I’ve snuck into some facility with my crew to rescue Kohaku, who has been kidnapped. The traitor in my party has betrayed me and has been easily forgiven. I’m beginning to think easily-forgiven traitors are a staple of Tales games, since every game I’ve played or read about seems to have at least one. I imagine fans must have a good time playing “Spot the Traitor” as soon as the first characters are announced.
Anyway, that’s just by the way. After 20 hours my feelings for Tales of Hearts still fluctuate by the hour. Sometimes I really like it, most times it’s just okay and sometimes I wonder why I’m still playing. That happens to me a lot at late points in games, when I realize I could just watch the rest on Youtube and be done with it. Especially when I’m in a dungeon I’m not enjoying at all, as in the case of this Niberg facility thingy we’ve snuck into. I want to do another Spiria dungeon! I never thought I’d say that, but Spiria dungeons are more fun than regular ones because there are fewer monsters roaming around and no puzzles to solve. More importantly I just want this game to be over soon.
I did a little googling to find out how long it takes to beat Tales of Hearts. 36 hours on average? 16 more hours? I don’t think I’m going to make it. I can stomach maybe ONE more dungeon after this one, 2 if they’re really short and if the monsters drop lots of Soma Build items because soma building is FUN. Maybe it will be over sooner because I’m on Easy Mode. Either I finish this game in the next 5 hours or I drop it and Let’s Play the rest. I have spoken.
I want to play Entaku no Seito again…
Alas, 36 hours is no overestimation: Tales of Hearts is one of these RPGs that overstay their welcome. When I hit the 18 hours mark, I was convinced that the end was near; had I known that the game would force another 20 hours down my throat, I think I would have given up on the spot. However, now that the deed is done, I’m quite glad that I soldiered on until the end! 😀
Yeah I’ve hit the part where Creed appears and I thought for sure I was headed into the endgame, but it seems like there’s still more to come. *sigh*