What age were you when you played each game?

[ArgyleGamer]

How old were you when you played each game, what grade of school were you in and what was going on in your life during the time you were playing the game?

First played Symphonia in August 2004, shortly after it came out. Had just 14 and was about to enter High School. Pretty much played it every day after school and was glad to find a group in high school who also played and liked the game.

I remember following the release date for Legendia and bought it right on its launch day back in February 2006. Played it for awhile then put it down and didn't actually make it all the way through the game till 2009.

Discovered Abyss way to late in 2007 and had a similar experience to Legendia. Would always play it for awhile, then put it down and then start an entirely new game. I'll admit I didn't finish it until 2010.

Bought DotNW close to the release date in 2008 and played through it all the way.

Didn't play Vesperia until this very year when I was able to buy a Xbox from a friend and just finished it a couple days ago.

[Syphon Vectorman]

I feel like a lot of people played their first Tales game around the 14-15 age unless you were introduced by an older sibling. Anywho, here goes my long list.

First played Symphonia at the age of 14 in 2005. After renting the game several times, I bought the game from EB Games and played in nonstop in the summer.

Missed the Legendia boat and bought Phantasia a couple of days after its launch in 2006. Boy, did I play the heck out of that wherever I went with my GBA. I still remember opening the box up after buying it while I was waiting for my food at McDonalds. A magical moment it was.

A friend of mine at the time bought Narikiri Dungeon 3 for me online around March 2006, and that took Phantasia's slot in my GBA for a long time with its superior battle system and abundance of characters to play as.

Later that year I bought Abyss right at launch, and I was instantly absorbed by its story and battle system. Holding onto L2 for the first time to Free Run was such a liberation.

Radiant Mythology came around Christmas that year, and I was introduced to a whole cast of characters from a series that I was continuing to become a fan of.

Destiny & Eternia in the summer of 2007 by means of emulator. Didn't go too far in Destiny. For Eternia I was close to endgame, but never bothered to complete it for some odd reason. :/

A year later for Christmas came Dawn of a New World, though I wasn't the one playing it most of the time. I was watching my sister play through the game while only helping out in boss battle as the secondary characters.

After that, I was deprived of new Tales games until summer of 2011 when I bough Vesperia with my new XBOX 360. Went with the same format as Dawn with my sister leading the game, though we never got around to finishing this game.

Cut to 2013 with a whole slew of new Tales games. Just to list off, I was able to start Graces f, Symphonia PS2, Destiny 2 and Rebirth. My copy of Xillia 2 is still sealed as I await my copy of the localized release of Xillia 1 to playthrough first.

And that's my list. I can't even begin to imagine how long the lists of those who had better Tales experiences than I will be. ^_^'
_________________

2005 Self: Eureka! I just figured it out! I can't write a signature on the computer!
2011 Self: Use a tablet.

[Abicion]

Saw some guy playing the DeJap version of Phantasia in our high school computer lab when 16-bit emulators were the hip thing on the streets in... 2001ish? It looked cool, but I didn't think much of it. Tales of Symphonia came out a couple years later as That One Gamecube Game People Actually Give a **** About and I imported it. Then I went back and started playing ToP.
_________________
SOON.

[cutepresea]

I first played Symphonia when I was 15 (well, almost 16), a bit before entering 10th grade. Can't remember if it was late July or early August, though. Imported the Japanese version the next year.

Imported Abyss when I was 17, in 11th grade.
Same goes for Legendia and Phantasia, but a few months afterward.

Bought the English version of Abyss on my 18th birthday, the day after it was released. This was the last Tales game I bought while still in high school.

Imported Hearts when it was released in late 2008, so I was...20 then.

Got Dawn from the Tales Brigade so that was in early 2009.
Somewhere in there I bought Destiny, Eternia, Destiny 2, and Rebirth around the same time. Then Vesperia later that year.

Imported Graces f in 2010. Got the English version as well as Xillia last year, and Xillia 2 this year. I'll be getting the English version of Xillia once it gets released.

I've kinda lost track when it comes to some of the spinoffs though.
_________________

[Cloud]

12 / 7th Grade:
Symphonia.

Got it after it was recommended to me from a friend online. I was 12 years old, nothing important was going on in my life at all, so I played the **** out of that game and beat it like 8 times.

13 / 8th Grade:
Legendia
Phantasia

Got these in order to satisfy my desire for more once I beat Symphonia. I didn't like either of them very much at the time.

14 / 9th Grade:
Destiny 2
Abyss
Destiny (PS2)

I emulated ND3 after being disappointed with Phantasia and Legendia and because the Symphonia sprites caught my interest. The Destiny 2 characters had a rad battle theme, so I looked it up and did the research necessary in order to find out how I could play that game. Imported it for my 14th birthday and had a blast. I was even stupid enough to print out an entire guide (sry trees) that I rarely ever used while playing.

Abyss came out in America a little bit after that, and I imported Destiny R the day it came out.

15 / 10th Grade:
Eternia

I got one of these while Aelph was still here, doing her usual thing of being awesome and trying to get more people to play this game. She originally bought one for me while over in Europe, but it never made it through the harsh postage trip (I waited like 3 months, checking almost every day) and she ordered the copy I currently have off Amazon totally for free. She's great.

16 / 11th Grade:
Vesperia
Hearts
Rebirth

Bought a 360 for Christmas just for Vesperia. Played the hell out of it. Got Hearts a couple months after that, and played it a lot at school.
Rebirth I got on a whim one day for 20 bucks. Stopped playing a good ways into it because I was awful at it, and then my PS2 died. I wasn't able to finish it until the next year when I got a new PS2.

17 / 12th Grade:
Dawn of the New World

I played this right on Valentines Day weekend stuffing myself with candy and weeping like a teenage girl after getting dumped. Marta was my only comfort during that time because the rest of the game just wasn't that good.

18, 19 / ???
Graces
Xillia

I picked up Graces Wii for Christmas back in 2010 for 50 dollars off ebay, after waiting forever for it to even get to that price. Namco hurt my feelings by announcing the PS3 version for localization literally like 2 months after that. I got Xillia right as it came out and played the hell out of it. It was my first Platinum.


well this is a post and it is long and now i feel sort of nostalgic. i have played more than that but i have not included certain things like ports or most of the spin offs which i probably just pirated.
_________________

[AriArk]

Tales of Symphonia was my first and I was 6. What - Who looks at age ratings for games? Then I started collecting like one a year. When a new english one came out, my parents would buy it (until I was about 13 or 14).
_________________

[Accelerator]

12 / 7th Grade:
Symphonia.

A friend of mine got the game and said it was great, then lent it to me. I beat it once and thought it was incredible. Bought my own copy and ended up doing...12 playthroughs. I just played it over and over and over.

13 / 8th Grade:
Legendia, Eternia, Destiny PSX


I picked it up because it was a new Tales game. My opinion of it hasn't really changed. I really liked the characters, music and story, but it had trouble holding my attention and I played through it at a snail's pace.


Emulated Destiny and Eternia. Got bored of Destiny in the dungeon where you meet Philia, but I got to the final dungeon of Eternia.


14 / 9th Grade:
Destiny 2
Abyss
Destiny R
Rebirth PS2



Bought Destiny 2 because I looked up videos of it's hi ougis and thought it was going to be the greatest thing ever. It was a pretty **** good game. I played Abyss and liked it the first time, but liked it less as time went on. I've still done 4 playthroughs for some reason.

I then bought Destiny R because everyone was **** on it, and that combined with people now trashing Destiny 2, which I loved, pretty much forever soiled the game for me as I couldn't enjoy it as a kid and even now I find it vaguely unappealing, mainly because there's a bunch of games in the series I like more and never feel like returning to it.

I had Rebirth PS2 but I never got too far in it because my Japanese PS2 broke and I sort of lost interest in Tales until ToV came out.



16 / 11th Grade:
Vesperia
Dawn of the New World


Got Vesperia, throughly enjoyed it, but like Abyss it didn't have lasting appeal for me. Not much else to say besides I got an Xbox just for this game.

I don't even know how I beat DotNW to be honest.

I also bought a copy of Eternia JP for PSP at a local niche gaming store somewhere around here and still haven't gotten anywhere in it lol



18, 19
Graces
Hearts
Xillia
Rebirth PSP


I bought Graces f because at the time, Cloud and Curi were both talking about it non stop. I bought it, played the **** **** out of it and it has become my absolute favorite Tales game. I've beaten it like four times in 2 years.

Graces revitalized my love for the series, so I preordered Xillia and bought Hearts and Rebirth PSP. I loved Hearts and Rebirth, found them both excellent, and generally had a decent time with Xillia in retrospect.

20

Xillia 2
Innocence R
Hearts R

I bought Xillia 2 because I was bored and wanted something to play, and enjoyed it a lot more than the first game and thought it was very solid. I bought Innocence R on a whim and despite having great music and ok gameplay I find it dull as **** and have no drive to finish it.

I bought Hearts R just the other day because I got peer pressured into it, so I'll see how it goes.


I've also beaten Radiant Mythology 1 and Narikiri dungeon X, but I don't remember when. NDX was a good time and RM1 was okay. I also played and beat Phantasia full voice, but I don't remember when and I am generally cool with Phantasia so I probably had a good time.
_________________

[CyborgZeta]

14: Tales of Symphonia (When I first got this I played it for hours upon hours.)

18: Abyss, Vesperia

21: Hearts

22: Xillia, Rebirth

23: Xillia 2
_________________

"Blacker than a moonless night, hotter and more bitter than Hell itself...That is coffee." - Godot

[Yume Hanabi]

2004 / 16
Symphonia GC (FR): Got it when it came out in Europe. I was in high school at the time, so lots of time to play and play and play.

2006-2007 / 18-19
Phantasia GBA (FR): Came out in Europe during my last year of high school.
Symphonia GC (JP): Bought it when I was in Japan to play it with my host sisters. They loved it =D
Tempest: Since it was a Tales, and I had a DS, I decided to give it a try.
Innocence: Another one for DS; liked it better than Tempest, but it was still nothing compared to Symphonia.
Bought Symphonia PS2 and Abyss but didn't get to play them that year.

2008 / 20
Abyss (JP, undub): During my first year at Uni. A friend lent me her modded PS2 so that I could play it (I had one week of holiday to finish it), then I bought a PS2 of my own. Fell in love with the game hard, and it's what turned me into a Tales fan (I was just a Symphonia fan before). After a couple of Japanese playthrough, I got the undub.
Symphonia PS2: Started it, and would play it over the years sometimes, but it's slow-going and I'm not finished yet XD;
Eternia PSP (JP): Since Abyss had turned me into a Tales fan, I decided to try more Tales, so I imported Eternia PSP. Fun game.
Radiant Mythology 1 (JP): Imported it at the same time as Eternia.
Dawn (JP): Day one import, obviously - I mean, it's Symphonia, right I personally loved it for what it was. From then on, I'd import almost all new motherships as they came out.
Hearts: ToT and ToI had been nice, but nothing special, so I didn't have high expectations for this one, but it pleasantly surprised me. It came out at the end of the year, so during a new school year than the others. Since I'd changed majors for the new school year, I was still a first year in 2008-2009.

2009 / 21
Radiant Mythology 2: Had some trouble importing it, but finally got to play it.
Vesperia 360 (GER): I didn't have a 360, so I played it at a friend's for like a week during the summer holidays. It was in German, and it was a fun(ny) experience xD;
Rebirth PSP: Bought it during a trip to Japan during the summer holidays. Bought Phantasia Full Voice Edition too but didn't play it until a few years later.
Vesperia PS3: Bought a PS3 for it, and imported it. I was a second year then, as it came out in September.
Graces Wii: Day one import, came out around exam time so I had to play in the evenings.

2010 / 22
Graces f (JP): Same circumstances as Graces Wii, only one year later.

2011 / 23
Phantasia Full Voice Edition: Finally decided to pick it up.
Xillia: Day one import. Came out right at the end of the summer holidays, so I tried to play as much as possible before the start of a new school year. Now my favourite Tales game.

2012 / 24
Graces f (FR): The game finally came out in Europe, so I got it and played it. I skipped all cutscenes during my first playthrough so I could get NG+ as fast as possible.
Vesperia 360 (FR): Got a 360 and started a (slow-going, still unfinished) multiplayer playthrough with my brother.
Xillia 2: Day one import, finished it in like 3 week-ends of playing until late in the night, because exams were coming and I had little time for gaming. Replayed it more slowly early 2013.

2013 / 25
Replaying Xillia 1&2 during my internship. It's my last year at Uni and I have to hand in my thesis in August (+some exams), and then in September I'm going on an exchange, so I don't know yet if I'll be able to play Xillia FR properly. I'll have to rush it fast before exams start...

I've yet to play Legendia and the Destinies. I'll probably get a Vita this year or next year for the Reimaginations, and a Japanese 3DS for Abyss 3DS.

...Wow one more year and I'll have been playing Tales for ten years. Time flies so fast!
_________________

~Find my Tales of translations on LJ or on Tumblr~

[OLHearts]

11/12; 2009~2010
Innocence (EN) / Hearts (CN)
Randomly stumbled upon Innocence, and figuring how the game got a patch it'd probably be good so I tried it out and... Whew. Then I tried out Hearts and was mindblown at how good it was, considering part of the reason I was turned off by Hearts at the time was because it was a 2D plane battle system. Now I understand 2D LMBS are generally awesome.

13/14; 2011
Radiant Mythology 3 (JP)
Decided to try out a Japanese game seeing it is just a spin off, and managed to finish it, fun game. Otherwise, I was just watching gameplay videos, and drooling over Vesperia and Graces f (and Xillia though I was convinced it'd be localised since Graces was getting localised so contained myself) and actually learnt many gameplay tricks before owning the game myself xD

14/15; 2012
Vesperia PS3; Graces f (EN); Xillia 2 (JP)
Finally got myself a PS3 after owning Vesperia for a while, and got to playing it and well, really loved it, especially since I could finally spam Tidal Wave and do whatver ridiculously broken stuff I've been watching players do. Then got Graces f when it was localised and played the heck out of it the moment I got it. Again, all the solo videos I watched fueled my want for the game so yeah @_@ Still wanting to plat it but it's with my friend now owo Then Xillia 2 was announced and I figured if I were to wait for the localisation it'd be around 2014 (looks like I'm right) so I decided to import it. Basically got the play Xillia "DC" first and like it, can't wait for Xillia, especially after reading Yume's breakdown of the story *q*

15; 2013
Innocence R; Hearts R; and soon, Xillia (EN)
Got myself a Vita (still feeling a bit guilty about this tbh ) for the R series and got Innocence R, especially since I have an attachment for my first Tales game. Then I think it's actually one of the most balanced systems I've played and had a lot of fun reliving Innocence. Rave System and countering was the perfect balance for casual and high level combos, properly rewarding skilled players who counter really well while not making the game too difficult it if I can't get the hang of countering. Very nice reimagination.

Got Hearts R soon and finished it, just quite dissapointed how short it is, some dungeons were much much shorter than the original counterpart and I can't believe I'm only one trophy away from platting it; all my other games are at around 40%~80%? e.e Battle system is ridiculously fun though, after getting Chase Link related skills, though it can be somewhat abusable unless the boss has ridiculous penetrate (just need that Destroy skill why is it a max link skill ;_

... Guess my wall of text got longer because I literally finished Hearts R like 3 days ago and Innocence R a few months back and remember them more clearly than the rest atm. Now just waiting for Xillia's localisation, and if Symphonia HD whatever is getting released... that too *w* Probably in 2015?
_________________

[Blue Heracross]

First became aware of the series through Nintendo Power and Symphonia when I was 10

Didn't play Symphonia until I was 11 in 6th grade

Played Phantasia (GBA) when I was 12 in 7th grade

Played Abyss when I was 13 over the summer, beat it when I was 15 in 10th grade

Played Dawn of the New World when I was 15 in in 10th grade

Played Tales of Destiny (PSX) when I was 16 in 11th grade, beat it when I was 17 in 12th grade

Played some of Vesperia (PS3) when I was 17 over that years Christmas break

Played some of Hearts and Innocence when I was 17 in 12th grade

Played Eternia when I was 18 in my Freshman year of college

Played Legendia when I was 18 during Spring Break that year, then beat it over the summer (last summer)

Played Graces f during that same time period

Really shouldn't complain about a lack of Tales when I've played one almost every year since I started, next up Is Xillia and maybe finishing Vesperia, Hearts, and Innocence

[Shiv:)]

Estimation mostly the time period fits one or both of the criteria around the /

12/ 6th Grade- ToP and ToS

13/ 7th Grade- TotA, ToL, RM1, ToP:FVE, ToD2, TotT

14/ 8th Grade- ToI, ToR, ToV

15/ 9th Grade- ToS:DotNW, ToD:DC, RM2

16/ 10th Grade- NDX, ToH

17/ 11th Grade- RM3

18/ 12th Grade- ToGf

19/ First Year Uni- ToE, ToIR, ToHR, soon to be ToX this summer
_________________


My Tumbley

Sig and Avi by WarriorAngel01 thanks so much!!

[Radge]

Why do I feel old all of a sudden?

2006/13 - Legendia

2007/14 - Abyss, Destiny 2, some Phantasia GBA

2008/15 - Destiny 2 PSP, Rebirth PSP, and maybe Radiant Mythology

2009/16 (in Canada by now) - Radiant Mythology 2, Dawn of the New World, VS

2010/17 - Narikiri Dungeon X, Phantasia X, andGraces Wii

2011/18 - Radiant Mythology 3 and Symphonia GC

2012/19 - Abyss 3DS, Graces f, Vesperia 360, Xillia, Xillia 2, and Vesperia PS3

2013/20 - Innocence R

So basically, I got to play more when I came to Canada.
_________________

My Backloggery - BLESS XSEED!

[fleish]

2004-2005 (age 14-15): Symphonia. Saw an article about Symphonia in Nintendo Power, which piqued my interest. Rented the game from Blockbuster on a whim, and loved it to death. Bought it a few weeks after renting it, and beat it like...ten times? Wow.

2008 (age 18): Symphonia DotNW. Saw the article, saw the trailers, bought the game when it came out. Although it was far from perfect, I enjoyed it thoroughly.

2009 (age 18-19): Abyss. Friend I made in college had the game, who was also a huge Tales fan, and so we did two co-op playthroughs freshmen year. Was a blast.

2010 (age 19-20): Vesperia. I had some previous experience with Vesperia, but never actually played it through until then. Another friend in college, who I ended up beings roommates with sophomore year, had Vesperia. We (well, mostly I) ended up doing a playthrough.

2012 (age 21): Graces f. My friend had a PS3 and bought the game when it came out. We actually couldn't play the game for a week or so after it came out, due to finishing up Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. But we played through Graces f and had a ton of fun.

We'll probably get Xillia when it comes out.
_________________


avatar and sig by yours truly

[Dr. Casey]