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Which Tales Game for a Newcomer?!


Valinor90

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Dear psnprofiles community and fans of the Tales video game series, I need your help and advice. While scanning through the latest sale on the PS store, I found some an offer that caught my attention immediately. Since a long time im waiting to get back in some JPRG's! Lucky me, almost all the games of the Tales series are currently under 10 Swiss francs and are just waiting to get downloaded ? however I have no idea where to start!!!

Is there a particular entry in the series that is especially interesting for a newcomer to get to know the game mechanics? Or do I need to play them in a certain sequence to understand the overall story? 

 

Tales of Berseria (PS3/PS4)

Tales of Graces f (PS3)

Tales of Symphonia (PS3)

Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (PS3)

Tales of Xillia (PS3)

Tales of Xillia 2 (PS3)

Tales of Zestiria (PS3 or PS4)

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You should probably start with Symphonia, since it has a good battle system for a newcomer. It's simple yet fun. It doesn't have free run, the mechanic that lets you run around the battlefield in 3D, so going back to it after playing any of the others can feel weird.

The story is very nice, too.

 

After that one you can go to any other that is not Zestiria or Dawn of the New World. Those 2 can be skipped altogether.

 

The stories are standalone, aside from the ones that have the same name, obviously, so that is not an issue in picking which one to start.

 

Xillia has the best battle system from these. It's fast and has very few limitations.

Berseria has one of the better stories and its battle system is also very free flowing, although a little less than Xillia.

Graces f comes third in battle systems. The story is okay but a lot of people don't like the characters that much for some reason.

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as someone who has played xillia and the sequel i think this one is the easiest have played symphonia but hadn't had much luck with it.

if i knew the enemy list by area i could probably pull off playing it, just so many things to multi-task and at least 4-5 types of playthrough's.

Edited by kingdrake2
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10 minutes ago, kingdrake2 said:

as someone who has played xillia and the sequel i think this one is the easiest have played symphonia but hadn't had much luck with it.

if i knew the enemy list by area i could probably pull off playing it, just so many things to multi-task and at least 4-5 types of playthrough's.

He didn't ask about trophies. He only wants to know which one is a good start for someone new to the series.

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Don't worry about the order, for the most part they aren't really connected except by loose mechanics and what not. Besides, there are more than that and a semi-related side series.

 

Personally I would go with Tales of Graces f, it seems to be more newbie friendly so to speak. The others are a bit more complicated and Symphonia New World just flips the entire script for some reason.

Edited by Willreaper41
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Probably start with Graces. Of the recent releases, it's the one with the most consistency for positive ratings.

 

I personally started with Xillia, which hooked me from the get-go. Visuals are sharp, battle system is fun, characters are great, the entire story actually makes sense (some Tales plots get a little convoluted), and the soundtrack is great. Best opening movie as well.

 

Zestiria is definitely considered to be the worst due to it's battle system and sometimes gappy plot  (I personally like it). Symphonia seems to be the most polarizing among fans, and the opinion people form seems like it's highly dependent on when you first played it, with the biggest fans of it being those that initially played it on GameCube (I'm personally not a fan of this game, with it being my least favorite entry... though I haven't played DotNW).

 

Note--

Definitely get Berseria. It's hands down the best title, though it's not necessarily the best place to start the series as it has a slightly different tone than most other games in the series. You don't need Zestiria for it either despite that Berseria is in the same universe, though it is fun story-wise to play both of them in quick succession imo.

Edited by eigen-space
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I was once a newcomer not so long ago and starting with Xillia ain’t a bad choice, that’s what I did. To be honest I haven’t played any other (simply because it’s hard to get into JRPGs with limited game time), but do own most of them since. 

What is said here by others is pretty much universal from what I’ve been reading on other forums.

They’re all good but Symphonia is hard to go back to after playing others and Zestiria is the odd one out.

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I personally started with Xillia 1 a few years ago, and loved everything about it (especially the combat system). In general the stories of these games are different from each other, but games like Xillia 1 & 2 are linked (obviously), Dawn of the New World is a sequel to Symphonia, and Zestiria & Berseria's stories are in the same universe but you don't have to play one before the other to understand either. I found a video about this exact situation a couple months ago that I think describes where to start better than I certainly could: 

 

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If you plan to play all of ones you listed, I would start with Symphonia first, just because it would feel incredibly dated if you go back to it after another game (I think it is the first game with a 3d battle system), even going back to play Phantasia felt better with its 2d battle system. If you want to play the entire series, then I guess you should just start with Phantasia so you can see the progression of graphics.

 

If you want to just get used to the series, almost any of the ones you listed above except Zesteria and Dawn of the New World. I have heard ppl playing Xillia 2 without 1 and still enjoying it. 

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WOW I'm truly speechless....Thanks every single one of you ? I really appreciated all the effort you have put into your advices! This shows me one more time why I love  the forum here so much. Just gamers helping gamers, showing what they love and let other enjoy it too...you cannot wish for more ?

This thread will definitely help me a lot during my decision-making!!!!!! Now I can't wait to get home and hope onto the online store^^

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I agree with Symphonia. I mean you have the original Teen Titans cast as most the actors lol. Then maybe wait for Vesperia, it's out soon and is a great one. I enjoyed the xillia series quite a but but those 2 are my favs. Berseria may too them if the story gets better. But symphonia will blow you away.

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