Tales of Actual Polish: COMPLETED! Time for a *MEEPLE RANT OF DEATH AND DOOM!*
Naturally, there are lots of spoilers below, so be warned. There's too much to actually do the "Small Print" thing, so I'll just say:
SPOILERS WARNING!!!
First off, lets compare this game to TotA, its predecessor. Why? CAUSE I CAN. I'll do it very briefly even!
Cons of ToV compared to TotA:
-Complete and utter lack of Dist
Pros of ToV compared to TotA:
-Everything not Dist related
Ok, now that that's done!
I was skeptical of ToV going into it at first. I mean, TotA got this massive hype, and it...really failed to live up to it. TotA wasn't BAD, mind, but it was hardly very stellar either. So naturally, ToV had me leery as well...
The difference? ToV actually lived up to its hype. As I said, one of my first reactions to the game was something like this:
"Ok, so that's the next area over there, time to walk over there and-...wait, where's the charge time? HOLY SHIT, THE GAME IS ACTUALLY MOVING!"
Yeah, the first like 5 hours of ToV was me just getting use to that; a game with a similar graphics engine to TotA, except lacking all the idiotic polish issues.
Load times? Virtually non-existent. I didn't hate myself whenever I had to simply change a screen, cause scene changes were pretty prompt.
The Overworld? It actually moves! Traversing Large terrain was tedious, but that's a step up compared to "Want to gouge eyes out." The Overworld, I will say now, is one of ToV's main flaws, but not in the same way TotA was (well, no, TotA had the exact same issue, however, it was less noticeable cause TotA had OTHER issues masking this...which really says everything about TotA's overworld...)
Saving? Wasn't a chore. When you save, it saves like any other game, instead of taking 30 seconds to save over the System Data, *THEN* save over that specific file. Saving should not be annoying, damn it! *punts TotA for that again*
Really, these little ups in polish made a significant impact in the game, since the game played so much smoother. Considering I'm playing MK PSP right alongside it, you really appreciate fluid gameplay.
Battle system...its a Tales game! Anyway, Free Run being a given was a smart move rather than making it a skill you get midgame for some reason. The game is also balanced around it; no "Run around the field like a dumb fuck until the enemy leaves an opening"; the game actually is actually geared around dealing with the 3D Environment, just like wide spread attacks, or how enemies are formed in such a way that you can accidentally get sandwiched. Free Run as such was more useful just for getting out of a tight spot, and not something that you could abuse to get an Auto Win.
Overlimits were made a lot more interesting, in that they were more than "Use Overlimit, use Mystic Arte, do big damage, get back to building up." Them having immediate WORTHWHILE benefits was great, Burst Artes were a nice addition, letting you make absolutely obscene combos if you're good. Also made Mages (by which I mean Rita) actually fun to play as in human hands!
Also, cause Overlimits were useful and wanted to take advantage of them, I found myself actually using Taunt a lot! It almost felt like I was playing a DMC cause of this at time <_<
The FF9 like Skill system was cool, especially with the added bonus of "Weapons Auto Equip their skills." This was kind of annoying with some skills that have a catch, like Rita's "Reduces HP by 25%, raises TP by 25%" skill, but generally was a good thing; made actually deciding what weapons to use, if you weren't using anything, more interesting than "use strongest stuff." Also gave you an incentive to buy as many weapons as possible, even if they're obsolete, just so you can learn skills! Generally well handled...
My one issue though? THIS GAME HAS TOO MANY WEAPONS. By which I mean when I look at Synth Shop and it has more stuff, I generally go ";_;" cause I know I won't be able to get all of them, be it cause of material, money, etc. Getting all skills in the game for a given character must be a total whore. Speaking of which, permanently miss able weapons in this game was a douche move; I missed Brionac cause of it having an obscure early game trigger. I also missed Karol's stuff cause, you know, the Karolian Hammer becomes obsolete early before you recognize that selling weapons is a bad idea (the girl who says "Its not a good idea to sell weapons!" appears sometme after Halure.) The permanently missable thing is a real complaint; the "has too many weapons!" is more of a pet peeve that I don't really hold against the game; its not important after all, and if you really wanted all of them, you'd actually go out and get what's needed.
Though, every shop sharing the same Synth options was a smart move, though I would have liked one shop somewhere to have every single store bought item available, so you wouldn't have travel the world looking for a specific weapon or something (this could even just open up late game.)
Now, the Overworld was kind of annoying, as I eluded too earlier, but this is cause there's TOO MUCH OF IT. When you're first on the overworld, it doesn't seem so bad...but then you get the Ship and you realize you've only seen like 1/4th of the world, and you do pretty much have to go to all the places. When you get Flight, you realize just how monstrous this world is. Worse, the game lacks an Auto Pilot option. See, in a game like FF8 or FF9, when you opened the map, if you were in your airship (equivalent), you could select an area, and you'd be taken directly there. ToV, you have to actually remember that spot. It doesn't help that the game's Synopsis would sometimes leave out directions in where to go next.
The Plot...uh...TALES PLOT! That really speaks for itself; its what you expect from a Tales. Its crappy, but inoffensive. One thing the game does do, at least, is not pull what TotA did, where by "You saved the world! *one month later* Nah, the villain just Xanatos Rouletted out of it so there's still 15 hours of game play left!" It did make the game go longer than you think with a fake final dungeon and all that, but it at least did so in a semi-unique way ("AHAHAHAH! You're too late! My plan is...wait, what's going on? You mean this thing didn't do what I think it did, but really...oh fuck, I just completely sent the world down the shitter when all I wanted to do was DOMINATE IT!" and then he gets crushed by a well placed Boulder of Deus Ex Machina +3. Thought that was a funny way to subvert the "My death is only the beginning!" trope.) It started off a simple goose chase, like BoF2 had...then went into ANOTHER Goose Chase...then led to typical "Now save the world from a mad man" stunt. Game at least avoided sending completely bullshit filler dungeons (hi elemental nonsense that Tales games love! ToV has this, but does it in a far more tolerable way), so you don't get this sense of "Wait, what have I accomplished in the past 10 hours again?" like I was constantly trying to figure out in TotA.
OST...meh, nothing special. There were a few neat in game tracks, unsure how they'd hold up outside though. I will say that A Vow of Unity (Dhangrast theme) is pretty bad ass though. When I first heard the song upon entering Dhangrast, I was like "Wow, this song is pretty rocking, didn't expect that!" But that was the only song that really stood out to me.
Skits were A LOT better in this game. They were like how I remember them from ToS and ToL; a mix of serious stuff that just gives a bit more depth combined with hilarity. Felt more even the split here, compared to TotA where most of the skits I felt were just "reiterate the last plot scene in 3 different ways." I didn't find myself waiting for ToV skits to end, though I will grant (good) Voice Acting helps. Funny skits actually made me chuckle, and the serious ones occasionally had a punchline that was unexpected (or in some cases, a literal punchline, by which I mean it ends with Rita punching someone!) The cast helps too of course, as you'll see below!
One thing I didn't like about the battle system though? Altered Artes. The concept wasn't bad, but the execution...dunno; I don't like having to use every Arte until one alters, and then use it 100 times before I can use it freely alongside the base arte it came from, let alone just use it without a skill. It was a neat way to add more moves and combos, but really felt they could have made it more user friendly.
Setting...is essentially running off the same concept as FF7 and FF10, but they tossed in "Mystical Beings who fought against/alongside humans in a war years prior, and when they die, they TURN INTO STONES! Oh yeah, to save the world, you sort of have to kill off all of them." No, that scenario doesn't sound exactly like another game, not in the least!
Now onto the part people like...THE CAST!!!
I am not gonna do "IN A DUEL!?" thing cause I don't quite know what they're capable of in the DL; this is a Tales game, it basically begs to be stat topiced for just how things work.
Yuri Lowell: With a name like "Yuri" in an RPG, you kind of have high standards to live up to, what with Yuri Hyuga and all that. Yuri, surprisingly, lives up to those standards; he's great. He's actually somewhat original, in that he didn't feel like a complete and total cliche. He is, as I said in the past, a 'Friendly and Cheerful Cynic." He'll say something rather negative, but at the same time, have this nice happy smile on, and say it in a way that its like a backhanded way of saying "Cheer Up." Its hard to explain...but he was genuinely likable. I suppose a good comparison is take Ryudo from Grandia 2, but make him friendlier, and more tolerable of his cast mates. There's a few other things that make Yuri good, though. The fact that he's pretty much all "Yeah, yeah, I don't give a shit if everyone hates me, I'm gonna do it anyway." The Cumore Murder Scene was really effective, for example. Sure, we already saw Yuri "cross the line" with Ragou but that was a brief "he runs over, threatens, kills, then takes a look at his work and walks away." In Cumore's case? He basically has the guy begging for his life, and instead of cracking down to HEROIC MORALS to save him, he simply goes "how many times have people said that to you, for you to only stab them in the back?" as he watches Cumore slowly slide into the quicksand. I suppose the point they were trying to portray with Yuri is that he's an adult (he's 21! That's pretty old for RPG mains. No, don't bring up Cloud, cause Cloud too was older than most RPG mains, and likewise, avoided most of the TEEN HERO cliches), and he's far more rational than most, so when he decides to do something, HE DOES IT. he doesn't wuss out last minute for morality, he gets the job done. If saving a town, making everyone happy, and freeing them from oppression can only be done by killing the asshole of a noble, especially since you know they're going to use political influence to just ease up their punishment (which is actually what pushed Yuri to the breaking point of "I've got to take matters into my own hands."), he'll do it.
Frankly, I'd say he's my favorite Main Character in a long time but then I remember I played Crisis COre only one year ago, and I'm not sure Yuri is better than Zack...but the two are good for different reasons, so yeah. Yuri's just incredibly well done, and easily the best character in the entire Tales series...
...ok, best Non Dist Character, I SHOULD say.
Gameplay wise, Yuri is a Tales Swordsmen, which is to say, lots of ease of use. However, they seem to have purposely avoided giving him any trademark Tales moves. They did, however, give him a bunch of other good stuff, be it supplements like Azure Edge in replacement for Demon Fang (both are just basic projectiles), or just "original" stuff like Dragon Swarm. This mostly just meant you had to experiment with the moves instead of just go "Oh! Its Tiger Blade! I know how to use that move!" like you kind of default to for Lloyd, Guy, Chloe, etc. So yeah, Tales swordsmen, which is to say, he's really good! The fact that ToV has an improved battle system just makes Yuri more fun to use!
Estelle: Naive Princess stereotype with SPECIAL POWARS! Not much to say here, though she was decent for that role. They actually had characters make fun of her naivete (to the point where Yuri borderline breaks the 4th wall with it...almost immediately), and you do get a sense of her actually growing throughout the game. They also didn't play her naivete for easy moments of stupidity which was nice. So uh, yeah, decent take on an overused archtype, I suppose!
In game? Some sort of weird combination of a Tales Swordsmen and a Tales Healer. She had sword attacks! She had healing magic! She had Light Magic! She even had Pow Hammer for the Tallychus! Basically, a staple in your team, and someone best left on AI.
Repede: Dog. With a pipe. Who wields daggers. And wears equipment like everyone else. And has an actual personality. Yeah, that really says everything right there! To be honest, I actually liked how the game treated Repede as a completely normal PC, instead of pulling one of those annoying "He's a Pet, therefor, MUST BE RESTRICTED!" like XF Tony or just about any Suikomonster are (the fact that Shiro kicks ass DESPITE this restriction really says a lot about Shiro though!)
In game? Repede takes some getting use to, but otherwise, is someone worth controlling. Admittedly, he lags a lot early game, but eventually gets worthwhile skills. He also runs really fast! His damage seemed a bit lacking compared to some other characters, but it wasn't atrocious.
Karol: Didn't like him at first, but ended up with neutral vibes about him since they made his "coming of age" story actually believable, mostly just wasn't a fan of his personality, but yeah. I will give him props for that scene in the Zophier ice plains. "Man, all these swords stuck in the ground are useless and...HOLY SHIT, did he just pull that massive sword out of the ground and impale the monster on it...while being chucked in mid air at the same time?" Completely over the top, and ham? Yes, yes it is. But it was still fun to watch.
Gameplay? Controlling him is hate, so you let the AI do it! He's a powerhouse character, though I missed one of his key skills, so his damage wasn't as high as it should be. Oh, he's a tertiary healer, which counts for something I guess.
Rita: To be blunt, Rita is two dimensional. On one hand, we have the genius mage girl whose only 15 years old, and obsessed with her work. on the otherhand, she's a character built entirely around this concept of "is totally pissed off, to the point where you expect her to throw fireballs for no good reason." This actually ends up being far more entertaining than you'd expect, cause ToV actually had a degree of writing when it came to character worth, so yeah, she was somewhat amusing.
Gameplay wise? HOLY SHIT! A Tales Mage who isn't a complete pain in the ass to control! Beyond that, she's a Tales Mage, which is to say, she's useful for basically nuking things from a distance while your fighters are busy tying up the enemies. But unlike every other Tales mage, actually PLAYING as her didn't feel like a chore, so I actually bothered sometimes.
Raven: Old Man who wasn't actually old. The game keeps calling him old, but he only looks...what? late 30s? ...ok, so in an RPG, that's over the hill, be quiet! But yeah, a good comic relief character. The plot twist with him...meh, kind of rushed, I felt; they gave one hint towards it earlier, then the twist kicks in and...then it doesn't matter much beyond the reaction of some NPCs and a few references brought up. He also pulls off a Disney Death! This would be annoying, except the game sort of makes fun of this fact anyway, combined with his big return essentially being "hey guys, I'm back to being Raven." "Oh good, and let me be the first to welcome you back!" *Yuri punches him against the wall...really hard* *The other characters all follow suit* Just a funny guy, and a much better "Comic Relief character who eventually betrays you" than Anise...which says nothing admittedly.
IN game? Pain in the ass to play as, so again, AI! He's essentially a secondary...well, everything. Has some melee, ranged physicals, ranged magic, and even healing! The Tales Archer...being pulled off like a Red Mage character. He's really weird...but he works well enough, and at one point, is your best healer for a stretch of the game where you lack Estelle, so yeah.
Judith: Best way to sum up Judith? "An Intelligent Ditz." She has this sort of valley girl feel to her, I guess you can say, but at the same time, she's clearly no moron and actually one of the more knowledgeable characters in the game (being the equivalent of an Elf does that.) Not much else to say; her plot didn't really do much for me, since it was all just "ok, that explains that" and such, and well, its Tales Plot; I can't find myself caring!
Gameplay wise? A Melee fighter who is all about Anti Aerial Combat! Wait, WHAT? Since when do Tales games have completely niche characters like that? Yes, believe it or not, they actually made a character who specializes entirely in something unorthodox. Judith is essentially a Final Fantasy Dragoon adapted to the Tales Battle system...she even has a move that is basically identical to Jump, in the grand of things. And the kicker? It actually works out pretty well. Playing as her...well, she's fine if you keep it simple. Trying to do any sort of fancy combos? AHAHAHAH GOOD LUCK. Of course, the AI has no problems with that <_<
That's it for the PCs! Onto other characters!
Flynn: Great Foil to Yuri, really. Yuri's slowly going down this dark, shady path towards adminstering justice, while Flynn stays true to his ideals. The moral dilemma actually felt believable since the whole "Yuri's my friend and I understand why he's doing this...but can I compromise my position and beliefs just for a friend?" I expected him to be more of a wangst character than he really was, but in the end, I ended up liking him. I was afraid the game was going to pull a moment where Yuri and Flynn HAD to fight each other for "YOUR BELIEFS VS. MINE!" type nonsense that these best friend duels end up having...
...but it didn't. Oh, there was an inevitable duel between the two, but it was handled a lot better, as it was more just a friendly contest of strength which was convenient to apply at that moment, rather than "LETS TEST WHOSE RESOLVE IS STRONGER." The scene after...yeah, sappy stuff, but it at least secured the point that Flynn and Yuri were always supportive of each other, even if their methods were not in agreement. You really did get a sense that Flynn was doing his best to turn the other cheek, pretending not to see Yuri's misdoings, cause he knew what Yuri was doing, while illegal, did have some justifications, and from an "ends justify the means' point of view, Yuri was doing the right thing.
I did find it hilarious how they shoved all the big Tales Main sword moves on him...and even made him a PC briefly. What was most amusing, I thought, was how they basically did the same stunt with him as they did with Asch; LOCKED EQUIPS THAT AREN'T VERY GOOD (heck, White Knight Sword is pretty much the Maestro Sword)! I was about to head desk cause its only Yuri, Flynn and Repede against a swarm of enemies...but then you see Flynn manage to do 4 digit damage with his physical, and then Sword Rain Alpha do like 7k damage despite that handicap, and you have yourself thinking "Man, his base stats/mults must be absolutely killer." That one fight where he's in was hilarious cause of the dialog too; just Yuri and Flynn basically teasing each other playfully, edging the other on, with "Oh come on, don't tell me you aren't enjoying this!" "I am, and it couldn't hurt for you to have a little fun too!" "Maybe you're right"
(speaking of in battle dialog, the general dialog sequences sounded a lot better than in TotA. I found TotA's in battle dialog really hard to hear cause the voices were subdued by the sound effects; ToV, the voices were a lot louder so you got a much better sense of what they're saying.)
Sodia: Bitch who needed smacking many times. Yuri's little verbal beat down she got end game was something I was waiting for the entire game. The "I hate you Yuri! you're the reason Flynn is so distressed! LEAVE HIM ALONE!" thing was getting old. I guess you're suppose to be pissed by her I guess <_<
Witcher: ...he was there...only cause the "Rival Hero" or whatever the fuck you call Flynn's role in this game needs to have a team of 3.
Adecor: Is awesome, I say! RANK NOW!!!
Boccos: Is also awesome. RANK AS WELL!
LeBlanc: Is less awesome than the above two. I'd say "Rank" except he lacks a battle form ;_;
Alexei: Lamer. Ok, yeah, the "Seemingly good general guy turns out to be an evil prick who wants world domination" thing, we've seen this before. The game didn't even try to make him unique...with the exception of how he ends up condemning the world ACCIDENTALLY, when he had no intention of doing that. That was a hilarious "oh shit, I fucked up THAT BADLY" moment, mostly cause it was a rare example where the villain did NOT know everything about his master plan, and it ended up backfiring; we need more villains who aren't omniscient.
Kromah: You know, her plot twist could have been neat and interesting, and unexpected...and you know, it was unexpected...but not because of how it was handled, or conversely, exactly because of how it was handled. I'm not making sense but, well, basically...SHE HAS 3 SCENES THE ENTIRE FUCKING GAME BEFORE HER SECRET IS OUT. And in at least 2 of those scenes, she does absolutely nothing worth noting other than saying a generic line. So uh, yeah.
Phaeroh: A douche who hates your team, but only cause he's convinced Estelle is going to kill everyone. Not much else to say about him there!
Belius: The opposite of Phaeroh, in that she's actually tolerable of your team and doesn't mind conversing with them, and letting Estelle prove herself...and then she dies...
Don: Cool guy for when he was around. Just one of those Bad Ass UOM who has his head on straight. His suicide scene was nice, though; gave an actual circumstance where suicide would be the honorable way to go, and it served as a good opportunity to show that Yuri isn't afraid to do something as stark as being the second man in the suicide.
Yeager: Evil French Guy. Do I really need to say much else? Well, no, he wasn't really evil, just he was a business man above all else; morals and shit don't matter, so long as there's a nice fat pay check in the end. Though, his "Evil French Accent" thing did make it clear they weren't trying to hide the fact that he was a villainous figure.
Cumore: An absolute jack ass that is completely hatable...which is kind of the point with him. He's got this big, noble front and is pushing everyone around...but once Yuri pulls his sword out, he's revealed for the coward he is, and you can't help but say "Serves you right" when he dies.
Ragou: ...he had scenes? He was sort of kind of there as an evil noble, and then Yuri pulls a Night Kill on him when there's no Doc or Body Guards around, insuring that the Scum get one night closer to LYLO!
Ba'ul: ...no...
Duke: You know, for a while, I was actually hoping they were gonna keep him just some weird guy who was actually decent, and helping you out, and he's only weird cause he's a fucking hermit...but they decided to make him the final boss anyway, with a "Humans are Bastards" motivation. *le sigh* And he doesn't even die either, cause no, he's a good guy and finally sees that your way is actually going to work! CUE THE HAM WITH DEIN NOMOS IN THE ENDING!
Really, him and Alexei just helped prove that "White/Silver Haired bishies are villainous figures one way or another." See, Yuri was given Black Hair ONLY cause it meant they wouldn't be tempted to suddenly turn him from Main to Villain, thereby making him a false Protagonist for Karol to replace him and...ARGH! NO! BAD BRAIN! DON'T THINK OF WAYS OF MAKING TALES PLOT WORSE!
There are other characters, but fuck if I care about talking about someone like NAN, or Ioder, who basically do nothing the entire game but exist as satellite characters.
END SPOILERS!!!
Overall, the game was just really good. If you remember when I did the TotA rant, I compared TotA rather heavily to SO3, cause well, that's what i kept doing when I played the game; kept thinking how the game falls so short of what SO3 was.
ToV, I wasn't doing that, though if I did compare the two, ToV would definitely hold up much better compared to SO3 than TotA did. Not saying its better/worse than SO3, just saying that the game is such an improvement over TotA, I really can't begin to stress it; ToV really did improve upon TotA in like every way, at least, for things I generally care about.
Overall? Probably a 9/10. I really enjoyed the game a lot, and its by far the best in the series. Makes me kind of want to get Radiant Mythology 2 (I haven't played 1 yet mind!) only so I can see more of the cast <.<
