Favorite "Tales of" Game and why?

[GuardianBoi]

I'm quite the "Tales of" fan. As you can see from the picture, the Pigtail girls are my favorite, but it doesn't stop there. I've been playing and enjoying these games since Tales of Destiny on the PSOne. And in my mind, they have continuously gotten better and better.

Earlier this year I got Tales of Graces f. (I literally took time off work the day it came out. haha.) And it quickly became my favorite "Tales" to date. And to prepare for this game coming out, I replayed Tales of Symphonia, Symphonia 2, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Destiny 2/Eternia, Tales of Legndia, and Tales of Vesperia all over again. And all it did was refresh my love of the series.

So what's YOUR favorite Tales game and why?

Graces f became my favorite in place of Abyss because it just put together all the things that make a good Tales Of game. Cheesy, yet fun, story. Amazing characters and development. Incredibly fun battle system with lots of new tricks to acquire. And biggest of all, I ENJOYED playing as ALL the characters. With most Tales Of games, there are a few party members that you just NEED to keep AI. And in others, the main character is the only one worth using. But in Graces f, I flipped around all of them and had a blast doing it.

And now that they've announced Tales of Xillia, my anticipation starts all over again.

Thoughts?

[D-Rider]

The only one I really got into was the first one I played, Tales of Destiny.  I played that one from start to finish.

I own Tales of Eternia and Tales of Symphonia, but didn't get into either one of them.

[Mickeymac92]

Tales of Vesperia. To put it simply, I love the characters, especially Yuri, and the combat was top notch. It had its annoyances here and there, but otherwise I really enjoyed it from start to finish.

[Aeolus]

I've played through most of Symphonia and all of Phantasia.

That's enough for me.

[DPB]

I've played Phantasia, Destiny, Symphonia and a bit of Eternia. They were all pretty forgettable, though still enjoyable enough. I struggle to remember much about them, but Symphonia was probably the best of those since the battles felt a lot more fluid.

I didn't like what I played of Eternia. I really couldn't stand the characters (especially their designs), the voice acting was crap and the soundtrack is Sakuraba phoning it in at his worst (the battle theme's counter-melody actually sounds like The Hustle!).

[FlamingR1ft]

Let me see.... I have played: Phantasia, Eternia, Symphonia, Rebirth, Abyss, Innocence, Vesperia, Hearts, Graces. (Plus spin-offs: Radiant Mythology I [boring], Tales of VS (kinda fun, but has serious problems] and Dawn of the New World [absolute crap])

Hearts would be my favourite. The battle system is on par with the fast-paced excitement of Graces (but 2D, of course) and I just really enjoyed the game a lot. You can find my exact reasoning here. :P I hated Beryl, but I thought all the other characters were great, particularly Hisui and Chalcedony.

I was very fond of Symphonia for a long time, but I feel it's been improved on in later titles. Having said that, it was the first one I played, so it's still an important one for me. And, as much as everyone rabbits about Colette and the cliches, I thought the story was fantastic and I loved Colette. Kratos, Zelos and Sheena were equally outstanding characters and the game as a whole was really polished.

After that, I'd say Vesperia and Graces f are on par with each other, though for different reasons. Vesperia has a much stronger story and cast of characters, while Graces has an outstanding battle system. As already mentioned, Yuri from Vesperia is great, and I like Flynn a lot too. Sophie from Graces was good and, for some reason, I liked Richard as well.

Phantasia wasn't great, but I like Mint a lot. Eternia I loved at the time, but I can barely remember it now, so I don't know what that says. I'm currently playing Abyss on 3DS, but don't really like it that much. I'm only about 15 hours in though, so I may change my tune by the end.

In short:

Hearts -> Symphonia -> Graces / Vesperia -> Eternia -> Rebirth -> Innocence -> Phantasia -> Abyss

[Haven't played: Destiny, Destiny 2, Legendia, Xillia]

[Monsoon]

I've played through and beaten Phantasia (multiple versions), Eternia (PSP), Symphonia (GC), Legendia (PS2), and Innocence (DS).  I've played parts of several others.  From what I can tell, Vesperia has the best battle system, but Phantasia has my favorite main quest and characters.  I have to say that the PS1 version of Phantasia is my favorite in the series (I haven't played the PSP version, but I would really like to). 

[Agent D.]

I've played pretty much all of the english titles except symphonia 2, and beat most of them, the exceptions being phantasia, eternia (destiny 2 in my case), and abyss though I know everything that happens. Vesperia and Graces F right now are my favorites, mostly for judith (favorite female badass), and sophie cuz she's so darned adorable.

[GuardianBoi]

 I'm currently playing Abyss on 3DS, but don't really like it that much. I'm only about 15 hours in though, so I may change my tune by the end.

I really hope you do give it a chance. My first playthrough, I quit about half way. But when i started it over a few years later(after i got the Tales bug), i found that RIGHT after i stopped playing, it got really good. I cared for all the characters by the end and was very impressed with the story as a whole. You just have to endure Luke's bratty-ness for a little while and the good stuff will kick in. :)

[lavarock]

Used to be Abyss, now hard to say which one I liked better, Abyss or Graces f, I would say the top 5 would be ToGf, ToA, ToV, ToDR, and ToS

[Ashtrot]

I like Xillia most, as my review indicates. It has problems, of course, but overall it's probably my most liked of the series (and keep in mind that I've played every mothership title, even Tempest back when it was still considered a mainline Tales game *shudder*).

[Kratoscar2008]

Only finished Tales of Legendia, Luke was not worth to play so i hate Abbys to death.

Tales of Legendia is great as my first Tales game and liked it very much however after that the other tales games are too much to bear, specialy Abbys with its cliched story and characters.

Clhoe Valens the best female of this series.

[Raze]

Tales of Legendia is great as my first Tales game and liked it very much however after that the other tales games are too much to bear

Opposite for me. I almost dropped the series entirely because Legendia was so terrible. It half convinced me that perhaps the series was NEVER good and that maybe I was stupid for enjoying it in the first place or that at the very least if it was good at one point it had jumped the shark with Legendia. And I didn't buy abyss with it came out. It was only after a few months because people here had good things to say about it that I reluctantly picked it up. And I ended up loving it.

But, opinions. And being the first you played means something. You probably had one Tales game in you and Legendia happened to be it.

And while I didn't let him get to me I can understand Luke hate. Him being a spoiled little bitch was the point, but he was still a spoiled little bitch.

[Kratoscar2008]

Tales of Legendia is great as my first Tales game and liked it very much however after that the other tales games are too much to bear

Opposite for me. I almost dropped the series entirely because Legendia was so terrible. It half convinced me that perhaps the series was NEVER good and that maybe I was stupid for enjoying it in the first place or that at the very least if it was good at one point it had jumped the shark with Legendia. And I didn't buy abyss with it came out. It was only after a few months because people here had good things to say about it that I reluctantly picked it up. And I ended up loving it.

But, opinions. And being the first you played means something. You probably had one Tales game in you and Legendia happened to be it.

And while I didn't let him get to me I can understand Luke hate. Him being a spoiled little bitch was the point, but he was still a spoiled little bitch.

Im playing TotW RM and Luke is there, almost stop playing the game, luckily he doesnt appear too oftem, im sorry for Tear that has to deal with his crap.

[Wild Armor]

Tales of Eternia with a passion. Loved that game, especially that card mini-game you get to play on the other world (when you're first introduced to it in a cave for whatever reason). There was something charming about that game that still has me thinking back to it every now and then.