So I like Tales quite a bit, from what I've played. I liked Tales of the Abyss (though the loading times completely killed it for me, and playing it right after Symphonia also made me think the characters and the story were way worse, which I still think, pretty much), loved Symphonia, loved Vesperia(though I'm not done with Vesperia yet).

I'm also planning on playing both Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Destiny sometime relatively soon.

So I picked up Tales of VS, and found it really fun. Seeing lots of characters I didn't know also intrigued me, and now I am drawn to want to try Tales of Innocence and Tales of Hearts. If anyone can help me, first off, would you expect someone who pretty much only has experience with 3D Tales-games to enjoy 2D-tales, and also, are the DS-games (Innocence, Hearts) any good? I'd really like to try them out, but I can't say I feel like importing them if they aren't any good.

Get hearts, then wait for the Tales of Innocence patch. Hearts is the better game btw. I have both and they are great games.

What's the Tales of Innocence patch? O.o

I would avoid them unless you like playing games without knowing what the hell is going on (Unless you understand Japanese that is). If you think that the gameplay alone will validate your purchase, then go right ahead.

I would just stick to playing all of the English releases before you start importing though.

hearts its better, it feels more like a main line tails, something more like phantasia, as opposed to innocence that feels sorta like a spin-off or a game to try the franchise on the system.

I know japanese ^^ I regularly import games. I wouldn't think of importing an RPG if I didn't know what the hell was going on :)

Oops forgot to put translation before patch. Here is a video of it so far.

This all assuming you don't know japanese though.

Edit: NVM you already know japanese. Buy the game then. I still recommend hearts first.

Ohh, okay. Thanks a bunch for the consideration, but shouldn't be a problem for me ^^ So Hearts is better, huh? Then I should probably play Innocence first so I don't compare it to Hearts all the time, yeah?

Well the games aren't really similar enough for you to compare. You'll be comparing Innocence to 3d console tales of games more. Hearts plays like a faster version of Phantasia or Destiny, and improves their gameplay a lot, so I would wait until you get those two first. Story-Wise it is all preference. Both games have pretty good stories, and while I like hearts story better some others may like innocence. That is about it really. Since you didn't play Phantasia or Destiny yet,  get innocence.

Ahh, okay. Thanks a bunch, I'll wait with Hearts until I play Phantasia and Destiny, then. While we're on the subject, I was thinking of getting the PS2 remake of Tales of Destiny, is there any notable difference (besides that I'll have to play it in japanese), if you know?