Beautifully designed world but a controversial fusion combat system and a convoluted story. The weakest PS3 Tales entry overall but still competent enough for dedicated series fans to enjoy.
Your verdict
Category
RPG1 player12+
Description
RPG by Bandai Namco Studios, Zestiria entry of Tales of franchise with semi-open world. Published by Bandai Namco, released in October 2015 in Europe, Korea, North America and Japan. Sorey young man raised by Seraphim becoming the Shepherd to purify malevolence and save Glenwood world, over eight playable characters including Mikleo, Alisha, Lailah and Edna with distinct elemental specialties, action JRPG gameplay mixing real-time four-active-character party combat and interconnected semi-open world exploration, Armatization mechanic for human-seraph fusion for powerful transformations, over eighty hours of narrative campaign, over a hundred side quests, anime cel-shading aesthetic by Mutsumi Inomata and Kosuke Fujishima, English and Japanese voice-over with Ryohei Kimura as Sorey.
Tales of Zestiria review
MAX
Art direction
★★★★★
"Iconic"
MAX
Music
★★★★★
"Legendary"
MAX
Story
★★★★★
"Masterful"
Luminous cel-shading, expressive anime characters and colourful worlds: the Tales series transposes Japanese animation into a warm 3D. The fluidity of the combat and the vividness of the hues compose a welcoming, living universe. This visual direction, polished and energetic, charms well beyond fans of the genre.
Signed by Motoi Sakuraba and Go Shiina, the music unfurls a flamboyant orchestra with epic accents, from exalted battle to Superfly's theme song "White Light". Each theme carries the Shepherd's journey with a luminous grandeur. This sonic richness, broad and inspired, magnificently extends the series' musical tradition.
Raised among invisible spirits, a young man becomes the Shepherd meant to purify a world consumed by hatred. The tale makes the struggle against malevolence and shared hope the heart of its purpose. This luminous fable about coexistence, carried by an endearing duo, wins over lovers of fantasy.
Gameplay
"Excellent"
Fun
"From the very first minutes"
Addictiveness
"Captivating"
Difficulty
"Balanced"
Lifespan
"Massive"
A vast pilgrimage of a journey, the adventure spreads across a seamless world where exploration, dungeons and motion-based combat flow freely. Side quests, equipment fusion and the hunt for hidden items extend the road well past the main story. Its open-world ambition keeps it a place apart in the series.
An entry in Bandai Namco's long Tales series, released for the franchise's twentieth anniversary and carrying narrative stakes between lords and the world's corruption. Its Korean version, distinct from the Japanese run, draws fans of a saga with a faithful audience who gather its releases by region. Its interest owes to this anniversary place in the Tales lineage and to the relative scarcity of a local pressing on a narrow market.
