Tales of Berseria

My third game finished from the “Tales of” franchise! Tales of Berseria was SO fun and I had so much more fun than I expected.

After Symphonia and Abyss, this game felt just SO satisfying in every sense. I feel like it managed to correctly develop and evolve in each aspect perfectly in respect to past games and I love that

The story was great, I love how it developed its themes and subthemes so nicely. Unlike past Tales games, there wasn’t any moment where the story felt slow or too boring, so I really appreciate that. Abyss’ final hours are godtier but this game made an amazing job with its plot as well

The gameplay was amazing, I REALLY enjoyed it and felt that it was the right step for Tales’ gameplay to evolve. I really had a lot of fun with the battles and bosses and it was genuinely fun to complete all the sidequests and optional stuff (Zaveid’s sidequest was SO good)

The characters are one of its strongest points as well, since the ENTIRE cast feels so fleshed out and charismatic. I absolutely loved them all and I feel like I have to remark this point since every playable character being this good is a thing you don’t see in every RPG

Velvet as a protagonist f*cking rocked, I swear she is such a good protagonist and I really liked seeing all her development and interactions with the party, plus she got such a fitting ending given the plot

Eizen was honestly my favourite character in the game, I just can’t avoid loving how passionate he is about what he enjoys, how much he cares for his sister and friends and what a great mentor he is to Phi. Plus, all his interactions with Zaveid and his relationship to Edna is just *chef’s kiss*, I swear all the ties to Zestiria are so damn satisfying and good

Now, onto the other characters: I loved Phi’s development and how he slowly became able to choose his own decisions and path, plus everyone treats him with such respect and lets him evolve on his own

Eleanor was the one I expected to become my favourite character and, even though she didn’t end up as the one, I really liked how her perspective of the world and reason changed throughout the game, how natural she felt and how she slowly warmed up to everyone in the party

Magilou was very funny (sometimes she tried too hard but we can forgive her for that) and had very good moments. I just wish she had more of a bond with everyone in the party since it felt like she was a bit isolated from everyone in some aspects

Finally, Rokurou was a very cool character. I loved his entire plot regarding Shigure and, above everything, I love how they acknowledge he’s not really a good person and that his sins run super deep, but, regardless of that, his morals aren’t inherently wrong, can be a really nice person and can be a mentor to Phi as well

When it comes to interactions between the party, I really like how Velvet and Eleanor are practically mothers to Phi and how Eizen and Rokurou are practically uncles for Phi, they all feel like a huge found family and I am a huge sucker for that dynamic

The music was very good as well, probably on the level of Symphonia and Abyss, but I think I liked those soundtracks a bit more. The battle themes were great and I love that you can change the music of battles with outfits

All in all, Berseria is probably my favourite Tales of game at the moment but I hold both Abyss and Symphonia very dear to me as well. I have to check out Zestiria as well since both games are very strongly connected but I’ve heard the game isn’t really that good or polished, so I might check out the anime instead