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Tales of Berseria |OT| The Band of the Crowe

MartyStu

Member
How is she your favorite protagonist if you don't even remember her name?

Meh.

25 hours into the game now, and yeah, Velvet is pretty awesome. It is a damn shame that the game tries really hard to not let her actively do anything truly terrible, but that has not been to big a deal so far.
 

RalchAC

Member
I bought this game a few days ago, got to play a bit and right now I'm at Logress
doing the Blood Wing errands.
After doing the first batch, I've been told to
kill the High Priest. Cool lol.

The prologue of the game felt too cheesy at times and I wasn't feeling the tone was all over the place. But things seem to have settles now and I really like how things are going. I like Rokurou a lot, the conversation he has with Eizen in the tavern was quite cool. Velvet so far seems like an interesting character. There is loads of stuff conflicting her. Laphizet isn't bad.

The game doesn't really potrait them as villains though. They have their goals, do their business but they certainly help people if it's not going to hold them back a lot. It gives people plenty of reasons to not like the Abby.

I'm playing on Hard and the game seems on the easy side so far. Bosses not having bullshit barriers after you hit them 5 times is good though. The most challenging battle is when I had to fight against 2 groups of mobs at the same time. Which is cool, I guess, in Tales of Xillia 1/2 the most fun I had with the game was luring 2-3 mobs in the field and battling them at the same time.

AI seems to be more competent, or may it's just that the game has a lot of ways for you to heal without the AI.

Enviroments are awful as usual. They need to step up their game.

I haven't played Zestiria BTW.
 

BadWolf

Member
Been hearing good praise so tried it out and it's not bad or anything but at the same time I'm feeling like I'm playing it just to finish it and not because I'm truly engaged.

I'm about 10 hours in, do the story and characterization get much better or is it just more of the same?

So far I'm seeing run of the mill anime stuff, nothing terrible or worth hating but not something I'm interesting in sticking with for 40 hours or whatever.
 
Been hearing good praise so tried it out and it's not bad or anything but at the same time I'm feeling like I'm playing it just to finish it and not because I'm truly engaged.

I'm about 10 hours in, do the story and characterization get much better or is it just more of the same?

So far I'm seeing run of the mill anime stuff, nothing terrible or worth hating but not something I'm interesting in sticking with for 40 hours or whatever.
the game is long and hits a notable weak point in the middle. I find that however it becomes quite fantastic after that hump.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
Bought it during the sale and started it last night. So far so good.

Magilou has the best introduction of any character in the series. She's the best.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Bought it during the sale and started it last night. So far so good.

Magilou has the best introduction of any character in the series. She's the best.

She just keeps getting better once you get her story (takes a long time to get there though)

"cooo cooo"
 
The next tales game better have a world design redo because I'm tired of the emptiness we have been getting since Xillia. It's just simply awful. I just want Tales of Symphonia like dungeons back with the sorcerer's ring for the next tales game. As awesome as Berseria was, it's beautiful environments are dull because of the way it is designed.
 
Been hearing good praise so tried it out and it's not bad or anything but at the same time I'm feeling like I'm playing it just to finish it and not because I'm truly engaged.

I'm about 10 hours in, do the story and characterization get much better or is it just more of the same?

So far I'm seeing run of the mill anime stuff, nothing terrible or worth hating but not something I'm interesting in sticking with for 40 hours or whatever.

I really hated the game at the beginning. However after maybe 15-20 hours I started to like it more and more, mostly because of the characters. Story is nice also.
 

BY2K

Membero Americo
Berseria just made one gigantic reference to Symphonia and Phantasia as part of its lore...

Are they actually connected?
 

BadWolf

Member
I really hated the game at the beginning. However after maybe 15-20 hours I started to like it more and more, mostly because of the characters. Story is nice also.

Thanks, at least the sentiment that the second half of the game is really good seems to be consistent.
 

Galactic Fork

A little fluff between the ears never did any harm...
Just wait. There's an even bigger connection to
Xillia

Though I think this stuff is mostly fan service

Definitely fan service.

OK, so I beat Berseria and loved it, and now want to try Zestria, but haven't heard great things. I want to see the connections between the two, though. Is it a huge step down to play Zestria after Berseria?
 

wrowa

Member
Bought it during the European PSN sales and I'm... kinda conflicted about it right now. I'm roughly 17 hours into it and I greatly enjoyed the first 12. However, ever since about the time
Eleanor joined the party
, I feel like it just drags on and on. I just reached Southgand and nothing really interesting happened in the last five hours. Instead, the one-dimensional characters are starting to become annoying: Velvet in particular is in dire need of some character development. Her mindless revenge shtick is tiring.

On top of that, the weaknesses in dungeon/field design become more apparent (not as bad as Zestiria, but still very lacking and rather dull) and for some reason the game is incredibly easy. I'm already avoiding most battles and yet no boss battle or Red Code monster so far was even remotely challenging. I barely even used any items yet.
 

Reani

Member
Definitely fan service.

OK, so I beat Berseria and loved it, and now want to try Zestria, but haven't heard great things. I want to see the connections between the two, though. Is it a huge step down to play Zestria after Berseria?
it kinda is, game is slow, repetitive and plot is....almost lame. dungeons are super lame and to me it felt like a chore. meanwhile i beat berseria in almost one sitting (didnt play anything else, was consumed by it).

zestiria anime is great though, definitely watch it
 

Cornbread78

Member
But you'll get it if you play vesperia second

I still haven't played Vesperia. I've seen it on sale a ton of times over the years, but that would mean I have to turn on my 360, which has been turned on a total of 5-6 times since I bought the stupid thing, lol

Completely agree, and the great skits, which really adds to the group rapport wonderfully.


Yeah, some of the skits were LOL funny. That whole Magilou x Velvet dynamic was great; OK, Magilou in general was great, lol.
 
Bought it during the European PSN sales and I'm... kinda conflicted about it right now. I'm roughly 17 hours into it and I greatly enjoyed the first 12. However, ever since about the time
Eleanor joined the party
, I feel like it just drags on and on. I just reached Southgand and nothing really interesting happened in the last five hours. Instead, the one-dimensional characters are starting to become annoying: Velvet in particular is in dire need of some character development. Her mindless revenge shtick is tiring.

On top of that, the weaknesses in dungeon/field design become more apparent (not as bad as Zestiria, but still very lacking and rather dull) and for some reason the game is incredibly easy. I'm already avoiding most battles and yet no boss battle or Red Code monster so far was even remotely challenging. I barely even used any items yet.

Berseria's 2 biggest weaknesses imo. It's a strikingly easy 20 hour game that's stretched more than double that to come off as more of a full game. I feel it would be something really great if it was more focused all around.

That being said, the character writing is pretty good and your patience will mostly pay off concerning Velvet.
 

Giolon

Member
OK, so I beat Berseria and loved it, and now want to try Zestria, but haven't heard great things. I want to see the connections between the two, though. Is it a huge step down to play Zestria after Berseria?

I did this, and while Zestiria as a game is more flawed than Berseria, I think that the connections and revelations that Berseria brought to the overall story makes Zestiria a more interesting game. As I posted a few pages back to someone asking which game to play first:

Play Berseria first. It's a better game. Better story, better characters, better gameplay. Berseria's strong enough to stand on its own as one of the best Tales games out there.

If you like Berseria a lot and are curious to see how the world turns out 1000 years later, consider playing Zestiria. It's is a more flawed experience, but the characters are good, if more traditional. I felt like Zestiria's story was buoyed more by it connections to the events of Berseria than vice versa, and those connections help elevate what is otherwise a fairly straightforward good vs evil story.

And man are there some good, neat connections between the two stories. It feels to me like they had to have been written together at the same time.
 

RalchAC

Member
Been hearing good praise so tried it out and it's not bad or anything but at the same time I'm feeling like I'm playing it just to finish it and not because I'm truly engaged.

I'm about 10 hours in, do the story and characterization get much better or is it just more of the same?

So far I'm seeing run of the mill anime stuff, nothing terrible or worth hating but not something I'm interesting in sticking with for 40 hours or whatever.

How far have you got? I was pretty bored during the prologue, things got better once I left Titania, and then after you fight
Artorius
for the first time it kind of loses steam.

I'm still having fun with the game. The story should pick up soon. After you get the obligatory fight where you're getting your ass kicked, Eleanor joins the party and you get a few slow hours where some characters' stories open and you have Eleanor asking stuff.

Still, the cast feels like the strongest I've seen on a Tales game in a long while. Magilou is probably the worst of them, but I think her being hit and miss with its jokes is the point, so whatever.

Velvet is slowly opening up to the rest of the party. Rokurou is awesome. Laphi is surprisingly nice. Eizen is good too. There was a scene where both him and Rokurou where drinking that won my over TBH.

The next tales game better have a world design redo because I'm tired of the emptiness we have been getting since Xillia. It's just simply awful. I just want Tales of Symphonia like dungeons back with the sorcerer's ring for the next tales game. As awesome as Berseria was, it's beautiful environments are dull because of the way it is designed.

Yeah. I skipped Zestiria and I still feel like I'm sick of having the same empty fields in 3 games in a row (Xillia 1&2 and Berseria), 4 if you count Graces f (which was the best of them all in that sense, I mean, at least it had straight corridors). It feels like they aren't even trying.

Playing this game 2 months after Persona 5 probably doesn't help.

Berseria's 2 biggest weaknesses imo. It's a strikingly easy 20 hour game that's stretched more than double that to come off as more of a full game. I feel it would be something really great if it was more focused all around.

That being said, the character writing is pretty good and your patience will mostly pay off concerning Velvet.

I hope the next game breaks the mold a bit. If I need to get a 25-30 hour story in exchange of better enviroments, I'm okay. If they reduce the amount of artes to channel money to other stuff, I'm okay.

They should get back Xillia's 2 structure back imo. The Main Chapter followed by a few optional Character Chapters were something I really liked. Wish they had included them. Minus the debt system, of course.
 

BadWolf

Member
How far have you got? I was pretty bored during the prologue, things got better once I left Titania, and then after you fight
Artorius
for the first time it kind of loses steam.

I'm still having fun with the game. The story should pick up soon. After you get the obligatory fight where you're getting your ass kicked, Eleanor joins the party and you get a few slow hours where some characters' stories open and you have Eleanor asking stuff.

Still, the cast feels like the strongest I've seen on a Tales game in a long while. Magilou is probably the worst of them, but I think her being hit and miss with its jokes is the point, so whatever.

Velvet is slowly opening up to the rest of the party. Rokurou is awesome. Laphi is surprisingly nice. Eizen is good too. There was a scene where both him and Rokurou where drinking that won my over TBH.

I'm right after where
those rebel guys send you to kill a priest because he was trafficking in drugs and Magilou first becomes playable
.

The gameplay and combat just feel so basic and brain dead -_-
 

Giolon

Member
I'm right after where
those rebel guys send you to kill a priest because he was trafficking in drugs and Magilou first becomes playable
.

The gameplay and combat just feel so basic and brain dead -_-

If it's basic and brain dead for you, turn up the difficulty. I ended up switching between the the 2nd and 3rd hardest difficulties by the end. You'll need to use weaknesses and status ailments, and block and dodge appropriately and to me helped keep the combat engaging rather than a simple mash fest.
 

RalchAC

Member
If it's basic and brain dead for you, turn up the difficulty. I ended up switching between the the 2nd and 3rd hardest difficulties by the end. You'll need to use weaknesses and status ailments, and block and dodge appropriately and to me helped keep the combat engaging rather than a simple mash fest.

I have it in Hard right now. I more or less control the weakness stuff but the status aliments are a bit harder to remember. I'll try to pay more attention to those.

In harder difficulties I think that positioning is the most important thing though. Enemies are more aggressive, there usually are 5-6 of them and they attack in groups of 3 quite often. Finding a spot where you can safely hit them all so they don't break your combo is important.
 

demidar

Member
Intense or higher is the sweet spot for combat, except for some of the later game bosses where the numbers get inflated a bit too high.
 
Anyone knows what the hell happened to this game all of a sudden? I'm on PS4, I was playing it without any problems for like 30 hours and now suddenly the game just keeps on crashing.

I can't even start the game! Bandai Namco screen and then crash. Over and over again.
 

Cornbread78

Member
Anyone knows what the hell happened to this game all of a sudden? I'm on PS4, I was playing it without any problems for like 30 hours and now suddenly the game just keeps on crashing.

I can't even start the game! Bandai Namco screen and then crash. Over and over again.


I had this happen with Mass Effect. I uploaded the save file to the cloud, deleted the gane from the hd and reinstalled it. No problems after..
 
I had this happen with Mass Effect. I uploaded the save file to the cloud, deleted the gane from the hd and reinstalled it. No problems after..
I don't have plus so I can't upload my save to cloud, but I'll probably try reinstalling it next. First I wanna try and see if installing that optional PS4 firmware that they released a while back can do any good.

Edit: Nope. I guess I'm reinstalling the game, sigh.
 

Cornbread78

Member
I don't have plus so I can't upload my save to cloud, but I'll probably try reinstalling it next. First I wanna try and see if installing that optional PS4 firmware that they released a while back can do any good.

Edit: Nope. I guess I'm reinstalling the game, sigh.


Make sure you back up the save file first!!
 
Make sure you back up the save file first!!

Too late for that. But I don't think that'll be a problem. Other games don't delete your save files when you delete the game, so I think this will be the same.

God, I hope so...

Edit: Just checked the PS4 storage and the save files are safe.
 
Played about 7 hours so far and enjoying but does the main girl not have magic spells to cast? Kinda feels like a beatemup when playing because I'm just comboing people with physical attacks
 

Cornbread78

Member
Too late for that. But I don't think that'll be a problem. Other games don't delete your save files when you delete the game, so I think this will be the same.

God, I hope so...

Edit: Just checked the PS4 storage and the save files are safe.

Sweet! I still get nervous because of my Vita saves, lol.
 

Datschge

Member
Wow. This is my third Tales of game, yet I had no idea that you could play them coop.

I should try this sometime.
This can be great fun if you have friends that don't mind just watching between battles. I prefer playing Tales in coop whenever possible. It's really unfortunate that this feature is flying under the radar for many players, by having linking/armatization (which temporally combine two characters) as core part of their battle system the Xillia games and Zestiria even actively worked against smooth coop (though thankfully not removing the feature outright).
 
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