Tales of Eternia Remastered Review Summary

Fully voiced skits and dialogue, quality-of-life upgrades, and a deep story with endearing characters shine, but AI upscaling artifacts, broken controller support, and poor UI fonts hold it back.

Fully voiced skits and dialogue: Skits are fully voiced with both original Japanese and new English dubs available, and dialogues are now present in previously silent scenes. The abundant voice acting builds character charm and immersion.

Abundant quality-of-life improvements: Numerous QOL features such as reducing or disabling random encounters, quest markers, improved UI, and convenience features make the experience more comfortable and modern. These optional tweaks preserve the original vision while adding accessibility.

Endearing characters and deep story: The characters are described as charismatic, endearing, and memorable, while the story is engaging, deep, and worth replaying. The worldbuilding with Inferia and Celestia is considered realistic and immersive.

Timeless masterpiece and classic: Many reviewers consider the game an instant masterpiece, one of the best 2D Tales games, and a peak of the PS1 era. It remains beloved decades later for its story, characters, and battle system.

Excellent remaster quality overall: Reviewers overwhelmingly praise the remaster as fantastic, solid, and well-executed, with new additions enhancing the experience. This is the most frequently mentioned positive theme across many clusters.

AI Upscaling Causes Visual Artifacts: Cutscenes and backgrounds processed with AI upscaling introduce distracting jitter and distortions. Notably, characters can appear with multiple faces, making scenes unplayable for some.

Broken Controller Support: Multiple issues with controller input are reported, including unresponsive buttons, movement sticking, and delayed menu navigation. Certain keyboards even cause continuous right input.

Poor UI and Font Design: The remaster's interface feels dated with bad fonts, large empty gaps, and awkward shortcut mappings. Some compare it to a low-quality mobile port.

Lazy Remaster and Cash Grab: Reviewers feel the remaster adds little beyond existing mod tools and consider it a lazy cash grab. They recommend using an archived modded version instead.

Missing Multiplayer and Co-op: The remaster completely removes the multiplayer and co-op features present in the original PS1 release. This includes the inability to give control to other characters or focus the camera on all players.

Modern remaster of classic JRPG: This is a remaster of Tales of Eternia based on the PSP version, bringing the PS1-era action JRPG to PC with updated graphics and modernized features. It preserves the original PlayStation-era charm while adding quality-of-life improvements.

Extensive quality-of-life boost options: The remaster includes many toggleable booster features such as 4x EXP, money multipliers, mastery boosts, encounter rate adjustments, and difficulty settings. These function like built-in cheat codes accessible from a Grade Shop-style menu.

Dynamic real-time LMBS combat: Combat uses a real-time hack-and-slash style Linear Motion Battle System with fast, smooth action that does not pause for magic animations. The system has evolved over the years with improvements while maintaining its fighting-game-like structure.

Optional quest markers and navigation: The remaster adds optional quest markers, waypoint icons, and guides showing where to go for main and side quests. These help players find missable items and navigate without removing exploration freedom.

Non-linear exploration and backtracking: The game features a wide exploration range with non-linear gameplay, maze-like areas, and backtracking. Hidden bosses, dungeons like Nereid, and elemental spirits encourage thorough exploration.

Character Unresponsive After Start: In some cases, the character refuses to move entirely even after the game has started. This is a critical bug that blocks all gameplay.

V-Sync Hurts Performance: Enabling V-sync causes noticeable slowdown, while disabling it restores smoother performance. This is a concrete setting-based issue that affects playability.

Left Stick Awkward Drift: The left stick feels clunky and causes the character to deviate, making precise control difficult. This is a specific input handling problem that degrades the gameplay experience.

Menu Navigation Severely Delayed: The main menu often only detects up and cancel commands from a controller, and even those respond with a significant delay. This makes menu interaction sluggish and error-prone.

Diagonal Movement Judders: Moving diagonally results in visible stuttering and uneven motion. This affects the smoothness of character control and can be disorienting during play.

Strong recommendation for Tales fans: Multiple clusters strongly recommend the game specifically for fans of the Tales of series. Buyers familiar with the franchise are the most enthusiastic audience.

Worth buying, especially on sale: Many clusters describe the game as absolutely worth it and recommend purchasing during a discount. The low price makes it an easy recommendation for curious players.

Recommended for classic JRPG fans: Reviewers recommend the game to players who enjoy PS1-era action JRPGs and classic non-linear JRPG design. It appeals to those seeking old-school flavor without turn-based combat.

Good entry for 2D Tales newcomers: Several reviewers suggest the game is a great way to experience what the Tales license offered before it moved to 3D. It works well for players who have never tried a 2D entry in the series.

Nostalgia drives high recommendations: Reviewers frequently recommend the game for longtime fans and those who played the original in the early 2000s. Nostalgia buyers are specifically encouraged to check it out.

Nostalgic Tales Series Veteran: Plays multiple entries thoroughly across platforms, replaying originals and comparing the remaster against the PS1/PSP versions. Motivation: Reliving nostalgia and supporting a faithful preservation of a cherished classic entry in the series. Stance: buy.

Modern-JRPG Curious Classic Discovery Player: Tries out a classic entry as a genre fan, comparing its feel to modern Tales games and contemporary action RPGs. Motivation: Discovering an older, influential action-JRPG they never had the chance to play. Stance: buy.

Quality-of-Life Customization Seeker: Uses difficulty, encounter-rate, and quest-marker toggles to tune challenge and avoid missing side content. Motivation: Tailoring the remaster's friction and presentation to their preferred comfort level. Stance: buy.

PSP-Based Remaster With Extras: The remaster is based on the Japanese and European PSP version of the game, which already used 16:9 widescreen while preserving original graphics. It adds new features over the original PSP release rather than being a full remake.

Official PC Port Now Exists: An official PC port of this old console game is now available on Steam. This finally brings the game to the PC platform for the first time.

Japanese And English Voices: Both Japanese and English voice options are included in the remaster. The English version was fully re-dubbed, and the new voices are better than the original compressed audio.

Visual And Audio Enhancements: The remaster features updated graphics, better UI, and 16:9 resolution support. Graphics can be switched between upscaled and original, and it correctly displays PS5 controller glyphs.

Substantial Content To Explore: The game offers plenty of content to explore, with quality-of-life improvements included while keeping the classic essence intact. Improved convenience features and XP gain updates enhance the experience.