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Impressions:
- Humorous and natural cast. So far it's easily the games biggest positive. The localization is pretty spot on, and while I disagree with certain localized translations, such as changing Disciple to Squire, it retains the wit and charm of the Japanese script. The cast feel natural in how they off one another, and each new party member adds to the dynamic. Soreh, is, for all intents and purposes a Tales-esque Monkey D Luffy. He's a goofy moron with a good heart and adventurer spirit. How the writers managed to not make you want to kill him is a miracle, but it somehow works. He sees the best in people and this contrasts with the rest of the cast, notably Mikleo. Mikleo and Soreh's bond is pretty good. They have an interesting and dynamic relationship that reflects a sibling relationship. At first I thought Mikleo was kind of a jerk to Soreh, but he just does playful jabs. So it keeps their relationship interesting. The two of them have a pretty fun relationship and I'm curious to see if they end up dating because at this point, it's pretty gay and adorable. The dialogue has lots of LOL characters moments even at the beginning. So far, Lailah has the best ones. You think she may be a generic 1000 year old uguu wizard angel chick but no, she's actually this goofy, quirky character, which is a nice spin on the type of character someone like her would normally be. I can't wait to see how the rest of the party feeds off her because she's absolutely hilarious. The character interaction in general is pretty great so far, and it's easily the thing most worth looking forward to. If you are someone like me who enjoys Tales games on virtue of the characters, give Zestiria a shot. You won't want any of them to die (at least not yet) which is a pretty good achievement for Tales.
- Really mediocre art direction that I've already gotten into already. The locations are bland and it doesn't feel like a realized world. It's just boring. It sticks out like a sore thumb because the rest of the presentation is top notch.
- If you're on PS3, expect the game to be completely uggo. No anti-alias, frame drops, bland textures. It's not a looker. Which is surprising considering I thought it was the main platform, but it totally looks like a down port.
- So far the battle system is mixed. It's fast but a lot of the options feel outdated. It's fully 3d now and no longer plays like a 2d fighter, which is good or bad depending on your preferences. Like the targeting system, and the fact you have to hold down L2 for free run even though the game is completely 3d now and not on a 2d plane anymore feels tacked on. It feels forced, and makes the controls feel unnatural and obtuse because of that. I'm not finding the new battle system more fun than the old side scroller battle system, either. With the old system, it was at least much easier to juggle. So far I'm just mashing and mashing and mashing. I've got the battle difficulty on Hard. The fast pace of the battle system could also be seen as a negative, in that there's some evasion and defense features here, such as quick stepping and quick evade, but so far they seem pointless because the game is so mashy and there's so much shit going on, and you fight so many enemies, and the screen is crowded with so many special effects that it almost seems impractical to wait for enemies to attack and evade. I'm also not yet convinced that the change to a full 3d system was necessary yet, but I'm open minded. Still, the battle system for what it is, is fun, and the boss fights are cool, especially when against solo human bosses. So far, there are a lot of battle features, but aren't properly utilized or explained. Just mash. Feels like it's trying to create a deep system without executing them well and feels experimental for the sake of being experimental when the old formula and battle system worked just fine.
- Continuing, there a lot of sub-systems, such as an equipment subsystem, that are poorly explained and further obfuscate the gameplay.
- The game stricture could use work. You going from A to B continuously. There's a star that pops up on the map that directs the player to where they're supposed to go which makes the game end up feeling more linear than it probably really is. On the other hand, this could be a blessing because the games overworld and cities are so bland and pointlessly large that you could easily get lost without knowing where to go or what to do. So it's a double-edged sword.
- Music is REALLY good, as expected. Here's a really good sample: [video type="youtube"]HFYBvKdIOCc[/video]
- Cities and locations so far seem big for the sake of being big. World map traversal is boring as hell. World map is divided by zones, in an FFXII way. It doesn't work as well, though, because each area is unidentifiable from the next. Here's hoping the next Tales has a traditional overhead map, because they really have no idea what they're doing on this one.
- A lot of stuff about this game seem like they're shaking up the formula just to shake up the formula. Rather than perfecting the Tales formula Dragon Quest style, they're trying to fit things in that are out of their element, which lead to a lower quality game. It doesn't really excel at anything besides character interaction so far, but it's excellent comfort food.
- Hats
At the same time, it's such a good game it's hard to give too much of a shit, and I'm sure it'll get better. If you're interested in a jrpg and just seem to unload, I'd say it's worth getting for that alone. It's 50 dollars, and despite the flaws, pretty fun.