I've only played one Tales game and that was Tales of Xillia. I really liked that game, and was wondering how this game stacks up against that if you or anyone else reading has played both.
Kind of had the same problem with Xillia, never really knowing how to pull of combos. The characters and sense of humor were a lot of fun and kept me going.
They have a bunch of PS2 games on PS4 for cheap right now, and I myself am enjoying Rogue Galaxy, and I picked up Dark Cloud 1 and 2. All 3 are $7.49 each, good prices for the amount of game you'll get.