Tales of Zestiria
Developed By: Bandai Namco
Published By: Bandai Namco
Release Date: October 20, 2015
Platforms: PS4 (Reviewed), PS3, PC
Open world games are all the rage during 2015 with releases like The Witcher 3, Mad Max, Metal Gear Solid V, and Dying Light. Now Bandai Namco is capitalizing on the open world popularity with a new Japanese RPG, Tales of Zestiria. The latest entry in the Tales series is the first fully open-world version, and it has a high bar to reach with all of the similar games coming out this year. The final game has a lot of heart, but ultimately fails to fulfill some of the lofty expectations.
Tales of Zestiria is the story of a human named Sorey. A village of Seraphim (celestial beings) raised this young man as one of their own even though he was a mere mortal. While humans can’t technically see these Seraphim, Sorey possesses a high level of resonance and can commune with the villagers. Of course, it also helps that Sorey is destined to become a Shepherd and destroy a vicious evil permeating the land. To be fair, the Shepherds only obtain this power by making contracts with Seraphim. Once Sorey becomes a Shepherd, he then possesses the ability to purify those affected by the Malevolence and heal them.
This concept of Malevolence is actually the most interesting part of Tales of Zestiria. Anyone with dark and vicious thoughts can be tainted by this evilness, causing them to turn into a variety of terrible creatures, the worst of which is a dragon. The funny thing is that anyone can become a Hellion, and the change isn’t size dependent. The biggest enemy in the game could turn out to be a wee little dog, or it could be a grumpy, old man.
In order to defeat these enemies, Sorey has four elemental powers that come from his Seraphim companions. Lailah is powered by Fire, Mikleo is powered by Water, Edna is powered by Earth, and Dezel/Zaveid are powered by Wind. Each companion and element can be switched on the fly to enhance combat situations, and the powers get stronger by completing element trials. These puzzling buildings test the limits of Sorey’s problem-solving skills and combat prowess as he hits switches and constantly battles random opponents.
The main thing you do while running around solving puzzles is jump between impromptu battles. The enemies—or Hellions—appear out of nowhere and attack your group of characters at will. The situation plays out like a Pokemon game, which can be an entertaining throwback, but only at certain times. However, these battles get very frustrating when you are stuck in a puzzle trying to find the solution. Enemies will constantly interrupt your trial-and-error puzzle solving so you have to keep starting the process over.
And speaking of the battles…
Tales of Zestiria takes standard turn-based combat system and tweaks it just a little to create a partially active approach to combat. At first, Tales seems to use a similar combat system to The WItcher or Kingdoms of Amalur, but this is mostly in appearance. The first difference is the fact that Sorey and his companions are trapped in a small area, and the only way to escape from a battle is to highlight the option on the menu and wait for a few seconds. The other main difference is in the timing. You can mash buttons for attacks and item usage during battle, but the game still makes you wait a period of time before following the commands. Thankfully, this combat system is still faster than the traditional turn-based system in which you wait full turns before attacking or using items.
Tales does have one added feature that other RPG’s don’t. Sorey can combine with his Seraphim partners and wield specific weapons in a process called Armatization. For example, merging with Mikleo gives Sorey water-based powers and a big bow; think Oliver Queen mixed with Squirtle. Merging with other characters gives Sorey a fire sword, rock hands, or wind daggers. The fire sword is the most entertaining weapon to use, but all four options make Sorey more powerful. More importantly, they also break up the monotony of standard combat.
Look, there is nothing particularly wrong with the combat, but I did occasionally play through some battles with one hand while drinking coffee and watching football.
The combat may have fallen short of some lofty goals, but the story and characters did pick up the slack. Sorey is a decent main character, and he serves as a great main guide through a unique world, even though he is simply along for the ride. Plus Sorey has the benefit of some equally solid side characters. Mikleo is the most familiar of the characters because he has been a friend of Sorey since childhood; he also serves as the calm voice of reason during arguments and weird conversations. Rose, the other human in the party, is bat crap crazy, but her strange outbursts and comments make interactions with Seraphim more entertaining. Edna and Lailah are both very fun to watch for vastly different reasons. Edna seems like a calm and collected individual, but her anti-human comments come out of nowhere. They also don’t make sense seeing how she enters in a contract with a human Shepherd. Lailah is different in that she seems like a happy-go-lucky Seraphim, but she will absolutely fly off the handle at random times. Most of these outbursts don’t make that much sense, but they are fun to watch.
Actually, the only side characters that weren’t great to interact with were Dezel and Zaveid. These characters may have had the Wind powers, but they had the personalities of dead fish.
The main cast of characters is great, but nothing compares to the Normin. These weird, little creatures populate the world and dole out weapon enhancements. Atakk is by far the most adorable because he cruises around wearing a massive military helmet while trying to hug Lailah. Each moment was fairly short and inconsequential, but they were all enough to make me go “awwwwwww”, much to the chagrin of anyone within earshot.
Atakk Rocking that Helmet
Apparently, the Normin also give out side quests, but I didn’t knowingly accept any of them.
Tales of Zestiria isn’t overly clear with a lot of major details, something that is proven every time you search for a new story objective. Going to the map gives a text description but barely anything else. For example, you may have to search for a character in the ruins of a castle, but the map doesn’t even show which direction to head. All of the locations are marked with question marks, and the only time your objective shows up on the map is when you are in the immediate vicinity. It’s a small complaint, but endlessly searching for the right area can be very irritating.
Tales of Zestiria is the 15th game in the long-running Tales series, but it is the first to be created with an open world setting. Tales of Zestiria is also the first game in the series to be ported over to PlayStation 4. These changes in the development process are clearly seen once you get past the opening area. Unlike many other open world games of 2015, Tales of Zestiria is quite empty. Running around Sorey’s world is honestly a little boring because you will see wide-open vistas with nothing more than a few trees and maybe a fence or two. You will occasionally encounter an NPC, but interacting with them only results in a repeated piece of written dialogue. Even the towns and cities are mostly empty save for a few marketplaces.
It’s actually very disappointing that Tales of Zestiria is limited by the porting process and seemingly old school technology. The story and characters are fantastic, the writing is humorous, and the fantasy elements are interesting. It’s just a shame that playing the rest of this barren game is uninspiring.
The story elements make Tales of Zestiria worth playing, but don’t expect something on par with the other open world games of 2015.
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