Tales of Zestiria is a game I've meant to review for a while, but could just never get around to spending a decent amount of time, or at least, the minimum it would take to get all those feelings out there. As I sit here, waiting for World Series game 1 to start, it seems fitting that we dive into the world of spiritual happenstance.

First thing, I must divulge, before we get too carried away. This is a Tales game, and I genuinely enjoyed it, for the most part, but if you are new to the series, I would not start with this one. I'll dive more into the why of it throughout this review, but if you only read one paragraph on this page, I hope this one is it. Tales of Zestiria is a good game, but it is not a great Tales game. Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Xillia, or Tales of Vesperia are all games I would recommend above this one, so if you have the means and the time to play them, play them before touching this one.

Graphics - 7

As far as RPGs these days go, Tales of Zestiria is beautiful. As far as games go, no so much. With so much of the RPG mold these days being to just copy paste dungeons and textures, it actually comes as a shock when a developer takes the time to add more than four textures. Don't get me wrong, I don't love the dungeons, they suffer from a lot of the same issues other Tales games do. The dungeons are too few, and at times, you'll think they are too long. You'll be so overleveled all you care about is getting out of the dungeon. Until you master windstepping, this means dungeons can take forever to traverse, especially if you are a completionist like myself who has to look behind every cranny for items/secrets/etc.

The character design is top notch. The seraph all represent their respective elements well, and the human characters have distinctive enough designs that you won't be mixing them up.

The appeal, as is the case with every Tales game, is the anime style it adopts during skits, and the occasional CG cutscene. And while the rest of the game isn't terribly impressive, the art work during those CG scenes is impressive enough that you might forget you are playing a game for a minute.

Sound - 9

I love the sound-board for this game. The music can get repetitive in some dungeons (why it's not a 10), but at least when it's repetitive, it's usually pretty decent dungeon crawling music. In recent years, the Tales of series has really struggled in this category, at least in the eyes of other critics, but this installment ups the ante, and really delivers some of the best music since Symphonia.

The dubbed voice acting is really well done this time as well. For the first time in what feels like forever, none of the characters voices grate upon me. Sorey's voice is kind of derpy, but he's also kind of a derpy guy, so it's nothing that hurts the experience.

The sound has a way of picking up right at the most emotional moment, and as such, is composed extremely well. All told, it hits every note it has to, to get a passing grade.

Addictiveness - 8

When the game is going, it's fun. The gameplay, despite being largely the same as in the most recent installments, finds a way to be fresh with its change-system. How it works, is that at most times, you will have two human characters and two seraphs (who are each linked to a human). These seraphs represent fire, water, earth, and wind. If the two seraphs are fire and water, but you are up against an enemy where having wind is more beneficial, it's easy to switch from fire to wind or vice-versa.

It manages to take a pretty stale style and re-invents it in a way that doesn't make the game something unplayable. There's a small learning curve, but the learning curve doesn't get in the way of the game itself.

Dungeon crawling is more fun in this installment than in other recent ones, and I put a lot of that on movement being quicker, battles being quicker, and the fact that the music doesn't grate.

Depth - 6

This game is not nearly as deep as past Tales games. While there are always side-quests, and sometimes, they have meaning, they rarely make you want to backtrack and re-visit an area. Whereas in Xillia, there was always a reason to try and go back, Zestiria doesn't challenge you to do that.

The dungeons are about as linear as they have ever been, and the game seems to punish over-exploring, and pushes you back with plot barriers, either true barriers where guards will not let you pass, or artificial barriers (dark domain, where the "big bad" is hanging out. You basically have to do other stuff before being allowed to do anything besides move at a snail's pace and get your ass kicked by higher level mobs).

While these are bad, the game mostly suffers from a lack of things to do. Unlike other Tales games, which gave meaning to everything you did, this one doesn't carry so much in the way of meaning. The journey in this game is the journey Sorey is on, and deviance from the path is not rewarded, or even punished. It's a good journey, but it is one that doesn't allow for much variance.

Also, there's an alternate ending, but it really isn't worth getting. So, again, deviance from the norm not rewarded.

Story - 9

I'm really happy that the Tales series exists, because for all its faults, it manages to always tell the same story in new ways that makes the story interesting.

The main crux of this game's story is that you are Sorey (so-ray), a human living among the seraph, or spirits, of the world. He grew up alongside Mikleo, a water seraph. One day, a human stumbles upon your home, and Sorey and the seraph are amazed. Through a long chain of events, you and Mikleo leave your home to go chase after this human, to keep her safe from an evil force that presented itself.

You end up in the main city on the world, or something, because it is the only major place you will be going back to constantly. Some weird stuff happens, and by the end of it, huzzah, you are the Shepherd, the mystical/mythical person of legend who is said to be the master of the seraph, and savior to end the "Era of Chaos" and defeat the "Lord of Calamity".

Throughout your adventure, you meet other seraphs, and another human who join your party. It's a pretty generic trope, but it's one that the Tales of series tells really well.

While deviance is not really rewarded, the story is always worth diving into, to get a sense of lore from the world.

Difficulty - 1

RPGs are not hard. Even RPGs that aren't turn based.

Seriously. Just grind if you ever find yourself having trouble, and you'll win.

These games are designed so literally anyone can beat them.

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GRADING FOR TALES OF ZESTIRIA
Graphics - 10% (10% of 7 is .7)
Sound - 10% (10% of 9 is .9)
Addictiveness - 35% (35% of 8 is 2.8)
Depth - 20% (20% of 6 is 1.2)
Story - 25% (25% of 9 is 2.25)
Difficulty - 0% (0% of 1 is 0)
Total - 7.85

I'll also throw this game a bone and give it some bonus points, for being glitch-free.

Overall - 8.1

Tales of Zestiria is a good game, but it is not the best Tales game. It's not even the best Tales game made in the past five or six years. It is, however, the best Tales game on the PS4... oh wait, Tales of Berseria is going to come out next year.

So that might not even be true.

Still, this game is solid, and worth a playthrough.