Symphonia
Vesperia
Abyss

those three are the best in story

but Xillia and Grace F have the best in combat but some of the weakest in story(though I think Legendia is the worst in story)

I've only played Vesperia and Xillia. Xillia was good, but Vesperia was a masterpiece.

I have Tales of the Abyss 3DS in my backlog, and I'll be getting Symphonia HD soon. Can't wait to play them.

Xillia 2

I liked Phantasia story as well.

Vesperia is the best by far, imo. The next tier would be Xillia, Abyss, and Eternia.

I'm surprised to see Vesperia winning. I thought old-time Tales fan would vote for Abyss or Symphonia.

I've been a Tales fan for a long time, and this is one example of a series that pretty consistently keeps getting better, unlike certain other series like Final Fantasy...

However my favorite was Vesperia for a long time, both the 360 version and the extended PS3 version. Graces F and even Xillia just couldn't surpass that marvel of a game. It wasn't until Xillia 2 that Vesperia lost its crown. Xillia 2 was about as close to a perfect Tales game as I can imagine. The combat, the story, the music... Zestiria doesn't even look close (so far), but I can't really blame Tales Studio. Those are some large shoes to fill.

Xillia 2 > Vesperia > Xillia > Graces F > Symphonia if I had to put some recent games in order.

Its a shame the PS3 version of Vesperia doesn't get a western release, otherwise I would buy it.  Its like the definitive version from what I read.

I've only played Eternia, Abyss, Graces and Xillia, but out of them, Tales of the Abyss was the only one I actually got drawn into, and it's the only one that's even remotely close to being played through. Probably has something to do with it being on 3DS.

I also own Symphonia: DotNW, but I haven't actually played it yet, since I want to play Symphonia first.

So my favourite would be Tales of the Abyss, though seeing how much you guys like Vesperia and Symphonia, my opinion might change once I actually play those (which will happen sooner or later).

Symphonia hands down, Lloyd would decimate any other Tales Of protagonist. (especially him in TOS:DOTNW.) Vesperia's story wasn't that great and all the characters (except Yuri) were very limited when trying to string combos. (Not to mention the coolest character Flynn wasn't even playable for any extent of time in the US version.)