Tales of Zestiria Standard Edition - PlayStation 4

Up until recently, the PS4 has been for the most part barren of JRPGs, so I was very much looking forward to this game ever since it was announced it would be coming to PS4. As for my experience with the Tales series, I've played both Symphonia games, Vesperia, Graces F, both Xilla games, Abyss and Legendia and I've enjoyed all with the exception of Legendia. If you played either Xilla or Xilla 2 I'm sure the technical flaws were easily noticeable, especially the frame rate dips and constant texture pop ins in Xilla 2. So, coming off of Xilla 2 I was hoping they would fix the technical flaws this time around in Zestiria. Thankfully they did and everything has run smoothly in the almost 20 hours I've put into it. The story is nothing particularly special, typical story you'd expect to find in a JRPG, however the combat and exploration are where it really shines. Where some previous entries had a lot of recycled areas, there is more uniqueness to different regions this time around and I find myself often wandering off to explore the area. If you're at all into the genre or have played previous Tales games I'd definitely recommend this one and personally think it is one of the better entries in the series in recent years.

This is a fun and complicated game depending on your play style. I love RPG's (Role Playing Game) and this is a good example of the classic true (J)RPG style. The main focus of the game is story telling and adventure. Graphics: The graphics are not top end but are still decent. The cut scenes are a combination of anime clips, 2D character portraits, and in game graphics. Voice acting in both Japanese and English. Occasionally if you skip dialog and cut scenes you will have to wait for the game to catch up. Example: Skipping 6 boxes of text rapidly I had to wait until the character had drawn his weapon before I could skip more. Fighting: Hack/Slash and magic just like previous "Tales of" games. You are confined in a circle of conflict when the battle begins and are graded / rewarded on how the fight resolves. You can evade most random monsters before a fight but also be warned you can encounter 2 groups of monsters at once producing a "Dangerous Encounter" Example would be fighting 6 squirrels twice in a row for 12 total. There will also be small banter between party members after a fight Game Options: There are multiple difficulties which can be selected. There is also a progression system that allows you to increase the difficulties after you win X amount of battles in the hardest difficulty. This makes the battles harder but also changes the rewards possible. You can quicksave almost whenever you want as well as save points in the field. The time needed to Save then Load a game is quite fast. Audio: Music is good but can get repetitive. The Voice acting syncs up well, there is a few places where delayed or early dialog happens. This game is available on the multiple platforms but I recommend the PS4. I am only 30 hours into it and still having fun doing the side events and leveling items, even attempting to kill mini-bosses on hard difficulties without dying.

I'm going to make this short and sweet. The PS4 is still fairly new and starving from a lot of JRPGs. Besides A couple of Final Fantasy remasters there isnt much out there. The story is nothing to write home about and is standard RPG fair. You play in a large open world that doesnt transports you to a battle screen like in past JRPGS. Everything is instant and very quick making grinding less of a chore. Its basically a slightly tweaked action turned based version of the Tales battle system you know and love. This is also available on the PS3 but, the PS4 version is a bit sharper. You can tell this was made originally for the PS3 as the graphics aren't going to blow your mind. It has a nice cell shaded look and where the graphics lack the gameplay and battle system fill the gap. A great addition to your JRPG starving PS4. Bring on Persona 5!

Great game. The story is interesting from the first act and it keeps adding new characters every few hours, so the gameplay feels fresh all the time. The mechanics are easy to understand but hard to master, so you never miss a chance to get bored and there is a huge variety of maps, levels and enemies. As a good JRPG, Zestiria. offers a very decent number of hours and, unlike in other games, the anime style fits perfectly with the tone of the game. My only gripe is leveling does not give you vastly superior stats but instead you must learn how the equipment works to tweak your stats, which you will not probably understand till a second playthrough.

Tales of is back! This time Tales of Zesteria brings in new mechanics where two characters will fuse to become an even stronger character. The story starts off rather slow compared to other Tales of games but once the action begins, roughly 4 and half hours in, the action does not seem to stop. Make sure to pick up the PS4 version as the game runs at a even better frame rate. The combat similarly to Tales of Graces f so if you enjoyed that game you will surely love this game as well. Also for the anime fans, having an option for the original dub in Japanese is an added plus as many hate the English dub which isn't half bad either.

Disclaimer: I'm no where close to completing this game. This, being the latest in the Tales entry, is a port of the PS3 Japan-only release last year. The game is a Tales game for sure. Likeable anime characters, good guys, sort of good guys, clear bad guys, sweeping story. If you like the Tales series, you'll like this game. That said, it barely breaks any new ground. Only in that the battle transitions are more seemless. My favorite part is that it is up to 4 player local co-op. I drive the main character while my wife plays the secondary during battles. Great time for both of us. Get the strategy guide.

I bought this game because I am a fan of the Tales series, and while I enjoyed it well enough, it did not live up to my expectations. The Good: -The soundtrack for this game is probably one of the stronger ones in the series. -I enjoyed the visuals most of the time. The game may not have the most cutting edge graphics, but its style is quite pretty. -The gameplay implements a few interesting features not seen in prior entries to the series. The Bad: -You may have some grief from the camera in battle. -The battle system is not as good as some other entries in the series. -The difficulty system is questionable. Higher difficulty settings are accomplished almost entirely by adding 10s of levels onto enemies and reducing player exp. Additionally, even if you aren't set to 'hard' or higher, the level curve is not well done, so don't expect to be up to level for the current area unless you do a lot of grinding. -This game is also weaker in the writing department than most of the other games I've played in the series. Dialogue can come across as stilted, and the main villain ultimately did not impress me. If you're still interested after reading about the flaws of the game, you may enjoy it, as I did. However, there are a many problems that could ruin your experience of the game, so I cannot recommend buying it. Also, even if you do buy this game, do not buy the "Tales of Zestiria - Bonus Chapter: Alisha's Conviction" DLC. While I rate the game at 3 stars, I would probably give that DLC 1 star. It is poorly written and essentially adds nothing new (most of it is recycled content from the main game, and its story is inconsequential).

I'm a big fan of Tales games, and I really miss more development on the characters. The plot is very simple and linear, you are the chosen one and the other will follow you because of that. Puzzles and challenges are not a very elaborated. The great thing about this game is the combat system, to be able to combine two characters and get new powers and abilities is awesome. And the music is awesome too. The graphics are okay, but they could be much better since we are taking about a PS4 game, and not a PS2 game.