Tales of Tales of Zestiria

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I've checked out Tales of Zestiria for PS3 a little bit. After only 2h play time I've some issues with this game:

• very empty dungeons: Large areas with only very few enemies.
• You can check out the stats of the enemies at any time. Furthermore the enemies have an health bar you can follow the entire time of the battle. Nice for beginners, but I don't like to get spoilered all the time. Magic lenses are removed.
• During the battles the camera is behind the main character (maybe you can change it; I haven't could figure it out yet). It becomes confusing and I lose track about all the enemies. It's just me, but I don't deal with this camera perspective.

It might be too early to criticise the game and I don't want to daunt any people not to buy this game.

But so far... it's my least favorite game of the Tales of franchise I've touched yet.

It's just my personal opinion and my opinions and tastes are a bit weird anyway.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[OrangeCrush980]

A few of those seem petty, but overall I'm definitely waiting for the inevitable price drop to $20 or lower within several months.

[Refa]

First one sucks, second and fourth ones don't bother me, and third one isn't true but you probably meant the camera is behind your character.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Refa

[eclipse]

In a nutshell:

- First one looks amazing

- Second one makes me feel a lot better, but that's because I like knowing what I'm getting into

- Will judge the third one when the game comes over here

- Fourth one was available in Xillia, IIRC, if you had the right options on (which I did)

[Soledai]

- Second one makes me feel a lot better, but that's because I like knowing what I'm getting into

- Fourth one was available in Xillia, IIRC, if you had the right options on (which I did)

You mean you don't like running blind at an opponent and hoping for the best? Or using a magic lens? They were dirt cheap after all

Yeah, you had to set a skill for it, which was... interesting, but yeah.

Herr Jules, I personally think that restoring your HP and TP after a level is not so bad, now if you said after every battle, I'd have facepalmed.

Edited October 18, 2015 by Soledai

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Herr Jules, I personally think that restoring your HP and TP after a level is not so bad, now if you said after every battle, I'd have facepalmed.

I'm not sure about an auto restore, but weapons and items have a second effect in this game.

They can restore lots of HP and TP after the battle and even small amount during the battle.

However I haven't checked out how much yet.

Probably the reason why I haven't had an unit with first aid yet.

[-Cynthia-]

Just started playing this(about 4 hours in) and I haven't found any of these to be big problems. My main issue so far is that the character progression system is a bit too complicated, but maybe it'll make sense eventually.

[Fateborn]

Rose best character.

[Intoner Two]

Just started playing this(about 4 hours in) and I haven't found any of these to be big problems. My main issue so far is that the character progression system is a bit too complicated, but maybe it'll make sense eventually.

It's like Graces mixed with Xillia 2. In terms of learning artes, they're based on the titles as you probably figured out (and well this is just if anyone's unsure). There's this internal counter based on the level and effect of titles the character has equipped/trained that affects the learn order but you'll probably have unlocked everything eventually just dicking around. Like, the Wind Seraph will start with their Mystic Arte but won't have their HP healing spell for a while until you level their other titles.

Skills are the funky part though. All equipment skills you see in item slots are cumulative (i.e. two items equipped with Attak will increase your Atk by 8%). And then how they end up displayed in the skill board affects what bonus skill(s) one gets (game has several skits talking about it). Title effects do not grant bonus skills. Basically the game rewards one heavily for fusing items with potentially strong effects (or just helpful ones like extra elemental or status resistance). When you equip stuff, just watch the little diamonds pop up in the skill board. If a box appears around one, a bonus is created from a Stack (the cumulation effect I mentioned). If two or more symbols are adjacent horizontally, it's an Element chain bonus. Finally, a whole column of symbols creates a Union. Generally, the greater the Stack, the longer your Element chain or the further right the Union is, the better the bonus skills are (but that obviously aren't the most practical thing).

Anywho~ I rather like the game so far, myself. It's the first Tales of title where I actually use the protagonist the most so far in battle (though I also enjoy playing as Edna at times). I feel the characters all have their entertaining points and don't dislike nor feel any one is unimportant.

Edited October 26, 2015 by Intoner Two

[-Cynthia-]

Man, the water shrine is a pain in the ass. The story's dragging a bit too...

[eclipse]

First off, the battle system is way the hell too complex. But I'm having a hell of a lot of fun, so it cancels out. Now that I have some experience, I can answer this properly!

• very empty dungeons: Large areas with only very few enemies.
• magic lenses are removed: You can check out the stats of the enemies at any time. Furthermore the enemies have an health bar you can follow the entire time of the battle. Nice for beginners, but I don't like to get spoilered all the time.
• During the battles the camera is behind the main character (maybe you can change it; I haven't could figure it out yet). It becomes confusing and I lose track about all the enemies. It's just me, but I don't deal with this camera perspective.
• automatic restore of HP and TP after each level up

Response:

- THANK GOODNESS! Nothing like having to eat through my blast gauge because I wandered into the wrong thing! Managamrs suck, especially early-on. I like the extra space, so I can concentrate on exploring instead of battles I can't avoid without Holy Bottles.

- This is a godsend in battles, and is also necessary, given the emphasis on the seraphim.

- The battle camera gets a bit weird every now and then, but it's manageable. There might be an option somewhere to turn this off?

- There's inn food and snacks that do the same (inn food for HP, snacks for both), and this isn't a new thing, so ???.

My complaints so far:

- The fire temple's music was so amazing that I'm not sure if I want to venture anywhere else

- Weird camera angles in-battle every now and then

- The fusion system's a bit confusing, and I'm a little bit angry that my best stacks are on the beginner equipment!

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

automatic restore of HP and TP after each level up

I forgot to cut out this point. My bad! (done now)

I noticed that furthermore items and arts heal your units, so it's not a huge thing.

Showing the HP bar during the battles would be ok as an adjustable option. Some people (like me) don't want to get spoiled all over the time.

To be fair it's the first time that I have to deal with this camera angle (behind the main character). It becomes confusing for me whenever I must fight multiple enemies, because this angle doesn't allow me to see them all.

This angle would be ok as an adjustable option too. Keeping the classical side camera angle would be very appreciated.

I haven't continued with ToZ for about two weeks, because I lost the interest and wanted to finish Abyss instead.

Since I've done it, I can focus more on this game now.

[Chloe Neo]

Toz is a good game,not the best I hate the camera the fact you cant change characters on the field, the battle transitions and the frame rate oh god does it suck.

[-Cynthia-]

- The fire temple's music was so amazing that I'm not sure if I want to venture anywhere else

Other shrines also have really good music in a similar style so...motivation!

[eclipse]

Just did the water shrine. I was disappointed in the music. It didn't have the same amazing feel as the fire one.

[Fateborn]

Toz is a good game,not the best I hate the camera the fact you cant change characters on the field, the battle transitions and the frame rate oh god does it suck.

You can switch character during battle.

lol

Just look at my stream, I have broadcasts of ToZ up in there.

www.twitch.tv/ubelengel/profile

Edited October 31, 2015 by Fateborn

[Chloe Neo]

You can switch character during battle.

lol

Just look at my stream, I have broadcasts of ToZ up in there.

www.twitch.tv/ubelengel/profile

Sigh, if you actually read my post properly you would see that I said on the FIELD not battle I know that, Field means the character you run around with on the screen ok.

[Fateborn]

Sigh, if you actually read my post properly you would see that I said on the FIELD not battle I know that, Field means the character you run around with on the screen ok.

Of course, that's sorta intended, since you really only run around with Sorey.

Everyone else literally leaves at some point then back then out then back, etc etc.

It's not like the other Tales, where they leaves for a brief period of time for story reason.

[-Cynthia-]

Just did the water shrine. I was disappointed in the music. It didn't have the same amazing feel as the fire one.

Earth shrine was my favorite of the four personally. Although it's close upon listening to them again...

Edited October 31, 2015 by -Cynthia-

[Lord Raven]

I haven't played Zestiria yet but the Earth Shrine music sounds like something straight out of Legendia. It makes says cause Go Shiina but yeah.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Lord Raven

[Samias]

Toz is a good game,not the best I hate the camera the fact you cant change characters on the field, the battle transitions and the frame rate oh god does it suck.

I think the forced Sorey on the field is a consequence of your seraphim party members being invisible to the world.

Humans are also locked to the battlefield so your party size is almost always 2 or 4... It's pretty limiting compared to other games in the series because this system demands you swap characters and tactics frequently. I don't think I like it much even compared to Graces or Xillia because the AI is garbage that dies repeatedly and destroys my grade on every boss. The camera is also terrible near walls and especially around corners. Playing with my fiancé, the camera managed to get even worse, even in the best case scenario of an open field.

As for the OP, enemy HP bars being visible has been a part of the series for some time now... There hasn't been a magic lens item since at least Graces. To be honest the difficulty of the games has ramped up and seeing enemy types and weaknesses is more important than ever before so the game devs decided to strip out a step that's more or less pointless busywork.

I am enjoying the game now that I have all 4 types of seraphim and a lot of gald to work with for fusing items. There's a lot to take in. But every boss is basically a bundle of one hit kill moves and the AI does a terrible job keeping anyone alive. So far this is definitely one of the less enjoyable Tales games though... So much work and the characters are all maniacs I find impossible to like as they prioritizes puns over sensibility.

Edited November 2, 2015 by Samias

[Lann La Mirah]

Hm, besides the camera, I wouldn't have a huge problem with any of those things.

I used to be a HUGE Tales fan a few years ago, but I just fell out of love with the series. Still, I do tend to pick them up if I find them on sale, lol.

[eclipse]

Gaiz. . .

[spoiler=Late game stuff]I went back to Glaivend Basin because I saw a ruin I didn't empty out. I ran into this:

The music for this installment is absolutely amazing, and I'm not sure if the rest of the soundtrack can stand up to this~! Say what you will about the camera (yes, THE GROUND is what I want to stare at camera, not the thing I'm trying to combo), but I love me some good overworld music!

Edited November 8, 2015 by eclipse

[Magical CC]

Can someone please explain the combo and artes system for me? I am lost.

[eclipse]

Can someone please explain the combo and artes system for me? I am lost.

Uh, I'll try? I'm not that great at it, though. I'll start with artes.

Artes are separated into three different types - martial, hidden, and seraphic. Think of martial artes as regular attacks, hidden artes as the Artes from previous games, and seraphic artes as the spells that Genis, Jade, Arche, etc. hurled at the enemies. Each character has access to two of the three artes. In order:

Regular humans - martial, hidden

Seraphs - martial, seraphic

Armatized - hidden, seraphic

The different artes are also important for running interference. Martial artes interrupt seraphic artes, hidden artes trump martial artes, and seraphic artes stop hidden artes (sort of like FE's weapon triangle). However, there's a very special penalty for screwing up the seraphic arte flow - if you hit someone who's casting a seraphic arte with a hidden arte, it will speed up the casting of the seraphic arte!

So why is this important? Because armitization is really powerful, but it does fuck-all when the opponent spams seraphic artes. If you can learn how to interrupt your opponent, it'll make life a lot easier.

Next is combos. . .or, the basics of it, because screw the blast gauge (there's an in-game explanation for it, but I really hate using my blast gauge to extend a combo). If you take a look at Sorey's martial artes tree, you'll see rows and columns. The rows pertain to "what move do I get when I press this button combo", and a column is "how many attacks do I need in order to use this move". For example, Tiger Blade is in the second column, so if you want to use it, it MUST be the second attack in the chain. To figure out what button combo you need to press to get it, look at what row it's in. You can mix and match the rows, but the columns are static. . .so if press circle, up+circle, left+circle, circle, and have unlocked all of those moves, you'll get a valid combo. Another combo is right+circle, circle, circle, down+circle, assuming everything is unlocked.

Hidden artes can replace any link in a combo. . .so if you don't like any of the options in column three, you can input something like circle, circle, x, circle, and instead of performing whatever's in column three, you'll perform a hidden arte as the third combo hit. Seraphic artes do not combo, because the character needs to stay still and cast something. Keep in mind that regular humans are the only ones that can take advantage of this - seraphs and armatized characters are stuck with whatever's in their martial/hidden tree!

Lsatly, I treat the SC gauge at the bottom as TP. The gauge will refill by standing still/moving/blocking for a bit. However, every single arte uses SC, so no matter how tempting it is to bash your opponent's face in repeatedly, you'll need to take a short breather every now and then. Your initial SC and fill rate will slowly decrease as you go into consecutive battles, but this can be fixed in the short-term by consuming snacks/stat boosters, and in the long term by napping at the inn.

tl;dr - If an enemy is using a spell, press circle.