There's another thread floating around with FF13 vs ToG, and I noticed that most people in that thread seem to think of ToS (and Dawn of the New World) to be the worst Tales games ever, even going so far as to label them as crap games.

It's really weird for me to see this.. because while I hadn't played ToS before, my best friend Kevin absolutely loves that game and the sequel, and ToS is by far his favorite Tales game. So why does everyone here hate it?

I've started playing through ToS with Kevin for the first time and we're about ...15 hours in? I'm quite enjoying it so far.....

So where do your complaints come from?

I don't read too many people hating the first, but the sequel isn't terrible, it just isn't good either. Settles right into mediocrity.

the lead female was a loli... cant name anything else

It's not a sequel anyways, it's a spinoff. Or at least so I've heard.

I love the first one, but Dawn of the New World mediocre at best. Though it's not my favorite "Tales of" game, that doesn't change the fact that the original Symphonia is an excellent game.DotNW is ok, but it's really lacking compared to the other titles in the series, but that's due to it not being a "Mothership" title.

Sort of, but I think that it's a sequel to ToS, but a spinoff from the main series of Tales games.  Like FF X-2.  I don't view it as a main FF, but it's definitely a sequel to FFX. 

Besides, ToS2 is so much easier to type than ToS: DotnW

Well Tales of Symphonia borrows heavily from Final Fantasy X. Other than that, people loved it for being the best original (and maybe even the only) JRPG on the Gamecube.

I don't hate it, but I don't think it's any better than an average RPG.

Dawn of the New World, while I haven't got too far, was terrible from what I played. I'll go back to it, but I struggled through 5 hours.

ToS is an excellent game and one of my favorites on the GC.

"Borrows heavily"?

That's just softly put, ahaha.

I think I'm alone saying that I enjoyed ToS2 way more than ToS.