Gushing About Shows You Like (Sugar Wiki)/Namco Bandai

Gush about Namco Bandai games here!


 * Tales of Symphonia is definitely the best game for the Gamecube and one of the best games out there. Everything, the characters, the story, the gameplay, even the cliches, are awesome. The sequel is amazing too.
 * One thing this troper loves about Symphonia over any other RPG she's played is the sheer number of named NPCs with just enough personality and backstory to be really interesting and lovable...while still leaving a great deal of blank slate even with major characters for Fanfic to explore. Certain subsequent games in the series may have been shinier, but leaving so many loose ends and opportunities for Alternate Character Interpretation means that there's always more to discuss and develop in Symphonia.
 * This troper, not meaning to discount the greatness of Symphonia, must also give a mention to its successor Tales of the Abyss, a game that I started playing (after a slow start) and then suddenly realized three weeks had gone by and I had experienced one of the wildest emotional roller-coaster rides ever. I sympathized (and, at times, empathized) with Luke the whole time. To this day, Abyss is one of my favorite Japanese RPGs.
 * This troper, while still not discounting the greatness of Symphonia or Abyss, needs to give a shout out to a lesser-known game between the two - Tales of Legendia. The brilliant story, coupled with brilliant characters, almost makes you look over the step back on the battle system and the lack of voicing in the second half of the game.
 * Same guy who promoted Tales of the Abyss, now back to promote Tales of Vesperia (starting to think at some point we should just promote the entire Tales (series)). It's quite possibly the most well-made Tales game yet, with a whole slew of options for kicking your opponent's ass and the most comprehensive battle system in the series yet, allowing anyone to pull off spectacular feats. That's not even mentioning the well-told story with its fantastic English dub, or the fact that Yuri is quite simply one of the most awesome characters ever. It's the first, and so far only, Xbox 360 game for which I've gotten 1000/1000 Achievement points, and if the PS3 version comes out in North America, I swear up and down I will buy the system just to play the game through again (well, and for In Famous and Metal Gear Solid 4, but yeah).
 * Xenogears, despite the budgetless second disc, is one of the greatest stories ever told in video game format. I pity the person who has not experienced the awesome that is this game. It has everything, conspiracies, giant robots, magnificient bastards, the works.
 * Baten Kaitos Origins is nothing short of awesome. The visuals are just as good as the first game, if not better. The character interactions are downright hilarious, especially when they involve Guillo, who is such a magnificent Deadpan Snarker that you can be assured there will be a Crowning Moment of Funny every time Guillo speaks. I can say without exaggeration that Guillo is better than Jade Curtiss, Tenebrae, and GLaDOS COMBINED. Speaking of speaking, the voice acting in that game is absolutely incredible, especially after the voice acting in the first game had me expecting very little. And then there is the plot. It doesn't seem spectacular at first...but then you get about two-thirds of the way through the game and "NO FREAKIN' WAY!" To top it all off, the soundtrack is even better than the one its predecessor had. Seriously. Just listen to a merefraction of it.
 * And then you get to the music. The freakin' battle theme is worth listening to. By itself. And that doesn't scratch the surface.
 * This troper honestly can't decide whether she likes Origins or Eternal Wings better - the two are currently tied as my all-time favorite video games. Both games have excellent stories that start out kind of simple, but get interesting really fast. They're satisfyingly complex, and both games have a major plot twist or two somewhere down the line. The characters are interesting. Sometimes they fall into certain archetypes, but never entirely. They also change and develop over time, especially in Origins. The way that the games involved you was a cool concept, and it was pulled off really well. The gameplay was fun and original. The battle system was very different between games, but both times it was fun and kept the battles from getting all that boring. The world of the game is fascinating - it's the kind of place that I really wish I could visit. The visuals were beautiful and creative. I'd say that Real Is Brown was subverted, but the game was never really aiming to look realistic. Sure, the games have their flaws (especially Eternal Wings), but they still managed to work really well. And of course, the music is incredible. Look it up and you'll see what I mean. They're real underrated gems, and I really wish more people knew about them.
 * The Xenosaga trilogy. Although This Troper doesn't find it as good as the first half of Xenogears in terms of story, she personally doesn't mind the long cutscenes because the lovable cast of characters easily makes up for it (sans Shion). And the music is absolutely gorgeous, 'especially' in the first and third games. The fact that my opinion of the series hasn't degraded in the slightest ever since I played Episode III is impressive, considering that my opinion of Video Games tends to degrade over time. The only other JRPGs that I've played that come close are Persona3 and Valkyria Chronicles.
 * Transcending history and the world, this is a tale of souls and swords, eternally retold... Soul Calibur (all of them) are easy some of the deepest fighting games I've played. I love weapons-based fighters.
 * Seconded. Not a fighting game fan, but any game where Darth Vader fights ninjas gets a pass from me.