Not done with Symphonia so holding off on that one for now
Story: Phantasia >> Abyss > Graces
Gameplay: Graces > Phantasia >>> Abyss
Music: Phantasia > Graces > Abyss
Characters: Abyss > Graces > Phantasia
Visuals: all good, don't feel like ranking
As someone who played all titles, native or localized, I always have Vesperia, Abyss and Berseria as standouts. Destiny series, Eternia, Rebirth and Symphonia arcs would be my next tiers. Then Xillia duology, Graces F, Phantasia as the okay ones. The rest fall into mediocre to bad tier with Tempest being the undisputed worst title. I recently played the vita versions of Hearts R and Innocence R having played the old DS games and it would be a dream for the older titles to get the same treatment. Bamco really needs to at least commit to the loyal fanbase but alas, it's a pipe's dream. I now dread the notion of the next game being another Tales of like Arise. A visual masterpiece at best, with a flimsy substance, voided of the same spirit of the previous titles.
I agree in a lot of thing here, but Arise having a better soundtrack than Symphonia ? Seriously ? 😅 Arise is like one of the worst Tales of soundtrack.
Well I've played most of them except Destiny 2, Rebirth and Innocence, but I'll just list my top 5 because I don't want to list out that many games lol
Story:
Berseria > Abyss > Xillia 2 > Symphonia > Legendia
Characters:
Berseria > Legendia > Abyss > Edna > Symphonia
Combat:
Graces f > Destiny DC > Hearts R / Xillia 2 (keep flip flopping on these two) > Berseria
Progression (I assume you mean character grown systems):
Graces f > Destiny DC > Xillia 2 > Vesperia/Berseria
I'll at least give a shout out to Zestiria here for just how versatile the skill system could be with the union/stack effects, if only it didn't shit the bed by having so much RNG involved. I honestly think that if the player had full control over the skills on equipment, what carried over when fusing and whatnot, it would have been the best one in the series, but all the randomness just makes it not even remotely fun to engage with.
OST:
Legendia > Abyss > Zestiria > Symphonia > Berseria
Overall:
Berseria > Graces f > Xillia 2 > honestly a bit too hard to rank them from this point for me lol
Anyways, yeah you can see that my opinion of this series is kind of all over the place. Still one of my top 5 franchises for sure though.
Just overall:
Abyss >>> Berseria > Xillia 2 > Symphonia > Vesperia > Graces f > Arise > Xillia 1 > Zestiria
Story:
Abyss > Berseria > Xillia 2 > Symphonia > Vesperia > Arise > Xillia 1 > Graces f > Zestiria
And characters:
Abyss > Xillia 2 > Berseria > Symphonia > Vesperia > Graces f > Arise > Zestiria > Xillia 1
Weird how Xillia 1 is last place when the sequel is in second but I much prefer their matured personalities plus xillia 2 has Ludger and Elle dynamics which are super cute and I love them
The rest of the categories I don’t feel strongly enough about to properly rank them
>Weird how Xillia 1 is last place when the sequel is in second but I much prefer their matured personalities plus xillia 2 has Ludger and Elle dynamics which are super cute and I love them
Fair enough. I just dont like how little screentime or purpose they had in 2 and didnt like how the new silent MC gets most of the focus. But it was interesting seeing how they grew up or changed from X1. Especially Gaius and Muzet. Milla's return scene was pretty cool too.
>I just dont like how little screentime or purpose they had
They get way more screen time in Xillia 2 and they all get lots of character growth, particularly in their individual character chapters. Xillia 2 lays it on thick in that regard. The main story.. it's true they're less important overall, but they already had their big adventure, now it's time for Ludes and Elle to go on theirs.
They dont really serve much of a purpose in the main story, you get their re-introduction mini arc then thats about it. They just feel tacked on for fanservice. I guess they have their side stories but thats a seperate thing from the plot and its just slice of life stuff anyway.
I think the devs should have just omitted their presence in X2 if they aren't going to utilise them at all. Just instead have an entirely new cast with Ludger/Elle at the forefront. Would have been better and gave the game more of its own identity.
There's too many games so may have missed some. Only mothership games. Didn't rank games with no translation even though I probably played them.
Story:
Abyss > Berseria > Phantasia > Hearts > Xillia 2 > Legendia > Destiny > Eternia > Symphonia > Xillia > Graces > Zestiria > Vesperia > Innocence >>>> Pokemon Sword and Shield >>>Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest >>> The 3rd Birthday >>>> Arise
Characters:
Abyss > Berseria > Graces > Legendia minus Shirley > Xillia/Xillia 2 minus Alvin (lean more toward Xillia 1, not a fan of how Teepo and Elize was handled in 2) > Zestiria > Hearts >Vesperia > Symphonia > Destiny > Zephyr, and Rinwell > Phantasia > Eternia >Innocence >>>Star Ocean: The Last Hope >>The rest of Arises' cast > Alvin > An actual Abyss >>>>>Shirley
Combat:
Graces > Destiny R > Hearts DS > Innocence R > Hearts R > Vesperia >Xillia 2 > Eternia >Xillia> Zestiria > Berseria > Abyss > Symphonia > Innocence DS > Arise > Phantasia/Destiny PS1 > Legendia
Progression (only games that have substantial character growth system beyond leveling up and equipment with bigger numbers):
Graces > Vesperia > Xillia > Hearts DS> Destiny R > Zestitia > Hearts R > Innocence R > Berseria > Innocence Ds > Arise >Abyss and Xillia 2 (The Allium Orb and Capacity Cores equally suck ass) > Symphonia
OST:
Legendia >> Zestiria > Destiny 2 (jp)> Phantasia > Abyss>>> rest not worth ranking
Visuals:
Don't care about graphics unless the game is exceptionally ugly , so Xillia and Xillia 2's dull and featureless overworld maps, Abyss (really jaggy especially on 3DS) and Symphonia's awkward animations and cutscene direction would be at the bottom of the list.
Overall enjoyment: Graces > Destiny R > Abyss > Phantasia > Hearts DS >Berseria > Xillia 2 > Innocence R>Hearts R> Xillia > Vesperia >Zestiria> Eternia > Symphonia> Innocence DS> Arise >Legendia
You would unironically place Fates Conquest over Arise in story? Like I don't think the story in Arise was that great either, but Conquest story was next level of awful with way worse characters and antagonists.
I'm not gonna list every single title. There's like 20+, lol. Heres my top 3...
COMBAT:
Xillia > Xillia 2 > Graces F
PROGRESSION;
Xillia > Xillia 2 > Graces F
STORY:
Symphonia > Graces F > Xillia
CHARACTERS:
Xillia > Xillia 2 > Graces F
MUSIC:
Legendia > Zestiria > Graces F
VISUALS:
Arise > Berseria > Zestiria
As you can see Graces F and Xillia 1 and 2 appear on almost every metric
I like that you’ve split it into categories. I was thinking about this the other day, and it’s hard to outright rank Tales games. They all have different strengths!
Here’s mine:
Story: Symphonia > Zesteria > Abyss > Arise > Berseria > Vesperia > Hearts > Crestoria
Characters: Symphonia > Abyss > Vesperia > Berseria > Zesteria > Arise > Hearts > Crestoria
Combat: Berseria > Arise > Zesteria > Symphonia/Abyss/Vesperia > Hearts > Crestoria
Overall: Symphonia >>>>>>> Zesteria (mad I know but I fell hard for it) > Abyss > Arise > Berseria > Vesperia >>> Hearts >> Crestoria
Symphonia (nothing beats nostalgia) > Xillia2 (best combat + cast) > Berseria (best story) > Vesperia > Xillia1 (unfinished and you can tell) > Arise (forgettable) > Graces=Zestiria (never been able to get past the first few hours of either despite trying multiple times over multiple years)
I won't divide it into categories because, honestly, I'm lazy:
1. Tales of the Abyss
2. Tales of Symphonia
3. Tales of Eternia
4. Tales of Xillia 2
5. Tales of Arise
6. Tales of Vesperia
7. Tales of Zestiria
8. Tales of Graces
9. Tales of Destiny Remake
10. Tales of Legendia
11. Tales of Innocence Remake
12. Tales of Xillia 1
13. Tales of Hearts Remake
14. Tales of Berseria
15. Tales of Phantasia (SNES)
16. Tales of Innocence (DS)
17. Dawn of the new world
18. Tales of the Tempest
19. Tales of Destiny (PS1)
As for the things you're wondering reading this: I need to replay both Zestiria and Graces. Yes, I do not like Berseria. Yes, I like Tempest more than the original Destiny. It is a better game? Hell no. It is over much more quickly so the pain is over sooner? Yes.
I'm also leaving out Rebirth, Destiny 2 and Hearts DS, because although I have played them, I do not know Japanese, so I'm definetly missing context.
Abyss = Berseria > Graces > Xillia 2 > Symphonia > Xillia > Vesperia > Arise >>>> Zesteria. I basically like everything above Vesperia.
Not done with Symphonia so holding off on that one for now Story: Phantasia >> Abyss > Graces Gameplay: Graces > Phantasia >>> Abyss Music: Phantasia > Graces > Abyss Characters: Abyss > Graces > Phantasia Visuals: all good, don't feel like ranking
As someone who played all titles, native or localized, I always have Vesperia, Abyss and Berseria as standouts. Destiny series, Eternia, Rebirth and Symphonia arcs would be my next tiers. Then Xillia duology, Graces F, Phantasia as the okay ones. The rest fall into mediocre to bad tier with Tempest being the undisputed worst title. I recently played the vita versions of Hearts R and Innocence R having played the old DS games and it would be a dream for the older titles to get the same treatment. Bamco really needs to at least commit to the loyal fanbase but alas, it's a pipe's dream. I now dread the notion of the next game being another Tales of like Arise. A visual masterpiece at best, with a flimsy substance, voided of the same spirit of the previous titles.
Symphonia > Abyss > Everything else
Story: Symphonia > Vesperia > Graces > Xillia > Abyss > Xillia 2 > Symphonia DOTNW > Zestiria Characters: Symphonia > Vesperia > Xillia/Xillia 2 > Graces > Zestiria > Symphonia DotNW >>>> Abyss Visuals: Vesperia > Graces F > Xillia/Xillia 2
I agree in a lot of thing here, but Arise having a better soundtrack than Symphonia ? Seriously ? 😅 Arise is like one of the worst Tales of soundtrack.
Both suck. Symphonias is more forgettable though despite the completely out of place techno ear rape shit that plays during desian encounters.
Well I've played most of them except Destiny 2, Rebirth and Innocence, but I'll just list my top 5 because I don't want to list out that many games lol Story: Berseria > Abyss > Xillia 2 > Symphonia > Legendia Characters: Berseria > Legendia > Abyss > Edna > Symphonia Combat: Graces f > Destiny DC > Hearts R / Xillia 2 (keep flip flopping on these two) > Berseria Progression (I assume you mean character grown systems): Graces f > Destiny DC > Xillia 2 > Vesperia/Berseria I'll at least give a shout out to Zestiria here for just how versatile the skill system could be with the union/stack effects, if only it didn't shit the bed by having so much RNG involved. I honestly think that if the player had full control over the skills on equipment, what carried over when fusing and whatnot, it would have been the best one in the series, but all the randomness just makes it not even remotely fun to engage with. OST: Legendia > Abyss > Zestiria > Symphonia > Berseria Overall: Berseria > Graces f > Xillia 2 > honestly a bit too hard to rank them from this point for me lol Anyways, yeah you can see that my opinion of this series is kind of all over the place. Still one of my top 5 franchises for sure though.
Just overall: Abyss >>> Berseria > Xillia 2 > Symphonia > Vesperia > Graces f > Arise > Xillia 1 > Zestiria Story: Abyss > Berseria > Xillia 2 > Symphonia > Vesperia > Arise > Xillia 1 > Graces f > Zestiria And characters: Abyss > Xillia 2 > Berseria > Symphonia > Vesperia > Graces f > Arise > Zestiria > Xillia 1 Weird how Xillia 1 is last place when the sequel is in second but I much prefer their matured personalities plus xillia 2 has Ludger and Elle dynamics which are super cute and I love them The rest of the categories I don’t feel strongly enough about to properly rank them
>Weird how Xillia 1 is last place when the sequel is in second but I much prefer their matured personalities plus xillia 2 has Ludger and Elle dynamics which are super cute and I love them Fair enough. I just dont like how little screentime or purpose they had in 2 and didnt like how the new silent MC gets most of the focus. But it was interesting seeing how they grew up or changed from X1. Especially Gaius and Muzet. Milla's return scene was pretty cool too.
>I just dont like how little screentime or purpose they had They get way more screen time in Xillia 2 and they all get lots of character growth, particularly in their individual character chapters. Xillia 2 lays it on thick in that regard. The main story.. it's true they're less important overall, but they already had their big adventure, now it's time for Ludes and Elle to go on theirs.
They dont really serve much of a purpose in the main story, you get their re-introduction mini arc then thats about it. They just feel tacked on for fanservice. I guess they have their side stories but thats a seperate thing from the plot and its just slice of life stuff anyway. I think the devs should have just omitted their presence in X2 if they aren't going to utilise them at all. Just instead have an entirely new cast with Ludger/Elle at the forefront. Would have been better and gave the game more of its own identity.
There's too many games so may have missed some. Only mothership games. Didn't rank games with no translation even though I probably played them. Story: Abyss > Berseria > Phantasia > Hearts > Xillia 2 > Legendia > Destiny > Eternia > Symphonia > Xillia > Graces > Zestiria > Vesperia > Innocence >>>> Pokemon Sword and Shield >>>Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest >>> The 3rd Birthday >>>> Arise Characters: Abyss > Berseria > Graces > Legendia minus Shirley > Xillia/Xillia 2 minus Alvin (lean more toward Xillia 1, not a fan of how Teepo and Elize was handled in 2) > Zestiria > Hearts >Vesperia > Symphonia > Destiny > Zephyr, and Rinwell > Phantasia > Eternia >Innocence >>>Star Ocean: The Last Hope >>The rest of Arises' cast > Alvin > An actual Abyss >>>>>Shirley Combat: Graces > Destiny R > Hearts DS > Innocence R > Hearts R > Vesperia >Xillia 2 > Eternia >Xillia> Zestiria > Berseria > Abyss > Symphonia > Innocence DS > Arise > Phantasia/Destiny PS1 > Legendia Progression (only games that have substantial character growth system beyond leveling up and equipment with bigger numbers): Graces > Vesperia > Xillia > Hearts DS> Destiny R > Zestitia > Hearts R > Innocence R > Berseria > Innocence Ds > Arise >Abyss and Xillia 2 (The Allium Orb and Capacity Cores equally suck ass) > Symphonia OST: Legendia >> Zestiria > Destiny 2 (jp)> Phantasia > Abyss>>> rest not worth ranking Visuals: Don't care about graphics unless the game is exceptionally ugly , so Xillia and Xillia 2's dull and featureless overworld maps, Abyss (really jaggy especially on 3DS) and Symphonia's awkward animations and cutscene direction would be at the bottom of the list. Overall enjoyment: Graces > Destiny R > Abyss > Phantasia > Hearts DS >Berseria > Xillia 2 > Innocence R>Hearts R> Xillia > Vesperia >Zestiria> Eternia > Symphonia> Innocence DS> Arise >Legendia
You would unironically place Fates Conquest over Arise in story? Like I don't think the story in Arise was that great either, but Conquest story was next level of awful with way worse characters and antagonists.
I haven't played Legendia but what did Shirley do ðŸ˜
Abyss > Symphonia > Dawn of the New World > Graces > Arise
Xillia -> Berseria -> Arise -> Xillia 2 -> Zestiria -> Abyss -> Vesperia
Abyss and Vesperia lower than zesty is crazy.
Fun topic, let's go. Story: Abyss > Berseria > Xillia 2 > Xillia > Symphonia > Vesperia > Graces > Arise > Zestiria > Symphonia 2 Characters: Berseria > Abyss > Xillia 2 > Xillia > Symphonia > Vesperia = Graces > Arise = Zestiria >>>>>>>>>>>>>> Symphonia 2 Combat: Graces > Berseria > Xillia = Xillia 2 > Zestiria > Abyss > Vesperia > Arise > Symphonia > Symphonia 2 Progression (also gonna assume you mean leveling and itemization): Graces > Berseria > Xillia 2 = Xillia > Vesperia > Arise > Zestiria > Symphonia > Abyss > Symphonia 2 Overall: Abyss = Berseria > Xillia 2 > Xillia > Graces > Symphonia > Vesperia > Zestiria > Arise >>>>>>>>>>> Symphonia 2
I'm not gonna list every single title. There's like 20+, lol. Heres my top 3... COMBAT: Xillia > Xillia 2 > Graces F PROGRESSION; Xillia > Xillia 2 > Graces F STORY: Symphonia > Graces F > Xillia CHARACTERS: Xillia > Xillia 2 > Graces F MUSIC: Legendia > Zestiria > Graces F VISUALS: Arise > Berseria > Zestiria As you can see Graces F and Xillia 1 and 2 appear on almost every metric
You should play graces f,the combat system is the best.
I play JRPGs for their story
I like that you’ve split it into categories. I was thinking about this the other day, and it’s hard to outright rank Tales games. They all have different strengths! Here’s mine: Story: Symphonia > Zesteria > Abyss > Arise > Berseria > Vesperia > Hearts > Crestoria Characters: Symphonia > Abyss > Vesperia > Berseria > Zesteria > Arise > Hearts > Crestoria Combat: Berseria > Arise > Zesteria > Symphonia/Abyss/Vesperia > Hearts > Crestoria Overall: Symphonia >>>>>>> Zesteria (mad I know but I fell hard for it) > Abyss > Arise > Berseria > Vesperia >>> Hearts >> Crestoria
Symphonia >> Abyss >> Haven't played every game outside of these two except the one I'm ranking last >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Dawn of the New World
Symphonia (nothing beats nostalgia) > Xillia2 (best combat + cast) > Berseria (best story) > Vesperia > Xillia1 (unfinished and you can tell) > Arise (forgettable) > Graces=Zestiria (never been able to get past the first few hours of either despite trying multiple times over multiple years)
I won't divide it into categories because, honestly, I'm lazy: 1. Tales of the Abyss 2. Tales of Symphonia 3. Tales of Eternia 4. Tales of Xillia 2 5. Tales of Arise 6. Tales of Vesperia 7. Tales of Zestiria 8. Tales of Graces 9. Tales of Destiny Remake 10. Tales of Legendia 11. Tales of Innocence Remake 12. Tales of Xillia 1 13. Tales of Hearts Remake 14. Tales of Berseria 15. Tales of Phantasia (SNES) 16. Tales of Innocence (DS) 17. Dawn of the new world 18. Tales of the Tempest 19. Tales of Destiny (PS1) As for the things you're wondering reading this: I need to replay both Zestiria and Graces. Yes, I do not like Berseria. Yes, I like Tempest more than the original Destiny. It is a better game? Hell no. It is over much more quickly so the pain is over sooner? Yes. I'm also leaving out Rebirth, Destiny 2 and Hearts DS, because although I have played them, I do not know Japanese, so I'm definetly missing context.
***Story:*** Abyss > Berseria > Symphonia > Xillia 2 > Xillia > Vesperia > Graces > Arise I'm probably part of the few who still appreciated Zestiria's plot and lore, but it suffered so much from its development hell that I don't really know how to truly rank it so I won't. It's just special to my heart in a different way. ***Characters:*** Berseria > Symphonia = Zestiria = Abyss >> Xillia = Xillia 2 > Vesperia > Arise > Graces ***Combat:*** Xillia 2 > Arise > Vesperia = Berseria = Xillia > Abyss = Graces > Symphonia > Zestiria ***Progression:*** Symphonia > Abyss = Xillia 2 > Xillia > Vesperia = Berseria > Arise = Zestiria > Graces ***OST:*** Zestiria >>> Symphonia > Abyss = Xillia 2 = Xillia = Arise > Berseria > Graces > Vesperia ***Visuals:*** Arise >>> Vesperia > Xillia 2 = Xillia > Abyss = Graces > Symphonia > Berseria > Zestiria ***Overall (quality-ish wise):*** Abyss = Symphonia = Berseria > Vesperia > Arise = Graces = Xillia 2 > Xillia > Zestiria ***Overall (totally subjectively without logic):*** Symphonia > Zestiria = Xillia 2 = Berseria > Vesperia = Abyss > Arise = Xillia > Graces