Well, the fact that you have the same party from the start across the whole game makes it underwhelming at times. And I mean, with the cast of both one and two its hard to see it as anything but a direct sequel to them. Also really wish we could pilot the mecha's in this game. Also wish we had more real towns that were not camps but guess the world did not work that way. And the Moebius group felt like inferior knock off's of the Testaments sadly. Still, the hype to the link to Xenosaga in the DLC brought some major hype lol. In fact, I liked the DLC cast more then the main cast a lot of the time sadly. I also was not fond of the flute heavy sound track and felt it inferior to blade one and two, though the DLC final boss track was one of my favs. I feel like this game ALMOST had the feel that Xenosaga had but got weighed down by things to reach the level that Saga and Gears had with all the scattered gameplay stuff, for me at least.

I really like Moebius as an antagonistic force, but only once I thought about how they relate to the protagonists' struggle and idelogy. Since moebius at its core is the stagnation of life and the fear of change and what may come with it. This is why N works so well, and similarly, each moebius demonstrated this idelogy to a T, and because of the way Aionios works, this thought process is heavily rewarded. Why should I grow as a person and experience new things if this world rewards those who only take? Moebius takes what could be and what has been to enforce the thought that the present is the only thing that matters. This is further explored with Shania and her arc, along with the constant paralles between ouroboros and moebius. It doesn't take much to become Moebius, especially in a world like Aionios. TLDR: XC3 took a very different approach to its villains as the main antagonist is a literal idea that refuses to allow any possibility of loss or growth, which indirectly causes the perpetual loss of life and the certain inevitablity of destruction due to the black fog.

Just an FYI, my Final Thoughts came out a bit too negative. I really do like the cast and music, it's just I think they don't quite reach the heights of previous games. But with Xenoblade's high standards it's pretty hard to meet them.

Is the story really that confusing? I mean. I guess some stuff is left vague. But to me it more-so feels like they have the confidence in their audience to not have to spell out every tiny detail and let you come to your own conclusions and inferences based on what is displayed. I want to make it clear that I do like the previous games plot like A SHITLOAD, but it is a fair criticism of these games that they have an exposition dumping + continuity porn problem after a certain point. I mean. Lets be honest here. The end of Xenogears is literally nothing but exposition to explain the big ideas the team had that had totally outstripped their ability to even deliver a game after a certain point. Xenoblade 2's Klaus scenes are praised to high heaven, but if you're not invested in the lore like we are, you are literally listening to a minor character exposit away the entire history of the setting for 25 straight minutes. With several of the given details having little to no meaningful bearing on the characters and their respective journeys, and there also being some things within said lore dump that no one could have reasonably predicted with the prior given information ahead of the reveal. I'm not saying that these are bad stories, but it would be fair to say that a lot of Xeno games stories are told in a fashion which is not confident in the audiences ability to make inferences or connections. That lack of trust in the audience manifests in those long exposition sessions. And it would seem that starting with Future connected, we've stopped crafting narratives that are filled with these sorts of moments, and are moreso focused on character. Lore is still a factor. But it's obfuscated in favor of our heroes quests and personal perspectives and developments. Over XC3, Noah goes from a pacifist who hates fighting, to an individual who literally tears down the world he lives in, so that he no longer has to fight. He fights the good fight so that he gets to not fight anymore. His journey is that of accepting that difficult role ascribed to him, and the responsibility that it entails. What does the fate of the XC1 and 2 universes have to do with that then? Save for sharing a setting. Not a whole lot really. I myself was pretty solidly able to connect most the mysteries before even Future Redeemed or the Art book's additional clarification. Riku was obviously Riki's child, based on that nod in origin. We could predict that the Sword of the end contained the logos core based on the cinematic framing of that end scene in FR. I was able to piece together the nature of the annihilation events based solely on the scientific key term ascribed to them, annihilation in our real world referring to matter anti matter collision. Which then also explained the danger of the two worlds drifting back together as well as probably the nature of the experiment itself, how it would have worked by dividing the world into plus and minus. I don't mean to toot my own horn but I also figured it out pretty quickly that Nopon were ageless in this world due to not willingly joining in on the Moebius wish. Heck, even the two worlds showing up in front of aionios, I was then able to rationalize it as "huh, so I guess Aionios must be something like an Encephalon dive but just for the whole world in origin." Which was seemingly on the money too. And also, they didn't have to say out loud "nia and Rex are Mio's mom and dad" because well. We have eyes, we all saw the photo, lol. The fates of the 1 and 2 cast aren't as tragic or as weird as we would initially think either. Given that after the reboot, things would go back to how they were when Noah and Mio were children. I.E. to around the time that Rex and Nia were in their 30's or 40's, meaning literally everyone is OK. They didn't give us hard answers (till the book, and even then some things are left to be sorted by xc4), but the things that were there were pretty easy to sort out if you were paying close attention, and were aware of the series history up to that point. The wackyist reveal was the Fiora thing, which admittedly is batshit. But imo, It's arguably a good thing that back seated the lore this time around. Because it would have ultimately just distracted from Noah's story line in the base game of 3. Future Redeemed provides some answers and some fan service which one can argue was missing from the base game, but Future Redeemed's most profound moments only work due to the leg work that 3 did to lay the stage for it's events. Namely, the destruction of the city, and Rex and Shulk passing it onto the next generation to save the world. With what those moments mean for Noah and Mio, specifically. Those elements only work due to what 3 setup ahead of time. So people rushing to say "Future Redeemd should have just been 3 only" aren't considering the wider scope here, and how that game would have faltered should that have been the case. In my view they are critical segments of one whole epic story. Maybe i'm on some shit. But yeah. I've just never found the narrative and lore based complaints of this game as solid. Especially not with how some have criticized the stories of this series till this point.

Too much explaining in this video especially for combat. It as the best story and music imo :) Story: every character gets so much time and development. Noone played for laughs. New tone feels so good. The Nietzsche/philosophy/xenogears references are raw and a welcome return. Some for the best villains in all of xeno. Great theming and symbolism all around but especially in Moebius. but animus + anima theme motif all over the game (and even combat) just makes it feel so cohesive. Love me some ambiguity as well. Music: Flutes and emotion god tier. Atmospheric field themes so good those were always my favs in the other games anyways. Cutscene music blessed by Mitsuda himself with excellent leitmotif usage as always. Best battle music by far in the series. So ye best game in the series but I guess xenogears is pretty good too. for a lot of the same reasons.

The fact that you put Zestiria and Berseria, some of the cringiest games in the series, above Eternia, Symphonia, Destiny and even Arise is a fucking war crime. Anyone else listening; for the love of god if you’re actually trying to get into this series at all, stay away from Zestiria and Berseria. Sloppy writing, cringy themes and characters (strong emphasis here), uninspired random equipment generator, and a frustrating (and at times nausea inducing) battle system… Jesus fuck man, you need to have your head examined. Berseria especially, the titles you put under Berseria…absolutely wild take. The rest of this list is pretty subjective, but damn. Above Abyss, too?! Really?!?! It’s been a long time since a stranger on the internet made me angry. I also agree that Arise sucks; because it’s a direct evolution of the battle systems in Zesteria and Berseria!!! Deadass the games are so garbage it’s borderline not even a subjective take.

damn, the Destiny DC, its sequel and this game could just be released as ports n Steam as is with a little upscaling and would sell like crazy. The artwork is so timelessly beautiful.

A good reboot of the last game on PS2, but still not really that great to be honest, but the cast was a plus for the game. Although PxZ2 is considered the best one and is my favorite game of the trilogy, and i look forward for your retrospective on it!

I think the reason why there's a lot of sword user is because of the multiplayer. I know in the phantasia ps1 version you're mostly stuck playing a caster/archer if you play multiplayer.

Honestly Xillia 2 is still one of my favourite in the series. Yes it has its flaws, but I really enjoyed the plot and characters. I still hum the Hymn of Proof to this day.

Tales of Graces f #1 in my humble opinion

Ah yes. I do very much love Velvet Crowe in a Cowboy hat.

I found all the characters from zesteria unrememberable aside from Edna.

I’ve only played both Tales of Berseria and Tales of Arise. While I don’t have a lot of problems of Berseria, I have a few with Arise. 1. The whole Shionne kidnapping thing was stupid. It’s starts with Vholran poking Alphen in the chest so hard, he collapsed on the floor. And then Vholran wrapped his arms around Shionne and she was all like “Oh save me, save me. He’s too strong.” Hell, both Rinwell, Law, Kisara and Dohalim didn’t even lift a finger to help her and they just watched as Alphen was electrocuted. 2. The whole second part of the story felt like a mandatory quest with a lot of info dump. 3. The gang letting the Red Women get away with the Renas Alma, the only thing Shionne needs to lift her Thorn Curse. Hell, they didn’t even kill Vholran as he was bound to the Forbidden Zone during the Ceremony.

Here’s my idea of a new Tales of Game. It’s called Tales of Elementia. The story takes place in the world of Elementia, home to many diverse races such as the Humans, who worship the Allmother of Light, Dragonians, horned people who worship the God of Fire and War, the Merfolk who worship the Goddess of the Sea and Weather, the elf like Sidhe who worship the Goddess of Wind and Nature and the Ogres who worship the God of Earth and Craftsmen ship. And there is a sixth race known as the Dark Ones, who are pale skinned with tribal tattoos and practitioners of Dark Magic due to their worship of the God of Darkness. Because of their use of Dark Magic, the tribes of Dark Ones have been persecuted since the human empire of Divinia have been formed. The Dragonian Shogunate, Merfolk Kingdom, the Sidhe Kingdom and the Ogre Tribes have had a neutral relationship while the Human Empire has been conquering more of their lands. But all of that changed when the Allmother was killed by a mysterious being, this caused the 4 elemental gods to become corrupted by some dark energy and fight each other for control of the Divine Throne and threw Elementia into chaos. The volcanos in the Dragonians began to erupt and destroy their prefectures, the tropic isles of the Merfolk start to suffer for violent storms, the forests of the Sidhe begin to rot and diseased and the deserts of the Ogre Tribes suffer from dangerous earthquakes and storms. Worst of all, vicious monsters start terrorizing the lands while animals loose control of their instincts and start attacking people at random. It is up to 6 heroes to restore order to the 5 lands, kill the corrupted gods and save Elementia from destruction. Merrick, a Dark One mage skilled with both magic and sword, Sophitia, a Human Priestess chosen by the Church of the Allmother, Genji, a Dragonian Samurai who is determined to save his clan, Cassandra, a Merfolk Princess armed with a trident as she hopes to save her kingdom, Leafa, a Sidhe Ranger who seeks to bring peace between the 6 races and Grog, an Ogre Brawler who is the last survivor of his tribe. These 6 must learn to work together as they traverse the diverse lands of Elementia such as the Volcanos and snowy fields of Dragonia, the tropical isles of Atlantia, the magical forests of Faeland, the deserts and canyons of the Ogre Tribes, the imperial fields and forests of the Divinian Empire and finally, the nightmarish lands of where the Dark Ones originated far north.

I would hope for the next game the combat is a bit less flashy looking. I swear to God everytime I watch combat gameplay from Tales of Arise, I feel like I am going to get a seizure from all the flashing lights.

I will never understand the love for Tales of Vesperia. I played 25 hours of that game and was bored with every single facet of that game

please give us 2nd person camera view dungeons for the love of god. dungeons have felt like just incredibly long hallways since xillia. sure yeah full 360 camera control in towns and the world, but besides that

I want to see a return of the combat mechanics from the Vita remakes. The revenge mechanic pretty much solved the issue of balancing between players being able to combo bosses to death while still offering some challenge. It's sad we never got to see that mechanic return on subsequent Tales games.

Agreed on most points, though I doubt we'll see anything 2D outside of skits. Part of what's been turning me off Tales games is how the best strategy is usually spamming Artes nonstop to lock the enemy into a flinch so they can't attack at all with no defensive tactics required. There's no consideration for it aside from TP reserves. Artes should require some kind of buildup to make them special and stand out more, which would also reduce how annoying the repetition of their voice lines can become: 'Divi-Divi-Divi-Divine Dragon!'

Story is the biggest thing for me. But besides that, the villains weren't really a problem. Unlike the God Generals or Legates, it is Alphen and Shionne's primary goal to kill the Lords for the Renis Alma, so it makes sense. We absolutely need more character moments too. I loved Dohalim's story and wish we got more for the others. YES! Bring back 2d skits! Those were the peak, I'll even take Berseria or Zestiria's but I was NOT a fan of Arise skits. Is it just me or does anyone want TP back?

As someone who like to play as every character in these games, a training mode would help a lot, I also want the training mode to let you select which monster to practice with once you discover them for the first time to help you know how they attack.

I agree with all yours points. I don't mind Arise' combat, but boost strike did felt repetitive to me. Not using the boost strike would make the combat would be harder to play, but the reliance on boost strike make the game felt repetitive. Overall, they really should learn more from Fromsoft. 0:20 lol, that gave me a good laugh

I agree with all your non combat suggestions. I'd like a return to a more simple, "brighter" cast of characters. Berseria is my favorite because of it's perfect balance of tone within the cast, but i do agree after it and Arise in a row, a party more akin to like Phantasia and Eternia's parties are in order. On that note, I think the next game should be 2d in general. Sprites and everything. For one, to show us that side of the series is still alive, and 2) it'd be good for them with the way industry is going atm. With big, triple A, astronomical budget games proving themselves unsustainable for constant output lately, it would do companies well to learn that yeah, releasing smaller scale but still quality projects in between is the way to go. And like you said, for RPG s in particular, going back to 2d roots of the genre has been rather successful lately for others. Or just translate and port the many Japan only 2d titles... I'm not big brain enough to speak in depth on the combat part, just that Linear Motion should return, whichever iteration it takes the most from, up to them. Since we're talking 2d, maybe building off Rebirth's iteration could work.

There has been a leak of xillia ps5 remaster. Could be true, could not be. What I want is 2d gameplay but that will never happen.

After seeing this video I still disagree with your criticism for it having "too much dialogue", as I keep saying, this franchise was just not made for you. "Too much dialogue" is an staple of the Super Robot Wars franchise and this game was made by the creators of said game, so it should be expected that you will read a lot.

Why do you keep comparing these games to other ones? These games weren't made with the intention of surpassing major RPGs at all.

Eh, I feel you had the wrong mentality when playing the game. If you wanna go fast then this franchise is not for you, it was made by one of the Super Robot Wars directors and said franchise is full of dialogue, so it should have been obvious how much dialogue there would be here as well.

XCX is the greatest game on the Wii U

Arise is far superior!

I'll say it Zestiria is better than Symphonia

Honestly, I don't the vita version's battle system to be really good, especially with the counter, flash step, and link mechanisms. Not to mention the it had a full 3D overworld. It's a pity the localization was so half-as*ed.

Tales of Berseria, my third Tales of game and first I've ever beaten. Loved it. S tier is perfect for it.

So, basicly, if i can't stop to adore Berseria cast and story, the only one that can be comparable is remaster of old-stuff Vesperia and bit outdated Xilia. Why does the world so hard on me?

While vesperia is good, I couldn't stand the godawful A.I.

I am sad Tales of Rebirth has never gotten an English release. Veigue look so damn badass.

Zestiria is my third Tales game (after Arise and Berseria)...unless you count Symphonia but I never finished Symphonia. (I plan on remedying that.) I was curious to see why this game is so disliked. I'm about 13 hours in and I'm enjoying it so far. A big part of that is because I just came off of Berseria and I'm enjoying seeing the ties with that game. (I did know going in that Berseria is a prequel, but chose to play it first anyway.) I don't know if it's because I knew about the controversy or not, but Alisha's absence doesn't bug me and I do like Rose quite a bit. The only thing that puzzles me is that they seemed to have given Rose all of Alisha's costumes.

Graces was my favorite Tales game for quite some time. I love the combat, and although the story is simple, I don't think simple means bad at all. I actually l9ve CC when you can gain more mid combo, which is why I think Berseria does it the best. You can quite literally do infinite combos if you're good enough

I only need three number one tales of the abyss tales of vesperia tales of symphonia!!!

The only tales game they play exactly the same is tales of the abyss tales of vesperia and tales of sophonia

10 month later, still haven't figured out you mispelled the game title.

How to kill the video: speed up your speech, mumble like Joe Biden and add some loud background music. Done. Totally incomprehensible.

This year I bought Vesperia and Arise for PS4 and never played any Tales of game before. Loved both, did all the side quests, got best weapons etc, just because wanted to spend more time in these worlds. But when I hear from some that Arise is 2/10 and Vesperia is 9/10 games I am surprised, because if looking at any other competition, like Dragon Quest VIII, XI or Xenoblade Chronicles (1st) both games feels unpolished in comparison. Looks like only true fan of series can tell difference by such margin, since series as a whole is mediocrity lacking in at least some aspects in every iteration. Vesperia is far from perfect, even far from really good, and Arise is a tad weaker. There is not that much difference to celebrate one or banish the other.

Not Gonna Lie. Been Playing this Game since I first Pre-ordered it. And Yeah, Bandai-Namco is getting OUT OF HAND With the DLC! The Fact that this Game Has Several Titles That are Purposefully Left off and are Locked Through DLC makes this Entry such a Problem! I Hear there are Even Special Quests that I LOCKED Through DLC! Thank God that isn’t the Case with The Devil Arms Weapons! (But those do need a New Game+ to be unlocked). What Makes this DLC Barrage even Worse is how it Impacts Leveling Up! I Get that the game Needs to Pace itself, but it really Doesn’t help! The Enemies in the game feel like Damage Sponges! So you have to find ways to beef up your levels and Stats to get through Mobs of enemies! This isn’t made any better when you have to struggle to get through Mobs that hit like a Truck while trying to earn levels, SP (skill points), and Materials for crafting. Same for materials. The Other problem is how Expensive By Using Skills and passive powers are when looking at them from the Title boards! And when they start dipping into the Thousands, it forces you to start participating in more Combat. Right Now, all my characters are At LEVEL 55! And I’m at the End portions of the game! Everything is around level 55 to 60+! But this only extends to certain enemies in specific areas! Right now, the Homeworld Rena has the Majority of Strong monsters to Level Gring on. This game has an Accessory/buff item that helps to Beef up each character’s stats with every kill. But it comes in so late. You really need to Craft it early on. But this item is hidden for a Large majority of the game that it’s practically hidden from New players! The other Necessary Items that Need to be Found are Artifacts! As getting those greatly speed up the Level grind! It’s good that these items are included, but this game gets so dull after a while that I found myself falling asleep! The game is interesting when it starts. But by the Time you get into the Second Half after ALphen’s Rival Boss. It becomes a real Drag to get through! As you are Facing off against Bosses and Mid-Bosses with Tanky Hp pools! All While Bamco Continues to Come up with some Really Stupid Ideas! Like Putting some Essential TRaining Arena DLC on THEIR GODDAMN WEBSITE! That is NOW INACCESSIBLE!!! 😮😡

One of the my favourite things about Vesperia is also its visuals. I remember back when it was released on the Xbox 360, I was so entranced by the bright colours and magic (which in my opinion, Vesperia has the best magic in the series by far) that I bought the platform specifically to play this game. Then for years and YEARS I held onto the hope that I’d get to play the full PS3 version. And when the definitive version was announced? I rejoiced.

Phantasia being in D tier has to be bait.

With Abyss the real issue is needing a guide to not miss the titles and sword skills for Guy and Luke. That's so annoying. With Symphonia, probably just like Abyss, the unvoiced skits don't help much. They were voiced in Japanese so what the hell.

The Tales series turns 30 next year, and still no news? That is sad....

Tales of vesperia story was lackluster

I've only currently played Tales of the Abyss, and I loved it. As you've put it towards the top I will listen to your words and play Vesperia next 👍