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Yeaaaaah, I could no longer resist. I'm addicted to the Tales games, and now that I have a Wii, I had to get it. So, I spent about ten hours yesterday getting familiar with the game. First thing you need to know: this is a sequal to Tales of Symphonia, which I have never played.
First, Emil is the most emo emo-boy to ever emo in a JRPG. His parents were executed/murdered by the /hero/ of Tales of Symphonia. And he was then shipped off to live with his aunt and uncle in one of the cities that is especially fond of the hero (we're talking statues and fountains and unironic uses of Lloyd The Great, here). Everyone sees him pretty much as Traitor 2.0, his aunt is verbally abusive, his uncle is physically abusive, and everyone -- even the damned shopkeepers -- bullies him. As a consequence, he has become the kind of guy that makes a doormat suggest self-esteem classes.
He then meets red-haired glasses bish Richter, whose brand of impersonal incivility is such a marked improvement on the very personal abuse he receives every day that Emil immediately falls madly in hero-worship with the guy. Much to Richter's apparent bemusement. And then Emil meets a chick who is madly in love with him for something that he doesn't remember doing...this might be considered an improvement, but this is a Tales game, which means that things Just Got Worse.
Storyline wise, I'm not actually sure if my characters are on the 'right' side. I mean, Emil's picked up a demonic dog companion, and has become a Knight of the God of Monsters...who supposedly isn't all that bad a guy. But...y'know...I'm beginning to have my doubts. You see, a part of the god's power fills Emil when he's in battle, and that part is pretty worrisome. Like unstoppable rage, jerkass worrisome. Demonstration!
One of the after-battle cut scenes:
Female Char 1: Victory is born from love and goodness!
Knight!Emil: I guess that means there's no victory for me.
The scene goes on to be played for laughs, but that line there? NOT your usual Emil, who has a tendency to apologize for breathing and be nicer than anyone deserves. But under the god's influence, he's aggressive and has a tendency to beat on enemies long after they're down. Possibly not the best career choice ever.
So I could actually be playing a party of the most sympathetic and woobie-esque villains ever. I'm not sure! I kinda hope that Tenebrae is not the party traitor, though, because he's adorably snarky, and Emil doesn't deserve another knife to the back.
The gameplay is excellent...I really /love/ how they use the Wii for this game, aside from the cursor that doesn't go away. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with it; I only use it for Sorcerer's Ring stuff, but it's around all the time. But Wiimote + Nunchuck makes the real-time combat /really/ good. For the first time ever, I don't spend a lot of time mixing up my combo keys, because there's finally enough buttons even for me.
Oh, and they're after my soul. The game is a JRPG with Pokemon elements: you can convince the monsters who you fight to join you. And they level up. And you can teach them spells. And they can evolve. And they all have individual names (which are way more appropriate for the monster types than I thought they would be, although I do have a slime thing named Baklava). And they help make your Artes MOER AWSOME. And I am all about the awesome artes. Sadly, this so far means that the kickass invocations of the previous games seem to be gone. No "I, who stand in the full light of the heavens, call upon the one who opens the gates of hell. Come forth divine lightning! THIS ENDS NOW...INDIGNATION!" (And I just know I messed up that quote, but hey.)
Oh, /and/ they added item synthesis, and neatly packaged side-quests, apparently in a desire to completely rule my life. It's working so far.
First, Emil is the most emo emo-boy to ever emo in a JRPG. His parents were executed/murdered by the /hero/ of Tales of Symphonia. And he was then shipped off to live with his aunt and uncle in one of the cities that is especially fond of the hero (we're talking statues and fountains and unironic uses of Lloyd The Great, here). Everyone sees him pretty much as Traitor 2.0, his aunt is verbally abusive, his uncle is physically abusive, and everyone -- even the damned shopkeepers -- bullies him. As a consequence, he has become the kind of guy that makes a doormat suggest self-esteem classes.
He then meets red-haired glasses bish Richter, whose brand of impersonal incivility is such a marked improvement on the very personal abuse he receives every day that Emil immediately falls madly in hero-worship with the guy. Much to Richter's apparent bemusement. And then Emil meets a chick who is madly in love with him for something that he doesn't remember doing...this might be considered an improvement, but this is a Tales game, which means that things Just Got Worse.
Storyline wise, I'm not actually sure if my characters are on the 'right' side. I mean, Emil's picked up a demonic dog companion, and has become a Knight of the God of Monsters...who supposedly isn't all that bad a guy. But...y'know...I'm beginning to have my doubts. You see, a part of the god's power fills Emil when he's in battle, and that part is pretty worrisome. Like unstoppable rage, jerkass worrisome. Demonstration!
One of the after-battle cut scenes:
Female Char 1: Victory is born from love and goodness!
Knight!Emil: I guess that means there's no victory for me.
The scene goes on to be played for laughs, but that line there? NOT your usual Emil, who has a tendency to apologize for breathing and be nicer than anyone deserves. But under the god's influence, he's aggressive and has a tendency to beat on enemies long after they're down. Possibly not the best career choice ever.
So I could actually be playing a party of the most sympathetic and woobie-esque villains ever. I'm not sure! I kinda hope that Tenebrae is not the party traitor, though, because he's adorably snarky, and Emil doesn't deserve another knife to the back.
The gameplay is excellent...I really /love/ how they use the Wii for this game, aside from the cursor that doesn't go away. I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with it; I only use it for Sorcerer's Ring stuff, but it's around all the time. But Wiimote + Nunchuck makes the real-time combat /really/ good. For the first time ever, I don't spend a lot of time mixing up my combo keys, because there's finally enough buttons even for me.
Oh, and they're after my soul. The game is a JRPG with Pokemon elements: you can convince the monsters who you fight to join you. And they level up. And you can teach them spells. And they can evolve. And they all have individual names (which are way more appropriate for the monster types than I thought they would be, although I do have a slime thing named Baklava). And they help make your Artes MOER AWSOME. And I am all about the awesome artes. Sadly, this so far means that the kickass invocations of the previous games seem to be gone. No "I, who stand in the full light of the heavens, call upon the one who opens the gates of hell. Come forth divine lightning! THIS ENDS NOW...INDIGNATION!" (And I just know I messed up that quote, but hey.)
Oh, /and/ they added item synthesis, and neatly packaged side-quests, apparently in a desire to completely rule my life. It's working so far.