"Tales Of" Series

Discovered the "joys" of Hard and Evil modes. Against the boss before the Amarcian Enclave (the boar thing) and the Veras...so...many...friggin' Life Bottles.

Oh, AND I had my first game over! I think I'm going to lower the boss battles to Moderate...keep other battles on Evil.
Yeah, the bosses can be pretty hard. You'll go nuts when fighting... oh, wait, that's spoilers... Never mind!

So, I just managed to beat Carter in Hard, for the Magic Carta mini-game, without letting him get a single point. You might be wondering 'Dude, why do you care for perfect games, anyway? Don't you just want to win?' and no, I want a perfect game because, when you do so on each difficulty, you get a Tales of Vesperia title that gets you a Vesperia costume! On easy, you get a Yuri costume for Asbel and on normal, you get a Patty costume for Sophie. Those two are pretty nice, but the one I really cared about was the costume you get on the Hard difficulty: a Rita Mordio costume for Cheria. I've seen pics of it online and it looks just like Rita, except with pink-ish hair, so I really wanted that one. One problem: On Hard, Carter is a carp cheater. He has an incredibly annoying teleportation move where he pretty much lands square on the good card after a few seconds. Carter never gets the wrong card, naturally, so you better find the right card in the first two or three seconds. I got lucky (On my... 20th try) and finally managed to beat him and got the goddamn title. This better be the best costume I've ever seen!
(Mar. 29, 2012  4:03 PM)Dude Wrote: I wonder what Solomus looks like...

Solomus is the half-dragon guy, right? IIRC he's tall and pale, wears all white and has horns that curl back across his head. It's been a long time since I've seen him though, IIRC it was before the game was even officially released (original version, not F).
It's Rita. With Pascal. You can't go wrong with that.

But can't you pause the game as soon as the quote comes up and match it? Unless you have a bad memory...I personally haven't tried it myself yet since I'm all the way at Mt. Zavhert. I REALLY don't wanna travel all the way back...

Also, Fendel Research Facilitiy on Evil, not as bad as Mt. Zavhert on Evil. Those trappers and Butchers make you flinch in Iron Stance easily, and those Butchers run fast when going after Cheria. But the guys in FRF gang up on you when you least expect it. But this is my first time playing on a supremely high difficulty...
Saw those last night. It sounds like they only got Sam Riegal and Troy Baker back, though Troy sounds a bit different this time around...
Rita is voiced by Luci Christian, not Michelle Ruff...

Who's Luci Christian? I HAVE NO BLOODY IDEA!!! Why, for the sake of everything that is holy and sacred, wouldn't you cast Michelle Ruff?! She was AWESOME as Rita!! Miss Christian doesn't sound awful, but I don't care for her, I want my Michelle Ruff!

And you're telling me they couldn't even get Judith Judovitz to voice Estelle? C'mon, I'm pretty sure she wasn't busy, or anything.

This is very very disappointing and it really won't be the same, without 'em.

P.S: Niren is voiced by the same guy thay did General Cross from D.Gray-man. That's okay.

Funimation voice actors. Though, Namco Bandai should've had a say on their voice cast, even if it was Funimation.

I can imagine them pulling the same stunt for Persona 4: The Animation if that ever gets US localised. But this explains the stuff Troy Baker hinted a while back. Not quite PS3 Vesperia, but I'd take a Troy Baker-filled First Strike.

I'm so going to cry when he tells Chibi Repede that "[he] killed [Chibi Repede's] daddy"...in English...I can only imagine the emotion Troy Baker will put in that....
Yeah, as Kaji mentioned the game was dubbed in Los Angeles. Funimation licensed the movie, but they dub everything in Texas.

Also, Persona 4: The Animation was picked up by Sentai Filmworks. They will be dubbing it.
Cool stuff! And Sentai Animation is based... where?

Not in Texas so that they only bring two of the main actors back, right?!

This is seriously disappointing...
Sentai is Neo-ADV

They're located in Texas.
Well great...

We're doomed.
Sentai confirmed they'll be going after the Persona 4 video game cast for the anime's dub.
Different game for a different thread, but great news all the same.

Yay for Tracey Rooney as Chie! <3 I can't imagine anyone else voicing the English Chie than her!

Anyway, back to the Tales topic...

Tales of Graces f's FAQs in GameFAQs are steadily growing. What I've been waiting for, the Dualizing Guide, is finally here. I need to throw in some help, like which enemies drop which materials, and where they are located.
I dunno, Dualizing didn't seem like that big a deal, for me. I've got like fifty weird-carp crystals I don't know what to do with and, even if I did use them for dualizing, what I'd get probably wouldn't be worth carp compared to the weapons I got in the Lineage and and Legacies part, although I think there are even stronger weapons around.

Anyway, I'm at Level 7 of the Zhonecage. At first, the bosses were either buffed up version of bosses you already fought (Emeraude etc.) or characters you've never fougth before and do get their own fighting style (Frederic, the Dark Turtlez etc.) but, on floors 6 and 7, it seems the game gets lazy. Level 6 is just a bunch of chickens that are veru easily killed. There's a lot of them, but they're never really a problem. On my first battle against them, only two of my characters died, plus they give tons of EXP and Gald, so I really recommend doing that floor a bunch of times for level up's sake. On floor 7, there are a bunch of really annoying ennemies that can summon other ennemies or split themselves into two, which is really cheap. You'll be just about done killing that but, if you let 'em be for a second, to recharge your CC, boom, he just doubled himself, full HP for each.

Just sayin', Zhonecage can be pretty cheap.
So, the next Tales of game is officially Tales of Xillia 2. They seem to be doing the same mistake as Symphonia 2 and Final Fantasy XIII-2 by not staring the same main character, as the new protagonist, here, is some guy named Ludgar who's accompanied by his cat and his sister Elle (Elle just means 'She' is French, by the way, weather that's intentional or not...)

Here's a trailer vid with some cool gameplay footage.

That world suddenly looks really darker with a strange steampunk look to it. Ludgar looks like a decent character and so does Elle, but what's really interesting is the battle footage. We see that Ludgar not only fights really well and cool with a set of dual blades but can also use dual guns as well as some sort of hammer-looking thing. Does that mean that we'll have to purchase three new weapons every time for Ludgar? That could be both interesting and challenging...

This is looking sweet, so far Joyful_3
More news about Tales of Xillia 2, there are going to be two limited pre-order editions! One of them will be called Tales of Xillia 2 X Edition and will come with an storybook as well as a special controller and the other is Tales of Xillia 2 DX Edition (Biiiiig difference) that will come with a stuffed-doll of the cat-thing Lulu that hangs out with Ludgar, a tapestry, a mug (Yeah, a freakin' mug!!) and a clear file.

I am very hesitant about which version to buy... I would love to drink my coffee out of a Tales of Xillia mug, but that controller looks damn nice... Hmmm...
Tales of Xillia slated for 2013 US release!
Damn you! I wanted to post about that! Pinching_eyes

Anyway, this really is great news. I don't think they'll be able to match the 500 000 unit sale from Japan but 1 game every 1-2 years should be well enough to keep a steady fanbase alive and growing. Now, there are those that carp about Xillia being incomplete and rushed but, if it is rushed, I can sajely say (Having bought it and played it) that this is the coolest unfinished product I've ever seen!

Well, this sure is excitement-worthy. Now to get frustrated by the lack of update relating to such a matter =D
So, through a certain new trailer, we get to see the new looks of both Leia and Alvin. They look great! =D

I especially love Leia's look, real cute and flashy. Love it :3

New trailer for Tales of Xillia 2 shows Ludgar fighting his older brother Julius, both of them soon taking on a frightening demon-like appearance.


God damn am I glad to have pre-ordered that game. Speaking of which, the three bonus costumes that come with the regular pre-order are of Emil for Ludgar, Yuri for Jude and Asbel for Milla. Pretty original XD Can't wait X3
...This makes me more excited for Tales of Xillia in the US.

Though the whole L and R choosing thing reminds me of Phantasy Star Portable, where the outcome of the game is determined by a collection of one of the two choices you choose.

It also seems to encourage replay value so that you can see everything you choose by picking the other decision.
Okay, so... TALES OF XILLIA 2 COMES OUT TOMORROW!!! SO FREAKIN' HYPED!!!!!

Here's the opening of the game, too, which looks freakin' awesome as well!!


God... Gaius and Muse are in our active party... G-God I WANT THAT GAME SO BAAAAAAD!!! O_____O

It's seriously the first time in a real long while that I'm this excited for a game release. Damn it feels great!
Tales of Xillia 2 got here just yesterday! Yes, a single day after the release in Japan! FedEx surpised me, this time '_'

So far, I am very impressed with the game. True, the very first enemy you encounter is a palette-swap of an enemy from another Tales game and they seem to have re-used some musics, but this is still incredible. Okay, so we start the game as Ludger in a dream sequence in which we fight our older brother Julius. Our opponent has his upper-body shadowed, but it's obvious it's Julius. It's actually one of those scripted fights that you're supposed to lose, not that you could win anyway, and when you do, Ludger wakes up in his apartment and follows his brother for some kind of test... I think it's to join the same organization his bro is part of, but I'm not sure. Furthermore, I'm not sure if Ludger actually passes the test or not. Anyway, after you kill a few monsters, Julius kindly giving expositary tutorials if you need 'em, some girl gets attacked by an electric tiger (no joke) and you get the choice between swooping in to save the girl by killing the foul beast or letting your brother handle it: It both cases, Julius gets mad at you. After that, you get back to your city and meet Jude accidentally! Jude is awesome, by the way. He's a doctor now and asks for directions to go to the train station, which Ludger leads him to. Along the way, they meet Elle, the lil' girl, who carries a cool-looking handwatch her father gave to her before getting shot several times, and she tags along for the ride.

Naturally, something goes wrong: What I can only assume to be terrorists attack the train and try to kill a beefy, red-coat-wearing, white-haired dude that appears in the opening (Sitting at a desk surrounding by obvious minions). They fail to kill him but they do manage to kill just about everyone else in the train. Once you make it to the end of the train, you meet Julius who seems to be the one orchestrating this attack, not that he seems to believe he's in the wrong at all. Ludger, when powered up by accidentally touching Elle's watch, takes a frightening appearance and BREAKS HYPERTIME BY THROWING A SPEAR-THING HE MADE FROM THIN AIR!!! And they end up a few minutes earlier, back at the other end of the train. Elle is now quite fearful of Ludger (Rightfully so) but Jude tells her (I assume so, anyway) that it's okay because they know Ludger is a good guy. That's why Jude is so cool!! Anyway, after we make our way back to the other end of the train (Now knowing everything that will happen) Jude and Ludger beat up his big bro and... break hypertime again! Dude, that's twice, now!

This is where it gets confusing: After breaking hypertime a second time in the same train, Jude, Ludger and Elle all wake up in a bar-looking place and some scarlet-clad, very effiminate dude basically gets Ludger to sign a contract stipulating that he owes him 20 000 000 gald, introducing us to the debt system. Basically, any time while you're in a city or in a field, you can press the L2 button on the controller and bring up what I like to call the 'Debt Menu' and there, you can pay your poorly-explained due. The girl that takes care of calculating the debt for us, Nova, is an old school-mate of Julius and has a lot of energy, so it's fun to just bring up the Debt Menu just to hear what crazy stuff she'll say XD So, after clearing the first part of our debt (5000 Gald) we're allowed out of the city and go back to our apartment with Jude and Elle... And that's where I'm at right now! I had to start over, though, because I had saved my game in my US Account while the only way to access Japanese DLC is with a saved game on my Japanese Account, though that wasn't the case for Tales of Xillia 1... The ability to skip cutscenes comes quite in handy, here Joyful_3

The last thing I should address is the 'Decision System' Basically, Ludger barely ever speaks: You choose what he says... Which is a problem for me because I can't read jack in Japanese... But no matter, I just choose at random. Most 'important' decisions (Like the one where you choose either you want to rescue the girl from the electric tiger) come with a save point just before it, so, if you don't like the result, you can just quit the game and start over, choosing the other option Joyful_3

Anyway, things are pretty cool, so far! My favourite part is the battles, though: Ludger is a freakin' beast! His dual-swords are super fast and efficient and control marvelously! Totally enjoying the game!! =D
Who does the opening for this game? Because I totally just fell in love with the song! <3

IIRC, BoA did Xillia's opening?