This is one of the most wanted RPG game in recent years, especially by Tales series fans. It is notable this is one of the few English version of Tales game released since Tales of Vesperia release in 2008.
Storyline
This game has several arcs, which is Childhood Arc, Adulthood Arc, and Future Arc. Childhood Arc acts as the prologue of the game itself, whereas Adulthood Arc functions as the main storyline of the game. Future Arc is optional, and can be done after you have completed the game.
This game takes place in a planet where there is constant war between several kingdoms, such as Windor, Strahta, and Fendel. Asbel Lhant is the main protagonist of the game, and he has befriended an mysterious girl at a flower meadow along with his brother, Hubert. He brought her back to his home, and thinking that she has amnesia. After several events happened after meeting the mysterious girl, named Sophie by Asbel, Asbel thought that he lacks the power to protect anyone. He made a decision to leave his hometown, and wanted to train as a knight at a knight academy at Barona, the capital city of Windor. His adulthood days served as the main storyline of the game.
Despite it's cliche and overused story theme, I love the storyline of this game, like other Tales game I have played such as Tales of Vesperia and Tales of the Abyss. This is because on how well the characters interact with each other as well as their character's development. The character interactions, story writing, and dialogues are well-made. From my personal point of view, cliche storyline is fine, as long it is well-told with good dialogue, good character interactions, and good use of emotional moments.
The characters in this game are quite likable, personally. My favourite characters in this game would include all of the main playable characters in the game, as well as many other supporting characters such as Fourier (Pascal's sister), Kurt (Malik's friend), and others. They have quite likable personality, although I dare say that some people won't like them because some of the characters in the game may have similar personalities known in other JRPG games.
Gameplay
i) Exploration and progression section
This game plays like many previous Tales games and other JRPG games. You need to go somewhere to clear an objective, talk to someone, clear a dungeon and fight a boss there, and etc. Since this game is non-linear, you need to do some quite exploring a bit to find where you are supposed to go. If you are stuck in the game, you can always press the L1 button to figure out where you are supposed to go next.
Roaming at field maps is a bit different than previous Tales games. Instead opting an open World Map like Final Fantasy games, the World Map is structured more linearly. After progressing far in the game, you will be able to warp any town/dungeons/field maps that you have visited before.
In towns or cities, you can buy items, weapons, and armours for your usage, or rest at inn to fill up your HP. At inns, you can also complete requests, which all of the requests consist of collecting certain items. Completing a request will reward you SP (needed to learn new Artes and stat bonuses), Gald (in-game currency) and sometimes an item.
As for dungeons, you need to proceed in the dungeon by moving deeper into it. Most dungeons have some puzzles for you to solve in order to proceed. Most of it are easy to complete, but some requires skillful thinking in order to complete it. Near the end of a dungeon, you will usually fight a boss.
Cutscenes are played while playing in the game. Most of it will tell you what is going on, what are your objectives, etc. Some cutscenes are carried out in textboxes with spoken dialogues, other cutscenes are rendered completely in full cutscenes, and the rest of cutscenes are animated in Japanese animation style. If you don't like watching the cutscenes, you can always skip them at your own pleasure.
While progressing in the game, you can initiate optional conversations called Skit by pressing the Select button. Although some of the Skits are not related directly to the game's main storyline, the Skits are the highlights of character interactions as most of it shows each Character's personality more deeply, and some of the Skits are downright hilarious. Be aware that many of the Skits are missable, and you will not be able to obtain if you have progressed further in the game until you play New Game +.
ii) Combat section
Storyline
The theme of the game's story is 'to protect someone with your strength'.
This game has several arcs, which is Childhood Arc, Adulthood Arc, and Future Arc. Childhood Arc acts as the prologue of the game itself, whereas Adulthood Arc functions as the main storyline of the game. Future Arc is optional, and can be done after you have completed the game.
This game takes place in a planet where there is constant war between several kingdoms, such as Windor, Strahta, and Fendel. Asbel Lhant is the main protagonist of the game, and he has befriended an mysterious girl at a flower meadow along with his brother, Hubert. He brought her back to his home, and thinking that she has amnesia. After several events happened after meeting the mysterious girl, named Sophie by Asbel, Asbel thought that he lacks the power to protect anyone. He made a decision to leave his hometown, and wanted to train as a knight at a knight academy at Barona, the capital city of Windor. His adulthood days served as the main storyline of the game.
Despite it's cliche and overused story theme, I love the storyline of this game, like other Tales game I have played such as Tales of Vesperia and Tales of the Abyss. This is because on how well the characters interact with each other as well as their character's development. The character interactions, story writing, and dialogues are well-made. From my personal point of view, cliche storyline is fine, as long it is well-told with good dialogue, good character interactions, and good use of emotional moments.
The characters in this game are quite likable, personally. My favourite characters in this game would include all of the main playable characters in the game, as well as many other supporting characters such as Fourier (Pascal's sister), Kurt (Malik's friend), and others. They have quite likable personality, although I dare say that some people won't like them because some of the characters in the game may have similar personalities known in other JRPG games.
Gameplay
i) Exploration and progression section
Exploration is like many other JRPG games. Complete your objectives by talking to people, clearing dungeons, the sorts.
This game plays like many previous Tales games and other JRPG games. You need to go somewhere to clear an objective, talk to someone, clear a dungeon and fight a boss there, and etc. Since this game is non-linear, you need to do some quite exploring a bit to find where you are supposed to go. If you are stuck in the game, you can always press the L1 button to figure out where you are supposed to go next.
Roaming at field maps is a bit different than previous Tales games. Instead opting an open World Map like Final Fantasy games, the World Map is structured more linearly. After progressing far in the game, you will be able to warp any town/dungeons/field maps that you have visited before.
In towns or cities, you can buy items, weapons, and armours for your usage, or rest at inn to fill up your HP. At inns, you can also complete requests, which all of the requests consist of collecting certain items. Completing a request will reward you SP (needed to learn new Artes and stat bonuses), Gald (in-game currency) and sometimes an item.
As for dungeons, you need to proceed in the dungeon by moving deeper into it. Most dungeons have some puzzles for you to solve in order to proceed. Most of it are easy to complete, but some requires skillful thinking in order to complete it. Near the end of a dungeon, you will usually fight a boss.
Cutscenes are played while playing in the game. Most of it will tell you what is going on, what are your objectives, etc. Some cutscenes are carried out in textboxes with spoken dialogues, other cutscenes are rendered completely in full cutscenes, and the rest of cutscenes are animated in Japanese animation style. If you don't like watching the cutscenes, you can always skip them at your own pleasure.
While progressing in the game, you can initiate optional conversations called Skit by pressing the Select button. Although some of the Skits are not related directly to the game's main storyline, the Skits are the highlights of character interactions as most of it shows each Character's personality more deeply, and some of the Skits are downright hilarious. Be aware that many of the Skits are missable, and you will not be able to obtain if you have progressed further in the game until you play New Game +.
ii) Combat section
Flashy combat that greatly resembles battles in Japanese animated series.
The battle system in this game called Style Shift Linear Motion Battle System. This system refers to each character's two different fighting styles in the game. For example, Asbel have two different Artes fighting style. His A-Arte consists of sheathed sword techniques, whereas his B-Arte consists of drawn sword technique. Every playable character in the game have his/her own unique fighting styles, so try out each characters in the game and choose which one is the best for your party.
The battles are carried out similarly like other Tales games and Star Ocean games, where you can move around in the battlefield to attack enemies. Like other games, you need to deplete your enemies' HPs by attacking them. Other than attacking with your A-Arte and B-Arte, you can sidestep to dodge enemy attacks or guard against it. Depending on what situations, dodging is preferable than blocking.
In battle, you can only directly control the party leader and other 3 party members in the battle will be controlled by the computer. You can set Strategy for each character to match their fighting styles. For example, Cheria has a lot of healing Artes, and she should focus on healing more often than using offensive Artes.
Each of your A-Arte and B-Arte techniques consume CC points (Chain Capacity). Lower ranked Artes consume less CC and can be used more often, whereas higher ranked Artes consume more CC and can be used less often. As for your own controllable playable character in the game, you can customise or change his/her B-Arte techniques, which can be executed by pressing different Directional buttons and the X button. A-Arte techniques cannot be customised or changed, but each techniques are carried out similarly like B-Arte techniques, which is pressing different Directional buttons and the Circle button. The main difference is that A-Artes have treelike structure which can chain to many other different Artes at the same time, whereas B-Artes can only be used repeatedly or use a different one. New Artes can be learned by leveling up Titles for each characters.
At the start of a battle, you will start with a minimum CC depending on your weapon's stats and stat bonuses. CC is consumed by attacking enemies using Artes and sidestepping. You can chain up your Artes by repeatedly pressing the buttons to inflict higher damage to enemies until your CC is empty or insufficient to carry out the next attack. If your CC is empty, you can simply wait it out until it is filled up again without doing anything, and proceed to attack the enemies again.
Each Arte has certain properties that can be used to exploit enemy weaknesses. For example, Asbel's Lightning Strike has Nova property, and it is extremely powerful against enemies that are weak against Nova attacks. Since each Arte have different properties, experiment each Arte and use it to your advantage. You can always know your enemies' weaknesses by pressing the R1 button in battle.
While fighting in battles, you will see there is a blue and red gauge at the left side of the screen. That gauge is Eleth Burst gauge. This gauge can be filled by attacking enemies repeatedly. If you have filled it up, you will enter Eleth Burst Mode, which allows you to use any A-Artes or B-Artes endlessly without worrying CC consumption in a short period of time. Every character in the game have unique special attacks called Mystic Artes. Mystic Artes can only be used in Eleth Burst Mode, and these techniques are extremely powerful techniques that can wipe out lesser enemies easily. Although you might not activate a Mystic Arte, your party members themselves may use any Mystic Artes while in Eleth Burst Mode, provided that if they have learned Mystic Artes.
Like most RPG games, lesser enemies are less tougher than bosses. Bosses are generally much more powerful than regular enemies, and have their own special attacks that can defeat you easily. Some bosses in the game have access to Mystic Artes as well, and they will use it if they have the chance. Be also aware that your enemies will also exploit the Eleth Burst Mode to defeat you easily, so it would be best to avoid or block their enemies when they are in that mode.
Winning battles will reward you Gald, EXP, SP (Skill Points), as well as Items depending on how fast you complete the battle. The faster you complete the battle, more bonuses you will get. If you think your current difficulty in the game is too hard, you can always change it to lower difficulties at the Options menu.
iii) Customisation and upgrading section
Level up your characters and learn new skills by defeating enemies.
Each party members have their own Level, HP, minimum and maximum CC, Parameters and set of Titles. Parameters play a prominent role in this game as a change in a Parameter Stat can affect on how well your party members can perform in battles. For example, higher P. ATK increases your A-Artes damage on enemies. Your weapons and armour will affect each Parameter stats differently, so experiment each weapons and armours to see which one is the best.
Titles play prominent roles in learning new Artes, passive skills, and Parameter bonuses. Simply equip a Title and obtain the necessary SP required by defeating enemies to learn a new Skill. Each Titles have their own sets of Skills,so once you have learned all of the Skills of a Title, switch to a new one to learn new Skills. New Titles can be obtained by story progression, using Artes repeatedly, etc.
In this game, there is a process called dualizing. Dualizing allows you to combine two items to make a new one. This process is vital to upgrade your weapons or to cook food to be used in battle. Dualizing also allows you to create two lesser materials into a high-grade material to be sold for money, or to be fused into a weapon to upgrade it further.
A new feature in this game is called Eleth Mixer. Eleth Mixer allows you to consume food to restore your HP and imbue positive effects such as increase of P. DEF in battle. To use it however, requires you to set food on your Eleth Mixer to be used in battle. Each food contains different conditions, such as Curry can only be activated when your HP is less than 60% and costs 60 EP (Eleth Points). Food can only be used once in a battle, but can be used twice provided you have the necessary items to customise the Eleth Mixer. Eleth Mixer has it's own EP, and will be reduced as you use the food in battle continuously. You can recharge your Eleth Mixer by charging it at Shops and Inns or using items.
iv) Gameplay conclusion
Overall great gameplay, but does not have much innovation or unique new features from previous Tales games.
The gameplay in this game is basically great for an RPG game, but considered to be too similar to previous Tales games' gameplay. Flashy combat, stylish looking moves, and etc are trademarks of good Tales game, but does not necessarily reflect the game itself a great RPG game. Any JRPG fans should try playing this game as it has a very good gameplay that appeals to all types of RPG players.
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