Board 8 > Tales of Zestiria first playthrough. No spoilers, please.

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm about 5 or 6 hours into it and oh my word the menus/tips/equipment skills/breadth of tactical choices is overwhelming! I looked at my stats page and I have spent 24 minutes in battle compared to 1 hour 30 minutes in menus. Lol.

I kept waiting to reach a good grinding spot so I could just chill for a while and get really comfortable with all my battle techniques, but I am constantly being told new things after every single battle, and on top of that, enemy density is pretty low so grinding is a little more tedious than I feel like it needs to be.

How long does it take to get out of what feels like constant tutorial mode? I just finished the first trip to galahad ruins so I have Alisha in the party and Mikleo is back.

Gameplay aside, I dig the rock-esque aspects to the music. Like the scene that plays on the title screen if you don't press anything. Love it. I actually laughed the first time I heard it because it was so unexpected for the genre but then I was like, actually yeah I'll take more of that, please.

The initial setup of the story felt very rushed. Like, meet boy, meet girl, leave home, become legend, become god-like, now GO FORTH! All happened quickly. I'm OK with it for now, with the hope that such dramatic advancements won't feel so glossed over moving forward. I mean the narrator does tell you "this is the story of the shepherd" so you know it's coming. That's why I don't mind so much that that part is rushed.

Any general battle tips? I started out with it on Moderate difficulty, and so far it's just been a big ol' "mash circle" fest with little to no challenge. Part of me wants to crank it up another notch but at the same time I still feel like I haven't had a free second to feel out the battle system without new mechanics being introduced.

Ok and, equipment fusion? Is there a method to the madness? The skill grid thing is confusing at first. In the early stages, is trying to go for optimal skill combinations worth it compared to just equipping items with higher stats? Is there any reason not to mindlessly fuse everything you find with the same name?

Is grade ever worth anything in this game?

I probably have more questions than are coming to mind right now. Definitely enjoying the game as a whole to this point. It's just....mega front loaded with information. Wow.

Spoilers you've made a mistake.

As a real answer to your questions...honestly I've tried to blank most of Zesteria out, even the early parts that I like. I remember having big problems with the weapon skill stuff early on, and it just kind of working itself out. Grade is just a New Game+ thing, so in the sense that you will never want to play this game again after beating it, no it doesn't matter.

....Yeah the music is very good!

Don't overthink the mechanics. If you completely wrap your mind around them - which takes a long time even for series vets - all you learn is that you have relatively little control over anything until post game and the systems are largely nonsensical and half-baked. Just take things as they come and don't even try to play the game optimally, assuming you had any interest in doing so.

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Yeah just try to avoid the weapon fusing and nonsense grade stuff, theres basically no point. The game is not nearly as bad as everyone makes it out to be on this board.

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I loved this game

I'm about 5 or 6 hours into it and oh my word the menus/tips/equipment skills/breadth of tactical choices is overwhelming! I looked at my stats page and I have spent 24 minutes in battle compared to 1 hour 30 minutes in menus. Lol.

Most of it is never needed, I powered thru the game just auto doing whatever on the grid

I kept waiting to reach a good grinding spot so I could just chill for a while and get really comfortable with all my battle techniques, but I am constantly being told new things after every single battle, and on top of that, enemy density is pretty low so grinding is a little more tedious than I feel like it needs to be.

You likely wont find this, the games not meant for this really until the 2nd half of the game

How long does it take to get out of what feels like constant tutorial mode? I just finished the first trip to galahad ruins so I have Alisha in the party and Mikleo is back.

Your very much in the intro, it will cold hard stop until the 50% mark then hit you with a bunch of game changers

The initial setup of the story felt very rushed. Like, meet boy, meet girl, leave home, become legend, become god-like, now GO FORTH! All happened quickly. I'm OK with it for now, with the hope that such dramatic advancements won't feel so glossed over moving forward. I mean the narrator does tell you "this is the story of the shepherd" so you know it's coming. That's why I don't mind so much that that part is rushed.

Generic comment that the story of this game weirdly doesn't matter much. Its very much about the personal journeys and their inter personal relationships. Each character has their own arc but the overall arc? doesnt matter a lot

Any general battle tips? I started out with it on Moderate difficulty, and so far it's just been a big ol' "mash circle" fest with little to no challenge. Part of me wants to crank it up another notch but at the same time I still feel like I haven't had a free second to feel out the battle system without new mechanics being introduced.

Wont really get hard til 75% mark then end game content. Some of the endgame stuff is outright brutal

Ok and, equipment fusion? Is there a method to the madness? The skill grid thing is confusing at first. In the early stages, is trying to go for optimal skill combinations worth it compared to just equipping items with higher stats? Is there any reason not to mindlessly fuse everything you find with the same name?

Barely matters

Is grade ever worth anything in this game?

A little. You will need a certain amount in each area for quality of life. for now dont worry


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I really appreciate the comments!

I mean listen, Zesteria is a bottom tier Tales game, but in the world of 2010's jRPGs you could certainly do worse.

It's one of the games I HATE the most and makes me very angry, but in no world is it one of the worst games or even modern jRPGs! It's like...a 6 or 7?

Zesty's the worst Tales game I've played but it's worth checking out before playing Berseria, because I imagine going from the superior combat of Berseria to the boring combat of Zesty is impossible.

The cast and music are pretty great though.

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Rising Up is one of the best all time Tales tracks! Almost worth it to get to that moment alone, even if the actual context of the fight is unbelievably empty.

Agreed that the absolute best thing about playing Zestiria is that you can play a more context-rich Berseria afterward, and Berseria is god damn fantastic.

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I played those games backwards!

Unpleasant, though completely unrelated to my issues with Zesty.

at least what'sherface has a nice butt you can stare at as you run on the field

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I just lol'd when father breunor took the lady's money and said he was gonna go buy a drink

Seraph named Uno, language checks for saying "friggin", second appearance of the mysterious random dude eavesdropping after something pivotal happens.

Oh yeah this is cheesy.

Just looked at the trophies and realized the difficulty goes all the way up past hard to Intense and then Chaos. That explains a lot. Doubt I'll be so compelled to ever do that but I bet it is a pretty rewarding experience.

turbopuns3 posted...

Just looked at the trophies and realized the difficulty goes all the way up past hard to Intense and then Chaos. That explains a lot. Doubt I'll be so compelled to ever do that but I bet it is a pretty rewarding experience.

I beat the game, did all the extra bonus dungeon stuff (shockingly hard), and did all the collecting. But I had 0 urge to level every area, replay the game 1-2 times more and do a bunch of the awful grid stuff. Shame cause I liked the game a lot but that list is oof

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the dlc btw is not worth buying but its worth a youtube watch if that makes sense.

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I am currently playing this and I have to agree that I don't like it. BUT everyone says Berseria which is a prequel is really great so I guess I have to go on with this one. Guess I shall put it into Easy just to have an easier time.
Hope Berseria is as good as people say.

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turbopuns3 posted...

Just looked at the trophies and realized the difficulty goes all the way up past hard to Intense and then Chaos. That explains a lot. Doubt I'll be so compelled to ever do that but I bet it is a pretty rewarding experience.

The game's overall design and balance completely falls apart in a really nasty way on Chaos, so don't worry about this! You're actually getting the best possible experience out of the game right where you are IMO.

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I liked Zestiria! Admittedly I was playing co-op and my friend did all the equipment management and stuff so I have no input on that.

MegamanX posted...

Generic comment that the story of this game weirdly doesn't matter much. Its very much about the personal journeys and their inter personal relationships. Each character has their own arc but the overall arc? doesnt matter a lot

This is how I feel - the overall plot just kinda exists but I love the character interactions/dynamics/skits. And the little touches like the characters chatting about each new monster type in battle.
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Safer_777 posted...

I am currently playing this and I have to agree that I don't like it. BUT everyone says Berseria which is a prequel is really great so I guess I have to go on with this one. Guess I shall put it into Easy just to have an easier time.
Hope Berseria is as good as people say.

You really don't have to play Zesteria to get Berseria. In fact, lots of times the Zesteria knowledge makes Berseria worse!

I am curious where you are in Zesty, because if you aren't liking it now....my absolutely rage towards this thing is the result of the last third. I LIKED most of that first two thirds!

Seeing this thing fall apart is fascinating, especially knowing the rollercoaster ride if how it happened in the first place.

Don't sleep with coworkers!

^ignore this man, finish the Zest

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Too much Zest spoils the pot.

Also, in all honesty, if someone has already made the investment and gotten into Zesteria, I generally would rather they finish! It's a a wild trainwreck, and I love talking about what happened with the last chunk of it.

The collapse of this game's latter half is one of the most memorable jRPG experiences I've had.

@MichelBollinger I beat the boss at the Capital actually. So there you go. Eh whatever.

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Zestiria's not as bad as people say. Then again, my opinion on Tales games is quite skewed-- I love Legendia and think the Xillia games are the worst.

I liked the lore and the expansive and beautiful overworld maps of Zestiria as it felt refreshing after having to deal with the bullshit empty fields of Xillia. Also, the soundtrack is among the best in the series, and not just because Go Shiina is involved, but Sakuraba outdid himself here. And the water dungeon wasn't that bad.

It's too bad the story was kind of blah and the battle system is irritating. I also played this on PC and dealt with some serious framerate drops in battle constantly. Not sure if the PS3/4 version has this.