Most games are standalone titles, so you can pick almost anything, like Final Fantasy and yes, Ys.
That said, if you start with an early game and play in release order, the pay-off will be greater since mechanics get much better.
Start with Phantasia PSX or Symphonia NGC.
If you only have time/patience for one game, play Abyss, tho.

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>>3909384
If you're interested in the 2D games, start with either Phantasia PSX or Eternia.
If you're interested in the 3D games, start with either Symphonia (first 3D game, most basic blueprint of a 3D Tales, good but with a thoroughly cliche anime story), Abyss (one of the most unique settings and easily the best story in the franchise, fan favorite to this day) or Vesperia (most advanced of the three, easily the game with the most quantity of side stuff, one of the best parties).

>>3909384
Anyone who didn't tell you Symphonia was a cunt.

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>>3909384
Begin at the beginning
And when you get to the end...stop!

none of the tales of games are as good or better than Ys 8 but start with symphonia and you'll enjoy the rest of the series more because you started with it

>>3909384
The entire series is shit, but Symphonia is the least shit, if that answers your question

Start with Symphonia so you only have better games in front of you.

>>3909786
>>3909537
>>3909518
>>3909790
Looks like symphonia is a good place to start, appreciate it

>>3909573
Really none of them? I the YS8 was excellent but is it really the upper limit of jrpgs? Can you give me a few jrps with a similar feel but that are better than YS8? (would play ffx but it's locked to 30 fps which is unbearable to me)

>>3909518
Are those knockers or kneecaps on the pink bitch

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>>3909854
Knees they be, lmao

>>3909842
star ocean 3 til the end of time

>>3909888
It's not on steam or gog is it worth firing up an emulator for?

Phantasia or Eternia for 2-D
Symphonia or Abyss for 3-D
Vesperia, Xillia or Berseria for modern
Ignore Arise, it's trash, only tourists and Final Fantasy fans liked it.

>>3910042
versperia isn't modern though, it's in the same group as symphonia/abyss.

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>>3909854
>>3909856
BIG PUFFY KNEES

>>3909573
>Ys8
Nice bait

>>3910042
>>3910059
Vesperia is almost 20 years old. "Modern" Tales started with Zestiria.

>>3910191
NTA but YS8 is legitimately an excellent game that still holds up to this day. You would do well to respect it...

https://hyouta.com/vesperia/?version=pc&locale=eng&compare=2

If you want to play Phantasia I would wait for Lifebottle to release their TOPX patch at the end of the month. It will be a definitive edition. This version has a faster combat with not spell pause which was removed from Eternia onward. It has more content sidequest than the PSX version and also has a lot of other QOL.

>>3909384

It´s mostly agreed that Vesperia is the best one and Abyss is not bad.

>>3910610
Rondoline is a mixed addition among long time fans and apparently they somehow managed to make Cress comically OP in this one.

>>3910610
The GBA additions were garbo and as the other anon said, Rondoline is fits less than Patty.

>>3910610
I dunno about that anon, playing the Ps1 version now and its incredibly charming. Spell pause is annoying but tolerable enough if you have the proper mindset. And I find it hilarious that the most optimal way to play Manual mode in PS1 is continuously doing the jump attacks.
>>3910653
Main reason why I didn't wait for ToPX english. Wanted to play authentic Phantasia between the SNES or PS1. Played ToPX when I was a kid and Rondoline is just jingling boobs to the original story.

>>3909573
Lies and propaganda. Tales begs shit because of fujos but it used to be a quality series

>>3909842
A person's favourite JRPG is really dictated by what world and characters really draw them in. That's why a lot of peoples' favourite JRPG will be one they played when they were young because they immersed more in the world and characters (this is FFVII for a lot of people)

>>3909384
Start with the PS1 version of Phantasia. That's where the formula came together and they only made 2 games before that (original Phantasia on SNES and Destiny on PS1).
It's a really superb game, the only hitch I can think of would be if you don't enjoy the combat. It didn't get old for me until the endgame, although if you play on hard the repetition might sink in faster because you have to manually nuke enemy spellcasters with your spellcasters immediately.

If you want something with faster battles, Eternia basically has two main characters as your starting party, a swordsman or a martial artist. And it's got the same peak Tales art style.
Or if you want 3D, you also have two clear choices there, either Symphonia, or Abyss for a similar quality game with characters who are a little more grown up and don't have chibi models.

>>3909384
It's a generally dull and safe series. You can just pick any of them to start. Tales doesn't have a good entry point or a FF7 to point towards.

>>3910059
>>3910192
Wrong, it modern Tales started with Xillia, and Xillia~Berseria all had recycled assets from Vesperia.

>FF faggot don't play or like anything else

>>3910610
>Lifebottle to release their TOPX patch at the end of the month.
Is it confirmed?

>>3910610
I think it looks and sounds substantially worse than the PS1 version. The game already has too much side content so adding even more of it is pointless.

>>3912955
X profile said one or twon months tops. That post was last month.

>>3913167
We're still in line to release at the end of the month. If there's a delay it might not be a very long one we have one monster book sorting bug left. Worse case we might release without the alphabetical sorting of the monster book. We already have plans for a 1.1 version with more QOL but we'll see when we tackle this.

>>3914895
Based, you guys are heroes.

>>3910648
Vesperia only gets a knock for the story and main villains motivation being hidden in easy to miss side quests

Thank you life bottle you guys are awesome