#have i mentioned i'm playing symphonia now

[yellowtrinity]

CANNOTTTTT get this track out of my head

[dany36]

last night i was thinking that, now that the switch 2 announcement was finally made and it's supposed to be released this year, the switch has been, to me, the most disappointing nintendo console up to now in terms of new games. (me continuing to rant and be a hater under the cut)

oh sure, i had a fucking blast with hyrule warriors definitive edition (probably my most-played game in the switch), i thought link's awakening was cute, exploring xenoblade chronicles DE's new areas in its expansion took me back to the Wii days, got to play tales of symphonia for the umpteenth time, playing mario kart 8 deluxe was also fun for the couple of times i played it and metroid dread was pretty good too.

the problem is, out of previous games i mentioned, only ONE of them isn't a port/remaster/remake, and that just fucking blows. of course i'm fucking hyped for the xenoblade x port/remake/whatever, but it's like.....wow, really, there was only ONE original game (that took me 20ish hours to complete) in the last 8 years or whatever the hell that i've owned a nintendo switch that i thoroughly enjoyed playing??

from the original, non-port games that i have: xc 2 (absolutely hated it), xc3 (enjoyed like maybe 40% of it but would not play it again), breath of the wild (lol), tears of the kingdom (lol x2), super smash bros ultimate (i was over this franchise when it released i just bought it because i had played all previous games but played it for maybe 20 hours then never picked it up again), super mario odyssey (don't own it but i did play it cus a friend let me borrow it and eh, it was ok but i didn't buy it to own it myself for a reason), and metroid dread (surprisingly the winner of the bunch above).

i was looking at my backlog of video games that i would like to play through, and for the switch, there's only....super mario 3d world (aka another port, this was probably my favorite mario game i've played since sunshine and dammit i want to try those new levels), okami (another port), and kirby and the forgotten realm. that's it. i haven't played pokemon since firered so i never cared for the pokemon games released this generation, splatoon never really got my attention, same with fire emblem, and super mario bros wonder looked cute but again not enough interest in me spending 70 dollars on it to play it for 20 hours or whatever and then lose interest.

meanwhile for the wii u, wii, gamecube ...like...geez, the amount of ORIGINAL games that i own and played and thoroughly enjoyed and replayed over and over on those consoles is AT LEAST LIKE, 5 on each, and that's being fucking generous. just banger after banger after banger. meanwhile here on the switch it's like...oh yeah. one metroid game. 2 if i'm being generous with saying i didn't absolutely hate mario odyssey, which is just putting the bar pretty low.

so idk. i'm hoping in the april nintendo direct that we'll get to look at what NEW games are on the horizon for the switch 2 that will get me hyped again about a new nintendo console cus right now, with how much of a disaster the switch was to me PERSONALLY in terms of NEW game experiences, i'm just feeling jaded about the whole thing. here's hoping!

[lildoodlecat]

Tales asks 10 12 14 15 19 20 and 25 if ya would! Sorry for it being a lot lol I just wanna get to know ya 😅

wo a h yeah sure let's go!

10. favorite battle

this one's hard just bc i don't remember every game i've played terribly well lol but I'd say either the final battle with Asch in Abyss or fighting the party in the cave as Leon in Destiny DC!! Both are pretty climactic and (potentially) challenging fights :D also I just love the ones where you fight your own party members—and meaning of birth is such a good song,,

12. favorite opening/theme song

hmmm I really like most of the openings.. I can say that Symphonia's is my favorite to sing along to! Fav overall tho, maybe カルマ from Abyss? It'd be easier to say which ones I don't like as much als;kdfj

14. an unpopular opinion

liking zestiria— no but fr umm hm what IS an unpopular opinion i have.... i suppose i DO think Symphonia and Vesperia are overrated? This isn't a terribly informed opinion tho, seeing as I played Symphonia one (1) time and liked it okay, but I never actually finished Vesperia. Honestly I can't say I know what opinions aren't popular lkasjdf i do very much hang out in my corner and haven't interacted much with the larger English tales fandom (presuming there is an active one? the series has been on a bit of decline from what i've heard)

15. a side quest that stuck with you

memory problems gang rise up!! i have NO idea. In terms of sidequests I, like, remember in general—the mushroom one in Abyss is a neat one. Mostly I enjoy playing as Asch in the rare moments you can but I also like how it shows he still cares for his mother despite all the hatred, displacement, and loneliness he's been bottling up for 7 years

19. a game you changed your opinion on & why

alright strap in. i LOVED Xillia the first time I played it. Like 6 hours a day every day until I finished it loved it. I definitely wouldn't say I hate it now, but it's not a favorite. Honestly I think it's just that it's been a while, that I've played more games in the series (Xillia was my second) and especially that I don't like the exploration aspect of the gameplay much on subsequent playthroughs, or how ridiculously easy the game is without raising the difficulty myself. It just kinda became lukewarm for me ig

on the other end of the spectrum, when I finished Destiny PSX i just thought it was fine. It was kind of cool but I didn't feel much about it beyond some surface-level enjoyment of it as a pixel jrpg, which is a style i like regardless. Then I started playing DC, and suddenly I was longing for PSX Destiny. I missed the battle style, the puzzles, the environments—and after finishing both sides of DC I compared it to some story aspects and general feel of Destiny PSX and I was like. Actually Destiny PSX is a really good game. It's very reminiscent of Chrono Trigger (my childhood jrpg) for me in a lot of ways, and after getting attached to the Destiny cast thrice over, how could I not love it?

20. best mystic arte

god i haven't played a tales with proper mystic artes besides Destiny DC in a hot minute,,

[genuinely like 30min later of me watching mystic arte exhibitions on yt]

so apparently Abyss has A LOT of mystic artes wow. Anyway based purely off mystic artes I've seen in-game, I'm gonna say Luke's Radiant Howl Ion extension. Because yayy Ion is helping :3

honorable mentions: Stahn's third(?) mystic arte you have to use to win DC's final battle, Lailah's Primal Embrace, Tear's Grand Fonic Hymn

25. a special memory you have with the tales series

I'd say my second Zestiria playthrough, the only time I played a through a tales game with another person. Not sure how I convinced her, but I played it with my younger sister! She's genuinely my best friend, and getting to play backup for her and show her some of my favorite characters while we both had a fantastic time is very precious to me. Especially since she adamantly refuses to play any other tales game with me laksjdf;l if only bc they're so long and not her preferred style of gameplay (she likes metroidvanias)

[darkenforcer]

8 and 13!

canon questionnaire || accepting !

8. What’s the worst thing about the canon you are writing?

that's a tough one since i'm not too nitpicky or critical unless i'm forced to be, actually (despite my degree literally being in communication studies but SHHH)!! i guess in terms of the game's story, the last act does seem... weirdly rushed compared to the other acts? acts 1 and 2 are AMAZING and i love the "forced road trip where everything goes Wrong" thing going on for most of it, but then the 3rd act becomes very "ok guys let's go to point A, now point B, point etc.". i guess the sidequests and extra dungeons make it less obvious, especially in ng+, but it's still noticeable.

this is just me being silly, but i'll never get over how they mention flynn was absolutely losing it over yuri's disappearance at the end of act 2 and then when they reunite it's like . never talked about by anyone??? njjng it's not even brought up by estelle again or anything. small dropped plot details like that confuse me -- imagine the potential DRAMA!!!

OH, also considering it's a game that focuses a lot on corruption and political bs, i think it would've been nice to see more commentary on stuff like that from a systemic POV instead of placing most of it on specific individuals! but the hints are there, so i guess i can't complain too much lol.

13. Are there any other characters from the franchise you’d like to play?

YES OMG!!! not really any other characters from vesperia, but definitely characters from other tales games. i have, like, a list i've been keeping track of in my brain for years:

pascal from graces (she'd be my #1 choice <3) or richard, mayhaps

leia from xillia (fun fact: i rp'd milla for like 2 weeks back in middle school)

sorey from zestiria

genis from symphonia (but i'd have to finish the duology first...)

i also haven't gotten more than ~3 hours into abyss because i lost all my data from the totally legal method i was using to do so, but i think i'd wanna play guy !!!

[mysmashplaythroughs]

Itsa me, Emio!

Thought I had to make that joke whilst it's still relevant given we don't know what that surprising unusual for Nintendo teaser is about. My personal guess that I doubt is right but differs from everyone thinking it's a horror game is it's actually a new Famicom Detective game. Given an age rating from New Zealand mentions a fair few mature themes it's possible for it to be horror of course, but I equally feel like an argument could still be made for FDC, especially given the whole 'Who is Emio' thing. We'll have to wait and see. Anyway, beyond that the biggest news for this blog is THE MELEE ROSTER IS FINALLY COMPLETE! Yes over a year after I said I hoped to have it finished soon I've finally written Roy and Mr Game & Watch's entries. I have no idea how soon I'll either start on Meta Knight, perhaps do another Pokemon entry (for Gen 2) or maybe even try something totally new and start writing posts about stages, Assist Trophies or Background Characters.

When it comes to the list, I don't believe anyone out there actually checks it constantly but if you did you might notice oddly that there's a few games I've had in the 'completed' section for ages now at the top of the list. If you see which ones they are you also might have picked up on there having been ports/remakes of these games that have come out on Switch so yeah, I decided since these are often better versions with new content and I got them I might as well put them back on the list in order to play them, not to mention in a lot of cases they'll allow me to easily get screenshots I couldn't before (such as with Metroid Prime HD). Also if you remember my last off-topic post you might notice that Tales of Symphonia is still on the list, yes I didn't finish it yet, but I promise I've made a lot of progress. Without going into spoilers I feel confident in saying I've definitely reached the halfway point of the game. I had two big things which brought that playthrough to a halt, the first was I went away to another country for a few weeks and the second was Paper Mario the Thousand Year Door came out, and of all games as much as I love doing this whole thing, I wasn't going to overlook a remake of my joint second favourite game of all time, the same thing would be the case if I got the last few of my top 10 that aren't on Switch released, such as Punch-out Wii, Kid Icarus Uprising or possibly Pokemon Gen 2. I have been able to get new screenshots with Paper Mario Thousand Year Door so it wasn't completely unconnected to my list anyway.

There've also been some new additions to my list, I'm always coming up with really stupid reasons that barely count to add things to my list and I realised something a while ago that I hadn't really gone into, that being the codec and Palutena's Guidance easter eggs. Looking through these I really wasn't expecting much, mostly looking for an excuse to do something with one or two characters, but I realised one of the codecs very specifically had a character from Metal Gear Solid 2 referenced and perhaps the biggest thing, Palutena's Guidance for Ryu makes references to a lot of the Marvel vs Capcom series. I decided to add these games to my list although I realised they were going to be very difficult to do, so you can probably guess my surprise and joy with the latest Direct announcing a collection of the series coming to Switch (not to mention I was just really pleased to see it as I know the series has not had many rereleases at all including I believe one or two games that never left arcades) so that really worked out well. Speaking of the Direct there was a lot of really great looking stuff announced there. Of what was shown the only game I felt was for sure going on my list was the Legend of Zelda Echoes of Wisdom. The reason is fairly simple for this, not that Zelda is playable as actually I don't think the Zelda in this game really matches any specifically from Smash Bros, but the ability to create Echoes of enemies is the closest to having Zelda enemies playable there's ever been, so that worked out pretty well. Oh and of course, Dragon Quest 1-3 HD is fantastic news for me, I've played through 3 before but the fact this version will actually have the characters appear in battle (no idea how many animations they'll have) is already huge news to me, also from what I've heard 1-2 really didn't age well so having updated versions of them is pretty exciting to me, they both interest me for different reasons (especially 1 being one of the very few RPGs where you don't have any other party members).

So what's next then? Well, when it comes to the games I've moved up my list to play again like Pikmin I think I'll most likely do some of them first, Pikmin is a pretty short game and I've been looking for something I can play whilst listening to other stuff so games I've already beaten would I think be a good choice. However, I want to get at least 3 Mii Costume games finally beaten this year, so I do plan on returning to Tales of Symphonia soon, after that would be Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate, which I have a feeling would also be a long game although it's one where I believe there's a 'final story boss' so to speak outside of the many other Monsters you can hunt in the game etc, so it probably isn't as 'endless' as I feared. Following that would be Tower of Druaga which being an arcade game I believe is a case of it being short but very difficult, luckily also being an arcade game on consoles I believe I'll have unlimited continues so it probably won't take long. In the middle of this some of the other games I mentioned such as Zelda Echoes of Wisdom and Dragon Quest 3 will likely be out so I'm sure I'll play them pretty much on release, the same goes for others not on my list such as Mario & Luigi Brothership (Another huge reveal that I have no reason to put on my list but it's a series I love and thought was dead so I'll definitely be checking out). Between all this of course I have my actual life to live etc, but either way I hope to make more progress than last year, I believe looking at the list I've made of the games I've beaten each year I've already almost beaten 2023's amount so I'm sure I'll manage that. Anyway, here's looking forward to seeing who Emio is and hopefully a good year going forward.

[re-reclass]

9 people you would like to get to know better

Thanks to @brionbroadway for the tag! Hope this is better late than never.

3 ships: I'm not a huge shipper nowadays, but there are certainly some mainstays that have captured my heart and never let go. Lloyd/Colette (Colloyd) from Tales of Symphonia, Haruhi/Kyon (Harukyon) from the Haruhi Suzumiya series and Phoenix/Edgeworth (Narumitsu) from Ace Attorney. Honorable mentions to Emil/Marta from Tales of Symphonia and Vegeta/Bulma (Vegebul) from Dragon Ball.

First ever ship: Possibly Knuckles/Rouge from SA2, but the first ship to REALLY take off for me was Lloyd/Sheena (Shelloyd) from Tales of Symphonia. Funny enough I'm more of a Colloyd fan now which would be a huge betrayal of the cause back in the 2005 ship wars, but I still have a soft spot for Shelloyd. What can I say, I'm not immune to Jennifer Hale.

Last Song: Day of Fate (Orchestral Rock Version) by Gladius

Last Movie: I rewatched Dragon Ball Super: Super Hero. Last NEW movie was A Haunting in Venice.

Currently reading: Batman: No Man's Land, and Star Wars: The Last Command.

Currently Watching: One Piece (live action) and Good Omens.

Currently Consuming: Pumpkin Spice Latte. I'm basic. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Currently Craving: One of my D&D groups to actually find a time to play.

tagging: anyone who wants to fill this out! I don't want to tag anyone at the moment haha

[beingatoaster]

Okay! I'm going to focus on Steam games because I've become mostly a PC gamer in the last few years (the only non-outdated console I have is the Switch and most of the games I have for it are ones I'm sure you've heard of XD). But I am also going to mention the Epic Games store/launcher/app/whatever they're calling those things these days! Because every week, changing on Thursdays, they offer a different game (or sometimes two!), for free, that would normally cost money. I have discovered some VERY fun games through this that I never would have if I'd had to go browsing through the store and pay cash money (and in fact, some of those will be listed here). Even if you don't like the game, you can always just uninstall it after you've tried it out and you'll have never spent a cent, so I definitely recommend it. :>

(Please bear with me for this post, my dashboard is covered in crabs that love me and I cannot bear to vanish them in order to type more clearly. u_u)

First, some stuff with a bit more of what you're looking for:

Tales of Zestiria: The entire Tales of series is great on whatever machine you play them on, and no that's not JUST my nostalgia speaking, but Tales of Zestiria is the one I actually have on Steam so if you're a PC gamer it may be a good place to start! (Steam also has Berseria and Arise, both of which I own but haven't played yet, and Symphonia, which I've heard you SHOULD NOT buy on Steam--it's a port and very badly done :( which is a shame as it's one of the best games in the series.) They're all very classic JRPGs with sweeping, not always sensical storylines and engaging characters; Zestiria was the last game eating my life before I got into Genshin. If you have a Switch I also recommend Tales of Vesperia, which is another of the best-in-the-series ones (honestly, a bit better than Zestiria) and well worth the money.

Mass Effect: Legendary Edition (three games bundled into one): HOLY SHIT IT'S ON SALE (at least where I am) and if you think you have any interest at all I definitely recommend grabbing it at 75% off, holy shit. This is one of those "do I even have to explain Mass Effect?" game series because in my head everyone knows about Mass Effect, but in case you don't XD it's a sci-fi mostly-shooter with a sweeping storyline and incredibly compelling characters, and it's one of my most beloved games of all time even though I hate shooters. (It's not purely a shooter? Steam lists it as an RPG, actually. But any game where I have to shoot things in real-time is a shooter to me. I'm so bad at them. My party members carry me every time and I love them to bits.) It's very, VERY good. You will cry over a cover of a Gilbert & Sullivan song. (You will cry a LOT in the third game, they build up a whole bunch of things over the first two in order to deliberately cash them in for PAIN in the third game. I am tearing up just thinking of certain lines right now.)

Dragon Age II: Also on a very good sale right now (in my region)! The Dragon Age series is made by the same studio as Mass Effect and is almost as good, but isn't as tightly linked together as the first three Mass Effects, which is why I'm recommending II separately--I think it's better than the other two, and it's easier to play it, then decide if you're interested in the world and lore enough to play the others. (Also, the first one, Origins, has such incredibly clunky combat that every run after my first I've played entirely by spamming a cheatcode that kills all enemies in the area for every fight. II's combat still has issues, but it's miles and miles better.) Also, I know that you're a tragedy lover, and this game is a perfectly-played-out tragedy in, literally, three acts. It's one of my favorite video games EVER in part because it's willing to let the story run to its conclusion without Hawke winning in the end off pure Protagonist Disease. You know that post/meme that goes something like, "The love was there. It wasn't enough, it didn't save anyone, but it matters that the love was there"? It's a perfect encapsulation of Hawke and their found family and the way that things play out.

Additionally, while I won't link them individually, in the same category of "you do know about...? but I'll mention it anyway" is the Elder Scrolls games. Skyrim is the one everyone KNOWS and is the best technically (combat, graphics, other elements like the house-building and adopting children and such), but frankly I 100% think it's predecessor Oblivion is better in terms of both storyline and quest design. And Morrowind has the best story in the series by a long shot, and IMO the best environment, but I understand that it is essentially unplayable technically to most modern gamers and won't try to sell you on it without the hook of my nostalgia. XD Seriously, though, best story in the series, so keep an eye out if they ever drop a remake. (They won't. They'll drop another version of Skyrim instead. Yes, I am bitter.) If you like traditional-style MMOs, Elder Scrolls Online is also quite good, IMO!

Recettear: Kind of drifting away from your specifications, but closer to than the ones below. It's about running an item shop in a fantasy world, technically. You have to GET the items first, though, and that involves combat and some exploration. There's also a really fun cast of characters! There's time pressure, but every time you "lose," which you're supposed to do a lot, you keep a lot of your gains as you start your new game, which eventually lets you build up to a point where you can succeed in the game's ostensible goal. But the actual goal IMO is unlocking the story. >>

Next, some games that don't quite fit your parameters but that I personally love:

Dwarf Fortress: City-builders are my #1 genre but if you like combat and adventure/exploration, it sounds like they won't be so much your thing. That said, I've been playing Dwarf Fortress since its earliest development days and, while it's got a super high learning curve, I love it far too much not to mention it. It does also have an adventure mode you can play in! I am not sure if that's available in the Steam release but as of the last time I downloaded it from the creator's website, that version did. The caveat is that I've never actually played adventure mode (I'm too busy watching my dwarves slaughter each other) so I can't speak on how it plays. XD;;

Other highlights in the city-building genre that I've enjoyed recently are Banished, Aven Colony, Frostpunk, Going Medieval, and Timberborn, though most of these are still early-access so they're not polished games, and Frostpunk is polished but is also INCREDIBLY demanding on PC hardware.

Stardew Valley: A farming game in the classic Harvest Moon style, but with combat options in the mines and after nightfall on the monster farm. You raise crops and animals, gather items to build up your farm and make money, and befriend villagers. I'm not sure how to hype it up, but I've put over 1000 hours into it at this point!

Eidolon: My other #1 genre that isn't necessarily what you're looking for is walking simulators, and Eidolon is close to my heart: you're walking around post-apocalyptic Washington State, collecting the lost journal entries/letters/etc. of the people who lived just before, through, and after said apocalypse. There's a LOT of death in this one, but somehow, it's become a go-to game for me when I'm sad. Very low-poly graphics on purpose, excellent soundtrack, minor survival elements, but mostly wandering about.

Journey: Technically also a walking simulator according to my Steam folders, but honestly I would more call it a gliding simulator. XD Definitely has exploration and adventure! You're a little person making your way through a big, sometimes thrilling, sometimes scary world, solving puzzles using your movement abilities in order to pass from one stage to another. It's a breathtakingly beautiful game, very short (you can do a playthrough in about two hours) but definitely worth replaying now and again, and I can't think of much else to say about it that doesn't spoil things that I, despite usually being spoiler-happy, heartfeltly believe should not be spoiled.

Other walking simulators I love include TIMEframe, Eastshade, and Firewatch; there's also Dear Esther, but MASSIVE trigger warning for suicide on that one.

Cinderella Phenomenon: Yes, this an otome game. It's free, though! And it's my favorite that I've ever played (and I have played... a lot >>). A fantasy storyline set in a world where some people are cursed to live out fairytales--the title character's is "Cinderella," which is a hard blow for a former princess. She's honestly kind of a bitch, but she Gets Better, and I love most of the love interests (I could do without the step-brother. Frankly I'd have rather dated the step-sister). Some of the routes are genuinely heartwrenching, especially if you play them in recommended order.

FTL: Faster Than Light: I genuinely don't know what genre this is? You have a spaceship, and you are fleeing your enemies, trying to reach and warn your side without falling prey to the perils of space, while traveling through randomized areas where you may get upgrades and fuel but may also get blasted to pieces. You get blasted to pieces a lot. Because of the randomization, each run is different, and it's one you lose more than win, but it's quick to play through each time and it can be a lot of fun!

My #3 genre is the general area of "strategy, real-time or turn-based," which can cover a fair bit of ground (and also, surprise surprise, overlaps with city-building). I won't link any games from that because it's all series, but the Civilization series, the Crusader Kings series, and the Galactic Civilizations series are all some of my favorites.

Finally: if you have the Nintendo systems for them, OBVIOUSLY the Fire Emblem games, but you also follow canonical-transformation so I'll assume you already knew that. XD

does anyone have any video game recommendations? 👀

[tales-of-sweets]

Tales of Symphonia Thoughts Pt. 4

Not much has happened cuz I've mostly been grinding but its time for a Symphonia update. Also, from now on I will be tagging all of my posts with Jun Plays Symphonia so block that tag if you don't want my random playthrough thoughts/updates. Gonna put it under the cut from now on because it's long👇🏾

Anyway, the most important matter: I HATE THE SHIP SO MUCH, I HATE IT! THIS IS HORRIBLE, THE CONTROLS ARE SO BAD AAA! Secondly, I am on day 3 or so of wanting to waterboard Zelos. I really do not like him so far but I keep telling myself that he's probably going to turn into a favorite because the same thing happened with the two other flirty, self-praising characters I used to hate (Vespy Raven and Persona 2 Eikichi, the latter of which he reminds me of more). At least he is kinda funny, and he's not wrong, he IS pretty. He keeps saying some concerning stuff on occasion though, I think he needs a therapist and some warm milk or something.

I was informed by my friend that in Japanese it actually says "hunny" any time Zelos says bud. We love a bisexual king always but also sir you are very embarrassing and imma need to ask you to stop. Regal is a precious little blueberry muffin of a man, there is nothing I wouldn't do for him. When he made that pun to the secret notebook guy and then started blushing afterwards I wanted to punch a hole into my TV screen and yank him out of it and shake him around (affectionately). I guess I like the characters that are quiet and look sad because him and Kratos are my favorites atm. I wonder what his connection to Presea is. I'm torn between "That's his little sister" and "He wants to get close to her so he can betray us and try to hurt her". Keeping an eye on him... Also I don't exactly know how I feel about us taking him prisoner? Like, I know he is already a prison and he also tried to attack us but taking him prison, forcing him to fight for us, and blackmailing him with not being able to talk to Presea if he doesn't do what we say feels kinda messed up. Also I hate his stupid little bra shirt. What sort of weird prison was he in with a uniform like that?? I was left muttering "What the fuck" to myself over and over after finding out Presea has been living with the corpse of someone she doesn't even realize is dead. Like they've just laid there decaying for lord knows how long and she didn't even notice, that's so... I am at a loss for words. Yikes. I miss Kratos so much. I wish they showed a bit more how Lloyd was feeling about all of this, he seemed like he was getting close to Kratos. I want to know what him and his beautiful evil friend are up to. I get the sense that he whatever it is he doesn't really want as much of a part in it as he seems to have to play.

I'm a little worried that something is wrong with Colette again... she also tripped and fell and reacted strangely at one point. I think Kratos also mentioned something about wanting to remove her keycrest. I wonder if it's having some sort of weird effect on her or if it's not actually strong enough to keep things in check for long. Also the whole concept of exphere's in general is very disturbing. It isn't just a piece of technology, it's a parasitic infection that can completely take over your body/mind and turn you into a grotesque being. That and the fact that they're made from dead people aren't even enough to keep them from being produced and people don't even seem to have any clue at all about what they are attaching to their bodies. Freaky. I think that's all for today! More grinding before I go into the mines, I have been abusing the holy bottles a little too much 😅

[sapphosewrites]

hiii i hope this isn't like, super weird? but i'm thalassashells on ao3 and i love your symphonia fics and you can't imagine how funny it was to me when i got here and found you also like ds9!!! looking forward to reading those too :)

Oh my gosh, hi, hello! Not weird at all, welcome to the Star Trek party! I would post about Tales of Symphonia but so few people have played that game, so it is a delight to hear from you on this platform! (Now is also a good time to mention your comments always make me happy and your fantastic chosen Zelos fic made me hope there could be an audience if I posted mine!)

[lets-unpopular-opinions]

Just popping in to say I'm replaying Vespeeia and it's better than I remembered but is there a reason Rita has to sound like a bitch in every single line??? Even bitchy people are nice sometimes?? Also spoilers below

You get used to the super slow running and extremely unresponsive controls after a while so that's good.And Yuri's speed improves a bit as you level him up. Also I like Karol better this time around as a character. The addition of Patty was an um bad one and I'm still confused why she exists...I guess to make sure Aifread is mentioned in every Tales of game? Idk is he in all of them? But y ah so somehow she is Aifread which makes zero sense but I haven't finished the game yet so maybe they explain that. Buttt not sure how she could have been in charge of pirates 10 years ago if she is 10ish now (at least I think that's when the Black Hope Massacre happened? I'm not super clear on when it was)

On the plus side I remember being really confused by the floating ghost town in the original which I think was replaced by the ship and yormgen in this one? Idk I played the game like when it came out so I remember zilch but at least through random additional scenes I was able to figure out wtf was going on with yormgen, although that really should have been part of the main plot instead of just now I see town where everyone thinks it's been 3 years but it's been thousands and none of the main party seems too perturbed by this, now town is destroyed huh I wonder why

And Estelle...I really don't like her, which is weird cuz I'm fine with Colette from Symphonia and she's basically Colette but idk she's just very blah? I guess Colette and Lloyd at least at years of friendship so that made their interactions more real but with Yuri and Estelle it's like why should I care about this sheltered princess

ALSO why is it in anime someone shady enters the party and the party shares all of their super secret knowledge and stuff with them and then the shady person betrays them and it's like WHO COULD HAVE EVER SEEN THIS COMING (coughRavenandJudithcough)

Speaking of Raven, how could the Don literally not know he is a knight? Do we ever find out why he was in prison to begin with? How does he have time to show up enough for Flynn and the knights to recognize him and yet literally always be running errands for the Don?

Also like the game is fine until Adephagos and then it's like sky tentacles and sting rays?? Why??? Also the fuck did they get rid of wing bottles like Abyss had a good thing going with that

Judith is still hot but literally all she had to do was explain what she was doing I hate characters not telling characters important info just for plot convenience also not sure why they decided her vo direction should be to sound bored in every line - like with Rita, some variety would have been appreciated (tho I think it's hilarious how she sometimes whispers "die" cutely after a kill)

I will say that ToS, TotA, and ToV all feel very similar and I haven't seen that in a lot of the newer games, which is a shame. In ToZ and ToB I honestly just button mashed cuz I had no idea what linked to what anymore. Plz Arise bring back mapping specific skills to specific buttons and be done with it

[justawisp]

☕

Tales of Symphonia spoilers below (How does this work on Tumblr? Idk oops)

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Okay, so I just recently finished Tales of Symphonia which was my first ever Tales game I ever played, and I had an amazing time with it. Learning the combat, the cooking system, the environments, the story all of it was really really good and I'm really glad I decided to give it a shot. I just wanted to talk about one of my favourite scenes in the game which is the coffee scene that looks pretty weird if you don't know the context for it. I think there's just something really heartbreaking about Lloyd learning how much being the chosen weighs on Colette. And the line: "Is it that hard for you to trust me?" really hurts because Colette doesn't know what's happening to her either, so to let anyone else know what she's suffering with pains her even further (plus the sad music kicks in at that point and it's like GOD). And as Colette tells Lloyd about what she's been through, Lloyd can only stutter in disbelief. When Lloyd asked why did she never speak up on it, she says that that's what she thought becoming an angel was, which aggravates him because he realizes that Colette becoming an angel means that she loses her humanity, so he tries to plead with her about how if this is something she truly wants. When Colette tries to bring up the positives about being an angel, she says: "And my hearing, too. I can hear even the faintest sounds really well. I can hear them so well that it's kind of painful sometimes." And at that point (at least to me) is when Lloyd realizes that Colette has been suffering for a while now, and all he can do is say: "I'm sorry. I didn't realize what was going on at all. I'm sorry." As he hugs her, crying and it's like OH MY GOODNESS THIS SCENE IS SO SAD ARGHHHH. AND THE LAST SCENE WHERE COLETTE SAYS: "I'm sorry Lloyd. Even though you're crying for me, and I'm happy, so happy I want to cry but I can't anymore." IS JUST SO TRAGIC GODDD. One of my favourite scenes in the game uncontested. I have some more favourite scenes that I might talk about later, but I desperately wanted to get this one out of my head after I finished the game.

Edit: Forgot to mention, but both the English dub and Japanese Sub are very good with the voice acting in this scene

[yggdrasil-mith0s]

@sweet-suzume Yay, a fellow person that had Tales of Destiny be their first game in the series!!! Lol. Gotta love those memories. I remember getting Tales of Destiny as well and being excited but also not having any idea what I was about to get into lmao. It was my first RPG that I owned, too. All the others were technically my older brother's RPGs. I'm so glad I made that choice, too. My brother ended up loving it as well. He isnt quite into the series as I am but he does play the games here and there. He doesn't game as much anymore, though. He will play hack and slashes like Diablo still, at least. Anyways, great game to break into the series.

Tales of Eternia is an awesome game as well. It gets looked over a lot as well as your favorites, Tales of Legendia and Tales of Rebirth. Legendia had it's issues but I think it deserves more credit and is an awesome game in the series!! Thank you for answering! It's cool to hear from fellow fans and it's also cool to see you played with your sibling as well!

@hikarinchan Yay Tales of Zestiria for breaking in another fan! It's good to see Zestiria introduced some new people to the series. That means that the series is continuing to grow and become more popular! That's definitely a good thing, especially for the west and the future of the series. Bamco almost gave up on releasing the series to the west but the response to them bringing Grace's F really impressed Bamco and caused them to rethink their decision. Now we are getting a worldwide release with Tales of Arise and wont even have to wait after it gets released in Japan! It comes out everywhere the same day and that's huge. We are also getting same day news as well! No delays to the west! That means the series has gained so much popularity and they're looking at the west as a target audience. It means we will get more respect among the JRPG community, especially Bamco, and future JRPG games will have the west in mind when it comes to news, updates, and releases! I mention this because I think Zestiria was a big leap. It brought in good sales from the west. They marketed it a lot more for the west as well. It fell short on it's original aspirations and what it was meant to be but it was still a great game and introduced a lot of people to the series. I cannot be more happy with what it did for the series as a whole and how Bamco views the west for future series games now! It sucks you can't play Abyss. I don't know why but maybe one day you will be lucky enough! Abyss is an amazing game! I suggest watching playthroughs on YT of the game if you can't play it but you want to see the game.

@xxhopscotchxx - TBH you almost never here of Radiant Mythology mentioned. It was a dark time for the series lmao. But seriously that game has been buried as deep as you can bury something and never spoken of again. Bamco even pretends like it doesn't exist. It gets a lot of hate because it's not really true to the series. It was an attempt at a money grab and "something different" but fell way short of what it wanted to do and be as a game. It couldn't identify itself as any specific genre in the end and was just a bad game for the series brand. I, however, didn't mind it but I don't exactly give it 5 stars, either. I give it about a 2.5/5 stars. Maybe just a solid 2 lol. But that is okay because it introduced you to the series and characters!! It opened the door for you and that's what's important!

Symphonia and DotNW are great for second games, especially when your first is RM lol. Since they are older games (and DotNW not being that good mechanically) I can see why they kept your interest but didnt really get you into it like Zestiria did. Zestiria has a really good battle system. I wasnt a fan of their weaponry and gear decision. But I was a huge fan of their actual battle system and how it played. It had a really good flow to it. It has one of the best battle flows in the entire series imo. It's just seamless the way it goes from Regular Attacks to Arte Attacks. They did amazing in that field. The characters were great, the story was amazing, the twists and surprise elements to the story was there. It made you smile, laugh, and cry in a 30 minute time span. It was just a strong game overall and it managed to recieved a lot of hate. I think some of it was camera angles and some buggy moments but most of that was fixed with updates. The longer it was since the release date, the more and more people grew to love the game. It aged very well for a JRPG. Most don't age well and decline in good reception because a lot of people don't find (J)RPGs very much replayable. If they are replayable it's usually more boring the second time, you don't finish the replay, or you finish and it was just as fun but you shelf it for a good while.

Vesperia and Crestoria are awesome games. The storyline for Crestoria is what makes the game so amazing and what really makes it belong in the series. Without the storyline I wouldn't be too sure I would love it as much. I know I wouldn't really. The story makes it unique and it's own standalone title. The effort and time they put into a free game and it's story shows how passionate they are about the series. I think we need to recognize that. If you can support the game by making purchases on it, please do. Show them we appreciate them and that the west wants the game to stay!!

All the games you mentioned are amazing. Really every game in the series is. They all are just amazing, unique, and perfect in their own ways. It makes sense Radiant Mythology will always have a place in your heart. Thank you for replying! I enjoyed reading your response!!

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Thanks everyone who responded so far. I think some more people responded and I will get to them shortly!! Thanks everyone!

Tales of Community Question!

Here is a question for everyone in the Tales of fandom. What was your first Tales of game and was it the one that made you fall in love with the series? If your first Tales game didnt make you fall in love with the series, which game was it?

When I say fall in love, I mean you started to actively search for news or other games in the series.

[dany36]

officially done with tales of phantasia!! i'm so glad i finally sat down and completed the first tales game that started it all :) some random junk thoughts below:

it was definitely really cool seeing all of the events, items, places, artes etc that would eventually be referenced again in symphonia. every time they would mention something that i had heard/seen first in symphonia, i'd be like that leonardo-dicaprio-pointing meme. i would especially get super excited when the fighting of the spirit theme would play when fighting the summon spirits. ugh that song just goes so damn hard, even the psx version!! i think i mentioned it before but it must have been sooooo awesome to play symphonia the first time it came out for those original phantasia fans. the amount of callbacks that there are between the two games is just insane and as a die-hard symphonia fan, i definitely enjoyed every single one of them

special mention to the derris emblem because, although it was super random how you get the emblem (some stranger at a bar gives it to you?? or sells it??), the derris emblem inclusion in symphonia now makes a bit more sense lol.

interesting to see that the church of martel still exists in phantasia. i would have thought that because of that one skit in dawn of the new world where zelos mentions that the church of martel's days are numbered, that it was a reference to the church not being around in phantasia anymore, so it was surprising to see them still kicking around.

the plot twist as to why dhaos is so bent on destroying anyone who uses magitech was not so much as a plot twist having come from symphonia, but even then the game gives you plenty of hints as to what magitech does. still, for a series that's known for its plot twists, this one didn't really have any shocking ones. not really griping on it cus i mean this game is pretty old but i was expecting something larger for its big reveal at the end lol.

that said, the battles at the end were cool, especially the theme that played during dhaos's last transformation. also, i'm guessing dhaos's last phase inspired mithos yggdrasil's design?

luna's summon is so powerful (i had her summon turned on pretty much always except for the final battles) and it's kind of sad how much it was watered down for symphonia.

arche's spells are the MVP of the game. once i finally was able to afford a mystic charm or whatever to speed up her casting, it was over for everyone!

i spent the whole damn game not truly understanding how holy bottles work. even when i'd be in the overworld definitely overleveled in comparison to the overworld enemies, i'd still get encounters. i'd still use them in hopes they would reduce them at least a bit lol.

speaking of, the random encounters weren't so bad but towards the end i was just pretty much fed up with them D: i think for the last three or so dungeons i was just using guides to know exactly where to go because getting lost ON TOP OF having random encounters is NOT fun and i felt like it was ruining the experience for me.

no offense to chester but i never once even considered having him as my party member after he came back. and like, the game gives you chester when you're like 2/3s through and it's like, why? between arche and klarth i felt like i had no reason to ever consider him, and catching him up level- and equipment-wise with other characters was just too much of a hassle so i just stuck with cless-arche-klarth-mint always.

although i started suzu's sidequest and seeing her and the ninja village was definitely cool because Sheena!!!, i didn't finish it since i saw that you'd have to be at least level 60 to complete it due to the coliseum fights and i was like, level 42 when i went into the final dungeon lol. so i might come back to it later since i want to see how it turns out. i know she joins your party but again, at this point unless you want to do it for completionist sake it's like, why D: sorry suzu! still so damn cool that she's so skilled and she's only like freaking 12 years old. before playing phantasia i thought she was going to have a bigger role in the game but hey, this is cool too.

the plot of the game was interesting and the time traveling aspect was cool but, i think overall it just felt kind of flat. after fighting dhaos a SECOND time and him escaping to the future or whatever it was like, "how many times do we have to teach you this, old man?" the game didn't really have any interesting secondary characters to the plot like botta or altessa: sure there was morrisson but that was only at the beginning and yeah his death was sad but after that, you mostly just spend going dungeon to dungeon searching for summon spirits or ways to get stronger to defeat dhaos--not that many secondary plots. again just being picky and i know this is a SNES game but yeah the overall plot got sort of meh after the second time beating dhaos.

the ending was ok, i'm glad to see that arche finally reunited with her mom :)

anyway, overall it was a good game i'd say. the graphics in the game are soooo good to look at and it was the type of SNES-style graphics game i had been itching to play. i know there's an OVA adaptation of the game which i'll have to check out and see what that's all about--i wonder if there will be more interactions between the characters? i kind of felt that the connection between the party members wasn't all there, especially once chester joins.

either way, i'm glad i can now add phantasia to my list of tales games completed, and even more glad that i can now move on to FINALLY start my replay of berseria!!! ohhhh i'm ready to get my heart destroyed again!!

[talesofsymphoniac]

I have Tales of the Abyss on the 3 DS, Tales of Xillia/Xillia 2 on ps3, Tales of Symphonia chronicles on the ps3 and now Tales of Graces F on the ps3. Do you know of any other american released tales of games on the two consoles I Have cuz I want to play as many of the tales of games I can but sadly I don't know how to modify my systems so I'm stuck playing only the localized ones which means no vesperia for me.

I played Zestiria on our PS3! Actually, I played all the games you just mentioned on the PS3 (except Abyss of course). So I don’t know if there are any others. 

Berseria was released for the PS3 in Japan but I believe the English version is only for the PS4, so no luck there :(

[stormsbourne]

hi guys! in addition to all this I'm going to tentatively add that I might be willing to write for Nier: Automata if you either give me time to finish or frame what you want as within routes A or B. I'm in route C now and actually enjoying it a LOT, but I know there's still a long way to go.

I'm really happy to write for any of the other stuff on my commissions page though, all of which I've pretty much finished (aside from having some of Verdant Wind and all of Silver Snow left, but I know they're very similar). to recap, that stuff I'm willing to write includes:

Fire Emblem, especially Three Houses. I'm also acquainted with Blazing Sword, Sacred Stones, Awakening, Fates, Echoes/Shadows of Valentia, Fire Emblem Heroes, and Fire Emblem Warriors. (I am loosely familiar with Genealogy but I am also aware it is not a common request fandom)

Tales of games, especially Berseria or Zestiria as they're the ones I've played most recently, but I'm also familiar with Abyss, Xillia, and Symphonia

Zelda BOTW

Night In The Woods

Octopath Traveler

Yes, I will still write commissions for Homestuck

honestly I feel like there's other fandoms I'm forgetting here. maybe I'll reblog this again later.

I know Tumblr mobile doesn't load my commissions page properly, so rates are roughly 10 bucks per thousand words. if you'd be interested in getting something from me, please hit me up at any of the places mentioned above, and thank you.

commissions reminder: fall edition

howdy everybody

I have updated my commissions page with some new fandoms (notably fire emblem: three houses obviously) and ships and stuff I am willing to write! yes, the cursed fandom is still there – I’ll write it if you want to pay me for it (and some part of me is still debating working on kushiel/dragon/centaur stuff). 

it’s getting close to the time of year where I have to spend a shitload of money for holidays, and I’m currently at a temp agency job which means I don’t get holiday pay, right as the holidays are about to kick in. nice. 

so if you’d like a fic from me, now is the time to go for it! strike while the iron’s hot! if you don’t see what you want on that page, or you have something that you think I’d really be into but is not listed, hit me up and we can talk it out. if you would like to pay different amounts than what is listed there (ie, $20 for a 2k fic, or $75 for a 7.5k fic, or more than the $100 if you’re an extremely kind and generous individual whom I stan) then we can work that out as well. 

you can contact me here, on twitter @stormsbourne, on discord at #stormbourne0003, or via email at empressdots@gmail.com

thanks you’re all the best hope everybody’s doing fab