Over the last two weeks, I have had the chance to get my hands on the Japanese version of Tales of Zestiria. With all of the furiousness going around online about the game and the whole Alisha DLC debacle, I felt it was warranted to get the game and give it a go. I’ve been a long standing fan of the Tales series, and while I didn’t like Xillia 2 like much of the fanbase, I still thought it would be a good chance to get the word out on whether Tales of Zestiria is worth the buy regardless of all of the online hate.

To begin with, Tales of Zestiria is ultimately a fun experience, though it does come with its frustrations. The gameplay is well refined, streamlined, and fun. Tales of Zestiria really took the best parts of the battle system additions from Xillia 2 and made them more useful, less restrictive, and tweaked them for the new systems that Zestiria uses.

So, let’s start with the game’s exploration and non-battle parts. There has been a bunch of additions and changes to the game’s systems over all, some of which are changed for the better, and some for the worse, at least in my opinion.

The first one that is a big departure from the previous games is the new skill system. Rather than having each party member have their own distinct list of skills, the party shares their skill list. Now referred to as ‘Battle Acts’, these make a direct effect on the battle system as a whole, rather than characters. Each Battle Act requires AP, which can be increased through a number of ways like levelling or finding large stones that are scattered throughout the game.

Another change isn’t something that’s entirely new to the series, but weapons now have skills attached. In Zestiria, rather than the weapon teaching the character the skill over time like in Vesperia, the skill is directly attached to the weapon. So, when wielding the weapon, that character will have that skill or skills. Furthermore, all pieces of equipment carry skills in Zestiria, not just weapons. While I won’t get into it during the review, there is actually quite a bit to be done with these skills, such as fusing weapons to get better ones, or filling in a skill chart for bonus skills. But those two functions are heard to explain without pictures.

The skill changes are interesting in practice. Because they don’t really change the way a given character plays, but merely gives them bonuses and other extra effects, the whole system is somewhat of a letdown coming from a game like Xillia where the skill trees helped make every character feel entirely specialized and different. However, it also removed some frustration regarding tracking down important skills like there were in Vesperia, so it goes both ways.

Something that many Tales fans will also notice is the distinct lack of cooking. A series staple for a long time has been removed, instead replaced with the ability to buy meals at Inns when you stay. While it may not be a removal that many care about, it is certainly upsetting to no longer find those strange looking items that are terribly out of place, only to realize it’s the Wonder Chef.

To move on from there, let’s discuss party composition. This is one of the things that spread quickly online, if I recall as well – Every Tenzoku needs a human partner to take part in battle. This means that throughout the game, there will be a number of times (especially toward the beginning) where your party is limited despite having more party members. In addition, as only two humans are ever in the party at once (Sorey, Alisha, then Rosé), they are actually locked into the party; you cannot remove them. While this sounds like a major pain, it’s really only an annoyance on occasion.

Another newer addition is the new map actions. While these are used mostly as a way to bypass “puzzles” they do have some neat uses as well. Throughout the game, each of the four elemental Tenzoku will give Sorey the ability to use their element in some form on the map. Lailah, the fire Tenzoku, gives you the ability to make a small blast of fire to burn webs and plants. Dezel, the wind Tenzoku, gives you the ability to make a short range teleport to jump gaps, and gives you a speed boost on the map as well.

Alongside that are the dungeons themselves. This game lacks any sort of puzzles in the dungeons, similarly to Xillia. So, for anyone hoping to a return to dungeon puzzles like Symphonia, will once again be disappointed. However, the dungeons are spacious and well suited to the game’s “Real Map Battles” system.

Encounters in Zestiria are a little strange as well. The enemies do show up on the map as usual, but they tend to pop up or drop in from the ceiling rather than just be wandering the map. It’s strange, but it does get the job done. It can be infuriating when you’re actively looking to avoid a fight, or even looking to kill something. The enemy appearance rate is just too sporadic.

There are a number of other small changes that don’t matter much at all too. Costume attachments and hairstyles have been added in their own section of the main menu, for example.

Now, for the meat of this review, let’s talk about the battle system. Zestiria’s battle system differs pretty heavily from most of its predecessors, borrowing a good bit from Graces, but not much from other games.

Zestiria’s control scheme functions the same way that Graces did. Up moves you toward the enemy, down moves you away, and the guard button plus left or right makes you side-step. Alpha and Beta artes make their return as well, giving all of the characters in Zestiria very amazing looking sets of attacks.

Another system making its return from Graces is the CC system, though it has been revamped and revised, making it truly the basis for the entire battle system. CC has been changed to SC, or Spirit Chain, and has replaced TP entirely. Now, Alpha and Beta Artes can both be used without restrictions, and you don’t need to worry about running down your TP when using Beta Artes.

This change, however, has been balanced by a rock-paper-scissor relationship between the types of artes. In the party, you will have both Humans and Tenzoku. Humans have Base Artes and Arcane Artes. Tenzoku have Base Artes and Spells. Base Artes can be interrupted by Arcane Artes, Arcane Arts can be interrupted by Spells, and Spells can be interrupted by Base Artes.

Mystic Artes are also in the game, and operate the same as in any other Tales game. In Zestiria, they are governed by the Blast Gauge, which actually holds several functions at once. Using charges from the Blast Gauge can let a character perform Armitization, recover SC to continue long combos, or perform a Mystic Arte. The Blast Gauge charges with every in-battle action you take, whether it’s hitting an enemy or getting hit, so you’ll always find yourself with some charge in the gauge, and it charges rather quickly.

As I said, the Blast Gauge governs Armitization, which is the namesake of the “Fusionic Chain Linear Motion Battle System” that Zestiria utilizes. Armitization is the ability that Humans and Tenzoku use to fuse during battle for increased damage and a massive bonus to the given elemental damage. Armitization has far more uses than that as well. It requires both characters involved to have at least one charge in their Burst Gauge, but that is all it requires in addition to the ability to perform it. However, Armitization is also the built in resurrection mechanic for Zestiria – if one of the two characters going into a fusion is dead, they’ll be revived upon entering the fusion, and when the two characters leave the fusion, they’ll each have half of the HP they went into it with.

The Kamui forms (the form taken during Armitization) also have a few differences from base characters. A Kamui form’s Alpha Arte tree is made up of Arcane Arts, while their Beta tree is Spells. Between the three different sets, characters will be able to equip the two types of attacks that will do the best against a given enemy. For example, if an enemy is prone to using a lot of Arcane Artes, and you’re playing as Sorey, it may be wise to fuse and start using Spells to override the enemy’s Arcane Artes.

One other big addition to mention is something that makes me very happy, coming from Xillia 2. Rather than having only Sorey or Rosé being the triggers for Armitization, the Tenzoku can trigger it too. This prevents the game from shoehorning the player into playing specific characters, leaving who you play as entirely open to your own devices, unlike in Xillia 2, where Ludger’s Chromatus was limited to him only.

Another big update coming from Xillia 2 is the weakness system. It does make a return, with all enemies being strong or weak against various damage types. Rather than requiring you to open a combo with a weakness to be able to stun your enemy, the game has made it so if you hit an enemy with something it’s strong against, the damage is so pitiful that it’s just not worth it. I feel that this type of change has made the weakness system something more manageable without reducing its importance to the battle system. This is even more true when you factor in the elemental damage output of a Kamui form – it gets disastrously huge.

As for how the battle system feels and handles, it’s generally a lot of fun. It feels slower paced than Graces, despite having a similar battle system, rather playing at a similar pace to Xillia. The SC system changes the way a lot of the game feels, if only because the worry about over-using Artes just isn’t there anymore. However, once you get used to it, the system feels natural and just straight up fun.

Unfortunately, it’s not without problems. While the game’s use of real map battles is awesome, it causes issues as well. Fighting an enemy in a smaller corridor has a very intense feeling to it, with the battle being so close-quarters. However, the camera in such situations is just downright atrocious. It gets caught on walls and corners, making visuals very difficult. Thankfully, you can use the right control stick to control the camera, so it is maneuverable, but that doesn’t excuse the absolutely unplayable moments when you can see nothing.

Another strike against it is the difficulty. Zestiria actually feels too easy in many places, with many battles, even bosses, being underwhelming once they are over. While turning up the difficulty can easily fix this issue, it’s still saddening to see that ‘normal’ is a walk in the park rather than at least having a few moments of tense play.

There are two last things to call attention to before closing this review out. First, the cutscenes. Every scene with dialogue in Zestiria is actually more like a cutscene. Text bubbles have been removed in favor of the text showing up on the bottom of the screen like subtitles, and the entire scene has motion and acting to it. However, even with that all being the case, you can still press buttons to skip through lines quickly. It’s really implemented incredibly well!

Second, are the anime cutscenes. Ufotable handles all of the animation for the game, including the cutscenes (of which there are surprisingly many that are animated) and the opening sequence. Every single bit of animation that Ufotable handled in the game looks stunning and absolutely gorgeous.

All in all, though, I would say that Zestiria is definitely a worthy Tales game despite all of the hate online that it has received. Its battle system is fun and the beginning of a departure from some series staples, which will be interesting going forward – but for now, it works. And while many systems have been changed or removed, I do feel as though Zestiria is a very successful entry into the Tales series.

Tales of Zestiria was reviewed on PS3 using a retail copy purchased by Niche Gamer. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here.