Tales of Berseria Review

A Tale Worth Telling:

I’ve been a massive fan of the Tales Of series since the games started being localized over here – my 3DS is even signed by longtime series producer Hideo Baba – and despite the last couple of entries being decidedly average, I was still very excited for Berseria. With its darker tone and violent lead, even from a distance it’s looked like it would shake up the somewhat stagnating status quo, and this is exactly what Berseria achieves.

Story:

The opening of Berseria may play out like any traditional Tales game – go into the woods near your idyllic town and slay some level 1 creatures, only to discover tragedy upon your return – but within the first hour of gameplay this title ramps to a heartbreaking and bloody climax. The game’s lead, Velvet, has a fair few loved ones murdered by someone she trusted, and is thrown into an Alcatraz-style prison after being seemingly consumed by a world-ravaging disease. This Daemonblight, which causes her arm to shift into a dark monstrosity that can rip and tear pretty much anything apart, fuels her bloodthirsty need for revenge, and the game is centered almost entirely on that.

It’s an angst ridden tale, sometimes pushing a little too insistently to get its point across, but compared to what has come before Berseria is genuinely refreshing, interesting and actually quite sad. There are still plenty of upbeat moments and funny skits to keep the title from getting too harrowing, mostly thanks to a character who joins your party early on and never shuts up. There are some players and news outlets out there that will say Magilou is an annoying, pitchy character that will drive you not-so-slowly insane. I’m here to tell you that these individuals are liars and slanderous heathens, and that Magilou is one of the best characters of our time.

But still, even with Magilou doing her best to lift our collective spirits, this isn’t a happy game by any stretch – and that’s a good thing! In a series as long running as this one, its great to see something come along to really shake things up – even if it is the brutal deaths of loved ones.

Gameplay:

Tales of Berseria might be pushing series’ boundaries with its bloody tale for revenge, but its gameplay plays it safe, for the most part. Anyone who’s gotten waist deep in a Tales game before will know what to expect here – plenty of battles, level ups, grabbing new and better gear and slowly becoming enough of a powerhouse team to finally take down the big bad. What’s different with Berseria, as with most Tales’ games, is its combat.

The battle system was initially very jarring. I’ve played pretty much every mothership Tales title, and whilst their foundations are often similar, the devs love mixing the fight mechanics up with each and every iteration. It’s at once a heartening and heartbreaking move: Tales’ battle systems are always shifting, so just when you really click with one fantastic iteration – Destiny r or Graces f, for instance, are a couple of my favourites – you have to learn a new system when the next title arrives.

The basics are the same: upon initiating a battle by walking into an enemy avatar in a dungeon, the game quickly creates a 3D battleground for you to duke it out in. The transitions in and out of battle here are the series’ most seamless, and definitely helped in making dungeoneering more immersive. You can run around freely in these arenas, lock onto different enemies, and carry out complex combos to destroy them. The unique twist is Berseria’s ‘soul’ system.

It took me a couple of hours to click with Berseria’s ebb and flow, where you gamble with precious stamina with every new gambit. Fluff a combo or get hit with a nasty status ailment, and the enemies can gain control of your Souls – which dictate how many actions you can string together consecutively. But, should you dispatch an enemy or time your dodges perfectly, you can gain control of their stamina, allowing you to chain ridiculous combos together and leave foes reeling.

At the heart of this give and take is the games beast mode, which sees you betting your Souls unlocking a particularly devestating combo string, allowing for some incredible screen-clearing moves. Should you succeed in such a gamble, you can win your Souls back instantly whilst also gaining buffs that vary from foe to foe, but if you muck it up you can quickly find yourself with very few tools at your disposal. It’s a fun system that keeps fights with trash mobs enjoyable, experimental and best of all, fast, whilst piling on the pressure for bigger brawls.