IMPORT REVIEW: Tales of Berseria

Besides that, the next advantage to Soul Break is the accumulation of the Blast Gauge, which adds another element to strategy. The Blast Gauge determines two important factors First, the use of the fabled Mystic Artes, which you obtain more of as your characters levels up. Second, besides Artes, the ability to switch characters on the fly during combat. While I would have preferred a similar approach to switching characters like Xillia 1’s, the system here works and it’s great that when timed correctly, the characters will jump in to continue the combo, adding more to the hectic nature of combat. It all goes hand to hand to keep the action ever so fast paced and engaging, with the flow only ever being interrupted by the player’s own skill level; making the combat system easy to learn but hard to master. As good as the combat system is, one of the biggest disappointments I’ve had with the game was, ironically enough, the boss battles. With the exception of the few final story-related bosses, most of them didn’t put up a challenge or were just a slog to fight. Mainly acting more as health sponges than anything to test out your abilities at that given time, even at higher difficulties.

Exploration compared to the last entry has been taken down a notch. Instead of having large, open world like maps, it goes back to smaller, linear based maps like Xillia. Dungeons feel more like dungeons of the past, without terrible gimmicks in their wake, and even if they’re a bit derivative, I appreciate the effort. While on the adventure, you come across your typical side quests and minigames that have no bearing on the plot, as well as collectible orbs, which you spend opening chests for cats that either reward you with accessories or unlocking a few perks. While I’m mixed about the overall quality of how the journey plays out, one aspect that I’m positively not fond of is the amount of backtracking you do as you progress. It starts out with one really bad example after the prison break sequence, but it gets egregious later on when saving some Daemons for narrative reasons and then again, when it’s time to find the mcguffin. When having to go through previously explored regions to go to an area not accessible before and the faster transportation of the hoverboard comes far too late.

Graphically. the game will not impress, as the game was developed in mind for the PS3 like the previous entry, with the textures looking dated, reused assets not being improved upon, and even character models showing their age. The cutscenes, however, do continue to impress thanks to Ufotable’s fantastic work. Technically the framerate is quite stable at 60 fps on the PS4, though it does hiccup at times when the action gets intense, with all the character activating longer animated Artes. However, it stays consistently high for the most part. The ambitious nature of seamlessly transitioning into battle is lost, but in its place, the camera functions well and not like bollocks. Multiplayer returns in working fashion and combat with your friends is as enjoyable as its always been. The real disappointment comes with the game’s soundtrack as it is lackluster, by the numbers, and just uninspired with the lack of Go Shiina and being exclusively done by Sakaruba unlike Zesteria; his composition being the real highlight of that game and is a real shame he didn’t return.

I rushed through the game and it took me over 40 hours to complete the game’s story and I still had plenty of side content like the rest of the character quests, cameo battles, and extra final dungeon with the NG+ offered with the grade system. So in conclusion, Tales of Berseria is not a revolutionary title by any means, it lacks ambition and any real progression for the series to take a giant step forward. Instead, it plays it safe and tries to repair the damage the last title has done to the reputation of the franchise. Tales of Berseria feels like it’s worth the full price tag, having a bevy of content and a story that feels like a natural stand alone title, with a very likable cast of colorful characters.

With all that said, the game is a solid title, and a good Tales of game, but is it worth importing? For fans of the series that adore the gameplay more than anything else and just can’t wait, yes, it’s worth it. The game is streamlined enough for anyone to get through most of the content without the need of any guide with the exception of the AI party command menu, and progression through the story is made easy with prompts for important NPC dialogue and guide markers on the map. However, if gameplay, is not enough as a substitute and absolutely need to know what is happening in the story and in the large number of skits the game has to offer, I’d say wait for the localization.