Yay! As this console generation (finally) starts to wind down, I'm coming up on what is but a handful of physical video games left for my PS3, and this Tales of Symphonia/Dawn of New World HD pack is one of 'em!

I'm not only interested in playing Symphonia again for all dat nostalgia, but also because the Tales series as of late has been getting progressively weaker; not only is the series so adamant to stay stuck in the past, but even the budgets are getting cut, which leaves you with games like Xillia, that can't even manage to retain the same gorgeously colourful and vibrant art styles the franchise is known for. As such, I've long wanted to head back to Symphonia in particular to see if I've simply grown out of this brand of game (the childish story/characters is the most difficult aspect to put up with these days), or if it all really is down to the Tales series itself and its speedy trajectory towards mediocrity.

I was at least fortunate to find that I still really enjoy Vesperia, though, so Symphonia will hopefully reinforce my opinion that it's purely down to Namco's handling of the series.

Guess I'm also curious in trying out the Symphonia sequel too, though I've heard nothing but bad things about that... DoaNW was post-Vesperia too, so it's like the Tales had hit its peek, and it could all only go down from there =/

I'm not sure where you've been, because Tales has never, ever been known for good writing. I'd argue that whatever good writing and characters in Vesperia exist, it is only by serendipitous accident.

Graces F in particular makes Vesperia come across as high art by comparison. Plus, the earlier Tales games (by which I mean Symphonia & Vesperia anywhoo) are able to lift up some of the questionable writing with solid voice acting, which is another aspect that the latter Tales games have faltered with. Symphonia in particular has an all-star cast! Jennifer Hale, Tara Strong, Cam Clarke, Scott Menville, Kari Wahlgren, Crispin Freeman... well, Freeman generally isn't that great, but he can still win over a lot of the cast in later Tales entries.