head to head
vs
Darksiders IIvsTales of Phantasia
Darksiders II leans Execution (Practiced Mastery); Tales of Phantasia leans Optimization (Practiced Mastery).
Darksiders IITales of Phantasia
Axis by axis
Execution6 vs 6
Even - both lean on execution about the same.
Reads0 vs 0
Even - both lean on reads about the same.
Variance2 vs 3
Tales of Phantasia leans harder on variance: Random encounter variance and TP management add modest unpredictability
Optimization6 vs 7
Tales of Phantasia leans harder on optimization: Spell and Artes sequencing and TP economy are learnable optimal strategies
Two games can score the same on an axis and still test it in very different ways - read each rationale, not just the number.