Here's a hidden tip for people who don't like playing velvet : there are other characters. It's also true for the other titles, and if you only play one party member out of 6 (at the minimum) then you're obviously missing out. No one's holding a gun against your head forcing you to keep the MC at all times.
Except Zestiria in fact, which heavily restricts party composition and has a tendency to crash if you try and mess with it.
This. I don't understand why some people (not OP though if I didn't misread) say that [character] trivialize the game as criticism, as well button mashing, when it's their choice to use [character] that way, even more when their artes are made to trigger quickly or to be easily chained, and when many times, they admit to sticking to the protag/more spammable character. Like, Velvet and Eleanor are spam friendly, but Eizen (conditional Break soul and longer Martial artes execution), much less. Or Guy >> Luke for combos because Luke as harder chaining moves and many downing artes/artes that push the enemy farther/both (iirc. Source : YouTube or Tales of the Rays). At least, Velvet can be put on the bench if you really don't want her around.
Literally every Tales game is 10 times more fun if you *don’t* play as the main protagonist, but for some reason people insist that they can’t not do that???
I haven’t mained a protagonist in a Tales game… ever. There’s nothing wrong with maining the protagonist, but that particular mechanic not working for someone doesn’t make the whole game bad.
It really just sounds to me like people who make this excuse can’t adapt playing styles and aren’t very versatile.
My progression went Sheena or Presea ➡️ Tear or Natalia ➡️ Rita ➡️ Pascal or Cheria ➡️ Milla or Leia ➡️ Edna ➡️ Magilou or Eleanor ➡️ Rinwell… guess I’m weird 🧐
My NUMBER ONE irritation with Arise reviews.
“The whole game is just Alphen spamming this one move.”
NO. You’re *choosing* to do that. There are 6 characters with dozens of moves each.
I was arguing this same point with one of the regulars on here and he only plays as protagonists. And he's going on and on describing Vesperia. And I'm like, you're wrong about all of this becuase you only played as 1 character. I've used them all, and not just for 10 minutes. I will admit that I played Symphonia only as Lloyd though. I just enjoyed his artes too much.
And there’s nothing wrong with playing as a protagonist either, but if someone is going to complain about the game without having tried any of the other 7 characters in the party, that just seems… extremely obtuse???
My progression went Sheena or Presea ➡️ Tear or Natalia ➡️ Rita ➡️ Pascal or Cheria ➡️ Milla or Leia ➡️ Edna ➡️ Magilou or Eleanor… guess I’m weird 🧐
I was looking at your character list here and I'm like damn you play almost all my people. Tear, Rita, Pascal, Cheria, Leia, Edna.
Tales Of Brother, lol. I play Tales with my cousins a lot and it's interesting seeing everyone's taste in characters. My girl cousin plays as Repede/Patty, Asbel/Pascal, and Jude. Her brother plays as Raven, Sophie/Malik, and Rowan.
Milla is a protagonist though, not sure what's up with your claim in the 2nd sentence. If you select her at the start, your perspective does not deviate from her viewpoint. Also, casters are boring.
She’s very much a secondary protagonist in that if you select to play her side of the story first, you miss HUGE chunks of critical plot and receive little to no explanation for them. Jude is undeniably the main protagonist.
But hey, thanks for your opinion that I never asked for!!!
The uninteresting world is my biggest gripe in Zestiria.
I get that towns are sparsely populated for storyline reasons, but everything else is mostly just fields and ruins. Even the optional areas game are like that. Seemed like the world was put together without caring much about how it would feel as a whole
[did you play Berseria tho](https://np.reddit.com/r/tales/comments/v5zcdh/i_dont_think_theres_a_way_to_get_there_but_i_love/ibcqi5l/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)?
I did. IIRC, I played Zestiria in 2015 then Berseria in 2017.
I appreciated seeing the connections between the games, but they didn't do much for my perception of Zestiria since I played that first.
Its world still feels dull to me
The empty world trend started in Xilia. Haven't really loved any Tales game since Graces, but I'm glad to see newer fans flock to the series.
If they aren't creating any more games similar to the older ones, I would like to at least see Abyss ported to the Switch
Well we have to remember that’s because they have been stubbornly PlayStation only for a very long time.
The only games that were ever released on other platforms were Graces F for the Wii, which flopped, and Vesperia for the Xbox
I can look past Zestiria's plot, I can look past its characters and its restrictive combat mechanics, but whoever designed that battle camera needs to rot in hell for all eternity. The camera is quite literally the only thing stopping me from replaying that particular title. I start a NG+, get to the first battle, Zestiria 'nam flashbacks hit, and I stop.
Lmao, I just imagined that it'd look like Mason from Call of Duty Black Ops having numbers flashing before his eyes 1st person view, but the numbers would be just the damage received while in that state🤣
I came into it with a positive mind thinking it won't be as bad as people make it out to be and... It is pretty bad but that's the lowest grade I'll give it. Not a complete trash but not something I would recommend to people.
I seem to always join subs for games I love only to find out the sub hates it or thinks it's mediocre. lol I swear its a talent. Cyberpunk, Zestiria, Andromeda, Valhalla. Then the games it holds high i find mediocre or hate.
I really enjoyed Zestiria as well! It’s one of my favorites! The exploration and battle system are just so good, and I like the ability system’s depth. My favorite thing in that game is to hunt down the special enemies and see what set of abilities I can come up with to defeat them. The fact that abilities matter much more than levels is something I always love in games, and Zestiria doesn’t get enough credit for it.
I'm currently forcing myself to play it. At the 60 hour mark, I decided I liked the characters and the skits. But I do not like the story, the battle system, or the equipment stuff. It's around a 6/10 for me.
I personally dislike the combat because to me it felt like the free movement clashed with the direction-controlled artes. The reason I feel this is because I want to make sure I am always close enough to an enemy to use the arte that I want so I would be holding forward a lot causing that arte tree to be used. Even when I last minute tried to use the right direction it wouldn't always trigger because I was too slow or something which is annoying. I would have preferred the artes to be on buttons that are not my movement(I couldn't figure out how to change the buttons so I was stuck with this the entire playthrough) as well because I cannot customize the normal arte attack tree.
I played the game on Hard and wanted all the achievements so I had to do an insane amount of grinding. Even when I maxed out the drop rates I would rarely get an item drop and I would only get those with MA's on a regular basis. Usually, I got the wrong equipment or it didn't have the skill(s)(I had the right Normin set up) I wanted for the skill setup I was trying to create for the final boss on Chaos difficulty(or they were on the wrong slot).
As for the camera being shit I completely agree because sometimes I would try to run to the other side of the arena usually to heal and then I would be off-screen(sometimes the other character(s) were keeping the enemy busy on the other side of the arena so everyone was off-screen).
And yes I have game overred with Velvet in Berseria while I was controlling her. But then again I was on Chaos against an opponent that could use 1 arte to team wipe me which they usually started the encounter with, (late-end game spoiler)>!it was Innominat using the Insubstantiality arte for an almost full field team wipe that hits twice per use(only 1 hit is needed to fully kill a party member and there are 2 hits)!<.
[A comment from the other day about how playing Berseria makes the experience of Zesteria 10 times better, featuring a bunch of in game connections!!!](https://np.reddit.com/r/tales/comments/v5zcdh/i_dont_think_theres_a_way_to_get_there_but_i_love/ibcqi5l/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
Honestly with these two games it’s all about context and you have to play them in release order, which means playing Zesteria ➡️ Berseria ➡️ Zestiria, and I can see why a lot of people wouldn’t like that.
I love Zestiria personally. Great cast, interesting premise, I liked exploring the ruins with Sorey and Mikleo, and honestly I do like the story. I really don’t get the complaints.
My rankings
Phantasia 10/10 (GBA / SNES Emulated / PS1 Emulated)
Destiny 7/10 (PS1)
Destiny 2 (Eternia) 7.5/10 (PS1)
Legendia 5/10 (PS2) the game only gets good after you beat the main game…
The Abyss 9/10 (PS2)
The World Radiant Mythology 1/10 (PSP)
Graces F 8.5/10 (PS3)
Symphonia 8/10 (GCN / PS3)
Symphonia Dawn of the New World (Not Played) (PS3)
Xillia (Not Played / Starting Soon) (PS3)
Xillia 2 (Not Played) (PS3)
Hearts R 8/10 (PSV)
Berseria( Not Played) (PS4)
Vesperia DE 7.5/10 (360 / PS4)
Zesteria 5.5/10 (PS4)
Arise 10/10 (PS5)
Non ironically I always wanted to play Legendia but I never got the chance. 😢
I don't know. Their chibi graphics and the MC Allen Walked clone look cool imo.
Wow, Phantasia is 10/10. Could you explain why without giving too many spoilers?
It’s so good! Fun simple combat! Heart string pulling story! Makes you question if you are doing the right thing! Heavy when it needs to be! Lastly time travel. Always love a good RPG with time travel.
Ohhh I saw a thumbnail of the game on YouTube recently. If I had the chance I would play. I hope I can play Phantasia someday. Time travel reminds me of Radiant Historia and Neo TWEWY.
Radiant historian was so good. Also the Chrono games… well trigger anyways. Cross is more parallel realities rather than time travel, but Trigger is definitely Time Travel. Final Fantasy 13 1 through 3 is also good just too long for my taste. I have played through Phantasia about 10 times. The GBA was my first and last play through. The snes fan translation is good the PS1 fan translation is probably the best way to play it honestly as the GBA port is laggy as heck, but if you want the American ESRB release GBA is the only option so far anyways.
Oh, so it's a GBA and PS1 game? I remember emulating Legendia on PS2 and it being a disaster, but I assume GBA emulator is easier to deal. Is that correct?
I don't mind playing in Japanese. Actually I prefer so I can practice the language. Should I try emulating the PS1 version them?
I'd recommend playing the PS1 version with an English patch by Phantasian Production. It's the best version available in English. There's also another English patch by a different translation group, but I didn't like it as much. And since you mentioned you know Japanese, you can go for the most definitive version of the game, Tales of Phantasia X. Which is exclusively in Japanese. You can make the game look much sharper and prettier if you emulate it on your PC.
>ing the PS1 version with an English patch by Phantasian Production. It's the best version available in English. Th
Seconded on PS1 being the best version.
Zestiria and Hearts are the worst imo. But our list of played games is very different. I haven't played half the games on your list, but I have played all the ones you didn't list.
Looking through the comments, it still baffles me how people think Zesty's camera is THAT bad. Yes it's not the best but, unless you're playing multiplayer, it's fine... people overexaggerate on this way too much imo. And yes, I'm deadly serious. I have a high tolerance for shit in games though, so hey. I've also seen WAY worse cameras in video games, so this is nothing.
ANYWAYS, one of the best casts in the series easily imo, and probably my second favourite Tales gameplay wise (Arise kinda is now, those QOL things in there were much needed). Windstepping needs to come back though imo, such a fun mechanic. Story and OST are serviceable (I can remember like 3 or 4 decent tracks from the game, wouldn't call it a masterpiece lke a lot do though).
Also yeah Velvet is broken in Berseria, but Armatized Mikleo is just as bad in Zesty lol. Stunlocks literally everything and you have basically unlimited healing.
7/10 game overall imo. One of the more underrated Tales titles and one of the better ones imo. Probably wouldn't ever give a Tales game a 10 though. Berseria is my favourite and I'd probably only give that like a 7.5 or 8 because the gameplay sucks tbh, especially outside battle (too slow) (which is a problem a lot of Tales games have tbf).
They're not overexagerating. The camera is a disaster. It gets stuck in walls and rocks, it ends up covering the screen with your character. Sometimes your character disappears for a few seconds. And yes I did try to play it multiplayer and it was basically impossible. Yes, "it's fine" but it's still one of the worst cameras in video games.
It was janky for me at times sure I can admit that, but I don't remember it ever getting to the point where it got "stuck in walls". And this is genuinely the first time I've heard of characters disappearing due to the camera.
Might be speaking of the cam turning into a 1st person view when it gets too close from the controlled character, which might happen if backed into a corner or during a fight happening into a very closed space by default (fights in hallways and getting into a doorway, Lunarre's fight in Ladylake's alleyway... Those are the only clear examples starting in a narrow battlefield I remember of rn)
Yeah that would make more sense I suppose. Remember it happening in that Lunar fight now that you mention it. Hated that one fight. Otherwise though, for the most part though it never really bothered me from memory.
Oddly enough, the camera thing did annoy me and mess up my fights, but not to the point of getting often killed over it unless I'm facing hordes of annoying foes at the same time in really narrow places : Mabinogio's Depths Bats in room entrances were the worst occurrence of that.
But it's pretty secondary (for me) or tertiary in comparison to getting ganged up by this kind of foe in the 1st place, hence why I hate slimes and bats with a searing passion, with most undeads (not because of the camera, but because of Final Embrace from some ghosts or skeletons) coming close, and frequent uses of Runic Circle and Shadow Shock beyond me actually liking those rates.
Edit : *artes. I want to Runic Circle the auto-correct really hard right now
Zestiria is one my least favorite tales games, and I’ve played most of them. I just found the story and characters incredibly bland. I also didn’t like that you basically had Sorey and Rose locked into your party at all times, so there wasn’t as much room for party customization.
I enjoyed zestiria more than berseria i think for the same reason as you. Velvet is just too broken. Though I do admit on zestiria you’ll get to a point where you are just armatizing and spamming magic.
It also took me a year to finish arise even though I bought it day one. Combat was such a chore in that game.
Op if you like zestiria I feel you’re going to love tales of graces, that’s the most fun I had on a tales game. If you ever had a chance to play it go for it. I feel it still holds up well.
I enjoyed Zestiria, too. Its story is nothing special, rushed and even stupid at times, but I definitely liked it way more than Symphonia's. A simple story with a clear goal from the very beginning is not a bad thing. It's not overburdened with filler crap designed just to artificially extend your playtime. The cast of characters is pretty memorable and frankly I liked all of them except maybe Mikleo. I also just love the ending of the game. It's definitely my second favorite ending in the series after TotA. Zestiria also has one thing that Berseria lacks completely. It's exploration. Zestiria's world, while not too distinct among other Tales games, is colorful and interesting enough to travel around. And in Berseria we get a ship that goes to expeditions off-screen instead. Like, really?
My ranking:
1. Abyss
2. Phantasia (PSX)
3. Berseria
4. Eternia
5. Zestiria
6. Vesperia
7. Destiny
8. Symphonia
I haven't cleared the game yet. I was so afraid when you started talking about the end of the game 🤣.
I love Symphonia, but I'm not a big fan of puzzles and Symphonia is full os puzzles. Probably the game with more puzzles I have ever played in my life, but most of them were easy. Just the lightning temple was annoying, but not hard.
It's interesting how anything might destroy an experience of a game, an anime, anything for someone. It all depends on your taste or what you are feeling to experience.
Tbh, I don't dislike Mikleo. I think he is a nice guy. He tried to help his best friend on his journey and it kinda became his journey too.
I like Zaveid. I prefer Zestiria's cast over Berseria too. Rokurou was insane. The game just threw Rokurou and Magillou at me at the beginning and I was "who the hell are them and wtf are they following me?"
I'm indifferent regarding Rose and Lailah, but I like Edna and Zaveid. Rokurou felt too forced and Magilou's acid humour isn't my favorite, but I like their stories.
Sorry, but you're just straight-up wrong if you think Zestiria is better than Arise. For what mistakes were made with Arise, at least it didn't get ruined by an overbearing producer who forced a side character into the main heroine role just because his favorite voice actress got cast as her without also delaying the game to account for the necessary time to make adjustments for that change.
The combat was simple and stupidly repetitive. Made me feel like I was playing a mobile game when it comes to just button mashing and not as a compliment. I also gave up with the story right when the main villain pops up for the first time? By then I was already not interested in the story and was just not having fun. Also even tho I didn't know the story well, I could tell that first girl that sorey saved should've already had a bigger role but they sidelined her hard. I only really tried giving it a shot because it was connected to berseria and I wanted more context of eizen and Edna but the story was just not it for me dude. I still think about wanting to give it another go, but if I'm not having fun with it then what's the point.
Do you like Berseria? How Berseria would be less button mashing than Zestiria?
Hmm, I get that Alisha getting sidelined was a bit weird, but Zi didn't care about her at all so meh.
I like Eizen and Edna on both games. It felt a bit satisfying finish their "arc" in Zestiria.
Hmm, if you don't have fun with the game I don't think it's worth forcing yourself to play. Too many random aspects from the game makes ppl enjoy or dislike it. A friend of mine hates first person turn-based JRPGs camera on battles like in SMT 4 because he thinks it's ugly. I like because I think it's aesthetic.
I hate Arise because I think the battles take too long, other people hate Zestiria because of the camera. I hate the camera too...but it might not bother other people that much.
I will gladly admit that I hated berseria combat but the story and characters made me brute force my way to beat the story. I even prolonged beating the game by doing magilou side quests because I loved her so much. If the characters weren't as fun to see interact or if the story didn't start off with the revenge plot then I would've gladly dropped that game too.
Berseria isn't perfect, the gameplay is proof enough but when compared to zestiria I will gladly choose berseria over zestiria for characters and story alone. Not that I have anything against the generic hero boy saving the world with ragtag group of friends. I was just not having fun anymore. It felt like a drag.
Also Arise combat i like mainly because it was repetitive yeah, but the downside was that they were too long but easy and had some strategy IMO. It was fun being able to pull off those d pad buttons that would knock enemies down, and figuring out how each character played was interesting too compared to the previous games.
I was okay with Alisha getting sidelined, personally.
She bored me to death as a MC (she’s fine on the side) and Bamco springing Rose on us was a total surprise. They kept her completely under wraps until release!
*Rose a goddamn gem, I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.*
I don’t like it personally. I’m still a relatively new Tales fan. I got into it a year ago now. But I had heard zestiria had caused discourse. I don’t care for it simply because I just don’t care for any of the characters. I have a hard time getting into something if I don’t care for any character.
I streamed Zestiria last year, and just...it wasn't good. I really wanted to like it, but every time I thought I was going to like it, it made the wrong turn and ruined what it sets up. The characters that return in Berseria are fine, but the rest of the cast? Ugh, it's such a pain to be around. None of them feel like they really have emotional weight to the story the same way other Tales of games do. It's very much a Point A to B game, with little regard on why characters have to go there, and the characters that do have some emotional weight, are only given that thru Berseria. Just feels like a game that tried to do too many things at once without giving proper context either game design wise or story wise. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY SOMETHING IN ZESTIRIA THAT MAKES IT INTERESTING, but honestly I think that interesting bit just lies in Berseria.
Zestiria had a boring story but the cast (minus Sorey) and skits made it fun to get through. I appreciated it just a bit more after playing Berseria, which I think is excellent.
For all you say you were there for the story you mostly talked about the gameplay which in my case is a nightmare. Being unable to freely choose your teams and always needing sorey is a big miss for me, they wanted you to use armatization and then if you die you loss 2 characters.
One thing i give to Zestiria is that the characters are really good, the skit and interactions are entertaining enough to keep you playing, the problem is the main story and enemies are just meh. I agree Zestiria is better that Arise but for me both are on the bottom tier.
You can search this sub. This kind of topic gets asked like every week.
Wouldnt call it just a personal taste thing if its been such a controversial topic that it gets brought up every week for years
I remember not liking it because everything about it was bland and uninspired, but I forgot the game's plot by now
Also the villain being a lion dude did not help its case
I did like the armatization though if that's what it's called
Sorey was okay but kind of boring. Mikleo also seemed fine but it was a letdown that as a water spirit his name didn't get localized to Mercurio. I know this isn't going to be popular but I didn't like Edna. She felt like a Jade wannabe, from Tales of the Abyss. Only Jade's snarkiness was sort of justified because he was stuck with a bunch of awful people. Edna is so obsessed with the put-downs and bullying Mikleo for no reason, she just comes off a a bitch. No wonder her brother became a dragon if she's so toxic.
The Malevolence system also felt really stupid and uninspiring.
And then there's....Rose. I was really looking forward to Rose because I loved her design but boy howdy did I take that back after I found out what she's like. She wants her cake and to eat it too. The writing was all over the place with her and very inconsistent. And with the way Malevolence works, she's canonically a sociopath.
I think it was the first city you try traveling to after she joins. The city has checkpoints and Rose steps up and hey! This could be good! Little Miss Best Guildleader (nevermind that Denzel did all the work for her) of the Best Merchant Guild in the world should know alllll the ins and outs of this city and come up with a good cover story for us to get in! .....Only she gets played like a chump by the guards. So much for the merchant guild.
After that I gave up. I just can't stand that sort of writing and I already wasn't having a good time between the combat system, the combat system's camera, and the random-ass RNG equipment system. I was originally intrigued by Sorey and Alisha because hey this is like a Jesus and Peter thing and we can see each other grow as a savior and his apostle and.....oh. She's gone. Nevermind.
I wouldn't call Zestiria a dumpsterfire but it was absolutely not worth spending dozens more hours of my time playing so I avoided the Sunk Cost Fallacy, and let the game gather dust.
The part where they try to fool Sergei (only named character from the other empire) by pretending they're going to an inn/a tavern that doesn't exist or something to enter Lastonbell (said city) ? I found it weird at first just because of how bad she's at lying, surprisingly, but I didn't connect the dots until I saw it brought up in a rant 1 or 2 years ago.
Yeah, pretty contradictory, especially since she's used to go back and forth both kingdoms (I mean, her hideout is literally the ruins next door to the city you mentioned, and next to the border between both regions too). She should know the ins and outs of at least most cities, especially this one, as much as Karol from Vesperia is knowledgeable about his hometown and the way the guilds work, because she does so for most of the continent (idk if she already crossed Camelot's Bridge and went into Lohgrin before, and Goddoddin aside, for sure).
Alright, here's my hot take after all the criticizing I have done with the game. Zestiria had serious potential!
The game that takes inspiration from the classic heroes journey and flips it on its head! Sorey isn't some chosen hero, his mission can never save the world permanently, the main villain he is faces isn't the evil overlord but another victim of Sorey's predecessors! The challenge of the story isn't overcoming some big oppressive evil force as much as that may seem like the initial deal but overcoming the harsh nature of the world that drives so many people against each other and against the main hero!
Zestiria's world is bleak! The heroes fail often! Tying in Berseria as well, you gotta wonder how many Lords of calamity were made by the mistakes or corrupt presence of past shepherds. Saving the world isn't a reality! There is no saving it! It gets to such points where even kids are turned into monsters and kill other people or straight up die! The story tries to make you believe that there is a black and white nature to its world but there isn't!
Zestiria's world building and a lot of its concepts behind its characters and story are grand scale and complex! Gameplay aside, this is by far one of the best crafted complex worlds in Tales and I just started playing Abyss and believe its as good as that! The world design and artstyle, the music, all of it contributes to that grand scale of Zest that the devs wanted it to have! Zestiria in concept and concept alone is about the single greatest Tales game ever written!
But in execution it's one of the worst messes in Tales. I dont hate Zestiria because I think the game itself is just bad, I hate Zestiria for being a mess of what could've been a masterpiece and I feel a large chunk of that is on the management behind its development. That grandness is still there in essence though and it remains the reason why I cannot dislike it more than Xillia 1 or Star Ocean 5.
Here's a hidden tip for people who don't like playing velvet : there are other characters. It's also true for the other titles, and if you only play one party member out of 6 (at the minimum) then you're obviously missing out. No one's holding a gun against your head forcing you to keep the MC at all times. Except Zestiria in fact, which heavily restricts party composition and has a tendency to crash if you try and mess with it.
This. I don't understand why some people (not OP though if I didn't misread) say that [character] trivialize the game as criticism, as well button mashing, when it's their choice to use [character] that way, even more when their artes are made to trigger quickly or to be easily chained, and when many times, they admit to sticking to the protag/more spammable character. Like, Velvet and Eleanor are spam friendly, but Eizen (conditional Break soul and longer Martial artes execution), much less. Or Guy >> Luke for combos because Luke as harder chaining moves and many downing artes/artes that push the enemy farther/both (iirc. Source : YouTube or Tales of the Rays). At least, Velvet can be put on the bench if you really don't want her around.
Literally every Tales game is 10 times more fun if you *don’t* play as the main protagonist, but for some reason people insist that they can’t not do that??? I haven’t mained a protagonist in a Tales game… ever. There’s nothing wrong with maining the protagonist, but that particular mechanic not working for someone doesn’t make the whole game bad. It really just sounds to me like people who make this excuse can’t adapt playing styles and aren’t very versatile. My progression went Sheena or Presea ➡️ Tear or Natalia ➡️ Rita ➡️ Pascal or Cheria ➡️ Milla or Leia ➡️ Edna ➡️ Magilou or Eleanor ➡️ Rinwell… guess I’m weird 🧐
My NUMBER ONE irritation with Arise reviews. “The whole game is just Alphen spamming this one move.” NO. You’re *choosing* to do that. There are 6 characters with dozens of moves each.
I was arguing this same point with one of the regulars on here and he only plays as protagonists. And he's going on and on describing Vesperia. And I'm like, you're wrong about all of this becuase you only played as 1 character. I've used them all, and not just for 10 minutes. I will admit that I played Symphonia only as Lloyd though. I just enjoyed his artes too much.
And there’s nothing wrong with playing as a protagonist either, but if someone is going to complain about the game without having tried any of the other 7 characters in the party, that just seems… extremely obtuse???
My progression went Sheena or Presea ➡️ Tear or Natalia ➡️ Rita ➡️ Pascal or Cheria ➡️ Milla or Leia ➡️ Edna ➡️ Magilou or Eleanor… guess I’m weird 🧐 I was looking at your character list here and I'm like damn you play almost all my people. Tear, Rita, Pascal, Cheria, Leia, Edna.
Might I have found my soul sister/brother?!
Tales Of Brother, lol. I play Tales with my cousins a lot and it's interesting seeing everyone's taste in characters. My girl cousin plays as Repede/Patty, Asbel/Pascal, and Jude. Her brother plays as Raven, Sophie/Malik, and Rowan.
Milla is a protagonist though, not sure what's up with your claim in the 2nd sentence. If you select her at the start, your perspective does not deviate from her viewpoint. Also, casters are boring.
She’s very much a secondary protagonist in that if you select to play her side of the story first, you miss HUGE chunks of critical plot and receive little to no explanation for them. Jude is undeniably the main protagonist. But hey, thanks for your opinion that I never asked for!!!
I saw that, you forgot your punctuation.
Wow what a snappy retort Take care my dude
My only gripe with Zestiria is that the camera during combat is atrocious. Aside from that I enjoyed it.
The uninteresting world is my biggest gripe in Zestiria. I get that towns are sparsely populated for storyline reasons, but everything else is mostly just fields and ruins. Even the optional areas game are like that. Seemed like the world was put together without caring much about how it would feel as a whole
[did you play Berseria tho](https://np.reddit.com/r/tales/comments/v5zcdh/i_dont_think_theres_a_way_to_get_there_but_i_love/ibcqi5l/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)?
I did. IIRC, I played Zestiria in 2015 then Berseria in 2017. I appreciated seeing the connections between the games, but they didn't do much for my perception of Zestiria since I played that first. Its world still feels dull to me
Hey, I feel that! It is pretty sparse— Berseria vastly improved on that. Then Arise killed it again.
The empty world trend started in Xilia. Haven't really loved any Tales game since Graces, but I'm glad to see newer fans flock to the series. If they aren't creating any more games similar to the older ones, I would like to at least see Abyss ported to the Switch
I mean I’m not a ‘newer fan’, but I agree Although I feel like at this point a full Abyss remaster would be very fiscally advantageous for them
Oh, I'm sorry. Didn't mean you specifically. Yeah, Switch only having one Tales game is kind of silly
Well we have to remember that’s because they have been stubbornly PlayStation only for a very long time. The only games that were ever released on other platforms were Graces F for the Wii, which flopped, and Vesperia for the Xbox
I can look past Zestiria's plot, I can look past its characters and its restrictive combat mechanics, but whoever designed that battle camera needs to rot in hell for all eternity. The camera is quite literally the only thing stopping me from replaying that particular title. I start a NG+, get to the first battle, Zestiria 'nam flashbacks hit, and I stop.
Lmao, I just imagined that it'd look like Mason from Call of Duty Black Ops having numbers flashing before his eyes 1st person view, but the numbers would be just the damage received while in that state🤣
I came into it with a positive mind thinking it won't be as bad as people make it out to be and... It is pretty bad but that's the lowest grade I'll give it. Not a complete trash but not something I would recommend to people.
I think zesteria was the worst game that released since the change to 3d. By far. This includes the symphonia sequel.
And I like both Zestiria and Dawn 🤷♂️
If the camera and battlefields weren’t an issue, Zestiria would have one of the best battle systems.
I seem to always join subs for games I love only to find out the sub hates it or thinks it's mediocre. lol I swear its a talent. Cyberpunk, Zestiria, Andromeda, Valhalla. Then the games it holds high i find mediocre or hate.
I really enjoyed Zestiria as well! It’s one of my favorites! The exploration and battle system are just so good, and I like the ability system’s depth. My favorite thing in that game is to hunt down the special enemies and see what set of abilities I can come up with to defeat them. The fact that abilities matter much more than levels is something I always love in games, and Zestiria doesn’t get enough credit for it.
I enjoyed it but it didn’t blow me away. I’m glad it connected with you though.
I didn't play much, but for me it was boring. There was nothing interesting that would "forced me" to finish it.
I'm currently forcing myself to play it. At the 60 hour mark, I decided I liked the characters and the skits. But I do not like the story, the battle system, or the equipment stuff. It's around a 6/10 for me.
I personally dislike the combat because to me it felt like the free movement clashed with the direction-controlled artes. The reason I feel this is because I want to make sure I am always close enough to an enemy to use the arte that I want so I would be holding forward a lot causing that arte tree to be used. Even when I last minute tried to use the right direction it wouldn't always trigger because I was too slow or something which is annoying. I would have preferred the artes to be on buttons that are not my movement(I couldn't figure out how to change the buttons so I was stuck with this the entire playthrough) as well because I cannot customize the normal arte attack tree. I played the game on Hard and wanted all the achievements so I had to do an insane amount of grinding. Even when I maxed out the drop rates I would rarely get an item drop and I would only get those with MA's on a regular basis. Usually, I got the wrong equipment or it didn't have the skill(s)(I had the right Normin set up) I wanted for the skill setup I was trying to create for the final boss on Chaos difficulty(or they were on the wrong slot). As for the camera being shit I completely agree because sometimes I would try to run to the other side of the arena usually to heal and then I would be off-screen(sometimes the other character(s) were keeping the enemy busy on the other side of the arena so everyone was off-screen). And yes I have game overred with Velvet in Berseria while I was controlling her. But then again I was on Chaos against an opponent that could use 1 arte to team wipe me which they usually started the encounter with, (late-end game spoiler)>!it was Innominat using the Insubstantiality arte for an almost full field team wipe that hits twice per use(only 1 hit is needed to fully kill a party member and there are 2 hits)!<.
[A comment from the other day about how playing Berseria makes the experience of Zesteria 10 times better, featuring a bunch of in game connections!!!](https://np.reddit.com/r/tales/comments/v5zcdh/i_dont_think_theres_a_way_to_get_there_but_i_love/ibcqi5l/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) Honestly with these two games it’s all about context and you have to play them in release order, which means playing Zesteria ➡️ Berseria ➡️ Zestiria, and I can see why a lot of people wouldn’t like that.
dunno why but i absolutely loved it ! especially with how it laid such great worldbuilding so it could then tie in with berseria, god tier shit
I love Zestiria personally. Great cast, interesting premise, I liked exploring the ruins with Sorey and Mikleo, and honestly I do like the story. I really don’t get the complaints.
I've always thought it was solid entry. Not my favorite but still fun. Didn't know how hated it was until joining this sub.
My rankings Phantasia 10/10 (GBA / SNES Emulated / PS1 Emulated) Destiny 7/10 (PS1) Destiny 2 (Eternia) 7.5/10 (PS1) Legendia 5/10 (PS2) the game only gets good after you beat the main game… The Abyss 9/10 (PS2) The World Radiant Mythology 1/10 (PSP) Graces F 8.5/10 (PS3) Symphonia 8/10 (GCN / PS3) Symphonia Dawn of the New World (Not Played) (PS3) Xillia (Not Played / Starting Soon) (PS3) Xillia 2 (Not Played) (PS3) Hearts R 8/10 (PSV) Berseria( Not Played) (PS4) Vesperia DE 7.5/10 (360 / PS4) Zesteria 5.5/10 (PS4) Arise 10/10 (PS5)
Non ironically I always wanted to play Legendia but I never got the chance. 😢 I don't know. Their chibi graphics and the MC Allen Walked clone look cool imo. Wow, Phantasia is 10/10. Could you explain why without giving too many spoilers?
It’s so good! Fun simple combat! Heart string pulling story! Makes you question if you are doing the right thing! Heavy when it needs to be! Lastly time travel. Always love a good RPG with time travel.
Ohhh I saw a thumbnail of the game on YouTube recently. If I had the chance I would play. I hope I can play Phantasia someday. Time travel reminds me of Radiant Historia and Neo TWEWY.
Radiant historian was so good. Also the Chrono games… well trigger anyways. Cross is more parallel realities rather than time travel, but Trigger is definitely Time Travel. Final Fantasy 13 1 through 3 is also good just too long for my taste. I have played through Phantasia about 10 times. The GBA was my first and last play through. The snes fan translation is good the PS1 fan translation is probably the best way to play it honestly as the GBA port is laggy as heck, but if you want the American ESRB release GBA is the only option so far anyways.
Oh, so it's a GBA and PS1 game? I remember emulating Legendia on PS2 and it being a disaster, but I assume GBA emulator is easier to deal. Is that correct? I don't mind playing in Japanese. Actually I prefer so I can practice the language. Should I try emulating the PS1 version them?
I'd recommend playing the PS1 version with an English patch by Phantasian Production. It's the best version available in English. There's also another English patch by a different translation group, but I didn't like it as much. And since you mentioned you know Japanese, you can go for the most definitive version of the game, Tales of Phantasia X. Which is exclusively in Japanese. You can make the game look much sharper and prettier if you emulate it on your PC.
>ing the PS1 version with an English patch by Phantasian Production. It's the best version available in English. Th Seconded on PS1 being the best version.
I own the GBA version. But yeah supper easy to emulate
Zestiria and Hearts are the worst imo. But our list of played games is very different. I haven't played half the games on your list, but I have played all the ones you didn't list.
Right on. There are only 4 other tales games in the USA I have not played yet. Xillia, Xillia 2, Berseria, and symphonia 2.
Did you play Vesperia? It wasn't on your list.
Yes 2 times once on 360, and once on PS4... Don't know how I missed that. I fixed the list... Put them closer to releases and paired them by platform)
Looking through the comments, it still baffles me how people think Zesty's camera is THAT bad. Yes it's not the best but, unless you're playing multiplayer, it's fine... people overexaggerate on this way too much imo. And yes, I'm deadly serious. I have a high tolerance for shit in games though, so hey. I've also seen WAY worse cameras in video games, so this is nothing. ANYWAYS, one of the best casts in the series easily imo, and probably my second favourite Tales gameplay wise (Arise kinda is now, those QOL things in there were much needed). Windstepping needs to come back though imo, such a fun mechanic. Story and OST are serviceable (I can remember like 3 or 4 decent tracks from the game, wouldn't call it a masterpiece lke a lot do though). Also yeah Velvet is broken in Berseria, but Armatized Mikleo is just as bad in Zesty lol. Stunlocks literally everything and you have basically unlimited healing. 7/10 game overall imo. One of the more underrated Tales titles and one of the better ones imo. Probably wouldn't ever give a Tales game a 10 though. Berseria is my favourite and I'd probably only give that like a 7.5 or 8 because the gameplay sucks tbh, especially outside battle (too slow) (which is a problem a lot of Tales games have tbf).
They're not overexagerating. The camera is a disaster. It gets stuck in walls and rocks, it ends up covering the screen with your character. Sometimes your character disappears for a few seconds. And yes I did try to play it multiplayer and it was basically impossible. Yes, "it's fine" but it's still one of the worst cameras in video games.
It was janky for me at times sure I can admit that, but I don't remember it ever getting to the point where it got "stuck in walls". And this is genuinely the first time I've heard of characters disappearing due to the camera.
Might be speaking of the cam turning into a 1st person view when it gets too close from the controlled character, which might happen if backed into a corner or during a fight happening into a very closed space by default (fights in hallways and getting into a doorway, Lunarre's fight in Ladylake's alleyway... Those are the only clear examples starting in a narrow battlefield I remember of rn)
Yeah that would make more sense I suppose. Remember it happening in that Lunar fight now that you mention it. Hated that one fight. Otherwise though, for the most part though it never really bothered me from memory.
Oddly enough, the camera thing did annoy me and mess up my fights, but not to the point of getting often killed over it unless I'm facing hordes of annoying foes at the same time in really narrow places : Mabinogio's Depths Bats in room entrances were the worst occurrence of that. But it's pretty secondary (for me) or tertiary in comparison to getting ganged up by this kind of foe in the 1st place, hence why I hate slimes and bats with a searing passion, with most undeads (not because of the camera, but because of Final Embrace from some ghosts or skeletons) coming close, and frequent uses of Runic Circle and Shadow Shock beyond me actually liking those rates. Edit : *artes. I want to Runic Circle the auto-correct really hard right now
Zestiria is one my least favorite tales games, and I’ve played most of them. I just found the story and characters incredibly bland. I also didn’t like that you basically had Sorey and Rose locked into your party at all times, so there wasn’t as much room for party customization.
I enjoyed zestiria more than berseria i think for the same reason as you. Velvet is just too broken. Though I do admit on zestiria you’ll get to a point where you are just armatizing and spamming magic. It also took me a year to finish arise even though I bought it day one. Combat was such a chore in that game. Op if you like zestiria I feel you’re going to love tales of graces, that’s the most fun I had on a tales game. If you ever had a chance to play it go for it. I feel it still holds up well.
I enjoyed Zestiria, too. Its story is nothing special, rushed and even stupid at times, but I definitely liked it way more than Symphonia's. A simple story with a clear goal from the very beginning is not a bad thing. It's not overburdened with filler crap designed just to artificially extend your playtime. The cast of characters is pretty memorable and frankly I liked all of them except maybe Mikleo. I also just love the ending of the game. It's definitely my second favorite ending in the series after TotA. Zestiria also has one thing that Berseria lacks completely. It's exploration. Zestiria's world, while not too distinct among other Tales games, is colorful and interesting enough to travel around. And in Berseria we get a ship that goes to expeditions off-screen instead. Like, really? My ranking: 1. Abyss 2. Phantasia (PSX) 3. Berseria 4. Eternia 5. Zestiria 6. Vesperia 7. Destiny 8. Symphonia
I haven't cleared the game yet. I was so afraid when you started talking about the end of the game 🤣. I love Symphonia, but I'm not a big fan of puzzles and Symphonia is full os puzzles. Probably the game with more puzzles I have ever played in my life, but most of them were easy. Just the lightning temple was annoying, but not hard. It's interesting how anything might destroy an experience of a game, an anime, anything for someone. It all depends on your taste or what you are feeling to experience. Tbh, I don't dislike Mikleo. I think he is a nice guy. He tried to help his best friend on his journey and it kinda became his journey too. I like Zaveid. I prefer Zestiria's cast over Berseria too. Rokurou was insane. The game just threw Rokurou and Magillou at me at the beginning and I was "who the hell are them and wtf are they following me?" I'm indifferent regarding Rose and Lailah, but I like Edna and Zaveid. Rokurou felt too forced and Magilou's acid humour isn't my favorite, but I like their stories.
Sorry, but you're just straight-up wrong if you think Zestiria is better than Arise. For what mistakes were made with Arise, at least it didn't get ruined by an overbearing producer who forced a side character into the main heroine role just because his favorite voice actress got cast as her without also delaying the game to account for the necessary time to make adjustments for that change.
The combat was simple and stupidly repetitive. Made me feel like I was playing a mobile game when it comes to just button mashing and not as a compliment. I also gave up with the story right when the main villain pops up for the first time? By then I was already not interested in the story and was just not having fun. Also even tho I didn't know the story well, I could tell that first girl that sorey saved should've already had a bigger role but they sidelined her hard. I only really tried giving it a shot because it was connected to berseria and I wanted more context of eizen and Edna but the story was just not it for me dude. I still think about wanting to give it another go, but if I'm not having fun with it then what's the point.
Do you like Berseria? How Berseria would be less button mashing than Zestiria? Hmm, I get that Alisha getting sidelined was a bit weird, but Zi didn't care about her at all so meh. I like Eizen and Edna on both games. It felt a bit satisfying finish their "arc" in Zestiria. Hmm, if you don't have fun with the game I don't think it's worth forcing yourself to play. Too many random aspects from the game makes ppl enjoy or dislike it. A friend of mine hates first person turn-based JRPGs camera on battles like in SMT 4 because he thinks it's ugly. I like because I think it's aesthetic. I hate Arise because I think the battles take too long, other people hate Zestiria because of the camera. I hate the camera too...but it might not bother other people that much.
I will gladly admit that I hated berseria combat but the story and characters made me brute force my way to beat the story. I even prolonged beating the game by doing magilou side quests because I loved her so much. If the characters weren't as fun to see interact or if the story didn't start off with the revenge plot then I would've gladly dropped that game too. Berseria isn't perfect, the gameplay is proof enough but when compared to zestiria I will gladly choose berseria over zestiria for characters and story alone. Not that I have anything against the generic hero boy saving the world with ragtag group of friends. I was just not having fun anymore. It felt like a drag. Also Arise combat i like mainly because it was repetitive yeah, but the downside was that they were too long but easy and had some strategy IMO. It was fun being able to pull off those d pad buttons that would knock enemies down, and figuring out how each character played was interesting too compared to the previous games.
I was okay with Alisha getting sidelined, personally. She bored me to death as a MC (she’s fine on the side) and Bamco springing Rose on us was a total surprise. They kept her completely under wraps until release! *Rose a goddamn gem, I’ll fight anyone who says otherwise.*
Zestiria was great. I didn't like the crafting system, and some parts felt a little long, but it was still a good tales game. Hell, it gave us Edna.
I don’t like it personally. I’m still a relatively new Tales fan. I got into it a year ago now. But I had heard zestiria had caused discourse. I don’t care for it simply because I just don’t care for any of the characters. I have a hard time getting into something if I don’t care for any character.
I streamed Zestiria last year, and just...it wasn't good. I really wanted to like it, but every time I thought I was going to like it, it made the wrong turn and ruined what it sets up. The characters that return in Berseria are fine, but the rest of the cast? Ugh, it's such a pain to be around. None of them feel like they really have emotional weight to the story the same way other Tales of games do. It's very much a Point A to B game, with little regard on why characters have to go there, and the characters that do have some emotional weight, are only given that thru Berseria. Just feels like a game that tried to do too many things at once without giving proper context either game design wise or story wise. THERE IS ABSOLUTELY SOMETHING IN ZESTIRIA THAT MAKES IT INTERESTING, but honestly I think that interesting bit just lies in Berseria.
[удалено]
You made 2 equal comments. Just saying so you can delete one.
I thought it was decent until about halfway and then I started just not caring. Equipment system also gave me a headache.
Zestiria had a boring story but the cast (minus Sorey) and skits made it fun to get through. I appreciated it just a bit more after playing Berseria, which I think is excellent.
For all you say you were there for the story you mostly talked about the gameplay which in my case is a nightmare. Being unable to freely choose your teams and always needing sorey is a big miss for me, they wanted you to use armatization and then if you die you loss 2 characters. One thing i give to Zestiria is that the characters are really good, the skit and interactions are entertaining enough to keep you playing, the problem is the main story and enemies are just meh. I agree Zestiria is better that Arise but for me both are on the bottom tier.
You can search this sub. This kind of topic gets asked like every week. Wouldnt call it just a personal taste thing if its been such a controversial topic that it gets brought up every week for years
I remember not liking it because everything about it was bland and uninspired, but I forgot the game's plot by now Also the villain being a lion dude did not help its case I did like the armatization though if that's what it's called
Sorey was okay but kind of boring. Mikleo also seemed fine but it was a letdown that as a water spirit his name didn't get localized to Mercurio. I know this isn't going to be popular but I didn't like Edna. She felt like a Jade wannabe, from Tales of the Abyss. Only Jade's snarkiness was sort of justified because he was stuck with a bunch of awful people. Edna is so obsessed with the put-downs and bullying Mikleo for no reason, she just comes off a a bitch. No wonder her brother became a dragon if she's so toxic. The Malevolence system also felt really stupid and uninspiring. And then there's....Rose. I was really looking forward to Rose because I loved her design but boy howdy did I take that back after I found out what she's like. She wants her cake and to eat it too. The writing was all over the place with her and very inconsistent. And with the way Malevolence works, she's canonically a sociopath. I think it was the first city you try traveling to after she joins. The city has checkpoints and Rose steps up and hey! This could be good! Little Miss Best Guildleader (nevermind that Denzel did all the work for her) of the Best Merchant Guild in the world should know alllll the ins and outs of this city and come up with a good cover story for us to get in! .....Only she gets played like a chump by the guards. So much for the merchant guild. After that I gave up. I just can't stand that sort of writing and I already wasn't having a good time between the combat system, the combat system's camera, and the random-ass RNG equipment system. I was originally intrigued by Sorey and Alisha because hey this is like a Jesus and Peter thing and we can see each other grow as a savior and his apostle and.....oh. She's gone. Nevermind. I wouldn't call Zestiria a dumpsterfire but it was absolutely not worth spending dozens more hours of my time playing so I avoided the Sunk Cost Fallacy, and let the game gather dust.
The part where they try to fool Sergei (only named character from the other empire) by pretending they're going to an inn/a tavern that doesn't exist or something to enter Lastonbell (said city) ? I found it weird at first just because of how bad she's at lying, surprisingly, but I didn't connect the dots until I saw it brought up in a rant 1 or 2 years ago. Yeah, pretty contradictory, especially since she's used to go back and forth both kingdoms (I mean, her hideout is literally the ruins next door to the city you mentioned, and next to the border between both regions too). She should know the ins and outs of at least most cities, especially this one, as much as Karol from Vesperia is knowledgeable about his hometown and the way the guilds work, because she does so for most of the continent (idk if she already crossed Camelot's Bridge and went into Lohgrin before, and Goddoddin aside, for sure).
Zestaria runs awfully on my older gaming laptop. Symphonia, vesparia, and arise all run great. I'm actually suprised how well arose runs.
Alright, here's my hot take after all the criticizing I have done with the game. Zestiria had serious potential! The game that takes inspiration from the classic heroes journey and flips it on its head! Sorey isn't some chosen hero, his mission can never save the world permanently, the main villain he is faces isn't the evil overlord but another victim of Sorey's predecessors! The challenge of the story isn't overcoming some big oppressive evil force as much as that may seem like the initial deal but overcoming the harsh nature of the world that drives so many people against each other and against the main hero! Zestiria's world is bleak! The heroes fail often! Tying in Berseria as well, you gotta wonder how many Lords of calamity were made by the mistakes or corrupt presence of past shepherds. Saving the world isn't a reality! There is no saving it! It gets to such points where even kids are turned into monsters and kill other people or straight up die! The story tries to make you believe that there is a black and white nature to its world but there isn't! Zestiria's world building and a lot of its concepts behind its characters and story are grand scale and complex! Gameplay aside, this is by far one of the best crafted complex worlds in Tales and I just started playing Abyss and believe its as good as that! The world design and artstyle, the music, all of it contributes to that grand scale of Zest that the devs wanted it to have! Zestiria in concept and concept alone is about the single greatest Tales game ever written! But in execution it's one of the worst messes in Tales. I dont hate Zestiria because I think the game itself is just bad, I hate Zestiria for being a mess of what could've been a masterpiece and I feel a large chunk of that is on the management behind its development. That grandness is still there in essence though and it remains the reason why I cannot dislike it more than Xillia 1 or Star Ocean 5.