Yep, that's right.
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Tales of Berseria |OT| The Band of the Crowe
- Thread starter Cornbread78
- Start date
Yep, that's right.
You're just about at the start of the 3rd act. Depending on how fast you do stuff/see side content/skip battles/lower difficulty, anywhere between 5-15 hours left.
Sounds good to me. I heard a lot of the side quests open up in this portion of the game. Are there clear indicators as to where they are or is it more out of the way?
I am not close to done with Berseria, but as this thread has pretty much cemented over and over, this is one of the better entries in the franchise and I concur.
I also didn't care much for Symphonia for many of the similar reasons some of the above posters stated. It was fine at the time and gave the GC a nice jRPG boost, but as a Tales game it was a bit weak.
Abyss and/or Vesperia may still end up my favorites, but I am not close to done with Berseria yet. I really quite enjoyed both of those. Berseria would slot right in with this group, unless the back half takes a major downturn(which I doubt it will).
Xillia, I found I enjoyed more than the average GAF Tales poster. It had flaws, but I had a pleasant time playing through it. In some ways I actually enjoy the combat system more in this than Berseria.
Actually that has been my largest problem with Berseria so far, the combat. It's fine for what it is doing, but its also not very interesting. I am just not very much a fan of its skill customization setup, and mostly end up just using the "you decide!" single button approach, which pretty much helps distribute an even disbursement of experience to all my skills(which give passive benefits as they level up). I mostly just got so tired of restructuring my mappings to deal with enemy affinities, even if only for bosses. This has been working equally as fine. The soul gauge/Burst/Mystic arte system also is just not that engaging the farther in I play. Just all becomes very rote and its less satisfying to pull off chain combos here than in prior games(even Xillia with its link artes felt much more fulfilling).
Just my thoughts as others probably greatly disagree. Berseria succeeds in its characterization, plotting, and tone though. I greatly dig it and would highly recommend the game.
Abyss
Vesperia
Xillia
Berseria
Symphonia
for me, but many seem to like it more than I do.
Just finished the Platinum. Had a lot of fun with the story and the content, but fuck that grinding for the trophies. Fuck it seriously.
0coolclimate0
Member
This is the best tales game I've played. I just fell in love with the story. Totally immersed.
haven't played Vesperia due to Xbox exclusivity though
Wow, the rating of Symphonia here really surprises me. It's my favourite Tales game and one of my favourite games ever. I love the characters, story and battle system. Might be nostalgia as it's probably the first JRPG outside of Pokemon I actually finished, but I replayed and platinumed it two years ago and I loved every second.
Vesperia was unavailable to me because it was on the 360 and Xillia was a bit boring and sterile in my opinion (stopped 10 hours in).
And while I'm enjoying Berseria very much, it seems less than Synphonia. The dungeons pretty much suck, the world seems less alive in some ways (more in others though). There are a lot of skits and ways to speak to people, but in every area there's nothing to do but battle, collect orbs or talk to people. And the battle system is not really clicking with me yet.
Vesperia was unavailable to me because it was on the 360 and Xillia was a bit boring and sterile in my opinion (stopped 10 hours in).
And while I'm enjoying Berseria very much, it seems less than Synphonia. The dungeons pretty much suck, the world seems less alive in some ways (more in others though). There are a lot of skits and ways to speak to people, but in every area there's nothing to do but battle, collect orbs or talk to people. And the battle system is not really clicking with me yet.
ShadowSoldier89
Member
Then... Don't do trophies
Astrael
Member
Yeah, Symphonia is a really good JRPG and isn't even close to the worst in the series imo, just how I'd rank it among the 5 games listed. After your post, I'm probably replaying it to give it another shot after I finally get around to playing Zestiria soon (the only English-release Tales game I outright skipped, but my friend gifted me a copy).
Worse than all of them except Xillia (Symphonia>Abyss>Vesperia>Berseria>Xillia). Honestly this is just a "good Zestiria", it still has most flaws of modern Tales. It's definitely better than Xillia 1 and Zestiria, for what it's worth.
Same on both accounts. I'm at the same part as you, and I have moved this game ahead of Vesperia. It has its flaws (what game doesn't), but I can honestly say this has been my most enjoyable Tales title overall.
TheSuperSakura
Member
Can someone tell me about how much I have left?
I just fought
I just fought
the dragon, and Zaveid interfered and implied the dragon was his lover or something because he was drinking that specific alcohol at Stonebury.
So I think I totally suck at combat. I moved it up to to hard. My problem is running out of the crystals with velvet on enemies that don't stun easily. I try to time dodges to get more but the enemies attack in weird patterns, so it's easier for me to just brute force keep hitting them till they pop out a crystal so I can use R2 and try to keep chaining berserk modes.
The other problem I have is with the "extra hard" enemies you get in quests. I still haven't beaten the Ape in the forest because he tkos my whole party pretty quickly. I'm in the earth temple chasing after Eleanor, she just fused with Laphi 2, so I don't know if I'm underleved trying to fight the challenge bosses (Ape, and Spider so far) or I just suck
The other problem I have is with the "extra hard" enemies you get in quests. I still haven't beaten the Ape in the forest because he tkos my whole party pretty quickly. I'm in the earth temple chasing after Eleanor, she just fused with Laphi 2, so I don't know if I'm underleved trying to fight the challenge bosses (Ape, and Spider so far) or I just suck
Giolon
Member
So take the difficulty down a notch? Also, the 2nd half of your post is full of spoilers. Spoiler tag that shit man. As for how to get better:
When you move up to Hard difficulty, you really have to start taking advantage of the combat systems.
First, try never to go below 3 Souls. If you're in 2 Soul territory, you're at a disadvantage. If you can't figure out enemy attack timing to fish for a perfect dodge and the soul that will pop out, Switch Blast your character out. Doing this will cost 1 Break Gauge but will grant the entering character +1 Soul. Assuming the chars you're swapping have a few levels of BG stockpiled, you can repeat this a few times to get your desired character a decent stock of Souls.
Second, if you're having a hard time getting a stun (which is not the only status ailment you can apply to get a Soul, but one of the most obvious and easiest ones), make sure you're stacking your combos with attacks that have the Stun property listed. It's easy to get wrapped up in trying to hit elemental and type weaknesses and forget that not all moves have Stun capability. You can also help yourself by attacking enemies that at least 1 other characters are attacking. Also, Hidden Artes increase the chance of applying a status effect on moves used after them in a combo.
Third, do pay attention to weaknesses and resistances and use weakness combos. Hard is when the game really starts to make Resistances meaningful damage wise.
Fourth, don't be afraid to block. You'll negate up to 90% damage just by blocking a hit instead of taking it to the face.
Finally, be sure to master equipment. Learning all those skills gives a massive boost to the capabilities of your characters.
Velvet's Break Soul is definitely OP and you can brute force your way through a lot as long as you can get the souls to keep it active. Rokurou is a close second for melee heavy battles with his counter, and Magilou will completely render enemy spellcasters useless with Absorb Spell. For Dire Foes, Velvet + Break Soul as much as possible while keeping your souls up is pretty much the way to go.
That's what I've learned over my 75+ hour play through so far mostly playing on Hard.
GoldCrusader
Member
Easily one the the best(I did not play Vesperia)
I would go
Symphonia
Berseria
Xillia
Abyss
Squall ASF
Member
I've only ever played Symphonia and Abyss but after reading poor impressions of most of the other entries in the series, the impression thread for this entry was really solid and Shouta's review in particular made me decide to give it a shot. I had it shelved for RE7 and finishing my first Suikoden II play through I had started before RE7 and this came out but finished with those two now and looking forward to starting this over the weekend!
Most of the impressions I've seen in this thread have been positive too and I play for story above all else so hearing that's good really piqued my interest. Any tips for starting out?
Most of the impressions I've seen in this thread have been positive too and I play for story above all else so hearing that's good really piqued my interest. Any tips for starting out?
First off I got a question. How much longer do I have left in the game?
This is my first dip into the Tales series and I gotta say I'm having a good time with the 60 hours I've clocked in so far. In terms of characters and story, Berseria absolutely nails it and makes the whole experience worthwhile so far.
Which is good because I got some issues with the game. A majority of the dungeons in the game are a complete bore to get through. The one I just finished when
was a total slog and if it weren't for the story bits tugging me along I would've been bored outta my mind. Most of them just aren't that interesting and are quite boring to explore.
This doesn't really help with combat being pretty meh. Even with the difficultly turned up I mostly just guarded, button mash, guard, button mash, watch Rokuro do something stupid and get KO'ed, revive, repeat. It doesn't help Velvet is hilariously OP and if I'm careful enough, can keep her Theronized for almost an entire 4-enemy dangerous encounter and gain Souls and BP like crazy. Eventually, I found myself avoiding encounters halfway though dungeons. There is a potentially great system somewhere in here but it needs another game to fully develop on it. I should point out I've been mostly switching between Hard and Intense once I unlocked it.
Also yes, it's always Rokuro who charges in headfirst, gets stunned fifteen times over and gets KO'ed immediately sometimes. No wonder he can't beat Shigure.
Luckily this game absolutely shines in the character and story departments. It's been a while since I've enjoyed a cast of characters this much in a JRPG. The unlikely band of misfits are an absolute joy to watch bicker. They all just have such great chemistry and play off each other so well it lead to so many moments of laughter and enjoyable storymoments. I'm going to be sad when I finish up the game and say goodbye to Velvet and the rest of the characters in the game. The story is another shinning point but I'll wait till the ending to fully reflect on that.
I'm interested in playing more Tales games and I'm wondering which ones GAF would recommend to a newcomer to the series. I've looked into Zesteria but apparently the second half is a complete chore and Symphonia's port on PC is busted unless you use TSFix. What would you guys say? Thanks in advance!
I just finished up the fight against Melchoir and Number Two before watching Zaveid shoot them into the earthpulse rift. Much to my delight. I got a feeling I'm just about finished with the main story but just want to make sure.
This is my first dip into the Tales series and I gotta say I'm having a good time with the 60 hours I've clocked in so far. In terms of characters and story, Berseria absolutely nails it and makes the whole experience worthwhile so far.
Which is good because I got some issues with the game. A majority of the dungeons in the game are a complete bore to get through. The one I just finished when
Innominat traps you in an Earthpulse
This doesn't really help with combat being pretty meh. Even with the difficultly turned up I mostly just guarded, button mash, guard, button mash, watch Rokuro do something stupid and get KO'ed, revive, repeat. It doesn't help Velvet is hilariously OP and if I'm careful enough, can keep her Theronized for almost an entire 4-enemy dangerous encounter and gain Souls and BP like crazy. Eventually, I found myself avoiding encounters halfway though dungeons. There is a potentially great system somewhere in here but it needs another game to fully develop on it. I should point out I've been mostly switching between Hard and Intense once I unlocked it.
Also yes, it's always Rokuro who charges in headfirst, gets stunned fifteen times over and gets KO'ed immediately sometimes. No wonder he can't beat Shigure.
Luckily this game absolutely shines in the character and story departments. It's been a while since I've enjoyed a cast of characters this much in a JRPG. The unlikely band of misfits are an absolute joy to watch bicker. They all just have such great chemistry and play off each other so well it lead to so many moments of laughter and enjoyable storymoments. I'm going to be sad when I finish up the game and say goodbye to Velvet and the rest of the characters in the game. The story is another shinning point but I'll wait till the ending to fully reflect on that.
I'm interested in playing more Tales games and I'm wondering which ones GAF would recommend to a newcomer to the series. I've looked into Zesteria but apparently the second half is a complete chore and Symphonia's port on PC is busted unless you use TSFix. What would you guys say? Thanks in advance!
All right, I'll take a look at both Graces F and Symphonia then. Is the story and characterization in those as good as Berseria? It's not a deal breaker as long the gameplay is solid but I'm just curious.
Thanks for the recommendations.
Cornbread78
Member
No lies detected here. Also, best, most infectious OP.
The characters in Graces will make you want to eject the game disc and throw it away like a frisbee sometimes. You will not find a cast as good as Berseria in Graces, the party is charming but they get too cliché-y. Symphonia has a good cast and almost every character has a strong personality and their own charm.
I can deal with cliches, I only watch anime every day after all. Sounds like Graces F with be a fun, cheesy romp at least.
I haven't finished it yet, but I'm pretty close i think
, but I'm looking into sidequests at the moment, and getting some skills. I think I can safely say this is the best tales story and characters I've played, very interesting and unpredictable.
I'd rank em like this
1.- Berseria
2.- Vesperia
3.- Symphonia
4.- Zestiria
99. Abyss (absolutely hated it)
Ceremony of suppression happened, and I have to go back to hellawes
I'd rank em like this
1.- Berseria
2.- Vesperia
3.- Symphonia
4.- Zestiria
99. Abyss (absolutely hated it)
Tales of's stories are pretty hit or miss and generally pretty divisive. Some people like them, some people think they are worst thing ever.
This said Graces F story is generally the most disliked, but the combat system is really good and there is good synergy between all systems and sub-systems.
Lunarwhale
Member
Eyup, Graces F's combat is excellent. However...
Not even close. Graces F's story actively annoyed the shit out of me, and I love this series and its insufferable corniness.
Berseria's easily one of my favorites in the series. I liked Zestiria, but Berseria really did a lot of work to turn the story into something decent. Probably my favorite duology in the series - might be my new high point in general. For reference, my favorites are Abyss, Destiny R, and Vesperia. Not sure where Berseria fits into that, but probably above Vesperia. Absolutely loved it, even if some of the earlier sections were a bit weak (which... I prefer to Vesperia's last act shitting the bed).
Astrael
Member
I only remember the voice acting was really uninspired, and the basic theme of childhood friendship and older Asbel's complete idiocy. But it's definitely been awhile. I did like the exploration in that game a lot though, the fixed camera might be why.
What does everyone do with their excess equipment? I currently have 37 pairs of Fluoric boots. I don't know whether to sell them or dismantle the lot or upgrade them and then dismantle to get more tempering powder.
Secondly I am at Manage Reef, now much of the game do I have left and when do the ability to upgrade my equipment beyond +3?
Secondly I am at Manage Reef, now much of the game do I have left and when do the ability to upgrade my equipment beyond +3?
Abyss > Berseria > Vesperia > Xillia > Symphonia
Berseria would have gotten top if the dungeons weren't so god damn awful.
I don't have much love for Symphonia these days though, used to really like it. Solid dungeons, and the combat is serviceable just a bit outdated, but the majority of the cast irritates me too much. (Especially Colette who is possibly the worst character in the Tales of series, urgh).
Vesperia > Berseria > Abyss > Symphonia
Berseria has a better battle system and cast than Abyss and Symphonia but much worse dungeons and pacing. Overall story is dumb but it's like this in all Tales of games anyway. Vesperia has a worse battle system than Berseria but I liked the characters better and their overall tone better than Berseria. Felt Vesperia is overall much easier to swallow than to plow through the long, empty boring dungeons of Berseria where you forget what you were doing in the first place. Yuri was a much better lead than Velvet and his interactions with the party were better. He does awful stuff because it's the only way to he sees to achieve the greater good (while being lawful doesn't always work) and the characters in your team ends up respecting it. Velvet is insufferable with everyone because VENGEANCE just like Luke was a jerk to everyone because KIDNAPPING TRAUMA. Vesperia's dungeon and sidequests are also much better than Berseria's. Another Class 4 island!
Cornbread78
Member
I need to go back and actually finish Symphonia at some point. Last I remember, I was in the
How much longer to finish?
Lightning tower
How much longer to finish?
You still have a pretty long ways to go. I'd say you are no more than 70% done. It's hard to remember exactly because the game is pretty damn long haha.
Celcius
°Temp. member
You only have so many characters that can equip them... I'd look at the bonuses attached to each one and dismantle all of the extras except for what you need for your characters to earn the skills you want. Then use the parts for upgrades.
GoldCrusader
Member
Pretty sure that was pretty late in the game, but I played it at the very least 3 years ago so I might not remember right. Even then late game in symphonia doesn't mean much.
psynergylover
Member
late game spoilers:
so I finished Rokurou's "revenge" and quite frankly it pissed me off!!!
like what the fuck Rokurou!!! Velvet's, Magilou's, and Eizen "revenge/ordeals" are actually understandable! yours is completely stupid and selfish!!!
so I finished Rokurou's "revenge" and quite frankly it pissed me off!!!
if I get this straight: So Rokurou was jealous of his brother Shigure who was the hier to his family's line, was more talented with the sword, and inherited the strongest blade ever made in stormhowl. I'm assuming after getting beaten by his brother his jealously of his brother makes up some lie that Shigure was trying to overthrow their king causing Shigure to flee his homeland; and even though Shigure knew if this he had no ill will upon Rokurou and became a fucking exorcist!!!(though it was probably just to challenge Artorious)
Rokurou doesn't even use Kurogane in the fight other than the killing blow...Which kind makes all this forging for a blade to beat Shigure's stormhowl pointless as the "move" could've been used with any other longsword.
Rokurou doesn't even use Kurogane in the fight other than the killing blow...Which kind makes all this forging for a blade to beat Shigure's stormhowl pointless as the "move" could've been used with any other longsword.
like what the fuck Rokurou!!! Velvet's, Magilou's, and Eizen "revenge/ordeals" are actually understandable! yours is completely stupid and selfish!!!
Brawly Likes to Brawl
Member
You find out more about the Rangetsu family in a sidequest that helps explain the craziness behind his actions.
When does this game get good?
I've played for 2 hours now and the story sucks, Velvet sucks, everytime she says something I just want to close the game. I have no interest in her quest and really want to drop the game, but seeing the praise for this game is making me wonder if I really should (I enjoyed Vesperia, Abyss, Symphonia and even Xillia).
I've played for 2 hours now and the story sucks, Velvet sucks, everytime she says something I just want to close the game. I have no interest in her quest and really want to drop the game, but seeing the praise for this game is making me wonder if I really should (I enjoyed Vesperia, Abyss, Symphonia and even Xillia).
Basileus777
Member
The opening is one of the more engaging parts of the game. This isn't a game where you need to get deep into it to see the appeal.
dragonlife
Member
Are you still in the prologue? The prologue is pretty boring from a gameplay perspective.
Giolon
Member
Can't handle the edge?
Though really, it's a pretty standard revenge tale, albeit with some twists along the way. You killed my family, prepare to die!
If you can't get behind that, or the interplay between the character personalities, you're going to have a loooong road ahead of you.