Current Events > I FINALLY beat Tales of Berseria. Great game. Hate the ending. *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

I'm mostly upset that it's over even though I spent half a year on it, but also I don't know if I like the ending/understood it.

Why did Laphicet turn into a giant stone dragon again? I feel like there's a lot of context with that and the 4 empyreans that they just don't explain
---

Long story short, the ending of Berseria sadly had to adhere to the lore of Zestiria, since it's a prequel to that game, so some of the oddities come from them trying to connect the two

---

Is it even related to how malaks turning into dragons = bad?
---

Imagine living for an eternity with your face buried in Edgelord queen Velvet's fat naked mommy milkers while you continuously feed each other?

---

Turbam posted...

Imagine living for an eternity with your face buried in Edgelord queen Velvet's fat naked mommy milkers while you continuously feed each other?

Turbam posted...

Imagine living for an eternity with your face buried in Edgelord queen Velvet's fat naked mommy milkers while you continuously feed each other?

Except she's your sister

---

I was so sad to see only 4 of the 6 party members return to earth, only Eizen, Magilou, Rokuro and Eleanor. Losing Velvet really stings. And that weird... whatever it was with innomi-laphi, I guess that was the culmination of all the weird brother-sister dynamic this game has, pretty much the game's only weak link.

Story, characters, and dialogue were all fantastic otherwise. Magilou is one of the best characters ever. Laphicet is one of the most adorable characters ever. Eizen is pretty cool, as is Rokuro, they offer an excellent older brother dynamic to Phi. Eleanor is good too, heck the voice acting is excellent for everyone save for the weird raspy voice of the little therion girl kamoana.
---

And I guess almost all the daemons return to human form. Both Medissa and kamoana became human again, and Dyle too. The game just... ends though. I felt like there was more stuff they could have done with royalty and the capital since the prince and that entire character was pointless and ultimately contributed nothing to the story. They were never quite clear on the midgand kingdom and the ruling houses and family which they hinted at in the beginning with oscar and teresa. Felt like they threw in a lot of stuff that they ultimately forgot about

But it's a revenge story first and foremost so I'm okay with it, it was pretty good at doing that
---

I'm a bit sad that Zaveid doesn't factor into the ending in any way though, I kinda liked him and it felt like he was important to the plot in some way. I finished his sidequest where we kill his girlfriend dragon and he promises to do the same to Eizen if Eizen ever turns into a dragon.

But also anyone else felt like Zaveid looked like Ansem? What was up with that

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/7UVllJCOVoM/hqdefault.jpg

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/qgbyzhkNUXw/maxresdefault.jpg

tanned skin, orange eyes, silvery hair? It felt like early 2000s all over again
---

saspa posted...

It felt like early 2000s all over again

well, tales has always lagged behind a bit lol

i liked berseria, but it doesn't crack my top tales games

---

Why Laphicet has to become a dragon to replace Innominat as the head of the Five Lords isn't explained as far as I know. He become a benevolent dragon of purification which is essentially the opposite of why seraphim / malakhim usually have become dragons throughout both Zestiria and Berseria. The power of purification has dormantly dwelled within him before this though. Berseria is the prequel to Zestiria and gameplay and extras wise while it may not be as good, it is worth playing through to see how things have changed.

I mean, it's the best Tales games post the Team Symphonia games. Of course, it's the only game I played from the post Team Symphonia era but that's only because none of them looked any good.

But playing this one was the right choice. I loved almost everything about it and missed games like this, with the Tales staples and fun skits and traversing the world and being engaged in the story
---

saspa posted...

Team Symphonia games.

It's that just like Xilia 2, Zestiria, and Arise?


---

Is it worth playing? I finally beat my first Tales of game in Arise and am in the process of beating Yakuza 7: LAD now.

---

My only gripe is some of the combat and micromanaging equipment which was a complete bore and chore.

I'm glad it was easy because most of the mechanics were pretty obtuse, not to mention either not explained well or not explained at all (I had no idea I could chain mystic artes until I saw it in another post and video)
---

Eizen is one of the best RPG characters of all time tbh

---

Yeah, besides the Laphicet thing and Zaveid not showing back up (stuff that had to be that way because it's a Zestiria prequel) everything else I thought was 10/10.

The music is a bit lacking at times, though, I guess, but that's just moving into nitpicky territory.

Touch posted...

Is it worth playing? I finally beat my first Tales of game in Arise and am in the process of beating Yakuza 7: LAD now.

Yeah, it's great. Def try it out. It took me a little bit to get into, but I got hooked hard after the story starting going.

---

There's more Zestiria connections? I've no intention of playing Zestiria, but I remember we were discussing the connections a while ago in a topic I made, it turns out that Eizen's sister is the blonde girl from the opening of Zesitiria, which people confirmed was true. And also the fact that the intro has people coming out of people is clearly a reference to how malakhim share a body with exorcists or something like that (tethering they call it here)
---

For the most part, Berseria can be enjoyed without any knowledge of Zestiria, but the Laphicet thing at the end will def seem like it's coming out of nowhere unless you know Zestiria's lore.

...Though even then, it still seems like a "oh yeah, and Maotelus is...*throws dart at wheel of names*...Laphicet, sure" kinda deal.

I know I was def pretty confused.

---

And it felt like I was supposed to know Laphicet's "true name" to mean something, "Maetilus"

But whatever reference it's supposed to be completely flew over me.
---

Rharyx211 posted...

For the most part, Berseria can be enjoyed without any knowledge of Zestiria, but the Laphicet thing at the end will def seem like it's coming out of nowhere unless you know Zestiria's lore.

...Though even then, it still seems like a "oh yeah, and Maotelus is...*throws dart at wheel of names*...Laphicet, sure" kinda deal.

I know I was def pretty confused.

Oh wow I was just posting that, it was like wtf? At first I thought he was saying Martel or something, like the god/goddess from Tales of Symphonia, because I do remember Tales games used to have vague connections like Phantasia and Symphonia being distant prequels/sequels, and the whole world tree/Yggradssil thing
---

The combat system is completely fucked. I got into a fun groove playing as Velvet or Eisen and frequently using their R2 abilities, but its a mindless button masher at its core, with way too many visual effects and shouting to tell whats going on.

The equipment system is a huge chore with the need to spend a lot of time after every few dungeons going through all your equipment and deciding which to keep and which to turn into materials. Which ended up being a big waste of time since you can only fully upgrade like 3 items by the time you finish the game. And you get like 10 new pieces of equipment after each battle (if you bring two overworld enemies close together).

I really liked the game though, mainly because of the story and exploring the environments (even though Velvet is a huge edge lord). Magilou is more annoying than not and Laphicet is an annoying innocent child trope, but I guess that comes with the territory in JRPGs. The ending goes completely off the rails like every other JRPG ever made.

I guess Is should say something positive, since I truly did enjoy the game. The character interactions are the best Ive seen in a video game. Theres some really interesting depth to how the characters relate to each other. Like how Velvet is jealous of Eleanor forming a connection to her surrogate younger brother (Laphicet). Or Eizen and Rokurou taking on big brother roles to Laphicet and trying to teach him how a non-robotic person acts.

---

Blue_Inigo posted...

Eizen is one of the best RPG characters of all time tbh

You know, in all honesty, I wouldn't necessarily be surprised if the whole thing started off with someone asking the question "yo, why did Edna's brother become a dragon?" after playing Zestiria.

---

What I do like is some references to the older games. I definitely saw symphonia references, and abyss, and even references to games I didn't play. There was a sidquest with a penguin that turns into a tales character, and he clearly looked like an anime protagonist from some game and it turns out it's from one of the ps3 ones, xillia. I would have liked more weird sidequests like that where we meet and battle other tales characters.

After all as a teen I've always liked the idea of Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology (if not the execution) for including all the Tales characters in a single rpg story. Could be fun
---

saspa posted...

I'm a bit sad that Zaveid doesn't factor into the ending in any way though, I kinda liked him and it felt like he was important to the plot in some way. I finished his sidequest where we kill his girlfriend dragon and he promises to do the same to Eizen if Eizen ever turns into a dragon.

Zaveid is a major character in Zestiria if you have any interest in what he ends up doing.

---

Huh really *googles*

Oh my god. Is Zaveid the crazy looking guy from the intro?

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RnqnJPzcCn8/maxresdefault.jpg

What the heck happened, does he become a villain in zestiria
---

saspa posted...

Huh really *googles*

Oh my god. Is Zaveid the crazy looking guy from the intro?

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RnqnJPzcCn8/maxresdefault.jpg

What the heck happened, does he become a villain in zestiria

He shows up and fights the party a few times before eventually joining. I believe he does also get the chance to kill Eizen in dragon form as a sidequest, but it's been a while.

---

It's weird, I wonder why it felt like it needed to be a prequel in the first place. The game's story seems pretty good on its own. Hell the depressing opening alone was pretty powerful, and my only gripe is we didn't get to see more of Artorius's past. We never saw who this old master of his was that he and Melchior knew.

And they talk about ancient kingdoms and technology as is standard jrpg trope but weirdly it doesn't tie in to the rest of the story, we never hear about it again.

I'm also surprised the 4 elemental empyreans don't make an appearance, I thought they would be the last story arc like some of the other Tales games.
---

I think there's some side quest stuff that delves into Artorius's past? I vaguely recall that being a thing.

And yeah, Zaveid's a main character in Zestiria, that's why he doesn't get much in Berseria. His stuff in Berseria is still really good, though. I think I like him more in Berseria.

---

radical rhino posted...

The combat system is completely fucked. I got into a fun groove playing as Velvet or Eisen and frequently using their R2 abilities, but its a mindless button masher at its core, with way too many visual effects and shouting to tell whats going on.

The equipment system is a huge chore with the need to spend a lot of time after every few dungeons going through all your equipment and deciding which to keep and which to turn into materials. Which ended up being a big waste of time since you can only fully upgrade like 3 items by the time you finish the game. And you get like 10 new pieces of equipment after each battle (if you bring two overworld enemies close together).

I really liked the game though, mainly because of the story and exploring the environments (even though Velvet is a huge edge lord). Magilou is more annoying than not and Laphicet is an annoying innocent child trope, but I guess that comes with the territory in JRPGs. The ending goes completely off the rails like every other JRPG ever made.

I guess Is should say something positive, since I truly did enjoy the game. The character interactions are the best Ive seen in a video game. Theres some really interesting depth to how the characters relate to each other. Like how Velvet is jealous of Eleanor forming a connection to her surrogate younger brother (Laphicet). Or Eizen and Rokurou taking on big brother roles to Laphicet and trying to teach him how a non-robotic person acts.

Honestly I kinda prefer the team symphonia combat system which culminated in vesperia's style that I enjoyed. If it wasn't for Velvet's demon claw I probably would have hated the combat system because the whole 4-hit combo and 16 possible move combinations is more annoying than anything else.

It especially sucks for mage casters since I don't know which spells to have them set to. I'm used to the old games of knowing that I should always have Eruption and Indignation turn on and all other spells off since they're the best but I wasn't familiar with the new spells.

Again not a big deal since there's different difficulty levels but it woulda been nice.

Oh and yeah the equipment system is a huge chore, they need to fix it. It was overly expensive and getting the right ingredients was tedious since they can't be purchased and they're needed if I want higher BG and SG.

The characters are the best part, I love how adorable Laphicet is, and Magilou is a 10/10 character.
---

Rharyx211 posted...

I think there's some side quest stuff that delves into Artorius's past? I vaguely recall that being a thing.

And yeah, Zaveid's a main character in Zestiria, that's why he doesn't get much in Berseria. His stuff in Berseria is still really good, though. I think I like him more in Berseria.

I can't believe it's the same guy, he looks like the typical anime trope of naked crazy guy in Zestiria, while in Berseria he's both a fun character and interesting from the little we see of him.
---

I'm missing some skits and want to see them all since they're so awesome. New game+ has some great options but I don't know if I'd ever want to replay the game
---

You can always turn on extra experience and other stuff to make the game easier then play on an easy difficulty.

---

I have just enough grade for most of the stuff I would want to carry over, as well as nifty bonuses like 10x experience which is always a favorite of mine (Berseria doesn't cap at lv 99 right? Heck Phantasia used to go on well into level 200+) so it's definitely tempting in a "maybe I'll revisit it 5 years down the line" sorta way.

It's funny how I had a near 10 year hiatus from Tales games after finishing Tales of the Abyss, but all of a sudden in the last 2 years I've played both Vesperia and Berseria. Almost makes me wonder if the new one is one of the "good ones" or not.

Berseria was long, and I love long games since with such a huge backlog, I don't really replay games anymore like I did as a kid and had like only 2 games in my library.
---

So I decided to do the bonus dungeon. Wasn't ready to say goodbye to the game just yet, wanna see what extra scenes and bosses it has to offer.

I really like when jrpgs have a simple, small, straightforward dungeon layout. I hate when they have a long-winded, overly obtuse dungeon. After a while you get sick of it so when it's just a small, 1 or 2 room dungeon I actually find that much more fun than having to backtrack and go this way or that.

Especially in this game's case. Berseria was great but a very valid criticism is the long stretches of open area where you're walking through it at a snail's pace. Even with the geoboard, it's still rather tedious

But the skits and characters are so great that I go through it. Curious to see what's waiting for me at the end of this Katz dungeon. Annoyed that I ran out of Katz Spirits so now I can't afford the 100 spirits for a warp point
---

In later rooms you might come across rooms with no enemies but instead like 400 kat spirits

Better get used to that song too

I love the Katz Korner music, it's so silly.

I really wish they balanced how ridiculously rare crafting materials are like fine tempering powders, and just the nature of weapon enhancing in general. I want that extra BG.

Got all level 3 Mystic Artes. Too bad there's rarely a chance to use them since they're literally in the final dungeon. But at least I'm finally done with the final dungeon (one of the more obtuse designs and layouts, but at least I got all the stuff)
---

Got the dual mystic artes. I stumbled upon them in a wiki but didn't know I'd get them in the bonus dungeon so that's a nice surprise. Was able to activate the one for Velvet and Laphicet. It's a nice addition that comes way too late, there's no way anyone has ever been able to level these up to max. It would require like, 4000 uses.

I'm on the 4th or 5th level I think of the bonus dungeon, had to leave to dismantle and sell off all my equipment. Don't know how many levels it has but gonna go back and then just blaze through the rest of it
---

Long shot but I'll ask anyway: When chaining mystic artes, is there a way to get the party members to use the level 3 mystic arte when they have 5 BG and above? It's such a waste of a turn to chain the mystic arte on a powerful boss and not have it be the level 3.
---

They should start using their level 3 once the chain is long enough, like 5+. You might have to unlock the ability for them first unless you already did. Don't remember exactly when you can do it.

Edit: just saw you are in the bonus dungeons so if you haven't unlocked it by now, you are definitely about to.

---

Done. I finally finished the bonus dungeon and got ALL the mystic artes.

Lol at our only reward for completing that long ass dungeon is a hot springs scene. Almost like they went "whoops we forgot to include a staple of anime how could we forget!" and hastily put it in there.

So that's it then, no more other bonus or tough bosses to face anywhere else?
---