Meghan Sullivan (IGN) likes the combat of Tales of Zestiria, the story not so much:
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Tales of Zestiria - Review @ IGN
- Thread starter HiddenX
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I can't find any comments on pc kb/mouse interface. Have you seen anything that suggest it will have a decent kb/mouse interface ?
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Dunno nothing about K+M, but I watched "should you buy" video and after it decided not to go for this game.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE2WFvPxdIA
The reason? Combat and openworld.
Yes, things IGN liked.
ME games were dumbed down with RPG elements, but at least the sidekicks combat didn't feel stupid and useless like in this game.
And openworld looks worse than a decade old Gothic, empty, shallow, dull with invisible group of mobs represented by one creature. Not to mention horrible console depth of field with screen elements popping in.
This game looks like a mix of several bad design decisions and as such, I don't plan to buy even when on sale.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vE2WFvPxdIA
The reason? Combat and openworld.
Yes, things IGN liked.
ME games were dumbed down with RPG elements, but at least the sidekicks combat didn't feel stupid and useless like in this game.
And openworld looks worse than a decade old Gothic, empty, shallow, dull with invisible group of mobs represented by one creature. Not to mention horrible console depth of field with screen elements popping in.
This game looks like a mix of several bad design decisions and as such, I don't plan to buy even when on sale.
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You stereotyping, purveyor of ignorance. Writing off an entire portion of gaming, full of diverse games from the past 30 years. You maybe thought you were being clever but managed to be prejudice and borderline racist (LOL, Japanese make terrible characters and boring games!).
And yes, I do take it very personally when entire people-groups are stereotyped and insulted.
I won't bother listing many brilliant JRPGs because I doubt you would care.
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After playing this for a while, it seems like one of the better Tales games (but not as good as Vesperia). Combat has a lot of depth and can appear overwhelming, but fortunately that seems tied to the game difficulty.
GothicGothicness
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Well, in the early tales game story was the most important... what a pity they stopped caring about that... no buy!
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About the Tales series in general…
Hmmm, I have a LOT of Tales games in my library, but for some reason, I could not complete any of'em…
Symphonia: may believe this is the best, yet….
Vesperia: many believe this is the most beautiful, yet…
Xillia: many believe this is the most progressive, yet…
I think it is the excessive grinding why I give up on up these great games.
Anyway, I'll buy Zestiria (on console, mind you), because I'm curious about the open world stuff -- still an uncommon thing in Japanese RPGs!
About Japanese RPG stories in general…
I think we, western RPG fanatics got used to more cynical stories… Baldur's, Fallout, Torment, Dragon Age, you name it.
We are grown-ups, and we got used to see a lot of grey in our lives (professional, public, and sexual, heh-heh).
On the other hand, most Japanese RPGs are very simple coming-of-age stories, aimed at teenagers. The world is black and white, and ultimately hostile -- exactly how a typical teenager sees things.
Nothing wrong with that, mind you -- if you let your inner child out for a moment, you might enjoy these games.
Finally: I do find interesting, that attempts mixing jRPGs and wRPGs always ended up in spectacular failure: Anachronox, Septerra Core anyone?
Hmmm, I have a LOT of Tales games in my library, but for some reason, I could not complete any of'em…
Symphonia: may believe this is the best, yet….
Vesperia: many believe this is the most beautiful, yet…
Xillia: many believe this is the most progressive, yet…
I think it is the excessive grinding why I give up on up these great games.
Anyway, I'll buy Zestiria (on console, mind you), because I'm curious about the open world stuff -- still an uncommon thing in Japanese RPGs!
About Japanese RPG stories in general…
I think we, western RPG fanatics got used to more cynical stories… Baldur's, Fallout, Torment, Dragon Age, you name it.
We are grown-ups, and we got used to see a lot of grey in our lives (professional, public, and sexual, heh-heh).
On the other hand, most Japanese RPGs are very simple coming-of-age stories, aimed at teenagers. The world is black and white, and ultimately hostile -- exactly how a typical teenager sees things.
Nothing wrong with that, mind you -- if you let your inner child out for a moment, you might enjoy these games.
Finally: I do find interesting, that attempts mixing jRPGs and wRPGs always ended up in spectacular failure: Anachronox, Septerra Core anyone?
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GothicGothicness
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You are missing all the best ones… tales of phantasia is the best one by far… tales of destiny and Tales of Eternia is also better than the ones you listed…
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ChienAboyeur
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Hard to see any of these differences.
Usually, in so called RPGs, the world is hostile. Growing in power to conquer it and impose the will of the PC might sum up the common experience.
Actually, the japanese production might line up more exceptions to that rule.
The target audience is likely to be the same: FA,BG were released 20 years ago.
Japanese stories might be shady
etc
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I think the difference is in the culture.
In Asian teachings, if you get to power, usually it comes with a great personal loss (yin and yang, remember?)
For the Western mindset, it is seeking power for the ultimate dominance, no matter what the costs are (egocentric approach)
Hence, Japanese games are over-melodramatic (Final Fantasy?) -- which could be a good thing IF DONE RIGHT. Problem is, (in my opinion) that the melodrama is usually way too overdone, that we, westerners find extremely kitsch.
On the other hand, subtle western melodrama (Fallout's bitterbleak ending?) might be much too undercooked for the Japanese...
Honestly, I very much miss the simple-but-effective morality tales of the old Ultimas.
That game taught us to be a superhero, but questioned it immediately as well! (In U5, U6, U7-pt2, the very existence of the Avatar did more bad than good!)
Today's western games are much more about mocking the shady political machinations of real life, a topic I have no interest whatsoever (I'm from Europe, and political dealings and double-dealings are the core of our friggin history, and we learned about this way too much at school, thankyouverymuch! )
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The open world portion doesn't start until around 15+ hours in. Even then, I'm suspecting that it is still heavily story/event based. Areas have enemies that are level based, so I wonder if I'm going to funneled down a specific path. I've only just started that section of the game. Excluding the open world part, I'm still enjoying the game quite a bit and I'm not having any major problems with the story, although it isn't amazing either.
Humanity has risen!
SasqWatch
Tales of who gives a f...
I played way too many BS JRPGs to bother, as soon as I detect something remotely corny I'm out.
Only Dragon Quest is more tolerable because they keep the story simple, instead of Tales, which is pretentious drivel through and through.
Atlus used to be good but even they are losing their touch. Etrian Odyssey is getting way too formulaic and stale and SMT IV was utterly passable.
I think the portable format had ruined this genre because they must make dumbed down gameplay systems
I played way too many BS JRPGs to bother, as soon as I detect something remotely corny I'm out.
Only Dragon Quest is more tolerable because they keep the story simple, instead of Tales, which is pretentious drivel through and through.
Atlus used to be good but even they are losing their touch. Etrian Odyssey is getting way too formulaic and stale and SMT IV was utterly passable.
I think the portable format had ruined this genre because they must make dumbed down gameplay systems
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Who'd think I'll agree with you on something.
You nailed it.
On the rest...
Get bloody Chaos Rings 2 on iPhone already. A shame it's same old crap phoney/handheldey/consoley dumb gameplay, but man, whatta story!
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ChienAboyeur
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The differences must come from somewhere else.
Japanese stories also used the loss of innocence (becoming powerful at any cost) as a narrative feature.
In general, video game stories are melodramas (subtle and melodrama do not get well together) Hard to draw a parting line between Japanese and other games on that.
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zahratustra
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While I haven't agreed with HHR on anything yet in R,R & C forum, it certainly isn't the case with his posts about games
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