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Tales of Berseria |OT| The Band of the Crowe
- Thread starter Cornbread78
- Start date
The main cast is straight up amazing. The skits are solid, the chemistry is on point and each character had a fun moveset to play with. Shoutouts to Eizen who is Best Dude, and Eleanor for significantly improving the game by breaking up the group vibe (since before she joins it's just a band of assholes).
The story is good, but the way it tells it is kind of boring at times.
The gameplay... well see above. It has a lot of neat things like sea-faring, exploration, hunting, and the battle system is solid but actually exploring said world isn't very fun. Maps are GIGANTIC but Velvet doesn't move all that quick... until the lategame where she picks up a hoverboard, but even that isn't satisfactory (and you can't even immediately use it either!). Sidequests are dull, but provide satisfactory character development.
I disliked
Velvet's character arc conclusion and flat out HATED what they did to Laphi. Seems like they shoe-horned him turning into a dragon just to tie back to Zesteria, which is DUMB.
Overall a good RPG with some flaws. I'd give it a shot if you're itching for a 40-50 hour JRPG.
ShadowSoldier89
Member
I definitely agree on your first issue
mainly because it feels like "Tales Of Ending™" thats getting really repetitive with this series. However Laphi's ending I didn't feel was shoe-horned since I predicted it when they showed Laphicet as Innominat. Someone was going to replace him.
Who else but nu-laphicet.
Who else but nu-laphicet.
design wise they are a mixed bag. Exploration wise they are pretty much all weak.
I didn't know you played this game.
Agree with pretty much everything you said. Sadly the fact that it's a prequel to another game and has to tie into that game is my least liked aspect to it (other than the music being a step down from the usual Tales soundtrack).
Giant fields of really nothing to explore/find other than an occasional treasure chest. You only get a faster way of traversing these giant fields 70% through the game and you have to traverse a field by foot before unlocking this faster travel.
ShadowSoldier89
Member
yea, if they wouldve told an almost identical story but without it being tied to Zestiria's world it couldve been much better. The wonkiness could've been cleared up with how seraphim are and they could've avoided the tales cliche ending.
Cornbread78
Member
Absolutely!
Just don't watch until after you finish Berseria because there are major spoilers in the show. (Episode 5-7 are Berseria episodes, btw)
It's really good quality animation/art as well:
I played it over the summer. I intended on posting in the OT, but I totally forgot to, haha.
And I totally forgot about the OST! Yeah, it was disappointing.
I haven't played Zestiria and honestly I really liked how Berseria slowly reveals the mysteries of its world, even lying to you with the Demonblight. It's a well crafted and interesting world and I think I wouldn't have liked it as much if I've learnt about it in an info dump early into the game.
Learning about Eizen's destiny made me feel like crap though. There was a whole side quest about it.
Giolon
Member
I played Zestiria after Berseria simply because I loved Berseria and its world so much. I just had to know how things turned out in the future, despite the fact that Zestiria has a kind of bad reputation. My comments from earlier in the thread:
Getting to see the resolution to Eizen's story in Zestiria felt so much more impactful than it would have w/o Berseria.
Zestiria's combat system felt really old fashioned and limiting compared to Berseria, but I really loved the Seraph + Human system (Zestiria spoilers?)
.
Getting to see the resolution to Eizen's story in Zestiria felt so much more impactful than it would have w/o Berseria.
Zestiria's combat system felt really old fashioned and limiting compared to Berseria, but I really loved the Seraph + Human system (Zestiria spoilers?)
ARMATIZATION OMG it blew my mind I got to use it after the way it was built up in Beseria
If you go to one of those platforms that are on the side of the Empirean Throne (you go up there through a ladder) you can see a couple of Malak with the bow that
Mikleo uses for armatization
Giolon
Member
Oh, I found those guys but didn't recognize it since I hadn't played Zestiria yet. That's super cool.
Giolon
Member
I think it works better the other way. What I said about this earlier in the thread:
Obviously, I am biased since I played Berseria first, but I just don't see Zestiria adding as much to Berseria rather than the other way around.
Chaos2Frozen
Member
It doesn't matter in the long run, but I feel that Zestiria would enhance Berseria and not the other way around. You would appreciate Berseria more after playing Zestiria first but I don't think B would enhance Z though.
EDIT:
LOL. Well I guess it really doesn't matter in the long run ahahah
Just play whichever one you want first.
Giolon
Member
Well, I guess that settles it! LMAO.
But no really, I think Berseria enhances Zestiria greatly. One of the common criticisms of Zestiria is that it's just a black vs white, good vs evil story of the purely heroic Shepherd vs the vilely evil Lord of Calamity. None of the party members have any particular depth. None of the goals of the protagonist are particularly nuanced. It's just pure boilerplate.
Berseria sets up a contrasting situation where you're playing the anti-hero, and while her motivations are decently justified, her methods are questionable at best. You also see a Shepherd who isn't all pure and perfect either. Having all of that background, and all the details of the story in Berseria that unfold left me with a much more complex picture that Zestiria overlayed onto. Having that juxtaposition available made everying inherently more interesting, and I felt like I probably would have been left fairly uninterested (especially given how poorly that game's engine runs) had I played Zestiria alone first. I may not have even been willing to pick up Berseria afterwards given its association.
It certainly is all up to Preta's preference in the end.
I played Zestiria first, and imo (as Giolon also indicated) its bad story execution is very much improved with the knowledge gained from playing Berseria.
Sinh_Magnus
Member
I played Zestiria when it came out, I thought that the first 10 hours were really good and then it started to go downhill for me. It's still a decent game, but I feel Berseria was much better and close to be the best of the franchise in my opinion.
I don't know how is to go from Berseria to Zestiria since I obviously couldn't, but maybe is a good order of playing if you can keep your expectations in check and want to make those connections between the two.
Anyways, there weren't rumors about a third game taking place in Zesteria's world? Taking into account the popularity of some of these characters (Mikleo, Sorey, Eizen, Velvet...) it wouldn't be too far fetched. I don't remember well, but was
I suppose it will be a follow-up of the anime in either case though.
I don't know how is to go from Berseria to Zestiria since I obviously couldn't, but maybe is a good order of playing if you can keep your expectations in check and want to make those connections between the two.
Anyways, there weren't rumors about a third game taking place in Zesteria's world? Taking into account the popularity of some of these characters (Mikleo, Sorey, Eizen, Velvet...) it wouldn't be too far fetched. I don't remember well, but was
Eizen's storyline in Zestira handled as a sidequest when it came to his death, or it is considered canon?
Regarding the fields/dungeons in Berseria, while they could have increased the running speed, in general I never found the areas all THAT big and there's a lot of story/skits overlayed while running through them (generally).
I actually feel this game just gets to the point and doesn't have you slog for hours to get more dialogue, because it's literally everywhere.
It just feels tighter, relatively compact, and not too bloated imo. You'll love it if you're starting to get tired of open world games. Even compared to a game like Persona 5, there's way less padding.
Also I actually don't find the music too bad in this game...not great but I kinda like it a bit. However I feel this series and this entry especially, with such a good story and cast, and writing, deserves better though to complement.
Finally I find the combat a bit simplistic, but it's still fun overall and I've never seen so many effects go off in a Tales game before lol, it's crazy. And at 60 FPS. Wish they'd emulate Xillia 2 next time though with weaknesses and aerial combos.
Definitely some improvements that can be made, but they're on the right track with this game.
I actually feel this game just gets to the point and doesn't have you slog for hours to get more dialogue, because it's literally everywhere.
It just feels tighter, relatively compact, and not too bloated imo. You'll love it if you're starting to get tired of open world games. Even compared to a game like Persona 5, there's way less padding.
Also I actually don't find the music too bad in this game...not great but I kinda like it a bit. However I feel this series and this entry especially, with such a good story and cast, and writing, deserves better though to complement.
Finally I find the combat a bit simplistic, but it's still fun overall and I've never seen so many effects go off in a Tales game before lol, it's crazy. And at 60 FPS. Wish they'd emulate Xillia 2 next time though with weaknesses and aerial combos.
Definitely some improvements that can be made, but they're on the right track with this game.
Never played any of the Tales games. How is the combat in this one? Is it just pushing face buttons so you combo different abilities together or am I completely off base? I understand there is some sort of guarding/dodging mechanic too?
Hope someone can help and give me some quick info about combat mechanics,would really appreciate it.
Hope someone can help and give me some quick info about combat mechanics,would really appreciate it.
Cornbread78
Member
I'm really going to suck explaining this, but basically, it's an action RPG with button mashing to create combos and use special skills. There are magic based attacks as well as physical attacks, each with their own attributes; both elemental (fire/wind) and physical (slash pierce) and can have an effect on how useful each attack is in battle.
The combos are pre-set (your choice) based on what button you want to assign them to.
Here is a great breakdown to explain it:
http://blog.talesofgame.com/en/berserias-battle-system/
Here's my shill:
Game is awesome and you should definitely buy it and play through the entire thing for the awesome cast of characters and story!
It's like a fighting/action game giving you full control of movements and combos, including guarding and dodging. Difficulty is rather low so you can advance by pure mashing if that's what you want, but there's also decent depth in the systems making a more meticulous approach fun to play if that's what you want. The game also has co-op multiplayer in battles for up to 4 players which is plenty fun.
Unlike past Tales games Berseria focuses on free run which equals to normal unrestricted 3D space movements in typical action games. Previous Tales games focused more on movements related to targets more akin to 3D fighters.
Wow thanks for replies guys,very nice of you!
Gonna read that blog definitely but before that: any reason to chain different abilities together over just spamming the same ability or is spamming the same will just not work and you have to mix it up?
Also what's better Guard or Quickstep?Or does it depend on the fight?
Gonna read that blog definitely but before that: any reason to chain different abilities together over just spamming the same ability or is spamming the same will just not work and you have to mix it up?
Also what's better Guard or Quickstep?Or does it depend on the fight?
Cornbread78
Member
Everything is enemy dependent, but the game is easy enough that you can just spam a couple attacks if you want to play really simplistically.
I just started recently, and I dunno if the combat is really clicking with me? With mobs/mooks, I can use the RT/R2 claw attack to string combos together, and that feels really good if slightly too easy on normal. Bosses feel like a chore though. I just fought(early game)
, and it wasn't hard, just rather slow. I feel like I'm still missing something. Does anyone have some advice?
the lizard daemon
Cornbread78
Member
The below is what I've heard consistently. I played the game on "Hard" so I would give that a shot and see how it goes. The bosses can be tough at times, but maybe try to lvl up your weapons a bit?
What's different about hard? Is it just the enemy health/damage output? It's fun with mobs, it was just that the boss felt like a slog, not because he was difficult, but because I couldn't spam my claw mode thing to make the fighting more interesting/fun as I don't really find the combo system by itself that interesting, but that might be because I'm doing something wrong.
You're not supposed to spam it. Hold block until you flash a few times, attack and hopefully land a stun or other debuff, repeat. If you dodge through an attack you can get more SG because a glowy bit falls on the field, pick it up and you can do a longer combo, as well as use it to pay for using your claw. Remember that the claw costs 1 SG to even use, and then it starts to succ your health out really quick if you don't complete a combo with it out quick enough.
Hmm, that makes it sound a lot better which makes sense since it always felt like I was not playing it correctly. I'll give that a shot when I get home from work. Thanks!
It will also vastly limit your chances of getting empty equipment which disenchants into a certain thing you need to upgrade like half of your gear early to mid game. Huge design flaw.
Cornbread78
Member
yup. That was a treat for players that played both, especially that ending reveal and our favorite pirate buddy.