Banger Vita game
Tiene algunos problemas en su localizacion y claro, no es de las mejores historias de la franquicia.
Pero tiene bastante corazon (ba dum tss) y comparado a mi experiencia con Tales of Arise puedo decir que me la pase muy bien jugandolo de inicio a fin.
El combate es buenisimo tambien tho
Pero tiene bastante corazon (ba dum tss) y comparado a mi experiencia con Tales of Arise puedo decir que me la pase muy bien jugandolo de inicio a fin.
El combate es buenisimo tambien tho
Another year, another Tales game just narrowly beaten past last year's end. Of course, this year was far closer than last years (I think I beat Vesperia on January 8th or something, but whatever). I wanted to beat this yesterday, but I guess I thought I was like 10 hours from the end, when I was actually 20, so I ended up beating it earlier tonight. Not my favorite Tales game, but a very good one none the less. For reference, I played through with the combat difficulty on the default setting, and I hunted around for goodies quite a lot (although completely without a guide), so my end clock was at right around 47 hours.
The combat is very Tales with the Linear Motion Battle System LMBS-ing it up like normal, with a few minor twists as the series is want to do. This is a post-Abyss Tales game, so not only are the battles in 3D environments (like Symphonia), but you can also free-run around in them (like in Abyss). One feature (which was added especially for the Vita remake) is the Chase Link system, which is basically the ability to kick off a super combo where the enemy will be unable to block for a few seconds once they've been sufficiently beat upon. Any member of your party can do it, and it makes combat flow much faster.
The main limit on your Artes is the TC limit of each character, which is very similar to the CC gauge that would appear in Graces, where you can only do so many Artes (but not normal attacks, which are free, unlike Graces) before you need to not attack for a moment to let the gauge recharge. It adds another element to combat that keeps it from being crazy spammy like Vesperia or Abyss were, but TP also ends up not being so much of a problem for users of mainly physical Artes (like the main character can be (and as I played him)). Lastly, there are manually activatable overlimits with the easiest to execute Mystic Artes out of any Tales game I've played so far, which was greatly appreciated (they were so confusing to do in Vesperia and Graces that I basically never even tried to do them on my own). The tutorials on how to do every fighting mechanic are also very good, and are also the best out of any Tales game I've played so far, which was very nice.
The leveling up system is also very unique from any other Tales game I've played. Instead of just getting basic level ups, you get a certain number of AP which you can allocate into any of 5 different sections of your character. Just putting points into a certain section will raise certain stats, but once you put in the required number to level up that section, you'll unlock a new Arte, skill, weapon, or stat boost for that character.
It makes it so you can really make any character play how you want them to play, for the most part. Everyone does have their own unique artes, but everyone does have physical, hybrid, and spell Artes, so you can be a spell slinging main character if you want to. Though because everyone has their own spells, only certain characters can fill certain roles (ex: Only 3 out of 8 characters ever learn healing artes, so only they can be healers, and even then they learn different healing artes). Characters also have bonds between them which level up if they participate in enough battles with each other (and can also be boosted through viewing skits or story events), and once their bonds are high enough, then certain character-exclusive skills can be shared among those who have sufficient bond levels. It makes for very customizable characters, and I'd say that this is the most customizable Tales game I have so far played.
The story, however, is where this game really kills it for me. Tales of Hearts R has a very divided opinion on its story, and for good reason: The game's English translation has a very distinct tonal dissonance with what the original Japanese version had. Couple this with the fact that the game has only Japanese voice overs and only English text, and someone with a knowledge of Japanese like myself got annoyed very quickly that the two were so very different. The Japanese puts across a much more serious, darker tone, while the English lines constantly try to be silly and add in tons of jokes in scenes where they feel really inappropriate (like, every other damn line).
This bad translation is most sour for me, because of the really cool things the story tries to do. The story has the biggest effort out of any Tales game I've played on trying to give its (rather wide cast of) villains, if not realistic, motives that the player can empathize with. Incarose especially, has to be one of my new favorite villains from the series.
Add this in with the fact that Hearts R is a remake of Hearts into which they inserted a brand new character to the main cast (Gall), who generally sticks out as feeling inadequately developed and focused upon compared to the other 7, and you have a story that really isn't up to par with what I'd come to expect from the series. Granted, the story is still quite good and interesting, but it isn't up there with games like Graces or Vesperia in terms of ones that are my all time favorites. This is just a more basic level JRPG story (although I will admit I did cry at once scene, though that is not my end-all judge of how good a story is in an RPG).
Verdict: Recommended. It's a Tales game, so it's obviously gonna be good, but it's not the totally incredible level that I'd come to expect from the late 2000's games. Though, for English speakers, this is probably the best portable Tales experience you're going to get mechanically speaking, I'd probably stick with Abyss on 3DS if you want a more fulfilling story experience.
The combat is very Tales with the Linear Motion Battle System LMBS-ing it up like normal, with a few minor twists as the series is want to do. This is a post-Abyss Tales game, so not only are the battles in 3D environments (like Symphonia), but you can also free-run around in them (like in Abyss). One feature (which was added especially for the Vita remake) is the Chase Link system, which is basically the ability to kick off a super combo where the enemy will be unable to block for a few seconds once they've been sufficiently beat upon. Any member of your party can do it, and it makes combat flow much faster.
The main limit on your Artes is the TC limit of each character, which is very similar to the CC gauge that would appear in Graces, where you can only do so many Artes (but not normal attacks, which are free, unlike Graces) before you need to not attack for a moment to let the gauge recharge. It adds another element to combat that keeps it from being crazy spammy like Vesperia or Abyss were, but TP also ends up not being so much of a problem for users of mainly physical Artes (like the main character can be (and as I played him)). Lastly, there are manually activatable overlimits with the easiest to execute Mystic Artes out of any Tales game I've played so far, which was greatly appreciated (they were so confusing to do in Vesperia and Graces that I basically never even tried to do them on my own). The tutorials on how to do every fighting mechanic are also very good, and are also the best out of any Tales game I've played so far, which was very nice.
The leveling up system is also very unique from any other Tales game I've played. Instead of just getting basic level ups, you get a certain number of AP which you can allocate into any of 5 different sections of your character. Just putting points into a certain section will raise certain stats, but once you put in the required number to level up that section, you'll unlock a new Arte, skill, weapon, or stat boost for that character.
It makes it so you can really make any character play how you want them to play, for the most part. Everyone does have their own unique artes, but everyone does have physical, hybrid, and spell Artes, so you can be a spell slinging main character if you want to. Though because everyone has their own spells, only certain characters can fill certain roles (ex: Only 3 out of 8 characters ever learn healing artes, so only they can be healers, and even then they learn different healing artes). Characters also have bonds between them which level up if they participate in enough battles with each other (and can also be boosted through viewing skits or story events), and once their bonds are high enough, then certain character-exclusive skills can be shared among those who have sufficient bond levels. It makes for very customizable characters, and I'd say that this is the most customizable Tales game I have so far played.
The story, however, is where this game really kills it for me. Tales of Hearts R has a very divided opinion on its story, and for good reason: The game's English translation has a very distinct tonal dissonance with what the original Japanese version had. Couple this with the fact that the game has only Japanese voice overs and only English text, and someone with a knowledge of Japanese like myself got annoyed very quickly that the two were so very different. The Japanese puts across a much more serious, darker tone, while the English lines constantly try to be silly and add in tons of jokes in scenes where they feel really inappropriate (like, every other damn line).
This bad translation is most sour for me, because of the really cool things the story tries to do. The story has the biggest effort out of any Tales game I've played on trying to give its (rather wide cast of) villains, if not realistic, motives that the player can empathize with. Incarose especially, has to be one of my new favorite villains from the series.
Add this in with the fact that Hearts R is a remake of Hearts into which they inserted a brand new character to the main cast (Gall), who generally sticks out as feeling inadequately developed and focused upon compared to the other 7, and you have a story that really isn't up to par with what I'd come to expect from the series. Granted, the story is still quite good and interesting, but it isn't up there with games like Graces or Vesperia in terms of ones that are my all time favorites. This is just a more basic level JRPG story (although I will admit I did cry at once scene, though that is not my end-all judge of how good a story is in an RPG).
Verdict: Recommended. It's a Tales game, so it's obviously gonna be good, but it's not the totally incredible level that I'd come to expect from the late 2000's games. Though, for English speakers, this is probably the best portable Tales experience you're going to get mechanically speaking, I'd probably stick with Abyss on 3DS if you want a more fulfilling story experience.
It's geniunely impressive how they somehow made every single character in this cast unlikable. This game should be used as an example for why good characters are integral to a JRPG.
Reached the final dungeon and then just stopped, no interest in seeing the ending.
Reached the final dungeon and then just stopped, no interest in seeing the ending.
Had potential but wasn't enjoying myself.
Tales of Hearts R
Pretty fun game, especially the combat! The enemies/bosses had a rage attack that would interrupt combos but if you parry it you hit them back and keep going with your combo. The story was pretty good, not the best but not the worst. The cast overall was fine, this is probably my second favorite combat system in a Tales game. The final boss was fine but definitely one of the weakest I've ever fought in a Tales game.
Beryl is definitely best girl. We love Beryl!
Pretty fun game, especially the combat! The enemies/bosses had a rage attack that would interrupt combos but if you parry it you hit them back and keep going with your combo. The story was pretty good, not the best but not the worst. The cast overall was fine, this is probably my second favorite combat system in a Tales game. The final boss was fine but definitely one of the weakest I've ever fought in a Tales game.
Beryl is definitely best girl. We love Beryl!
Some of the most fun combat in the Tales Of series. The localization is a bit weird at times, but I didn't really pay it any attention until I saw people pointing it out online.
Great remake/remaster of the DS game.
J'avais testé ce jeu quand j'étais qu'un noob de Tales Of et j'ai dû abandonner le jeu car c'était bien trop différent par rapport à berseria et arise, mais j'ai décidé de tester le jeu maintenant que j'ai un peu plus d'expérience niveau Tales... Eh mince, ce jeu est incroyable wtf !
Le gameplay est tout simplement MAGNIFIQUE, le système des soma et level-up ça me rappelle Xillia, et ça c'est une très bonne chose car c'est hyper addictif de pouvoir choisir quels stats on veut améliorer et quels artes on veut débloquer. Les "assault" honnêtement c'est l'un des trucs les plus fun qu'ils ont ajouté à un jeu Tales wow c'est vraiment trop fun de spam ces trucs et détruire les ennemies, ça aide à créer des combos hyper longs et c'est hyper stylé. Le scénario à vrai dire c'est pas mal du tout, ouais il y a quelques clichés à la fin mais c'est BIEEEEN plus dark que je ne le pensais (il y a plus de morts dans ce jeu que dans tous les jeux de l'arc erebonia dans kiseki 💀)
ET OUAH LES PERSOS, ils sont juste magnifiques. Le truc drôle c'est que je croyais que mon perso pref serait Inès (vu qu'elle est une meuf badass toute stylée et musclée) mais écoutez, elle est géniale mais BERYL EST LE MEILLEUR PERSO DU JEU DE LOIN ELLE EST HILARANTE ET EST TELLEMENT OP ELLE A BOTTÉ LE CUL DU FINAL BOSS AVEC SON SPAM D'INDIGNATION. AH ET SA VOIX EST TROP HILARANTE AUSSI BON SANG
Et ouais, en gros ce jeu est drôlement bon, genre, niveau défauts à part quelques cliches du scénario je pense qu'il y en a pas vraiment
Le gameplay est tout simplement MAGNIFIQUE, le système des soma et level-up ça me rappelle Xillia, et ça c'est une très bonne chose car c'est hyper addictif de pouvoir choisir quels stats on veut améliorer et quels artes on veut débloquer. Les "assault" honnêtement c'est l'un des trucs les plus fun qu'ils ont ajouté à un jeu Tales wow c'est vraiment trop fun de spam ces trucs et détruire les ennemies, ça aide à créer des combos hyper longs et c'est hyper stylé. Le scénario à vrai dire c'est pas mal du tout, ouais il y a quelques clichés à la fin mais c'est BIEEEEN plus dark que je ne le pensais (il y a plus de morts dans ce jeu que dans tous les jeux de l'arc erebonia dans kiseki 💀)
ET OUAH LES PERSOS, ils sont juste magnifiques. Le truc drôle c'est que je croyais que mon perso pref serait Inès (vu qu'elle est une meuf badass toute stylée et musclée) mais écoutez, elle est géniale mais BERYL EST LE MEILLEUR PERSO DU JEU DE LOIN ELLE EST HILARANTE ET EST TELLEMENT OP ELLE A BOTTÉ LE CUL DU FINAL BOSS AVEC SON SPAM D'INDIGNATION. AH ET SA VOIX EST TROP HILARANTE AUSSI BON SANG
Et ouais, en gros ce jeu est drôlement bon, genre, niveau défauts à part quelques cliches du scénario je pense qu'il y en a pas vraiment
It's alright, didnt really care for the cast but the gameplay is solid
Ultimately, I think my problems with this game simply comes down to seeing a better way they could have done it, and being annoyed they didn't go with that. I'm not in full agreement with the way Tales of Hearts R uses it's main villains or the way it paces it's plot points either. Basically, it just feels to me that they tried to course correct a lot of the original Tales of Hearts story for this remake, but simply couldn't iron out all the problems while doing that. So Tales of Hearts R kinda feels like a longer winded yet under cooked story with strong gameplay mechanics and characters.This isn't to point out that Tales of Hearts R is bad because I'm mostly just frustrated that the rest of the game is quite honestly good.
All the characters feel like they are explored well enough to the degree most Tales games feel. I like the way most interactions with this group are handled, and it honestly felt like a proper group of rag tag friends trying to save the world in the end. While there is some romance in this game, largely it doesn't effect the main cast of characters in a way that's jarring, and each character has enough motivation to be where they are at by the end. Honestly, it feels like one of the tighter cast of characters despite some of them being kinda forgettable. A lot of that has to do with the way that certain tropes play out, bias focus on certain characters story wise, and just how some characters are blatantly taken from you during the adventure. In some ways, the remake seems to try to give more things for each character to work out better dynamics, but it's just not enough to make them remember able compared to characters that already have their arcs in the game.
That's kinda just Hearts R's main problem though, it just feels like a blatant remake of a game with the way it shoehorns things in or paces itself. While I personally haven't played the original, I can tell there is at least 1 of two things that happened within certain scenes. Either it was left in because it was in the original and they didn't know how to make it better, or it feels like it was there to give characters more time. I'm not really broken at this; just more so I rather have a better game that is unfaithful to the original compared to sticking so close to it that it feels off when you add something in. I'm not exactly happy about the game's consistent shift between villains that it does in the beginning either. It's like the game settled on a villain they wanted, and kept changing their mind. It left for a lot of unexplored plot points, and some really big misses that kinda knock the game down a peg in my eyes. Then there's kinda a feeling like they made certain areas or dungeons kinda basic. A lot of the early game dungeons feel far too linear, short, and simple for their own good. Even the ports of the game have next to nothing in terms of how they look samey. In other words, this remake just feels like it needed to cook a little more with the way they seemed to be working with things.
Hearts R is a Tales Of game at it's core, and while a lot of the game can be described as shaky, the gameplay certainly is not. I'll admit that I didn't use a lot of the vita's features for this game, but the basic barebones fighting style of each character was still incredibly fun to use. Nearly every character feels good to use to some degree, and while that is always a highlight in each Tales of game, it's still super impressive. Getting 8 characters to not only play different, but be fun to use really is a tall order, and even more so for this Vita handheld game. That's kind what makes me super wow'd with the way the game feels as it does seem to have the original core philosophy that the PSP was made for, having a console game in your pocket.
If I were to acquaint this to anything, I honestly think Tales of Hearts R feels like a game made for the Dreamcast that some how got on the Vita. Sure, it has it's faults and perhaps could have been a better remake, but I think Tales of Hearts R is a fine representative to what a good game on the Vita looks like.
All the characters feel like they are explored well enough to the degree most Tales games feel. I like the way most interactions with this group are handled, and it honestly felt like a proper group of rag tag friends trying to save the world in the end. While there is some romance in this game, largely it doesn't effect the main cast of characters in a way that's jarring, and each character has enough motivation to be where they are at by the end. Honestly, it feels like one of the tighter cast of characters despite some of them being kinda forgettable. A lot of that has to do with the way that certain tropes play out, bias focus on certain characters story wise, and just how some characters are blatantly taken from you during the adventure. In some ways, the remake seems to try to give more things for each character to work out better dynamics, but it's just not enough to make them remember able compared to characters that already have their arcs in the game.
That's kinda just Hearts R's main problem though, it just feels like a blatant remake of a game with the way it shoehorns things in or paces itself. While I personally haven't played the original, I can tell there is at least 1 of two things that happened within certain scenes. Either it was left in because it was in the original and they didn't know how to make it better, or it feels like it was there to give characters more time. I'm not really broken at this; just more so I rather have a better game that is unfaithful to the original compared to sticking so close to it that it feels off when you add something in. I'm not exactly happy about the game's consistent shift between villains that it does in the beginning either. It's like the game settled on a villain they wanted, and kept changing their mind. It left for a lot of unexplored plot points, and some really big misses that kinda knock the game down a peg in my eyes. Then there's kinda a feeling like they made certain areas or dungeons kinda basic. A lot of the early game dungeons feel far too linear, short, and simple for their own good. Even the ports of the game have next to nothing in terms of how they look samey. In other words, this remake just feels like it needed to cook a little more with the way they seemed to be working with things.
Hearts R is a Tales Of game at it's core, and while a lot of the game can be described as shaky, the gameplay certainly is not. I'll admit that I didn't use a lot of the vita's features for this game, but the basic barebones fighting style of each character was still incredibly fun to use. Nearly every character feels good to use to some degree, and while that is always a highlight in each Tales of game, it's still super impressive. Getting 8 characters to not only play different, but be fun to use really is a tall order, and even more so for this Vita handheld game. That's kind what makes me super wow'd with the way the game feels as it does seem to have the original core philosophy that the PSP was made for, having a console game in your pocket.
If I were to acquaint this to anything, I honestly think Tales of Hearts R feels like a game made for the Dreamcast that some how got on the Vita. Sure, it has it's faults and perhaps could have been a better remake, but I think Tales of Hearts R is a fine representative to what a good game on the Vita looks like.
i was actually really pleasantly surprised by how enjoyable this game is; i went into it not expecting much, tbh. but a relatively fun cast (kor and kohaku are the standouts) with some memorable moments, a pretty fun fantasy sci-fi story, and good gameplay make for a pretty enjoyable experience. it's not quite up to the standard of other tales games but it's worth playing in its own right