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AndresLionheart

By AndresLionheart
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I have been seeing some of these checklists and I thought it could be fun to have a little space to write down what I think about a game I just completed.

 

I'm the kind of person who rather plays fewer games for a longer period of time than lots of little things here and there. I saw from a lot of other lists that I'm much more reserved when it comes to wanting to play something. If I had the time I know I would play many more games but even then I still do like to do a few other things to spice up in variety and not burn out on gaming.

I do play mostly on PS4 and Switch, so I will also add my other platforms backlogs here.

 

I mostly play JRPGs but I do also like Adventure, Platforming, Action and Fighting (in that order). My most disliked genre would be realistic Sports (I make that distinction because I do like games like Mario Tennis, for example).

Favorite series would go to Zelda and Tales of.

 

Currently playing:

 

Dunno yet...

 

PS4 / PS3

Spoiler
  • DmC: Devil May Cry
  • Metal Gear Rising Revengeance
  • Rogue Galaxy
  • Shining Resonance Refrain
  • Sonic Forces

 

Other Platforms

Spoiler
  • Bayonetta 2
  • Final Fantasy VI
  • Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia
  • Grandia 2
  • Radiant Historia: Perfect Chronology
  • Xenoblade Chronicles 2

 

Games completed since the creation of this topic (click for my thoughts):

 

2022

 

 

2021

Spoiler

 

 

 

2020

Spoiler

 

 

 

2019

Spoiler

 

 

 

2018

Spoiler

 


Year-in-Review 2018

 

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AndresLionheart
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I have been seeing some of these checklists and I thought it could be fun to have a little space to write down what I think about a game I just completed.   I'm the kind of person who rather

AndresLionheart
AndresLionheart

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World Game Difficulty: 3 Platinum Difficulty: 5 Time to Platinum: 85 hours (+15 hours idle for 100 Hours Trophy)   Thoughts on the game

AndresLionheart
AndresLionheart

Tales of Xillia 2 Game Difficulty: 4 Platinum Difficulty: 4 Time to Platinum: 120 hours   Thoughts on the game   This is an odd one in terms of how I usually play a

Honor_Hand Grand Master

Honor_Hand

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Saludos.

 

Just checked your thread and couldn't help but notice that we kinda share playstyles and favorite genres. Although, I do happen to love racing games as well, whether if they are realistic or not. All other sports games, yeah, we are kinda in the same boat there. If it doesn't have some crazy arcade action, bananas or bombs, then probably I'm not gonna be interested.

 

Tales of is also my favorite franchise of JRPGs as well but I haven't had much of a chance of playing and finishing all of the games. I do have copies of Symphonia Chronicles and Zestiria for PS3 coming over soon, so I might be able to get to play those in the next couple of weeks. 

 

Tambien he pensado en crear mi propio checklist en este sitio a manera de record personal pero no me he sentado a escribirlo hasta ahora. Ando ocupado todo el tiempo con cualquier cosa. En algun momento cuando tenga tiempo libre lo hare.

 

Will be checking the progress on your thread from time to time. Good luck! ?

 

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Yeah, we definitely share taste in games. I don't completely dislike Racing as I do other sports (I could play a few races in a game like Need for Speed) but unless its something like Mario Kart it doesn't hold my attention for more than a few minutes.

 

I only played Zestiria for a few hours, but the little I played of it's battle system I didn't like. That's why I haven't gonna back to it yet, but someday I will have to since I want to have all Tales of platinums. Judging by your trophy list I'm gonna guess you don't have a PS4, but when you do you should definitely try out Tales of Berseria, is one of the best.

 

I don't rush most games so updates will be slow, but I'm really looking forward to sharing my experiences and keeping a log of it for myself, too. I don't know how many games you have on your backlog but if it isn't too big it doesn't take that long. I had all my backlog already in an Excel file so it was even faster for me.

 

PS: Estuve tentado en escribirte todo en español pero para que los demas tambien puedan entender era mejor que lo haga asi =p. Si algun dia creas tu lista pasa a dejar el link si queres!

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I've heard a number of complaints about Zestiria in general but I haven't had the chance to try the game until now. How much different is the battle system? The videos I have seen make it look great actually. Don't know how much different it could be. So far I've only played Xillia and Graces f on PS3 and both have great combat mechanics. Even the old Symphonia on the NGC still feels great. Not sure how much it could have changed but I guess I'll just need to try it at some point.

 

I only own 2 PS3s at the moment. Trying to save to get both a PS4 and a Vita but, well, let's say it is quite an effort to get anything in this country. I hope to be able to get those consoles before the end of the year. ?

 

My backlog is kinda big at the moment. Plus, I wanted to make a more personalized thread by sharing some small tidbits of information on how I got the trophies and what I thought about the games when playing them.

 

PS: Sip, mejor hablemos en Ingles para que todo el mundo pueda entender. De todas maneras me gusta cruzar palabras en Español de cuando en cuando. Tampoco es que habemos muchos latinoamericanos por aqui je je je. Estare pendiente de pasar el link una vez que haga mi post.

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It feels slow and clunky, it wasn't much fun to fight things due to this. I got to the point where you get the main gimmick of the system, Armatization, and it didn't do much for it.

It also didn't help that at the time I still had Xillia 2 to play which has an awesome battle system, super fast and responsive.

Still, that was one play session on a single day and I haven't gone back to it since.

 

If you don't plan to play the Vita outside of your house I'd recommend you get a PS TV instead. Vita games look great on TV and with a PS4 controller you can do the touchscreen stuff with the touch pad. I played Tales of Hearts R on it and it's graphics reminded me of playing Tales of Symphonia back on Gamecube.

 

On my little Platinum summaries I plan on sharing thoughts on specific trophies and also add a video of the Plat popping =).

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Honor_Hand Grand Master

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7 minutes ago, AndresLionheart said:

It feels slow and clunky, it wasn't much fun to fight things due to this. I got to the point where you get the main gimmick of the system, Armatization, and it didn't do much for it.

It also didn't help that at the time I still had Xillia 2 to play which has an awesome battle system, super fast and responsive.

Still, that was one play session on a single day and I haven't gone back to it since.

 

If you don't plan to play the Vita outside of your house I'd recommend you get a PS TV instead. Vita games look great on TV and with a PS4 controller you can do the touchscreen stuff with the touch pad. I played Tales of Hearts R on it and it's graphics reminded me of playing Tales of Symphonia back on Gamecube.

 

On my little Platinum summaries I plan on sharing thoughts on specific trophies and also add a video of the Plat popping =).

I've yet to play Xillia 2 but if it has the same battle system as in the original Xillia, then it is going to be awesome. I was supposed to get that game (Xillia 2) alongside the Zestiria and Symphonia Chronicles I have coming over but someone beat me to it on eBay.

 

Was planning to play the Vita only at home indeed, but I was actually planning on getting both the Vita TV and the regular Vita as well. My wife quickly shoot down that idea and told me that I should only go for one of the 2, so yeah lol... Will try to get the regular portable console first and then see if I can somehow sneak the TV variant as well. ?

 

Good luck with your series!

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Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World

Game Difficulty: 3

Platinum Difficulty: 5

Time to Platinum: 85 hours (+15 hours idle for 100 Hours Trophy)

 

Thoughts on the game

 

I have to admit, I was surprised at how much I ended up enjoying going through this Plat. Here is a little backstory: I played this for the first time when it originally released in english for the Wii in 2008. I fell in love with this franchise after playing Tales of Symphonia on Gamecube, also when it originally came out in 2004. Coming from that game I couldn't wait to play the sequel, there was a lot left at the end of the original so it had a good starting point. As soon as I started to find out details I became more and more concerned, and when I finally got to play it I was extremely disappointed.

 

I was met with, and not limited to, stuff like:

  • The original cast only being temporary members until the end of the game (with the main character, Lloyd, only becoming available at the last chapter).
  • Their equipment, levels and abilities being locked.
  • Not being able to set them as party leaders.
  • Having to catch monsters and rely on them for most of the game.
  • Worse battle system with less interesting attacks.
  • No good character for my friend to play as (I used to play these games with a friend back then).

 

But this time, after 10 years, I went in with a fresh mind. As I said before, I was surprised at how much I could actually enjoy the game as its own thing now that I wasn't angry about not being able to use the old characters.

 

The story is fairly straight forward with its own little twist . The mascot character, Tenebrae, is very funny (and was the one thing I remember liking about this game). He is always making fun of the main character, Emil, who is considered the least popular Tales character ever... for good reasons. I'm not gonna go into details on why he is so hated but you can find out in the first few minutes into  the game.

The other main character, Marta, wants all of that Emil dick, so she spends most of the game getting all lovey-dovey at every possible situation. Personally, I don't mind this kind of teenager love, I actually find it entertaining, but I'm pretty sure a lot of people will find it irritating.

 

From the list of stuff I used to hate we have the catching and breeding monsters mechanic. This time around I really got into it and bred 3 amazing monsters. The tank, Amethyst (Blade Rex); the crazy mage, Toby (Ravenous); and the fanservice monster catcher, Malleus (Ruby Dear). The Blade Rex had skills to attract enemies and the Ravenous had a crazy amount of Arte Attack, making his magics extremely strong. Every monster has a random Sync Skill, a type of skill that can proc during combat under certain conditions. My Ruby Dear (aside from her boobs and maid costume she naturally has) had Gaze of Temptation, which makes it easier to catch monsters; and when you need to catch 232 monsters to complete this game, you really want something like that. The base form of a Ravenous, the Ghost, can be caught in the Underground Ruins, the 2nd dungeon in the game, so if you want a monster to stick with for the whole trip, get one there, satisfaction guaranteed.

 

The other thing I didn't like much was the battle system, but this time something happened in the way to the Platinum: In my 3rd playthrough I made an amazing discovery by accident. Other than my Sword (which I prepared materials from the previous playthrough to create it in the second city) I didn't care much about my equipment. Even without needing to I was playing the game in Unknown (you only need to beat the final boss in that difficulty, the game can be played in Normal) and my OP monsters I bred were tearing through everything.

At some point I checked the item store to create some equipment with whatever I had. I wanted the armor I had on my 2nd playthrough which lowered Max HP for 30% Attack, so I created that and other 2 pieces of equipment, some gloves with more Attack and a Bandanna with a Defense up skill that made it the highest defense head piece. The next battle I noticed I was criting about 90% of the time. I checked the equipment I just made and it turned out all the 4 pieces (Weapon, Armor, Gloves, Helm) had a skill that gave 20% Crit, in other words, my equipment was giving me 80% Crit Chance. What's so good about Crit in this game aside from the extra damage? It breaks Iron Stance (the thing that makes bosses not stagger for a few hits, making it more difficult to start a combo) in 1 hit. This meant every boss that didn't have any back up had no chance, especially since this Sword I made sure to get early has a skill that allows for infinite combos. With all the increased Attack skills, the Crit and the infinites I was destroying everything, so I started to solo bosses who fought by themselves, including the strongest one in the game, Album Atrum, the boss of Gladsheim, the EX dungeon. Moral of the story: the game is balanced like shit. Oh, and Marta had instant cast, but that's a whole other story.

 

I had a ton of fun breaking the battle system with this, so if you want to try this yourself, here is the equipment pieces and how to get them (you can carry materials through playthroughs but not equipment. You can get all the endgame materials before starting the new playthrough and then just need to get the basic equipment piece for the recipe):

  • Weapon: Echo Tracer - Synthesize: 1x Long Sword (can be gotten from a D Rank Katz quest in the second town), 1x Bear Fur, 1x Pure Silver, 2x Electrum.
  • Body: Power Drive - Synthesize: 1x Battle Plate (Shop in Flanoir), 2x Bear Fur, 1x Insect Fluid, 2x Steel Ball
  • Head: Fencer's Bandanna - Synthesize: 1x Bandanna (Shop in Luin), 2x Crawler's Silk, 1x Dragon's Blood, 1x Anima
  • Arm: Dark Passage - Synthesize: 1x Black Gauntlets (Shop in Sybak and Altamira), 1x Demon's Wing, 1x Demon's Horn, 2x Damascus

 

Thoughts on the Platinum

 

This one may just be a Tales of Symphonia Jr. when it comes to keeping track of stuff, but it still is quite a lot, that's why I gave the difficulty that rating. I would have also rated it higher wasn't for this awesome step-by-step guide detailing everything to not miss out on a bunch of easily missable things. There is nothing difficult in term of skill, but it requires keeping 2 checklists around, one is for the Skits (conversations between characters) viewed and another for the monsters caught. The game only gives a % stat so it's imperative to prepare these before starting.

 

Funny enough, the first playthrough is the most difficult of the 3. On the following ones you can carry a lot of stuff and get experience multipliers which make everything super easy, even with the difficulty set higher.

 

There is no way to skip scenes done in-game, but cutscenes with motion capture can be skipped. This can make following playthroughs kind of a pain. Personally I didn't mind it much since the game is quite short when just skipping through dialog. Since I did watch all but one missable Skit (one gotten when going for the normal ending which I did on my 2nd playthrough) my first time around I pretty much blasted through the game in about 6-8 hours.

 

Getting 232 monsters to fill the Katz Guild capacity was probably the worst part. Even utilizing all that is available to improve the chance to capture monsters, it's still random and you get only one chance per battle. You can also only capture 5 of the same monster at a time, but for some reason the 5th has a ridiculously lower chance to get caught, so go get some other monster if you already have 4 of the same one.

 

The other boring part was the EX dungeon, only accessible from the 2nd playthrough onwards, which I would consider the most boring one from all Tales of games.

It's the same 5 rooms or so repeated tens of times in a random layout for 9 floors. After a few minutes into the first floor I already figured out the exact layout of each room which made the exploration go by much faster, but it was still very boring. You have to find 4 special monsters in a random maze created with these 5 rooms. What I did is use the right wall trick. Basically, pick a wall to the right (or you can do the left if you are into that sort of thing) and follow it forever. If the random layout happens to put you in a loop, just go straight until a wall, turn left and follow the right wall. The 4 monsters are always on the edges of the maze, so you will always find them with this method. Fuck drawing maps and shit like that I read people suggest. Even with this, it still took me 2 and a half hours to get through the 9 floors + the boss in floor 10, who then got soloed in 3 minutes. This boss also drops a weapon needed to get a Skit, which is required since there is a trophy for watching all the Skits. The drop chance is only 5% but this can be increased by the Item Finder skill. In my setup I had enough of it to multiply the drop rate by 21x, making it a 105% chance to drop. These came specifically from Toby, the Ravenous (8x) and an extra monster I bred specifically for just this fight, a Mia Culpa equipped with an Arcanum Wings (13x).

 

 

tl;dr: I had a much better time than I expected. This could have been a very annoying Platinum to get, but thanks to that guide it's actually a pleasant experience...  most of the time. Go for it at your own risk and only if you can stand an average budgetted JRPG with 2 teenagers being teenagers.

 

 

(I actually could have written a lot more about my experience but I think I went a bit overboard already  D=. Sorry to the poor soul that read everything... and thank you =) )

 

PS: I was gonna add a video of the final boss and the Platinum popping but I forgot about the PS3 having HDCP -.-

Edited by AndresLionheart
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Honor_Hand Grand Master

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Wow...This was quite a read. Saying you went overboard with your experience in the game would be an understatement xD At first, I thought you were going to end up hating it. Most Tales fans out there say that is one of least likable (if not the absolute worst) entry in the series. I have heard a couple of good opinions and recommendations here and there but, for the most part, everyone just hates it.

 

Even though I had a Wii at the time this game came out, I never managed to get a copy to try it out. Time passed by and since the opinions on it weren't particularly high, I just ignored it until now. Right now I'm playing the original Symphonia on PS3 and I'm planning to jump with Dawn of the New World once I finish this one. Gonna be jumping on it with a clean and wide mind, so I hope I actually get to like the game. I have heard the complaints about Emill being all emo and Marta being all lovey-dovey but really, how bad can it be? Doesn't sound all that bad to me. What does sound kind of irritating is the lack of a proper use for the original cast in this game. And the whole Mon mechanic... I don't know. I'd need to try it out to have more of an opinion but it sounds kind-of-sketchy from a distance.

 

Will probably make use of all these great tips here for when I start my 2nd playthrough on Dawn of the New World.  :awesome:

 

Overall, reading this got me all motivated to finish Symphonia in order with the sequel already. Just need to finish the super grind I'm stuck at with ModNation Racers to focus more on that game.

 

Are you planning on finishing any of the other 3 Tales of games you have pending on your profile? I know I will be doing a marathon on the ones I have. ?

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59 minutes ago, Honor_Hand said:

Are you planning on finishing any of the other 3 Tales of games you have pending on your profile? I know I will be doing a marathon on the ones I have. 1f605.png

I don't usually play games from the same series back to back, so it's unlikely I will play one of the others next. I wanted Tales of Xillia 2 to be my 30th Platinum but given how my progress in other games is going I think that will end up being Secret of Mana or Dragon Ball Fighterz.

 

If you go into the game expecting not to spend much time with the old cast is not that bad. The monster breeding is fairly simple, although not every monster has a end game potential, I had to drop one of mine at some point because his max level was only 100 (the top tier monsters can go up to level 200) and he missed too much on small enemies.

 

I've been studying a bit of what I have to do for Tales of Symphonia and I know its gonna be a pain, especially that low level run until a certain boss for a Title... and playing the whole thing 4 times if all the friendship stuff is done correctly, those things with hidden stats kinda annoy me. Anyway, good luck with that.

 

I'm still thinking what I will start playing next... it may be Nioh, or maybe the first one of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy.

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1 hour ago, AndresLionheart said:

I've been studying a bit of what I have to do for Tales of Symphonia and I know its gonna be a pain, especially that low level run until a certain boss for a Title... and playing the whole thing 4 times if all the friendship stuff is done correctly, those things with hidden stats kinda annoy me. Anyway, good luck with that.

 

I'm still thinking what I will start playing next... it may be Nioh, or maybe the first one of the Crash Bandicoot trilogy.

 

Yes, I'm aware of those annoying trophies but I want to get the first one out of the way first. I reckon it may take quite some time >_>

 

If I was in your position (and had a PS4 with those 2 games :awesome:), I'd go with Nioh.

 

Good luck with the next game you pick for your journey. ?

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 Dragon Ball FighterZ

Game Difficulty: 5

Platinum Difficulty: 7

Time to Platinum: 150 hours (55 hours grinding Zeni, 25 hours in training mode)

 

Thoughts on the game

 

I haven't played a DBZ game this much since Tenkaichi 2. After that one came Tenkaichi 3, which was basically just Tenkaichi 2.1, so I don't really count it most of the time. It was good but not much of a step up compared from the first one to the second. After that we had mostly average to bad games: average games like Burst Limit, Raging Blast and Xenoverse to terrible crap like Ultimate Tenkaichi or goddamn DBZ Kinect... an assortment of games which I barely played or just didn't play at all.

 

I can remember how hyped I was about this game as soon as I saw the reveal trailer; with its amazing faux sprite graphics and over the top animations.

Before it I only had played more traditional fighting games like Street Fighter and The King of Fighters, this was the first time I was interested in an Anime fighter (or I've heard some people call them Hyper Fighters).

Coming from those other games, getting into the groove of combos was fairly easy, but the defense part wasn't. With the game being way faster and with quick overheads leading to full combos, reacting to high/lows was never as important. After a few hours in training I got the hang of it and the rest was pure joy.

The gameplay is so nice to look at. All the moves are quick with great animation quality and vibrant colors, extremely over the top supers, stylish combos. Every aspect of the battle is pure eye-gasm. I had an easy time getting into it, but that may just be me, since I tried teaching 3 different friends how to play and they all had a lot of difficulty.

 

The story is okay for Dragon Ball standards. The conversations between character can be pretty funny since it's unusual to have a lot of them teaming up for once, or even just see each other after the good guys became way stronger that the time when they defeated each villain. Other than that there isn't much to do other than playing with randoms online. Still, we can all agree that Android 21 is bae.

 

This was also my first time really trying to play an online 1v1 game (1v1 in like one player vs other player, not in the amount of characters being used). Before this I had only tried one other 1v1 game online, Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2, and my experience was so terrible I stopped playing that game and didn't get it's Platinum until a few months ago when I boosted the online portion. I had people ragequit constantly and the game didn't give me the win, which I found completely stupid and unfair.

I'm not much of an online multiplayer guy but I felt like doing it for this game, and I have to say, I had mostly a good time. Not that many ragequitters and decent connections all around (which isn't that rare here since most people playing online games in my country do live around my area).

 

Thoughts on the Platinum

 

Oh boy... what a complete waste of time the last part of this Platinum was...

Most of it is pretty straight forward and doesn't need explanation. But making 20 million Zeni the last money related trophy just for a reference to Android 18 telling Mr. Satan to give her 20 million to lose the tournament finals was poorly executed. It was as simple as multiplying the Zeni gains and costs of everything by 5 for it to be worth the money grind.

With 4 million you can buy everything in the store, so by multiplying everything by 5 you would get all items with 20 million Zeni and it would take 1/5 as much of the time to get it, which would be about 11 hours.

 

Then you have the basic stuff like playing different type of matches and stuff, nothing important. What is important is the ranked fights trophy. It requires 530000 BP of which getting to about 400k is fairly easy but from there it can be a pain depending on your skill level. Thankfully it is easily boostable, so it is not an issue. You can even boost it from 0 BP if you really want to.

 

There is not really much else to say about this platinum. My only advice would be to take it slowly, pick a few days a week and listen to a podcast or 2 while grinding. It takes about 3 and a half hours to get 1 million Zeni.

 

The Media Corner

 

As an add-on to my thoughts I will attach a few short clips with stuff I want to share and keep around for whenever I want to remember my time with this game. Before you call me a tier whore, know that I picked Cell (because he is my spirit animal and I fell in love with his Solar Kamehameha the first time I saw it) and Kid Buu (his DHC was useful, I like that he is crazy evil in a small package and pink) way before they were known to be good. On the other hand I did go with Goku Black because he filled the role better than the Goku I had before him.

 

 

Popping the Platinum 

 

 

A combo I developed way after my time playing online, implementing some techniques I learned from watching other players (mostly Maximilian Dood).

 

 

A stylish finish to an online match (the original replay is unplayable now so I only have this PS4 recorded version)

Edited by AndresLionheart
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Tales of Xillia 2

Game Difficulty: 4

Platinum Difficulty: 4

Time to Platinum: 120 hours

 

Thoughts on the game

 

This is an odd one in terms of how I usually play a game. I first played it for a few hours when I bought it and it didn't like it much so I just stopped. Years later a friend told me it was good and that she really liked it so I should give it a second chance. I tried it again and got through it, liking the story quite a bit. I was doing the stuff for the platinum but after finishing it once I stopped and then didn't come back to it for almost 2 years.

 

What I didn't like about the game at first it's the structure it has. What I mean by this is that it's not the usual JRPG in which you go through a story that takes you from one point to another. This game gates your progression in a very artificial way. Each chapter stops you from keeping the story going by requiring a payment of a Gald debt that is introduced after the prologue. From then on the cycle goes: Do character side chapters, repay a portion of the debt, do main chapter. This gave me a bad first impression and made me feel like I wasn't experiencing a story like it's usual in any RPG.

When I came back to it with a fresh mind, a friend recommendation and not expecting it to be like the first Tales of Xillia, I got through it and enjoyed it quite a bit.

The story has its moments, and I actually ended up shedding a few tears at the end.

Should you play the first one first? Definitely. There are a lot of nods and mentions about the events of the first one. It comes with an encyclopedia of stuff that happened in the first game, but it will still make much more sense just to play the game.

 

One of the things that also made me come back to this game the first time was knowing it had a very fast and free battle system (It was around the time when Tales of Zestiria was new. The battle system was so awful that I just wanted to play something with a good one. That's another reason to why I tried Xillia 2 again).

The main character, Ludger, has 3 sets of weapons that can be changed mid combo, and each weapon has its own set of Artes. So, when the Artes Sphere is obtained it is possible to set up to 48 Artes at the same time. When I play these games I like doing a lot of different attacks during my combos, so this was a big plus for me. It can get confusing, since one important factor of the combos is utilizing all the 9 different attributes for maximum damage, but after getting used to it it made me feel like a beast =D

 

Thoughts on the Platinum

 

Sinces choices are an important factor, going through the game with a guide of said choices is recommended. Raising affinity with all party members is the main reason for this. You can't do it in a single playthough, but being able to carry it over to the next one makes it very simple as long as the guide is being followed.

 

There aren't any trophies that are particularly difficult, and what's missable is barely missable, so I don't really have much to say about this road to the platinum.

What probably is the most annoying part is having to grind uses of every character special ability and partner ability. Some require paying attention like Jude and Leia, others are just spamming one button, like Muzet and Elize.

 

The EX Dungeon is pretty bad in this one too (I wrote a lenghty piece on Tales of Symphonia 2's EX Dungeon). This time it was padded with the same 2 challenges repeated 9 times. Do challenge, face mini boss, do the other challenge, face another mini boss. But at least the extra boss at the end is more rewarding.

Still, having to repeat those 2 "challenges" so many times is worthless, just having each mini boss by themselves or maybe 9 different challenges followed by 2 mini bosses back to back would have made it way more entertaining. This also unlocks the most difficult boss fight in the game which is VERY hard in high difficulties. If there was a trophy for beating it in Unknown that alone would bump the plat difficulty to a 9/10, but since it isn't the case it can be easily done in Normal or Easy.

 

I can't really find much to say about this platinum... it's so basic that it doesn't leave many stories to share (not to mention that I did half of it almost 2 years ago, so I probably did forget a lot).

 

 

tl;dr: the game structure can break the immersion, making it feel like a game and not a story. The battle system is one of the best. The platinum is very basic with the worst part being having to grind uses of each character special and partner abilities.

Edited by AndresLionheart
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Honor_Hand Grand Master

Honor_Hand

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Which game would you say is better in terms of story and gameplay alone? Xillia 1 or Xillia 2? :D

 

I have already got the Platinum on the first Xillia and is, at the moment, my favorite Tales of game so far. Xillia 2, I have yet to purchase it so I want to know how does it compare to the original. I had read of that Gald debt system being kind of obtrusive but I didn't know it could impede you from the normal progression in the story. That's kind of unfortunate.

 

Are the missable trophies annoying or they can be easily tackled down on a second playthrough with a guide?

 

Congrats on the Platinum. ?

I'm out of rep points at the moment lol so I will be coming back later to rep up your post

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@Honor_Hand The battle system is pretty much exactly like the first one. If you don't play as Ludger you won't even notice a difference. Ludger is the only thing that changes the battles in any way, since he has 2 unique things to him that are pretty important for the highest damage output. There are 6 elements and 3 weapon attributes, and only Ludger has access to all 9 by himself. You get a % bonus damage for each attribute used during the combo. What's good about this system is that you are actually able to combo bosses as long as you can keep the attributes chain going (you don't have to chain them back to back, there is a timer showing you how long you have until the chain breaks, and adding a new attribute renews that time). In the first one bosses would break out of combos whenever they felt like it, but here there are just a few ones ( only 2 come to mind) that can break combos, and those are definitelly the worst bosses. When the last attribute added is about to expire you can use Ludger's Chromatus, which makes the expiration time stop, allowing to keep comboing for maximum damage for a while longer.

 

The Gald debt is not that bad because the payments required in between chapters are fairly small, but that doesn't stop it of feeling like it isn't a story that keeps advancing at all times. There are a lot of little tutorial messages that pop up that break the immersion completely.

It's different than the usual feeling I get while playing an RPG. Normally I get invested in it, I immerse myself in the world and experience it as if I was a part of it. But when system messages written from the point of view of someone just writing a tutorial (and not as if a character was talking to you) I can't help but realize it's just a game.

I don't know if that all makes sense, it's kind of difficult to explain, lol.

 

The missable trophies are not a problem. There are 2 related to endings that can easily be done in a second playthough just speedrunning through. The one related to character affinity requires about 1 and a half playthroughs of correct decisions if you don't want to grind for it (which can be done, it just takes a while).

What I did was have the affinity guide along with me but I wouldn't check it until I saw the choices myself and I decided what I would have chosen. I would then check the guide and pick the correct one. This way I was at least thinking about it for a bit instead of just mindlessly following the guide.

 

And finally: Thanks! =D

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Honor_Hand Grand Master

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I guess you liked the first Xillia more then. Thanks for sharing. Will have your experience in mind for when I tackle the game.

 

24 minutes ago, AndresLionheart said:

There are a lot of little tutorial messages that pop up that break the immersion completely.

It's different than the usual feeling I get while playing an RPG. Normally I get invested in it, I immerse myself in the world and experience it as if I was a part of it. But when system messages written from the point of view of someone just writing a tutorial (and not as if a character was talking to you) I can't help but realize it's just a game.

I don't know if that all makes sense, it's kind of difficult to explain, lol.

 

I understand that feeling, even though I don't find it particularly annoying.

 

It's as if the inclusion of messages or instructions that are intended for you as a player, end up breaking your immersion with the game because they are not delivered within the context or the characters of the game you're playing. Messages made by another human being outside the game that as nothing to do with the fantasy setting you're immersed in, end up pulling you out of said fantasy. Kinda like that, I guess? I know they can be cumbersome but I sometimes see them as a necessary evil. They are quite boring sometimes though xD

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1 hour ago, Honor_Hand said:

It's as if the inclusion of messages or instructions that are intended for you as a player, end up breaking your immersion with the game because they are not delivered within the context or the characters of the game you're playing. Messages made by another human being outside the game that as nothing to do with the fantasy setting you're immersed in, end up pulling you out of said fantasy. Kinda like that, I guess? I know they can be cumbersome but I sometimes see them as a necessary evil. They are quite boring sometimes though xD

Yes, that sums it up pretty well.

 

Overall, yes, I liked the first one more. When I got to Fennmont in Tales of Xillia 2 I couldn't help but feel nostalgia for the beginning of the first one. It reminded me of those times in life when english Tales of games were rare. Times when I would reserve weekends to just be by myself, drinking beers and enjoying a good ass JRPG. I still do that, but I don't find that many games that I enjoy that much anymore. It may just be that I'm getting old =P

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1L25a470.png

Crash Bandicoot

Game Difficulty: 4

Platinum Difficulty: 6

Time to Platinum: 15 hours

 

Thoughts on the game

 

I don't have much experience with Crash, but I remember playing Crash Bandicoot 3, Crash Bash and Crash Team Racing back in the PS1.

 

By today standards this game certainly isn't anything special. It's like a 2D platformer but with a lil' bit of 3D space to move around and make distances a little more difficult to gauge. At the very least everything looks nice in the remaster.

 

The controls are fine. I've read some people say that it doens't control like the old games but I can't really tell. All I can say is that the controls are serviceable. After 1 hour with the game I felt completely in control and 95% of the time dying was my fault (the other 5% goes towards Crash's pill-shaped hitbox, which makes him sometimes slide off the edges of platforms).

 

Most of the stages are fun and challenging enough, but some go a bit overboard for no reason. There are these 2 stages in a barely functional bridge that can be fairly difficult (having to jump on single planks of wood), 2 stages in the dark that completely fucking suck (you can pick up a light power up but it's temporary so you have to speed through to get a new one before it runs out), and then there is also one stage in a castle-like setting that is too long for its own good. But, all in all, i'd say that I like 23 out of the 26 stages.

 

The boss fights on the other hand, are a complete joke. Only the second to last boss has the ability to take a few lives because his attacks have weird hit boxes and can come out suddenly.

Finishing the game takes 3 to 4 hours, so if you are in there only for that, you can easily do it in one sitting. Otherwise...

 

Thoughts on the Platinum

 

Completing the game to 104% is where the difficulty is at. Getting all the boxes for the clear gems isn't much of an issue (except for some levels with boxes hidden in stupid places no one would normally look...). The colored gems can be annoying because it has to be done without dying. It wouldn't be much of a problem if there was a "Retry" option, but there isn't! So if you get to a checkpoint box and die after, you have to quit to the level select and sit through the loading screens, which are surprisingly long.

 

After that comes the relics (Gold or Platinum), which are obtained by beating the stages in Time Trial mode (thankfully, it has a "Retry" option in the pause menu). This means doing it fast and without dying. For a lot of stages I got either Gold or Platinum in my first try, but then there were 3 stages that took me like 1 hour each to get right, most of which are the long ones that end up clocking at like 3 minutes when going through them fast. The longer they are, the more time was wasted when you die 2-3 minutes in.

Still, I think a lot of the time I wasted myself by thinking I wasn't doing well enough and restarting the stage. Gold relics are not that strict, Platinum relics do require being pretty much flawless and sometimes even find some kind of shortcut.

 

The DLC stage is not required, but since it's free I got the trophies as well. Let me tell you... the time trial for this fucking stage SUCKS. It's the longest stage, with some stupid platform movement that make jumps barely reach. It was probably the stage that took me the longest to get a gold relic in. Again, it's not required for the plat, so don't worry (it is required for the 100% in your trophy list, though ?)

 

I don't usually get Platinums that can be finished in 1 or 2 days, it was a change of pace compared to the usual JRPG Plat, lol. It does feel a lot less rewarding, though...

 

The Media Corner

 

Popping the Platinum

 

 

An example of a Time Trial. It may not have been a Platinum Relic, but I just think it looks cool =)

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Odin Sphere Leifthrasir

Game Difficulty: 3

Platinum Difficulty: 2

Time to Platinum: 35 hours

 

Thoughts on the game

 

I found out about this game after playing Muramasa: The Demon Blade and Dragon's Crown. Like most people, I checked those games because the artstyle looked awesome. I've been wanting to play this one for a while, and I have to say I had a great time. It had a good reputation so I expected it to be more than just pretty 2D art.

 

The story was fine, but sometimes it's a little difficult to follow since you play as 5 different characters, one at a time, through almost the same time frame. The game has a section to review the story, and it lists each one in chronological order so you can see when certain events are happening in relation to the other characters. My confusion came when 2 characters crossed paths: the first time you play the scene which usually involves beating the other one, but when it's time for you to play as the one that loses the game just ignores the scene and goes to the next. At first I thought the events were happening differently, but that's not it, the game just assumes you know what happens and moves on. That is fine but until I noticed it it made some parts more difficult to understand. There is also an important ring called Titrel, which changes owner a lot of times due to different reasons, but at some point it got a bit confusing as to who had it and how he/she got it.

Aside from that, it is a nice tale of old fantasy kingdoms and the end of the world.

One thing that was kinda stupid is that there is this place called the Netherwold, which is basically Hell. At the beginning of the game you learn that Odin is the only one who knows how to go in and out of the Netherworld, but during the story of the game everyone goes to the Netherworld and comes out like it's nothing. Only one characters is helped by Odin to get out of it.

 

Fighting enemies is really fun! It uses real time battles with combos. The system is very open, allowing to mix different attacks with ease. Finding ways to extend aerial combos during normal battle and then implementing that for bosses was the most entertaining part of the combat. Bosses are difficult to stagger, but they always do when one of their life bars is depleted, so keeping them in the air as much as possible is the most efficient way to deal damage to them (it has a limit, though, since there are ways to easily restart a series of aerial attacks without letting the enemy fall down).

4 of the 5 characters handle about the same, but each still has their own quirks so that each works a little diferrent in their combo structure. They are also presented from the easiest to use to the more complex, and the one I ended up liking the most was Oswald because he can go crazy with a Berserk Mode and he can bounce enemies against the end the screen to extend his combos. The remaining character, Mercedes, uses a crossbow so she works completely different, and it's by far the easiest character to use. At first I thought it was gonna be boring with her since she can't combo as much, but I ended up having a great time shooting enemies with her OP attacks.

 

Due to the artstyle it's expected that a lot of assets are reused everywhere. The game does a good job rearranging the layouts of the stages for each character to make them feel distinct with the limited amount of assets. For example, one character may come into an area through the front door, making the stage have more normal rooms and doors, while another is sneaking in so his version has a lot of outside areas on roofs.

 

Thoughts on the Platinum

 

The rarity says it all, it is a very easy one. Most of the trophies come from completing the story and as long as each stage is explored completely (which is very easy since you can buy a map from a vendor in each one and the "Skills" menu has hints of where to find the secret rooms) there is no need to replay anything.

The only thing that requires a little extra effort is keeping track of which food has been eaten at least once in the Traveling Restaurant. You can find out by looking at each characters list but it's much easier to just have a list around (each dish gives bonus experience up to 3 times and the "Bonus!" word along each recipe has an amount of " ! " equal to the remaining bonuses. So if it says "Bonus!!" with 2 exclamation marks it means you ate it once).

 

There is a Boss Rush after beating the game but it was no trouble at all for my Oswald equipped with a life drain accessory. I prepared some healing potions just in case but I ended up finishing the whole thing not needing to heal a single time.

 

 

 

tl;dr: Amazing artstyle, fun combat and interesting story and setting. Super easy to complete.

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Honor_Hand Grand Master

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Ooh <3 Both Muramasa The Demon Blade on Wii and then Dragon's Crown on PS3 were super amazing games. The art style is amazing and the combat pretty cool. They aren't exactly deep, just plain ol' good fun. I love them for that. So much in fact, that I want to get the Muramasa Rebirth game for my Vita (on physical, of course) just to go through it all over again but with trophies this time.

 

I have yet to play through any version of Odin Sphere. If the other 2 games are any indication, I'm pretty sure I'm going to end up loving this one as well. Glad to read that you enjoyed the game. ^_^

 

 

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@Honor_Hand Muramasa on Wii suffered a bit from the lack of buttons on the Wiimote, though. I remember having to dodge by doing a quarter circle on the stick was a bit a annoying. Also, some sections were a bit too long for their own good, but I liked it quite a bit.

I have the Vita version (I bought it for like $15 or something, same with the Wii version). Maybe one day I will give that Platinum a try. Judging by the rarity it may take some work.

 

Dragon's Crown I would like to plat but having to play the game once with each characters is such a chore... If only I had 3 friends that liked the game and could come over often it would be so much easier. I could get 4 endings from that and then only have to get 1 more by myself, lol.

 

You will definitely like Odin Sphere. It's better paced than Muramasa and Dragon's Crown

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Mario Tennis Aces

Game Difficulty: 3

Time to Complete: 5 hours

 

Thoughts on the game

 

Since this is not a game on a Sony platform this will be a bit different, still, I wanted to put my thoughts out because with this game I realized how much some games can benefit from having some kind of achievement system.

Mario Tennis hasn't been that good since Power Tour on GBA and Power Tennis on Gamecube. The mechanics here are great and the hitting the ball back and forth feels nice and responsive. The fighting-style gameplay with a meter for defensive and offensive maneuvers gives it a lot more depth when playing against good opponents. So, right off the bat it has the bases covered when it comes to the gameplay, the problem comes with having stuff to do.

 

Like most other recent competitive games, the focus is put on online play. While this is fine for most people, I'm not the kind of player to spend much time playing against randoms when I don't have any outstanding objective to go for,

While playing online, all you can do is just random matches for some ranking that doesn't matter because you are not paired against players of your same rank. It's reset each month and it's filled with people that can play over 2000 matches in a week (the game came out June 22nd and for the June rankings the player in first had like 2300 matches...). The reward for playing at least one match is a new character that you would otherwise get the following month if you didn't play... so it is barely a reward.

The single player can be completed in about 4 hours. I had my fair share of fun in it, tackling the challenges and bosses it offers, but it's really short and has 0 replayability.

This brings me to my point of how an achievement system would really benefit this game. By having some kind of "Play/Win X amount of matches in Standard/Simple" it would give some kind of objective for the online play. The single player could offer challenges, like beating some of the minigames under specific conditions (without missing a ball, in a certain amount of time, while only using a certain type of shot, by performing a special secret task during the match) or play the whole adventure with some kind of handicap, like not getting any of the extra rackets. There are so many little challenges that could have given the 4 hours of playtime a lot of replayability. But without a little notification and a Jpeg to keep as a memento of said task, there is no incentive to try any of that.

When I talk about an achievement system I mean an overarching one, just like how it works on PSN. Having in-game achievements that cannot be checked from anywhere else other than the game itself is the same as nothing. You could say that I should play games on PS systems if I want that, but that doesn't allow me to play Mario Tennis or Zelda, so it's not a solution. All I'm saying is that this basic functionality could add a lot for very little.

 

All in all, I like the game feel and the single player, but at its length I can't recommend it to anyone unless it goes for $20 or less.

 

The Media Corner

 

 

Beating the final boss (this was in my 2nd try. On the first one I did the last special shot with 0 seconds left and it caused the game over right as I hit the ball, lol)

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Dantes_994 Grand Master

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I was just think I should make one of these, as I need to feed my ego somehow and what better way than with a thread where everybody can see me failing at platinums, and yours popped up :D Or rather the name of this thread caught my attention as a huge Tales fan :D Do you plan on getting Vesperia for the ps4? Also, do you recommend Zestiria? I just finished Berseria and loved it, but I got bored of Zestiria after a few hours and never finished it. But I have been thinking of giving it another chance :D 

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Honor_Hand Grand Master

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Ahhh..the first and last Mario Tennis game I played was eh, Mario Tennis on the Nintendo 64 and IT WAS AWESOME!!! Super simple and no powerups (on normal matches) like the later entries in the series but I loved it. Probably one of the few Tennis games I have loved alongside Virtua Tennis from SEGA. I think I prefer them the most arcadey they are. :D

 

Now, I don't think that the lack of achievements should hurt the enjoyment of a videogame per se but I do have to admit that their presence creates a nice incentive for playing any game to completion or to simply play any game with a set of outlined objectives in the back of your mind. Nintendo has sometimes implemented this rewards/achievements via in-game on a number of titles, not sure if this one has them but I can understand why the lack of a more global achievement system on the system can impact your lasting appeal of the game.

 

It's pretty much like HD on games nowdays, right? Surely you can still enjoy an old game without them and we didn't need them back then but them being an standard nowadays make it hard for you to jump back in that regards. Same thing with trophies/achievements. Maybe if the game had more single player content or more unlockables to work for, you could feel that you got your money's worth on it. Right?

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10 hours ago, Johnathan994 said:

I was just think I should make one of these, as I need to feed my ego somehow and what better way than with a thread where everybody can see me failing at platinums, and yours popped up :D Or rather the name of this thread caught my attention as a huge Tales fan :D Do you plan on getting Vesperia for the ps4? Also, do you recommend Zestiria? I just finished Berseria and loved it, but I got bored of Zestiria after a few hours and never finished it. But I have been thinking of giving it another chance :D 

You should try it. Sometimes I feel even more compelled to finish up a game because I want to write out my thought about it.

I'm so hyped for Vesperia! I already got the Plat on the PS3 version and also got 1000/1000 on a friend's Xbox 360. But this time I get to finally experience the full version in english. I'll be recording a full playthrough with a friend just like how I'm doing with Secret of Mana.

 

I'm on the same boat as you with Zestiria. I got bored 2 or 3 hours in, so I'm not that qualified to say much about it. As it stands, it's the worst one yet, even bellow Legendia.

With my obviously extended knowledge of it in my mind, I wouldn't recommend it. I will still play it, though, because I have the objective of getting every Tales of platinum.

 

9 hours ago, Honor_Hand said:

Now, I don't think that the lack of achievements should hurt the enjoyment of a videogame per se but I do have to admit that their presence creates a nice incentive for playing any game to completion or to simply play any game with a set of outlined objectives in the back of your mind. Nintendo has sometimes implemented this rewards/achievements via in-game on a number of titles, not sure if this one has them but I can understand why the lack of a more global achievement system on the system can impact your lasting appeal of the game.

 

It's pretty much like HD on games nowdays, right? Surely you can still enjoy an old game without them and we didn't need them back then but them being an standard nowadays make it hard for you to jump back in that regards. Same thing with trophies/achievements. Maybe if the game had more single player content or more unlockables to work for, you could feel that you got your money's worth on it. Right?

I mean, I always thought it would be nice to have an achievement system, but I never felt the lack of it until this game. When I played Breath of the Wild, Super Mario Odissey and even Splatoon 2, I never thought of any of that.

Super Smash Bros. has in-game challenges that help with doing specific stuff with specific characters, which helps a lot, but I still didn't finish those (I have like 6 left out of like 140) because I don't get to keep a record of said completion unless I boot up the game on Wii U. Still, I would never complain about Smash because there is always so much to do for single player.

 

In the end, I'm most likely in the wrong here for expecting much single player content for a competitive game. Although still there it doesn't have much to do. The online multiplayer is barren as well, even without considering the lack of objectives.

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