Never played one of the "Tales of..." games. Can someone please try to tell me whats so good about it, and can someone that played Suikoden 5 tell me if they compare and how?

[r-cane]

As title. Haven't played JRPG's (because I felt like for example the bethesda games are better because there is more focus on story/exploration instead of meaningless grinding) in a while but FF7 and Suikoden 5 are still some of my favorite games to this date. So could this game or any in the Tales series be compared to these to games qualitywise and if yes how?

[Yaybuttons]

Look up spoiler free gameplay. What other people find fun you may not, better to see for yourself.

[TotemMX]

This game doesnt focus on grinding or exploration. Is a game that tries to tell a Story with a flashy battle system. The story is good, but not the best of the series.

[Simon]

Originally posted by TotemMX:

This game doesnt focus on grinding or exploration. Is a game that tries to tell a Story with a flashy battle system. The story is good, but not the best of the series.

Yes, basically this ^^^

[Squerol]

Didn't played Arise so far but other Tales games which I've enjoyed appealed me with combat systems, animations, artstyles, specific atmospheres, chemistry between characters and OF COURSE MOTOI SAKURABA SOUNDTRACKS. But I'm g a y for older 2d tales, not a fan of 3d ones except symphonia which still was 2d only with 3d visuals.

[r-cane]

Originally posted by UltraMagnus:

like all tales games, u need to spam all skills to learn new ones, u have to cook like hell with all characters to learn new skills etc. the amount of grinding needed to lvl up players is enough to get you the gold needed for bouying items. sure in the beginning it can seem to expensive to buy healing gels etc. but all tales games is about grinding, and clear it several times just to be able to fully clear the game.

Doesn't make it sound like I would like it. I mean exploring in most games leads to grinding a little. But if you just have to grind for grinding sake (and to experience all content of the game) it can get pretty boring fast.

[Rachito]

The grinding in Tales of is pretty "normal", you can finish most of the games without grinding too much, except for some optional bosses. I think games like Shin Megami Tensei, Dragon Quest or even some Final Fantasy are more grinding oriented.

About Suikoden, is more a tactical rpg and Tales of is more an action rpg. Even if both are rpgs, i think they are different enough to not be compared. Anyway, what i like of the Tales of games are 3 things:
- The gameplay. With exceptions, most of the games have a fast and enjoyable gameplay, with a lot of combos and styles in each character. Even if some Tales of don't have a great story, the gameplay will probably be good to great.
- The characters. I've played a lot of jrpgs franchises (FF, Persona, DQ, Star Ocean, Trails in the sky, Fire Emblem, Valkyria Chronicles, etc), and the Tales of have some of ​my favorites parties in any jrpgs and i think it is because the characters interact with each other all the time, that helps to feel them as friends and not just "the party who helps you to finish the game". Of course not all the Tales of are the same and it depends of the game.
- The comedy. This is more subjective, but i like the comedy in this franchise. Tho, Tales of Arise has a more "serious" tone and is one of the reasons this game is not one of my favorites.

[Pozhinateli]

If you want try Tales of Series I sugest you start from Tales of Berseria. It's definitely one of the best jRPG on the market. I can also recommend Tales of Xillia if you have PS 3.

With a few exceptions jRPGs are far more focused on the story than western games. And this exceptions are old games like Baldur's Gate. If you want story focused games I suggest you try also:
- Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 4
- entire The Legend of Heroes series

Arise at best have avarge story, bad combat mechanics and is washed from anime feeling. Plus typical western crap like feminism, censorship at production level etc. It's more western game with cel-shading graphics than jRPG.

[r-cane]

Originally posted by Rachito:

The grinding in Tales of is pretty "normal", you can finish most of the games without grinding too much, except for some optional bosses. I think games like Shin Megami Tensei, Dragon Quest or even some Final Fantasy are more grinding oriented.

About Suikoden, is more a tactical rpg and Tales of is more an action rpg. Even if both are rpgs, i think they are different enough to not be compared. Anyway, what i like of the Tales of games are 3 things:
- The gameplay. With exceptions, most of the games have a fast and enjoyable gameplay, with a lot of combos and styles in each character. Even if some Tales of don't have a great story, the gameplay will probably be good to great.
- The characters. I've played a lot of jrpgs franchises (FF, Persona, DQ, Star Ocean, Trails in the sky, Fire Emblem, Valkyria Chronicles, etc), and the Tales of have some of ​my favorites parties in any jrpgs and i think it is because the characters interact with each other all the time, that helps to feel them as friends and not just "the party who helps you to finish the game". Of course not all the Tales of are the same and it depends of the game.
- The comedy. This is more subjective, but i like the comedy in this franchise. Tho, Tales of Arise has a more "serious" tone and is one of the reasons this game is not one of my favorites.

Thanks for the reply.
The character interaction is realy a good thing and is a clear + for me. However I realy dont like action focussed games with combo-button mashing at all so that sounds like a clear - . I'm more of the oldschool tactical or ATB kind of player which is one of the reasons that kept me away from the FF7 reboot (apart from my pc not being able to handle it). When it comes to comedy or serious issues I like both.

[r-cane]

Originally posted by Pozhinateli:

If you want try Tales of Series I sugest you start from Tales of Berseria. It's definitely one of the best jRPG on the market. I can also recommend Tales of Xillia if you have PS 3.

With a few exceptions jRPGs are far more focused on the story than western games. And this exceptions are old games like Baldur's Gate. If you want story focused games I suggest you try also:
- Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 4
- entire The Legend of Heroes series

Arise at best have avarge story, bad combat mechanics and is washed from anime feeling. Plus typical western crap like feminism, censorship at production level etc. It's more western game with cel-shading graphics than jRPG.

Thanks for the reply.
I only play PC games these days. And I agree that a lot of times jRPGs are more story and character focussed because the characters are fixed and not just an avatar of the player, which is one of the things that in my opinion is a distinction of the genre.

I played Valkyria Chronicles 1 (which I realy liked) and own Valkyria Chronicles 4 but didn't have time to play that yet. But it has tactical combat aswell instead of action driven one.

That being said, if you believe feminism to be crap either the people you are around portray feminism the wrong way or you have a wrong perception of what feminism is about, since I cant imagine someone being against equality and respect.

[Rachito]

Originally posted by r-cane:

Originally posted by Rachito:

The grinding in Tales of is pretty "normal", you can finish most of the games without grinding too much, except for some optional bosses. I think games like Shin Megami Tensei, Dragon Quest or even some Final Fantasy are more grinding oriented.

About Suikoden, is more a tactical rpg and Tales of is more an action rpg. Even if both are rpgs, i think they are different enough to not be compared. Anyway, what i like of the Tales of games are 3 things:
- The gameplay. With exceptions, most of the games have a fast and enjoyable gameplay, with a lot of combos and styles in each character. Even if some Tales of don't have a great story, the gameplay will probably be good to great.
- The characters. I've played a lot of jrpgs franchises (FF, Persona, DQ, Star Ocean, Trails in the sky, Fire Emblem, Valkyria Chronicles, etc), and the Tales of have some of ​my favorites parties in any jrpgs and i think it is because the characters interact with each other all the time, that helps to feel them as friends and not just "the party who helps you to finish the game". Of course not all the Tales of are the same and it depends of the game.
- The comedy. This is more subjective, but i like the comedy in this franchise. Tho, Tales of Arise has a more "serious" tone and is one of the reasons this game is not one of my favorites.

Thanks for the reply.
The character interaction is realy a good thing and is a clear + for me. However I realy dont like action focussed games with combo-button mashing at all so that sounds like a clear - . I'm more of the oldschool tactical or ATB kind of player which is one of the reasons that kept me away from the FF7 reboot (apart from my pc not being able to handle it). When it comes to comedy or serious issues I like both.

"Oldschool"....you're saying it like Tales of is something new but this franchise started since the snes and it has always been an action rpg.....i mean, is even older than Suikoden....You shouln't prejudge the game before playing it.
Also, i think you mistake action rpg with an hack and slash or something like the Naruto games where you can win smashin one or two buttons, in Tales of if you just smash button randomly you're gonna lose most of the battles (this applies to FF7 Remake too), it has rpg in the gameplay too, healing, spells, classes, stats, summons, items, equipment and all those stuff you need to do in most of the jrpgs battles....except it's not turn based, that's why is called action rpg.

[Keytee Tamira]

Originally posted by Dawnrazor:

Average JRPGS

That's the point of Tales of series.
But if to be more specific, a JRPG that feels like Average JRPG first, and then explodes with deconstructions with make story feel awesome.