Tales of Zestiria was released a few days before my dad died and therefore ended up being what I threw myself into in the wake of grief. It's definitely not a perfect game, but the incidents surrounding Rose and Dezel as well as Edna's brother really make this game something special to me. It was what I needed when I was grieving and for that I'll always love it.

Tales of the abyss will forever be my favorite in the series the characters development is just beautiful

The Tales series has easily been one of my favorite franchises ever since played Symphonia all the way back in 2004, thanks for another great video!

I like to describe JRPGs and anime the way Yahtzee does. A group of teenagers learn how to use the power of friendship to punch God

I kinda miss when JRPGs had the big overworld. I do respect that uninterupted sandboxes make everything more seamless, but it does feel like something's missing.

shit son, this was perfect, i still remember coming home after school back in 2009 and just playing vesperia all weekend long

The Tales Series is my all-time fav JRPG series.

One of your most ambitious videos yet and well made. I've only played Phantasma, Symphonia and Vesperia, but your prior Abyss retrospective has made me go back to play that game so I can watch it. Already have Berseria as well to play too.

tales of grace F is my favorite. people say its very difficult to learn the battle mechanics but i found it pretty easy and the battle mechanics allow it to make the fights the fastest in the series once you get good at it.

I’m glad Tales of Symphonia introduced me to this series, I since I love how different yet similar each is, love the music and characters too

Tales of vesperia and symphonia have made this series my favorite by far. Thanks for the video! I was looking for something like this for weeks after replaying Vesperia

Tales of Symphonia awakened me for the first time in my life to the notion of games possessing literary value on an adult level. It felt like the contents of my mind came alive with a brilliance I had never known before, but the game was hard enough that it didn't happen all at once. I had to harden myself and agonized for months over the first little bits in Sylvarant before everything came into focus, and even then, at the Rheiard hangar, I felt a bit lost, but once I made it to Mizuho and I understood what I was doing, it felt so rewarding to finally have my shit together and understand what complex real issues I was tackling, seal by seal, and by game clear, I felt a profound sense of accomplishment and my expectation of what a video game ought to be became that much grander.

New fan here, (of course due to Tales Of Arise) had slight interest in JRPGs over the years and struggled to get into them. Really enjoying Tales Of Arise though. Thought I would come here to get a little knowledge on the series. Great video. Very informative and worth my time and a sub. Thanks man keep making dope videos! Im really enjoying the new game.

Love the video. Thank you for taking the time to put this all together. Super enjoyed listening through while I’m at work and hyped to get home and play some Arise!

It's worth mentioning that Zestiria, while having a similar exploration system to Xillia, was the first in the series to have it's battles take place in that same overworld rather than switching screens to a separate arena(possibly inspired by Xenoblade). The following two games kept that style.

Excellent video 👌 started off with Hearts on the Vita and now trying to collect the older entries. Thanks for this video I shall use it as a guide 🙇

I just found your channel. I love your content and hope yall continue to churn it out. This channel is gold and deserves at least 500k subscribers

14:56 Thats the most DS lite looking 3DS I have ever seen.

This was a great video. I've been a Tales fan since I first played Tales of Vesperia back in 2017 and I've enjoyed the characters and story in the games. I hope I can play some more games in the series.

Great video! Would love a “Where to Start” video given this series’ long history of games.

Legendia was my first Tales game, and made me fall in love with the series with its great writing and characters. It was only after I played Abyss next would I discover just how much better the gameplay could be. One day I will return to Legendia for those story and characters again.

Destiny is still going to be number 1 in my heart, since its the first Tales I got introduced with

Tales of Symphonia along with Skies of Arcadia where my favorites on game cube. wish they would remake them on modern consoles

Seems I need to play some of the PS2 games of these series as well :) Hasn't finished all the newer games yet though. Thanks for a great video!!!

Why is this channel not blown up yet 😭 I can only share so much on my own!!!

awesome video dude

I think that people are too harsh on Zestiria, for me is kinda refreshing to have a genuinely good character that don't follow the hero journey, Sorei growth is in the sense of him accepting what he can and cannot do because he wants to embrace all people problems to himself. The weapon system is a mess of course but isn't required to beat the game at regular difficulty, but for people that enjoy breaking the game it was awesome (not my case lol).

Tales of Arise was not the first in the series I owned, but the first I played through all the way. Good gameplay (easy to grasp, tricky to master), gripping story with dark themes, satisfying ending. Definitely recommended. I have yet to play any of the others, but I'm slowly collecting them.

Another series that encapsulates the anime feel however fully goes into the large overarching narrative with seperate story arcs like many long running or ongoing anime/manga would have to go to the Trails/Kiseki franchise. I definitely recommend you check it out if you haven’t already.

great video!!

Got to say this is a pretty impressive video. I love the Tale series so much and I pretty much have dived into it as much as I can. Having Abyss, Xillia, Vesperia, Symphonia, and Zestria and also playing Links, Rays, and Crestoria. Now if I can finish one of the later three before getting Arise…that and watch the anime from the games… Still once again this is pretty impressive retrospective. Though there is a fan patch of Destiny 2 in the works and the remastered Destiny should be in the West soon although I believe it’s translation done recently. I also consider Tempest, Nakiri Dungeon remake, and Dawn of the New World to be mainline titles, but to each there own. And if that was true the former seems to be the true Black Sheep. And before I forget if you replay Xillia-2 after beating it from the beginning Ludger is voiced from what I heard. Anyway it is quite the time to be a Tale’s fan. Arise seems to be this generation’s Symphonia and Luminaria seems promising despite being a mobile game. Yet things seem things look promising for the future.

I have a long tradition of starting every new year with a retro JRPG. Tales of Phantasia for the Super Famicon was my first game of 2021 and did I ever have a fantastic time playing it. My biggest grievance is that I didn't get to play it sooner. Loved the characters especially Archer and Chester. I personally made sure to change Cless and Klarth to Cress and Klaus there real names and it made me feel so much more immersed. I actually am tempted to do another playthrough already lol

great video, id like to see a ranking for the series soon

It was hard for me to follow what you were saying anytime an instrumental version of a soundtrack ik played, I was too busy singing along with it XD. thanks for the video, the Tales of series is my second most favorite series ever.

tales of eternia stuck to me for a long time the part where you turned into a bear was good so good experience

I just played Tales of Destiny 2 and it's just so good. The battle system is incredible and the cast is great. The plot is even more enjoyable if you play it back to back with the previous Destiny ! I can't wait until the fan translation releases so it can finally get the love it deserves. Same for Rebirth which is the best game in the franchise Imo.

It's funny how the Star Ocean series was from a team split off of this, like they went, "No on anime! We're doing Star Trek!"

If you get a chance, please play Tales of Arise. Feels like a love letter to Tales fans. Enjoy the content, keep it up.

My favorites in this exact order are Symphonia, Vesperia, Arise, Abyss, and Legendia. I just adore their casts. I have a favorite character from each title. Kratos Aurion, Flynn Scifo, Law, Guy Cecil, and Chloe Valens

The reason for Tales of Eternia being called Destiny 2 in west for us was I believe because of a copyright issues with the He-Man series world being called Eternia, which why they went for that name change. Great video very informative of this series if it wasn't for a group of people back in the day emulating this and translating I don't thing I would have ever been a tales fan

Eternia is still my absolute Favorite. I think the 2d battle fields is the best and lets you focus more on the fighting as opposed to moving around. Also just loved the overall gameplay, skills, dungeons, secret bosses etc

Tales is my favorite series of all time and is severely underated

Great video! I’m curious how you’re liking tales of arise. It’s actually my introduction to the series, and it’s my favorite game I’ve played all year!

Fun Fact, the reason Tales of Eternia was released in North America as Tales of Destiny 2 has to do with the lawsuit that Namco had lost to the Edge magazine for the use of the word Edge in one of their game titles. Since the word Eternia was trademarked by Matel at the time (He-Man), Namco just decided to use a name they already had. It was also the reason that North America didn't receive the PSP port of the game as they didn't want to call it Destiny 2, since that title already belonged to another game in the franchise.

Honestly tales of vesperias story having a lack of focus was a plus for me, it felt so exciting to me that it manages to be character focused for so long and when I realized I had pretty much the whole party but no real goal, having the characters discover themselves before they discover their goal made for an awesome story that left me excited to see what came next.

I can think of one thing one can say about Tales of Rebirth: “CLAIIIIIIRE!” The whole. Dang. Game.

For being so well loved by fans of the series, I actually never got around to playing Vesperia. Having played all the games in the series up until then(including the Japanese only games) and being a huge hater of the 360, I skipped over that game. When the definitive version was released for PS3 I was looking forward to the fan translation that was coming out at the time, but I never got around to hacking my PS3 until this year, so it's on my list to finally dig into all these years later and I look forward to finally seeing what all the hype is about. I just have to find the time to play it now. Also, how dare you skip over the amazing remake of Destiny for the PS2! That was one of the best 2D games in the series, next to Rebirth and you didn't even mention it.

tales of the abys was my first game and was one of the best stories in game ever together with suikoden.

I remember playinh Tales of Phantasia on an emulator like 20 years ago and I really liked it. Then, by chance, I came across Symphonia and played THE HELL out of that game, literally hundreds of hours. Then I was hooked. I played every main title until today! Including Tales of Rebirth and Graces (with the fanmade patches). I also remember playing Abyss A LOT. Finished on my PS2 and then, when I got a 3ds, I replayed it again there! What a great bunch of games (even Lengendia, I did like that one, except for the random encounters)

I can’t agree more with the over-world map thing, i miss them so much

I started with Eternia, loved it, and then played Phantasia and really liked it. Then I stopped playing entries in the series for a while and got to play Symphonia back when I was in college, and fell in love with it again! By that time, the series had advanced a lot already, so I ended up soon playing Zestiria and liking it ok. Then, I played Berseria and absolutely loved it! The best one for me up until now. And I'm now finishing Vesperia, but, to me, it is a weaker entry... I like the graphics and soundtrack, and I have fun most times with combat, but there's some stuff that is absolutely ridiculous with combat, like human enemies breaking your combo out of the blue, or how frustrating it is when the enemy downs you to the ground. It also has some great character ideas and good development/relationships overall, but the voice acting is horrendous and takes immersion away, and the plot... Dear god, how convoluted can it get. Finally, the game just refuses to end, and by the 50th hour it was simply feeling like a chore. Waiting for a good discount on Arise to buy it and try that one! I really liked the demo.

regarding xillia 2, if you play on new game plus Ludger (main character) is voiced. The silent protag was to hide a twist way later in the story.

My time's very finite, so I decided I was only gonna play one Tales Of game. My choices ended up rounded down to Vesperia and Berseria. Overall, I've made the choice to go with the latter.

I grew up with the symphonia games and really love them. I’m recent times I’ve played vesperia but it left Xbox game pass so I won’t be able to play it again until I buy it but it’s a great game and I enjoyed it to. One of these days I’ll play more of them because they’re just a lot of fun and have great stories

I know about _Vesperia_ and _Berseria_ from the anime. It did make me interested in those games.

Berseria made me fall in love with the series all over again.

As someone who hasn't really played many of the main games up until recently (Zestiria/Symphonia/Vesperia/Berseria) but has been around as an onlooking fan since my introduction with the Phantasia anime and was able to play spinoffs mobile titles like Link, I'd say I fall into a weird position as a fan, as I sotra consider myself and "old guard" and have a similar sense of nostalgia with the old titles despite never playing many of them. Though I guess I should blame Link mostly for that since stylistically with the story and themes it was very traditional in that retrospect even so far as comparable to any new main Final Fantasy title thematically, combined with my admiration from afar for main titles like Xillia, Innocence, Legendia, Phantasia, World 1-3 (I consider these main titles), etc. is probably what does it. All in all though I have many favorite characters throughout all the games, and overall I'd say you've done a decent job with this video. It'd be interesting though to see a video like this for the mobile titles, mostly as I want to gauge some more opinions besides my own about how Bandai-Namco treats the series in the mobile sphere, especially with titles like Link specifically which in my personal opinion was one of the better plots and music in the series as a whole. Mainly due to the personal journey the players had playing as Allen (initially unnamed) and the dynamic relationship that was developed with Sara, Lippy, the Goddess, Kana, Zephyr, and supporting roles of the Link versions of Gaius and Milla (whom are their own unique characters rather than the ones we know from the main games). Overall when it comes to the older titles, I'd say Link is one of the ones that I miss the most and wish there was some way to have all of that content readapted into a more traditional title release.

Xillia will always have a special place in my heart ❤

Tales of Adventure Tales of Honor Tales of Love Forever a excellent series, thanks for making this video

The only Tales game I didn’t see you mention (even if it is a side game as im not sure you could consider it a flagship title) was the psp title Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology

What's the song used in the beginning? Sick video btw!

I was used to play amiga and a bit dos games. One day my friend from school came to visit and told me he got some nice rpg for me. Pulled cd with Phantasia on it - I tried it and knew how far snes rpg engines and graphics can go - how is that possible ? voiced skills ? such nice battle system ? like fighting game.. I was shouting skill names in Japanese with Cless.. and the bitter end of reveal at end. I played it - story characters music everything crushed me - I was amazed how good snes game can be done. Back then I cheerished Chrono / finals / Terranigma. But this game showed me how far snes can be stretched :) Boss fights.. oh my god.. Fighting of spirits hit my ears O_O what a boss theme .. undine / gnome kicking my ass :D Also started my love for tales ( except Arise and dlc bs ) Still to this day I have to finish Berseria/Vesperia .. and guys don't beat me for I've sinned I just started for first time Symphonia XD My favorite are : Phantasia > Abyss > Destiny 2 > Berseria > Vesperia .. Xillia is so nice too. Destiny DC with eng patch is so fine.

Symphonia is my fav of the Tales series but it's also my favourite game in general. I just can't not love it!

Watching this as a Tales of Arise fan.

Haven't played a tales game, would love to know where you recommend starting

God, I wish this series was bigger in the west.

How about making video for star ocean series or ys series next?

Great video. I'm new to the tales series. I recently played tales of arise and I really like it. Are there any other tales games to play on the PS4 or switch? Any recommendations?

Goodness this series is great I started with dawn if the new world didnt like it but played abyss after and fell in love

My Fav series EVER!!!!

What is the best way to play tales of phantasia? I had it on emulator over 15 years ago. Not sure if those snes emulators works anymore!?

Its hard to decide, but Tales of Graces F was the i enjoyed the most.

Having played 90 % of the titles from phantasia up to Grace's (never played anything from xillia onward) Destiny Remake and Rebirth are two FANTASTIC games . This was a great video that you made.

Curious, where would Tales of the Tempest fall in this retrospective, for you?

Tales of Phantasia, one of, if not the most underrated JRPG ever

Fun Fact: Xillia 2 likely almost didn't exist because the first game was rushed late into development, so a lot of ideas such as certain characters becoming playable and exploring other areas the first game didn't were carried over to the sequel.

My two favorite tales games are Berseria and Arise.

I love Graces and Zestiria, Graces combat system is one of my favorites

I’m still waiting for tales of destiny!!!

I've literally played all of these except tales of destiny 1 & 2 🤯😵‍💫 Tales of Eternia (I played it as tales of destiny 2) was the first 1 I played as well.

Dawn of the new world is technically a mothership title. Tales of the tempest used to be but it was demoted because of how badly it was received.

Hey bud, check out Lumina Tales if you haven't seen it. Translation project for Tales Of Destiny Directors cut and Tales of Destiny 2. I've been wanting to play Destiny 2 ever since it came out. If the Swordians are still around, I'll be blessed. That stuff blew my kiddo mind. Might be the reason I'm getting into forging along with Thousand Arms, although I find it awful today XDD

God, I love Tales of the Abyss. I wish there was a Switch port of it.

For me, story wise, tales of the Abyss was the strongest entry. Maybe it’s because I played the game during my youth 😅

The games still COULD use a PS4 PS5 switch port especially for the games that NEVER left Japan.

Never played them! Been real close to picking them up over the years but just haven’t. Anyone want to tell me a good starting point?

I have Project x Zone to thank for getting me into the Tales series

Tales of Destiny is so underrated

Arise brought me into the series

Forgot to mentioned the mobile crossover entries, that united all Tales Protagonist

Vespira, Grace, Bresteira are my favorite of all the tales of games

Who is the girl 3:44 pulling out the gun and where is she from (what game?)

The tales series is a lot of fun coop.i do wish when playing coop, they'd keep the party populated so everyone can keep playing, even if you add some kind of shadow filter in battle so we know that they aren't actually rhere

Other T base series that fits in would be the Trails games as well.

I need to restart vesperia on the swotch..I dropped it because...I don't know. The only thing that I remember is that I still don't know what the story is. Yuri went out to...get back a water sphere????

Tales of Symphonia is my favorite in the franchise. However, despite its reputation Tales of Legendia is the one with the most impact on my life. It was one of the first games I ever bought with my own money and I loved it before I had played better entries.

It's so weird to think that Tales Games were being built from the ground up for the PS3 from 2011 (Xillia) all the way up to Berseria in 2017. We didn't get a tales game built from the ground up(base/worse version) for the ps4/Xbox One until Arise, In 2021!!

I HOPE NEXT RPG AND OLD RPG HAVE NEWGAME+ MODE LIKE TALES SERIES

Where to start would be great

altho im kinda late to jrpgs, the tales games still managed to hook me. my first game was vesperia and it made me feel like a child again. a feeling i lost a long time ago. currently im playing zestiria after finishing berseria. berseria is hands down the better game, but zestiria is still enjoyable. however it has some short comings which could be fixed if they remastered the game. it is a bit of a shame that they didnt continue vesperias graphical style. it looks so good, despite its lack of graphical fidelity.