious and can take you by surprise makes it fun to try and figure them out. I didn't even realize Symphonia was a prequel until I got to Ymir forest and took a really close look at the world maps of both games.

I actually watched DotNW on youtube, skipping to the points with dialoge and ignoring the actual gameplay entirely. When I purchased it and played it myself, I couldn't get past Hima, the game just wasn't fun at all. I liked the story they set around Marta, Emil, and Tenebrae, but every other character just felt misplaced and wrong. The game is filled with plot holes too, so it probably would have done better if it didn't have anything Symphonia related at all.

I tried playing phantasia a long time ago on an emulator, I got fairly far but never finished. I remember really enjoying the game though. How would you suggest one play it now days? Is there a preferred system and any official translation that goes with it? I'd love to give it another go.

[Aifread]

Go with Phantasian Productions's translation of the PS1 version. Absolute Zero has been the standard for a while, but their work is a little wooden and overly literal (as most fan translations tend to be). Phantasian Productions instead went for a full-on localization with more natural sounding dialogue and extra attention paid to the references to Symphonia. All the arte names are consistent with the newer localizations, they alphabetized the monster list, just a lot of attention to little details. They even added some extra features like Unknown mode and subtitled all the battle dialogue. It's a really beautiful end product and the definitive way to play Phantasia in my opinion.

[Zeno]

Originally posted by Aifread:

Go with Phantasian Productions's translation of the PS1 version. Absolute Zero has been the standard for a while, but their work is a little wooden and overly literal (as most fan translations tend to be). Phantasian Productions instead went for a full-on localization with more natural sounding dialogue and extra attention paid to the references to Symphonia. All the arte names are consistent with the newer localizations, they alphabetized the monster list, just a lot of attention to little details. They even added some extra features like Unknown mode and subtitled all the battle dialogue. It's a really beautiful end product and the definitive way to play Phantasia in my opinion.

Ahh, I think I played the absolute zero version because I remember some very... literal translations. I'll give it another go, thanks Aifread!