Tales Of Symphonia

[Astri]

Yes...there really isn't the same beautimus chaining as there was in Symphonia. Although I have to admit, watching Guy Crescent Strike into Demonic Void into Razing Phoenix is a thing of beauty ^.^

One thing Abyss does have that Symphonia really should have, however, is the ability to save up your Overlimit. That would have elevated Sheena to the level of the other characters in term of battle prowess... --.--

Lloyd: The Berserker's Tank
Presea: The Tank to End All Tanks
Regal: The Endlessly Comboing Tank

Genis: The Apocalyptic Spellcaster
Raine: The Easiest Way to Win the Game

Kratos/ Zelos: The Ultimate Middlemen

Colette: The Backrow Goddess of the Battlefield

Sheena: The Character Who is Insanely Powerful in Theory, but a Powderpuff in Practice

Oh, poor underpowered Sheena... --.--
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[color=blue]Disgaea's [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-31977.html]Overlords Dance[/url] in [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-25745.html]Worlds Beyond Infinity[/url] while [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-27428.html]Mifuyus Magical Multiplying Mole[/url] reads the epic [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-25652.html]Chronicles of Yord[/url], and you learn that your [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37925.html]Craving[/url] for [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37922.html]Finding a Heart of Snow[/url] is [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37924.html]Taboo[/url] in [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37910.html]VG[/url] unless you dare undertake [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-32962.html]The Combine of Sin[/url]...[/color]

[Trinity_Fire]

Raine, the easiest way to win the game?? Wortwort??

Oh, and I think Lloyd's might possibly be changed to 'Unending combo-er' or something of the sort. ...For the CPU. XD;

You're so right about Sheena though... I think back a long time ago (??) we used to put the dark seal (or was it demon seal?) on her, because I think it triggered overlimit more often.
Now though, we've got filled-up overlimits so often we don't even have enough time to use them, if that makes any sense. ^^;

Guy's Mystic Arte = <3
Asch's Mystic Arte = <3



...And is it just me, or is there an AWFUL LOT of Abyss yaoi??? :O;
I-I mean, there was PLENTY in Symphonia, but STILL...

...I see a huge amount of PJ. It makes me happy. :3

[Astri]

Let's be honest--I've never SEEN so much male-male bonding as in Abyss. I mean, the game practically drips with its own yaoi, to say nothing of what the fans can do to it. Ion is more of the heroine than Tear is. Peony is completely obsessed with Jade. Guy is the only one who believes in Luke. Jade nibbles on Guy.

Plus, the girls aren't exactly romantic. Tear hero-worships Legretta. Anise cares more about money than men. Natalia is just irritating.

Symphonia's was more wishful thinking. Abyss' is practically shoved in your face. By the creators!

Anyways.

I consider Raine the easiest way to win the game, because she makes it nearly impossible to die. As long as she can still cast Revitalize, you're still in the running. Plus she has Photon and Ray, both of which are devastating, and Field Barrier and Acuteness, which are just icing on top of an already perfect cake. Raine is really the best character in Symphonia.

Which is why I'm trying not to use her, but that's okay ^.^
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[color=blue]Disgaea's [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-31977.html]Overlords Dance[/url] in [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-25745.html]Worlds Beyond Infinity[/url] while [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-27428.html]Mifuyus Magical Multiplying Mole[/url] reads the epic [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-25652.html]Chronicles of Yord[/url], and you learn that your [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37925.html]Craving[/url] for [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37922.html]Finding a Heart of Snow[/url] is [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37924.html]Taboo[/url] in [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37910.html]VG[/url] unless you dare undertake [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-32962.html]The Combine of Sin[/url]...[/color]

[Trinity_Fire]

My friend and I have given up on actually trying to find individual pairings, and simply factorializing the different characters (male) that can be used for the pairing-up.
We've got: Luke, Guy, Asch, Jade, Peony, Dist, and Ion. Runners-up are Sync, Van, and Frings. ...Because Frings has sexy hair and arm-warmers.
Oh, and there's also Rappigs.

...Don't ask me how, there just ARE. And I have been searching oh-so-hard for beautimus pictures of Rappigs and/or Peony. I've got quite the collection; :gasp: in fact, my new gallery of Abyss pics is almost enough to top my collection of Symphonia pics!! ::fretfret:: ...I-Is that a good thing??

Oh, and don't forget the fact that threesomes are QUITE common. :o

Lol I think Guy is the most fought-for:

[img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MomentaryEternity/ToS/Abyss/jealous.gif[/img]
[img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MomentaryEternity/ToS/Abyss/jealous1.gif[/img]

:D

[LunaticCrow]

Namco probably decided to make most of the romance implied or otherwise nonexsistant when they realised that almost 3/4ths of the Tales fanbase is female. I personally think the girls are cool on their own. If it werent for Asch I'm sure Natalia would've been way more bloodthirsty and awesome. :8

but, you know. Natalia loev Jaed ;>
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[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/lunaticcrow/goodnight.jpg[/img]

[Trinity_Fire]

[quote="LunaticCrow"]but, you know. Natalia loev Jaed ;>[/quote]

....??? o_o;

Okay. Wait a sec. If you actually try to look at the GAME and make sense of the pairings... I do wonder. Where does JadexGuy come from?? I still don't see the connection, besides that one account of the 'nibble.' D: ...And, as well, PeonyxGuy??

Oh, and who else has found these adorable icons?? They're so cute. :3

[img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MomentaryEternity/ToS/Abyss/fightforguy.gif[/img][img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MomentaryEternity/ToS/Abyss/mieuabuse.gif[/img][img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MomentaryEternity/ToS/Abyss/rappigsgalore.gif[/img][img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MomentaryEternity/ToS/Abyss/ragingblast.gif[/img][img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MomentaryEternity/ToS/Abyss/scratchhead.gif[/img]

Oh, and I also found this one person who did the most unbelieveable background-sunset pictures from Tales.
Like, this.
[img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MomentaryEternity/ToS/Abyss/tattarovalley.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e326/MomentaryEternity/ToS/Abyss/necromancersunset.jpg[/img]
D:

Anyone else got any cool new Abyss pics to share?? 8D

[Astri]

I don't think Jade actually likes Guy. I just think he likes to tease him (and I can definitely see why ^.^ Thus the nibble. I fully agree with the Jade x Peony, personally...

As for Peony x Guy...well, Peony likes cute things, right? ^.^;

I wish Natalia was more bloodthirsty. When I first saw her, I was fully expecting her to fly into a raging fury and smack Luke into next Tuesday, but not only was there no smacking, there was hardly any yelling. If she was more violent or hot-tempered, I think I would love her, but as is, she's just kind of lukewarm (pun not intended).

Tear and Anise, though, I think deserve their own sequel to Abyss where they can actually find love with boys who aren't chasing one another ^.^

Unless Tear managed to end up with Legretta. Which would still be an awesome sequel ~.^

That Tear sunset picture is unbelievable, by the way.
_________________
[color=blue]Disgaea's [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-31977.html]Overlords Dance[/url] in [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-25745.html]Worlds Beyond Infinity[/url] while [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-27428.html]Mifuyus Magical Multiplying Mole[/url] reads the epic [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-25652.html]Chronicles of Yord[/url], and you learn that your [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37925.html]Craving[/url] for [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37922.html]Finding a Heart of Snow[/url] is [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37924.html]Taboo[/url] in [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-37910.html]VG[/url] unless you dare undertake [url=http://www.fanart-central.net/story-32962.html]The Combine of Sin[/url]...[/color]

[LunaticCrow]

[quote="Trinity_Fire"][quote="LunaticCrow"]but, you know. Natalia loev Jaed ;>[/quote]

....??? o_o;[/quote]

Think about their personalities. Their social "rankings". Their interactions. Then go from there.

Natalia's downfall was really Asch and Luke. If they hadn't been there I'm sure she'd have been five times cooler. -Actually, most female character's downfalls are their craptastic love interests, so..D8

[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/lunaticcrow/Games/Tales/1.jpg[/img]
[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/lunaticcrow/Games/Tales/yukiguni.jpg[/img]
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[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/lunaticcrow/goodnight.jpg[/img]

[Trinity_Fire]

Ahh... Interesting. Hm.

You're right; Natalia coulda been way cooler. Tear's kinda on the passive side, and the only active person is Anise. (Lukewarm, haha... sad thing is pun has already been made before. XD;)

Actually, Natalia isn't that bad. ...Okay, maybe she is. But her fighter character base, oooh~

Also, has anyone tried out Anise? She's a pretty decent fighter, and definately brings Presea the Tank back up to mind. However, now she's also got a combo of fonic artes and moves from Regal... it's quite an interesting mix. I'm not sure so far how well the fonic artes sit with such of a heavy melee-style tanker though... When I play as her, I tend to forget about the magic completely. ^^;

Oh, and by the way. A friend of mine found THE ultimate Abyss fanart collection.

Here, let me share the joy~

http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v316/tawa/

XD
I'm proud to say that, working alphabetically, I've made it to Jade's section. XD;

I like the collection of LukexAsch~ <3

[LunaticCrow]

I beat Van using Anise as my character
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[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/lunaticcrow/goodnight.jpg[/img]

[Trinity_Fire]

[quote="LunaticCrow"]I beat Van using Anise as my character[/quote]

o_o; Wooow. Nice. :D
Oh man, we're still not done the game. But New Year's was a chance to get together, so my friend and I played from about 7:00 to 12:30. XD We played right through New Year's, actually, because the parents were too lazy to turn on the TV to watch rather than Karaoke.

We got to the part where we figured out Sync's real identity. I kinda already knew though, from all the fanarts... :/
But it was awesome. And the fight was really crazy, because, well, I had it set to 'hard.'
On the topic of the Abyss config, (?) could someone write me a persuasive essay to get my friend to let me use the dumb vibration option?? She REFUSES to do so.
...Vibration is helpful when you're playing as Natalia and want to know whether or not you've hit the dumb enemy. ...And... it's fun... in general?
She refuses though, simply stating that 'it feels weird.' Wtf. D:

Oh, and one more thing. About at what level should you be entering the Coliseum? We went in there to try, and I got slaughtered by the beginner's level.
...Okay, it was on hard again, but SERIOUSLY! I got kilt by the dumb little assassin guy. ..He, he, he doesn't freakin' FLINCH! ;o;
...Then I switched it back to normal mode, and I made it to the final, but then I got killed by that dumb Coliseum Queen when she Thunder Bladed me to death. D:

We tried team party and even got slaughtered there, too. It was disgraceful. D:

We're at level 47/46/Luke on 48. Tear is, unfortunately, on 46.

On what level SHOULD I take on the Coliseum?? Heeelp me, I wanna fight Reid Hershel~

Oh, and btw. You know the whole messenger-thingy between General Frings (<3) and Cecille? I got the ring from Frings, I had Cecille reject it, so now we have to give it back to Frings... ...right?? ;o;

But we went off and talked to Aster first!! Did we mess it up now?!?!? I searched all through Kaitzur and Kaitzur naval port, and Engeve, and Chesedonia, but I can't find either of them. I even searched Grand Chokmah! Where's Frings?? ;o;

::bows down to Those Who Have Beaten Abyss:: Help? :o

[Hybrid]

i say kouske got lazy on this one. Everyone looks like someone from symphonia, or they could have been in it. and since it has been established that they are NOT their chirldren(thank you) it's wierd. He did a good job on drawing them though, that much hasn't changed.


The battle system is better too, although the insane up diretional combo lag, gone from legendia, has since returned with a vengence...

don't get me started on the soundtrack and those same two songs that play over and over so it feels like i'm playing star ocean again.


i like making fun of the fact that luke looks like rukia of bleach after he cuts his hair. and guy looks and sounds like ichigo.

[img]http://pictures.fanart-central.net/h/Hybrid/534757.png[/img]

[LunaticCrow]

Actually, I've said this before and I'll say it again: Alot of things in Abyss were unbelievably crappy. My biggest gripe though is actually the graphics out of battle. In battle they're pretty good- Great fabric movement. But out of battle it looks like legs are about to slide off on certain Player Character models, and it looks like they just put on crappy .gifs for their faces. Since it's fun to compare ToS to ToTA and stuff like that (+Kicking dead horses where it matters most is in fact my favorite hobby), I'm going to compare their models

ToS:
+ Nice, Smooth Character Models. Aside From Sheena's legs at certain times, things were looking just good.
+ Great Character Faces. They actually looked like they were..well, faces.
- The Expressions were limited
- What the fuck is a texture?

ToTA:
+ Great Textures and coloring in the clothes
+ Expressive faces
- There was very little natural transition between said expressions (see above "crappy .gif" remark.)
- Character models got rough and choppy outside of cutscenes. It looked like they took FFVIII's graphics and thought TALES SERIES. YES. OMG.

Oh Yeah, I went there.

+People who compare Legendia and Abyss piss me off even more than myself after this. kcool. At least ToS vs. Abyss is a slightly fairer contest (Though everyone's in favor of Abyss because it's popular right now).
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[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/lunaticcrow/goodnight.jpg[/img]

[Trinity_Fire]

[quote="Hybrid"]i say kouske got lazy on this one. Everyone looks like someone from symphonia, or they could have been in it. and since it has been established that they are NOT their chirldren(thank you) it's wierd. He did a good job on drawing them though, that much hasn't changed.[/quote]
Actually, it's pretty much just the way the style goes. The characters, well, I wouldn't quite put them as being 'from Symphonia,' but what I found rather disappointing instead was just the amazingly boring outfits. ...Like Asch. He looks like he's wearing a black poster. I mean, out of them... only Luke, possibly Legretta seemed to have anywhere-near-decent outfits and designs. Look closely, the rest are cool, and yeah, you get used to it, but... so plain, so often. :/

[quote="Hybrid"]don't get me started on the soundtrack and those same two songs that play over and over so it feels like i'm playing star ocean again.[/quote]
Those songs were cool when I heard them the first few times. But, you're right... listening to them over and over again gets kinda boring. :/ I-I mean, I LIKE the songs, but seriously...

[quote="Hybrid"]i like making fun of the fact that luke looks like rukia of bleach after he cuts his hair. and guy looks and sounds like ichigo.[/quote]
I think the english voice acter for Guy and Ichigo's was the same. Funny, my friend mentioned that just today...

LunaticCrow, I see what you mean. I never really noticed it though, just kinda saw the finished expression and not the transition to it. Heh.

I liked ToS' facial expressions too, but the rougher graphics did kinda bother me. Like the double-lip/thick lip thing. And like the giant hands, only made slightly less giant now in Abyss. When Jade points his finger with his hand up to his chin, it bothers me. >>; Then again, it's part of the Tales/chibi style, huh?

Abyss is pretty cool, but I'm not letting that get in the way of decent judgment. All games have their flaws. And Symphonia still holds a place in my heart~
...Plus, on quite a few sites, I still see more Symphonia fanart than Abyss. The character designs and all were just so much better there~

[Hybrid]

[quote="Trinity_Fire"][quote="Hybrid"]i say kouske got lazy on this one. Everyone looks like someone from symphonia, or they could have been in it. and since it has been established that they are NOT their chirldren(thank you) it's wierd. He did a good job on drawing them though, that much hasn't changed.[/quote]
Actually, it's pretty much just the way the style goes. The characters, well, I wouldn't quite put them as being 'from Symphonia,' but what I found rather disappointing instead was just the amazingly boring outfits. ...Like Asch. He looks like he's wearing a black poster. I mean, out of them... only Luke, possibly Legretta seemed to have anywhere-near-decent outfits and designs. Look closely, the rest are cool, and yeah, you get used to it, but... so plain, so often. :/

[quote="Hybrid"]don't get me started on the soundtrack and those same two songs that play over and over so it feels like i'm playing star ocean again.[/quote]
Those songs were cool when I heard them the first few times. But, you're right... listening to them over and over again gets kinda boring. :/ I-I mean, I LIKE the songs, but seriously...

[quote="Hybrid"]i like making fun of the fact that luke looks like rukia of bleach after he cuts his hair. and guy looks and sounds like ichigo.[/quote]
I think the english voice acter for Guy and Ichigo's was the same. Funny, my friend mentioned that just today...

LunaticCrow, I see what you mean. I never really noticed it though, just kinda saw the finished expression and not the transition to it. Heh.

I liked ToS' facial expressions too, but the rougher graphics did kinda bother me. Like the double-lip/thick lip thing. And like the giant hands, only made slightly less giant now in Abyss. When Jade points his finger with his hand up to his chin, it bothers me. >>; Then again, it's part of the Tales/chibi style, huh?

Abyss is pretty cool, but I'm not letting that get in the way of decent judgment. All games have their flaws. And Symphonia still holds a place in my heart~
...Plus, on quite a few sites, I still see more Symphonia fanart than Abyss. The character designs and all were just so much better there~[/quote]

That acsh comment spilled all my Dr. Peppr onto my laptop...

i love all three games very much,

but after seeing the drastic change from symphonia to legendia,(I love those designes so much...)

I was expecting Kousuke to kick it up a notch... but i was wrong..

I agree about legendia comparisons, but here's something to consider that people don't:

Everything has a budget.

Everything you do costs money.

The character designer is quite high-profile,( Cowboy bebop and Samurai champloo ) and one can only assume that it would be expensive to hire someone like this

Even with the longer-than-average opening, tales of the abyss probably contained less cutscene time than legendia.

most of legendia's Soundtrack was orchestrated. (the battle music was replaced with syth imitations for some reason or another, but the original instruments can be found on the ost)

nearly -every- scene in the main story had voiceovers.

Now, after all this, what's left for the game itself?

that's why i liked how the game excepted it's limitations graphically, and used pictures when they needed to emote, rather than try to get us to sympathize with the timy little tree stumps of character models.


Abyss made use of the synth engine used in symphonia.

voice overs were more prominent than in symphonia, but there were many more parts without them.



now about the natalia thing, she freaking owns on my file.

i'm not sure what i did, but her stats climbed to incredible heights with the capacity core i had her equiped with, and she was dealing more damage than luke and guy put together. My sis always got me through scrapes with the new and improved multiplayer, and it was really fun.


On another thread of discussion, i also found it entertaining how blatantly homosexual Luke was in the beginning, and all the man love flying around. no lesbians though.
Except for the General's admirer in port Baticul.

But it was funny when natalia basically disses tear at their first meeting, and all she says is how beautiful she is.

[LunaticCrow]

Okay, since I did the Symphonia vs. Abyss thing, I want to try Legendia vs Abyss.

Legendia:
+Excellent Story and characters
+Great Animations, more animations throughout the course of the game than any other Tales game
+Fantastic Art/Designs for Characters AND Monsters
+Great Layouts for Dungeons
+The best soundtrack in the Tales series
-Gameplay was lacking
-The Dungeons. The fact that you went to a flat and boring room for the puzzles was the downfall.
-No Voice acting after the main quest
-Character models

Abyss:
+Great gameplay, Interesting Battle System
+Great Character Models in Battle- though they actually got crappier during cutscenes and out on the field :8
+Enough Sidequests to keep you playing the game long after you're done
+NATALIA <3
-BOOOORING character design. Kosuke Peaked with Symphonia :l
- Crappy story, the characters were kind of boring too..
- Shitty Soundtrack :8
-Dungeons were too easy

kei im done.

Natalia <3
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[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/lunaticcrow/goodnight.jpg[/img]

[Trinity_Fire]

[quote="LunaticCrow"]Abyss:

- s**tty Soundtrack :8
-Dungeons were too easy[/quote]

Really? I thought the soundtrack was okay. I've never heard Legendia's because I haven't gotten the game yet, but...

Still, that makes me wonder. What did you think of the Symphonia soundtrack? I mean, it had a few nice pieces, but nothing really outstanding. I liked Presea's... ...And that was about it. D:
In Abyss however, I really like a lot of the background music, like the one at Kaitzur and Belkend. 8D I thought it was pretty darn decent...

And the dungeons are too easy, I agree. I-I mean, sure, I LIKE it, but it's just getting kind of ridiculous. It ruins an RPG, sometimes, if it's just so darn simple.

Oh, but guess what a friend of mine recently figured out: he got the treasure chest up on that little temple/thing at Keterburg! The trick is to hit the kid on the right at the plaza with the snowball machine with Mieu attack. :o (EDIT: Oops, my bad! I mean the snowball machine, not the kid... XD;)
THAT was interesting. I love how we ruined the little kiddies' fun, too. :p

(Btw Hybrid, to get the quote thing to work, go to your post and check the option to disable HTML :) )

[LunaticCrow]

Legendia's is the best. Symphonia and all the rest [abyss included] are really crappy and repetitive with only like, two songs that are marginal. OH GOD YES TWINKLY NOISES WITH GENERIC PIANO AND VIOLIN

I guess the dungeons were okay if you were like me and just wanted to get the game over with as fast as you could, but from a critic's standpoint, and what I think if I were to ever play the game again...far too easy. Though thankfully it wasn't like, Moralia Mineshaft hard, but the level of balance between easy and fucking impossible is important in RPG dungeons.
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[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/lunaticcrow/goodnight.jpg[/img]

[Trinity_Fire]

Ah, I see. That makes Legendia rise up a little on my to-buy/to-play list. :3

...Too bad I'm so busy and haven't finished ANYTHING since Symphonia oh-so-long-ago. XD;

Oh, and btw. Click the link and watch. I don't even like YouTube, but click the link and WATCH.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5ikOJlMeIgQ



...S-Someone please explain this to me???? ;A; Can the English version get even CLOSE to all this insanity??

[LunaticCrow]

Holy-- That person..is amazing with Natalia. Almost godly, really.

I've always had trouble executing the hi-ougi in abyss myself- any tips? Like at what instant can I trigger it, ect?

Anyway, I've started my second playthrough of Abyss. I've striken out on my distinguished gayquest with an objective:

Do all the sidequests I missed and fukken get all the costumes. >8(

Yes.

I only had a handful of the costumes after my first playthrough- I have Anise in her Devil costume this playthrough. It suits her so much. 83333 I'm around Choral castle right now trying to beat the Sword Dancer-sdhsajdhaskjdhaskjdhaskjhdaskjdhajksdhajdhasjkdhasjkdhasjkdas. I had to switch out of hardmode and I still got my ass kicked. x_x
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[img]http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c296/lunaticcrow/goodnight.jpg[/img]