I think out of all the Tales games i would say that Tales of Symphonia is the best of the games. I say that because if u can make a Gamecube RPG and make it one of the best gamecube games of all time then you know that it has to be a really good game and it has the best story out of all the tales games

Mine is definetly the Tales of Destiny remake for the PS2 and Tales of Destiny 2.

Tales of Symphonia.

Tales of the Abyss, for a variety of reasons.

For one, the fighting system has quite a few improvements on Symphonia’s and is (unlike Legendia), multiplayer. The camera will pan out when there are multiple players controlling multiple characters (unlike in Symphonia when Players 2-4 had to play blind unless they were near Player 1), the Hi-Ougi system is fun and visually appealing without being overdone, and the way Artes are leveled up is an interesting part of the game.

The plotline, while no less predictable than Symphonia’s, is much darker, which is something that I really preferred. It seemed like the Tales team was allowed to branch into doing something new and exciting with the storyline of Abyss and they took advantage of that– they weren’t quite doing something experimental, but they were definitely playing with much darker concepts and a much more nuanced group of villains than Symphonia or Legendia had.

The characters (and their dialogue) were also a major improvement. While Symphonia had a really interesting and dynamic cast (and some great NPCs as well), the sarcasm in Abyss made it a lot easier to deal with the main character (and the animal mascot) when he got annoying. When Lloyd’s heroism and apparent stupidity gets annoying or when Senel gets too mopey, there’s not any real padding from the rest of the cast– they’re either reacting in an irritating way themselves (Legendia) or pretending he’s an amazing hero (Symphonia). While Raine in Symphonia and Will in Legendia do criticize their main characters occasionally, it takes the constant jibing of Jade– and the rest of the cast occasionally backing him up– to really keep me from wanting to just kill Luke and play the rest of the game as Guy.

(Spoilers from here on out.) Abyss also has a much more dynamic character set. While I get the impression that Senel is changed by the end of Legendia once he knows he has people he can count on, and that Lloyd becomes more generally stable, willing to listen, and less reckless by the end of the game, you don’t see much change in the rest of the cast throughout the course of it. (I’m talking about subtle change here, Presea getting her crystal removed doesn’t count.) Aside from their relationships to other characters you don’t see any major personality shifts in Symphonia.

Abyss, on the other hand, changes most of its cast, for better or for worse. Guy and Jade obviously spent a lot of time together off camera because Guy ends up picking up a lot of Jade’s humor by the end of the game. Natalia learns to dirty her hands a little and to talk with a lot less pretension. Tear actually changes for the worse, in my opinion, turning from a hardened soldier to a typical broken-hearted woman by the end of the game; in many ways she takes on the weaknesses that Natalia left behind and lends the princess that strength.

I can see why people would prefer Symphonia, especially if they’re doing it single player and like a lighter story. But Abyss seemed more sarcastic, more mean, a little bit more gritty and just generally more interesting than the other games in the Tales series.

sorry Legendia was for the PS2 so I’ve played three of the titles including one on the game Cube.