Even if it is difficult to admit it, in recent years, the Tales of follow and resemble each other far too much, in their qualities and in their faults. With Tales of Zestiria, Bandai Namco wanted to give a boost to a saga that has lost its magic formula a bit. And it starts with a scenario, a universe in line with the demands of the fans. We thus find something closer to a traditional heroic-fantasy in the adventure of Sorey, a young human raised among the Seraphim, elementary Spirits endowed with powerful powers and invisible to the eyes of ordinary mortals. As the Human world descends into chaos, Sorey realizes he may be the chosen one of his kind, the Shepherd, the one who will purge the world of its malevolence and defeat the Lord of Calamity who caused it. . It's not going to revolutionize the history of the J-RPG, but it remains effective and the whole is perfectly accompanied by a very high-end soundtrack, where false notes are rare.
TEAM SPIRIT
A slight step back, then, with this fifty-hour fresco inspired by the Arthurian legend. But the pillars of the saga remain intact, whether in the themes addressed, in the presence of animated passages (some of which were not entitled to subtitles!) or in the excellent Japanese dubbing. Nor should the clashes confuse the regulars for more than a few hours. There are indeed the basics of the combat system already used in previous episodes, with a few nuances. The links between the members of your team are once again at the heart of the gameplay, even if it is no longer a question here of taking an opponent in a pincer movement, as in Xillia. Sorey, as a Shepherd, can bond with several Seraphim who will accompany him in battle. These can fight independently, depending on the strategy you have chosen for them, thanks to their different Artes. Or Sorey can decide, after having filled a special gauge, to merge with one of them: this is Armatization.Tales of Zestiria may seem messy and cluttered (hard to deny that), but it reveals some nice depth pretty quickly.
The goal is of course to take advantage of the elemental affinity of one of the Seraphim to exploit a possible weakness in the enemy. But this tactic is logically a double-edged sword: it gives birth to a very powerful warrior, with unique techniques, but deprives you of a fighter. And if you ever eat the dust in this form, you will have lost two heroes. It is therefore necessary to perform this transformation at the appropriate time, juggle between the Seraphim and take advantage of the HP regeneration of the Armatization mode to keep the ascendancy. And that's just one of the many subtleties of the combat system to assimilate during the first ten hours of play. Attack and defense, dodging, use of combos and special abilities: on the surface, Tales of Zestiria can seem messy and clutter (difficult to deny it), but it quickly reveals a nice depth. This is once again one of its undeniable qualities.
COMBINATION OF MANDATES
There are also changes in the management of our team. Always with a view to betting on elemental affinities, Zestiria offers a system of cumulative abilities on the different equipment of each character. By respecting the diagrams of the abilities sheet, you will be able to unlock bonuses for your heroes. However, this implies seeing clearly and being able to sort efficiently between the pieces of equipment, which is not facilitated by the very average ergonomics of certain menus. In addition, the protagonists of your team now share a large list of combat actions, unlockable by accumulating the action points you will obtain by discovering monoliths. They also have support abilities, useful for exploration (detecting treasures, herbs for example), crafting, cooking or healing. The goal of all this is to simplify management and minimize going back and forth in the menus.
MARTY, BACK IN 2007!
But the biggest downside of this new Tales of is its technique. Considering that the game was originally released on PS3, and Tales of PS3 was already barely at console level, that was to be expected. The environments are empty, the animations are limited to the bare minimum, the clipping is violent, the textures are from another age: in short, you will have understood it, we do not play Tales of Zestiria for its plasticity. Especially since the promises of open-world RPGs made during the promo of the game are completely bogus. Admittedly, the enemies are visible on the world map, and the transitions between combat and movement are considerably reduced, but we are still dealing with a considerably marked role-playing game. What is much more annoying is that these technical concerns also concern the combat camera. Much too close to the action, it becomes truly problematic in the many narrow passages of the game, to the point of ruining the readability of the whole and weighing down one of the best aspects of the game a little.
