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Granted, I'm only a few hours in so most of my opinions aren't worth much, but so far it's been okay. Not really feeling the story, and haven't warmed up to any of the characters yet but it's early. Won't say anything on combat yet, but it's definitely reminiscent of Graces so far; battle theme is catchy though. :)
It's out in North America so I finally got my copy! I'm enjoying it so far, but...
Spoiler:
Battle system is weird. I'm not really digging the changes, but I also think coming right off the Xillias doesn't help, lol. Enjoying it other than that so far...but I'm annoyed I can't rewatch skits and it doesn't seem like they come around as often either. :( So that's lame, but eh. I haven't been hooked like Xillia did with me yet, but I mean...miracles happen. I didn't like Ludger when I started Xillia 2 and we all see how that ended up.
That in mind, I didn't think I'd like Mikleo either but jfc he is a sassy lil thing I love him I want seven.
I haven't added the DLC I got with my preorder yet, if it's in that. Haven't gotten anything else aside from that either. /too lazy to fix internet settings on ps3 atm
You'll get the ability to rewatch skits at the Katz Village.
Skits are viewed exclusively at savepoints, resting at inns, and points of discovery. There are a fair amount of them, it's just doesn't seem that much since you don't get bombarded with two - three skits after an event, like past Tales games. Plus, it's really easy to miss a lot of the inn ones.
Pre-order DLC is the classic Tales costumes and weapons. edit: Forgot about the DLC Mystic Artes.
Free DLC that's available to everyone at here, is the Alisha story. It's just a short side-story that takes place after Zestiria's ending, where Alisha is the main character.
I have to admit, I'm a tad annoyed that I've plugged away about thirty hours into Tales of Zestiria now and I'm only just beginning to see signs that there might be an actual plot to it. I might not like the story to certain Tales games, but at least it keeps me in the thick of it. Zestiria is a lot of pointless (restricted) wandering across the continent being firmly steered away from anything plot-related by Lailah's ramblings.
Much as I'm loving Edna's snark - and I am; she's quickly on the way to becoming my favourite character of any Tales game - it'd be nice if the plot was a little more present and intricate and a little less secretive and blatantly obvious in all the "hints" its dropping. It reveals things in snippers, then when something major comes along and Lailah refuses to speak about it, it's pretty much confirmation that what you're probably thinking is actually how things are, so it's a totally ineffective strategy.
Unless this game is pulling a Magna Carta II and is going to drown me in story cliches so I can't see which one is going to be followed through with (I'm still hoping for this) I'm going to rank this one pretty low on that little list I keep in my head of best to worst Tales game. It's about on-par with Vesperia at the moment in the story department, in my opinion.
But but but I'm getting the hang of the battle system now...well, except for when I'm forced to battle in corridors with corners. Then the camera goes INSANE and I can't see a thing. Usually I just switch to a Seraph and spam artes, though. I forsee a lot of weapon grinding in my future. Should be fun.
Spoiler:
...it'd also be nice if I didn't keep calling Heldalf "Gandalf" in my head. But that's a personal issue. xD
Also, Rose > Alisha. I'm GLAD she left, she was a soulless Knight/Princess whose lack of personality completely clashed with her badass image. Rose has a deceptively light-hearted personality with a core of steel I love; she's a much more interesting travelling companion and I don't know what the Japanese fans were complaining about.
Just me about to get grumpy, you can ignore me if you want. n___n But it is a major spoiler, so don't click it unless you're at least...I'd say 30ish hours in?
Spoiler:
You're not really 30 in, get out.
Okay BASICALLY, I don't understand why Bamco insists on killing off my favorite characters in their games like really??? Really??? You take Dezel away from me? :( I mean, I love Zaveid and could not wait for him to join the party but this is far from the way I wanted it Bamco..................so far from it..............
It would have been really nice if that whole thing had actually been woven into the narrative, rather than just completely dropped on us like that. I mean, it was nice to know that these characters had actual backstory, but it didn't really relate to the current plot in any way at all! It just kinda...happened. There was no build-up, and the game in the wake of it was pretty stale as well; it was like it never even happened. It's exactly like what happened with Eizen - that was a huge, HUGE deal for Edna, and it hasn't been mentioned since. There's a ****ing DRAGON on top of the mountain! Are we not going to do something about that? Are we not even going to look for something to do about it?!
Although if you go back to fight him she completely refuses to take part in the battle, so you're down one seraphim. He's also Level 64 on Simple and hits like a ****ing truck.
I'm closer to fifty hours in now and I think I'm near the end...although rather than progress, I'm going to follow the game's advice and looking for the remaining Earthen Historia; I don't think I have many left. Because hey, why not make me work for my backstory, rather than feed it to be and weave it into the main narrative so I actually give a damn? =/
Also, Intense is intense. I hate werewolves, boars need to **** OFF AND DIE, and I can't get the trial themes out of my head. And scary loli girls are scary. Also, YOU SHALL NOT PASS. He even SOUNDS like bloody Gandalf to my ears now. A weird mix of Gandalf and Darth Vader, done in the style of Sonic Unleashed's werehog. Hail, ye mighty villain.
One thing I will give this game credit over the other Tales games I've played (and I guess it only technically counts as two because the Xillias use mainly the same music) is that the music is fantastic and way above the others. I wasn't overly impressed with a lot of tracks in Xillia sans Battle For A Future to Believe In and The World Sinking Into Darkness. And in Abyss, like...I couldn't tell you much of anything I really liked in that game. But Zestiria? I could tell you like 10 songs off the top of my head that I adore. Take this with a grain of salt though, since I've only played Abyss and both Xillias. So that's all I have to go by here.
Zaveid the Exile = best song imo. All the trial temple songs are amazing as well, especially the earth one.
Spoiler:
They really did just drop a bunch of **** on us there with the Dezel thing though. I get that he kept all his stuff secret and he wasn't gonna actually tell us what his beef was, but that was just so sudden and out of no where, really. And I'm gonna destroy Symmone first chance I get. If Dezel isn't gonna be here to be driven by vengeance, then dammit, I'll fill that slot.
The Tales series usually has some fairly good music. There's other games/series that have better pieces or better soundtracks overall, but the music's never really a letdown in Tales.
My copy of Zesteria came in today, so whenever my sister's got the time we're gonna start playing it.
I'm so jealous most people I know got ToZ. I probably wont get it until Xmas. Due to having a child, and bills now, game money...is very very limited. Just glad my daughter loves watching me play games, HOPEFULLY she gets into Tales, and my other favorite game series.
If I get ToZ its gonna be the PS4 version, not teh reason I hear most people got the ToZ version to brag they got the better version. (i dont know, if it is or isnt. its not the reason for me, people can get any version if there are minor differences as in Framerates and how it is...I dont care) Im getting the ps4 frankly cause I want more Ps4 games. haha
The only Tales fix i have been having lately is playing the First ToX (I never finished the english version i have Milla's side to do). I have beaten ToX in japanese. After I beat ToX on Milla's side, I am gonna replay ToX2. ToX2 is probably one of my favorite tales. Abyss is always my number one favorite.
also, My favorite character isnt from my favorite game. Her name is Sophie. :) When I first played Graces F (I played in Japanese first, Graces F is my first Tales) I fell in love with the character. Also her in the Miku outfit and her singing the main theme of Graces F.
also...speaking ToX2. I remember when I first played it in Japanese, It was like 1 in the morning, and I went to the temple, and I didnt know what really was going on, I knew you collected cats, but i didnt realize THIS was a cat meow I was freaking out I thought it was like a GAME GHOST or something. It freaked me out! In the english version I recorded it cause im like "What the hell is that!?". here is the footage. I also turn the music off and kept the SFX on soo... ahha
OK, somewhat major spoilers below...and a rant. Because. You'll know why when you get there.
In case you're curious, you're safe to read this story-wise once you've watched a long sequence of flashbacks. You'll know what I mean when you see them.
Spoiler:
I had the "EVERYTHING IS REVEALED" cutscenes earlier and, to be honest, it ****ing sucked. It was horribly underwhelming, not surprising in the least, and another case of having too much piled on at once. The whole thing with Mayvin was stupid; he barely appears at all in the game, and suddenly he has a HUGE role in the game...then he DIES. Way to go. Why should I care again?
I quite like the way Sorey and Mikleo factor into things, but honestly they don't FEEL special. Their monumental back story, like Rose and Dezel's, fell totally flat for me. I just don't care enough about them; the story has fed me breadcrumbs which I have had to actively scour the damn globe for, and this sequence of dramatic revelations really is a case of too little, too late. It's BAD WRITING, and if not for the combat I would have put this down long before now and written it off; even Lost Odyssey, a JRPG I loathe for its slow pacing, gave me more in the beginning than this. This game is going to have to do something pretty spectacular - I'm looking at you, Symonne - to win me over now.
Heldalf being yet ANOTHER sympathetic villain is not surprising in the least. Well, I suppose the morality of the situation is very ambiguous considering he was a complete prick when he was human and he really did deserve what he got, but still. I like morally grey plots, and Zestiria has been nothing BUT morally grey so far..it's just a shame it's been so poorly paced and reluctant to actually give me story that it's fallen flat when it's finally changed it's mind, some fifty hours in.
I will admit battling Tiamat at Glaivend Basin was EPIC, though. There's no other word for it. I wouldn't care to do it on Intense, though...Hard was hard enough. If you're going for the plat the same as I am, be prepared to be irritated; it takes hardly any damage and inflicts paralysis with attacks, and Mikleo, being a Dick-leo, has awful AI when it comes to healing status ailments. He's very easy to dodge, but he has an annoying tail slam attack which inflicts stun a lot as well.
...what is it with later bosses and stun? Mayvin was full of it, Tiamat wouldn't stop...rrrgh. Need some resistant equipment. But the equipment fusion in this game is so half-arsed it's hard to get what you want on things...my gear is still very meh.
I just want more Symonne at this point; she's the only villain left who is actually a proper villain from what I can tell...
I'm gonna have to force myself to get all of the Earthen Historia.
Spoiler:
I don't like that the game is forcing me to go out of the way to get the plot of the game. Like, why isn't this given to me through the main story? Why do I have to go all over the map to get the plot? This is especially exasperated by the fact that you have to pay to travel and it gets more expensive as the game goes on, which also discourages me from sidequests, but now I have to do it for the main quest. Alright...? Thanks, game. :/
Also, to whoever said they prefer Rose over Alisha earlier, I definitely agree. I don't know if Alisha rejoins the party and I'm sure she will at some point considering the whole deal with Maltran and I mean she's on the cover of the box lol, but idk, she didn't strike me as very interesting when I did have her so eh. Rose is much more interesting and fun to have. I'm sure she gets more to her in that DLC, but it shouldn't take DLC for me to get to know a main (I guess?) character.
...is an optional boss you can fight after you beat Tiamat, and holy crap, he's HARD. I had to use all of my Level DLC to match his level to beat him...although I was going for the "Beat him on Hard and don't use items" trophy because I don't really want to play through the whole game twice. On Simple he's only Level 64, which would have been quite manageable. Dragons in this game definitely live up to their name, though. Thankfully Edna actually bothers to join you in this fight.
I feel pretty bad for her, though. This was essentially forced upon her by Zaveid - who needs to stop trying to get up her skirt; it's creepy as all hell - and the rest of the party, and it's done in a cold, unfeeling, thoroughly sloppy manner. This was a MAJOR thing for her, and suddenly she outright accepts it. The hell.
Also, the traditional "And Off We Go To Face The Last Boss!" cutscene for this game is pretty damn awful. There's little real closure in it, and overall it's as disappointing as the rest of the plot for this game is. So, off to face the last boss I go...or not. I haven't unlocked Chaos yet, so I'll be doing a little (a lot) of grinding to kick my level up and get some semi-decent equipment...thankfully I made a separate save, so I can grind at lower levels and save the DLC for when I need it. I'll try and finish it by the end of the week though and move on to the postgame, haha.
When I look back on Zestiria, I think at the moment the main thing I'll remember it for is the OST, which doesn't sound like every Tales game that came before it, for a change. Unless the finale is spectacular, this one is sitting just above Abyss and right next to Vesperia on my list...and Abyss is my least favourite Tales game. Like Vesperia, it has a good cast...and, like Vesperia, the plot is a pointless, directionless mess.
I got the guidebook today...cause I actually need it, lol.
In non-toz news though, my boyfriend ordered the Xillia 2 CE for me!! Should be here next week. :) And I wanna get the DLC for Ludger's school uniform, but my PS3 doesn't wanna connect to the store lol. But when I run the internet test, it's fine. Clearly someone just doesn't want me getting that DLC.
I am extremely disappointed in this game. It's easily the second worst Tales I've played, just ahead of Abyss. The story was a mixture of non-existent and complete bollocks, the combat was good but hindered by the gimmicky camera, irregular levelling system and worthless equipment fusion and the drop rate, and the cast...well, asides from Edna, I have nothing positive to say about the cast, really.
I enjoyed the skits, but the game was one long haul of moving from one city to the next waiting for something to actually happen...in this, it reminded me very strongly of Final Fantasy XIII. In fact, I'd call this the FFXIII of the Tales series. My single late-game ray of hope - Symonne - turned out to be a generic, pointless underling, and I honestly think Zestiria would have been better off if it had been like Vesperia and lacked a central antagonist, as Gandalf was underwhelming at best.
About the only right move this game made was swapping Alisha for Rose, and that's mostly because I got sick of Alisha's whining. She was such a miserably weak character, considering she was a Knight. It turns out your Princess is in another castle...pining over Maltran, in all probability. WHY were people complaining about her being taken out?
Yet despite my complaints...I'm still going to plat it, because a bad game just makes me all the more determined. I've seen the ending cutscene, but it's going to be a while before I actually finish the game, as I need to unlock Chaos, and I'm doing Sorey/Lailah crucible runs for equipment. It's slow going.
In other news...I might start Hearts R soon. I've been putting it off for, like, a year now, and it can't be any worse than Zestiria was.
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