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[RainbowIslands]

Anyone know where I can find a mirror of that offscreen gameplay? The video became private pretty quick it seems. I'm hoping that the gameplay is as quick and snappy as that GIF suggests and this game capitalizes on what they were trying to do with Zestiria by removing what didn't work (seemless battles, super quick transition to fighting arena is better it seems) and expanding upon what did. Hopefully this game can match up to Symphonia/Abyss/Vesperia and deliver a great experience.

Those three and Xillia are the only I've finished, and while I think Xillia actually did a relatively good job with it's story, characters and gameplay (battles and character progression were great, not every JRPG has such good skill customization), the game fell flat mostly because of it's somewhat limited scope and linear hallway worlds. Hearts R is also pretty good, but I find the DS origins too apparent in the world lacking a lot of grandeur and dungeons being fairly eh. Skipped on Zestiria (at least

I'm interested to see more about the new battles system that sounds like a huge departure from the norm. I hope the big environments taking too long to travel through and being too empty in Zestiria is addressed here with some kind of quicker traversal method. Mounts maybe? I'm reminded of the cover of Phantasia with Cress and Mint on that horse, or maybe it's a pegasus? I don't know, it can't be an airship like in some past games because I think they just can't pull of that feat without a traditional worldmap traversal method.

This news and Persona 5's announcement of an announcement (yeah those generally suck but it is P5) have me feeling pretty good today! Can't wait to hear more for both games and I hope import impressions in August are more positive than Zestiria's. Disappointed a bit that Star Ocean 5 is apparently short on scope, even if it is a good game besides that, so I hope Berseria can live up to the Tales of name.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agygkG0NCrc
I wasn't able to watch it via the previous link, but judging from the screenshots this is the same video.

It looks pretty good! It's just really weird that the "change character"/Switch Blast thing will be there all the time. I guess that's why they had the status bars spaced up, to accommodate for the switch blast menus being always there. I liked the addition in Xillia, so I'm glad they buffed it a little bit and re-introduced it. Also liking the menus.

 

[UltimaWeapon]

Should I bother with Zestiria? I didn't pick up since I heard it was bad.

I loved Zestiria. To me it was one of the more streamlined Tales games. No annoying Teepo-like characters. Weapon system is a little odd, but not enough to sway me away from playing. It's a Tales worth playing, but of course that's just my opinion.

 

[Drilbit777]

So NX could still be a possibility if its launching in 2017 though I'm probably jumping the gun here. Regardless I'm still really excited for this game and can't wait to pick it up.

 

[Mediking]

So NX could still be a possibility if its launching in 2017 though I'm probably jumping the gun here. Regardless I'm still really excited for this game and can't wait to pick it up.

My thoughts exactly

 

[squall23]

To be fair that horrible Gundam ava Kayos has is bad enough, idk what you guys could make him wear that would be worse.

Hey, you can make fun of Kayos all you want, but leave Meijin Kawaguchi out of this.

 

[Pancake Mix]

Tales of Berseria will not be censored in the West according to the director, that means no costume changes.

Edit: Oops, banned link, sorry. However, the comment comes straight from the producer, Yasuhiro Fukaya.

“I promise. Velvet’s costume will surely be the same in the western version. The design of that costume is created by Mutsumi Inomata, and she created that costume based on the character’s concept and setting, and on the storyline.

I believe that those who support the Tales Of series like to have exactly the same content as the Japanese version. We believe it’s ideal and the best option to bring exactly the same game experience and design to the western countries. I promise that Velvet is still Velvet in the western version.”

He's 100 percent right, most fans will either be pleased or indifferent, whereas if it was changed it would just annoy more of us.

I absolutely hate her outfit, but I know Berseria will likely have plenty of alternates for me to choose from, so it's fine by me. I'll just switch it out.

I 100 percent respect that, while I'll keep the default. This keeps us both happy and its the best of both worlds.

 

[DalikSkywing]

I loved that menu screen with all the characters. Also whats up with that "sub" word? Does it mean you can change chars on the fly in combat?

 

[yami4ct]

Tales of Berseria will not be censored in the West according to the director, that means no costume changes.

Edit: Oops, banned link, sorry. However, the comment comes straight from the producer, Yasuhiro Fukaya.



He's 100 percent right, most fans will either be pleased or indifferent, whereas if it was changed it would just annoy more of us.

I absolutely hate her outfit, but I know Berseria will likely have plenty of alternates for me to choose from, so it's fine by me. I'll just switch it out.

 

[Sora_N]

Not at full price. It's not worth full price. It's worth a try, I guess? Some people managed to enjoy it despite its mountain of fun-killing flaws.

I loved Zestiria. To me it was one of the more streamlined Tales games. No annoying Teepo-like characters. Weapon system is a little odd, but not enough to sway me away from playing. It's a Tales worth playing, but of course that's just my opinion.

Cool, I'll keep an eye out for it once it's around 20. Guess I'll still add it to my collection.

 

[zeromcd73]

Two more articles from dual banned site shockerz:

Tales of Berseria’s Main Story Lasts Over 50 Hours; Doing Everything Should Take Over 80 Hours

Fukaya-san mentioned that the main story is longer than that of Tales of Zestiria, and it should take over fifty hours to complete on its own. He himself recently played the latest built, and spent more than fifty hours just on the main scenario.

While the gameplay duration depends largely on what the player does, Fukaya-san believes that an average gamer will probably take over eighty hours to complete the game including all the sub-events and optional content.

Tales of Berseria Will Probably Be The Last Tales Of Game on PS3; The Next Might Have Seamless Battles

That said, he clarified that Tales of Berseria will probably be the last title of the series released on PS3. For now there’s no information to give about the next Tales Of game, but if it was to be released exclusively for the current generation of consoles, it could make full use of the specs of the PS4.

 

[kewlmyc]

Two more articles from dual banned site shockerz:

Hearing that, it sounds like the next Tales of is at least 2-3 years away. Good.

 

[Datschge]

Bloated playtime? Sounds like "Team Symphonia" style again.

Hearing that, it sounds like the next Tales of is at least 2-3 years away. Good.

What makes you think that? It didn't say "last on PS4". ;P

 

[kewlmyc]

BWhat makes you think that? It didn't say "last on PS4". ;P

They just got done with Zestira last year and Beseria this year (which uses assets from Zestiria) , so I don't think they'll have a new game rearing to go soon. Considering they're moving on to PS4 to make better use of the hardware, I could see them having a longer development cycle than usual too.

 

[Datschge]

They just got done with Zestira last year and Beseria this year (which uses assets from Zestiria) , so I don't think they'll have a new game rearing to go soon. Considering they're moving on to PS4 to make better use of the hardware, I could see them having a longer development cycle than usual too.

To me it currently seems they have settled on a ~3+ years development cycle per games (which is plenty) with two teams working on them (we'll need to see the staff listing for that), which would mean a new game every ~1 1/2 years.

 

[Datschge]

Yasuhiro Fukaya did plenty of interviews. In one of them with a German community he states:

Since the monsters in Tales of Berseria are being designed by the exact same people that are responsible for the enemy designs in Tales of Zestiria, you can look forward to more fun new enemies.

Considering the Bandai Namco Studios credits for monsters amount to two persons (namely Hiroki Izume and Toru Kawaguchi) and the rest was outsourced I take it as a hint that the outsourcing in Zestiria was not a one-off case but the way they intend to keep doing Tales development.

 

[StereoVsn]

I loved Zestiria. To me it was one of the more streamlined Tales games. No annoying Teepo-like characters. Weapon system is a little odd, but not enough to sway me away from playing. It's a Tales worth playing, but of course that's just my opinion.

I liked it quite a bit. Certainly better than Xillia games. Weapon system was a bit of a CF but there are plenty of guides for it out there.

 

[kayos90]

Read an article that said they did Velvet as the lead as people asked for more female leads and hopes she's more popular than Milla who ranks really high. Hmm... Not sure if it's possible for them to top ToX1/2 Milla to be honest..

 

[Durante]

They also announced that the game will feature dual audio and the actual opening song instead of just the instrumental.

That's nice. (Though it was easy enough to fix on PC)

 

[kayos90]

That's nice. (Though it was easy enough to fix on PC)

Some of us console plebs/buyers can't mod it though!

 

[Durante]

Some of us console plebs/buyers can't mod it though!

Sure. I really meant that it's nice, it's always better if these things are done right from the get-go rather than requiring modding. Same goes for 60 FPS.

I'm looking forward to the game, I actually enjoyed Zestiria more than I thought I would (and I hope this one is closer to it in terms of character writing than it is to most other Tales games).

 

[Celcius]

2017 nooooooo.
Oh well, at least the PC version releases the same time as the console version.

 

[Yawnier]

Two more articles from dual banned site shockerz:

50 hours long is pretty damn good as long as the game itself is good. That's about how long Symphonia took me on my first playthrough I think.

Was hoping for this game to release this fall but I haven't played Zestiria yet so I have that to hold me over.

 

[koutoru]

2017 nooooooo.
Oh well, at least the PC version releases the same time as the console version.

Yep. It's nice to see Bandai making sure that their recent pc ports get released the same as the console versions.

 

[Aters]

I'm a sucker for female protagonists in JRPG, so I have to play this one.
The thing is, ToZ is still in my backlog and I find myself avoiding it whenever I get a chance to play games.

 

[Pics_nao]

How similar wil Berpy be to Zesty in terms of recommended specs do you guys think? I can run Zesty fine on my surface pro 2 and I'm sure I'll have built a PC when this releases but it shouldn't be a pain to run right?

 

[Tohsaka]

How similar wil Berpy be to Zesty in terms of recommended specs do you guys think? I can run Zesty fine on my surface pro 2 and I'm sure I'll have built a PC when this releases but it shouldn't be a pain to run right?

I doubt it will be much more demanding than ToZ, if at all, since it's still on PS3 in Japan.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Glad to hear that this is potentially the last PS3 based title Now if only bamco would allow them the time to create new assets and get a new engine..

 

[Bladenic]

Glad to hear that this is potentially the last PS3 based title Now if only bamco would allow them the time to create new assets and get a new engine..

Didn't Zestiria have a new engine?

But yeah it's kinda funny to me that the word "probably" was in there. No, this should definitely be the last game on PS3

 

[Kayo Police]

Read an article that said they did Velvet as the lead as people asked for more female leads and hopes she's more popular than Milla who ranks really high. Hmm... Not sure if it's possible for them to top ToX1/2 Milla to be honest..

She looks like Milla with black hair to me.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Didn't Zestiria have a new engine?

But yeah it's kinda funny to me that the word "probably" was in there. No, this should definitely be the last game on PS3

Based on what i've heard from modders of Zesteria, they have been using the same base engine upgraded since Symphonia, and that includes the latest game

 

[kewlmyc]

She looks like Milla with black hair to me.

Apparently that's not a coincidence.

http://www.gamerclick.it/news/53912...ista-al-producer-fukaya-per-tales-of-berseria

GC: Velvet closely resembles Milla from Tales of Xillia. Is it a coincidence?

When we started thinking about the concept design of Velvet, the existence of Milla from Tales of Xillia was very important in the creation of the character, because Milla was loved not only by the Japanese fans, but also from Western ones . It was a very difficult goal to achieve, to have Velvet resemble Milla.

 

[A.E Suggs]

Love the screen menu, so good.

Hopefully we can have an option that allows an art style change just like in the Berseria Japanese site

I guess that'd be cool. Not sure why they would include it but i'd take it.

Loving all the news so far especially the skits and sidequest news.

 

[Fisico]

Read an article that said they did Velvet as the lead as people asked for more female leads and hopes she's more popular than Milla who ranks really high. Hmm... Not sure if it's possible for them to top ToX1/2 Milla to be honest..

They made her look like Millia with the darker look and personality of Yuri, she even seems to have a white knight with blond hair and a stronge sense of duty as her rival so... yeah they checked the right boxes, now whether it works or not is another matter.

We had an interview with Fukuya too 10 days ago, I'd like to publish it today or tomorrow, there are a few infos inside that I think some will appreciate to learn here.

 

[Inuhanyou]

So a female Yuri!? Sounds hot

 

[Fisico]

There we go

English version below the french one

- Sakuraba is the only composer
- Yamamoto is the scenario writer
- Development started after they finished Zestiria (so late 2014)
- Tatsuro Udo was "involved" with Berseria
- Other minor things

 

[TheGreatLugia]

Wait, so Berseria started development around December 2014? If so, its development cycle is going to end up being a year and a half.

I know people called Xillia and Zestiria rushed, but those games still had 3 year development cycles.

 

[Fisico]

Wait, so Berseria started development around December 2014? If so, its development cycle is going to end up being a year and a half.

I know people called Xillia and Zestiria rushed, but those games still had 3 year development cycles.

Or maybe October/November even, in the end it will still have a much longer development cycle than Xillia 2 but much shorter than an entirely new episode.

Which, for a distant prequel, kind of fit, it will probably have a lot of recycled things from Zestiria but not as much as Xillia 2 had from Xillia.

 

[Kayo Police]

So a female Yuri!? Sounds hot

Yuri isn't female? I don't want to believe.

I thought she was just using a Troy Baker voice to hide it.

 

[Mifec]

So a female Yuri!? Sounds hot

We will not have a JRPG progat as decent as Yuri this gen

 

[Ludger Kresnik]

- Sakuraba is the only composer

sOBS

Tales Sakuraba is the worst. Get Go Shiina on the next game, his ToZ stuff was that OST's saving grace.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

There we go

English version below the french one

- Sakuraba is the only composer
- Yamamoto is the scenario writer
- Development started after they finished Zestiria (so late 2014)
- Tatsuro Udo was "involved" with Berseria
- Other minor things

Nooooooooooooo

Spoiler

I guess no excellent tracks in this game since Sakuraba is apparently shackled to making derivative stuff and Go Shiina's work was definitely the highlight of Zestiria music wise. It's really a weird choice considering this game is a prequel to Zestiria.

 

[Soriku]

Sakuraba's track in the second trailer is actually really good. But this doesn't reflect on the soundtrack as a whole I guess.

 

[MartyStu]

Can someone help me with what is happening in that UI?

Are there 6 characters in battle?

 

[Datschge]

There we go

English version below the french one

- Sakurai-san... hum is the only composer
- Yamamoto is the scenario writer
- Development started after they finished Zestiria (so late 2014)
- Tatsuro Udo was "involved" with Berseria
- Other minor things

Thanks for asking those questions. Combined with the previous quasi-confirmation that they continue with the massive outsourcing as done for Zestiria it looks like there's indeed only the rather bare bone single Tales team left at Bandai Namco Studios. Not really what I wanted to hear. If they keep sticking to the same people there is at least room for steady improvements, I guess.

Can someone help me with what is happening in that UI?

Are there 6 characters in battle?

No, still 4. That's the UI for swapping out characters a la Xillia 1.

 

[Fisico]

- Sakurai-san hum... is the only composer

Damn, I only noticed now that it's not a confusion between Masahiro Sakurai and Motooi Sakuraba but between Eriko Sakurai and Motooi Sakuraba.
It makes the mistake even weirder, could that mean that Eriko Sakurai is the new Shinji Tamura working in the "shadow" while Sakuraba's name is the only one used for marketing purpose ?

 

[Datschge]

It makes the mistake even weirder, could that mean that Eriko Sakurai is the new Shinji Tamura working in the "shadow" while Sakuraba's name is the only one used for marketing purpose ?

Honestly wouldn't be surprised. There has to be music related staff at BNS in any case for preparing all the reused/DLC music that's neither old nor originally by Sakuraba. The two Tamuras (Shinji earlier, Hiroshi later) used to handle that back at NTS.

 

[ShinNatsume]

YF : Actually compared to Tales of Zestiria, Tales of Berseria has even more area that are even larger and has much more locations overall. And while the world is not completely seamless when exploring between field maps towns and dungeons, the player will have the possibility to enjoy walking around in even vaster areas whether it's fields, towns or dungeons.

Am i the only one who is worried about that part of the interview?

Please not more of the these boring random generated dungeons..

 

[Bladenic]

Ugh why no Go Shiina? I was hoping that would become a new thing, Sakuraba/Shiina for every game. I mean they have like 6 character designers now as opposed to just 1 like old games. Or hell, give Shiina another game the fuck?

 

[diaspora]

Maybe in for the PC version.

 

[Fisico]

Am i the only one who is worried about that part of the interview?

Please not more of the these boring random generated dungeons..

They were not randomly generated.
Part of the problem also came from the battles directly taking part into the exploration zone. It still does somehow now but they managed to change the scale during the microloading transition to solve the problem (or so I'd like to think)