Tenka Seiha » Tales of Symphonia #05 — Expositional Backlash

Tales of Symphonia #05 — Expositional Backlash

March 31st, 2010

Ow! Stop that! Go back to skipping the bad Tales technobabbling!

Impressions:

This was honestly a really disappointing episode. The recap just went on and on and on and on. I think at least 10 minutes of the first half were devoured by recap alone. Even outside of that, most of the rest of the time was spent looking at a bunch of talking heads yammer on about Ex-sphere and Cruxis. Good lord, shut up already, damn it. I thought since the Sylvarant chapters marginalized a lot of the ex-sphere technobabble nonsense that UFOTable would find a way to continue steering clear of it, but instead we got the entire thing in a huge massive disgusting dump. After the opening little fight, the most entertainment I could drag out of the episode was giggling like a little girl every time they called Zelos Tethe’alla’s miko.

I continue to not mind most of the changes they’re making to the story. They’re being completely up front with both Zelos and Presea’s pasts here, as well as Zelos feeding Cruxis information. Presea was also basically inserted into Tabatha’s place, so we’ll have to see how that develops, but Tabatha never really played much of a meaningful role anyway. Mithos does somehow manage to look even fruitier than before. I prefer his pixellated self to the hip hugging white leotard. Terrifying.

(I had a lot of time to rip stuff since I wanted to watch BakaTest first and it took ~30 extra minutes to show up.)

Posted in Tales of Symphonia | 13 Comments »

13 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

Travis says:

March 31, 2010 at 6:41 pm

Now that UFOTable has brought it up, you realize there’ll be another remake/port with a shrine maiden outfit for Zelos. And someone’ll buy it, just for that.

Aroduc says:

March 31, 2010 at 7:18 pm

Nah. I’m fairly certain it was like that from the start and just localized to a more gender neutral term because it’s very silly. Although it -is- supposed to be a vessel for Martel.

firecow says:

March 31, 2010 at 8:27 pm

Hey Aroduc, have you played Tales of Graces yet? If so What do you think about the game or what are your thoughts about it. What are your likes and dislikes on the game? I know you have heard about this game yes?

Aroduc says:

March 31, 2010 at 9:30 pm

I don’t even own a Wii, so no, I haven’t played it. From everything I’ve heard and seen though, I’m unimpressed, plus from all acounts, it’s a bug addled mess.

firecow says:

March 31, 2010 at 9:35 pm

okay Aroduc. What about Final Fantasy XIII or Star Ocean The Last Hope? What are your thoughts on both games? Any likes or dislikes?

Anonymous says:

March 31, 2010 at 9:44 pm

I’m curious. Why are you asking these questions?

firecow says:

March 31, 2010 at 11:14 pm

Because I’m curious on what rpgs Aroduc likes

Aroduc says:

March 31, 2010 at 11:40 pm

SRPGs mostly. Particularly the sadly defunct Ogre Battle series, but Fire Emblem and Disgaea et all are fun too. I am a fan of the Tales series, but that’s more of the engines than the stories. My favorite RPG(s) of all time are the Valkyrie Profile games (not so much CotP though). Some of Gust’s RPGs (Mana Khemia in particular) are also recent favorites of mine, but they produce a lot of clunkers too.
- NightShadow2239 says:
  
  April 1, 2010 at 4:21 am
  
  Wowza, some of my all time favorite games also include Disgaea (1,2,3), Fire Emblem (All English translated ones and 6 or the one with Roy), Tales of series (Symphonia, Abyss, Vesperia), and Mana Khemia (well only the first one where Flay doesn’t turn all samurai like). I only heard of but never played the Valkyrie Profile games and the Ogre Battle series. Are they just as good as Disgaea, Fire Emblem, etc?
  - Aroduc says:
    
    April 1, 2010 at 12:46 pm
    
    I think so, but VP and Silmeria tend to be a little frustrating since they’re very Tri-Acey, in that the game documentation is horrendously bad and they can be really really difficult if you don’t adapt to get good at the battle system very very quickly. Even then, unless you master or it (or have an FAQ handy), you’re probably going to end up grinding a little bit to make up the difference. Luckily, especially in Silmeria, the battle systems are tons of fun. They have some Tri-Acey plot issues too. VP’s main plot is hidden behind some hoop jumping that you practically need an FAQ for (but at least it’s a very solid story, albeit short), and Silmeria’s plot also veers off into a very nonsensical direction at the end. I still absolutely adore the battle systems for both though and VP nailed so many of the death scenes. They’re both definitely worth at least a look.
    
    Ogre Battle and OB64 are both excellent games. OB64 is much more accessible, so I’d suggest starting there. They also suffer a little bit from a lack of documentation, but reading through an FAQ or two on the mechanics can help. They’re essentially quasi real time versions of Soul Nomad. Tactics Ogre (not the GBA one so much) is also a pretty decent SRPG in the same series, but FFT was its spiritual successor (same staff worked on both), so there are enough similarities between the two that it’s probably not quite as playable anymore.