There is always something to be said about first times and journeys in life. These are moments that we hold onto and remember. When it comes to the video game industry there have been many firsts. For me, my first entry in the world of reviewing games was for Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology which I heavily enjoyed. While this wasn’t my first exposure to the beloved franchise it did start my own journey that has lead me these past 10 years to be able to review Tales of Berseria for the PC today.
Tales of Berseria is a very different entry into what has been a fairly lighthearted series up until this point. This story follows the series’ first solo heroine Velvet Crowe, a girl once happy despite worrying about her little brother, before her life is railroaded by betrayal and deceit. You see the world of the Holy Midgand Empire has been beset upon by a disease called Daemonblight that transforms people into monsters that exist without a sense of rationality. Locked away on a prison island with nothing but demons to feed upon after a traumatic event, the newly transformed part demon, Velvet becomes so filled with rage and hatred that she but a shell of the girl you see in the beginning hour of Berseria.
Velvet may very well be the coldest characters that I’ve experienced in an RPG in a while especially from the “hero” of a franchise but somehow I was captivated by her plight and her at any-costs behavior given her situation. Even the companions that you will gain find her to be often overly harsh but the more you play you start to see some growth towards who she once was. Seriously though, she sets all the prisoners free during her prison breakout as a diversion, not caring at all for their fate just so she could escape to end the man that ruined her life.
The main villain on the opposite end of the conflict is easily one of my most hated characters in any media. Even when the entire world of Berseria (outside of Velvet’s menagerie) loves him I couldn’t help but to share Velvet’s hatred for him. This is perhaps one of Berseria’s greatest strengths as I felt that everyone could a find a connection on some level to the all of the different characters within its story.
Tales of Berseria is full of interesting characters that I love for different reasons though mostly because their own journeys while running parallel to Velvet’s quest have their own weight that comes to light throughout the story. You have Eleanor, a struggling with her faith exorcist girl who is having a hard time upholding the standards created by Velvet’s betrayer and seeing him for what he truly is capable of. Then you have Rokurou, the swordsman turned Daemon, who is always looking for the next fight though probably wouldn’t think twice about going through his friends to get his ultimate goal.
Somewhere in the middle you have the sarcastic and humorous comic relief mage Magilou, who often would rather poke fun at than engage in combat. Though when she does, look out; you really don’t want to piss her off. Rounding out the party are the magic based Malakhim Eizen and Laphicet who despite belong to the same race are the farther apart as individuals. Eizen is a knowledge heavy pirate who won’t let any man chain him down into servitude while Laphicet is learning what it is to be an individual after being in servitude to exorcists like Eleanor.
In a world against Velvet’s very existence, you will have no shortage of physical battles to fight in your way besides the emotional and philosophical ones. Tales of Berseria uses a refined version of the Tales’ signature Linear Motion Battle System (LMBS) to allow for a smoother combat experience. Players can navigate around the battlefield this time around with complete freedom which is enhanced by being able to freely rotate the camera around to focus on the action as needed. This is especially useful when fighting in enclosed locations like the prison in the game’s early hours.
What I really love about Tales of Berseria’s combat system is its fluidity. The PC version offers a smooth 60 frames per second which is awesome considering how Berseria largely focuses on melee based combat with only a few characters being ranged like Laphicet. Melee combat fits perfectly with the title’s theme of reason versus emotion though as there is nothing more emotional than striking out at those that seek to harm you. It was crazy easy to fall in love with this new version of the LMBS system to the point that I couldn’t wait for the next battle.
Tales of Berseria uses a new Soul Gauge system to dictate combat effectiveness and the use of attack abilities. Made up of five dots, the Soul Gauge determines the number of actions that any given character can use in battle be it melee or the series’ signature magic system known as Artes. Souls are gained by exploiting enemy weaknesses or evading attacks at just the right moment. They are however expended with each attack or if the character gets hit with an enemy attack, so players have to find that balance. With every victory you gain Experience that will award you with new attacks and Artes, as you level up.
What I really liked about Tales of Berseria was that I found that I never had a character that was left in the dust level wise like in some RPGs. This is largely thanks to the fact that despite only being allowed four active characters in a party at a time you can sway in one of your reserve characters by expending one level of a Blast Gauge. The Blast Gauge is filled by successfully attacking enemies with attack chains and will cap out at a set limit of charges. Swapping out characters is a great way to keep chains going and allows for soul exhausted characters a short reprieve. I ran into one or two character glitches in a few battles that rendered control of my character impossible, but otherwise it was a smooth experience both with a keyboard/mouse combo and a controller.
As in most RPGs, combat can be made a bit easier by utilizing weapons and gear to their fullest potential. Normally I’ve never been one to enjoy synthing, crafting or whatever any given RPG likes to call it; mainly because I usually end up finding something better than anything I can buy, upgrade or craft out in the field. Tales of Berseria is no exception when loot seems to drop left and right after every battle. The difference this time for me in deciding to mind upgrades was that you can master weapons and gear making each one stronger in some stat or another. On top of that various weapons gave you a boost to certain types of attacks like fire or more importantly extra damage to specific types of enemies like armored or monsters ones. It may seem like a lot to sort through all the gear you’ll find or considering to buy but it’s worth paying attention to what each one does or will be able to do.
Tales of Berseria also featured plenty of content to do and place to explore including gathering up little floating spirt orbs that can be used to open various Katz chests around the world. Each on contains a trapped Katz spirit (cute little cat creatures) that will often reward you for releasing them. Most of the time it’s an item of cosmetic fashion that you can equip to your party members like a pair of elf ears to make Velvet more demonic. These cosmetic changes actual show up on many of the CG cutscenes that you’ll see as well as in combat. There are even more that you can purchase as DLC via Steam for those that want to dress their characters in various looks beyond what the game has to offer.
While you don’t have to spend real money, there are other ways to get cosmetic item or actually useful items like healing gels or recipe items by completing many of Berseria’s mini-games. There is a fun restaurant mini-game where Laphicet takes orders and delivers the right items to the right people or combat ones where you have to destroy all the targets under the par time to advance to the next difficulty. These, of course are fun little offerings that break up the serious story, but I think they are a needed balance in this dark tale.
I even enjoyed the cooking and treasure hunting. While the important treasure unlock expedition skills for gaining more XP or certain items found the rest of the treasures can aid you personally like the cooking feature does. Cooking once you unlock the ability to do so can give you one time boosts if the right criteria is met in a battle. You can even set the game to autocook meals from found recipes after each fight as long as you have the required ingredients. You have to set who actually cooks the food and the same dish will have a different effect depending on who is chosen to cook it with is really cool.
One of my favorite things about Tales of Berseria is its story. It’s so different at its core than all the others even after you find out the grand design in the second half of the game. The main story elements are presented in a few ways this time around including the staple “skits” that the series is known for. It’s no secret that Tales games feature a ridiculous amount of reading in-between fighting, but as a lover of RPGs this is something I enjoy particularly in this franchise. All the trademark bits of humor and character conflicts are present here even with the darker tone set. The visual story is otherwise shown via the in-game engine or by some stunning animation by the Japanese studio, Ufotable, who has worked on previous Tales titles.
Graphically, it’s a very pretty game that features stunning character designs that range from fancifully silly like Magilou’s to the more stern trimmings of Eizen’s pirate attire. Then you have Velvet’s outfit and character design created by Tales alum Mutsumi Inomata. While it is the um…obviously less than protective outfit design in the game it’s tattered and pieced together look matches the internal and vocal mind state that Velvet is going through throughout the story. The environs that you venture through in Tales of Berseria fall into a reasonable range of spectacular to somewhat lacking given the scale of many of the places you visit. Seriously though that canal gateway and temple were HUGE the first time I laid eyes on them. There are moments though when the game just really pops like in the forest in the beginning to name one.
The strongest visuals and audio however can be seen during the special attacks and story skits and movies including the opening movie of Tales of Berseria. That theme song “Kazenouta” appropriately translated into the title “Burn” is by far my favorite of the series to date, as it contains both the fantasy melody of a Tales game as well as the raw burning energy that Velvet represents to the mix.
I’ve always been a Tales fan from the very first game I played and Tales of Berseria is no different. I love this title not just because it takes a different path than the heroically good character saving the world approach or its darker story, but because it features characters that I genuinely care about. Each character stands on their own with their own problems even if their reasons for joining Velvet are treacherous or noble or only to serve their own agendas. Add the fact that it has awesome visuals particularly in its story and a good score to go along with its fast paced combat makes Tales of Berseria awesome in my book. If you love the Tales series or are looking into it for the first time Tales of Berseria is definitely worth picking up today on PC.
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