Official Score
Overall - 8
8
For anyone burnt by Tales Of Zesteria, this game is a step in the right direction. Anyone looking for a long, combat-rich JRPG with interesting characters should pick it up. It isn't going to change your opinion of the genre as a whole, but it does enough right to set it apart from other games like it.
Tales of Beseria takes place shortly before the last Tales game, Tales of Zesteria. Does this JRPG do enough to separate itself from Zestiria, or are you in for more of the same? Check out our Tales Of Berseria Review to find out more.
Tales Of Berseria Honest Game Review
Tales games have always had pretty hefty stories, and Beseria is no different. Headlining this title is Velvet, a young woman cursed with a demon arm she uses to feed off others. This happens after she loses everything to the main villain of the game, Arthur. This story is a much darker tale then those the series is known for. In fact, there are points where you will feel like you are the bad guy. At first glance, Velvet is only interested in revenge, and doesn’t care who gets sacrificed along the way. As the story goes on, however, she becomes more humanized due to her companions. The story was fine, but it really did start to drag on towards the end.
Tales of Beseria truly shines in its character development. Everyone felt unique and, more importantly, played differently from one other. It isn’t just how they play, but how the interact with each other. Some of the characters don’t mind the destruction Velvet leaves behind, but others are bothered by how she handles situations. This will sometimes result in a fight with a teammate or possibly even a revelation. The game really became more about the bond forming in my team more than it did facing off with Arthur. If you like a game with good characters and character development, then you will most likely enjoy this.
Combat has been refined in the game, and is a little less hectic now. All face buttons are now utilized to chain combos, instead of doing different stick angles to switch up moves. You can also just use X to have the game choose your attacks, making it much easier for casual players to get through the game without spending a ton of time on its Artes menu. Said Artes are your attacks and magic attacks. Depending on what you face, enemies will be weak to elements or just physical attacks. You don’t have to overthink battles, as the game lets you see what enemies are weak to with a press of a button. Now while it is less hectic, it doesn’t mean it is a walk in the park. In the heat of battle there will be a lot going on. Sometimes you can lose sight your character, or the camera may go wonky. Due to the combat system of Tales, I’m not really sure how they can fix it, but is is still noticeable.
Another huge factor playing into combat is Velvet’s demon arm. Hitting the R2 button mid-combo has Velvet swinging out her Demon Arm to extend her attacks and change-up a few of her moves. However, this does come at a cost. You can keep hitting R2 before you combo finishes to extend the combo, but you will lose HP as long as the arm is out. The benefit is Velvet will do a finishing move at the end of her combo that can do massive damage or hit multiple enemies. All characters have a move similar to this, but Velvet’s demon arm works the best in my opinion. It makes extending combos in combat much easier than in previous games.
A big issue I take with this game, same as the last game, is the lack of interesting side content. There are a few side missions in the game, a ship minigame, and some weird little mini games that let you unlock a few new outfits. The ship mini game is literally you just sending out a boat and waiting 30 minutes until the boat comes back with loot. I’m not sure why there is such a lack of side missions, because you do a ton of backtracking in this game. You can’t really fast travel like you would expect due to how the game is designed. You go between islands on your boat, so you can’t just warp to any island. Even then, you are restricted for a long time on where you can and can’t go. If I am already going back and forth between these places, give me a little extra to do.
The game can either be in English or Japanese with English subtitles. The soundtrack is great, with a specific shout out to Magilou’s theme. Even the different zones have great music. The snow areas have a sound of hopeless wonder and the beaches have a more upbeat cheery tone. The graphics, on the other hand, are certainly dated. I would go as far as to say some of the places look bad. It is time for the leap to just the PlayStation 4, the game is held back by being released on PlayStation 3 as well. I did not run into any technical issues while I was playing either, with no frame drops of crashes to speak of.
For anyone burnt by Tales Of Zesteria, this game is a step in the right direction. Anyone looking for a long, combat-rich JRPG with interesting characters should pick it up. It isn’t going to change your opinion of the genre as a whole, but it does enough right to set it apart from other games like it.
