This is the second part of a blog published before the New Year, dedicated to a selection of openings from the glorious series of Japanese RPGs Tales and history of the series. I hope the blog brought readers a New Year’s mood.
Here is its continuation.
Interlude: Tales of Hearts
2008 (Nintendo DS, PlayStation Vita)
In the west came out: Fallout 3, Mount & Blade, Fable 2, King’s Bounty: Legend of a Knight
In the east came out: Valkyria Chronicles.
Unfortunately, the most expressive version of the opening Tales of Hearts designed for two Nintendo DS screens and looks like this:
Small game for small consoles.
Its story is dedicated to people healing the spiritual cores of other people, repairing their feelings and emotions, for which it is necessary (in the manner of the series Persona) without soap to get into their souls.
Knights and hats or Tales of Graces.
2010 (Wii, PS3).
On west came out: Mass Effect 2, Fable 3, King’s Bounty: Crossroads worlds
On east came out: Xenoblade Chronicles, Ni no Kuni: The Another World, Star Ocean: The Last Hope
A pleasant, colorful video in which knights and steampunk easily coexist with space flights. and, of course, with a very high tower! (Although this time it’s curved).
In this interesting, richly detailed world live steampunk ethnic nations, one of which is recognizable Cossacks in hats, sometimes wearing German helmets with a point for secrecy.
If in Tales of Berseria we can see about two hours from the heroine’s childhood, here we see the heroes’ childhood Tales of Graces a multi-hour prologue is dedicated to. While still in school, sitting under a plot-important tree, they met a mysterious girl with amnesia, and went to beat the monsters.
But things didn’t go according to plan: the monsters beat them themselves, and the girl died.
Friends were so worried that they broke up and even quarreled. But the girl turned out to be alive! In any case, many years later they met her as a girl. who still doesn’t remember anything.
The game’s prologue laid the foundation for the complex and curious relationships that would bind or divide friends over the course of the main game. By the way, space travel is also available in it.
Part three. Newest Tales.
I consider them to be the newest because 11 years ago Bandai, finally got around to replacing the engine, making the characters look less like anime dolls and more like anime people.
Tales of Craces on an old engine
And Tales of Xillia – on the new!
Progress and pigeons. Tales of Xillia
2011( PS3).
In the west came out: The Elder Scrolls 5: Skyrim, Dark Souls, Deus Ex: Human Revolution The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings
On east out: Final Fantasy Type-0, Valkyria Chronicles 3.
Exciting composition Progress, which is performed by one of the ancient divine entities of this world, forced to understand the need for change. (I use the more expressive full version, and not the scanty openings for Mila and Jude).
In this ancient world, technology is gradually replacing primordial magic. By the beginning of the game, they gave birth to a weapon of terrifying power – the Spear of Kreznik. Apparently, having decided that village teenagers and retired slum knights were not a suitable squad for saving the world from such a threat, a servant of the spirits of nature created by magic – the almost omnipotent Milla Maxwell (She is the one posing in the preview of the previous part of the blog).
In any case, almost omnipotent until the moment when the Spear pulled out non-divine powers, forcing them to rely on the help of ordinary people..
Super agent from the kitchen. Tales of Xillia 2
2012 ( PS3).
In the west came out: Mass Effect 3, Borderlands 2, Dishonored, Risen 2: Dark Waters
On east came out: Persona 4 Golden, Ys Origin.
Another one of my favorite openings of the series: a cheerful call to adventure Song 4 U, showing a colorful and unusual world where powerful magic is intertwined with cozy steampunk.
Continuation of the previous part, where Mila plays a less important role, giving way to the chef guy.
The beginning of the plot looks as if the screenwriter binge-watched action movies with Seagal Under siege and Under Siege -2 and they got a little confused. The main character – a tough chef with a name suitable for an action movie – Luger Kreznik – clears a train with a little girl from the opening from terrorists.
Good deeds do not go unpunished – he is saddled with a debt of 20 million.
Since he is not Seagal after all and cannot solve the problem by simply punching the bad guys in the face, he, his fat brother and his fat brother’s fat cat have to find a way out themselves.
He is the hero of the day. He is the CHOSEN! And he’s afraid of crabs. Tales of Zestiria.
By 2015, the creators of https://vegasampedcasino.co.uk/ the series discovered that their brainchild was 20 years old. Having been impressed, they decided to make the best part of the series. and something went wrong!
2015 ( PS3, PS4, PC).
In the west came out: The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, Pillars of Eternity, Fallout 4.
On east came out: Grandia II Anniversary Edition.
A fiery, cheerful, albeit slightly noisy Japanese opening of the game.
Frankly speaking, their competitor Tales of Zestiria was colorful but empty. Apparently, all the “steam” went into the design and charming, rich visuals of the world, which is pleasant to study… and not find anything interesting!
There is absolute hell going on with the plot of the game: the characters are empty, like a kefir carton, and the story is only outlined on the dotted line.
Empty doesn’t mean bad. The signature design of Inomata Mutsumi was the only thing that made me finish the game.
GG Sorey – Chosen so much that there is nowhere else to go. The only Shepherd in the world capable of defeating the invisible demons terrorizing the world; raised in the mountain tree of the seraphim; trained in martial arts by the ancient god of thunder.
Moreover, he merges with the girls (Hussars, shut up) into an enhanced supernatural fighter. Somehow our mega-Chosen One turned out to be surprisingly gray, insipidly kind and uninteresting. And yes – he is afraid of crabs. Sorey is not a giant of thought even against the backdrop of history. The antagonist is a match for him, only angry and more maned. The game, although notable for its vigorous battles, was overall so dubious that the story in the DLC. Princess Alisha was cut off mid-sentence.
Revenge and rags or Tales of Berseria.
Looking at Tales of Zestiria, Bandai Namco fired most of the development team and hired new ones, ordering them to fix the flaws Zestiria. The result is an amazing sequel-prequel. With the same set of assets, monsters, a common world, several common characters – and a completely different story – and one of the strongest and most impressive in the series Tales.
So, Tales of Berseria
2016 (2017 on PC) ( PS3, PS4, PC).
On west came out: Divinity: Original Sin 2, Horizon Zero Dawn Complete Edition, Mass Effect: Andromeda
On east came out: Valkyria Chronicles 4, Dragon Quest XI, Final Fantasy 12: The Zodiac Age, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.
The opening, in which the brooding melody turns into a frantic chorus of battle, goes to the song Burn – that is, Flame or even Burn.
It takes place in the same world, but 1000 years before the birth of Sorey. And the balance of power seems to be the same: indestructible demons and the Shepherd, who can cleanse the world… only the Shepherd is the main villain. And the heroine is the Lady of Disaster herself – t. e. the greatest evil force in this universe.
Moreover, the Shepherd is her educator and closest relative. They lived under the same roof for many years, until, in search of power to save the world, the future Shepherd Artorius sacrificed Velvet’s little brother to the Nameless God, imprisoned in a bottomless well under the ruins of the temple.
Having spent many years in a stone bag on the lower tier of a huge prison for demons, Velvet decided to take revenge, not knowing that her revenge could end this world.
Tales of Berseria – a story of frantic, all-burning hatred, a study of the depths to which a person’s fall can be driven by a thirst for revenge – or a thirst for justice and goodness. Protagonists and antagonists essentially follow the same path, albeit from different ends. And at the end of the game they are faced with the question: can there be redemption after what they have done to themselves and to the world??
Two worlds, two heroes, two openings. Tales of Arise.
2020 (PS 4, PS 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PC)
In the west came out: Cyberpunk 2077, Wasteland 3
On east came out: Persona 5 Royal, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Final Fantasy VII Remake.
They say that when they first heard this song, the game’s voice actors cried. They can be understood.
Bye series final fantasy has already reached pretentious self-remakes and even remakes of the first city from the seventh part of the game, then the game Tales – remained creative and true to themselves. The last part of the main series at the moment Tales of Arise is a complex, colorful and well-crafted story about oppression, slavery and propaganda – and the path that can lead tormented people out of the impasse of hostility.
The game world is quite reminiscent of another glorious JRPG series – Star Ocean (Recently there was news that initially Arise didn’t even plan to include it in Tales series). There are two planets: medieval Dana and high-tech Rena. The Rhenians conquered Dana and, brazenly taking advantage of the fact that they had stylish horned exoskeletons and the Daninans did not, put them to work.
There are two heroes: Alfen, a masked slave-boy who has lost his memory, and an exquisite aristocratic girl from Rena Shion.
Together they challenge the Rhenian lords and fight for the freedom of the planet, bringing together a kungfu player with a ponytail, a curvy knight, a failed poet and a kawaii owl with a girl.
And gradually their struggle develops into something much more..
I wrote about this game in blogs ( second part with spoilersi) (Part 3: humor about the game with spoilers) so much that I won’t repeat it. I will add that it is notable for the fact that it has two openings at the same time: the main one, which we saw at the beginning of the chapter..
And the secret one that arises before a journey into space: a wonderful symphony of lyrical sadness and lost memories.
As we see, the series Tales – a phenomenon of amazing resilience in the turbulent world of video games. Series were born, died (it would be a sin not to remember at least the sad fate of the last license plates Gothic), were born again (Risen) and died again, becoming a vague legend (pixel Doom), were reborn, sometimes several times… And the series Tales lives and lives for almost 30 years, while managing not to go into annoying self-repetitions! Only a few titans like Final Fantasy or forever alive Age of Empires.
Starting among the naive fabulous Japanese games of the 90s, Tales gradually grew and matured. (In reviews FoxHeaven you can almost “real time” observe how the combat system developed, branded hermitages, the developers turned titles from an unnecessary feature to a key element of hero development). Men and plots: both the character and the seriousness of the problems raised. Tales has never shied away from complex themes: national intolerance, propaganda, genocide, ambiguous ethical dilemmas – the game presented all this without the stony seriousness characteristic of the vast majority of Western RPGs – but also without the trademark goofiness that irritates some in the series Final Fantasy.
It’s the combination of clever themes, funny delivery, lyricism and glorious art and music that makes Tales unforgettable series.
Happy New Year to you!!
What you need for the New Year?
Tales of Xillia
Tales of Xillia 2
Tales of Zestiria
Tales of Berseria
Tales of Arise
Tales of Graces
Best comments
The princess in Vesperia first learns to give high five herself, then she constantly gives it to him, then she asks to give high five to the witcher, and then the witcher gives high five with a happy smile .
Something similar happened in Berseria\Xillia, I remember that there the characters also gradually changed their final phrases and animations based on the development of the plot and relationships in the squad.
Well, that’s cool, I think things like this are what make good games good. small details that you don’t even always pay attention to
Certainly! I completely agree with this
Damn, how much I love the openings of Tales of Xillia 1-2 and how much I like the first part! I’m even afraid to launch the second one so as not to spoil my impression. And yes, I really want a native port of both parts to modern platforms in order to play them, for example, in a portable format – on the Nintendo Switch, for example. Or in high definition on PS5\XSX.
(walked to his shelf and brushed a speck of dust off the top of the official Milla figurine).
IMHO, the skimpy openings of Jude and Milla still have a much higher video quality, and the composition there is quite complex, which is why it suffers from compression, just like the video sequence. Plus, the scanty openings themselves are cut very well. My request: Add them to spoiler?
Apparently, all the “steam” went into the design and charming, rich visuals of the world, which is pleasant to study… and not find anything interesting! There is absolute hell going on with the plot of the game: the characters are empty, like a kefir carton, and the story is only outlined on the dotted line.
I completely agree about Zestiria. I picked it up three times, and all three times I threw it in different places. The most stuffy place is the water temple with its eyes.
But the worst thing is the way the gameplay is taught. Yes, I understand that the combat system is very complex, but here’s the problem: the player needs to be taught such things gradually, and not bombard him with new information when he hasn’t had time to try out the old one in order to remember! And it’s complete bullshit. Then my head is a mess, and it swells like hell.
Plus, yes, the world is too empty, there is too much backtracking, the plot is weak, but the characters pull it out with their charisma.
But. Zestiria has one of the coolest openings in history, IMHO.
Berseria was my first Tales of, and it also showed how great the series is. Velvet is a delight (except that I couldn’t get her figurine for the right money – it costs as much as a moose), and in general the charm itself – both in peacetime and in the mode of a berserker burned from within by hatred. When I saw how she, exhausted from the inside, almost burnt out to hell, began to very gradually show concern for malakhim (seraphim) – I almost shed a stingy tear. And the ending, considering how traditionally you get attached to the heroes, just tears you from the inside.
In general, the Tales of openings from the Ufotable studio are a separate form of art.
And I myself wrote an ode of praise about Arise – the best RPG of 2021, in my opinion. And one of the best Tales of\JRPGs in history.
Lila, however, is a master at changing the topic of conversation
The Japanese in general have the most enduring series, apparently due to their love for creating the entire franchise. Even the beggar’s atelier is alive, although the first part was published in 97
-Lila, by the way, what about..
-oh look! Butterflies!
These conversations are just a short version of what happened in Tales of the Abyss.
Not generic? WE WERE EXACTLY PLAYING THE SAME GAME? Talking faces are not generic?
And he went against Volran only after whining all day and when everyone calmed him down.
Let me remind you that at this moment, maybe his beloved was raped, and he decided to kill time by whining. And maybe he’s not a rag because of his actions and it’s all goodbye,
which led to the fact that
His beloved died and only with the help of the pianos of a mediocre scribbler were everyone saved? After all, the authors decided to write a TYPICAL GENERIC SENEN
Who experimented on him and who kidnapped him, innocent..
Perhaps something will happen next, but until you meet the girl in a pirate hat – this is just the most ordinary chase of a bunch of teenagers after a villain
Chasing the villain takes 2-3 hours.
A story about goals and how far one can go and the harm of technology to nature. For the sake of justice, GG kills bureaucrats, who after the crime are transferred to other positions. The pirate killed the entire crew when they became infected with madness, so that they would not harm anyone, including themselves. The head villain wants to kill all people to save nature. There is a conflict between the law-abiding knight Filin (in an abnormal state, that is, he is quite capable of committing crimes if he is ordered) and Yuri, who we read in the paragraph above. That is, yes, Owl, who is ready for any crime for the sake of the law. There is a story about a fan of Filin, who, for the sake of “saving Filin’s rat,” kills Yuri after defeating the villain of the first disc. There is a ten-degree story about a killer who, in order to defeat Yuri, goes crazy and replaces his entire body with besteria. (Well, this is the one from the beginning of the story). The past guild of Carol (in short, the kid), which is literally ready to destroy all monsters, even the good respected rulers of enlightening cities.
Install DLC. I went through with them, they just give a level, not experience, so if you don’t activate everything right away, but only at the moment of need, then you’ll only have to grind at the end
Ah, well, this has been a traditional feature of the series for some time now))
By the way, I love small details and there are some things that really stuck with me in the series of games that I played.
If you approach the training soldiers in a demolition fantasy, then guess what? No, they will not hit the air – they will hit the city and a dialogue will begin that there was no need to come so close. I also liked that the character development (at least in Vsperia) is displayed on the screen at the end of the battle. Each character gets different animations as they progress. The princess in Vesperia first learns to give high five herself, then she constantly gives it to him, then she asks to give high five to the witcher, and then the witcher gives high five with a happy smile .
I also caught the reflection on the same drift in the water, you approach the river and see not a muddy blue color, but full-fledged water with the reflection of gg – the beauty of it
Happy New Year to you!
But-but-but, please! Edna alone does half the game… okay, maybe she’s the only one doing it, but that’s enough to not call all the characters empty packages.