Tale of Zestiria anyone?

[Vyk]

I know Halo just came out, and Guitar Hero, and a couple of other things, but I'm a little surprised nobody's talking about this gem. I find the game surprisingly good. The Tales team seems to be mostly divided into two groups these days, as this game appears to be more like Graces, while the next game looks a lot more like Xillia. And I adored Xillia, and not so much with Graces. I didn't have very high hopes for this game. But it's actually really good

Unlike most Tales games, I don't feel like I'm playing a teenager. I imagine if I look up character ages, i'll probably be disappointed to find them all to be 16 or some garbage, but there isn't any talk of school, or adult life, or anything along those lines. So without in depth character info you can pretty much draw your own conclusions, and consider them whatever

I also don't find much to be very cliché in the character archetypes. I mean, it's Japan, and a heavily anime influenced series, so archetypes still exist, but they're not played as cliché stereotypes. They're frequently played straight. The main character isn't bombastic, naïve, idiotic, or annoying like most would be in his situation (basically the chosen one, which itself isn't played as cliché or stereotypical as it could have been, he's chosen by circumstance, not destiny).

The child(like) and mascot(like) characters don't grate on my nerves, and much like Xillia, the characters seem more realistic than the typical stereotypes. So good on Namco and the Tales of Team to be a bit more progressive than I'd expect

And of course, they took a page out of Xillia's book on combat, which is typically insanely fast an enjoyable. And on top of that, there is no load between battle and overworld. In fact, battles take place on the world screen. There's just a pause while people jump into combat position and status info pops up, and then you just run in and tear hell. Battles are very frequently over in a matter of seconds, and without the load time, they're not annoying and barely detract from whatever progress you're making. And just like in Xillia, they're almost so much fun, it's worth grinding and enjoying the battle system. Which until Xillia I never thought I'd say about a JRPG

I regret assuming it was going to have a fluffy pastel atmosphere with forgettable characters in the vein of Graces. I opted out of getting the limited edition. And now I wish I had. The game feels like a SNES JRPG brought into the future, and done really well, with modern sensibilities. So it's like enjoying an old game, without the need of nostalgia goggles. I'm about 11 or 12 hours in, and can't get enough. Really well done

If anyone was sitting on the fence, I'd say take the plunge, or at the very least, if you haven't already, it's probably a good time to check out Xillia, since it's less than half price these days, and then if you like that game, you'll almost definitely like this one

It also helps that it's a PS3 release as well as PS4 (which I should note, I'm going off the PS4 version, so there might be load times in the PS3, but I doubt it)

Anyone else playing or interested in this game?

[Fox]

I love my Tales games, was hyped for this for a while and then I kinda lost that for some reason... I'll pick it up for sure when I can! How does the battle system compare to Graces; I hear its a similar style and I really wasn't very keen on Graces.

My rule of thumb for ages in Japanese games & anime: take the age they look like and subtract 5.

[Mirage]

I'm interested in this (as I am with most tales games), but I am on a purchase-block. I'm not buying another new game until i've finished one that I have. And I still have MGS5 left. And all I've played lately is new vegas because i want to have actually completed it before i buy FO4.

[Vyk]

I have a hard time remembering anything stand-out about Graces battle system other than it was faster and more fluid than Vesperia and Abyss. It feels pretty much as fast and awesome as Xillia.

[Pumpkin]

I HAVE BEEN PLAYING IT AND HAVE TO FORCE MYSELF TO GO TO BED

I'm at the part where I have to go to the waterfall and Mikleo and Sorey are all fussy at each other. I was super pumped for Lailah and she has not disappointed at all!

The game, to me, is a combo between Xillia and Graces and a bit of Vesperia. Fox: The combat system is more in line with Graces in a lot of ways but it has also added a lot original and unique. I wasn't huge on Graces battle style myself, but it manages to be similar while also being a good bit better and more intuitive.

I love being able to talk to my characters but I think it's a bummer that I can't switch onscreen characters like in most Tales games :(. The customization and all of the battle stuff is kind of overwhelming and I don't have the hang of all of it yet. I like some of the funny tutorials like "That was about it.... So how's your day going?" THANK YOU FOR ASKING, TALES OF ZESTIRIA

Also, don't forget to get the skits and Alicia's story as free DLC :mymelheart:

[Vyk]

Is Alicia's thing out yet? I got the pre-order and strategy guide DLC stuff, but all of it said it wouldn't be available until after October 26th, and I saw nothing on PSN, at least for PS4

[Pumpkin]

I have the PS3 version and I just downloaded it a few hours ago

[Del Murder]

I think I've asked this before, but are all the Tales games independent like the FF series? Would this be an ok first Tales game for someone who, very likely, won't go back and play the older ones anyway (until his kids are in college or something)?

[Shauna]

Most Tales games are stand alone. The exceptions are aptly named - ie Tales of Xillia 2 is a direct sequel to Tales of Xillia.

I have not played it, however, so I cannot comment on whether this is a good one to play. It is in the post though so maybe in the coming months. :excited:

[Vyk]

It's really good, low loading times, battles happen on the field. But the camera wasn't meant to have hectic battles in a tight corridor. Especially in multiplayer. And there are a lot of complexities to equipment and their effects in battle. Not to mention a lot of different types of artes. It's a great game but much easier for me to appreciate as a fan. I'd honestly say Graces is probably easier to get into for a rookie. A tad less hectic and less complex. Fast enough to be fun. Slow enough to grasp easier. Xillia is probably still my fave but you'd be jumping headlong into insanity. Difficulty isn't high but lots of arts, skills, links, super fast combat, crazy as heck story,etc

[Pumpkin]

I'd say start with Xillia. It's the one I started with and while it did take some adjustment, it wasn't super hard to grasp. And honestly Graces is a good game but it doesn't measure up to the series and I feel like he'd be missing out on a lot of the Tales series strengths if he only played that one :shobon:

[Vyk]

True, if I were to only play one Tales game I'd want it to be Xillia. Just didn't know how well it'd work as the first game. I know I'd want to play it first, given the option. But I was already familiar with the mechanics. But with someone else saying it's a good starting point it probably is one of the best starting points. And if you happen to like it, it's one of the few with a direct sequel so you can have even more fun with that crew. But it doesn't end on a cliffhanger so you can also pretend the sequel doesn't exist of you want. Though its a surprisingly good follow up. I loved it almost as much as the first. And it changes up a lot so it's not just more of the same. Totally different experience

[NeoCracker]

I'm playing Zestria and getting frustrated as fuck. My AI partner literally stands there doing nothing. At all.

And I can't find a setting in the AI to fix this. Reinstalling now and hoping that will fix it. ;_;

[Vyk]

Sounds like it thinks the second controller is active and the character is semi auto or manual instead of auto. That's the only setting I know. Can be changed in battle of there is a second controller pushing in a thumb stick. Or in the character menu while setting their arts or something

[Pumpkin]

Tales game problem: Having too many characters I like and having a hard time deciding who to use

[NeoCracker]

Sounds like it thinks the second controller is active and the character is semi auto or manual instead of auto. That's the only setting I know. Can be changed in battle of there is a second controller pushing in a thumb stick. Or in the character menu while setting their arts or something

I don't have a second controller hooked up to my system though.

Edit: Switching to Auto fixed it though. :p

[sharkythesharkdogg]

He should play Graces first because Pascal.

http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/9/99864/2431204-9042310961-Blast.png

[Pumpkin]

sharky is one of those weirdos who seems to like Graces and Legendia more than the others in the series

[Fox]

sharky is one of those weirdos who seems to like Graces and Legendia more than the others in the series

I interpreted that as needed to play Graces first so as to not be disappointed by it later! It's like... Pascal's great... until you see Rita in Vesperia. Returning to Graces after experiencing a better game is like reinstalling Windows Vista, so best to get it out of the way early.

[Vyk]

lol Man I hate to shit on Graces so much, but I can't help but agree with that. I had a lot more trouble getting into Vesperia than Graces, however. it takes a lot longer to build up, and you start out with super slow characters until you start learning artes and combos and stuff. The person controlling Yuri gets to have lots of fun. But as a perpetual "player 2" in the Tales games, Carol, and Dog, my god. They are molasses at throwing out combos on the battlefield. It was torture. Estelle was alright, I suppose. But not very fast or offensive. Same with Rita. I had to wait for like ... Raven, or the spear girl before any real action happened on the battlefield

This is NOT a problem in Graces. Or even Abyss. Its been so long since I played Symphonia it may have been a problem back then, but ugh. Vesperia is a great game, and a great place to start, but not as player 2, and in general it is a lot slower than the newer ones, and still may turn off players who are just trying to get a taste test

Sadly I think Graces still has the advantage there. It gives you a lot more to work with to begin with. And Xillia gives you way way way more. Starting out with 2 fast and powerful characters is a godsend

[Dat Matt]

He should play Graces first because Pascal.

http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/9/99864/2431204-9042310961-Blast.png

When Shauna and I play Tales of Graces, I play Mage type characters because why not I've gotta type. Pascal was the one I ended up choosing in Graces and I've never had as much fun flying around the Map and shooting everyhting with lazers before punching the crap outta people with Eefreet.


In tales of Zestria news, We picked it up today. It'll probably be backlog fodder until we're more up to speed with our ongoing games.

[Pumpkin]

I actually really like Graces and Pascal (and I don't like Rita) but yeah, I just feel it doesn't measure up as well as most of the others I've played. Symphonia and Hearts are like top 5 material for me now, Xillia is really up there, Vesperia was great, Abyss was great. Graces was good too just not AS good because the bar is set so high in this series.

I am glued to this game, I keep having to force myself to put it down so I don't become a vegetable. I'm impressed with how consistently the games wow me

[Vyk]

I was immensely glued and impressed myself, but something has happened that sullied it for me. Now it's just a really good game rather than how amazing I originally thought it was

[Pumpkin]

What happened?

Spoiler it for me :ohdear:

[Vyk]

They removed mine and my girlfriend's favorite character hence why she gets her own DLC since she was abruptly removed from the game Rose is not a very good replacement for Alisha :(

[Pumpkin]

Oh that. I already reached that part and I honestly didn't care. I much prefer using Rose anyway and they remove characters all the time in video games. Heck sometimes they die or they were just temp characters and I believe Alisha comes back at the end

To each their own though. Not saying you don't have the right to be upset, it's just not something that bothers me personally

[Vyk]

Rose is fun on the battlefield. Just that her personality is very tropey and chiche. Which, I know, anime influence, they love their stereotypes and archetypal characters. And there were obvious typical archetypes, but they weren't played very cliché that I was noticing and I liked that. Now that Rose is on the force, nothing is taken seriously. She instigates everyone to pick on each other, so now we have a team of assholes. I liked when Edna was the only asshole. It suited her

But worse than that, Alisha was taken captive, we were threatened that if we didn't win the battle, she could be in real danger. And we won the battle, but under seriously questionable circumstances, which the powers that be may not be very happy about. Alisha (as far as I'm aware at that point in the game) is still likely in serious danger. And nobody even tries to suggest we may want to go check on her. Instead we immediately start traveling the world. So its not just that she was removed. She was swept under the rug, and in doing so, the game immediately became a typical JRPG story instead of something special. I guess I was giving it too much credit. I still love it more than most of the other games in the series. It just had the potential to be something special and somehow it lost that. But its okay lol Just my own personal nit-pick

[Pumpkin]

Yeah different people have different tastes with that stuff. Like I get annoyed at a lot of tsundere type characters but they're super popular and a lot of people really like them :shrug:. I do like the cast overall as I was expecting I would. There's been a few Tales games where I look at the cast and I'm like "I don't know about this one..." and then they end up pretty good. Same happened here. I like Rose's personality just fine, I think she's pretty fun overall. She's defo not my favourite, but I personally think she compliments the cast well.

Hope you don't think I'm arguing, I just am discussing the things with you :monster: Not trying to say your opinion is wrong or something! I mean I liked Alisha fine but she didn't leave a big impression on me so I guess that makes it so I'm less invested. I actually like when they do stuff like this sometimes because realistically in life or death situations, people leave for a variety of reasons and may or may not rejoin. Sorey is also trying to toe the line between being too involved with personal affairs when he needs to focus on the bigger picture, especially since he in particular needs to watch his emotions. I also like that the more romantic potential character (unless I'm misreading that) leaves for a while and your main lady lead is not the romantic interest. And they don't have a super bunch in common. I got a kick out of Rose being all "Nah I don't care about ruins" when I felt like Alisha was just so in to what Sorey had going on and vice versa. But again, that's just personal taste in how I like my storytelling.

I do really like this game, but it isn't my top Top favourite Tales game yet. I'm not super far in yet though so that could change. It wasn't until like halfway through Xillia that it became something amazing, so who knows how this one will progress. Could end up being even better. I did like Lailah's talk about the hero not doing everything for the townspeople and the themes of relying on faith more. As a religious person who gets tired of the whole "religion is evil" theme in everything. The world is also pretty great so far.

Oh when I enter an area and it's all evil and purple and Rose tells me to GTFO, what's that about? Can I return to those areas later or something?

[Vyk]

We ran into a huge cloud of malevolence but no skit or cut scene. We were barely able to walk so we knew to turn right back around. So I'm not sure if those are touched on later out of they are optional like the crucible areas

And I didn't feel like it was an argument. I enjoy when you and I get into a game around the same time frame. We always tend to like and dislike them for different reasons and it's nice to see the other side

So I actually much appreciate your input

[Pumpkin]

So I spoilered some things for myself by accident and found out that SoreyxMikleo is everything but outright stated :omgomg:

It's nice to get some variety like that sometimes

[Vyk]

I was honestly meaning to bring that up. My girlfriend looked that up too. I tried to find the source and only found TONS and TONS of conversations going back and forth. Which I guess means that there is at least a strong possibility. But she says there's actual manga and stuff. They just didn't want to make it too blatant overseas due to our close-mindedness and all that jazz

Whether it is actually true or not I'm happy with the idea. Its a breath of fresh air to have that type of character and it not be their sole defining characteristic and be all in your face and bombastic about it. So if it's true then they are one of the best representations in gaming from my experience. Which sadly isn't really a lot of experience with that. But good on them if its true

[Pumpkin]

The Water Temple is the most annoying thing ever though :/

[Vyk]

Aren't all water temples the worst? xD We finished the trial of fire a couple nights ago and then we both got lung infections from letting our humidifier go too long without a good cleaning... Hoping to get back into it tonight or tomorrow

[Pumpkin]

The Tales series always has that one dungeon. I actually usually like water temples but this one, ugh. It's not hard it's just annoying. Just finished it~

Hope you guys feel better soon :<