First off: Laura Bailey. carpING YAY. I carping LOVE her! Her voice are fit for a good number of characters, from innocent and kind to snobby and bossy. Her voice is also fit for the romantic-type of characters, like Marta of ToS2. One of my more favorite roles of Bailey is Tohru Honda from Fruits Basket and Rise from Persona 4. She's sort of a "staple" voice actor for Funimation and can handle a good amount of J-Game characters.

Hubert, I'm particularly fond of. But Richard, I was kinda hoping for a more...deeper, menacing voice.

Jamison Price (lol same first name, but mine is an E instead of an I) is well known for more adult characters, like Ovan from .hack//G.U. A fun little trivia that in the Japanese versions of the game, there is crossover event in a special preorder DVD where Haseo and Ovan of .hack//G.U. meet Asbel and Malik. This is because Haseo and Asbel, and Ovan and Malik share the same Japanese voice actor. There is also DLC content for .hack//LINK where Haseo and Ovan can wear Asbel's and Malik's costumes respectively, where as Asbel can wear Haseo's Xth Form (the white one). Unfortunately, the only link between .hack and Tales of Graces now is that Malik shares Ovan's Japanese AND English voice actors...

...That said...I'm kinda not feeling Asbel's voice. But I'm okay with Sophie's.

Edit: And yay, I payed off my ToGf today, I bought a 16gb USB last night on sale for $20, and I'll be borrowing my cousin's PS3 during my Spring Break! I am SET for ToGf! I might have to..."dig deep" to getting my own PS3 in April, though...

Okay, so I got my copy, I played all day long (Though taking a break to eat McDonald's while listening to Kamen Rider Fourze with Kai-V) and, at the risk of repeating myself, THIS KIND OF CARPING AWESOME!!!!

I understand the battle system a little better, now that instructions are in english, and have been having fun pointlessly leveling up Asbel with monster encounters just for the heck of it. I also understand the skill/title system a lot better, too, which makes for more efficient gameplay.

So, story-wise, nothing of substance has popped up yet. I'm passed the childhood part and back to Lhant for Asbel to take over his dead father's job. All is well, really. Voice acting-wise, it's all great, the weakest performance being Asbel's , though I can't exactly call it bad, and the best being from Jamieson Price, who sounds like God. I'm serious, I'm pretty sure that, if God exists and that he has one main voice, it'd be that of Jamieson Price. I always end up smiling like a jackass whenver Malik talks because I enjoy listening to him so god damn much...

Anyway, I also unlocked Asbel's pre-order bonus costume. It looks like carp, so I don't wear it XD Hopefully, Sophie's and Richard's will be better...

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First off, which song from Fourze? I haven't listened to their new one, the theme song for Meteor.

I just finished practicing my lines for the opera and memorized them, so I got 2 hours or so before I go to bed to play the game on my cousin's PS3. I got my USB all ready and everything, and I just popped in my game; I have to update her PS3 though to 4.01, so more time is being taken up. Then I gotta catch the ice cream truck once I hear it...

Anyway, after tomorrow, I'll be going on a playing spree, taking a break to practice again, and then I'll spend my weekend playing.

That is, if I don't forget to study for my upcoming music history midterm. Oh ho ho...

Seems like the powers that be just will not let me play this game...

Edit:
My only complaint about the Childhood Arc is...

HUBERT, STOP TAKING MY carpING KILLS! D< Find your own enemy to beat up while I'm trying to learn how to activate my Artes!

Edit 2:
For the record, Sophie is awesome.
And Mamoritai ~White Wishes~ in a minor key is beautiful and saddening...no, wait, I think it's already in a minor key...I'd have to check.

Edit 3:
So being new to the PS3 and all, I didn't know that...my trophies and data are LINKED to my cousin's account. Meaning, I'll have to completely start over when I get my own PS3...dammit...

Edit 3:
So being new to the PS3 and all, I didn't know that...my trophies and data are LINKED to my cousin's account. Meaning, I'll have to completely start over when I get my own PS3...dammit...

Really? I had no idea... Doesn't really matter, though, the trophies are essentially useless XD

There's a monster in the game called the 'Rockgagong' which is kind of a giant rock turtle in the desert and there's a dungeon in its stomach... On my playthrough of the Japanese version, I thougth the Rockgagong just attacked us and the ground collapsed under us, leading the group to an underground cave, or something, not that it ate us XD

Though the acid lakes in the dungeon really should have clued me in...

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Yeah, but i'd like to feel the accomplishement of doing something.

the upside, i get to watch those cute sophie skits.

Ka-joink.

I love Sophie...

Yeah, Sophie's a lot of fun I was just thinking of whose performance she really reminded me of and realized that it's Angel from the anime Angel Beats! Same monotone/shy tone, same cuteness and same shortness of size! It's a perfect match!

I also especially like Malik... mainly because he's dubbed by Jamieson Price, but he's also a lot of fun. There's a skit where they learn that Pascal swam the length of an entire lake, Sophie being really impressed by that. Malik suggests that Pascal must be some sort of ancient fish-being and naive lil' Sophie blindly agrees. Malik then says 'She must have gills... Let's find them!' and I couldn't help but laugh XD

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Really? I was thinking Nagato Yuki from Haruhi Suzumiya, but I don't watch a lot of anime as I would have wanted, so my list of quiet characters aren't very high.

Welp, I decided to restart my game. Doing some things right right off the bat; Title Maxing for one. The upside, my level is increasing to where I left off last time in the Child Arc. And I haven't even meet Richard yet!

Edit: It's a good thing I restarted the game. Now linked to my own PSN account, I earned the Trophy, "Bryce in 60 Seconds"! Bryce actually gave me a bit of trouble the first time, so my first proper trophy on my own account makes me feel better. =D

This thread has turned into a Kaji x Dude bromance corner.

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Project Rising Beetle→
I Miss Bionix→

I noticed, and I apologize. ; A; No one else ever posts in this thread, though. Kinda like us in the Little Battlers eXperience thread...

Nothin' wrong with bromance, is there? Besides, people are free to say something if they want to XD

Regardless, after 26 hours of gameplay, I have finally come accross a part I absolutely loathe: Kurt. I'll put the rest in spoilers, because... it more-or-less is.

Spoiler (Click to View)

So, Kurt is Malik's Fendel army buddy which he basically abandonned 20 years ago in favor of leaving for Windor. Kurt's in charge of a project to use energy from Fendel's valkines to power the nation into an age of prosperity or, at least, keep Fendel alive. Only problem: Pascal proved that the Valkines Cryas is unstable and that messing with it could cause a nuclear-like explosion. That's all fine and good, it keeps the story going and stuff, but here's the problem: At one point, you'll fight Kurt and he is the cheapest, worst boss I've ever seen. I'm serious, not only can he combo your carp out of existence in two seconds flat but he also has a never-ending supply of KGB agents to come back him up. I have no idea how the hell I beat him in my Japanese playthrought because, right now, this isn't going well.

Oh and Pascal is a lil' annoying. She's kinda like a less gratting version of Riku from Final Fantasy X. It's bearable but I could do without.

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So playing through about 5 hours of this and its pretty good. I find Sophie to be a little annoying (especially the child hood ark) and Hubert to be awesome. The gameplay is ice, the artes are smooth to preform.

I messed up and missed a set of Requests at Barona's Inn before I headed back to Lhant for the first time. Shoot...a bunch of SP, wasted...

Okay, second thing I loathe and I'm fairly sure I also hated this in my Japanese playthrough. There's a dungeon, fairly later in the game, called Bathus Citadel. Its got the most catchy song in the game, so far, and pretty strong ennemies that are decent for leveling, but the problem comes with the puzzles of this place. Basically, there are six floors and, on each floor, there are elavators, platforms and rows of blocks. The blocks from lower levels can control platforms from superior floors as well as platforms form the floor you're on. It's pretty easy at first, but, when you make it to the sixth floor, it gets bloodily complicated. I spent an hour and a half last night trying to figure out what blocks I had to move so I could get to the save point. It drove me nuts and I went to bed with that on the conscience.

Trick for when you get there: To get the last platform on the sixth floor where you want it to be, you have to move blocks on the fifth floor!!!

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[Image: 2d80afe2.jpg]

June 26 by Funimation.

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Project Rising Beetle→
I Miss Bionix→

Ah yes, the First Strike for DVD. It was in this list of things that I thought I would never see released, like Duke Nukem Forever, at one point, and, right now, Bioshock Infinite.

I actually bought the Japanese movie a long time ago with english subs (I think it weas some kind of weird Asian bootleg, or something...) and the movie's pretty cool! There's good ol' Yuri, Flynn (We even get a lot of character development for him), Estelle and there's even appearances by Rita and Raven, though it's not just some pointless cameo to satisfy fanboys, they actually contribute to the story.

Thanks for the info, To, I'm totally gonna buy that! And I recommend it to anyone that has a few bucks to spare, too.

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Apparently, Namco Bandai filed a trademark for Tales of Xillia in both the US and Europe ( http://www.siliconera.com/2012/03/26/tal...e-u-s-too/ )

That's a good thing! I personnally think Tales of Graces F is a better game than Xillia, mainly because of Xillia's over-recycling of graphics and such, but it's still an enjoyable game and it'll be a fun ride for everyone.

That is, if we actually get it... eventually...

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Just made the BIGGEST noise in class when I read that post. I couldn't contain my excitement. lol

I wish I actually owned the consoles to play these games on.

Memberrs on the GameFAQs boards are complaining about Xillia (or is it Xilia) being incomplete and needing an extra port like Graces f and Vesperia for the PS3. while I don't care whether or not we'll get that port, it'd be nice of the US got the extras treatment that Japan's been getting regarding jRPGs.

Example, our versions of Kingdom Hearts have stuff the originals didn't. The Final Mixes have our stuff, with English dub, and final added stuff that the USdoesn't have. Vesperia has Patty and playable Flynn in Japan. I can go on, but that's all I know. lol

The fact that we have Graces f, an enhanced port, may be a good sign of the Tales times ahead.

So, I completed the 'F' part of the game (Which is called Lineage and Legacies, if anyone wonders) just yesterday. I'll put it all in spoiler for anyone that hasn't beaten the game yet.

Spoiler (Click to View)

So, basically, after absorbing Lambda into himself and accepting the burden of dealing with his random outbursts of rage, Asbel goes back to Lhant with the others and everything seems fine for six months. At that point, strange and very powerful monsters start appearing near the Valkines Cryas of the world and, after some time, the protags discover that what's mutating the monsters is massive amounts of Eleth that's coming out of Fodra, the dead planet. It's odd exactly because Fodra is supposed to be an inactive planet, partially ravaged by Lambda. We soon learn that somewhat deity-like beings, known as the 'Little Queen' is actually seeking to eradicate humans, as she has seen their work destroying life on Fodra for a few thousands years of existence. The Little Queens can multiply at will as long as they have Eleth from Fodra's core, which they have so, at a few points in the game, you'll have to face seemingly endless armies of Little Queens.

That's all well and good as part of Namco Bandai's general environnmental message that seems to snake its way into many of their games and at least, they don't hammer in their point like other medias (e.g Captain Planet) but the problem comes with the last dungeon, called Lastalia Shaft. To be blunt: It's essentially everything I hate in RPGs. It has a first layer of elevator puzzles. If there's one thing a dungeon should never have, much less begin with it's elevator puzzles. It wouldn't be that bad if you could just go back through the elevator you use but, if you use one to go down (And you have to go down) then it magically turns off. If you end up somewhere you've already been or take a wrong turn or something, you're doomed and you've gotta start again from the beginning. After that, there's the one thing I despise from RPGs above everything else: Status ailment. Those are cheap ways of making it more difficult for the player. Basically, there are like 5 floors, all of which have one ailment associated to them and that makes you always have that ailment on all oyur party members in every battle. For example, the first floor is the 'Burn' ailment, so you'll always have burn in every battle on that floor. Burn only makes you unable to use items, but when you're in the middle of a bad situation and can't use a Grape Gel to keep Asbel alive, then you sure come to deeply hate the Burn ailment. The worst part is that, on the third layer, which is Paralyzis, you have to fight one of the Little Queen army, but just try doing that when all your party members are Paralyzed. Good thing I had kept my Paralyzis Charms...

After all that and getting carp items that are nowhere near worth killing the very strong ennemies in the core, you get to the last boss of the Future Arc: Fodra Queen. All the Little Queens merge together to form a slightly taller version of a single Little Queen with one little difference: Her dress. The Little Queens actually look pretty cool and are almost entirely covered-up, but Fodra Queen is... well, she basically dresses up like an exhibitionist bride. No joke, I was kinda shocked. The Fodra Queen is also very cheap. She has two forms, a defensive and an offensive. In the defensive, she won't be much trouble, but, in the offensive, she's deeply, deeply annoying. She has a move which I think is called 'First Flame' that's not all that powerful much, every time she uses it, it surrounds her with some kind of fire-like fog that hurts anyone that comes near her AND affects you with the Burn ailment. I did beat her after only two tries, but she's still annoying as all hell and forced me to use five Elixirs.

So, while the Future Arc was annoying, it did elaborate on the main storyline nicely, even if accompanied by cheapness, and a few titles do give us really good abilities, mainly the Accel powers.

Gonna tackle on the Zhonecage, now (Yes, it's actually spelled like that) the EX Dungeon. Should be interesting...

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Question, does changing the battle difficulty give mondo SP?

Also, do you ha e a list of the crystals made from dualizing? The big ones that are rare like Soaring or Overgrown or Possessed Crystals?

Yep, the higher the difficulty, the more extra SP you get. I think you get none when playing on the easy difficulty...

And no, there is no list of dualizing techniques or materials or whatever. I searched high and low on the internets for it during my Japanese Playthrough and never found anything. I guess there's just too much stuff...

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I mean from YOUR playthrough, if you focused on Dualizing while you were playing.

The only one I remember from heart is the Soaring Crystal (Pretty Feather and Torn Page). I'd like to make an FAQ detailing what to make, but I need to find the appropriate materials, since a majority of materials used for Dualizing are less than 25% in the mixer. And I havenMt started keeping a track on monster drop Materials until Pretty Feathers from Cawkers (lol) and Desert Eagles in the Western Strahtan Desert.

Also, Carta mini game, fun as hell.

Kaji: Until the 3DS release, certain TotA content was infact US version only so there is a precedent for overseas exclusives within Tales.

ZhoneCage is a pretty crazy EX Dungeon...

Spoiler (Click to View)

So, after you've beaten Lambda (Or the Fodra Queen, which will just return you to the end of the normal game) you can view a skit in which Pascal gets a message from Fourier saying she wants Frederic, the Lhant family's butler, to hand back something called a 'Lapcomp' which he had borrowed from her. At first, I though "This can't possibly have anything to do with Zhonecage, it's just too random." but, when you go meet Frederic, he gets zapped away into space and the characters just assume that he was transported to that big metal ring that surrounds Ephinea. They go there and find Zhonecage and this is where it gets weird. There are 9 floors to the Zhonecage and you automatically enter Floor 1, which is filled with Kid Asbel, Kid Hubert and Kid Richard that want to kill you!!! That's right, every enemy group is just those three, on the first floor. At the end of the first floor, you'll find Frederic who'll explain that Zhonecage is ruled by the Terma Ten amd that he himself has been chosen as a Terma Ten by the leader of this place, Solomus. So you fight Frederic (By this point and if you've completed Lineage and Legacies, you shouldn't have any problem) and kill him, much to the shock of every party member. It's okay, though, because death means nothing in Zhonecage and he just comes back, but you have to beat Solomus to free him from this place. Floor 2 is inhabited by powered-up Windor Soldiers which are easily killed and you quickly meet with the boss of that floor, Cedric. He acts weird and we pretty much assume he's a robot.. which is odd...

Anyway, for each floor, an offering (Item) is needed. Say for floor 1, you just drop an Apple Gel, but for higher floors, say the fifth, you gotta drop something more valuable, like those pointless Eleth Bottles I never used throughout by game. Kinda tedious.

I wonder what Solomus looks like...

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