Final Fantasy Vs Tales of Games: Which is the better Series in your Opinion?

[Squid]

Hello!

(So... blah blah, I dunno if a thread like this has been made coz I was too lazy to search and I don't even know if this is the right spot to put this and stuff so whatevs.)

Anyway, I have recently started to play Tales of Graces and also was working on playing Final Fantasy X again and I started to think about which series I thought was the most fun and why.

I've played out of the FF Series, FVII, FFVIII, FFIX, FFX, FFXII and FFXIII (plus played bits and pieces of some of the older games)

and out of the Tales of games i've played: Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Vesperia and started on Tales of Graces (played the first part of Tales of the Abyss)

And to be honest... I think I find the tales games better overall... although FFIX will always be my favourite game, i think all the tales games i've played so far have a better battle system, better looking graphics, bigger worlds and a longer story (though I don't think the stories are better than the FF games)

What about you guys? Which series do you like better?

 

[kratoscar2008]

FF all the way, in the Tales series you have absolutely all the cliches you can find in anime and most jrpgs and its MCs are pain in the ass (Only Lightning own these guys) and totally cliched while in FF you can find lots of unique characters.

Gameplay wise i dont like action rpgs too much and i prefer turn based gameplay so there is no winner here just preference, the only Tales i got interest enough to finish was Tales of Legendia and Tales of Destiny, the others i couldnt withstand them.

 

[Gir Sin Genji]

I like them for diffrent reasons.

I like Tales because they always have a moving story line that I can get worked up on.
I like FF because they always have the best twists and make me want to play all the way through, even if i put it down for a year or two.

I dont like Tales because a lot of the characters are too simple for my tastes (though FF has quite a bit of this too.)
I dislike FF because of marketing games SE plays (not naming anything in particular... *coff* FF *coff* XIII *coff* *coff* Versus *coff), and because often I do get stuck and give up for long periods of time.

 

[Ilyena]

I'll shift this over to Rocket Town since it's comparing FF and another series.

As for me, I enjoy both series but overall, I think I like the Tales series more. I prefer the battle system more in Tales and I love the art style. The voice acting tends to be kind of goofy but it works because the games have less serious feel to them. I also feel like the replayability is a lot higher with the Tales series. Besides FFIV and FFIX, I have trouble replaying any FF games. I always get distracted and start playing something else.

 

[Master Cat]

This is a pretty tough question for me since I've enjoyed playing games from both of the series... But now that I think of it, I may prefer some Tales games a bit more.

I enjoy the voice acting and random character dialogue 'cause it makes the story a bit more entertaining. Sometimes it feels like too much random convos though... Also, I like the active battle system in Tales, especially since you only control one character (&& you can just adjust the settings to control how the computer attacks). It can be aggravating at times though when the computer is not fighting "up-to-par" the way you'd like. xD But I usually played with my uncle, so it was always fun && easygoing! :3

Overall, I'm a bit biased because I played most of the Tales games with my uncle, so I have some fond memories attached to the Tales series... xD; I still love the FF series for solo play though!

 

[Martel]

To be honest, both are pretty damn terrible in the grand scheme of things. Both are mired in JRPG story cliches and character tropes, recycle the same plot devices just with different characters, and both are massively outclassed by JRPGs like Xenoblade Chronicles. Tales of Symphonia and FFXII were two of my favourite games for the longest time, but have long since been eclipsed by other titles that show greater innovation and more developed gameplay. They're good in their own right, they just...don't compare.

I would say that, overall, the Tales series has the better battle systems: real-time combat is more intuitive and involving than the ATB system FF has used for years and years, and the skill system in Graces f shows that they can actually make it more than just button mashing over and over. That said, I did like the Gambits in FFXII; that offered more strategy than any Tales game I've ever played, because it allowed you to set your own AI...and I have had endless amounts of trouble with Tales AI. Cheria in particular, the primary healer who never wants to bloody heal.

Music is variable. Motoi Sakuraba outclasses Uematsu by leaps and bounds, but Tales soundtrack gets very repetitive in its composition: there is little difference between the OST for Abyss, Xillia, Graces and Vesperia, and there is a clear difference in the soundtrack for all Final Fantasy games excluding the Ivalice Alliance, which share the common theme of being set in the same world. FFXIII and XIII-2 don't have proper soundtrack, so I'll be ignoring those. Uematsu is consistently good, whereas Sakuraba ranges from without peer to painfully below average. This is especially prominent in the Tales series for some reason...which is weird, but there we are. Voice acting I would go with the Tales series, if only because FFXII is the only FF game with decent voice acting and, whilst the Tales series recycles voice actors something awful, at least some of those voice actors are good at their jobs. I don't know WHAT Square Enix was thinking with FFXIII's voice cast, and I pray I never find out.

Story and cast is variable, again. The Tales series clearly has its roots in anime stereotypes, but the FF series recycles the same archetypes over and over and OVER. There's always a peppy girl. Always a strong, silent type. Always a whiny brat. You only have to look at the previous FF game to see what type of character is going to be in the next one, and that in its own way is even more predictable: there are a LOT of anime tropes. Maybe ten FF character archetypes, at most. Story...depends on the game. The Tales series has the blessing of not being mired down in a shitty romance plot, but the twists are even more predictable than the ones in the FF series. FF might at least spring a surprise on you every now and then...and doesn't ruin a good thing. FFXII kept its wonderful political intrigue right to the end. Tales of Graces f started off looking like it was going to go the same way, and...well. There is no word strong enough to convey my disappointment.

Art style is very hard to compare really, because FF has always been about style over substance since VII, and the graphics have always been as realistic as possible as a result. The Tales series, by comparison, has always stuck with its own cel-shaded anime-esque style, even in earlier games. Personally, I prefer the cel-shaded look the Tales series has - it seems to fit the fantasy theme more - but I can appreciate that FF would look very strange if it did that, and the older games have their charm for being "realistic" as such. And I loved seeing Ivalice on the PS2.

But, in short? Sod both of these series. Go pick up Xenoblade Chronicles, or one of the Alchemist of Arland games, or something more obscure, like Baten Kaitos, or Skies or Arcadia. Or something that tries something different, like Valkyrie Profile or Resonance of Fate. If you've played on Tales or FF game, you really have played them all. There are better games out there.