TheGreatLugia
Banned
Sorey's probably going to end up being one of my favorite Tales protagonists. I like him more than Asbel and Jude.
What do you like/dislike about the gameplay in each title?
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Tales of Zestiria |OT| - Sorey, Modders did what Bamcouldn't!
- Thread starter Cornbread78
- Start date
Sorey's probably going to end up being one of my favorite Tales protagonists. I like him more than Asbel and Jude.
What do you like/dislike about the gameplay in each title?
Heard GOD AWFUL things about Heroes on Gaf. It was so bad I'd be in community topics for other games and people would casually be insulting the game here and there if they had played.
Soery is a much more likeable character than Jude and is a less dramatic Asbel. Give Asbel an actually interest and tangible straitfiward goal and you have Sorey.
lucablight
Member
Is anyone else having their enjoyment of the game lowered by the convoluted equipment levelling and skill system? How important is it to master this?
I like having flexibility in levelling my characters and it seems restrictive. When I find a Normin I have to choose a weapon to equip its skill to before I can summon it. How am I supposed to know which weapon to attach it to? Can it be undone and does it really matter where you equip it to? ATM I'm leaving the Normin alone in case I use up a skill on a weapon I shouldn't. Poorly implemented system.
I like having flexibility in levelling my characters and it seems restrictive. When I find a Normin I have to choose a weapon to equip its skill to before I can summon it. How am I supposed to know which weapon to attach it to? Can it be undone and does it really matter where you equip it to? ATM I'm leaving the Normin alone in case I use up a skill on a weapon I shouldn't. Poorly implemented system.
Lmao what? Where? People like DQH
Dedication Through Light
Member
Hes Soreys meebro though.
Don't worry about this so much, skills are mainly to mold the characters to fit YOUR playstyle. You are not suppose to make a jack of all trades team. Look at the characters and decide what you want them to do. Do you want them to be a heavy hitter? A tank? A glass cannon? Focus on giving them skills that do this, use fusion to power up weapons and keep the skills you like. Use the Normin to add them to the Blessing Seraph so you can get drops that have that Normin ability. The thing where they give you an ability is just a little freebie.
Pancakes
hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
In a similar boat as you, Xilla 2 kinda burned me in some regards and seemed to be the direction the series was moving. I'm about 30 hours into Zestiria and it's a solid Tales game. The areas are more expansive than Xilla, they look a hell of a lot nicer, the new combat mechanics and battle system is pretty interesting and the characters are actually not too bad either.
My favorite Tales game was Vesperia and while Zestiria doesn't quite match up to that masterpiece, I would still recommend this game to a fan of the tales games.
Not if Edna has anything to say about it.
For Lailah's crucible, I just dodge twice and fire twisting dragon, ad infinitum. Then unleashed mystique artes when facing the two tough waves (worms and wolves). Which is way harder than it oughta be, I keep screwing up the dodging part, just can't really nail the executions.
The Last Wizard
Member
That's pretty much my main like, there's others but I can't really think of them. Oh oh, towards the end of xillia the battle system really clicked with me though I did enjoy graces sidestepping for cp(?). My main dislike is the padded stories constant backtracking towards the end to pad "hour of playtime".
Wow, I though heroes was getting a lot of positive buzz on gaf.
Does zestiria make you feel any burnout?
Pancakes
hot, steaming, as melted butter slips into the cracks, drizzled with sticky sweet syrup OH GOD
Not really, the beginning is pretty slow but it picks up really well and personally is hard to put down for me. The only downside is traversing the huge areas can be somewhat tedious but I have a second monitor that is usually running Twitch streams so it doesn't bother me much. It also helps that you can press A to move through dialogue as quickly as you can read it which is a big plus for me.
So, if you enter Biroclef Ridge before the game tells you to, (big enemy spoiler)
Will definitely try that encounter again in the next playthrough!
Heldalf is right there, standing, giving his back to you.
Tried fighting him, knowing full well that I'd be crushed, and the game didn't even give me an option to escape, or reduce the difficulty upon death.
I'm wondering what would happen if I had beaten him there.
Tried fighting him, knowing full well that I'd be crushed, and the game didn't even give me an option to escape, or reduce the difficulty upon death.
I'm wondering what would happen if I had beaten him there.
Shouta
Member
Most folks in the thread are very positive on the game. Not sure where there's any negativity on the game.
Indeed.
lucablight
Member
Ok seriously wtf @ the equipment and levelling system. Can someone explain a few things to me?
1.) What's the point of levelling up equipment and increasing proficiency? I'm taking it when you fuse some equipment and their skills are locked proficiency is how you unlock them? Is that the only purpose? Do two pieces of equipment with the same skill set but different proficiency levels produce different results?
2.) So getting two horizontal skills of the same element is one way of getting a bonus skill. I read somewhere if you line up 3 that negates the damage reduction effect of lining up 2? Is this true and if so wtf?
3.) How do you learn new artes? By constantly using them or by levelling up?
4.) I read somewhere you increase your titles by levelling up. Is this true? So does that mean if you don't change your title from the beginning of the game you can effectively lock yourself out of levelling most of the titles because your level will be too high at the time to level up the titles you missed?
1.) What's the point of levelling up equipment and increasing proficiency? I'm taking it when you fuse some equipment and their skills are locked proficiency is how you unlock them? Is that the only purpose? Do two pieces of equipment with the same skill set but different proficiency levels produce different results?
2.) So getting two horizontal skills of the same element is one way of getting a bonus skill. I read somewhere if you line up 3 that negates the damage reduction effect of lining up 2? Is this true and if so wtf?
3.) How do you learn new artes? By constantly using them or by levelling up?
4.) I read somewhere you increase your titles by levelling up. Is this true? So does that mean if you don't change your title from the beginning of the game you can effectively lock yourself out of levelling most of the titles because your level will be too high at the time to level up the titles you missed?
Increasing proficiency of equipment only does 2 things: unlock locked skills, and make fusion cheaper.
It replaces the 2 horizontal bonus skill by a 3 horizontal bonus skill, yes.
Levelling up Titles (or, if they are maxxed, gaining the equivalent Title exp).
Well, not completely lock yourself because there are other ways, but yes.
You also are not supposed to be able to level up all the titles.
If the skill is sealed, leveling the proficiency will unseal the skill. If the skill gets unsealed (or there was no seal to begin with), leveling proficiency just makes it cheaper to fuse that item (gald).
Yes, it's true. It negates it and gives you a different bonus.
So, for example, getting a "stack" of a skill is getting that same skill multiple times. If you get a 2 stack (aka 2 of that skill), it reduces your stagger time by 6%. If you get a 4 stack, you get Ekseed, which increases your attack combo limit by 1. By going up to the 4 stack, you lose the 2 stack bonus, and going up to 5, you will lose that Ekseed bonus. It's not cumulative.
Generally speaking, the higher bonuses are better, but there are times where this is not the case and you will purposely want to avoid getting higher stacks. For example, I could get a 4 stack of A-ATK skill (Mynd) for that Ekseed, but if I get a 5 stack, I get a not so great skill called Aster. Aster makes it so the 10th, 20th, 30th, etc hit of your combo does extra damage, which I don't think is very good. In a case like that, I would rather avoid getting another one and aim to stay at 4, at least until I can get enough of the skill to get to a useful stack (7 for example, -1 BG cost on mystic artes)
This means I can't get another A-ATK skill (because I judge the Ekseed more worthwhile than that small A-ATK boost) right now, but I can get some other skills that would be useful as well. You can get multiple stacks, so for example, 4x of two different skills for two Ekseeds.
When your character levels up you can learn new artes. The order you learn them is dependent on the titles you are using, but you will ultimately learn them all.
If you stay on a title that is max level, the others won't level up. However, if you like your title as is, that's not necessarily a bad thing. They all have different bonuses, but they still need to be equipped to get their benefits.
InternHertz
Member
So how many Alternative endings are there? And is it only likely for you to get the main/true ending on the first playthrough?
Just curious cause I prefer to go for the main ending and do alt endings and stuff later on/in another playthrough. (unless it's a game which forces you to get another ending before you can get the 'true' ending of course)
Just curious cause I prefer to go for the main ending and do alt endings and stuff later on/in another playthrough. (unless it's a game which forces you to get another ending before you can get the 'true' ending of course)
lucablight
Member
Thanks Arkeus and Crevox.
Just a few more questions
1.) I'm guessing alot of the ways to get the best equipment is to find a Normin with the skill you want and grind for the best drop in the area until you get it with the desired skill?
2.) Do you gain new artes by mastering different combinations of artes like in previous Tales games?
3.) What's the other way to level up titles when your level gets too high to effectively level them anymore? If you can miss a lot of titles by forgetting to change them at lower levels that is a really dumb and harsh punishment!
The skill system seems very convoluted and to get the stacks you want alot of it comes down to luck rather than pure management (I.e hoping the skills you equip happen to be next to each other on the grid).
Just a few more questions
1.) I'm guessing alot of the ways to get the best equipment is to find a Normin with the skill you want and grind for the best drop in the area until you get it with the desired skill?
2.) Do you gain new artes by mastering different combinations of artes like in previous Tales games?
3.) What's the other way to level up titles when your level gets too high to effectively level them anymore? If you can miss a lot of titles by forgetting to change them at lower levels that is a really dumb and harsh punishment!
The skill system seems very convoluted and to get the stacks you want alot of it comes down to luck rather than pure management (I.e hoping the skills you equip happen to be next to each other on the grid).
1. Equipment proficiency only matters to unlock locked skills, and to reduce equipment fusion cost (fusion with equipments with maxed proficiency costs less).
2. You're correct, you'll only maintain your largest E-Union bonus. If you have 4 aligned horizontally and put a fifth one next to them, you lose that "+1 [stat] when level up" to gain a boring "[element] damage on first combo" bonus. You gotta keep checking all of your skills to see what combination is better.
3. Some artes are learned through story progression, but most of them are learned with your titles. Every one of them has a "Next Arte" bar, that tells you what arte you'll learn if you keep leveling up with said title. Some artes takes one level-up to be learned, others a few more. In summary, just keep leveling up and changing your current title to learn different artes if you choose so.
4. Not entirely; titles gain proficiency experience by leveling up, yes, but they also gain experience by battling, or using certain foods later in the game. It may take a while, but you wouldn't be locked out.
Edit: sorry, didn't see that they were answered
The subtext is that she's leaving because of the pact, even if she doesn't explicitly say it.
That would be useful, but you could also fuse it. There are a lot of things you can do to influence your drops and which skills you get. For example, there's a blessing you can get from the Lord of the Land that makes it so equipment your characters are wearing is more likely to drop. Combine that with normins, drop rate boost from the Lord of the Land, drop rate boost from Mystic Artes, and you're getting more and more of what you want.
There's more stuff than just that, but I don't want to go in too deep if that's not desired. ;p
Do you mean arte usage? Then, no. Arte usage makes that arte cost less SC, making it easier to use in the future. Also, each star (or half star) on every arte you gain increases the amount of BG you get at the start of the fight. It really just depends on your title levels, and then you'll just learn them as you level up.
Some other people touched on this.
Either way, don't expect to max all of the titles on your first playthrough.There are a ton of ways to influence it, like I said in the first question. Early on it can seem difficult, but all you can do is use your best judgment and use what you have available to you. Be mindful about your fusions, check shops, know what skills and stats you want, etc. The further you go through the game it will open up more and more. Continue to make smart decisions and the game will get easier and easier, because your party will be oriented toward your playstyle.
The grade and gald you get from fights will all be important as you go to doing all of this, so try to accumulate that as much as you can (harder difficulties give more of these!). Experience and levels is not that important in this game compared to most other Tales games, while equipment and skills is. The equipment you get from enemies is purely based on the enemy's level, and enemy level is higher on harder difficulties, so you will get straight up better equipment as well.
Just got there this weekend. It felt super abrupt. I'm kind of glad I went in knowing this was coming, otherwise I would've been annoyed.
Especially if I had taken the time to optimize her equipment and feed her herbs etc. Since I knew she was leaving, I didn't spend much time gearing her up.
Rose's intro was also kind of strange.
It's cool they took a seemingly random NPC and made her a major character, but the way it was handled felt very.. underwhelming I guess? Though that scene where she freaks out and punches Sorey was pretty hilarious.
Jathaine
Member
That is (part of) the reason though.
She simply didn't want to say it and make him feel bad.
lucablight
Member
Thanks Crevox and pedro_tex! Really appreciate the help for the most confusing tales games.
ChickenHunter
Member
What's weirder is how
she kinda just disappears from the plot for the next 10+ hours while you're in Rolance.
It found it hilarious that
they basically only fight for Hyland to protect her and then never bother to see if she's actually okay.
They do, as soon as they are able to bypass the frontier.
Ludger Kresnik
Member
The thing with Alisha was so out of left field it kinda make me think (mostly indirect spoilers)
Anyway, I'm about 18 hours in and I'm prettttty sure I'm heavily underleveled. I just beat up
at like level 24, almost 10 levels below the enemies in the dungeon...
I'm really loving the cast so far. Dezel took some warming up to, but him
made me fall in love. <3
did her Japanese VA have scheduling problems or something? Because the way she was basically just written out of the plot reminded me how a lot of TV shows would shelf or even kill off their characters due to their actors not being available in one way or another.
Anyway, I'm about 18 hours in and I'm prettttty sure I'm heavily underleveled. I just beat up
Medusa/the Cardinal
I'm really loving the cast so far. Dezel took some warming up to, but him
laughing at Lailah's jokes
Game looks quite nice downscaled from 1440p, is there a way to tweak the graphics further? Would be nice to increase the shadow LoD and reduce overall pop in.
Been playing for threeish hours and I love how quick the game is to start and then kind of slows down and let's you explore.
Was incredibly confused with the artes at first, the tutorials suck at explaining, luckily the UI itself is rather clear if you take a moment to think so that's good.
Having tons of fun with the game and it's nice to play a light hearted JRPG for a change
Been playing for threeish hours and I love how quick the game is to start and then kind of slows down and let's you explore.
Was incredibly confused with the artes at first, the tutorials suck at explaining, luckily the UI itself is rather clear if you take a moment to think so that's good.
Having tons of fun with the game and it's nice to play a light hearted JRPG for a change
If you tweak some settings in the Nvidia Inspector you can add SGSSAA/MSAA + DSR. They have a guide for it on steam.
Plus, I've been using SweetFX bring out the faded colors a bit.
TheSuperSakura
Member
I'm so thankful I seen the comments on GAF about the half grade stuff I managed to finally get that trophy!
Not sure as to how much I have left in the game, currently searching for iris gems so I can head back to
Edit:
Also, does
Not sure as to how much I have left in the game, currently searching for iris gems so I can head back to
Mayvin and chat with him. I'm still pretty upset Dezel died, I really enjoyed his character due to his love of animals and overall personality. I enjoy Zaveid as well but Dezel had finally grown on me through the skits and then boom, dead. ;-; Hopefully no one (main character wise) else kicks the bucket. My heart wouldn't be able to take it.
Edit:
Mayvin just died, dear lord what have I done!? Sorey's voice shaking brought the waterworks. I am so sad right now, although he wasn't a huge character he was still cool and his death was pretty sad even if it was short.
Also, does
anyone know where/when the Katz will show up? I always look forward to seeing their little hideouts in the game.
IIRC you can see them in the main menu under the valuables tab.
Freezasaurus
Member
I'm at about 30 hours in,
and I'm really getting into it now. I still prefer Xillia/2 and Vesperia to this one, but I definitely like it more than Graces f.
just finished all four elemental shrines
I know I can see how many I have, I'm more worried about looking for the ones I've missed without wandering through every area. Unless there's something I'm not noticing.
TheSuperSakura
Member
Ah, well as for that maybe just speak to Rose? Or go back to ruins and fields you've already went through to see if there was a hellion you may have missed. I'm not sure if there is anyway to see where you have gotten them from or ones that still remain though, sorry.
StarSketch
Banned
Two questions:
1) how the hell do you charge Seraphic Artes? I've been playing Lailah and I can't seem to do it, nor can I find the instructions for it in the in-game guide. I know it probably involves holding B because that's how it works on Hidden Artes, but I think I'm just getting the timing wrong.
2) How the fuck do I navigate
I found the first two keys no problem, had issues finding the third and now I can't find the fourth because I keep either ending up in the rooms where I found the other keys or the entrance. :/
1) how the hell do you charge Seraphic Artes? I've been playing Lailah and I can't seem to do it, nor can I find the instructions for it in the in-game guide. I know it probably involves holding B because that's how it works on Hidden Artes, but I think I'm just getting the timing wrong.
2) How the fuck do I navigate
Pendrago Shrinechurch?
Wait, hey now (Lastonbell guardian of the land side quest spoilers):
Did the party just kill a small girl and her dog? Or am I misunderstanding things here? Also, why is that Serpah just casually walking in, kinda telling in a monotone voice it might be her fault and going back to blessing duty without much further thought? This was such an odd turn of events. And the fight was hard as well, had to drop to moderate for the first time. The difference in difficulty was quite something.
Hold the Seraphic Arte button to delay the cast then press the Martial Arte button to switch to the next lvl spell.
The game doesn't explain it properly.
There are some really bad translations for some of these.
Examples:
http://imgur.com/a/8dtSS
1. 10k Bonus makes it so if your total damage in armatized mode is 10k or more, BG cost for a mystic arte is reduced by 1. It implies that the damage with a mystic arte needs to exceed 10k for the BG cost to be reduced, but that's not how it works at all.
2. Attack Step makes your forward step do damage as an attack. What the heck is "attack judgment?"
3. Tribute from the Defeated makes it sound like you get more of the item that the enemy has equipped, which, again, is not how it works. It makes gear you have equipped drop more frequently. Horrible wording.
It's not like it's even hard to figure these out. I can't believe nobody proofread this and went "that's wrong."
All I can say is just go forward. Nothing tricky going on here besides just gotta find the right way to go. :\
Ludger Kresnik
Member
I'm pretty sure Heldalf is voiced by Patrick Seitz, unless you're talking about a different bad guy I haven't met yet.
TheSuperSakura
Member
Woah, can someone tell me if I'm right in this train of though?
Late game spoilers:
Late game spoilers:
So I just seen the past flashbacks where the previous Shepard turned Heldalf into a hellion. Muse was his sister and she had a baby (Mikleo), so the Shepard (Mikleo's Uncle) used Mikleo to make Heldalf a hellion? I know Sorey is the premature baby that Zenrus/Gramps finds.