I'm in a major Tales phase right now. I got Symphonia, beat it, loved it. Then I got Abyss, playing it, loving it. So what Tales game should I try out next after I beat Abyss? Please don't spoil anything on the games, as I wanna play through them blindly (Why did I bother to revive Asch after the fight with that squid RIGHT before he ditched me? But seriously. DON'T LET ME KNOW ANYTHING ABOUT THE GAMES YOU VOTE ON!) I won't read comments, as I'm that paranoid of spoilers. So, happy voting!

Tales of Phantasia was a game I liked a good bit. Although I never really did get too far. I really liked the combat system a fair bit. The music was nice too.


So my vote goes into that though. I never actually played any other 'Tales' game other than that anyways so I guess I have no choice as far as recommendation goes.

I've only played Abyss and Symphonia, but I wanted to throw out there that Legendia is a bit different than the I've played. My brother owns it and I've seen him playing it. It looks pretty great, but definitely a different sort of graphics and characters. Still worth playing probably, but if your'e in love with the style of Abyss and Symphonia like I am, you might wanna go with something similar again, maybe.

I've heard GREAT things about Phantasia, and it's already been recommended in here! So I'm gonna have to say you should go with that. That's the one I've heard raved about the most after the two we've already played.

I must say, I really loved Tales of Vesperia. The game is pretty funny in a lot of parts and the battle system is nice and fluid. Of course, the skits are always fun to listen to with some neat voice acting.

However, before I played any tales of, my first Tales of was Phantasia. I'm sure you already know that from the previous comments so I won't say much more.

If anything, you should really try the japanese tales of games that have translated menus or have translation guides. I actually picked up a lot of japanese through the games and it helped me to understand the stories and skits (aside from learning from anime). After Tales of Phantasia, I really recommend for the PSP Tales of Phantasia Narikiri Dungeon X, which takes place after Phantasia I think, and you play as two twins who are able to change costumes to change their class style of fighting. This alone adds a lot to the gameplay and then having all the tales of phantasia characters and skits makes it twice as fun. The game also has a menu and item translation patch.

There is also the true Tales of Destiny 2 and Tales of Destiny Director's Cut which are also great games. However it's best to play the first one before the second one of course. However I won't say much about either since I haven't played it as much as the second, but their both good and quite funny.

The last game I recommend is Tales of the World Radiata Story 3. I've only played this one, but I am loving it because it's pure fandom all the way with favorite tales of characters up to vesperia at least, and your own created character. However, like in most games you create a character, he hardly plays a role in cutscenes and etc. But the gameplay is similar to that of Vesperia I think. Most of the time, you are doing missions after missions, and it's just about the gameplay and interaction skits with the characters. So even if the game does have English translated menus and very fun gameplay, this is the only thing that brings it down if you don't understand or reach japanese, since some scenes aren't voice acted.

If you want something that's similar to Abyss, I'd say Vesperia.

If you don't mind something that plays drastically different, Graces F is a good way to go.

If you want something that has a really interesting story and don't mind a flawed party system, Symphonia: Dawn of the New World... though you'd wanna play the original Symphonia first.

I also really love Legendia, but everyone else in the world seems to hate it, so I'm not going to recommend that one.

Crazy Li :

I didn't hate Legendia either. It was a pretty solid game. It had it's faults, yes, but in all, the game was worth finishing at the very least. Some of those characters were just awesome.

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I'd honestly say Vesperia. It's a 360 exclusive I think. Not 100% positive. I don't play a lot of the Tales games (I love them, but just don't have them.) due to money issues.

Tales of Vesperia!, I played it for three days and got probably more then half way into the game then I took a break because I think I played way to much :p. It's a very great game and I want to play  the ones for the Wii but money is a factor...but you wont even read this :p

legacyme3 : THANK YOU

Everyone I talk to craps on the game like it's the worst thing ever. No one can seem to appreciate the good points of the game... the characters, the music, the atmosphere...

it's refreshing to actually hear someone say it wasn't a terrible game.

Crazy Li :

Likewise. It may not be the absolute best game in the series, but that's no reason to hate on it. That'd be like hating on Final Fantasy X, just because it wasn't as good as the others in the series. It was still by all rights a great worthwhile game that I enjoyed from start to finish.

People need to stop using other games in the series as a benchmark of a game being good. Yes, it can help tell you what to expect, but if it's the worst in the series (not saying it is) it's still better than a good deal of RPGs that these same people seem to think are great, just because it's a standalone title.

In a way, being a "tales" game raises it's expectation value to a level where if it's not exactly at that level people will discard it as trash when it's not the case. I bet if it was released as just Legendia, or something, people would enjoy it more, since again, it wouldn't have been a "tales" game.

legacyme3 : This is true. It wasn't even made by Namco/Tales Team. It was made by another developer (Melfes). It's not a real Tales game, it just has some slight elements from the series in play... but really, it should be judged as its own game.

I still am hoping they make Sword of Legendia.