Tales of Berseria™ Review Summary

Dark and unique story: The narrative is praised for its dark tone, unique perspective, and emotionally impactful storytelling. Players find the story compelling and different from typical saving-the-world narratives, with morally complex characters and a mature theme.

Rich content and customization: The game offers a vast amount of content, including a large world to explore, numerous side activities, and extensive customization options for characters and equipment. Players appreciate the variety of activities and the depth of customization available.

Engaging characters and interactions: The game features a diverse and well-developed cast of characters with engaging interactions and relationships. Players enjoy the character dynamics, dialogues, and the emotional depth of the characters.

Positive overall experience: Players generally have a positive experience with the game, finding it enjoyable and worth the time investment. The combination of story, characters, combat, and presentation elements makes it a highly recommended title.

Fast and fluid combat: The combat system is noted for being fast-paced, fluid, and enjoyable. Players appreciate the dynamic and satisfying combat mechanics, which are easy to learn but offer depth and tactical elements.

Repetitive gameplay: Gameplay is often described as repetitive and tedious, with excessive backtracking, grinding, and monotonous tasks that make the game feel dull.

Poor story and pacing: The story is described as boring, predictable, and poorly paced. It fails to engage players and is often criticized for being too long or convoluted.

Dungeon design issues: Dungeons are often criticized for being bland, repetitive, and poorly designed. They are described as maze-like, overly large, and tedious to navigate.

Combat system flaws: The combat system is criticized for being repetitive, confusing, and overly complex. Players report that it often devolves into mindless button mashing and lacks depth or challenge.

Technical and performance issues: The game suffers from various technical issues, including bugs, crashes, and performance drops. These issues detract from the overall gaming experience.

Complex combat system: The game features a deep and intricate combat system with various mechanics such as combo chains, elemental weaknesses, and a stamina system tied to the Soul Gauge. Players can customize their combat experience with programmable combos and different skill sets.

Open world and exploration: The game offers an open world with various locations to explore, including dungeons and side quests. However, some areas can feel bland and repetitive, and the map navigation can be tedious.

Repetitive gameplay elements: Some aspects of the gameplay can feel repetitive, such as combat encounters and map navigation. The game also features a significant amount of grinding and farming, which may not appeal to all players.

Character development and interactions: The game emphasizes character development through interactions, skits, and optional dialogues. Characters have distinct personalities and backstories, which are explored through the narrative and gameplay.

Visuals and animations: The game features anime-style visuals and animations, with high resolution support. The scene art is simplistic, but the game includes various visual effects and animations for combat and storytelling.

Graphics quality varies: Opinions on the game's graphics are mixed. Some players find the graphics modern and smooth, while others consider them outdated or average. There are also reports of graphics looking ugly at times.

Mixed performance and optimization: The game has a mix of positive and negative feedback regarding its performance and optimization. Some players report smooth gameplay and good optimization, while others experience bugs, crashes, and FPS drops.

Game fails to open: Some players have experienced issues with the game not opening at all, despite indications that it has launched.

Frame rate drops: There are reports of frame rate drops in certain areas of the game, affecting the overall smoothness of gameplay.

Mods needed for stability: Some players report that mods are required to achieve stable performance in the game.

Recommended for JRPG fans: The game is highly recommended for fans of JRPGs, anime, and those who enjoy revenge stories. It is considered a must-play for JRPG enthusiasts.

Mixed recommendations on purchase: Players have varying opinions on whether the game is worth buying. Some recommend waiting for the remastered version or buying it on sale, while others suggest it is worth playing for its story and characters.

Purchase on sale: Many players recommend buying the game during sales events for better value.

Story and character strengths: The game is praised for its strong story, emotional depth, and character development. It is recommended for those who value a good narrative and character interactions.

Connection with Tales of Zestiria: Players suggest playing Tales of Zestiria first due to story connections, which can enhance the experience of both games.

Steam Deck: The game runs exceptionally well on the Steam Deck, providing a seamless experience for most users. However, there are some issues with controller support and the combat system, which can be complex and difficult to manage. Despite these issues, the game is praised for its performance and story.

Monetization: The analysis of user reviews reveals significant concerns regarding the monetization strategies employed in the game. Key issues include the focus on selling cosmetic DLC and the pricing strategy for remastered versions. While the game offers free unlockable costumes and accessories, the most appealing cosmetic items are often locked behind paid DLC, which has been a point of contention among users. Additionally, the pricing of remastered versions and the inclusion of DLC content have been criticized, suggesting a need for a more transparent and fair pricing model.

External guides: The primary issues highlighted by users are related to navigation and bugs, which significantly disrupt the gameplay experience. Additionally, the battle system and other mechanics are poorly explained, leading to frustration among users who prefer more guidance.

Edit compatibility on Steam Deck: Players have reported issues with edit compatibility specifically on the Steam Deck platform.

Playing with friends over Parsec: Some players shared their personal experiences playing the game with friends using Parsec, indicating it as a notable feature or aspect of their gameplay.