Tales of Phantasia for me and always will be.  Sure, the character setup is pretty damn standard, but then again maybe that's why I like it.  It's also the only other Tales game I've played to completion besides Symphonia and Symphonia felt like a bit of a slog towards the end.  That's probably because I was power gaming the hell out of it, though.  I've played Destiny (been a long time, I need to pick that up again), Legendia (never finished, but might try it again.  I liked Chloe), Eternia (got sort of bleh in the middle, so I quit), Abyss (the less said about that, the better.  It's sad when I consider Jade and MIEU the most tolerable characters in that game.), and currently Graces f (this one is a lot of fun, really enjoying the characters and banter in this one). 

From what I have seen of Vesperia, I dearly want to play that, too, but I'm not willing to pick up a XBox for it so I'll likely import the PS3 verson from Japan.  Kind of a shame, because I liked what I heard of the english voice acting.

I originally liked the original .hack series and .hack//SIGN was a favorite of mine for a while.  I actually liked the multimedia storytelling concept, but unfortunately it got quite convoluted after a while.  I got fed up with .hack//GU after a while, though I liked the gameplay more in that one.  I just couldn't stand Haseo and his constant jerkass (with the occasional heart of gold) attitude.

I'd only been lightly following news on PSO2 until recently.  Just played around with the character creator and benchmark tester and I'm in love!  As if SW:TOR hasn't been taking up a lot of my time already...o_O;

I'm probably one of the few who liked Xenosaga 2 better than Xenosaga 1, though I do like Xenosaga 3 best of all.  Maybe because 2 fleshed out Jr., Gaigun, and Albedo, who turned out to be some of my favorites in the series.  Hell, even MOMO went from being merely moe-moe lolicon-bait to something more.  1 just dragged on and started losing me once the Encephalon bit started (though I blundered through).  I also went from liking Shion in 1 to not being able to stand her in 3.  Crazy.

Even as a little brat, I'm finding Asbel far more likable than, say, Luke ever was.  That disturbs me far more than it should.

Didn't get too far in the Childhood arc before having to go to work.  I plan on rectifying that tonight.  I'm still trying to get used to the battle system, which is a lot of fun.  Another night with no sleep?  Bring it on!

Nice, Dice!  I'm happy for you.  I agree that it's always good to hear nice things be said about a tales game.  Especially a localized version.  Makes all the waiting a bit less painful.

Preordered the other day.  I'm with the OP; I beat and enjoyed Symphonia a while back, but got halfway through Abyss before I gave up.  Apparently, I like cheese in my stories and character tropes so gameplay and story wise, it should please me if what I've hear through the grapevine is true.

Yay!  More time to get through Mass Effect 1 & 2!  Plus, that's one less distraction to watching the girlfriend play Skyrim.  :P

I still don't get all the hate towards Dragon Age 2.  I love the hell out of it, repetitive dungeons and all.

In my view, Virginia was never meant to be the "badass vigilante" in the story.  That's Maya's job.  :P  Virginia was more the passionate, yet exceptionally naive, heroine wannabe with daddy issues, who makes her mistakes and learns her lessons and manages to stick to her guns without having to do a complete 180.  Oddly enough, I never considered that a weakness.  Not every heroine needs to become the next "Rambo".  I like the type of character who sticks to their core beliefs and outlook in life.  Call me weird.

Well, seeing as Raquel...  I have to agree about the writing, it is probably my least favorite of the series.

Personally, I think the "everyone's bi" thing was a great idea.  I was one of those who didn't like being locked out of some romances in Origins due to picking a certain gender.  I just took it as being able to have more options per playthrough.

That being said, I'm not sure I'd ever want to romance Varric.  Not because he isn't attractive, but because he just comes off as the "awesome friend" type, like the type of cool, somewhat jaded, yet wise and understanding bartender that keep slinging you drinks while you tell him your woes then throws out a line that solves just about everything.  Okay, so that's not the best way to describe it but that's the best way I can think of to describe him.

Seems like it's unanimous, then.  I'll d/l the demo now and try it out, then will likely pick up the game itself. 

Thanks!

Good point.  The videos I did see were played on Insanity, which I had forgotten until now.

I will pick this up eventually.  I'm on too high of a Dragon Age kick at the moment.

This game honestly looks and sounds awesome.  And damn well is awesome according to X360 friends, the review here, and videos and forum posts that I've seen.  Problem is, I'm not very good at shooters, especially those where careful placement of characters is key to victory/staying alive.  Exactly how much of a learning curve is required to play/enjoy/finish this game with any kind of sanity intact?

I REALLY want this game.  Judging by the preview here and what videos I've seen of it, it looks like another one that will take up a considerable amount of my time/soul. I wonder if I should considering that Dragon Age II comes out a couple weeks after that and that is fully paid for.  o_O;

Not to mention that I just started on Infinite Space.

A chocobo is pretty much what you get when you cross an ostrich with a canary (or cardinal/raven/bluebird/whichever color chocobo you want) anyways...