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Why do so many of the titles of these weebo games end with -ia or -ea?

dsheinem wrote:Why do so many of the titles of these weebo games end with -ia or -ea?

'Cause it makes 'em sound fancy.

dsheinem wrote:Why do so many of the titles of these weebo games end with -ia or -ea?

It's pretty much tradition with the Tales games. Almost all of them end in that sound.

Berseria looks and sounds awesome to me. I am hoping it's the first Tales game that I will beat.

ElkinFencer10 wrote:It wasn't quite as good as Phantasia or the first Symphonia in my opinion, but it was still an extremely good game.

What about Symphonia puts it above Berseria for you? Anything in particular, or just a general sense?

Played some of Berseria and found it awful. Just like all the Tales games since they went 3D. It's so cliche and bland stiff gameplay and just not very inspired world to explore. I was told it would be the Tales game to play if past games didn't do it for me. Well this one felt just as terrible as the rest. It's like the CoD of RPGs.

First 50:

51. Oniken - PC
52. Strife Veteran Edition - PC

Strife was the last commercial release on the Doom engine and stands as a very early example of the FPS with RPG elements. It's actually pretty impressive for the time, though parts haven't aged as well as they might like. And it has some major balance problems. Still, if you're a fan of old FPS's this is definitely worth playing.

The basic plot is a meteor crash landed and released a virus that killed a ton of people and drove a bunch more insane. The insane people started a cult and oppress people, sending the women and children hiding underground while the men form a resistance. You wander into town and join that resistance, and the rest of the game is you trying to stop this evil cult.

Now, the big thing that sets Strife apart from other games of its era is the RPG elements. The game is set up as a series of hubs that you can freely move between at any time (once you have the appropriate keys, of course). Many of these hubs have NPCs you can converse with, including the people giving you your primary missions. You also have shops available to purchase ammo, health, and armor, and after doing missions you will gain upgrades to your max health and accuracy. It ends up building on the stuff that was explored with Hexen and sets the stage for games like Deus Ex.

Another interesting thing the game does is a sort of alert system. The primary guards start off as non-hostile, and only go hostile if an alarm goes off or you start murdering people near them. This means inside towns you want to hold your fire, and some missions you can actually sort of "stealth" through. Other enemies will still attack you on sight, though, and defending yourself will tip off the guards. Again, this sort of multi-option approach will be a much bigger thing years down the road.

The weapons are mostly your standard FPS fare, and include a shitty flamethrower, helping to establish video game tradition. The interesting weapon is the Sigil, which is something you piece together over the course of the story. Each time you get a piece it gets stronger, but using it costs health (and more health the stronger it is). This weapon is required for certain boss enemies, so it's vital to keep some health packs in reserve.

The balance problems come into play with the enemies. Frankly, enemies tend to do damage MUCH too quickly. The basic foot soldier is like the gunner from Doom II in terms of DPS; the only saving grace is his AI routines are shit and he tends to only burst fire you. The spider drones similarly will buzzsaw your health at close range, while most other enemies simply do way too much damage per hit (with many times it being hitscan). If the game wasn't so generous with health packs and armor it'd be a much more frustrating experience, and near the end when my supplies were low I started needing to save mid level.

Still, this is definitely a historical game, and the Veteran Edition source port runs well on modern systems. Your fondness for the Doom engine should determine whether or not you pick this up.

PartridgeSenpai wrote:

ElkinFencer10 wrote:It wasn't quite as good as Phantasia or the first Symphonia in my opinion, but it was still an extremely good game.

What about Symphonia puts it above Berseria for you? Anything in particular, or just a general sense?

I liked the characters and story a bit more, and the combat kept me more engaged. Granted, that may be partly bias because of my love for the Gamecube and partly nostalgia since it was my first Tales game, but it is what it is.

Segata wrote:It's like the CoD of RPGs.

I'm almost (almost!) inclined to agree with you! Indeed, most of them fall into that category, a sort of consistent comfort food. Not too high, not too low, just solid but unspectacular JRPGs.

Every once in a while, though, they actually execute a little better. I thought Tales of Hearts R was a ton of fun. And I still need to finish Graces f one of these days. I can't speak much to the more recent entries, I don't have nearly enough time into Zestiria or Xillia, and I don't even own Berseria.

The names just keep getting dumber, though, that's for sure.

Sarge wrote:

Segata wrote:It's like the CoD of RPGs.

I'm almost (almost!) inclined to agree with you! Indeed, most of them fall into that category, a sort of consistent comfort food. Not too high, not too low, just solid but unspectacular JRPGs.

Even as a big Tales fan, I'm inclined to agree in some respect. Tales has always been a series that has found what works and sticks with it. You generally know exactly what you're getting into where you hop into one, so if you like one 2D one, you'll probably like any other of the 2D ones for very similar reasons, and the same goes for the 3D ones. It certainly hasn't experimented around as liberally as something like Final Fantasy has. It's more like Dragon Quest in that it tends to make more subtle, minor changes while keeping the overall formula very recognizable. A very reliably well done action RPG. Never really outstanding incredible, but always good 7/10 or 8/10 quality.