Tales of Zestiria (PlayStation 4) Review

Tales of Zestiria continues the tradition of beautifully coloured and gorgeous JRPG visual presentation. Every character wears over-the-top outfits and armour that may sometimes completely destroy the concept of practicality. Although at times impractical, costumes are all gorgeously designed, and many are available for each character.

The costume attachments make a triumphant return, with a good feature to make it easier to locate any attachment on any part of a character model with pre-set locations. Although the models are top notch for a Tales game, the run and walk cycles look extremely wonky at times. This issue is especially noticeable on the main character.

Landscapes, dungeons and towns all seem to continue the same aesthetic of every previous three-dimensional Tales entry. Exploring dungeons feels no different in Tales of Zestiria when compared to any of the two Tales of Xillia titles; however, this is one large exception, and possibly the greatest addition to the series: combat no longer takes the player to a separate predetermined combat environment.

The story, like every Tales game before it, also manages to continue the same feeling where nothing seems entirely substantial or at risk; no sense of drama ever truly takes place. Plenty of comedic optional skit scenes are certainly intact, as always, but nothing in the story and pacing feels new or unique, as every Tales game seems to follow the same exact story and pacing structure.

Combat in a Tales game has never been so enticing and exciting. Much similar to Tales of Graces, there are now two separate types of combat arte inputs: the conventional use of combat, where attacks branch out and are determined by the directional input, as well as the attack; and the hidden/Seraphic artes that are used more for larger damage. The greatest addition to the combat is none other than "Armatization." Characters capable of this feature can fuse together with a Seraph character, combining into one entity. In this form, move sets and artes are altered to an entirely different set and partner characters can learn their own attacks as the new entity. Some may wonder what the point of ever being normal is when it's possible to just use Armatization, but in this form, "BG" points are consumed at an alarming rate - a resource very precious for combat. Luckily, BG can be refilled through conventional combat.

One very important issue with the game's battles is that the camera will experience extreme troublesome results when in tight combat locations. The camera will get stuck looking directly into a corner or wall if combat is engaged too closely to one.