Tales of Berseria Reviews
Tales of Berseria mostly takes you too much by the Hand but you still get an amazing Story (as usual for the series) and some well balanced gameplay elements
Review in German | Read full review
Tales of Berseria flips the traditional heroic story on its head, taking up instead with the vengeance-driven journey of daemon-eater Velvet Crowe and the unapologetically villainous crew of misfits she picks up along the way. A fun premise and some great skits make for a good story, though middle-of-the-road combat and fairly boring dungeons and fields bog the gameplay down.
Tales of Berseria is a surprisingly strong showing for this long-running series. Its tragic story of broken people fighting on the wrong side of history makes it utterly compelling, and its well-tuned combat more than makes up for its lack of interesting environments. Simply put, this is a tale to heartbreaking to miss, or to forget.
Tales of Berseria is a decent game and it’s much better than Tales of Zestiria. That being said the graphics are still quite poor and the music was mediocre. It’s an improvement but it still could have been better.
Berseria has some flaws and archaic design, but it’s one of the most interesting Tales games I’ve played
Thanks to its dark atmosphere and exciting combat, Tales of Berseria is a refreshing change of pace for the long-running RPG series.
Tales of Berseria isn't a reinvention of the series, but it delivers a more emotional story mixed with a great combat system to make this adventure worth taking.
Tales of Berseria is not just one of the best Tales games in a long time, but an essential for any JRPG fan. It’s a huge step up from Zestiria in almost every way.
Despite an old-gen graphics engine and some balancing issues, Tales of Berseria is an ambitious title, with rock-solid writing and a rather deep gameplay. It could have been bolder, but the new installment in the Tales saga is an enjoyable experience, one that the fans of the saga will definitely love.
Review in Italian | Read full review
With a good storyline, great characters and a fantastic, action-heavy combat system, this is a high point for Bandai Namco’s JRPG series – but it lacks the attention to detail, great design and polish that could elevate that series to the big leagues over here.
Not only does Tales of Berseria excel in telling a gripping and mature story, but it also has action-packed battles in some stunning environments. At times it can begin to feel a little bit repetitive, but when the writing is good enough to make you want to find out what's going to happen next, and the mechanics that are being repeated are so enjoyable, that's not wholly a bad thing. Fans should definitely enjoy everything on offer here, and newcomers should consider making Berseria their first Tales Of game – it's a real treat through and through.
Tales of Berseria faces the struggle of being developed for both the old and the new generation of Sony platforms, and therefore is forced to stick to the beaten path. It still is a better game than Zestiria, overall, mostly thanks to its dark and gritty storyline and believable cast of protagonists. Let's just hope that the future of the Tales series will bring something new to the table.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Thanks to brilliant characterisation and the ability to throw some genuine humour and moments of softness into the mix, the team at Bandai Namco has been able to deliver one of the most refreshingly nuanced quests that we’ve seen in this series, and for the first time in a very long time, I haven’t been able to put a Tales game down.
Whilst not on the same shaky ground as Final Fantasy XV by any means, despite Tales of Berseria bringing with it a great story, wonderful animation scenes, a sublime soundtrack and voice cast, it lets the side down with its dull environments, lack of engaging puzzles and quests, overly-wordy interactions that go off on pointless tangents, as well as a battle system that is quite hit and miss, resigning many gamers to mere button-bashing to get through most of the adventure. Bandai Namco has managed to deliver yet another solid Tales entry, but not one that will be remembered anywhere near as fondly as past classics, unfortunately.
Tales of Berseria feels like a Tales game made just for me. There’s so many games in the series now, and I’ll never play them all, but the characters and the narrative and the combat mechanics of Berseria just click with all of my tastes so well. For some, the lack of gameplay innovation might be a turn off, but for me, a classic Tales gameplay system combined with a unique narrative led to a fantastic experience. Fans both new and old would be doing a disservice to themselves if they didn’t check this game out.
Like most recent entries in the Tales series, Tales of Berseria is an epic adventure packed with stuff to do. There are mini-games to play, cosmetic items to collect, food to cook and treasures to uncover. Those goofy fun trappings are draped across a much more serious whole this time around, offering welcome respite from a tale that’s not afraid to take its memorable characters to some very dark places.
With a fantastic combat system and a good story, Tales of Berseria feels like a return to form in a lot of ways, despite being more adventurous with the combat than ever before. A great series making a triumphant return.
One of the great things about the Tales of series is that you can jump in any of the games at any time and not be lost with either the story or combat. Tales of Berseria is a great launch point for newcomers, and of course a fabulous return point for veterans. JRPG fans who have never tried a Tales of game but always wanted to, this is a perfect place to start. Be sure to have the tissues close by.
Tales of Symphonia was my entry game to the “Tales of” series and I’ve been a major fan ever since. To me, Tales of Berseria is another great addition to the ever-growing franchise. Not only that, it was a major improvement to its predecessor Tales of Zestiria. Allowing both series to be connected also helped bolster their shared world’s lore. With how enjoyable Tales of Berseria is, I look more forward to the next major “tale.”
Tales of Berseria is a solid JRPG that doesn't excel in any one area but manages to hit all the marks well enough to be enjoyable. It's not ambitious and focuses on providing a pleasant experience. It suffers from being too easy and spending too much time clearing up its predecessor's flaws, but it's balanced by fast-paced combat and an entertaining cast. It's not going to change your world, but Tales fans should find a lot to like, and for casual players, it's a good introduction to the franchise.