Oglemi
Borf
For the unaware, there is a whole collection of games under the heading "Tales of" that are massive RPGs that take place in similar worlds with similar plotlines, but vastly different characters and personalities that make the games worth playing over and over again.
The major thing that sets these games apart from any other imo is the Battle system. Unlike other RPGs that are generally turn-based, the Tales series features a kind of live-action battling system that makes the battles exciting and more skill based. As far as the adventure part goes, there are a shit ton of side quests and hidden side quests available in each game (with backtracking!!!) and hundreds of items that make 100% completing it a collector freak's dream.
Unfortunately, not every Tales game that has been created and released in Japan has been released in America, but there's still a large collection that have. I personally still haven't played all the ones that have been released, but I'm slowly working on it.
Here is a list of the Tales games that have been released in America:
Early Tales: (I haven't played any of these personally)
Tales of Phantasia - GBA
Tales of Destiny - PS1
Tales of Eternia - PS1 and PSP
Tales of Destiny 2 - PS2
Modern Tales for America: (where I started)
Tales of Symphonia - Gamecube
Tales of Legendia - PS2
Tales of the Abyss - PS2 and 3DS
Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology - PSP
Tales of Vesperia - XBox360
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World - Wii
Tales of Hearts - PSVita
Tales of Graces - PS3
Tales of Xillia - PS3
Tales of Xillia 2 - PS3
Tales of Symphonia: Chronicles - PS3
If you are into Japanese there are like literally 3x more games for you to play but ya.
From the list above, I've played all but Legendia, Hearts, and Xillia 2, and am currently playing through Abyss on the 3DS and will be playing Xillia 2 asap (no spoilers plz for this one ;-;).
My favorite so far has been Symphonia. It's probably the largest game from the list above (it was a 2 disc game for the Gamecube, ~60 hours for first playthrough), has some pretty difficult puzzles, some awesome decisions that matter in the game, and the characters and playstyles are some of my favorite (#Presea4lyfe).
Vesperia, Graces, and Xillia were all extremely well done as well and look fucking beautiful, though Vesperia was a little weak compared to the others with their character fighting styles (and has probably one of the most annoying characters in the main cast but it makes up for it by having my favorite Lead character so w/e). Graces has a fantastic battling system and probably the least annoying overall cast but one of the weaker stories. Xillia was a triumph so far imo on all fronts, but I felt like I didn't really connect with the Lead characters as much as I have with some of the others (Jude is so bland oml).
Anyway, geek out here please! I love hearing what others have to say about the games, good or bad (trust me I know their faults but love em anyway).