Tales of Innocence Overall Gameblog
I'm still high on Innocence and I'm not sleepy, therefore you get the Innocence entry a bit earlier.
What's under the cut isn't a review but more of compiling all my thoughts while going through the game.
Initially, Ruca/Iria was my OTP. I KNEW Spada/Ruca would be the norm therefore I tried my best to not eat the bait. Not like I had anything against the pairing but at first I thought Namco just put them together as the usual yaoibait for the fangirls, you know?
But since Spada/Ruca is Namco'S OTP, you get aaaalll the nicest and most delicious Spada/Ruca scenes you can get, and the big Strike Zone was definitely that scene where Spada couldn't stop hugging Ruca therefore THERE I TOOK THE BAIT. I LOVE SPADA/RUCA TOO DAMMIT, YOU FREAKING WIN YOU SLEAZY BAGGO NAMCO YOU YOOOOOUUU *hand quivers in need to give Namco a noogie*
But my love for Ruca/Iria still doesn't evaporate and Iria just made things so much easier by going along so well with Spada on how they both like to bully Ruca together so I decided that OT3 is the answer for me. Besides, their previous incarnation died together and that scene really stroke my heart. D: Also, Durandal is 'in' both Asura and Inanna therefore this further proves that Spada is the sou-seme here, whohoo! \o/
I thought Chitose/Sakuya's crush for Asura was very cute until she decided to be stupid and die for Maou Asura instead. Umm. HELLOOO?? RUCA'S STILL AN ASURA, YOU KNOW??? DON'T YOU WANNA STICK FOR THE ADORABLE UBER UKE SHOTA ASURA INSTEAD OF THAT STUPID ASURA WITH THE FACE OF THE WOMAN YOU ABHOR THE MOST!? WTF CHITOSE HOW SHALLOW COULD YOU GET!? *pissed* ... Still, I like her character design a lot. Such a waste for a cute character. :( Ato, koe ga bouyomi sugiru! Can't really help it because Shishido Rumi's voice does suit Chitose but obviously she's not used to going low pitch.
ANGE IS QUITE LOVE. I love her character. She seemed the boring type and, well, she is even to the rest of the party. But the part where she suddenly got pretty childish in the volcano definitely amused me to no end. Religion-wise, she sounds like my mum. ;_; This game definitely gave me a lot of thoughts on religions. And war. ROFLOL Ricardo's change of attitude on the battlefield was very funny.
And Oriphiel + Hinmel -> Ange + Alber(sp)? WTF HAVING TOO MUCH FUN WITH GENDER-BENDING, AREN'T WE, NAMCO!? Also, Namco needs to stop breaking the 4th wall. They've been doing that a lot, lately.
......... Oh what am I saying, here, have this hole on the 4th Wall. I'm sure everyone would like to see you coming in and out of there more often.
HASTA IS FUNNY. HILARIOUS. ENTERTAINMENT ON HIS OWN. If they were to release a drama CD for this game, they better give Hasta A LOT of airtime because whatever comes out of his mouth is just pure CRACK. He needs to be a radio DJ too. Or at least his voice actor sounded like one.
Battle system-wise, I could tell it's been too long since I last played a Tales game because it took me too long to realize I should chain my attacks as tokugi -> higi -> ougi. OTL I definitely had too much fun chaining all sorts of different versions of Rekkuuzan through Spada... But Ruca having a fiery Rekkuuzan is all sorts of awesome too. ;A;
Story-wise, the concept is great with the reincarnations and stuff, the whole wars and religions are very well thought-out too. Character interactions pulled very well but performance is so... bland. I mean, things just happened so easily. Character's betrayals (or fake betrayals), Gardel(sp)'s death (he's a god and while our party couldn't kill him off, some random helicopter's laser beam could?), the ending... They all... kinda lack of drama. I'm glad my favourite characters didn't die but on the other hand, this end up not leaving enough memorable moments in the story.
Ah well?
Or maybe the game feels lacking because it's on a DS and there were many features left out, like titles, alternative costumes and battle arena. At least the affection system and many, many character skits (artworks even for the minor characters, even for the past incarnations! at least I'm looking forward to them in my 2nd play) kinda makes up for them but I wouldn't mind exchanging the Guild for alternative costumes, weapon customization for titles. It probably would have been better if the game's on the PS2, too.
But oh well.
Review?/Biased Comparisons
Character Preferences: R = I > A
Skits: R > A = I
Weapons: NO TALES EVER BEATS REBIRTH'S MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS and weapon customization. Because Ed proved how awesome getting x32 damage on your weapon can be.
Story?: Anything related to the reincarnation theme is great but somethings get too stupid. Like Matius' real identity, don't bother to look forward to it because I did and end up being disappointed.
Battle System: So many versions of Rekkuuzan = LOVE. The rest is... okay?
Overall: 4/5 (read: quite good for a DS game but could have been better if it were on the PS2)
If Namco can pull the reincarnation theme this neatly, I wanna see them have a go on kurot's Altona Braver. D:
Okay, now I'm sleepy.
What's under the cut isn't a review but more of compiling all my thoughts while going through the game.
Initially, Ruca/Iria was my OTP. I KNEW Spada/Ruca would be the norm therefore I tried my best to not eat the bait. Not like I had anything against the pairing but at first I thought Namco just put them together as the usual yaoibait for the fangirls, you know?
But since Spada/Ruca is Namco'S OTP, you get aaaalll the nicest and most delicious Spada/Ruca scenes you can get, and the big Strike Zone was definitely that scene where Spada couldn't stop hugging Ruca therefore THERE I TOOK THE BAIT. I LOVE SPADA/RUCA TOO DAMMIT, YOU FREAKING WIN YOU SLEAZY BAGGO NAMCO YOU YOOOOOUUU *hand quivers in need to give Namco a noogie*
But my love for Ruca/Iria still doesn't evaporate and Iria just made things so much easier by going along so well with Spada on how they both like to bully Ruca together so I decided that OT3 is the answer for me. Besides, their previous incarnation died together and that scene really stroke my heart. D: Also, Durandal is 'in' both Asura and Inanna therefore this further proves that Spada is the sou-seme here, whohoo! \o/
I thought Chitose/Sakuya's crush for Asura was very cute until she decided to be stupid and die for Maou Asura instead. Umm. HELLOOO?? RUCA'S STILL AN ASURA, YOU KNOW??? DON'T YOU WANNA STICK FOR THE ADORABLE UBER UKE SHOTA ASURA INSTEAD OF THAT STUPID ASURA WITH THE FACE OF THE WOMAN YOU ABHOR THE MOST!? WTF CHITOSE HOW SHALLOW COULD YOU GET!? *pissed* ... Still, I like her character design a lot. Such a waste for a cute character. :( Ato, koe ga bouyomi sugiru! Can't really help it because Shishido Rumi's voice does suit Chitose but obviously she's not used to going low pitch.
ANGE IS QUITE LOVE. I love her character. She seemed the boring type and, well, she is even to the rest of the party. But the part where she suddenly got pretty childish in the volcano definitely amused me to no end. Religion-wise, she sounds like my mum. ;_; This game definitely gave me a lot of thoughts on religions. And war. ROFLOL Ricardo's change of attitude on the battlefield was very funny.
And Oriphiel + Hinmel -> Ange + Alber(sp)? WTF HAVING TOO MUCH FUN WITH GENDER-BENDING, AREN'T WE, NAMCO!? Also, Namco needs to stop breaking the 4th wall. They've been doing that a lot, lately.
......... Oh what am I saying, here, have this hole on the 4th Wall. I'm sure everyone would like to see you coming in and out of there more often.
HASTA IS FUNNY. HILARIOUS. ENTERTAINMENT ON HIS OWN. If they were to release a drama CD for this game, they better give Hasta A LOT of airtime because whatever comes out of his mouth is just pure CRACK. He needs to be a radio DJ too. Or at least his voice actor sounded like one.
Battle system-wise, I could tell it's been too long since I last played a Tales game because it took me too long to realize I should chain my attacks as tokugi -> higi -> ougi. OTL I definitely had too much fun chaining all sorts of different versions of Rekkuuzan through Spada... But Ruca having a fiery Rekkuuzan is all sorts of awesome too. ;A;
Story-wise, the concept is great with the reincarnations and stuff, the whole wars and religions are very well thought-out too. Character interactions pulled very well but performance is so... bland. I mean, things just happened so easily. Character's betrayals (or fake betrayals), Gardel(sp)'s death (he's a god and while our party couldn't kill him off, some random helicopter's laser beam could?), the ending... They all... kinda lack of drama. I'm glad my favourite characters didn't die but on the other hand, this end up not leaving enough memorable moments in the story.
Ah well?
Or maybe the game feels lacking because it's on a DS and there were many features left out, like titles, alternative costumes and battle arena. At least the affection system and many, many character skits (artworks even for the minor characters, even for the past incarnations! at least I'm looking forward to them in my 2nd play) kinda makes up for them but I wouldn't mind exchanging the Guild for alternative costumes, weapon customization for titles. It probably would have been better if the game's on the PS2, too.
But oh well.
Review?/Biased Comparisons
Character Preferences: R = I > A
Skits: R > A = I
Weapons: NO TALES EVER BEATS REBIRTH'S MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS and weapon customization. Because Ed proved how awesome getting x32 damage on your weapon can be.
Story?: Anything related to the reincarnation theme is great but somethings get too stupid. Like Matius' real identity, don't bother to look forward to it because I did and end up being disappointed.
Battle System: So many versions of Rekkuuzan = LOVE. The rest is... okay?
Overall: 4/5 (read: quite good for a DS game but could have been better if it were on the PS2)
If Namco can pull the reincarnation theme this neatly, I wanna see them have a go on kurot's Altona Braver. D:
Okay, now I'm sleepy.