Tales of Symphonia or Skies of Arcadia?

FrankySox

FrankySox

CAGiversary!
Feedback
32 (100%)
Ok so I started playing Skies, and I just got TOS for Christmas, however I haven't got too far into SOA, and I have limited time to play games with school and work. So I was wondering which one should I devote my time to? I like Skies, but I have heard great things about TOS, and I will be playing single player, wont have any friends for the Co-op play for TOS. I'm open to reccomendations from people who have played both. Thanks for your suggestions in advance.
 
[quote name='argyle']Skies owns ToS any day of the week. And when you finish Skies, trade ToS in for Baten Kaitos. ;)[/quote]
Yes from what I've played of Skies is does seem pretty good, however I haven't played any of TOS.
 
Any game but Skies.

The random battles every other second brings the game down from being average / good to bad / terrible and unplayable.
 
[quote name='David85']Any game but Skies.

The random battles every other second brings the game down from being average / good to bad / terrible and unplayable.[/quote]

I take it you played the DC version like me? :lol:
 
I have both, and liked ToS much more. The random battles in Skies got to be too much and sucked the fun out of it.

I'm much like you with little time to play games and I love RPG's. I enjoyed ToS very much and suggest you go with that one. The story is good, battle system is good, but the gameplay in general is very fun.
 
[quote name='David85']Any game but Skies.

The random battles every other second brings the game down from being average / good to bad / terrible and unplayable.[/quote]

Something's wrong with your DC.
 
At this point in time, I'd have to go with Skies, I finished it last summer and thought it was ok, maybe like a 7.5 out of 10. I'm currently about 5 hours into ToS ( I know, not nearly enough time to make a sound judgement on it) but so far I really hate the battle system, I suck at it and would much prefer turn based. Also I really hate the way Lloyd looks, I dunno why but it just pisses me off, he looks like a total tool. Story seems ok so far, although I can't help but notice the similarities to FF-X, (sweet, nice girl goes on pilgrimage to pray at temples to gain the power to save the world, while being protected by guardians). Graphics are pretty sweet, for whatever that's worth.
 
I finished ToS a month ago, and let me tell ya, when I was done I REALLY wanted to just play it again. (Especially with some of the goodies they offer at the end of the game...and that's with about 80 hrs. logged into the game.)

I started Skies about a week ago, and it's going good. It's fun; although there are way too many battles and time between save points, and the camera is pretty crappy. However, I think I would have enjoyed it more if I played it BEFORE ToS, because of a couple of reasons. 1. Aestethetics. ToS, just looks so much better, as is expected to be, because SoA is a port. 2. The sound really lost quality in the GC version compared to the DC version, and sounds unbearable sometimes, when compared to the ToS sound. 3. The game-play is slower (because it's Turn-Based), so when you're coming off a fast-action battle system like ToS, it's harder to adjust to your normal turn-base battles. 4. The camera is pretty shoddy in SoA. It can get annoying.

However, these are really very minimal annoyances in a great game;the type you really only might pick up after playing a crisper packaged game like ToS.

Both are great if you're an RPG fan. I had so much fun with ToS, and I'm about 20 hrs. in in SoA, and so far it's really fun as well.

I say you play Skies first, for the reasons that they're both great, but you'll get more enjoyment out of SoA.
 
Jimbodan, 5 hrs. in ToS, doesn't do it justice. I was like you: I wasn't really used to the battle system of ToS in the beginning, and didn't like it too much. However, once you get good at it (trust me you WILL get good at it), it really is the best feature of the game. I haven't heard a single person (who's gotten into the meat of the game), that still dislikes the battle-system, if not love it.

Also, the story seems typical, and remains sosomewhat throughout the game,but there are definately its handfull of twists. It's sheds away from typical story later on.

Another note; ToS, has far more depth in side-quests, story-line (Whether you enjoyed the story is another thing.) menu usage, and player-skills.
 
Well it seems pretty even right now, and yeah the camera is annoying in Skies, so I guess I'll just finish it first because I'm guessing it's a shorter game than TOS. Thanks for the suggestions, and I hope to complete both....One day.
 
I thought SoA:L was better than TOS, but that's just my opinion. Both are really good, though.

I liked SOA's characters a lot better than TOS' characters.
 
IMO, Skies is far and away the better of the two. I have it on the DC and GameCube and I prefer the GameCube version simply because I don't need to download (or get online to unlock) stuff that should have been open in the DC version in the first place. The little plot additions and extra stuff to find puts it a notch above the DC versions as well. I just don't like some of what Overworks did to the music in the GameCube version.

Tales is still a good game, it just isn't AS good. Skies has its flaws (yes the random battles are a pain in the butt) but it just has so much more going for it. It's got a much more original setting, a more interesting plot (my opinion) and despite some of the typical RPG trappings it employs feels a lot fresher than Tales.

If Skies is a 9.5, tales is a 7.5-8.0 :) Again, just my opinion, not gospel or anything, obviously not everyone will agree.
 
[quote name='tdphillips']I say, from the responses, get both! You can surely get both for less than $50, although you may have to go used.[/quote]

If you read the OP you would know I already have both. But thanks anyway. :wink:
 
I played both, and both are enjoyable, but i tip my hat to tales:

as pointed out, they are different games, tales has a realtime combat fighting system that i enjoyed tremendously, but if you dont like it right off the bat, it wont be for you.

Skies for me was greatly lessened by the random battles (yes on the cube version) it got to the point where fighting was no longer fun and exploring dungeons was a chore because there must have been 3 -5 battles for every minute of walking around. just ridiculous imo. Which was a shame because the beauty of the game is exploring the world, tracking down other ships, finding secrets etc and its not until quite late in the game that you can avoid these trappings.

also, tales is the longer game (has an anime flair with a number of anime cutscenes and while it does start off a little slow, kicks into gear later on).

Tho i rarely replay games, i would never go back to skies, but i might dabble with tales again.
 
[quote name='cheapass Gundam'][quote name='David85']Any game but Skies.

The random battles every other second brings the game down from being average / good to bad / terrible and unplayable.[/quote]

Something's wrong with your DC.[/quote]

What the hell are you talking about?

First i played it on the GC.

Second I'm sure that a system makes the game have more random battles then others. :roll:

Dumbass.
 
I've played both, beat Tales, but stopped playing Skies, just because I got it around the time Halo 2 came out... Anyways, I'd reccomend playing through ToS, even though SoA was fun. Although if you really don't think you'll have that much time to play, I'd reccomend SoA, since it's shorter.
 
[quote name='FrankySox'][quote name='tdphillips']I say, from the responses, get both! You can surely get both for less than $50, although you may have to go used.[/quote]

If you read the OP you would know I already have both. But thanks anyway. :wink:[/quote]

#-o I forgot by the time I read all the responses. :oops:
 
[quote name='David85'][quote name='cheapass Gundam'][quote name='David85']Any game but Skies.

The random battles every other second brings the game down from being average / good to bad / terrible and unplayable.[/quote]

Something's wrong with your DC.[/quote]

What the hell are you talking about?

First i played it on the GC.

Second I'm sure that a system makes the game have more random battles then others. :roll:

Dumbass.[/quote]

Whats funny, is the DC has even MORE random battles.

And im curious as to why he would say a dreamcast is broken if you have to many random battles???
 
I have both, and I must say I didn't like ToS combat system, and I just couldn't play through it. That setup was terrible, IMO. I have Skies on the DC, and I played a couple hours in, and never got around to playing anymore, but I was enjoying Skies more, so, I vote Skies.
 
[quote name='David85'][quote name='cheapass Gundam'][quote name='David85']Any game but Skies.

The random battles every other second brings the game down from being average / good to bad / terrible and unplayable.[/quote]

Something's wrong with your DC.[/quote]

What the hell are you talking about?

First i played it on the GC.

Second I'm sure that a system makes the game have more random battles then others. :roll:

Dumbass.[/quote]

Actually... just so you know. The GC version had less battles (and slightly faster battles) than the DC version. Anyways, back on topic.

Skies was my first RPG, and its still the favorite. The story is amazing in its simplicity, the characters are charming without being corny, and the entire premise of the game is just cool. ToS is a pretty good game, but I got it this summer and still havent had the need to finish it to the end. So my vote is SoA.
 
I recently bought Tales from the Gamefly sale and love it so far. The sad thing is I got Skies from Outpost for $15 during the summer and haven't played it yet. This topic has helped me greatly in what to expect.
 
[quote name='David85'][quote name='cheapass Gundam'][quote name='David85']Any game but Skies.

The random battles every other second brings the game down from being average / good to bad / terrible and unplayable.[/quote]

Something's wrong with your DC.[/quote]

What the hell are you talking about?

First i played it on the GC.

Second I'm sure that a system makes the game have more random battles then others. :roll:

Dumbass.[/quote]

What he meant, is that the random encounters are anything BUT unplayable, especially on the NGC.

BTW You of all people shouldn't be going around calling people dumbass. :rofl:
 
I friend of mine gave me Skies of Arcadia Legends. First RPG for me. I played for a couple hours but it just isn't fun. I thought I would be able to do other things than just have battles. Apparently, I was wrong. It's just fight after fight with a story thrown in. Are all RPGs like this?!?! :x

Of course, I only played for 3 or 4 hours before I gave up. Maybe it takes a while to get going. I don't know.
 
skies was nothing but average. average story, average graphics...for its time, and the battle system is so slow and the battles are so frequent. that even my brother who is an rpg fanatic couldnt finish it out of bordem ( the only other game to do that to him was saga frontier 2). i finished it but only because i had no other game to play at the time.
 
As the topic says, I'm going to be finally starting a new game today after a little break from gaming. Are either one of these games head and shoulders above the other, I'm leaning towards Tales because of the real time combat.
 
I have played both and Tales should be your first choice. Skies of Arcadia is your average run of the mill rpg except for ship battles and a few other neat things. Tales of Symphonia has a really fun battle system especially when you learn more skills, plus the story is pretty good. Hope this helps.
 
Play Tales first because if you play it after Skies you'll realize how awful it is and feel like you wasted money.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
bread's done
Back
Top