toz rev

tales of zestiria review


main game done with all optional/side-quests on hard = just shy of 90 hours. file playtime is like 70 hours.

alisha dlc has not be touched but that'll prob only be a couple hours

ups
- battle system was pretty fun. the whole transforming thing is weird at first but its good enough

- most music was good, some generic overworld and town music but there are some that really stands out

- cast/characters were overall good. in the story, they can feel a bit one sided but the optional side-quests and skits really make them enjoyable

- BOSSES(story, field, sidequest). overall most of them were pretty fun on HARD but theres like 3-4 that are so ridiculous, i end up spending 20m first try or over an hour per boss which is why my playtime is so high. i turned one of the final side-quest bosses on simple just due to not wiping for hours on end to get it over with. I did somehow beat the final boss on intense which is one up from hard and that was weird.

downs

- your companions/friends/ai pals in battle. i dunno where they went wrong here but if you dont perfectly time your commands (focus/spread/defensive) with the enemies attacks, you're gonna have minimal of 20 deaths because they are wired to only focus on whatever you command them on.

- world map? or maybe field run speed, one or the other is too big or slow even with an ability you get later on

- dungeons are overall pretty dang stale, not sure how to word this but each style of dungeon feels the same. ruins would be the same puzzles with a different layout, forests would be practically caves with a different texture, etc etc

ups+downs

- story, at first i dont want to say i didnt like it but it gets somewhat better over time, and stays ok from there on out. there were a couple things what i thought would happen, didnt happen and it somehow disappoints me

- lords of the land, this is a pretty cool idea. i have only played symphonia1+2, abyss and phantasia. in those games, grade was a currency you obtained per battle, and only used after you have beaten the game to go into new game+ to purchase extra stuff like x2 xp, x2 gold, etc etc. in this game, grade goes towards your lords of the land, and there 30 levels worth. each time it levels up, it unlocks a new skill for the area, such as chest respawns or faster running. that much i like about it, the down is that you require such an insane amount of grade to get it to level 30 that it feels like its not worth the time. also the level of the lord of the lands determine how much new game+ grade you get to play with so that's where the difference comes in. the higher level lords you have, the more grade you get to play with for new game+. so that kinda blows.

- equipment/skills. this stuff is actually so weird, you're fusing the same named equipment together to get a little boost to stats and to create new skills. shops restock like every 30 minutes or something and it gives you some random stuff you can't really control. the same skill fusing always give the skill at the end so you can control what you get, the only thing you cant control is what slot they appear in. there's a support skill to have a certain type of item you want to appear more often but you dont really get to use it til 3/4 in. also what difficulty you play also affects the skills you get from drops, so if you play on normal, you get a bunch of crap. if you play on hard/chaos, you're to get 2/3 respectively. so its pretty useless if you're not playing on hard or higher. also you need to fuse an insane amount of stuff together to even get it stat wise, equal to the next tier so yeah. fun to play around with but useless if you arent playing on hard+.

my tales experience isnt much so dont think too hard of what i have said since i havent the chance to play xillia1+2, graces f, or anything of recent.

anyways, i give this tales like 7.6/10. has some flaws but overall enjoyable.

would i recommend it? hard to say, for $55 and doing everything, it felt a bit underwhelming but i think if you like tales games in general, its probably worth the play.