Kinda wild how you are accompanied by a party full of magic users for half of the game. Having their long spell animations play out every couple of seconds really messed with the flow of combat, but it was also the most effective method to just have them go all out, so turning their spells off wasn't really justified. You don't really have a reason to play anyone else besides Cless (I know the names are different in the other versions but I played PSX) since he was the most active and also the only one who unlocked better moves by performing the ones he already had. You could have easily done that with Chester or Suzu but it didn't happen.
Speaking of Suzu, she arrived so late in the game that she didn't get a chance to catch up to the others in level before the game ended. It would have been a welcome addition if it was more significant.
I really, reaaaaallly don't like how it uses an equipment slot in order to give you manual control in combat. It really isn't worth it to use up an item slot, but the feel of combat is so much better when you have complete control of the character, otherwise they will just evade unprompted at seemingly random points. I love the incentive of using artes to acquire combination moves, but having this available to only one character is a huge letdown. When I felt like I was in complete control of the character, battles were enjoyable.
The dungeons are absolutely the worst part of this game. They were long, indistinct slogs that made me go absolutely feral. When they weren't long they had some horrible gimmick attached to them, such as taking damage periodically, or, most egregiously, involving random chance in order to go through the correct door, that actively seemed to give me the worst luck imaginable.
The characters were all pretty solid. Tales characters vary in quality, so having a game full of inoffensive ones is welcome. Their dynamic with each other worked really well. There were also some genuinely funny moments which seems to be a hard thing to pull off for this franchise. The villain was pretty weak. The game's ending is quite weak, in no small part due to the inconclusiveness of Dhaos’ motivations. They just kind of get thrown out after the game is already over, and it only gets touched upon briefly, and ultimately doesn’t even seem all that important to the narrative.
For a first outing this sets a pretty attainable standard to exceed. You really see the improvements that have been made to this formula throughout the years, but it is a solid start to a prolific series of games.
Speaking of Suzu, she arrived so late in the game that she didn't get a chance to catch up to the others in level before the game ended. It would have been a welcome addition if it was more significant.
I really, reaaaaallly don't like how it uses an equipment slot in order to give you manual control in combat. It really isn't worth it to use up an item slot, but the feel of combat is so much better when you have complete control of the character, otherwise they will just evade unprompted at seemingly random points. I love the incentive of using artes to acquire combination moves, but having this available to only one character is a huge letdown. When I felt like I was in complete control of the character, battles were enjoyable.
The dungeons are absolutely the worst part of this game. They were long, indistinct slogs that made me go absolutely feral. When they weren't long they had some horrible gimmick attached to them, such as taking damage periodically, or, most egregiously, involving random chance in order to go through the correct door, that actively seemed to give me the worst luck imaginable.
The characters were all pretty solid. Tales characters vary in quality, so having a game full of inoffensive ones is welcome. Their dynamic with each other worked really well. There were also some genuinely funny moments which seems to be a hard thing to pull off for this franchise. The villain was pretty weak. The game's ending is quite weak, in no small part due to the inconclusiveness of Dhaos’ motivations. They just kind of get thrown out after the game is already over, and it only gets touched upon briefly, and ultimately doesn’t even seem all that important to the narrative.
For a first outing this sets a pretty attainable standard to exceed. You really see the improvements that have been made to this formula throughout the years, but it is a solid start to a prolific series of games.