u/MoonlitElixir

I’m going all Jin in, here’s my shots and my mood/theme/haiku now:

Red leaves stain my path
No home waits beyond the gate
Snow sleeps on my blade

I’ve been craving to play Tales of Hearts R, a title I haven’t explored yet!

This game has been in the back of my mind for years. When it first came out, I wanted to play it so badly that I got a PS TV just for it 😆
And then for personal reasons at the time, I never properly played it.

What I’m hoping for is that it gets brought to modern consoles! honestly, I don’t fully understand why it hasn’t happened yet. I know Hearts R is already a remake/enhanced version of the original game, with extra content/ costumes, so it feels like the work is already kind of there.

Bandai Namco, please bring this title over already 🥲 You clearly cared enough to remake/enhance it back then, so it feels strange to just leave it stuck on older hardware now!

I don’t know if it sold well or how much attention it got back then, but it always felt like one of those Tales titles that just quietly vanished between other ones.
It would make so much sense if they just ported it to modern platforms. 👏

I watched a little bit of gameplay, it gave me that older Tales feeling that I really miss. The classic 3D style, the overworld map, the chef! and the general look of that era… it reminds me a little of Symphonia/Abyss, but still not there.

For me, Vesperia still has the best art direction in the whole series, and I really do love that older Tales visual style in general. Hearts R seems like it belongs to that feeling, even if it’s not on the same level as Symphonia, Abyss, or Vesperia.

And I’ll be honest the whole feel of the game and the main protagonist and female character do look generic. But I’m curious anyway!

So now I’m really wondering:

For those of you who played Tales of Hearts R, how good is it actually?
And do you think it deserves to be brought to modern consoles?

Also, for everyone what’s the one Tales game you so want to play and finally experience properly, but can’t easily access today?! ✨

Yeah… this Mongol somehow got stuck in the wall and started jumping on his invisible trampoline.. even Jin is stunned.

I’ve started this game multiple times over the years and somehow never made it much further than the first town 😅
I just always had another game I was more excited to play, and then every time I remembered how badly people talk about Zestiria, I’d be like… “maybe not today” and move on again.

But now I’ve decided: no more running, I’m going in!
I’m not expecting a masterpiece. I just want to finally experience it for myself and maybe understand what all the hate was about so at least I’ll finally know 😂

Part of me wonders if I should wait in case it ever gets remastered, but considering how this game is usually talked about… yeah, I’m probably better off just playing it now.
Also, I still remember how excited everyone was when it was first announced, and then how intense the backlash became later! That Baba producer times were truly something 🤣

I’ve been thinking about some of those lesser-known games that somehow stayed in my memory, even when I barely remember the full details anymore.

The first one, Ephemeral Fantasia, is the craziest to me because I didn’t even remember the name. I just remembered being really captivated by the characters and the lore. My memory of it is so vague, but I remember the protagonist being a musician who had to play in a town…

And Tsugunai: Atonement… ahh, this game was so unique. It had such a strange, quiet, spiritual feeling to it.
I honestly sometimes feel like I’m one of the only people who actually remembers or played it.

And then there’s Arc Rise Fantasia. Not as old as the others, but I remember it being such a colorful and pretty RPG but it wasn’t the best, It had that kind of “almost Tales like” look to it.
I know it wasn’t considered one of the greatest RPGs, and I definitely remember the hate it got for the English voice acting.
And maybe I’m remembering this wrong, but I swear some of the bosses had HP in the millions? That was wild to me.

Anyway, I love remembering these kinds of games.
Did anyone here play any of these?

Soooo I finished Ghost of Tsushima today, including the Iki Island expansion.

I’ve been playing it for about a month, and honestly, it was such a blast. I actually played it back when it first released, but I never continued it properly. This time I decided to go back, play the full game with the expansion, and actually finish everything.

I played it after Ghost of Yōtei, so in some ways Tsushima did feel like a downgrade to me when it comes to graphics, smoother gameplay, horse riding, and the overall modern game feeling. But I still enjoyed it so much.
I really appreciate how elegant the art direction is in the Ghost games!

So instead of writing a serious review about the whole game, I wanted to mention some of the more random things that stayed with me.

First: my horse. At the beginning, I chose a horse I regretted almost immediately. I think it was some kind of special/limited horse, but honestly… he was this muddy brown gray color and I just didn’t like how he looked 😭 The whole time I kept wishing I had chosen the white horse instead, especially because the saddles and cosmetics would look so much better on it.
So when the game later gave me the chance to choose a new horse, I was genuinely shocked and felt lucky!
Finally, I could choose a horse I actually liked 🤣
And the Sakai horse armor from Iki Island? So beautiful. So majestic. I loved it!

Character-wise, I don’t think I got attached to anyone in the way some games make me attached to party members. I liked Jin a lot, of course. And I also liked Lord Shimura. He has that strict, rigid, strong older-man charisma that pulls me in! I didn’t like how things turned later, but I still found him attractive 🙈

Now Yuna… honestly, at first I really didn’t like her. This is just my personal opinion, and I know people may disagree, and please don’t fight me 🙂
but her character design didn’t really give me main female character energy, in fact most of the peasant npc women looked just like her, even Masako looked much cooler and more unique than her.

I’m not asking for Final Fantasy beauty or anime-style perfection at all. I actually like realistic faces direction in this game. But I do think they could have made her design a little more visually pleasing. I really appreciate beauty in games, characters, surroundings, so I prefer when a character design has that extra touch that makes them stand out.
For example, in Yōtei, Oyuki has such a subtle mature feminine energy. She feels elegant, grounded, and pleasing to look at without being unrealistic or over the top.

But the funny thing is, Yuna actually grew on me. Usually, if I dislike a character at first, I don’t change my mind easily. But with her, I started to really appreciate her personality. She was supportive, loyal, and always there for Jin when he was at his lowest. She helped him, protected him, cared for him, and stayed by his side in a way that felt almost like family.
And when you learn more about her past and how she cared for her brother, it makes sense. After that, I couldn’t dislike her anymore. I still feel the same about her design, but personality-wise, I ended up liking her a lot more than I expected.

Last random point: the Eagle’s death was not satisfying enough for me, I wanted something more brutal after everything that witch did. I wanted Jin to end her the way he ended the Khan. For such a vile character, her death felt too normal and too quick. I wanted that moment to feel more intense 🥲

Anyway, these are not the biggest or deepest points people usually talk about, but they’re the things I kept thinking about while playing.
Overall, I loved the journey, and I’m really glad I finally finished it properly.

I don’t know if anyone else gets this captivated by katana kits, but some of them in the Ghost games are genuinely so beautiful!

From Ghost of Tsushima, my favorites are:

Sea Dragon’s Wing
Island’s Keeper
Warrior’s Faith

But my absolute top one is Immortal Hope.
That one is just extremely feminine and gorgeous. It contrasts so much with Jin but somehow it still works!

I think that’s part of what I love about the Japanese aesthetic in these games that even something made for battle can still be delicate, elegant, and beautiful.

And from Ghost of Yōtei, the designs felt even more elegant, so I had to choose only my top ones:

Lotus of Fortune
Silken Bloom
Spirit of the Mountain

They’re all stunning, but if I had to give one overall prize, I think Immortal Hope still wins for me. It just feels so beautiful and so me.

Which kits mesmerizes you in both games? 😵

I’m curious where everyone stands on the BiW at this point.

Obvious spoilers:

For me, I don’t believe he is completely pure or innocent, but I also don’t believe he is evil at all. I think he is good, but in a much more complicated way.

The MiY and whatever entity is behind him feel obviously evil. They corrupt, manipulate and seem connected to the darker side of the town. But the BiW is more interesting to me because he doesn’t fit into a simple “good or bad” box.

He has helped people. He helped Victor survive after the massacre, he has guided Ethan and Tabitha in different ways, although that can also be interpreted as to meet his own ends, and he clearly knows much more than he says. But he is also very cryptic, and I don’t think he wants to just hand everyone the answers. I really want to see him having a conversation with Jade and see how that plays out!

One thing I keep thinking about is what happened with Christopher, he tried to give him the answers, and Christopher couldn’t handle it. He lost it and now BiW believes people have to figure things out themselves instead of being given the whole truth at once.
He is helping, but not in a simple “I’m here to save everyone” way. I think he has his own bigger objective, and the people in town solving things is part of that bigger game.
It also feels like things are changing now. Victor has said before that things are different like changes in the weather and even the BiW is growing up.

Also I think that he and the MiY are almost like opposite pieces of a game. One side corrupts and traps, the other guides and pushes people toward the truth. But that doesn’t mean that his main goal is simply to protect everyone. I think his role is bigger than that.

I really hope next season explores him more. I want to know who he really is, what’s his name, when he first appeared, where he resides, and what his actual goal is.
Does he live somewhere in the town? Is he trapped too? Is he part of the children’s hope, or something more complex?

So what do you think, is he:
1. Good / trying to help
2. Bad / manipulating everyone
3. Neutral with his own agenda

My vote is 3. I think he wants to help, but I don’t think saving everyone is his main objective.

Obviously, I don’t even need to explain how breathtaking this game is. I thought Ghost of Tsushima was beautiful, but Ghost of Yōtei was on another level for me. It’s one of those games where I didn’t want it to end, because every part of it had something I enjoyed: the main story, the side quests, the combat, the customization, and just getting lost in the world.

What I loved most is that it still feels grounded and realistic, but never boring. The landscapes, temples, countryside, autumn colors, and sakura-like scenery felt so alive. Some of those places reminded me of real places I’ve seen in Japan, especially in the countryside, where the environment can genuinely look unreal. The game captured that feeling so well.

I also really loved having a strong female protagonist. Atsu felt tough, independent, and like a true lone wolf warrior. As a female player, I honestly enjoyed that a lot. If I ever imagined myself in a historical setting like this, I’d probably want to be someone like that: strong, dangerous, and surviving on her own terms.

The customization was also beautiful. I do wish there were even more armor options, but what we got still looked gorgeous. I liked that the outfits had style and detail without becoming too fantasy-like. Everything still felt believable for the world.

Spoilers below.

The one thing I really hated was Jubei dying at the end. After everything Atsu went through, it finally felt like she had some family again, and then she had to lose him too. I liked him a lot, so that part genuinely annoyed me. I also felt like the game moved past it a little quickly, maybe because Atsu had believed he was dead for so long, or maybe because her revenge was mostly tied to her parents or because she has a family now his daughter. Still, I wish he survived.

I also wish we had gotten more backstory about her father and Saitō, and the war before everything happened. I understood the main idea, but I wanted more flashbacks and more emotional detail. Saitō was interesting to me, and not just as the main villain. He had this quiet, intimidating presence, and honestly, he was kind of manly and attractive in a villain way, but I think his character would have benefited from more depth. Collecting his diaries made me want to know even more about who he was before he became what we know.

Overall, I really loved the game. It gave me exactly what I wanted from this series: beauty, atmosphere, strong combat, emotional moments, and that feeling of being pulled into another time and place.

Now I’m even more curious about the next Ghost game. The first game gave us a samurai hero, this one gave us a lone-wolf female mercenary, so what comes next? Will it be set further in the past or after Atsu’s story? I honestly can’t wait to see what kind of protagonist and setting they choose next.

I thought this would be a fun question for JRPG fans.
What was the first JRPG that really pulled you in and made you feel like, “Okay, this genre is special to me”?
Not necessarily the first JRPG you ever saw, but the one that made you fall in love with the worlds, party members, story, adventure, turn-based battles, or just that feeling of being completely absorbed in another world.

For me, I was around 9 or 10, and the games that really pulled me in were Star Ocean: The Second Story and Shadow Madness on PlayStation 1. My older brother was playing them, and I remember picking up the controller without really understanding everything, but I was completely charmed by the worlds and characters.
After that, JRPGs became my top favorite genre. I’ve played many different kinds of games since then, but there’s still something about JRPGs that feels special to me.

So what was your first “I love JRPGs” game and moment ?
Tell us about your experience on how you got into this JRPG world.

I’m honestly really happy that Tales of Eternia is getting remastered. I didn’t expect that one, and because of that, it actually gives me hope that Bandai Namco might be willing to bring back more of the older Tales titles too.

From what I’ve seen, there doesn’t seem to be any confirmed news yet about another older remaster after Eternia, but Bandai Namco has been talking about the remaster project continuing with older classics. So now I’m really wondering what could be next.

For me, Tales of the Abyss is the one I want the most.
Abyss was my real introduction to the series back in 2006. That game made me see Tales as one of the top JRPG series for me. I loved the story, the characters, the world, and the whole direction of it so much.

Then Vesperia came after, and I loved that even more. That Abyss / Vesperia era is still my favorite style and direction for the series, with Symphonia coming third.

As someone who has been a fan since then, I do feel like the series lost something in some of the later releases. That doesn’t mean I hate everything after that, but the art style, tone, charm, and overall feeling of the older era just hit differently.

I also played Legendia, but never finished it. And honestly, if they remaster more games from before Abyss, I would be so happy, because it would finally let me properly experience the earlier generation of Tales games in a modern way.

That’s why Eternia Remaster feels exciting. It makes me hope for Abyss, Destiny, Phantasia, Rebirth, Legendia, and the other PS1/PS2-era titles to have their moment again.

I really hope Bandai Namco sees how much fans would love to get their hands on the older games and experience the series more fully. There are so many people who either grew up with those titles or missed them completely because they were hard to access.

So what do you think happens next if we get another older remaster? Do you think Abyss has a real chance, or would Bandai Namco go with something like Phantasia, Destiny, Rebirth, or Legendia first?

For me, more older Tales remasters would not just be nostalgia. It would feel like finally reconnecting with the era that made me love the series in the first place.

My sister and I are huge Like a Dragon / Yakuza fans, so for her birthday back in November I took her to the wedding/funeral exhibition in Tokyo!

We took some wedding photos, I chose Kiryu and she chose Majima as our husbands 😝

and then we ran to FamilyMart to print them like they were actual wedding memories. It was honestly so fun!

We also did the funeral part, where we held white flowers for the dead characters.
The exhibition was really fun overall. It had simple little activities around the venue that made you feel like you were part of the game, which made the whole experience even better.

I just joined here so I thought of sharing 😼

After playing through the game, Saito really kept reminding me of Saddam Hussein 🤣

The beard, eyebrows, face shape, and serious expression kept giving me the same vibe. Once I noticed it, I couldn’t unsee it anymore!

For younger players who don’t recognize him, Saddam Hussein was the former Iraqi leader, it’s just a funny resemblance that kept distracting me while playing 😆

Does anyone else see it ?

I know we’re usually here overthinking theories and whatever nightmare the town is throwing at everyone, but I thought it would be fun to have a lighter discussion for a change.

What’s a scene in From that genuinely made you laugh, even if it wasn’t meant to be fully funny?

For me, two moments come to mind.
The first one is when the Matthews first arrived, and Victor wanted to spend time with Ethan. Jim was immediately suspicious of him and said something like he didn’t like Victor “because he’s a fully grown man walking around with a lunchbox!” 🤣
Jim was being completely serious, but that line was hilarious to me.

The second one is when the bus people first arrived and didn’t trust anyone in town. They were outside at night, completely clueless about what was going on, and then one of them just shook hands with a monster like this was a normal polite introduction. That scene was such perfect dark comedy. 😂
The monster being so calm about it made it even better.

So what’s your funniest From moment? The scene that made you laugh, or made you think, “I probably shouldn’t be laughing at this, but I am.” 😝

I really think Henry is one of the saddest characters in the whole show, and after the last episode, I’m worried something terrible is coming for him.

What Sophia did to him — making him drink that blood feels like it’s going to have awful consequences. I don’t think that scene was just there for shock. It felt like the beginning of something bad happening to Henry, and honestly, that makes me sad because he already feels like such a tragic character.

For me, Henry is also one of the best acted characters in the show. He feels real. Not like a “TV character,” but like someone you could actually meet in real life. A tired, emotionally destroyed father who spent decades living with the loss of his wife and children, never knowing what really happened to them.

What makes him so painful to watch is that he never really let them go. He kept their home, his kids room, Miranda’s paintings, their memories — everything. It’s like he lived for decades inside a house full of ghosts. Then this nightmare finally pulls him into the town, and he gets his son back… but not really. Victor is a grown man now, and their reunion isn’t simple. It’s awkward, painful, and heartbreaking because Henry lost a child, but the person standing in front of him is now an adult who survived a lifetime of horror.

Victor himself is also such a devastating character, and honestly one of the best and most interesting characters in the show. He was just a child when everything happened, and he became the longest-living person in this nightmare town. He grew up there, survived there, and somehow became an adult while still being emotionally trapped as that little boy who lost everything. That makes the Henry/Victor relationship even more heartbreaking to me. Henry is a father trying to reconnect with a son who is no longer the child he remembers, and Victor is a grown man who still carries the fear, confusion, and loneliness of that child. Together, they are one of the most fascinating and painful character combinations the show has created.

That father-son dynamic is honestly one of the most touching parts. Henry is trying to be a dad again, but he doesn’t know how. Victor is still wounded like a child in so many ways, but he’s also not the little boy Henry remembers. It’s sad from both sides.

The scene where Victor showed him the painting of the Man in Yellow eating his mother was devastating. Henry’s reaction really showed how much he still loves the family he lost. Even after all these years, their pain is still alive in him.

And then there’s Victor saying his dad is weak. I don’t think that was random. Victor also looked completely broken on top of Colony House, and we still don’t fully know why. Maybe he has some kind of intuition and feels that he’s about to lose Henry too.

I just feel like Henry’s story is heading somewhere tragic. He finally found Victor again after decades, but now it feels like the town is going to take him too. And if Victor loses his father after everything, that might be one of the most heartbreaking things this show has done.

Henry may not be the loudest character, but to me, he’s one of the saddest and most human.

I have seen this talked about before and I’m starting to believe it but with a different take.

I know a lot of people believe the night monsters are the parents of the sacrificed children, especially because of what Fatima said. But I’m starting to wonder if maybe she didn’t mean these exact monsters in the literal way we assume.

To me, the monsters being the actual parents never fully made sense, because their whole look and behavior feels too specific. They don’t really feel like random townspeople or families who sacrificed their children. They feel more like “characters” playing roles.

Think about it: the cowboy/policeman-looking one, the milkman, the old woman, the nurse, the bride, the cheerleader. They all look like archetypes, almost like theatre characters, dolls, or people from an old card game. Each one feels like they have a role or costume, not just a normal identity.

That’s why the Old Maid card theory is interesting to me.

Now that the show is making it clearer that people’s nightmares can become real in the forest, I wonder if the monsters were born from someone’s fear of that card game. Maybe Victor, or another child, was scared of those cards, and at some point that fear became real. Maybe the nightmare took the characters from the game and turned them into these smiling night monsters.

That would explain why they all keep that strange old-fashioned style. Their clothes, their “jobs,” their looks, and even the way they act feel like something pulled from a child’s imagination. They don’t behave like normal transformed people. They act like creepy living dolls.

It also connects with how often they talk about “playing.” They smile, they toy with people, they tease them, and they treat the killing almost like a game. That feels more connected to a child’s nightmare or a twisted card game than to normal parents who became monsters.

Maybe the forest/entity used them somehow, or maybe there are different layers to what the monsters are. But for me, the Old Maid theory makes more sense visually and behaviorally.

They look like characters from a game that came to life, became corrupted by the forest, and now follow whatever rules the place gives them.

Also, maybe this could explain why Smiley was hollow and empty inside. If the monsters are not “real” people, but something made from a nightmare or a game coming to life. They look human on the outside, but inside there’s almost nothing there. They feel like nightmare figures being reborn again and again.

We already know the dolls from the lake came out of a nightmare, and even after one of them was killed, the place still made a doll out of Roger? To me, that suggests these nightmare figures can keep being remade or reborn. So maybe the night monsters work the same way: they’re not just people who transformed once, they’re part of a nightmare that keeps recreating itself.