I couldn't contain myself, dear internet. I couldn't wait 'til tomorrow afternoon to go to the video store. I went ahead and downloaded another PS1 game to play.
I got Tales of Eternia.
Or "Tales of Destiny 2", since Namco at the time thought us Americans wouldn't know any better. Now, before I go on, you need to understand, the Tales of series is one I adore. I have played four Tales games, including Eternia, and although it's too soon to say what I feel about TOE, I can tell you about how I feel about Tales of Phantasia for the SNES, Tales of Legendia and Tales of the Abyss for the PS2. Now, I don't love all of these games, but they inspire more passion than most other games I've played. Observe:
TOP: LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE!!!! ^_^ JUST LOVE!!!!! The music! The story! The game itself! And Arche Klaine! I love it all!!!!!!!!
TOL: Lame. This is like a lame iteration of TOP. Lame gameplay, lame music, lame voices. The story was promising, but fell apart at the end. So disappointing. And . . . don't tell anyone, but I really wanted Senel and Chloe to end up together. What's a SenLoe fan like me to do?
TOTA: SWEET GAMING BLISS! This is the Tales I love! Fun battles, great characters, funny dialogue. Oh sure, the story is a little on the complex side, but I don't care! In fact, if Final Fantasy 10 and Devil May Cry 3 didn't exist, TOTA would be my favorite PS2-exclusive game. It's the truth! All hail Jade Curtiss!
So, yeah, I think I get excited over Tales games the same way most RPG fanatics get excited over FF games, except my excitement seems to be misplaced. Just look into my own past:
(sometime in 2006.)
[Random RPG nut] Did you hear!? FF12 is finally coming out! And it's coming to America for the holidays!
[Me] Really? That's nice. Maybe I'll rent it.
[Random RPG nut] Oh, and also, Tales of the Abyss is gonna come out in America later this year too-
[ME] ZOMG!!!! Seriously!?!?!? I wonder if it'll be like TOP! Now I gotta save up money! I must play this game!!!
[Random RPG nut] . . . . fanboy.
Uh, let's get back to TOE.
TOE plays like TOP, except it has an ismotetric perspective, and you can move in eight directions. Except for the world map and some spell effects, the graphics are in 2D, and my gosh, are they beautiful. It's like TOP but with a richer color scheme and more fluid animations! Man, why couldn't developers see that the original Playstation was meant for 2d games, not 3d? Oh, no matter.
The battle system is like the one in TOP, but more forgiving. You can string together attacks, hit aerial enemies, block physical attacks, and use magic and special techniques without having the game pause like in TOP. Not as refined as later games, but I like it. Hint: mash the X button repeatedly to win.
The music is decent, and also, you can turn off the voices, and you'll want to because the characters' voices are audible during the battles AND during more important scenes. Uh, how should I describe the acting quality . . . . uh, it's one step above Megaman 8, and one step below Sonic Adventure. TOE's voices sound worse than TOL's! Oh, the agony!
Of course, I know it's not always the actors' fault. Sometimes, it's the fault of the director. Sometimes it's the fault of the script writers. Sometimes, the production was just rushed. Whatever the case, I, myself, who is not an actor by trade, can do a better voice of Reid, the main protagonist, than the one heard in the game. And now begins my rant:
You kids these days are so spoiled, what with your Disgaea and your Psychonauts and your Dragon Quest 8 and your Grand Theft Auto and your Knights of the Old Republic. Okay, most games still don't have fantastic voices, but these days, games with decent voices are the norm, and games with bad voices are the exception. Back in the '90's, the ONLY games with good voice-acting were the LucasArts adventure games, Metal Gear Solid, and the Megaman Legends games. That was IT! I still wonder how gamers tolerated it back then. How?
And that's all I have to 'voice' today, audience.
