Tales of Berseria™

I really liked this one. Cool story, smooth gameplay, good music and interesting cast of characters. If you like JRPGs definitely grab this one on sale or even get it for a full price. Gameplay and graphics may be slightly dated though, but it should not be a big deal.
P.S. If you don't like "chatty chibi animal character" in games/anime, beware.

Velvet Crowe is my favorite video game protagonist i have played yet, she along with the supporting cast of characters radiate in personality and are very charming, they made me feel super immersed into the story. A strong theme of self identity shines through the story and would often uplift my mood and make me smile. Game play feels smooth, and even after very similar battles and repeated button smashing I never felt bored. Sound design is really great I found a lot of time i would know when I needed to dodge based off of the sound of an attack. Tales of Berseria is a great JRPG I enjoyed, had lots of fun with and was well worth the time I put into it.

I like the anime cinematics. I really had fun getting to know each chatacter. Recommend!

Till this day I still don't understand the battle mechanics. It's an otherwise good game. It's honestly very boring to just click the mouse as fast as you can, thats all you need to do to progress the game.

Oh man where do I even begin... that was such an amazing experience. First off let me just say that this game is an exception to the rule of "play in order of release". In my opinion you HAVE to play this before Zestiria, since the story would be completely linear with some few exceptions like the term Malak/Malakhim --> Seraphim. Daemon --> Hellion etc, and not to mention the overall "feel/vibe" of both stories as well. Or you can do what I was doing (not recommended!) and watch the anime Tales of Zestiria the Cross/X after putting some hours into it (I started watching only after 60h into the game). Do keep in mind that I already beat Zestiria way back in 2017 and I only watch the anime to jog my memories.

So back to Berseria, Velvet is a pretty solid protagonist. At first she appeared to be this broken and angry character and just "I'm displaying a various level of angry and will lashed out at anything and at everyone". But as the story progress we get to see development to her character, and her softer side as well. And how others (especially in her party) interact through the many skits and people in the world as well (especially with the Priest you keep meeting in different churches but I won't spoil this). Story is really good and not your average saving the world for sure and the world for me feels "alive" in a sense that you interact with various NPCs and they all have their set of problems, opinions that keeps changing (when you visit that place again) as you progress through the story. It's like in Persona 3 the original version I played in PS2, no idea about the remake since I got that on my wishlist still, when you progress toward the end of the year and there's that sense of foreboding/hopelessness and you see less and less people on the street and even the music changed as well although Persona did it better. Bit hard to explain unless you experience it yourself.

Last but not least, combat feels smooth and never once I experienced any lag or input delay etc. It does everything you want inside or outside the battle even with the camera action and everything with the exception of the geoboard which needs to be fixed. Almost forgot to mention, it's highly recommended to look up the modding section under discussion -> guides and find the Berseria Fix by Kaldaien (Kaldaein? I hope I got their name right) and apply their mod into this game to make not only the graphic better but everything else better.

TL;DR I enjoyed playing every bit of the time I spent with it. It made me laugh, it made me sad, it made me think. Each and every characters we're dealing with have very distinct personality and likeable and never once I felt bored or have to grind like crazy (I believe this aspect was improved compared to Zestiria). Voice acting is strong overall (Japanese version), and the story moves forward at an excellent pace as well. For now maybe I'll finish up the side quests and the postgame bit, and move on to another Tales game.

the only reason i dont buy tales of grace is they give you every grade,,,YOU SUPOSE to FARM THEM what the point of playing the game IF YOU GET EVERYTHING UNLOCKED.... it like playing resident evil but you get infinit ammo the first minute,,, like how long you gonna play?....there no point playing if you have UNLOCKED EVERYTHING before the game start i like playing berseria... get my exp x6 after 3 time NOT FIRST I WILL NOT BUY THAT GAME ..

Why do the birds fly?

A wonderful game with well written characters. We find ourselves approximately in the Middle Ages, where revenge becomes our goal in the game. Along the way to the goal, we will assemble a team that will help us. Each team member is perfectly described, so you will feel that this is not just an NPC, but your friend. The cutscenes will show their relationships with each other, we will see the development of these relationships.
The game will have several side quests that are desirable to complete as they reveal the individual character well. The most boring thing in the game will be running back and forth, but you get used to it pretty quickly. The world itself is quite interesting to explore, but there is no desire to get 100% of the achievements. To get them, you need to replay the game twice, and grind a lot the second time. The combat system is not the most complex, but it is quite interesting to find combinations of right techniques to defeat your enemies. The system for leveling up weapons and skills is a little stuffy, because it forces you to use skills that you, for example, don’t want to use. I wish there were more anime cutscenes like there are in other games in the series, but I'm happy with what we have. If you are not familiar with the Tales of [] series, then feel free to take this game first, it is independent of the plot of the other parts, and is also a prequel to the other parts.


PS: I hate the final location, why did it have to be so confusing, I spent almost 4 hours on it without using a map

Tales of Berseria is a great example of how an amazing story and cast of characters can elevate a game, even when other aspects have noticeable flaws.

That’s not to say the gameplay is bad—far from it. It’s just that certain issues make it feel a little less consistently fun compared to other Tales games in the series.

The battle system is essentially a modernized version of the CC system that started in the Tales of Destiny remake. In Berseria, normal attacks are gone entirely, and everything is about chaining together arts (special attacks). At first, I thought this was a cool idea, but over time, it started feeling repetitive. Even when switching between characters, the combos start to feel stale quicker than in other Tales games, which, in my experience, offer more variety. The resource management side of the combat is fun, but seeing the same moves over and over dulls the excitement.

That said, Berseria doesn’t falter at all when it comes to its story and characters, which might be my favorite in the entire series.

Some people criticize Velvet for her fanservice-y, edgy design, and while that aspect can be a little distracting, I still think she’s a fantastic protagonist. Her tragic backstory makes her personality and motivations feel justified, and her slow growth throughout the story, along with certain plot twists, really challenges her beliefs in ways that make the narrative incredibly satisfying from start to finish.

The other party members all play interesting and entertaining roles in the story, with their banter striking a great balance between humor and depth without veering into overly generic anime tropes. The fact that the group knowingly embraces their role as “villains” makes for a refreshing dynamic that’s both amusing and thought-provoking.

While Berseria may not be the most consistently fun Tales game to play in terms of combat, its story and characters more than make up for it. The edgy premise is handled in a way that keeps the plot consistently unpredictable and engaging, even within a typical fantasy setting.

Hearing the piano start in velvet's theme song activates me like a sleeper agent, but the only order given is to get emotional

Berserias strong point is in its characters and story, with the story initially taking a lot of inspiration from things such as Miura's berserk but with less of the gruesome aspects, but then it comes alive into its own story after the initial setups and can no longer be compared

As far as tales games go, the tales games before this felt like they were written with a pre-teen audience in mind, while berseria feels more written with a young-adult audience in mind, in both story and characters

The gameplay itself is hit or miss depending on the player, and the story slows down at parts but overall if the gameplay clicks with you and the story hits, it REALLY hits. Its a really good representation of the jrpg genre and my favourite tales game of them all, I really couldnt stand most of the other games (I have yet to try arise).

Highly recommend to fans of jrpgs but a fair warning: The English voices are insufferable in this game, I recommend using the original Japanese and going by subtitles. It changes the entire tone of the game, and this is coming from someone who plays the final fantasy games with English voices

Great characters, fun battle system, interesting story. 8.5 of 10

Of the 4 Tales series games I've played (Vesperia, Zestiria, Berseria, and Arise,) Berseria ranks #2. The story is engaging and has a slightly edgier/darker tone than other entries in the series, the characters seem much more morally grey, the world is very engaging and interesting, and it has many of the charms that I loved with Vesperia and Zestiria, and less nit-pick complaints than the latter.

The Good: If you have never played a Tales game, this definitely isn't the worst one to start with. It will show you all of the highs the series has to offer and essentially none of the lows. Combat is exhilarating, colorful, and engaging, it can be as simple or as complicated as you want to make it, the characters are full of unique personalities and interactions (along with some of the typical JRPG tropes, but not as many as you'd think,) it has an exhaustively extensive crafting system if that's your thing, the Skits are almost always worth watching, and the VA is apparent that the cast had a great deal of fun and natural chemistry. It also has a significant amount of replay value like other titles in the franchise (minus Arise,) and is definitely a game you can put down for a few months/years and play again with a great deal of enjoyment (I will be starting my 3rd playthrough soon, my 2nd was on console.)

The Bad: Nothing particularly jumps out as "Bad," to me, but things that may turn other players off are that in order to get the absolute best equipment, you WILL need to invest in the crafting system and do a pretty significant amount of grinding to get all of the requisite materials. The story has an overall edgier/darker/ more mature spin than other entries, and while I personally enjoyed it, I will acknowledge that's not everyone's cup of tea. And finally, the notorious Difficulty Spikes known to the Tales Franchise are definitely in full swing. Easy is...almost too easy, Normal presents a formidable challenge especially past the halfway mark, and Hard is absolutely *grueling.* Again, the combat can be as easy and simple or multifaceted/layered/challenging as you want.

The Ugly: This is almost as good as it gets for the franchise, personally (so far.) Vesperia is the only title I would say is better overall, and now with the Definitive edition being readily available, its lead widens. Zestiria is *almost* as good, but it has its own drawbacks (like the lack of fast travel and certain quests requiring a mind-boggling amount of time/grinding to complete.) And, as a JRPG, by default it's not going to be something the Western audience at large enjoys on a broad level, the subgenre is definitely more niche, although it seems to be widening in recent years.

Final thoughts: perhaps a spoiler but as a Prequel to Zestiria, i found myself enjoying the game and setting/world significantly more and that perhaps influences my thoughts on it. It's a solid game overall, a worthy addition to the franchise, and definitely worth playing at least once if you're interested in the franchise at all. 8.5/10

This is the 1st main title of the Tales of games I played, the other being Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology. It had a confusing battle system that I was not used to, but ultimately enjoyed. However, some of the dungeons are a bit lackluster and bland. Either way, Velvet's story is a bit tragic, but fulfilling. 8/10

Average JRPG with mediocre writing and bad gameplay

The game offers a solid story and a decent combat system, but its standout feature is undoubtedly the characters. I love Eleanor and really like Eizen, Rokurou, and Velvet. As for the combat system, while it’s fun, I feel it could be improved by simplifying some of the mechanics—there are just too many elements crammed in. The low point of the game for me was the final dungeon, which felt tedious and unnecessarily long. By the end, I just wanted to reach the last boss and finish it. Also, I really dislike Bienfu.

My first Tales of game. Really enjoying it so far, even though I heard it's the weakest story-wise. We'll see!

One of the best stories I've played in a JRPG in quite some time and I spent the last year playing games like Persona 3 RELOAD and Octopath traveler 2. Sure the combat and visuals are a bit dated but I like old school vibe it has. The characters are a blast and watching their relationship grow throughout the game is worth it alone. There are weighty themes the game touches on that are nuanced and often go unexplored in many other JRPG's. If you like old school JRPG's you'll probably really like this game

Have not finished it yet
probably the best Combat in a Tales Game I've played
with that alone, it gets a recommend from me

fluid combos, and the enemies don't feel like bullet sponges compared to other tales

I mainly play MC only though (on all the Tales I've played)

Still playing, but this is some of the best game i ever played. I'm not biggest fan of jrpg, but this one is something special. Also despite steam claims it does not work on Steam Deck, can guarantee it works just fine.

Cool game would recommend. Combat is ok, but story is amazing

A jrpg with a female protagonist and it also isn't the most basic story known to humankind? Very worth a play!

This game is long and the combat is fun, despite it's flaws, but the story! Oh what a roller coaster ride of emotions! You will have your heart tugged in ways you didn't even know were possible. Prepare a box of tissues ahead of time. Probably the best story in the entire franchise. All of the characters are like-able, properly developed, and have their own reasons for fighting, and it all comes together so perfectly. I'm so glad I got to experience it and if I could erase my memory and do it over and over again I wouldn't even hesitate.

With only an hour in I found the storyline too predictable right out of the gate compared to Tales of Zesteria and Tales of Arise, where I couldn't figure it out and was wondering what was happening next. At least in Tales of Arise, they didn't try to be subtle about the world building at the start. They just told you how it was and built the world from there. A lot of the plot points of what's about to happen are blatantly obvious even though they're trying to hide it in the world building. Typical slice of life anime tropes that are bland. The acting feels half-hearted at best.

I'm just going to give spoilers here with no spoiler tag. Mainly because its so early ingame and to show how bad the writing is:
Luphicet said something along the lines of (not direct quote): "This is a compass. Its made to be level regardless of how bad the waves at sea are. Its perfect for an adventure!" Just... really? I know I'm playing and RPG/adventure game. There is no reason to bring this up. Its incredibly cringe.
I got to the point where Luphicet needed to be found because he wandered off without permission. I already knew that he was going to get into trouble (or Velvet get into trouble on her way to him or on their way home). The day before her weapon master/father figure/teacher said to be careful there were daemons around. I didn't even get to find him. I already knew what was going to happen that would set off your need to go on an adventure. I stopped playing shortly after this point. It was just too bland.

Fps is locked to 60fps with jittering in the framerate. Get special K mod to smooth this out. Controls feel even more clunky than in Zesteria. They tried to smooth it out from Zesteria, but made it feel even weirder with KB/M. In Zesteria it the turns were sharper and more responsive. Even with both Zesteria and Berseria being limited to 8 cardinal directions due to how the default controls being for a controller with WASD.

You can see the evolution from Zesteria to Arise here overall. But it somehow manages to be worse than both of them combined.

Buy on sale if you are becoming a die-hard "Tales of" fan. Otherwise, avoid this Tales of title.

Overall, a really excellent and emotionally moving game. I've never played a Tales game before and that wasn't an issue for playing this one. If you do all the side quests, it's about a 110 hour game (+10 playing the mini game card game five zillion times, in my case :P ). It's a very character/story driven game about what we fight for in life and why.

My one complaint is that there are some iffy conversation topics throughout, including the repeated sexualizing of a child/their relationships, lots of gender stereotyping comments (men all like bugs, women are all complicated, etc), the inclusion of a (kinda creepy) childlike sidekick constantly trying to be sexual with adult women and one character's genuine abuse of that sidekick being presented as funny.

Overall though, definitely recommended. Engaging throughout, well written, believable character-building dialogue, and certainly an emotionally poignant (and sad) story.

Hmmm... a dark anti-hero who is on a warpath for vengeance up against the white robed villain who appears noble? Where have I seen this before?

It's tales... but berserk. Our lead Velvet is Guts and her goal is to defeath Griffith.

I have tried to get into tales since symphonia all the way back when i was in middle school on the game cube with symphonia. And this one, berseria, finally did it for me.

I think all of them will be worth trying but this one's more unique premise with an anti-hero was what drove me to choose this one. If you're like me, this one might be the one for you.

Simply put, this is probably my favourite RPG story. The side stories for each party member all have fulfilling conclusions that cement their motivations and the conclusion to the main story is one I shall always treasure.

The gameplay is dated and less than it could be, though when everything gels, it does feel satisfying. Though my gameplay on Steam is at around 70 hours as of writing, I have completed it three times on console (and near completion on the PC)

It isn't a hard game, per se, though there can be quite unpleasant spikes as the combat system progresses (ways to chain encounters and increase the odds of a rare almost-boss enemies that if you're unprepared can destroy you very quickly)

A Dark and Emotional Journey of Vengeance

Story

Strengths

Weaknesses

Achievements

(Not) Recommended for

Final Verdict

Still an amazing game.

Story:

A heart wrenching tale, following Velvet and a band of misfits. On the Scarlet Night, Velvet's life would fall apart, becoming a Therion and being held captive on a prison island. Her hatred for a man who was once part of her family for sacrificing her brother was her drive. However, as the story goes along. You see she faces hardships, endures terrible truths.

Though most of all, you see as she grows and tackles her challenges. Her tale is a tragic one, and this steadily builds as she takes on the hatred of the world as the Lord of Calamity. You see how she lost everything, but eventually finds a place among pirates and others.

And despite her path, she is shown to have a soft side. The characters, all of them blend very well together, their differences is what unites them against a common goal. And the twist being that the savior was the oppressor, and the one the people most loathe was actually their savior.

This game really hammers in the grey line of morality, as well as how the common feelings of selfishness is just what makes people human. There will come hard times, some more difficult than the last, but it is not something to shy away from.

To cut it short, it does well to leave a lasting impression with valuable lessons.

"Why do birds fly?"

A very basic question, with great complexity. And Velvet's answer is one that will hit deep.

System:

The battle system is more complex the deeper you get into it, but pretty easy to get into. What is needed to be known is that you can use 16 artes + 4 extra. You have SG which acts as the cost, and BG which is the cost for Mystic Artes.

Learning the system is key to making battles easier in the harder difficulties. An example? Velvet does more damage the lower her life is when she is in her Therion state. If she can stun the enemy, which makes them vulnerable. On top of being at low HP, her damage shoots through the roof.

Little things like these, which can be made easier with weakness exploits.

Maps:

Quite a lot, and pretty large, with its details being really good.

Music:

Amazing. This game knows how to use it to tell a magnificent story. Some of the most heart wrenching, but also exciting ones when need be. Plus, the placement of it lands very well. The music reflects the theme of the game very well.

Art Style:

Very good, and even better with the animation scenes.

Overall:

Tales of Berseria is basically the height of the series. The bar was set insanely high on this one. It is a tale of not only vengeance, but more importantly. Loss, despair, happiness in the face of sadness. What one is willing to do to achieve their desires. Though, more importantly. A tale that makes the world feel alive, and through the characters that grow close like family.

You see as they share good and bad times, how they live their life and push forward from their beliefs. A story where what the surface shows isn't what it appears to be. There is a lot to take in with this game, more than I can explain. So, head on in. ^^

I like the game, it is fun to weave in multiple weaknesses and get huge combo's going as Velvet, it's really taking advantage of the systems it created and it's just fun diving into battles.
I just have some gripes with the game, I feel like some enemies just exist to be damage sponges and you can slap them around for minutes, it's the only reason I could not really stomach chaos difficulty and the raw mountains of cash and materials required top off your gear is loco (1,5mil to upgrade mithril spear to +10).
However the systems for grinding and dragging enemies together with dark bottle is really fun and feels rewarding though when you get 15 drops at once.
The story is good, I like a good fury driven story with some feels shining through and I like the characters for not just being the nicest and friendliest people ever with some quirks in the end, it kept me engaged enough to talk to lots of NPCs (I just skipped through when I noticed the dialogue was going in the direction of "what are we cooking today?") and look for every voice acted event, the voice range of Rokuro english VA from raspy guy to raspy guy just made me switch to JP fast.
Minigames are nice as well, we have a serving minigame, tony hawk lite and much more, fishing was just unnecessary though but it was fun collecting minigame coins to buy some new outfits and accessoires.
Well spent 5€, I got some pirate costumes as well later.

6.5/10

My first Tales game, and overall, it was a fun experience playing through the game. The story wasn't the deepest or best, but it was enjoyable enough to want to finish the game and see how it all ended. I also enjoyed the abundant number of the little character cutscene things that would pop up when you were running around, and my game stats said I had seen around 320 of them. It made the characters a bit more enjoyable. All of the main cast are given little side arcs to see a bit more of their backstory, and I enjoyed the depth it gave. I think the character development between most of the characters was done pretty well. Rokurou and Eizen were my favorites. Also, it was a nice change with the main characters being more evil than just the typical good guys.

Combat was fun, I enjoyed it, and the level up system wasn't too grindy, though I had hoped it could have been a bit harder, as I played on hard mode and beat the main boss at like level 56, when the main boss was like 65. I enjoyed taking all of the different moves and trying to find ones that connected well with each other to maximize damage and status effects. Even if you had to grind, it was very easy, just get a darkness potion and gather a group of enemies in a field.

My main gripe with the game is how much it makes you run around without any warp points or anything. It gives you items for warping, although much later in the game, and they often turn out to be useless because there's a cutscene in an area you need to walk to. I get the cutscene thing, but good god, did all that running suck the soul out of me. And it eventually gives you a surfboard tablet thing you can use to go faster, but of course you only get that in the latter half of the game, because it wants you to suffer. It also requires you to unlock the board in each specific area before you can use it in said areas. Also, this game had a stupid obsession with caves, and each cave was the least enjoyable thing to navigate. Puzzles were not puzzles, just chores. Want to open this door? Go all the way back and turn this crystal on, then go around and switch that crystal on. Is it on yet? Nope! You forgot to walk seventy thousand miles back to the start to switch that other one off. :(

Also, I didn't like Velvet's ending. I feel like they could have given her a better one instead of the freaky ahh ouroboros thingy. That was the main thing I disliked about the story other than Bienfu.

i hate bienfu

The story is edgelord BS, but there are some redeeming qualities like Magilou.

The last boss in this is overly hard on anything over hard+ but that does not take away from what is one of the greatest RPGs I have ever played in a long time.. Great story, pacing and characters and with a decent combat system to boot it was a very fun ride.. I have the Lunar games as my all time RPG favs but Berseria in its own right is very very good. Easy recommend.

As someone who's been hooked on the Tales series since Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Berseria truly stands out with its bold narrative and character development. The shift to anti-heroes is a refreshing take, especially with Velvet Crowe leading the charge. Her journey from a kind-hearted sister to a vengeful daemon is compelling, and her crew of misfits, each with their own dark pasts, adds a rich layer to the story. The pirate theme is brilliantly executed, not just in the aesthetic but in how it influences the gameplay and interactions. The character dynamics, driven by their morally gray choices, make for some of the most engaging dialogues and plot twists in the series. Berseria rekindles that adventurous spirit of the Tales games, but with a darker, more mature edge that I've grown to appreciate over the years. It's a testament to how the series can evolve while keeping its heart intact.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☑ Good
☐ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☐ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☐ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☐ Potato
☑ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☑ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☐ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☑ Good
☐ Lovely
☐ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☑ Average
☐ Long
☐ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☑ Never heard of
☐ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☑ 7
☐ 8
☐ 9
☐ 10

It is a Game which you can buy in steam for stream

ho ho ho

u can put a plushie anywhere on ur characters and they have jigglebones and appear during cutscenes

This is quite possibly the best Tales game ever made. It is just as good if not better than tales of Symphonia. Berseria has an fun combat system, side quests and minigames bursting at the seems, and most importantly an truly incredible story with amazing acting that you will never forget!

A solid Tales JRPG. It's a little "edgy," especially in the beginning, but it ends up approaching Vesperia and Abyss for me.

Has a powerful storytelling with an age old question: Will you fight the world for your loved ones or will you sacrifice the ones you love for the slight chance of bettering the world?

I would say that this game has bumped up to be one of my more favorite Tales game (still waiting for Tales of Eternia for PC) for both its story aspect as well as the combat system. Although the latter is a bit lacking and chaotic at times. I disliked Velvet for the first few hours because of her cynicism and I guess lack of characterization (All she says at that point is "REVENGE REVENGE REVENGE"). But by the end of the game, she grew on me. All the cast is great as well especially their character arcs. Though I would say that when Magilou first appeared, she caught my heart by her goofiness. For most of the time I played this game, she was my avatar. Sadly, her combat skills did not satiate my desires and so I chose other characters than her. In conclusion, GREAT GAME I HIGHLY RECOMMEND!

My entry point to the tales of series, and the game successfully sold me on becoming a tales of fan. This story if you haven't read a synopsys is about our neutral-good protag being thrust into a world of madness after a failed ritual on a boy she take care of that would remove evil from their world goes wrong. Our Protag finds herself being labelled the root of all evil, and must become it to survive.

The gameplay is enjoyable, and the challenges rarely got in the way of progressing the story; which is the highlight of this game. The characters you meet along the way give this game my favorite group dynamic in all of the tales games, and the character development within the story is wonderful.

Pick this game up on sale if you are craving an anti-hero story.

Do you enjoy female protagonists? Do you like a good revenge story now and then? Do you like sailing the seven seas with a crew of rapscallions? Do you like zany characters with so much development and personality that you may even be complaining about too much of it by the end? Do you like button-mashing combat that punishes you randomly because an enemy happened to stun-lock you before you had a chance to guard and the dodge is so delayed that there was nothing you could do so you just get killed in 3 seconds and your allies will never revive you?? ...Okay that last one is just a nit-pick, in point of fact this game is awesome and you should play it. Especially because the sale price is an insane value-for-money. I bought dlc costumes just so I wouldn't feel like I robbed the developers (and also because Velvet...).

A kind of prequel to Tales of Zestiria which is light years ahead in everything. The PC port isn't anything to write home about, but still way ahead of the terrible 30 FPS lock which was in Zestiria. It's locked at 60 though.

Characters are great, combat is decent, albeit enjoyable, and the story was good too, which was a very good contrast compared to Zestiria. Still if you can withstand Zestiria's quirks, it is a good idea to play it before this game, so the story hits a bit harder, although not necessary. You have some things linked, but the biggest one is the impact of the consequences caused by the ending.

I have to warn that this game, like other tale's games, is a bit grindy, so if you don't like grinding, you can just turn down the difficulty and cruise through the story.

As someone new to the series, I've quite enjoyed this game!

This game has been exactly what I expect from a Tales of game. this game has became my favorite along side Tales of Vesperia

Holy shit
This game is very good!
I didn't expect this game to better than tales of symphonia, cause i love that game and i thought it was the best in the series until now.
This game is amuzing with storytelling and gameplay.
The art is very good as well as the world you go though.

solid story, characters are fleshed out.

Only thing keeping me from 100% is cooking :D Which I should have started early in the game, but didn't get any benefit from so I regret that now... Playtime leisure 100% cause you could do everything in this time, I do like to run around and wonder the environments.

What initially sold me this game was the intro song, believe it or not. I have watched the intro every time I start the game, about 40 or so times. Impacts me every time. Ok, game also looked good in the trailer... This has very little fan service, I think. Apart from Velvets costume and Seres at the beginning, there's no objectification of women (I see it as that) in the way you see so much on japanese or -style games and drawn media now. Oh, you know what I'm talking about. What comes to mind when you think about anime girls? Female characters are persons in this game, not tits, ass and bare skin.

I played on normal and it was very easy overall. The usual opponents are far more dangerous than bosses. I did lose 3 hours of playtime once after 70 hours when I started to feel invinsible and forgot to save for a while, died to said normal encounter.

But you really shouldn't play this for the hardness of gameplay. The story is amazing and the world really sucks you in. Characters are, yes, blunt and really simple in their black and white ways, but very likeable and you grow fond of them quickly. They really take YOU to an adventure. I still get some emotional response when I think about the ending and I actually saw that two weeks ago.

I played the english version. To me the performances were amazing, especially Velvet. Her voice-actor could really deliver in every situation to the deepest pain and despair to the joyful and happy moments filled with hope. I listened to them shouting names of the fighting moves in battle for 146 hours. Never got tired of it. Heard "DEVOUR!" thousands of times. Same thing.

I really had a tough time leaving the world of Berseria behind.

Controls work with a controller, gameplay is good, nothing to complain really. The fights are like a slot machine, lots of lights, sounds and especially the "bling" sound when you steal a soul from the opponent. Very addictive.

But still 30 hours more fighting and cooking.....I have to draw a line here.

Anyway, an excellent game. Sure, probably some negatives but who cares, I LOVED this game. You can get it on sale very cheap and don't really have to play 146 hours. I did the story in 100 and that included everything you can do before the story conclusion. As said I like to explore, check HLTB, probably close timewise.

Conclusion: TRY THIS GAME

I had been looking for a game with a solid story, and one of my friends recommended this, and it did not disappoint. The world-building, character development, and plot are exceptional. Given that this is my first "tales" game, I was rather impressed. Not to mention, the English voice acting did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life, delivering an story that is full of twists and turns and an emotional rollercoaster. The music is also high-quality, notably some of the dungeon BGM.

Combat can be chaotic at times, especially when set to "chao" level, yet satisfying when you manage to pull off some of the mystic arte.

To summarize:
Story/Character = 10/10
Graphics = 7/10
Soundtrack/VA = 10/10
Gear Progression = 7/10
Combat = 8/10

Highly recommended for individuals who appreciate good storytelling.

the story is interesting and fun dialogue and characters. Best part is the combat with combos and you can switch between characters while fighting

I REALLY wanted to love this game because of the characters and atmosphere, but after the 5th generic, paint-by-numbers-maze dungeon, I just couldn't keep going.

The gameplay literally has NOTHING to offer. Every overworld is completely flat and empty, every dungeon looks exactly the same, and almost all the enemies have ultra-combos that can stunlock you from full HP to death.

If you really wanna play this game, I'd do it on easy mode so you can spend as little time as possible in these godawful dungeons.

I played this game after i completed tales of arise and the story of this game is so good i cant believe i never heard about it before. the combat is meh however, i much prefer tales of arise and it doesnt help that to get passives from gear u have to do a lot of it.
Having said that, the story makes up for the bad parts that i didnt mind going through it.
Highly recommend if you are looking for good story JRPG!

I beat Tales of Berseria
it was another case of me thinking 'that was it'? when it came to the final boss
I don't know, but final bosses have been really underwhelming recently
But, okay
let's do the review

Story 9/10:
Really amazing story, made me feel for each of the characters, and had moments which genuinely left me in awe, my only problem with it is that it's a prequel, not JUST a prequel, but a prequel to one of the worst games in the series iirc, it has moments where I feel like it's going 'see! you recognise that? Right?' and it just leaves me with half the impact. especially the end where it really digs it in.
Like, yeah, I want to experience the sequel, but I've heard it's an absolute slog.
Other than that, this is amazing.
Music 8/10:
Genuine bops in there, most of the pieces are just general RPG music
Visuals 6/10:
It looks pretty outdated for a game from 2016, especially with the low quality rough textures. The colours are quite desaturated too, so it's not the most pleasing to look at, but I guess it was fine for its time
Gameplay:
I need to split this up
Overworld 5/10:
Glorified walking sim, you don't unlock the infinite fast travel item until the last dungeon, and the bike-esque movement option isn't unlocked until 2/3rds into the story, which requires you do go to a specific point in the current area first to unlock the ability to use it in that area.

Battles 7/10:
They're fine, but you can just mash through most of it

Misc gripes:
The tutorials are no help, you don't unlock things that should be there at the start, and core game mechanics are sometimes locked behind secret superbosses (which are really easy despite being like 10 levels under them), enemy levels are a joke, I spent most of the game 3-4 levels under normal enemies and were still beating them in around 12s (I was playing on normal.)
Games really need to stop putting their recommended, balanced difficulty in the 'HARD' option, especially when a higher level actually decreases XP gains - I played on merciless on P3R for most of my time playing it, it just makes it less rewarding having to turn on hard mode in the options menu

Final score 8/10:
I definitely recommend this game just for its story, though if there were a quality anime adaptation OR Manga, I'd recommend it over the game, but there isn't.
Definitely gonna try out more from the Tales series