After creating my "I Need RPG's" thread, I took it upon myself to contact a friend of mine that has way too many games.  I hadn't spoken to him in a few years and I told him that I was having a huge craving for RPG's.  Well, he let me borrow his whole PS collection (he has more, SNES and such but I figured one console at a time would be best).

After borrowing his collection, which consisted of more than RPG's.  I went through every game, more than a few hours each and I decided on these, the ones I need to get myself. 

Brave Fencer Mushashi

Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

Castlevania: Chronicles

Einhander

Alundra

Alundra 2

Arc the Lad Collection

Breath of Fire III

Breath of Fire IV

Dragon Warrior VII

Grandia

The Legend of Dragoon

The Legend of Mana

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete

Persona

Persona 2: Eternal Punishment

Saiyuki: Journey West

Suikoden

Suikoden II

Thousand Arms

Threads of Fate

Ok, a slightly long list that is made of up mostly RPG's.  I'm still kind of iffy on SaGa Frontier 1 and 2.  I'm aslo not sure about Vandal Hearts 1 and 2 and the Wild ARMs series (mainly because I am OCD and if i get one game in a series I have to get the rest and I have checked out videos on the most recent Wild ARMs games for PS2 and the battle system seems strange as hell). 

Anyways, to the topic.  The Tales series.  I tried my best to fall in love with Tales of Destiny 1 and 2 and I tried my best to rationalized the posibility of getting the rest of the games in the series (most of which got good reviews).  But I just could not get over the battle system and I read up on the rest of the games and they all have similar battle systems and I've seen that a lot of people here love it and I want to love it too and I thought the story that I saw in Tales of Destiny 1 was great but the battle system just made me turn the game off.  I feel sad that I missed out on seeing the outcome of the story.  I can say the same thing for Granstream Saga.  The story was going great but I couldn't get over the characters not having faces and the horrible battle system. 

This brings me to my ultimate question of this topic.  Should I suck up the battle system just for the story, and let it be known that if I do it for Tales of Destiny I gotta do it for the rest of the series (for my OCDness).  Is it worth it, should I just say screw it and move on?

Note for those who reply: If you wonder why I left some great games off my list of PS games, I probably already own them.  Check out my I Need RPG's thread to see what I have there and I'll add that I own MGS, Resident Evil 1-3 and Silent Hill, if you can think of any other games that were great, review wise or just your opinon, let me know.  I won't hide the fact that I arrived late into the PS1 era and I tried my best to get the best games for it.  It wasn't that I didn't want one, I just had a NES, Genesis and an Nintendo 64 (I only got it by putting it on layaway, thanks to my cheap dad who hated technology, nothing against him, RIP dad).

Hmm the battle system in Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Abyss and Tales of Vesperia are not in 2d side battle format. (I know I didn't answer you question)
 
Also too much text for me to read....it is too late at night.

I'll forgive you for not reading all of it.  I do the same thing alot and I hate making long posts.  I've been drinkin with the gf and I guess I got carried away.  I think I've only created a thread here when I was under the influence of beer and RUM!

I guess I can add that it's not simply the 2d way of the battles, but the way it goes about it.  I mean, you say those games are not so much 2d but if they are 3d and I assume they are,  is it still similar.  I'm going to admit now that I'm a huge fan of the classic turn based RPG. 

I'm also sorry that while I wanted my thread to focus on the Tales series, I let it slip and become a lot more about RPG's in general.

The answer to your question is no. Tales is fine if you enjoy the battle system, especially if you have someone to play co-op with, but no story is worth investing sixty hours into a game you don't enjoy. I wouldn't recommend any Zelda or Final Fantasy or even Shadow of the Colossus to someone who hates the gameplay.

I recommend against it.

It's alright, but I am might not be the best person to answer your question... because I am what some people might call a Tales Fanboy! I would honestly tell you to put up with the battle system for the story, but that might be the fanboy talking. I will also tell you that 2d battle format is in my eyes is a lot different than tales in the 3d format.

Also for sure play Suikoden 1+2! Zexen_Lowe would be proud!

Sorry for being off-topic, but you're getting Castlevania: Symphony of the Night. I APPROVE!

I would advise against it. Tales games are known for cliche'd or atlest uninspired stories and compelling gameplay. If you don't like the gameplay, I truly don't think that the story will be enough to make up for it. I have only played one Tales game personally, this is just my general impression about the series from others.

If you really don't like the battles, you should let it be. Let me tell you though that I played both Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Symphonia, and I hated the battle system at the beginning of both games. I think that when you start the game, the battles are not fun yet, you are often very close to die and you don't know to make the good moves yet. After a little while though, you have enough HP and skills to win most battles easily and you start out trying all the great moves and combos.
So my answer is: If you already reached that point and still didn't like it, you should forget about the series. If you have just played it for a little while, you should invest some more time because you miss out on a great series otherwise.

Sorry to revive a slightly old thread of mine but I thought it would be nice to let those who love the Tales series and those who replied to my topic that I indeed gave the PS1 games another chance and I've been getting used to the battle system. 

Tales of Destiny II (Eternia as I have found out) really helped me to pull through.  I love the stories, I pushed onward and it's getting to be more enjoyable (the battle system that is). 

And on a side note, I am really really pumped for the PS3 version of Tales of Vesperia.  Now I just need to get caught up on the many other games in the franchise.

A new Tales fan is born.

thousand arms good good good

you should get tales of phantasia for the ps1