Tales of Zestiria Reviews

After almost 20 years, the Tales series is still going strong with Tales of Zestiria, which offers fast paced action-oriented combat that makes this entry yet another fun adventure in this long running franchise.

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Overall Tales Of Zestiria is a solid J-RPG but not quite next gen version we had hoped for. They still have some work to do on the series but I still had a fun time playing the game.

Zest fully clean.

By all accounts, the Tales series is possibly the most progressive and inventive among JRPGs. When Tales of Phantasia debuted on the SNES, its use of voice clips and real-time action combat was unheard of, especially within the JRPG space. It really was almost like a fighting game combat system was placed in a JRPG shell and it worked marvelously. Fast forward to the present day and the Tales series isn’t doing much to reinvent itself anymore, instead sticking to tried and true styles of gameplay and level design. The big question is, is Tales of Zestiria, the latest in the series and first to hit PS4, a fantastic JRPG, or just an anime-themed cash grab?

The Tales franchise has seen its ups and downs through the years, but Tales of Zestiria is the most disappointing entry in the long-running series since 2006's Tales of Legendia. Zestiria has flickers of greatness, such as a cool battle system and a more mature story, but they're wasted on frustrating, inexcusable gameplay mechanics. To put it bluntly, this entry feels dated. It makes you suffer through backtracking, longwinded battles, and boring dialogue.

Tales of Zestiria plays by the book in a lot of ways, particularly when it comes to its cast and narrative. But it’s still a great entry into the series, and a welcome return for old fans, especially as far as the battle system is concerned. In fact, it’s even inspired me to go back and finish both Xillia titles — that’s the magic of the Tales series at work.

The Tales franchise still feels like a great combat system in need of a much better game, especially given the banal script and dungeon design that mars this latest entry.

Some people think that Japanese RPGs start and end with Final Fantasy. Others can recite their top five Dragon Quest combat systems from memory. For every series that goes supernova on a global scale, there are plenty more that deserve the same nerdish devotion from Westerners – starting with the Tales Of… franchise.

For me, the game felt a little young in its aesthetic to really deal with some of its dark themes effectively. I know this is part and parcel of the JRPG formula, however when I came across a section involving attempted suicide – I felt a darker, more adult game would have had me feeling emotions properly. Still, it’s a nice addition to the PS4 catalogue and one well worth a look at if JRPG’s are your bag.

Tales of Zestiria doesn’t deviate too far from its competent predecessors, but it’s not a carbon copy, either. It may have linear dungeons and a less-than-stellar story, but it’s open-world exploration, enjoyable customization, and flashy new Armitization feature are enough for it to stand on its own.