Quote Originally Posted by Midareyukki View Post
I've never played a Tales of game despite owning two: Eternia and Vesperia.

...ok, technically I did play a bit, but I couldn't get over the automatic combat bit. It felt quite boring, like I wasn't in control :x So I just ended up dropping it. Vesperia I got gifted, but haven't played it yet because of the experience I had with Eternia's start.
There are 3 control modes in Tales games. Auto, where the AI does everything, Semi-Auto, where the game will auto move you into position for the attacks after you hit the button, and Manual, where it does everything at your current position. You want Manual.