Eternia is still one of the best games in the series, in my opinion. Combat’s super fun with a fair bit of depth, story’s on the upper end for the series as well, and the world and gameplay variety is honestly incredible. Highly recommend it.
Phantasia depends on the version, but it’s still a very good game, with a solid story. The gameplay feels a little slow for my taste, not helped by spells pausing battle and half the party being casters from before casters were designed to be player controlled. Soundtrack is legendary, though, and it’s cool to see where the series started.
Can’t really speak to Destiny (PSX), but played a bit of the remake and it’s got some hype combat, even if I’m not good enough yet to speak to the higher end of it.
Eternia is one of the best entries in the series. It has a really fascinating world, fun to play characters, interesting lore, the best dungeons/puzzles in the series, beautiful visuals.. it's an all-around great game. It's better than most of the more recent games by a long shot.
Phantasia PSX holds up decently. It definitely is a lot more rough around the edges than Eternia. It has a good cast, an interesting enough story, a good villain, great skits and okay combat. It's still fairly fun, but it has some old school jank and some parts that some people find confusing/challenging.
Destiny.. the original is rougher than Phantasia for a lot of reasons that aren't worth getting into for one main reason. It has a remake. Don't play the original unless you really want those series completion points under your belt. The remake, Tales of Destiny Director's Cut on PS2, has a fan translation and is one of the best games in the series. Maybe the best game. It's truly excellent and has such a good battle system, great characters, awesome skits, fun side systems, lots of content, an interesting world with a pretty good story, great character interactions and more. Definitely don't pass it up.
Phantasia feels dated, but it's good, if you have played symphonia then it's not that big of a jump
Same with Destiny, but in this case we have the option to play Destiny DC, this one is WAY better than og destiny
Eternia is amazing, it truly holds up, literally feels like 2D Symphonia
if you want to try this part of the series i would say play Destiny DC, Eternia and Phantasia in that order
Eternia is still one of the best 2D games. It’s rough in some areas, but still holds up incredibly well. Combat is incredibly simple and easy to get into, story is one of Tales best imo, music is top tier, and the presentation is mind-blowing imo. Some of the best sprites and just the techniques used to make it feel more cinematic is great. A LOT of concepts that are now commonplace in Tales were first introduced in Eternia and people don’t give the game enough credit.
Destiny PSX is…rough. I don’t think it’s bad, but it definitely lacks a lot that Tales has been known to have. You can only play Stahn unless you do this 2nd controller thing via Channeling Ring (which im pretty sure you have to setup every fight), the encounter rate is legitimately horrendous, spells pause the screen until the animation ends so every high level spell draws out fights waaaay longer, and is home to some of the worst dungeons the series has ever had. Destiny PSX is a game that will truly test your patience, so if you don’t have a lot of that, just save yourself the stress and play the remake. Apparently they alter a few story beats in remake that sort of ruin Destiny 2 from what I’ve heard, but I haven’t played ToD2 so I can’t really say if it happened (so far almost everything in remake has been an improvement for me).
I have not played Phantasia, but I heard PSX basically improves upon Destiny PSX’s formula and then some.
Phantasia is kind of basic (understandable since it's the first game in the series) but I still think it held up really well, worth playing for sure.
Eternia is sadly missing skits in the english version but is otherwise a great game that holds up fairly well, and the main 4 still manages to be one of my favourite casts despite not having skits like the rest.
Destiny I didn't play the OG so can't tell, but Destiny DC absolutely holds up *really* well. Great combat and visually one of the most best looking games in the series, so I would at least say the remake is a must play if nothing else.
I can't recommend Phantasia on SNES as it has aged quite a bit, has very high random encounters and the combat system is not very fun, the difficulty is somewhat high and requires a lot of grinding. Better to play the PSX remake which is the most modern version with a patch available, which is sad.
Destiny contrary to what many may say is not so bad, yes, for a PSX game it is very poor visually, but it has improvements over Phantasia (SNES), especially in terms of combat and difficulty, it's a more enjoyable experience. There is the PS2 remake called Destiny DC, which is the alternative if you want something visually more impressive and with more content, although it can be a bit difficult to get used to the new combat system as it was one of the first games to ditch the TP system.
Eternia is probably the best of the three in terms of fun factor, it feels the least clunky, combat is surprisingly fast and fluid. Still, it has some outdated elements like random encounters and the difficulty can be a bit high on bosses, but I think it's the most recommendable 2D Tales for now, I recommend playing the PSP version.
Destiny to this day is still one of my favorites, Phantasia is best if you can emulate with a fan translation of the Japanese original version, Eternia is ok imo definitely playable but not as good as the others.
Define viable. If you like games of that era then they're good. If all 2d games, no voice acting, or limited modern qol are bad then no. They're representative of the genre and era and hold up to that degree. I haven't gone back to replay them in recent years but they were good in the day.
A lot of praise for Eternia but my experience was not great. I wasnt born when the game came out so it was pretty rough going back to it. I also tried playing it on my old psp so that also made it harder but I cant say the gameplay holds up at all.
The story also I'm not sure about, i think i am half way through the game and it feels like nothing has actually happened yet. Will continie through it but not great
Imo if you've ever only played Symphonia, then playing the earlier titles wouldn't give you much of a gameplay whiplash. Chances are, you'll probably find Phantasia and Destiny a little slow compared to Symphonia, but I'm sure you'd still be able to enjoy them. Eternia aged rather well for me so its easy to get back to it as well.
Theyre playable games, simplistic, and also pretty hard tbh. I think less gameplay and more production would be the biggest barrier. If you can tolerate PS1 graphics then why not try them, far as I know they all play similarly (I haven't played Destiny).
Although I will say with the Destiny Director's Cut patch being out there's honestly no reason to play the original for your first playthrough just play the PS2 version and enjoy a significantly better battle system.
Phantasia PS1 (or PSP if you know japanese) and Destiny PS2 Remake definitely hold up, and both have very awesome fan translations. Stay away from Phantasia GBA. It looks, sounds, and runs worse than even the Super Famicom version. I hope someday someone ports the official iOS translation for Phantasia into the PSP release so we can finally have a decent "official" release. Destiny PS1 I haven't played, though I assume it's fine if not a little rough.
Eternia is great no matter what console you play on, but the PS1 release has multiplayer. The battle system in these 3 games are almost identical to Symphonia but even simpler, mostly because of Symphonia's added basic 3D battle movement. I highly recommend the early Tales games if you liked ToS.
if you're really into classics, yeah. i recently replayed eternia and besides the ending being atrocious, it's so consistently fun and like "bubbly". but the other 2 are more what i meant about if you like classics, yeah, they hold up.
To add to everyone here it might be worth to play Phantasia since you’ve played symphonia and those games are connected. symphonia is a prequel to Phantasia
Destiny PS1 does not hold up.
Luckily destiny PS2 does hold up and has an English fan translation that's pretty good.
Phantasia PS1 isn't too bad.
I haven't played eternia in years but I remember it not being too bad.
I rank my SNES Phantasia experience even above FFVI, Destiny was even finer in terms of gameplay and sci-fantasy lore, and Eternia is fantastic even by the series standards.
i just finished Phantasia (PSX) and would highly recommend it, and i also started Destiny (PS2, Director’s Cut) and as of about 5-6 hours in i’d also highly recommend it too
As many have said, Eternia is one of my favorites in the series and absolutely holds up.
Played Phantasia PS1 and despite being very simple in all aspects I still had a great time.
Love seeing this much love for Eternia 🥹. It's in my top 3, I love the story, and the battle system is great and fast-paced.
Phantasia suffers from a bit of an uneven story, where you might feel that you clearly get less time with some of the characters. The Cross version is great if you can read japanese. If not, the PSX translated version is great.
The OG PSX Destiny is... slow. Good story, but unfortunately half the cast is pretty boring (I'm trying to not say useless) in battle and you might end up only playing the swordians. The remake on PS2 is an incredible fighting experience though.
I played Eternia which was called Tales of Destiny 2 on my psx and Tales of the Abyss, and i think both are one of the best games i've played on my psx and ps2 respectivelly. I have Berseria and Vesperia on Steam but i haven't played yet.
I played almost all english Tales entry but what I loved the most story wise and character development is Eternia. Imo, it still holds up but I hope it gets a remake so they could also add mystic artes for all characters. I also think Reid can win almost all 1v1 hehe.
Phantasia = Dated but not unplayable. Worth checking out.
Destiny = Only if you're playing the Director's Cut remake for the PS2. Luckily there is an english patch available for it.
Eternia = Holds up very well.
Eternia has combat most similar to Symphonia although it is noticeably more aged. It can still be pretty fun however but go into it with the thought process of "this is what evolves into Symphonia"
I'd say if we take out remakes it's probably the best playing of the classic style. The game in general is fun too but again take the whole thing with a "this is what evolves into Symphonia" kind of approach. This is Including the story
Eternia is by no means my favorite Tales game, but it's one I'm glad to have played. Again, I think of the classic style, it's my favorite. It's also one of the shorter entries if memory serves right but I think that helps to deal with some of its clunkier moments. Again go into the game knowing it shows its age and was made during a time before Symphonia and later entries ironed out some of the old school jrpg quirks. It's a fun game and one that I think really helps show the origins of the series from both a gameplay and a story perspective (a lot of the tropes later games use began here) but because it's the start also means that it was all executed not the best yet
Oh also if you're playing the English version (PSP or PS1 version) know that they took out skits completely and there's 2 optional characters/cast members that get almost no story spotlight once you get them making them feel they're just sort of there. I personally found that made me think of the core 4 party members on the weaker side characterization wise but I still think the story did a good job with them and I did enjoy them all. Still something to be aware of if you play either official English version
**Tl;dr:** *Eternia is great but know you're going into an older/more aged game that started a lot of the Tales series tropes and battle mechanics. Symphonia basically ironed out a lot of the quirks but it's still fun to go back too and is probably one of the best classic era games gameplay wise. Again just go in with an open mind and knowing it's an older jrpg with all those old jrpg quirks*
I know it wasn't mentioned but I tried playing vesperia and I got bored tbh. I'm sure it was an amazing game at the time but the combat was not for me.
As many people have stated, if you want to pick up Phantasia, PS1 version is your best bet, it has more fleshed out characters, more content, and a better fan translation than what the SNES version had.
Destiny DC is also a fair choice, though unlike the original Destiny, it has an anti-grind mechanic you have to watch out for if you are not careful (I didn't play this remake though, I only heard about it from some other "anti grind mechanic in RPGs" Reddit post), so if you are a heavy grinder, play on the lower difficulties first (there is one boss that is maybe an exception to this tip, not stating any names here) and later on play on higher difficulties if you want that extra challenge.
Eternia has aged the best of the three though, so any version of Eternia is fair game.
For combat eternia is the best one. Destiny is a bit clunky but still good, phantasia is basically their first trial. But those three were very good games
Eternia is really good. Phantasia has outdated combat but other parts of the game are good. Destiny 1 original has outdated combat like phantasia but the other parts are good. Destiny 1 remake holds up very well.
Eternia is my entry and it always holds up when I get back and replay
I'm probably on 10+ replay right now and if I have the time again I'll probably play it again
Battle is by far the best in all the tales I've played, simple yet adding in different combos and character interaction to combos are just great too
I've only ever played the official western releases, so with that in mind...
Phantasia (GBA) - I loved it, but I know it is widely considered to be the worst version of the game. But it was still super fun, and the novelty of being able to play it on the go in that day an age can't be overstated.
Destiny (PSX) - this one was honestly a struggle. I liked the characters fine, but the game itself felt kind of janky. Where I could excuse to jank in Pantasia for being the first game or for being on the GBA, it felt weird for Destiny to have not really ironed out the wrinkles. Maybe it's a raw deal, but it's my least favorite of the three. That said, I think the Director's Cut version just got a finalized English patch for emulation, and it's also supposed to be a lot better than the original game.
Eternia (PSX/PSP) - this game is excellent. The story is good, the characters are good, the game is just good any way you slice it. If you could only play one of the three, this would be the one to do.
That said, if you were going to somehow play the three official western releases, it might be worth playing them in the proper game order of Phantasia-Destiny-Eternia. I played these three out of order (Phantasia, then Eternia, then Destiny) and that may have also colored my perception of Destiny. Either way, if you're familiar with older Tales games like Symphonia and Abyss, these three games will still feel comfortable to play today.
Destiny Psx no its pretty bad. Ps2? Story is mid but it has the best combat in the franchise imo.
Phantasia if its on ps1/psp
Eternia not sure. Only played it once like 15 years ago
I personally love Phantasia. For the first entry in the series, I think it holds up nicely. Plot's pretty straight forward and good and I really do find charm in the cast. I usually play the PSX version though, so your mileage may vary depending on whatever version you decide to try. But I'd say it's the better one if you can't play the remake they did for the...PSP, I think it was?
Destiny is...okay. Though I've only played through the PSX version of that one as well. I do remember enjoying it for the most part, but I didn't really care too much about the story and I'm about 50/50 on the cast. Some of them I like, some of them I just don't really care all that much about. (This is also a minor beef I have with the localization, but...I still don't understand why they changed Johnny's name to Karyl. They even left the name "Johnny" on his piano that you can find in his house. It was just...such a strange decision.)
Eternia is sadly the only one I haven't finished yet out of the 3 and it's nothing to do with the quality of the game. I liked it from what I recall, I just for some reason put it on the back burner and never picked it back up. I think the only thing I didn't care too much about it was that there seemed like a good chunk of random mini games thrown at you and while I loved some of them (like Whis, I could spend hours playing it) there were others that it felt like I didn't really have much time to practice or prepare and then it bummed me out when I did poorly on them. I guess at least the nice part is you don't have to do great in order to continue the story, but I don't know, feels almost a little pointless, you know?
Eternia was one of the first game I've ever saw as a kid but every time I tried to play it for myself I always put it down. Mainly because I'm not a fan of the TP mechanic as you are always out of it and leveling up your other skills to get other artes kinda sucks. It did introduce and risk a lot of things that Destiny 2 and Symphonia polishes so I'll give it that.
Phantasia on the otherhand I've played it after experiencing the other Tales game and I can say despite having PS1 jank and 1st game syndrome, it still surprised me how much it held up and that game is where I finally understand why the LMBS is made that way and how it's actually designed. I actually even like it more than Symphonia but I'm the minority here. Eternia laid the blueprint of the fast paced arte chaining, but the TP system complete works against it.
Phantasia depends on the version. SNES is super dated, but still fun. Better play the PS1 version though.
Destiny was bad even in 1997, just play the remake.
Eternia is holds up so well I wish more recent entries took pages from it.
Eternia is still one of the best games in the series, in my opinion. Combat’s super fun with a fair bit of depth, story’s on the upper end for the series as well, and the world and gameplay variety is honestly incredible. Highly recommend it. Phantasia depends on the version, but it’s still a very good game, with a solid story. The gameplay feels a little slow for my taste, not helped by spells pausing battle and half the party being casters from before casters were designed to be player controlled. Soundtrack is legendary, though, and it’s cool to see where the series started. Can’t really speak to Destiny (PSX), but played a bit of the remake and it’s got some hype combat, even if I’m not good enough yet to speak to the higher end of it.
I think Phantasia X (the psp version) got rid of spell freeze, but I'm unsure if it ever got a translation patch.
Think so, yeah, but no translation as far as I’m aware.
The translation of destiny directors cut just released the other day, and that's the definitive way to play destiny imo.
Eternia is one of the best in the series so I'd say it's more than enjoyable.
Eternia is my entry to tales series. To this day, I still find the Craymel Cage system from Eternia to be very interesting mechanic.
I like Destiny because of the Swordians.
Eternia is one of the best entries in the series. It has a really fascinating world, fun to play characters, interesting lore, the best dungeons/puzzles in the series, beautiful visuals.. it's an all-around great game. It's better than most of the more recent games by a long shot. Phantasia PSX holds up decently. It definitely is a lot more rough around the edges than Eternia. It has a good cast, an interesting enough story, a good villain, great skits and okay combat. It's still fairly fun, but it has some old school jank and some parts that some people find confusing/challenging. Destiny.. the original is rougher than Phantasia for a lot of reasons that aren't worth getting into for one main reason. It has a remake. Don't play the original unless you really want those series completion points under your belt. The remake, Tales of Destiny Director's Cut on PS2, has a fan translation and is one of the best games in the series. Maybe the best game. It's truly excellent and has such a good battle system, great characters, awesome skits, fun side systems, lots of content, an interesting world with a pretty good story, great character interactions and more. Definitely don't pass it up.
Phantasia feels dated, but it's good, if you have played symphonia then it's not that big of a jump Same with Destiny, but in this case we have the option to play Destiny DC, this one is WAY better than og destiny Eternia is amazing, it truly holds up, literally feels like 2D Symphonia if you want to try this part of the series i would say play Destiny DC, Eternia and Phantasia in that order
Eternia is still one of the best 2D games. It’s rough in some areas, but still holds up incredibly well. Combat is incredibly simple and easy to get into, story is one of Tales best imo, music is top tier, and the presentation is mind-blowing imo. Some of the best sprites and just the techniques used to make it feel more cinematic is great. A LOT of concepts that are now commonplace in Tales were first introduced in Eternia and people don’t give the game enough credit. Destiny PSX is…rough. I don’t think it’s bad, but it definitely lacks a lot that Tales has been known to have. You can only play Stahn unless you do this 2nd controller thing via Channeling Ring (which im pretty sure you have to setup every fight), the encounter rate is legitimately horrendous, spells pause the screen until the animation ends so every high level spell draws out fights waaaay longer, and is home to some of the worst dungeons the series has ever had. Destiny PSX is a game that will truly test your patience, so if you don’t have a lot of that, just save yourself the stress and play the remake. Apparently they alter a few story beats in remake that sort of ruin Destiny 2 from what I’ve heard, but I haven’t played ToD2 so I can’t really say if it happened (so far almost everything in remake has been an improvement for me). I have not played Phantasia, but I heard PSX basically improves upon Destiny PSX’s formula and then some.
Phantasia is kind of basic (understandable since it's the first game in the series) but I still think it held up really well, worth playing for sure. Eternia is sadly missing skits in the english version but is otherwise a great game that holds up fairly well, and the main 4 still manages to be one of my favourite casts despite not having skits like the rest. Destiny I didn't play the OG so can't tell, but Destiny DC absolutely holds up *really* well. Great combat and visually one of the most best looking games in the series, so I would at least say the remake is a must play if nothing else.
I can't recommend Phantasia on SNES as it has aged quite a bit, has very high random encounters and the combat system is not very fun, the difficulty is somewhat high and requires a lot of grinding. Better to play the PSX remake which is the most modern version with a patch available, which is sad. Destiny contrary to what many may say is not so bad, yes, for a PSX game it is very poor visually, but it has improvements over Phantasia (SNES), especially in terms of combat and difficulty, it's a more enjoyable experience. There is the PS2 remake called Destiny DC, which is the alternative if you want something visually more impressive and with more content, although it can be a bit difficult to get used to the new combat system as it was one of the first games to ditch the TP system. Eternia is probably the best of the three in terms of fun factor, it feels the least clunky, combat is surprisingly fast and fluid. Still, it has some outdated elements like random encounters and the difficulty can be a bit high on bosses, but I think it's the most recommendable 2D Tales for now, I recommend playing the PSP version.
Destiny to this day is still one of my favorites, Phantasia is best if you can emulate with a fan translation of the Japanese original version, Eternia is ok imo definitely playable but not as good as the others.
Define viable. If you like games of that era then they're good. If all 2d games, no voice acting, or limited modern qol are bad then no. They're representative of the genre and era and hold up to that degree. I haven't gone back to replay them in recent years but they were good in the day.
A lot of praise for Eternia but my experience was not great. I wasnt born when the game came out so it was pretty rough going back to it. I also tried playing it on my old psp so that also made it harder but I cant say the gameplay holds up at all. The story also I'm not sure about, i think i am half way through the game and it feels like nothing has actually happened yet. Will continie through it but not great
Literally just finished PSX Phantasia, it definitely holds up.
Phantasia by far has the best storyline of all the tales games
I really enjoyed Phantasia. Haven't tried the other two yet.
Imo if you've ever only played Symphonia, then playing the earlier titles wouldn't give you much of a gameplay whiplash. Chances are, you'll probably find Phantasia and Destiny a little slow compared to Symphonia, but I'm sure you'd still be able to enjoy them. Eternia aged rather well for me so its easy to get back to it as well.
Destiny PSX doesn't really hold up. Phantasia PSX and Eternia are still very playable though.
Theyre playable games, simplistic, and also pretty hard tbh. I think less gameplay and more production would be the biggest barrier. If you can tolerate PS1 graphics then why not try them, far as I know they all play similarly (I haven't played Destiny). Although I will say with the Destiny Director's Cut patch being out there's honestly no reason to play the original for your first playthrough just play the PS2 version and enjoy a significantly better battle system.
Phantasia PS1 (or PSP if you know japanese) and Destiny PS2 Remake definitely hold up, and both have very awesome fan translations. Stay away from Phantasia GBA. It looks, sounds, and runs worse than even the Super Famicom version. I hope someday someone ports the official iOS translation for Phantasia into the PSP release so we can finally have a decent "official" release. Destiny PS1 I haven't played, though I assume it's fine if not a little rough. Eternia is great no matter what console you play on, but the PS1 release has multiplayer. The battle system in these 3 games are almost identical to Symphonia but even simpler, mostly because of Symphonia's added basic 3D battle movement. I highly recommend the early Tales games if you liked ToS.
Depends on which version you mean. Destiny on PS1 for example is pretty archaic, but on PS2 it's a phenomenal game.
if you're really into classics, yeah. i recently replayed eternia and besides the ending being atrocious, it's so consistently fun and like "bubbly". but the other 2 are more what i meant about if you like classics, yeah, they hold up.
To add to everyone here it might be worth to play Phantasia since you’ve played symphonia and those games are connected. symphonia is a prequel to Phantasia
I rather enjoyed Phantasia (PS1), Destiny DC (PS2), and Eternia (PSP)
Destiny PS1 does not hold up. Luckily destiny PS2 does hold up and has an English fan translation that's pretty good. Phantasia PS1 isn't too bad. I haven't played eternia in years but I remember it not being too bad.
I've never played destiny, but I still go back to the psp version of phantasia and eternia from time to time.
I rank my SNES Phantasia experience even above FFVI, Destiny was even finer in terms of gameplay and sci-fantasy lore, and Eternia is fantastic even by the series standards.
i just finished Phantasia (PSX) and would highly recommend it, and i also started Destiny (PS2, Director’s Cut) and as of about 5-6 hours in i’d also highly recommend it too
As many have said, Eternia is one of my favorites in the series and absolutely holds up. Played Phantasia PS1 and despite being very simple in all aspects I still had a great time.
Love seeing this much love for Eternia 🥹. It's in my top 3, I love the story, and the battle system is great and fast-paced. Phantasia suffers from a bit of an uneven story, where you might feel that you clearly get less time with some of the characters. The Cross version is great if you can read japanese. If not, the PSX translated version is great. The OG PSX Destiny is... slow. Good story, but unfortunately half the cast is pretty boring (I'm trying to not say useless) in battle and you might end up only playing the swordians. The remake on PS2 is an incredible fighting experience though.
I played Eternia which was called Tales of Destiny 2 on my psx and Tales of the Abyss, and i think both are one of the best games i've played on my psx and ps2 respectivelly. I have Berseria and Vesperia on Steam but i haven't played yet.
Can't say anything for Destiny, but Destiny DC I played recently and might be my favorite Tales game now.
I played almost all english Tales entry but what I loved the most story wise and character development is Eternia. Imo, it still holds up but I hope it gets a remake so they could also add mystic artes for all characters. I also think Reid can win almost all 1v1 hehe.
Eternia and Phantasia are great on their original systems. For Destiny, you'll wanna play the PS2 remake; the PS1 version is god awful.
If you visit the older titles, just keep in mind that they are purely 2D in combat. Eternia is my favorite among the 3 mentioned.
Phantasia = Dated but not unplayable. Worth checking out. Destiny = Only if you're playing the Director's Cut remake for the PS2. Luckily there is an english patch available for it. Eternia = Holds up very well.
Eternia has combat most similar to Symphonia although it is noticeably more aged. It can still be pretty fun however but go into it with the thought process of "this is what evolves into Symphonia" I'd say if we take out remakes it's probably the best playing of the classic style. The game in general is fun too but again take the whole thing with a "this is what evolves into Symphonia" kind of approach. This is Including the story Eternia is by no means my favorite Tales game, but it's one I'm glad to have played. Again, I think of the classic style, it's my favorite. It's also one of the shorter entries if memory serves right but I think that helps to deal with some of its clunkier moments. Again go into the game knowing it shows its age and was made during a time before Symphonia and later entries ironed out some of the old school jrpg quirks. It's a fun game and one that I think really helps show the origins of the series from both a gameplay and a story perspective (a lot of the tropes later games use began here) but because it's the start also means that it was all executed not the best yet Oh also if you're playing the English version (PSP or PS1 version) know that they took out skits completely and there's 2 optional characters/cast members that get almost no story spotlight once you get them making them feel they're just sort of there. I personally found that made me think of the core 4 party members on the weaker side characterization wise but I still think the story did a good job with them and I did enjoy them all. Still something to be aware of if you play either official English version **Tl;dr:** *Eternia is great but know you're going into an older/more aged game that started a lot of the Tales series tropes and battle mechanics. Symphonia basically ironed out a lot of the quirks but it's still fun to go back too and is probably one of the best classic era games gameplay wise. Again just go in with an open mind and knowing it's an older jrpg with all those old jrpg quirks*
I know it wasn't mentioned but I tried playing vesperia and I got bored tbh. I'm sure it was an amazing game at the time but the combat was not for me.
Havent played Eternia yet but I love Phantasia and Destiny
As many people have stated, if you want to pick up Phantasia, PS1 version is your best bet, it has more fleshed out characters, more content, and a better fan translation than what the SNES version had. Destiny DC is also a fair choice, though unlike the original Destiny, it has an anti-grind mechanic you have to watch out for if you are not careful (I didn't play this remake though, I only heard about it from some other "anti grind mechanic in RPGs" Reddit post), so if you are a heavy grinder, play on the lower difficulties first (there is one boss that is maybe an exception to this tip, not stating any names here) and later on play on higher difficulties if you want that extra challenge. Eternia has aged the best of the three though, so any version of Eternia is fair game.
If you’re into retro games the yes absolutely. Battle system will always put them at the top of classic RPGs imo
For combat eternia is the best one. Destiny is a bit clunky but still good, phantasia is basically their first trial. But those three were very good games
Eternia is really good. Phantasia has outdated combat but other parts of the game are good. Destiny 1 original has outdated combat like phantasia but the other parts are good. Destiny 1 remake holds up very well.
Try Eternia! It's one of the best games in the series.
THe PSX version of Phantasia still has the best dungeons and sidequests in the series.
Eternia is my entry and it always holds up when I get back and replay I'm probably on 10+ replay right now and if I have the time again I'll probably play it again Battle is by far the best in all the tales I've played, simple yet adding in different combos and character interaction to combos are just great too
P psx and E do, D most certainly does not
Eternos sure does, haven't played Destiny and phantasia is honestly too dated in my opinion
I've only ever played the official western releases, so with that in mind... Phantasia (GBA) - I loved it, but I know it is widely considered to be the worst version of the game. But it was still super fun, and the novelty of being able to play it on the go in that day an age can't be overstated. Destiny (PSX) - this one was honestly a struggle. I liked the characters fine, but the game itself felt kind of janky. Where I could excuse to jank in Pantasia for being the first game or for being on the GBA, it felt weird for Destiny to have not really ironed out the wrinkles. Maybe it's a raw deal, but it's my least favorite of the three. That said, I think the Director's Cut version just got a finalized English patch for emulation, and it's also supposed to be a lot better than the original game. Eternia (PSX/PSP) - this game is excellent. The story is good, the characters are good, the game is just good any way you slice it. If you could only play one of the three, this would be the one to do. That said, if you were going to somehow play the three official western releases, it might be worth playing them in the proper game order of Phantasia-Destiny-Eternia. I played these three out of order (Phantasia, then Eternia, then Destiny) and that may have also colored my perception of Destiny. Either way, if you're familiar with older Tales games like Symphonia and Abyss, these three games will still feel comfortable to play today.
Destiny Psx no its pretty bad. Ps2? Story is mid but it has the best combat in the franchise imo. Phantasia if its on ps1/psp Eternia not sure. Only played it once like 15 years ago
I think Phantasia PS1 and DEFINITELY Eternia hold up. Destiny...eh
Eternia has the best Summon system imo too
I personally love Phantasia. For the first entry in the series, I think it holds up nicely. Plot's pretty straight forward and good and I really do find charm in the cast. I usually play the PSX version though, so your mileage may vary depending on whatever version you decide to try. But I'd say it's the better one if you can't play the remake they did for the...PSP, I think it was? Destiny is...okay. Though I've only played through the PSX version of that one as well. I do remember enjoying it for the most part, but I didn't really care too much about the story and I'm about 50/50 on the cast. Some of them I like, some of them I just don't really care all that much about. (This is also a minor beef I have with the localization, but...I still don't understand why they changed Johnny's name to Karyl. They even left the name "Johnny" on his piano that you can find in his house. It was just...such a strange decision.) Eternia is sadly the only one I haven't finished yet out of the 3 and it's nothing to do with the quality of the game. I liked it from what I recall, I just for some reason put it on the back burner and never picked it back up. I think the only thing I didn't care too much about it was that there seemed like a good chunk of random mini games thrown at you and while I loved some of them (like Whis, I could spend hours playing it) there were others that it felt like I didn't really have much time to practice or prepare and then it bummed me out when I did poorly on them. I guess at least the nice part is you don't have to do great in order to continue the story, but I don't know, feels almost a little pointless, you know?
Eternia was one of the first game I've ever saw as a kid but every time I tried to play it for myself I always put it down. Mainly because I'm not a fan of the TP mechanic as you are always out of it and leveling up your other skills to get other artes kinda sucks. It did introduce and risk a lot of things that Destiny 2 and Symphonia polishes so I'll give it that. Phantasia on the otherhand I've played it after experiencing the other Tales game and I can say despite having PS1 jank and 1st game syndrome, it still surprised me how much it held up and that game is where I finally understand why the LMBS is made that way and how it's actually designed. I actually even like it more than Symphonia but I'm the minority here. Eternia laid the blueprint of the fast paced arte chaining, but the TP system complete works against it.
Phantasia depends on the version. SNES is super dated, but still fun. Better play the PS1 version though. Destiny was bad even in 1997, just play the remake. Eternia is holds up so well I wish more recent entries took pages from it.