Tales of Symphonia or Tales of The Abyss?

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I want to play both of them eventually, but I likely only have enough money for one right now. Any suggestions? [I have a 3DS and a Wii.]

You can't go wrong with either, if you enjoy the combat system. Tales of the Abyss is a minor improvement over Symphonia in that regard, with the addition of free movement. Abyss has a much better overall story IMO but you'll hear mixed opinions on the characters; a lot of people HATE Luke (the Abyss protag), but I found him more tolerable than Lloyd (Symphonia protag) on the whole. I'd strongly argue that Abyss has a better cast in general, with Jade and Guy being more memorable than any Symphonia character.

Given your hardware, I'd say that if you value portability then Tales of the Abyss is the better choice by far, although I have no knowledge of the quality of the 3DS port so I'd recommend doing some research on that front. If this was PS2 Abyss vs Gamecube Symphonia I'd still choose Abyss, but some people might disagree.

Another option is to buy a PS3 and play Graces F, which is the best Tales game by far at least with regards to the combat system. But I'm joking, I know that's a silly suggestion BUT it's so good that I had to mention it. I'm a Tales diehard y'see

^Great! Maybe you can introduce me to the series. My gaming friend has Symphonia, so I might be able to borrow it from him.
[Collette looks super cute. She might be my tentative favourite, just based on appearances!]






Her wings remind me of Sakura's wings [from Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle]:

Colette has a cute design but I found her and Lloyd to be incredibly annoying. YMMV

If you have a Wii then you'll be playing the original Gamecube version, right? It's probably the best version because it's the only one that runs at a constant 60 frames; all of the subsequent ports including the HD versions were based off of the Japanese PS2 port, which had some (minor) extra content but went for 30 frames instead.

I'd still recommend Abyss over it but they're both worth playing. Fun fact: here in the UK (and wider Europe) we didn't get the original PS2 release of Abyss. In fact, I soft-modded my PS2 back then solely to play an imported copy of the game. I also own an imported Japanese copy of the Tales of Destiny remake in the hope that it will some day get a fan translation. The box art is v cute

The opening for the Tales of The Abyss anime is awesome:


[ I'm about to buy the game. I've decided to watch the first episode to see if it's any good, while I wait.]

Yep, my friend has the GameCube version.

What's Tales of Destiny like, then?

Oooh! Pretty boys! Or are they pretty girls? Either is fine with me!

That is 100% the proper response to have towards androgynous anime dudes. I mean, I'm straight, but they're still pretty as hell~

The original Tales of Destiny was on the PS1, and was the second game in the series after Tales of Phantasia. The game that I have is a remake that (unlike the original) was only ever released in Japan. I don't care much for the story, setting or characters of the game, but I've heard good things about the battle system. In fact, the system used in Graces F was derived from a series of games that was only ever released in Japan: Destiny 2, Destiny remake and Rebirth. Since Graces F is my favourite Tales game largely because of the battle system I have to have some interest in the preceding games!

PS. that Abyss opening is the same one used in the game. Unfortunately, the western versions are without the lyrics. It's the WORST and something they've been doing for a while. Tales of Hearts doesn't even have the instrumental, just some weird song composed inhouse that doesn't match the video at all. Grr.

I prefer pretty boys and girls with long hair.

Wow. I had no idea that the Tales series was quite so complicated.
I'm listening to the song now, and I can actually translate some of it without using the internet.

Here's another song by the same band:

Well, my copy came yesterday. I am experiencing great frustration against Arietta. I cannot beat her no matter what I do.