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Tales of Berseria |OT| The Band of the Crowe

Cornbread78

Member
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Developer: Bandai Namco Studios
Publisher: Bandai Namco Entertainment
Director: Yoshimasa Tanaka
Producer: Yasuhiro Fukaya
Composer: Motoi Sakuraba
Platforms:
• PlayStation 3 (JPN Only)
• PlayStation 4
• Microsoft Windows
Release dates:
• JP: August 18, 2016
• NA: January 24, 2017
• EU: January 27, 2017
• PC: January 26, 2017 (Steam)
Genre: Role-playing
Price: $59.99
Website:
http://talesofberseria.tales-ch.jp/
Tales of Blog Site:
http://blog.talesofgame.com/en/?home

Game Opening track:
"Burn" by Flow (in Japanese)


Box Art:
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Collector's Edition:
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System Requirements:
Minimum:
o OS: Windows 7, 8, 10 (64-bit)
o Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz or AMD Phenom II X2 550, 3.1GHz
o Memory: 2 GB RAM
o Graphics: GeForce 9800 GTX or AMD Radeon HD 4850
o DirectX: Version 9.0c
o Storage: 15 GB available space
o Sound Card: DirectX 11 compatible

Recommended:
o OS: Windows 7, 8, 10 (64-bit)
o Processor: Intel Core i5-750, 2.66GHz or AMD Phenom II X4 965, 3.2GHz
o Memory: 4 GB RAM
o Graphics: GeForce GTX 560 or Radeon HD 7870
o DirectX: Version 9.0c
o Storage: 15 GB available space
o Sound Card: DirectX 11 compatible

PC Tech Details Outlined

Steam Tales of Berseria Page


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Tales of Berseria is set on a world called Wasteland. The central region of this world is the Holy Kingdom of Midgand, a massive kingdom whose territory spans over several islands and continents. It is a very diverse place, with each area having its own culture and architecture depending on the climate and environments its residents have to deal with. Because many places are divided by seas, rivers, and oceans, this world is highly dependant on ships for transportation, communication, and trade, and even pirate crews have appeared to take advantage of this fact. Within the past decade a disease known as Daemonblight has begun to spread, infecting humans, plants, and animals, and turning many of them into violent creatures. To fight against this a savior known as Artorius appeared and formed the Abbey, an organization supported by the kingdom with the goal of fighting against the spread of Daemonblight.

The central character of the story is Velvet Crowe, a woman who some years ago lived a normal life in her village on the outskirts of the kingdom. However her village was infected with Daemonblight. Artorius, a man with the power to fight against Daemons, kills many of the transformed villagers, including her brother. Velvet manages to somehow escape death, and is instead captured and imprisoned for three years. The story begins with her executing a plan to escape and get revenge on Artorius for what he did.

Berseria vs. Zestiria Lore:
Tales of Berseria and Tales of Zestiria are set in the same world, however the story of Tales of Berseria is set long in the past.

The setting of Tales of Berseria is known as the ”Wasteland." The continent in the middle of this world is what eventually comes to be called ”Glenwood," which is seen in Tales of Zestiria.

Though it's set in the same world, the world of the past in Tales of Berseria is completely different than that of the future. Place names such as towns and nature are all different from the future seen in Tales of Zesteria, too. But there are also places where you'll be able to recall the culture and nature of the future.


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Velvet Crowe:
Voiced by: Rina Satō (Jpn); Cristina Vee (Eng)
A 19-year-old woman who transformed into a Daemon and was subsequently imprisoned because of an incident that happened 3 years prior to the events of the game in her village. After breaking out of her island prison Titania, she battles the Abbey and their Exorcists who have shed their emotions in pursuit of victory against Daemons. She holds a grudge against Artorius, her brother-in-law, for sacrificing her younger brother in front of her during the incident 3 years prior.[4][11]

Laphicet
Voiced by: Azumi Asakura (jpn)
A Malak who is forcibly made into Velvet's companion after being kidnapped from Teresa's control by an escaping Velvet. As his will is sealed, he has no sense of self and lives as a tool to be ordered and used. However after following Velvet and her group, he starts to develop his own sense of self. Velvet named him after her little brother.

Rokurou Rangetsu
Voiced by: Daisuke Kishio (Jpn); Ben Diskin (Eng)
A Daemon similar to Velvet who managed to maintain his sense of reason and his human form. He aims to defeat his stronger elder brother in the ways of the sword. He joins Velvet in escaping Titania and continues on her journey to repay his debt to her for helping him find his sword.

Eleanor Hume
Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu
One of the Abbey's Exorcists who at first clashes with Velvet's quest for revenge, but later is forced to join her party in order to return Laphicet to the Exorcists on Artorius's special orders. She can come across as cold, especially to those who aren't in support of the Abbey and their efforts, but above all else she cares about protecting people from Daemons and finding a method to stop it for good

Magilou
Voiced by: Satomi Satō (Jpn); Erica Lindbeck (Eng)
A mysterious and carefree sorceress, calling herself the "Great Witch," who joins Velvet and Rokurou in escaping their island prison. She is acquainted with Melchior in a seemingly antagonistic relationship. She is also a jokester and likes to play pranks and lift the other's spirits.
Bienfu
Voiced by: Naomi Nagasawa
Magilou's small Malak partner who is abused at the comedic sake of Magilou's teasing, he hides his real face with a ribbon-decorated hat to look interesting. After Magilou was locked up in Titania, he was found and taken into the care of Eleanor, whom he sees as a significantly kinder master.

Eizen
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa
A 1000-year-old Malak pirate who has the appearance of a 30-year-old and pilots a ship called the Van Eltia as its vice-captain. He joins Velvet in order to search for his close friend, the missing ship captain, Van Aifread. In the 3 year period during Velvet's imprisonment, he became infamous as a Death God whose existence as a Malak brings misfortune to everyone around him.


Other Characters:
Oscar Dragonia
Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno (Japanese); Michael Sinterniklaas (English) A Praetor-rank Exorcist who tries to stop Velvet after the latter escapes from prison. He has a strong sense of justice as an Exorcist and loyalty to his sister.

Teresa Linares
Voiced by: Yui Horie
A Praetor-rank Exorcist and Oscar's half-sister who governs the northern area of the empire. She worries much for her brother that he will push himself too far on the job, despite her being known by the title of 'Ice Queen'.

Shigure Rangetsu
Voiced by: Kazuya Nakai
A Legate-rank Exorcist who is Rokurou's elder brother. He is regarded a genius swordsman within the Rangetsu Sword-style, and is always seeking an interesting and entertaining fight.

Melchior
Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita
A Legate-rank Exorcist who is a master in the art of alchemy. He is Artorius's colleague and friend who shares similar beliefs.

Seres
Voiced by: Satomi Arai (Japanese); Monica Rial (English)
A Malak formerly under Artorius' command who regained her sense of will and aids Velvet in her escape from prison for the sake of stopping Artorius.

Artorius Collbrande
Voiced by: Kenyu Horiuchi
Once addressed by Velvet with the nickname of 'Arthur' and her brother-in-law, is the head of the Abbey and the Exorcists who is deemed the world's savior and the game's primary antagonist for having acquired a power that would allow him to save the world from the Daemonblight. He favors the use of reason over emotion as part of his battle tactics, and has used this as the prime teaching for all Exorcists.


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Liberation Linear Motion Battle System:
Berseria's battle system - while it retains some elements people who've played other Tales will be familiar with - is a big departure from all previous Tales games, in that the "Linear" part of the name is almost superfluous, among many other changes:

•Free Run-Based Controls- Unlike other Tales games, you don't move along any lines. Instead movement in inherently 3D based, no need to press any buttons for Free Run. You can also use attacks while moving, and use the right stick to adjust the camera.

•Arte Control Changes - Berseria uses the Arte Tree seen in Graces and Zestiria, however now artes can be removed, moved, and assigned to any position in the tree. Assigning certain artes in certain sequences on the tree can add various benefits to your attacks. Also, instead of using various stick+button combinations for artes, Artes are now be assigned to X, Circle, Square, and Triangle. The button an arte is assigned to can also affect how the arte will be used in certain cases, such as changing the direction of an attack.

•Soul System - This is the central feature many of the combat mechanics center around.
Great breakdown of all party member's "Break Soul" from Gematsu

•Break Souls - Special abilities that are unique to each character, and can be used if the character has 3 or more souls. They're all abilities that are powerful, but can vary in usefulness depending on the enemy and situation. Using one also allows the character to continue their chain of attacks beyond the limit imposed on them. They will improve over the course of the game, making them stronger and more versatile.
- Break Souls can be embedded into combos, and you can link at least as many Break Souls as the number of souls you posses. When you trigger a Break Soul, in exchange for one soul, there is a special characteristic that lets you resume the combo from the first stage of your artes without stopping while staying in the combo state.

•Blast - The Blast Gauge returns in Berseria. It's a gauge that's primarily filled through performing Break Souls, and allows you to perform various actions when filled up to certain levels. When it's filled to a certain point you can use it for things such as Switch Blasts, which let you swap in a reserve character, or Mystic Artes, powerful attacks.


Equipment/Skill System
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Berseria uses an equipment and skill system that's somewhat like a combination of various elements from Vesperia, Graces, and Zestiria.•Equipment - Each piece of equipment can have three types of skills: Master Skills, Refinement Skills, and Random Skills. Master Skills are like skills in Vesperia (or other games like Final Fantasy IX): the equipment has an ability attached that you can use while it is equippmed, and a certain number of points needed to master it. Once you've obtained the necessary number of points, the ability is learned permanently and the character will have it active even when you've removed the equipment. If you keep the equipment on, the ability on the equipment will actually combine with your learned skill, increasing its effectiveness. Refinement Skills are abilities attached to equipment that are unlocked as you use materials to refine it and improve its stats. Once an ability is unlocked, refining the equipment further can improve the efective of the ability. Random Skills are skills that appear on equipment at random, offering some sort of bonus or ability. Finally, equipment you aren't in need of anymore can be broken apart into materials for use on other equipment.
•Titles - Berseria uses Titles again, and like most entries in the series you'll obtain many of them through certain events or from fulfilling special conditions in battles. Each Title levels, with certain requirements to level up, such as using Base Artes a certain number of times or reaching a certain level. As you level the Title, various skills on the Title will be unlocked, and you can swap around Titles depending on the skills you need.
•Crystals - There are different crystals you can collect that unlock a wide array of abilities and features. For example, some will unlock difficulty modes, others will affect what kind of abilities you find on equipment that's dropped.

Other Stuff
•Cooking - Berseria goes back to a more traditional cooking system, where you find recipes and each character can cook them to result in different bonuses.
•Skits - Berseria uses a slightly altered version of the usual Tales Skit system called "Variable Cut-in Chat", that makes the skits more expressive and dynamic.
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•Minigames - There's a collection of minigames to play in the game, such as a card game and a combat-based balloon-popping minigame.
•Ship Exploration - You eventually come into possession of a scouting ship, which similar to the cats in Xillia 2 you can send out to different place to collect various items and treasures.
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•Hover board - The board allows you to move much more quickly when you use it. Some locations can only be crossed by using the Rare Board.
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Screenshots:
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Post Battle Scenes:
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Cut Scene:
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Costume DLC: (paid DLC)
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Videos:
The Calamity and The Blade
"Grand Tour" Trailer
Combo Mechanics
8 Mins of English Gameplay
E3 2016 Trailer
Trailer #2
Trailer #3
Trailer #5

Anime Story Intro:
LAst year as part of the "Tales of Zestiria the X" anime series, they dedicated two full episodes to dig a little into the Berseria story. From what's been said, they cover about the first 2 hours of the games story (after the "controversial" opening scene)

Episode 5 ”Dawn of Chaos"
Episode 6 ” Velvet Crowe"


Reviews:
PS4 Metacritic Site
PC Metacritic Site
Opencritic

NeoGAF Review Thread:
NeoGAF Review Thread


Import Thread:
NeoGAF Tales of Berseria Import Thread

User Reviews from the Import Thread:
Finished it yesterday. It took me 61 hours to finish the story, the party was at level 67/68.

Loved it and can confirm the positive impressions.

Some brief thoughts:
- Cast and character interactions is great, especially loved the relationship between Velvet, Laphicet and Elenoar.
- Like how the story was handled. No collect all spirits or earthen historia quest. Plot twist was tragic, intense and depressing. Liked it.
- Fields are better designed and visually more appealing. They are more compact and not as big as Zestirias fields.
- There are a lot of towns. Found them nice. As always, you can only enter a few buildings, like inns, warehouses, churches or bars.
- Most dungeons have some minor puzzles, but nothing too dificult. Except the generic cave dungeons.
- Equipment/skills are easier to manage than in Zestiria.
- A lot of skits. A lot of LONG skits. This game has so much voice work.
- Game was very easy early on, even on hard. Difficulty went up during mid-game. Had to switch from hard to second. lol
- Barely touched the side content. Did some side quest but thats it.
- Battle system is fun, as always. Loved using Velvets Soul Break to extent my combo chain.

Okay, first to clarify my previous post. I didn't hate the ending. It wasn't the strongest point in the story, but was completely serviceable and didn't leave me disappointed.

With that out of the way, here are my spoiler free impressions after clearing the whole game.

I'll just mention it again - clearing ToB took me 48 hours on Normal. Tried doing all the side stuff I could find aside from the last batch before the final dungeon. There's also post game content including an extra dungeon, but I haven't touched that part myself.

Graphics
It's definitely the best looking 3D Tales game. Sadly, that doesn't really mean much. Models look alright, but in the end it still looks and feels like a PS3 game bumped to higher resolution and 60 FPS. Fields and dungeons are a mixed bag, some look good, some (especially early ones) are just boring. Also, the draw in distance is terrible and nothing really excuses this in the PS4 version.

Sound
I liked one of the themes (main/Velvet's theme?) which kicked in during some cutscenes and made them more exciting. Also,
Zavida's
theme was great, but I think it hasn't changed. That said, I'm a person who rarely focuses on BGMs while playing, so don't take the above as a jab at the music.

Combat
Combat doesn't really change through the game. You get access to some new toys like Mystic Artes, but aside from that you can still pretty much mash through every battle on normal with X and R2, if you're not hugely underleveled. Problem start if you don't get enough souls during your mashing to activate the Break, since it's Velvet's main way of regenerating HP. When that happens, you have to charge block and attack, use Mystic Artes (they add souls) or switch characters back and forth.
I enjoyed the combat system for what it was - flashy, fast, and relaxing, but I think people who want more to put more thought into each battle, turning the difficulty up might be necessary (although Bebpo mentioned that not much changes).

Story
This is where the game shines. No forced romance between party members. Playing as the "bad guys" which will use all means necessary to get what they want. A lot of very dark and sometimes even depressing elements, while never going too far. The story really felt like a breath of fresh air compared to most other jRPGs. While the start is slow and might feel like "forced edginess", it definitely gets better later.
Is it perfect? Of course not, there are still ups and downs, boring moment etc., but in general I think I enjoyed this story the most of all Tales games I've played. This includes Vesperia, but to be honest I cleared that one so long ago that I don't remember much.

I also like connections to Zestiria, like explaining some things in the world. I would definitely suggest finishing or at least playing a bigger chunk of ToZ before Zestiria, if only to catch those parts.

Characters
At first they feel like a boring bunch, with less jokes in skits than in previous games. That said, as time goes on they open up and the player can see that they have their own quirks, things they're passionate about (not related to the story) and are all in all quite funny.
The cast really grew on me, even annoying at first Magilou.

Dungeons, Towns, Fields
- Dungeons and fields for most of the time were boring. While I liked that they got rid of huge open spaces from ToZ, they still felt like corridors randomly sprinkled with enemies. Some looked nice, that's true, but in the end running through them felt like a chore. Especially when I had to do it multiple times for side quests.
-Towns were alright and I liked how the atmosphere changed as the story progressed (mostly NPC dialogue and some effects, buildings etc. stayed the same), but again - running through them multiple times got boring at one point.

Final verdict - a really good JRPG, one of the best (if not the best, probably will be a personal preference) 3D Tales games, which loses some points because of being a cross platform game.

"Best Tales game in a century!"


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*Thread Notes*
- Thank you to BGBW for once again, providing an awesome banner! Good work man; I can't thank you enough! Also, thank you to RPGMonkey for sharing assets allowing greater continuity between the Import and NA/EU OTs. Last but not least, kewlmyc get's a shout out for the OT title. I'm on his $hitlist for dissin' his favorite anime, so the least I could do was throw him a bone with the naming rights, lol.
- Story spoilers are a no-no. Don't be "that guy" and post spoilers untagged and titled. Mods may or may not have mercy on your soul; your GAF life is in your own hands!
- If anyone has anything additional they feel would be helpful for the OP, please let me know and I will remove/add/change as needed. (be gentle)
 

kromeo

Member
Shit, I've been following RE7 so much I completely forgot about this. I probably won't play it until all the costume DLCs are out though
 

Rymuth

Member
Ayyyy, really like the title.

Hopefully this isn't as bad as Zestiria, the only Tales game I intentionally dropped (Hearts R copy was loaned and never returned).
 

squall211

Member
Really lookiing forward to this. I actually enjoyed Zesteria's cast. The game was too easy and I never did end up understanding the crafting system in that game. Nice to hear this game is supposed to be markedly better. Should be here this week.
 

Aeana

Member
I only played the intro of the Japanese version and then it fell by the wayside due to the distraction of real life, so this will be the first Tales game I've ever played in English first. Should be an interesting experience.

After seeing the demo in 4K on my TV, I'm definitely going to be waiting until the end of the week for the PC version.
 

Ydelnae

Member
I don't know if I'm making the right decision by buying this D1 instead of Yakuza 0 or RE7. I hope I actually enjoy the game.
 

Cabal

Member
Great OT! I love the Tales series, and I'm ready for this one too. Having said that, I wish the Steam version wasn't 2 days later.
 

Bladenic

Member
My CE at Amazon still doesn't even have a delivery estimate. Anyone else have this? I tried ordering a regular edition and it said the same thing, wonder what's up. I'm half tempted to cancel the CE and just get it on PSN tonight.

I hope we get costume DLC at a quick pace. That pirate costume DLC looks awesome and I want the cameo outfits too.
 
I really tried to finish Zestria, I really really did.


Gonna have a hard time splitting my time between this, Yakuza 0, and RE7.
 
My CE at Amazon still doesn't even have a delivery estimate. Anyone else have this? I tried ordering a regular edition and it said the same thing, wonder what's up. I'm half tempted to cancel the CE and just get it on PSN tonight.

I hope we get costume DLC at a quick pace. That pirate costume DLC looks awesome and I want the cameo outfits too.

Mine was charged already, but i don't have prime so.. yeah
 

RPGCrazied

Member
First Tales of I don't get day 1. Just to many other games right now. Hopefully I can get it when the price is lower and I'm not swamped in games.
 

Bladenic

Member
Mine was charged already, but i don't have prime so.. yeah

I have Prime so... fuckers lmao

Did you guys know you can chain mystic artes in the demo (and thus the game)? Saw a video and tried it myself; pretty awesome. Feel like you could do crazy damage this way on a weakness combo.
 
I've been genuinely looking forward to this, even zestiria being utter garbage. Not sure when I will get started on it. Currently in the middle of 3 games. Though if I can finish up with Atelier Totori or Dragonball Xenoverse 2 before my flight to japan next month, maybe I'll start this on the plane.

Also replaying witcher 3 to get to the DLC, doubt I finish that by then
 

ViciousDS

Banned
battle system alone looks miles above Zesteria.....god was that game trash.....except for the main theme *cue guitar riff*


too bad the english version of theme was gimped to shit of zesteria lol

Japanese version was badass
 
Is the Pirate Costume DLC part of preording? Or is it something to pay for?

No, you purchase it, no dlc locked this time

I have Prime so... fuckers lmao

Did you guys know you can chain mystic artes in the demo (and thus the game)? Saw a video and tried it myself; pretty awesome. Feel like you could do crazy damage this way on a weakness combo.

yep, feels pretty bad ass when you manage to chain 6 mystic artes, you can even chain dual mystic artes afaik
 

Hasemo

(;・∀・)ハッ?
Oh cool, my impressions are in the ot.

tl;dr: I really liked the game despite backtracking and some boring locations. Characters, story and the fast paced combat were the high points for me.
 
Awesome OT, well done!

Played the demo earlier and was not really sure about it. But have been reading a lot of positive impressions since then so will give it a shot! And no way I would ever skip a Tales game :)

Hoping the game will be sold before friday...
 

Zhao_Yun

Member
Too bad EU peasants have to wait for 3 more days. Really looking forward to this after the positive import-impressions. Will be the first time that I'll play a Tales game with someone else in coop as well! Does anybody know whether Player 2 will be able to earn trophies in coop as well?
 

Cornbread78

Member
Awesome OT. Can't wait to devour this over this week!
I want to start already. Nice OT mate!
Great OT! I love the Tales series, and I'm ready for this one too. Having said that, I wish the Steam version wasn't 2 days later.
Awesome OT, well done!
Played the demo earlier and was not really sure about it. But have been reading a lot of positive impressions since then so will give it a shot! And no way I would ever skip a Tales game :) Hoping the game will be sold before friday...


Thanks! Hopefully the storm coming isn't bad tomorrow, so I can actually pick up my copy!
 

Pejo

Gold Member
I'm pumped to get into this game this weekend. This is the first Tales game I've been excited about since Vesperia.
 
Had to cancel my Amazon order, because they could tell me when I'd be getting the game. Going to get it at best buy instead. Can not wait to get out of work tomorrow.
 
Amazon shipped my CE last night...It claims its coming tomorrow but they shipped it from Cali to Ohio using USPS so if it does come its a miracle.
 

squall211

Member
My CE at Amazon still doesn't even have a delivery estimate. Anyone else have this? I tried ordering a regular edition and it said the same thing, wonder what's up. I'm half tempted to cancel the CE and just get it on PSN tonight.

I hope we get costume DLC at a quick pace. That pirate costume DLC looks awesome and I want the cameo outfits too.

I got the same message. Luckily I have a zillion other things I could play if there's some kind of delay, but I REALLY hope it arrives this week.
 
I preordered on psn, and when the preload downloaded, it downloaded a separate thing with its own label and start button called Tales of Berseria Digital Essentials. I assume it's this, based on the description on the store: a 15 minute exclusive dramatic chat skit hosted by Bienfu with Velvet and the complete cast discussing a plethera of topics about the Tales of series, and a mini music selection from the game. Pretty cool.

I recently finally finished Tales of Zestiria after owning it since launch, and it is the worst Tales game I've ever played and the worst jrpg I've played in many years. Strangely, I enjoyed the Alisha dlc very much, I wish more games had playable epilogues to flesh out their crappy endings.
 

Orcastar

Member
Can't decide whether to buy this. The only other Tales games I've played before are Symphony (liked it a lot back in the day) and Xillia (generic and forgettable, never finished it). It would be nice to play a good traditional JRPG for a change though...
 
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