As my third entry into the Tales of Series, I found this one quickly becoming my favorite.
The cast of this game is wonderful, and I found myself enjoying each party member and what they were able to contribute overall to the group's dynamic. Surprisingly, I grew to like Alvin the most out of this cast, but all of the characters are enjoyable in their own right. This is especially true for the villains of the game, and I feel that the game does a great job of establishing them. However, I do feel that some characters, like Leia, could have used a bit more focus throughout the narrative.
The gameplay was fun, especially when I started getting used to the Linking system. I also enjoyed all of the character's unique combat mechanics, especially Milla's Spirit Shift. Each battle felt quick and satisfying, which was greatly appreciated given the format.
However, I still do have my issues with this game. Some of the character's arcs did not feel fully resolved by the end of the game for me. This was especially true for Leia. I also believe the game could have explored some of Elise's story more.
Some parts of the games closing act felt a bit too rushed, and I think that it caused the ending to feel a bit less conclusive. I also do think that some of the late game areas are rather underwhelming to explore.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the game for me involved the numerous highroads that the player must traverse to reach many of the towns and cities throughout the game. Many of these areas appear to be reskins of each other, which eventually began to make going through these areas a bit boring. It's especially baffling when the game is capable of having beautiful and unique cities like Fennmont, and yet the numerous highroads have little to make them distinct.
Finally, I think the Coliseum in this game is incredibly frustrating to play since a player can lose a battle by simply getting knocked out of the arena. It is even more frustrating when some boss fights that take place in the arena will add barricades to prevent the player from falling off.
Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone who is interested in giving it a try. I do think this game would benefit from an enhanced version with better graphics at some point in the future, but this version is still great in its own right.
The cast of this game is wonderful, and I found myself enjoying each party member and what they were able to contribute overall to the group's dynamic. Surprisingly, I grew to like Alvin the most out of this cast, but all of the characters are enjoyable in their own right. This is especially true for the villains of the game, and I feel that the game does a great job of establishing them. However, I do feel that some characters, like Leia, could have used a bit more focus throughout the narrative.
The gameplay was fun, especially when I started getting used to the Linking system. I also enjoyed all of the character's unique combat mechanics, especially Milla's Spirit Shift. Each battle felt quick and satisfying, which was greatly appreciated given the format.
However, I still do have my issues with this game. Some of the character's arcs did not feel fully resolved by the end of the game for me. This was especially true for Leia. I also believe the game could have explored some of Elise's story more.
Some parts of the games closing act felt a bit too rushed, and I think that it caused the ending to feel a bit less conclusive. I also do think that some of the late game areas are rather underwhelming to explore.
One of the most frustrating aspects of the game for me involved the numerous highroads that the player must traverse to reach many of the towns and cities throughout the game. Many of these areas appear to be reskins of each other, which eventually began to make going through these areas a bit boring. It's especially baffling when the game is capable of having beautiful and unique cities like Fennmont, and yet the numerous highroads have little to make them distinct.
Finally, I think the Coliseum in this game is incredibly frustrating to play since a player can lose a battle by simply getting knocked out of the arena. It is even more frustrating when some boss fights that take place in the arena will add barricades to prevent the player from falling off.
Overall, I would recommend this game to anyone who is interested in giving it a try. I do think this game would benefit from an enhanced version with better graphics at some point in the future, but this version is still great in its own right.