Board 8 > It's 2017 and I have a new Tales game [Berseria playthrough?] [spoilers as I go]

(+) Yeah! (+)

Who'd have thought?

Well let me just start off by saying there are no guarantees I finish this topic or even the game. Hoping doing this will motivate me but I guess we'll see. Also having a place to post reactions and stuff is good.

But yeah I'm not really sure how I'll react to a new Tales game now or whether not I'll have any desire to follow through with this. I'm reasonably confident that I wouldn't like even the good Tales games (Abyss, Symphonia, Vesperia) nearly as much if I played them today, and I've heard mostly lackluster things about the series since that point. This entry was the exception which I guess this board spoke highly of, which is why I decided to play this one. I would not say my expectations are super high, but I wouldn't say they're low either. So anyways I guess I'll just get started then. Loading up the game as soon as I finish this post.

Yes I know this and Zestiria are connected. My understanding is that it won't matter too much if I don't play that first, but someone correct me if that's wrong.

Also please post once if you're interested in following along. I don't actually know how many people on this board have played the game, and if it's only like 2 or something I probably won't bother with this.
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Thoughts on the OP

-This is not as good as Ring a Bell, so this game's already on strike 1.

-These character designs are pretty good though.

-Is this a female protagonist? I didn't know anything about the game going in, so I wasn't expecting that. The game now has my attention. Strike 1 begrudgingly removed.
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Tag

Best Tales game in a long time, and that's coming from someone who even thinks the recent ones besides Zestiria have been pretty great.
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That feeling when a character seemingly dies in the first two hours of the game but then there's a non-hidden trophy for him learning 50 combat skills.
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Well a lot has happened, sort of.

So as is the JRPG standard, I load up the game and we start out living in a peaceful countryside village on the eve of a grand adventure. And by that I actually mean "the sky has been stained with the crimson color of blood and 2 children are running away from a horde of their village-mates that have turned into demon wolves." So uh yeah that was a thing. Very pleasant and happy way to start us off. My first thought here is that Arthur is creepy as all hell, an impression validated a bit later on when he murders his student and her brother in cold blood for the sake of power and glory. So that's another thing that happened.

In between those events there's a 7 year time-skip and some events in an actually (temporarily) peaceful village, but nothing too important other than general worldbuilding and what I said above. I guess it's also important to establish the relationship between Velvet and...uhh...whatever the brother's name was.

Anyways after this there's another 3 year time skip, and it looks like Velvet (with new demon powers in tow) and her current partner-in-crime Seres are in full-on angry mode for what is now the foreseeable future. We're currently escaping from a prison, which is where I left off for now. Not before running into Magilou once, however, who is currently the primary contender for best character in this game.

General thoughts so far:

--Despite the tongue-in-cheek way I talked about it above, I am definitely enjoying the game so far overall, though I'm not sure how much that means since I'm not really to the "opening-up" point of the game yet. Interesting world and story though, and the characters seem reasonably good.

--One thing I am worried about though is how well Velvet will work as a protagonist. Revenge is a good motivator and all, but it seems she might be taking it too far for a main character. Like for example I don't want her shouting "YES I WILL USE ANY TOOL AT MY DISPOSAL TO AID IN MY REVENGE AGAINST ARTHUR" when she's ordering some Apple Gels from the store or something. There's every likelihood she cools down when the story really starts, but I'll be nervous until that actually happens.

--This battle system has gone through probably a few revisions since Tales of Vesperia. Seems like I'm already starting to pick it up though maybe? So that's a good sign I guess. It's still fun regardless--I'm just not used to everything being an arte or this emphasis on chains.

--Oh and if anyone is wondering I'm playing with English voices and on Moderate difficulty.
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Magilou is indeed the best character in the game. Good taste.
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Best Tales game, Velvet best Tales character
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Burn such a good song

KamikazePotato posted...

Best Tales game, Velvet best Tales character

also this
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Magilou and Velvet is the best Tales character
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I will use any tool at my disposal to get more people to read this topic.

Ok maybe not, but I will bump it in the morning/afternoon at least.

Magilou still the best in case anyone was wondering.
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So now we're running into the same problem I had with the first playthrough topic I did. On the occasions when I actually have open weekends, I end up having pretty long gaming sessions. But then I never know how to update the topic because no matter what I do I'm either leaving out important things or going the other way and making the update way too long.

In any case I've played a lot today. There might be an update coming later tonight, or maybe not if I still can't figure out how to write it. (There will be an update eventually though)

I do like that we're pretty much playing the villains in this game though it feels like. I've always wanted an RPG to do that, and there's some that have toyed around with it at least, but I don't think I've played any that's gone as far as this.
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Velvet is fantastic, as is Magilou. Even this misses in this game are in a state of neutrality.

pyresword posted...

-This is not as good as Ring a Bell, so this game's already on strike 1.

This isn't fair. I bought a 360 because of Ring a Bell.

The OST in general is the only real weak aspect of Berseria other than a couple of tracks. If you love a song that's probably because it actually came from Zestiria.
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Well Velvet's Theme is great at least. I already knew that because I either supported or almost supported it in the lst VGMC, but it works well in context also!

Haven't really heard anything else of note yet, though maybe that's to be expected at this early stage.
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Well yeah so there was no update last night obviously. I did however make it to a sensible stopping point, so I will update when I get home today before continuing. It'll probably be a long one though, so sorry if anyone doesn't like walls of text. The abridged version will look something like this.

-This game good though.

-I played for like 6-8 hours or something and am now in Midgand.

-Velvet actually the best thing ever. Already possibly second only to Yuri Lowell and Estelle Bright on my list of favorite RPG protagonists. (And those are both candidates for best fictional character ever imo, so that's not saying much against Velvet.)
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pyresword posted...

So as is the JRPG standard, I load up the game and we start out living in a peaceful countryside village on the eve of a grand adventure. And by that I actually mean "the sky has been stained with the crimson color of blood and 2 children are running away from a horde of their village-mates that have turned into demon wolves."

yesss

great intro, great game
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Ughhh. Dealing with shit at work is not fun. Anyways update incoming. Most of what I want to put here is general reactions to the game as a whole, but I'll provide a brief summary of events leading up to the point I'm at.

Obviously we finish up the prison escape which I was in the middle of last time. At the end of this Seres dies protecting Velvet in what was actually a pretty cool scene, but we then pick up Magilou and Sword Guy (whose name escapes me) so that we have a group again. Unfortunately after sailing away we crash-land in some ice/snow field, where a malak who looks like Laphicet (by pure happenstance, I'm sure!) leads us through a secret passage into the city. After some stuff with the sailor's guild and a rogue demon, we realize we're having trouble getting a ship off the continent. So of course our party goes with the completely reasonable plan of burning the entire fucking port to the ground so that we can make our escape. Oh and when we're leaving Velvet also beats up on yandere-sister-praetor (another character whose name escapes me) and then kidnaps Laphicet/Malak #2 for good measure. Man it feels good to be the main characters!

Afterwards we fall in with some pirates. After teaming up with Eizen we raid some military fortress so we both can sail through to Midgand. To nobody's surprise we are successful, but there's also some good development between Velvet/New Laphicet, and Sword Guy learns someone he's looking for is also in the capital. And then we arrive in Midgand which is where I'm up to now.

I have a lot of comments to make, so maybe I'll just make a second post for those.
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Other comments:

--So Velvet is like, really good. She puts out this super gruff exterior and claims that all she cares about is revenge. But then at the same time she does things like almost starting to cry when she realizes she can't taste food anymore, and then that reluctantly gentle aura she gets whenever she interacts with New-Laphicet, and probably other stuff I'm forgetting right at this moment. But yeah, it's fantastic. It's less like revenge is actually all she cares about and it's more like that's all she's willing to let herself to care about, if that makes sense. I am all about stories about emotional healing which is where it looks like this character arc is going? There's other possibilities I suppose, but this is the one I'm hoping for at least.

--Right now this story has this really weird dichotomy going on. I've already said I liked playing as what are basically the villains of the story (up to this point at least, doubt it stays that way) was pretty cool, but the introduction of Laphicet adds a whole other side to this. It's weird because the party is doing some pretty bad things but has also more or less rescued Laphicet and started raising him themselves (but are also exposing him to all this bloodshed and probably encouraging it). I don't really know what to make of this right now or even if the story will touch on this aspect at all, but it's interesting regardless.

--Speaking of Laphicet, can someone clear something up for me? My understanding is this is a Malak who looks like Laphicet, but that they're not the same person. Is that correct at least according to what the story has told us so far? Also since I would actually prefer to be spoiled on this point, does it later turn out that they are the same person in any sense? (Perhaps a reincarnation, or something created in the likeness of Laphicet?) Just a simple yes or no is all I'm looking for, and also I guess spoiler tag the response just in case anyone who hasn't finished is following along.

--For a few reasons I think it's very likely there's something else going on here. My money is on the malakhim plotting something behind everyone's back. And while I don't have any hard evidence to back that up, I do have nearly 15 years of experience with JRPG stories and also many pieces of circumstantial evidence. (Which are all individually weak but form a pretty convincing picture in my head when combined) Basically though there have been a number of times when something has seemed weird or unexpected to all parties involved, and each time you can point to a malakhim who was acting as a sort of wild card during that scene. And this has happened many times with multiple different malakhim throughout the story thus far. The whole thing reeks of conspiracy.

--I also wanted to talk about the battle system, but I guess I'll defer that to the next update. I doubt my comments will change much, and I've already typed enough here. I will say though that I do rather like it right now, though I guess that's to be expected of a Tales game.
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Just a simple yes or no is all I'm looking for, and also I guess spoiler tag the response just in case anyone who hasn't finished is following along.

Laphicet 2.0 is not the original Laphicet, nor is he a reincarnation of the original Laphicet. They are entirely seperate characters.
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KamikazePotato posted...

Just a simple yes or no is all I'm looking for, and also I guess spoiler tag the response just in case anyone who hasn't finished is following along.

Laphicet 2.0 is not the original Laphicet, nor is he a reincarnation of the original Laphicet. They are entirely seperate characters.

Ok thank you. That isn't what I would have guessed actually, but it does significantly change how I interpret his interactions with Velvet which is why I wanted to know now.

It is actually probably better that way also, so that's nice.
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Yeah, I agree that it's better this way. I had the same worries as you actually.
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Glad you're enjoying. Probably the most consistently really good story/development of every Tales game (even the other big ones had plenty of slow/filler/forgettable moments)
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Glad you're enjoying it so far. Pleasantly surprised you already like Velvet so much. She actually took a while to grow on me.
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Tagging. Are you sticking with Velvet for combat or have you tried the others?
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I have only used Velvet and it will likely stay that way unless I find that Velvet gets stale.

Even in general for games like this I generally stick with the default character (the exception being Xenoblade because jesus is Shulk boring). With Tales in particular I have tried controlling non-main characters on second playthroughs and have unanimously not been a fan of them, so I think it's unlikely that I will try here.

(Again unless Velvet becomes boring or I find someone else whose style really appeals to me, neither of which have happened yet.)
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Bump.

Played a bit yesterday, but tonight I probably won't have much time to play or update.
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Ok so I did end up playing some yesterday so I guess I'll update now.

So last time we had just landed in a port city on Midgand, and so obviously now we make our way to the capital. This happens without incident until reaching the gate of Loegres, but thankfully we make it through thanks to some quick thinking and Velvet doing a truly bang up job on her dove impression. We then learn that there's some celebration going on and that Artorius is about to give some speech and that we should go. Of course, I take the responsible RPG gamer's approach and immediately comb the entire city for secret treasure and talk to every possible living individual in the city, after which I arrive just in the knick of time to witness this speech. Turns out Velvet is pretty pissed on account of the fact that everyone treats Artorius as a savior, despite the fact that HE MURDERED LAPHICET. (Or possibly on account of her not wanting to admit that Artorius really is a savior, but I digress.) In any case Laphicet is able to calm her down, and they then find a shadow guild run by a completely terrifying old woman from whom they can get more information.

She sends us on some quests which I don't have much to say on beyond them all being related to a church plot to distribute/sell Nectar. Oh and at some point we run into future-party-member Eleanor (spoiled on account of the fact that she is with them in the OP and also I have looked at the trophies), who also has the cutest malak ever which is evidently the betrayer whom Magilou has been looking for? If this were not a JRPG I would call this an interesting coincidence, but I of course know that there is no such thing in a JRPG. Not sure what to make of it yet but I guess I'll find out. Anyways so yeah we did those quests, and our next task is to assassinate the priest responsible for this Nectar stuff, but that's where I'll have to leave off for now.

Other thoughts:

--I don't really have any specific scene to point to, but I love the way the party dynamic has been building up. (Because the primary avenue is through the skits, none of which are particularly memorable if viewed isolation) But, it's like the party is filled with completely terrible and/or emotionally broken individuals, but we've still got this neat "band-of-brothers" dynamic going despite that which I think is really cool. I guess the most concrete example I can point to is Rokurou and Eizen sharing a drink at the bar, or any of the Rokurou/Laphicet skits. Whatever it is though I really like it.

--Velvet/Laphicet scenes continue to be fantastic.

--Eleanor cannot join the party soon enough as far as I'm concerned.

--Last time I was going to make a post about gameplay and how I didn't feel I'd quite gotten the hang of it, but uh let's just say I think I've gotten the hang of it now. At least I have based on the fact that I am playing on an increased difficulty setting already and still completely eviscerated even the optional fiend monsters or whatever they were called. The system seems complex at first, but honestly as of now I think you can pretty much just win by button mash. The trick is just timing when you want to enter into button mash/faceroll mode so that you don't end up burning yourself out. (And also press L2 just before exiting button mash mode.) I do really like the battle system though actually as is expected from a Tales game. Maybe my only complaint is that I wish it didn't have quite so much focus on exploiting weaknesses?
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Bump.

Hopefully tomorrow.
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--Velvet/Laphicet scenes continue to be fantastic.

Yup they are. Game did a real good job with those bits.

--I don't really have any specific scene to point to, but I love the way the party dynamic has been building up.

This is worth noting too - Berseria does gradual development very, very well. The way everyone comes together feels very natural and less...RPG-y than other games.
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pyresword posted...

With Tales in particular I have tried controlling non-main characters on second playthroughs and have unanimously not been a fan of them, so I think it's unlikely that I will try here.

Don't want to twist your arm but I'll at least say that the non-main characters are IMO by far at their best gameplay-wise in Berseria. Velvet isn't even my favorite to control and a couple of them actually beat out some main Tales characters in relative fun factor for me.
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Well, I did end up trying Rokurou and didn't really like him much. I coincidentally used a bit of Eizen a few times as a result of the Switch mechanic and hated it. I have absolutely zero interest in Laphicet and Magilou because lol controlling casters in this series. (unless someone tells me Magilou has like really good magic-based melee arts or something) But basically that just leaves Eleanor then who should be joining pretty quickly, but we'll see. I guess unless there is a 7th party member, but I don't remember anyone else from the trophies and the tutorials have implied the party is capping at 6.

Yes if you can't tell I am farther than my last update. I was playing yesterday but was too tired to post here when my session ended (when I bumped it instead).
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Velvet was the only character I enjoyed playing

though by the last dungeon I was still getting a bit tired of battling though that's because I generally don't enjoy Tales battle systems so it was a marvel it took that long to start grating on me
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I like playing with Eleanor and Magilou. I didn't like the restriction on Eizen's Break Soul
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Eizen > Rokurou > Velvet > Eleanor > Magilou > Laphicet in fun factor IMO.

Top four are all among my favorite Tales characters to play as, they're so well put together.

Eizen's break soul isn't even restrictive considering he stuns like a god damn maniac. Snipe charge -> Coercion will net a stun more often than not.
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Another minor reason to play as someone else at least a few times is that there are some great post battle mini skits that involve 4 party members other than Velvet.
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Welp, just got home now. Had an interesting night playing Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. with people who have basically never touched a video game controller in their lives >.>

Anyways though I should update this topic up to where I was yesterday so that I don't get super behind. At the end of the last update it was time to assassinate High priest Gideon, and so we set out to do just that. After making our way through the obligatory JRPG sewer level, we arrive in the castle and make our way to the room where Gideon is performing...some ritual other. Unfortunately, it turns out it's a trap, and Eleanor is there waiting for us. Not that it matters as we make quick work of her, also in the process gaining Magilou as a full time party member and the most adorable malakhim of all time. Then we chase Gideon underground where he dies at the hands a giant fucking eagle, which confuses Eleanor because obviously the Abbey can do no wrong ever.

In exchange for all this, we learn from the guild that Arotorius is performing some ritual at a huge temple to the north, and this where things delve into full-on JRPG weirdness. With the help of a pendulum wielding malak who I'm sure will be important again later, we break through the barrier and go to confront Artorius at this temple. Unfortunately, it turns out it's a trap, and everyone is there waiting for us. Not that it matters, as Artorius is the standard JRPG unwinnable boss fight, and he quickly mops the floor with us. And then the weird shit happens. I guess the way I'm supposed to interpret this is that Laphicet is some kind of "chosen one" figure--he somehow breaks free of the spell which his old master was controlling him with, and then he...has...some kind of resonance?..with Innominat? I don't really know, but there's a bunch of shining lights and then somehow a literal hole in the fabric of space-time opens up, and the party and Eleanor escape through there. At first it seems like they're trapped since Laphicet is dying, but eventually Eleanor makes a pact with Laphicet (who is ridiculously strong evidently), which saves him so that he can get them all back out. And we wake up in some sanctuary-looking place, which I'm sure is like continents away from where we were before. We've got to find Eleanor and Laphicet, but this is where the session ended for the night.

Other comments:
--Melchior seems like kind of a boss. (figuratively I mean, though also probably literally)

--I am liking Artorius here. The "champion of rationality" is a type of antagonist/villain that's really easy to do poorly I've found. In a lot of cases the character just kind of talks like that but is clearly just using it as an excuse, which often doesn't work for me, but Artorius has done a good job actually owning up to the archetype, if that makes sense. Also I'm still not 100% sure if Artorius should really be considered a villain. My money's on him pretty clearly being one by the end of the game, but as of right now the Abbey still feels like the good guys honestly. (Really the only "good" characters are Eleanor and Laphicet I feel like, but whatever.)

--I realize he's dying and all, but the scene of Velvet cradling Laphicet in her arms and trying to carry him to safety really warms my heart. She can use her hands for something other than killing after all!

--Not really anything else here. Most general comments I've made before still apply, and the game continues to be great.
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Ok so I've been using Eleanor some since her artes looked decent. I actually do like her somewhat. Not sure if I like controlling her more than Velvet, but I'll probably end up using both.
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this game so good

good opinions so far. ring a bell is the only op that's better.

colliding posted...

this game so good

good opinions so far. ring a bell is the only op that's better.

Karma
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NBIceman posted...

colliding posted...

this game so good

good opinions so far. ring a bell is the only op that's better.

Karma

Ok I was going to say something about this, but then I looked it up and just now learned there is a Japanese version that actually has vocals. This is so much better why the fuck didn't the English version use this?

Still not on the level of Ring a Bell, but still. Not much is.
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Would definitely suggest switching off of Velvet if you want a more interesting, challenging battle experience. She's a walking cheat code as you can easily get into a loop where it becomes almost impossible to die since you keep cycling Break Souls to heal when you get low while you pummel enemies. On the flip side, it might be so fun to just demolish things as her you'll find it difficult TO switch off of Velvet. I definitely ran into that problem.
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pyresword posted...

NBIceman posted...

colliding posted...

this game so good

good opinions so far. ring a bell is the only op that's better.

Karma

Ok I was going to say something about this, but then I looked it up and just now learned there is a Japanese version that actually has vocals. This is so much better why the fuck didn't the English version use this?

Still not on the level of Ring a Bell, but still. Not much is.

Nah, Karma > Ring a Bell too.
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Ok I guess time for another update. Don't really have a lot to say about this part though, since in a lot of ways we're in recovery mode after the stuff that just happened with Artorius and such. Honestly most of the appeal is in the party interaction through the skits, but it's hard for me to really find anything specific to say about those.

Anyways we make our way through the ruin and find Eleanor and Laphicet. Eleanor loses her duel of honor with Velvet. She tries (and fails) to commit suicide, but then gains renewed purpose when she receives a secret mission from Artorius. ...which turns out to not be so secret because Velvet and Eizen are listening in. lmao.

So after gaining our bearings we make our way through what we now know to be Islegand. Eventually we run into Shigure who I guess is more of a lone wolf than an agent of the Abbey. For a nice change of pace this means Rokurou gets a nice arc where he channels his inner Spike Spiegel for a bit. However even after powering up from the new weapons made by Kurogane and nearly killing himself in the process, it doesn't matter and Shigure just walks away from us laughing.

So then we finally make it off the island and are on our way to investigate the book Laphicet picked up from the Abbey, until shockingly the entire ship comes down with a case of plot-sickness, also knows here as Corsair's Scourge. So now we've gotta go find some flower or something.

Other comments:
--Eleanor came in to shake up the group dynamic at a really good time. She obviously hates everyone (right now), but there's also seems to have this cognitive dissonance where she can't reconcile her image of them has terrible evil demons with their relatively normal and friendly interactions amongst each other. Not much has happened yet but I expect many strides to be made here in the future.

--Not gonna lie, Bienfu is rapidly ascending to the status of god-tier comic relief character. The skits where he and Laphicet talk about female exorcists (I'll just leave it at that...) are some of the funniest things I can ever remember seeing from a JRPG. Also from the same skit--"Diary of a Diary Thief" is one of the best book titles I've ever seen and my god do I want to read it. (There are plenty of other examples of Bienfu's greatness, but this was probably the most notable.)

--Anyone using Eleanor without the Noise-Cancelling Headphones+Sunglasses combo for her outfit is doing it wrong, tbh.
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Attachments no thanks
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Attachments are king. I played the whole game with Eizen in a cheap Albert Wesker cosplay.

Also Ring a Bell is #1. Even with Abyss being my #2 or 3 game ever I still gotta give it to Ring a Bell. English version at least.
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I actually love attachments. I have some on all of my characters, though they're all more modest than the Eleanor one. Top Hat Velvet is another one that looks pretty cool.
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Also you can do some...uh...interesting things with that feature.

Swimsuit+Water Normin Hat Rokurou with the Inu Tail and Rose Corsage attachments might be one of the most horrifying abominations I've ever seen. (No I am not actually using that during the game)
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I put velvet in the alice attachments and never looked back
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I don't like attachments (I think they ruin any semi-serious cutscene) but to each their own.
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Eventually you get used to them, as long as they aren't too silly. The characters start to look stranger without aviators than with them...
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I can attest that eventually Eizen was unrecognizable without sunglasses and his hair set to hat style.
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