Baten Kaitos or Tales of Symphonia?

**blueskied** · 12 Dec 2003, 02:32 AM

Just wondering if I could get some opinions on which of those games you would choose if you could only choose one. I'm going on christmas vacation for about 2 weeks pretty soon, and it'll be a nice break from graduate school, and hence I'd like to kick back with one of those recent japanese GC rpgs (but I'll only have time for ONE).

At this point I'm probably going with TOS, though I've been reading strangely wonderful things about Baten Kaitos on the web, people seem to really love it. Damn you Namco, and your high quality rpgs!

Any help would be appreciated.

**Johnny Nighttrain** · 12 Dec 2003, 05:44 AM

well, i'd hold off and wait so i could know what's going on as far as the story goes.

but to answer you question, i'd go with Baten Kaitos just cause i'd like to hear more impressions of the game. but to be honest, if i was going to buy only one, i'd go with Tales of Symphonia.

**Roufuss** · 12 Dec 2003, 05:48 AM

Originally Posted by Lucas Barton

well, i'd hold off and wait so i could know what's going on as far as the story goes.

.

Judging by his post, I'm fairly certain he has a grasp on the Japanese language. And for the record, I'd go with Baten Kaitos, just because the premise sounds a little bit better to me.

**Kinopio** · 12 Dec 2003, 05:50 AM

Baten Kaitos. Reminds me of the outstanding Chrono Cross.

edit-ignore what i said before.

**Frogacuda** · 12 Dec 2003, 10:47 AM

I'm gonna have to go with Tales of Symphonia for the simple reason that I already know it's excellent. ToS is, to me, everything that an RPG should be. Appealing characters and style, fantastic battle system, excellent puzzle-oriented level design, and beautiful graphics and music. ToS is definately the safe bet.

BK does not particularly appeal to me either. Graphically and stylistically it turns me off, and beyond a decent sounding battle system I haven't heard much about gameplay or level design. The music is fantastic, though.

**EightBit** · 12 Dec 2003, 11:10 AM

Tales of Symphonia gets a vote from me. Though I still want BK. Both games look fantastic, but if I had to choose, it would be ToS. ToS simply seems to be what I want in an RPG, and it gives me a little nostolgia tingle inside. I cant imagine going wrong with either though.

**CountZero** · 12 Dec 2003, 07:48 PM

I'm leaning toward Baten Kaitos. I don't know too much about either game, but the music in the Baten Kaitos video is just awesome, and that should really enhance the game's atmosphere. Also, it looks as if it has somewhat higher production values than Tales of Symphonia.

I'm also interested in Tales, but since previous Tales gamers were not very critically acclaimed (although I haven't played them) I have my doubts.

**blueskied** · 12 Dec 2003, 10:48 PM

Thanks for all the replies. Seems a pretty even split so far, with perhaps a leaning towards TOS. I've found TOS new for $40, and BK is a bit over $60, so with the $20 difference, TOS seems more attractive. HOWEVER, I played the first tales (back on the superfam) and I thought it was only average. But, I've known some people who say the PS and PS2 tales games were top RPGs, and all the reviews of TOS rave about how it's a great RPG.

I could also just buy BOTH, try them out for an hour each, sell the one I don't like, then continue with the other. The problem with that is if I love both of them (quite possible), then I'm fucked because I'll have no time to finish either and I'll just have two half-finished RPGs laying around (as when the next semester starts in January, I'll have no time for games).

Something about BK seems really attractive, and I love good music in an RPG...

AGH!