FF and Tales series, where do I start?

E

eclipsed

CAG Veteran
I just bought a PS2 and I'm interested in the Final Fantasy & Tales series. Which games are the best to start out with? A couple of my buddies recommended FF7 and FF10, no recs for Tales so I'd appreciate some help.
 
FF7...I don't know if your eyes can handle the graphics. I'd suggest for Tales to get Legendia first then Abyss since it's cheaper...unless you're gunna be discouraged by Legendia and not get Abyss, then get Abyss better since I'm quite sure it's a better game. For Final Fantasy I'd suggest FF9, since the graphics are bearable, and if not that then FFX, since its like the only Final Fantasy made for the PS2 thats out right now. Well you could also get FFXII which should be out soon I think...but that will cost you much more.

I have a tough time playing bad-graphics console games. Graphics are equally as important to gameplay to me...they support each other to make the game much more fun =p
 
If you want more classic RPG I would just FF first. FF7 probably cost too much, so I would go with 8, 9, or 10.

Abyss and Legendia are both $30 new, so go with Abyss first.
 
Is that the only system that you own though? Both of those games have titles on other systems as well.

For Final Fantasy, I would go as early as possible, maybe 4 or 6 (PS1/SNES/GBA)

I guess Tales of the Abyss for PS2 if thats all you have. How much do you care about graphics?
 
I also have a GameCube. I just picked up Tales of Symphonia for that, haven't played it yet. Never played FF or Tales on the older systems.

Graphics are a consideration, but not my major thing. I'm more about the battle system and storyline and I'm willing to tolerate bad graphics if those two things are good.

[quote name='Dr Mario Kart']Is that the only system that you own though? Both of those games have titles on other systems as well.

For Final Fantasy, I would go as early as possible, maybe 4 or 6 (PS1/SNES/GBA)

I guess Tales of the Abyss for PS2 if thats all you have. How much do you care about graphics?[/quote]
 
You should go get Abyss as it's the first Tales game that doesn't drive me insane. Set the battles to "Hard" right from the get-go. The "confused teenager" has never been done better since Final Fantasy VI.

Then pick up FF XII once it arrives since it's bloody gorgeous. You can safely ignore everything else that precedes those games as they are garbage.

If you want to play the early FFs get the ones on GBA, but since you don't have the taint of nostalgia on you (bless you) you can safely ignore them too!
 
I just started playing Symphonia and I am enjoying it much more than I thought I would. Throw it in the gamecube immediately.
 
[quote name='Ma12kez']Another vote for Tales of Symphonia.[/QUOTE]

Agreed. I've yet to play Abyss, but Symphonia was very solid fare. Moreover, the load times are quite short on the GCN, which will no doubt help your tolerance for getting into the game.

With FF, start with whatever you want. I'd say XII, but that one is actually pretty damn hard. If you have some deep computer RPG background or play stuff like WoW, I think you'd be fine. But if you've not been exposed to RPGs with a lot of customization, FFX is a fine place to start.
 
Ya go for Symphonia, hate the story and love the battle system, then try Abyss and it will seem 10x better =P
 
Thanx guys. Gonna start on Symphonia tonight, and pick up FFX and FFXII for the PS2. Is X-2 worth looking into or am I wise to skip it? Heard it wasn't that good.
 
when starting with final fantasy I suggest starting with the real one i started at, it wasn't Final Fantasy on the nes, it was final fantasy II (or IV on the ps1, gba) on the snes, man that was a fantastic game. I have played and beaten it more times than any game you have ever played and beaten! and just move on from there (although I wasn't a big fan of final fantasy V), VI was the bomb (known as 3 on the snes), VII was alright, but I like VII, IX and X WAY WAY more. X-2 was ungh... but peep kingdom hearts 1 and 2 after you are done with these, you will enjoy them so much more.

Seriously though start with IV/II (depending on what you planned on playing it on. you will not regret the wonderful stories you are about to endure!
 
[quote name='eclipsed']Thanx guys. Gonna start on Symphonia tonight, and pick up FFX and FFXII for the PS2. Is X-2 worth looking into or am I wise to skip it? Heard it wasn't that good.[/QUOTE]

At least play FFX before trying out X-2. I thought it was silly fun, but some people have a serious problem with it. Just report back when you finish the games you're starting.
 
[quote name='eclipsed']Is X-2 worth looking into or am I wise to skip it? Heard it wasn't that good.[/quote]I thought it was alright, but I didn't finish it due to the way the story was crafted. FFX had a good story, so I had to finish X-2 to find out what happened. However, it was too much "girl power" for me to digest and sometimes reminded me of that one trio of "Team Rocket" in Pokemon. It got annoying to the point that I couldn't play it any longer. So I just watched the 100% complete ending (there are different endings) on YouTube.

If I were you I'd skip it, but that's just me. Others may feel differently about it.
 
I vote picking up Tales of the Abyss as well. Symphonia is great but Abyss improves on it in nearly every way.. that being said though, get both if possible. They should be fairly cheap (Symphonia is a Player's Choice, and Abyss retailed for $40)
 
Tales of the Abyss is $29.82 at Walmart.com. There's a thread somewhere around here about it. I just got my copy in yesterday and I'm gonna get down with it tonight.
 
[quote name='depascal22']Tales of the Abyss is $29.82 at Walmart.com. There's a thread somewhere around here about it. I just got my copy in yesterday and I'm gonna get down with it tonight.[/QUOTE]

Yeah, I found that price WAY back when it was still preorder time. I'm surprised they stuck with that price after release. MSRP is $39.99 - Target bumped their price from $29.99 to $39.99 some time back. If you can still get it for $29.82 at Walmart (online only though?) go for it. I got mine at EB since I could use credit (and got the silly art cell as a preorder bonus). I MUST force myself to finish the last 2 character quests in Legendia, and then I can start Tales. But I've been having too much fun with Clubhouse Games to do any of that right now :D.
 
Nooooooo. Don't start with Tales. Start with Final Fantasy X. It's got such awesome gameplay, and the story is an emotional roller coaster. You want to lose your virginity to Jessica Alba (amazingly hot), not Kirsten Dunst (who is hot, but not that hot).
 
FFX is a great great game. It really all depends if you want to play a turn-based game from the FF series or a action-RPG from the Tales series.
 
[quote name='Pijaibros']FFX? Gameplay? You just tap A over and over again.

Too bad it doesn't work in cutscenes.[/QUOTE]
bwahhAHHAHAHAHAHAHAAha!



Sorry.


Tales of the Abyss. If you want to try FFX go ahead, I find the FF series to be horribly over-rated, but if you enjoy RPGs you'll probably dig it. If you like it and the female characters try FFx-2. Yuna doesn't have her beautiful kimono, but you do get to play dress up with the three girls as you level them up in different fighting abilities.

EDIT: Just noticed you have a cube and Symphonia. Then don't mess around with these others. Play Symphonia. And have your friends join you. RPG battles are a lot of fun when there's a bunch of you playing together.

FF CC was just meh for story and game play. Too much repetition of stages and not much else.
 
FFX had the cool ability of swapping out party members during a battle. I find that addition completely refreshing. I never understood how you could have a big party of people walking around but only three or four were allowed to battle. FFX flipped that all around and let you really take control of a boss battle. I loved it.
 
[quote name='depascal22']FFX had the cool ability of swapping out party members during a battle. I never understood how you could have a big party of people walking around but only three or four were allowed to battle. [/QUOTE]Good call.
 
[quote name='Pijaibros']FFX? Gameplay? You just tap A over and over again.

Too bad it doesn't work in cutscenes.[/quote]

Ehhh...awesome gameplay for a Japanese RPG for that matter. Can't expect an RPG to have "Zelda-like" gameplay nirvana when the strength of the JRPG genre is due to an epic storyline and not so much the gameplay.
 
No, but Nocturne completely beats the tar out of FFX in the battle department. Now those are life/death battles.

Also FFXs story = I hate you dad.
 
Try Symphonia. If you like Symphonia, you very well like Tales of Abyss.

I never tried FF X, so I really don't have anything to say about. But, FF XII is coming out, maybe I would go with that first.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top