Tales of Zestiria

 PlayStation 4
User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 411 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 241 out of 411
  2. Mixed: 91 out of 411
  3. Negative: 79 out of 411
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  1. fallouts
    Oct 20, 2015
    0
    Tales games are like the Call of Duty and AC of JRPGS....I liked these games in the past but this release clearly demonstrates that they need to take a break and innovate. The combat system is decent if samey, but the story and exploration is so lackluster, the things that matter in an RPG. Get Divinity, Witcher 3 or Xenoblade CHronicles X instead.
  2. leejaku
    Jan 6, 2019
    2
    Literally one of the worst games an JRPGs I've played in my entire life. Map exploring feels like a ps2 game, combat system is totally broken and chaotic due to the worst possible camera, items and skills are so confusing that having beaten many other jRPGs myself and my friend ( playing co op ) wasn't enough to understand even a bit. Play other games
  3. phoenixsaturn
    Nov 14, 2019
    4
    A game that unfortunately fails to live up to the high standards of its predecessors. Tales of Zestiria is an ugly, buggy mess of a game with forgettable characters and a frustrating plot.

    Despite now occurring in the overworld battles are nothing to write home about, mostly involving entering into Kamui form and mashing to overwhelm opponents. The main characters, Sorey and Rose,    A game that unfortunately fails to live up to the high standards of its predecessors. Tales of Zestiria is an ugly, buggy mess of a game with forgettable characters and a frustrating plot.

    Despite now occurring in the overworld battles are nothing to write home about, mostly involving entering into Kamui form and mashing to overwhelm opponents. The main characters, Sorey and Rose, cannot be removed from the battle party, and with the combination of the aforementioned Kamui mode the Tales Series' typical 4 player co-op does not function properly in this game. The transition is also buggy and you can often get trapped inside walls or behind rocks in battle mode, meaning you'll have to rely on your CPU allies to end battles and free you if you fall victim to this glitch.

    The story is incredibly frustrating, relying on tired anime plot cliches to attempt to advance it. The heroes will have you rolling your eyes while the villains will bore you with their cookie cutter molds of personality. The Tales Series' typical attempts at subverting some of the story elements are present, but executed very poorly in this installment. I would not recommend this game and would suggest either skipping right to Berseria or going back and playing one of the series' older installments.    … Expand
  4. SomeName
    Feb 27, 2016
    4
    I enjoyed Tales of Zestiria, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. Why? Because I haven't played a JRPG in almost 10 years and could find even this cliche game to be interesting. For anyone with a bit of experience/recency, this game is in many aspects too generic to be fun for the time it takes to complete.

    -Plot & Characters: The plot is literally the #1 most commonly chosen    I enjoyed Tales of Zestiria, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. Why? Because I haven't played a JRPG in almost 10 years and could find even this cliche game to be interesting. For anyone with a bit of experience/recency, this game is in many aspects too generic to be fun for the time it takes to complete.

    -Plot & Characters:
    The plot is literally the #1 most commonly chosen idea in all of game development: save the world. It doesn't get any deeper than that. The characters can be endearing and likeable at times, but tend not to develop much from their archetypes. There are also some serious plot holes/non-nonsensical decisions made by the characters that given the simplicity of the story, are very hard to forgive. Overall, this is one of the blandest plots I've seen in a game.

    -Gameplay
    The gameplay alternates from combat between overworld. The combat is enjoyable and ranks somewhere inbetween an MMORPG and a proper fighting/adventure game (such as Dark Souls). However, it takes little to no skill, mostly as there are too many fighting units, resulting in spell/skill cliusterf*** that allows you to win battles just by mashing buttons. Even the toughest bosses can go down without landing a hit, just because you can stagger/stun spam them to death. Then there is also the fact that there are too many battles vs. anything else. Most of the overworld is just empty space with a few mobs for you to grind on and not much else. You can of course do quests, but they fall into the "find this" or "kill this" model a bit too often. There are maybe 4 types of puzzles in the whole game, so not much there. Generally, this part feels very MMO-like where the ideas ran out a lot earlier than the content so the developers just made everything bigger and re-skinned the monsters a few times.

    -Art/Music
    This is just about the only moment the game redeems itself. The art is nice and colourful and many segments are animated, but not animated to the point of being an eternal cutscene game. My favourite though, is the music and hearing it is probably the only thing that kept me playing until the end.

    -Other
    --The game does have good loading times (on my PC, at least).
    --The combat framerate is low, but consistent most of the time.
    --The gear system was designed by mad people and just about nobody will ever bother trying to use it optimally.

    In summary the game has some strengths, but its main gameplay is just too generic. It's combat is better than than that of some JRPGs, but the grindy nature ruins that. I also have no idea why they bothered with an NG+, because the linear/0-decision aspect of the game gives it little replayability.    … Expand
  5. natanfk
    Feb 20, 2017
    3
    This game is just BAD. The story and the characters are absolutely boring, and it has a very stupid religious message. The combat system (actually, every system in this **** game) is confusing as hell, and the game tutorials just make it worse. Graphics are terribly outdated. You'll probably win all battles, but you won't know what the hell you're doing. Translation to portuguese is veryThis game is just BAD. The story and the characters are absolutely boring, and it has a very stupid religious message. The combat system (actually, every system in this **** game) is confusing as hell, and the game tutorials just make it worse. Graphics are terribly outdated. You'll probably win all battles, but you won't know what the hell you're doing. Translation to portuguese is very bad, and I couldn't change it to english (you can only change the audio). Exploration is nonexistent, there are some very big maps with nothing on it, they are there just to be big. Also, the price is WAY too high for what this game is worth. This is my first "Tales of" games, and seeing this **** I'm don't intend to play any of the others. The only good things are some fun battles and voice acting.… Expand
  6. Dhane
    Oct 22, 2015
    4
    I tried to like this game. I really did, but after hitting the 15 hour mark I simply gave up. It's frustrating how outdated and unimaginative it is. The story is okay-ish, but never surprising. The archetype characters, the world in turmoil, the super villain and so on and so forth. The combat system is far from intuitive, and keeps you guessing for the first few hours, even after readingI tried to like this game. I really did, but after hitting the 15 hour mark I simply gave up. It's frustrating how outdated and unimaginative it is. The story is okay-ish, but never surprising. The archetype characters, the world in turmoil, the super villain and so on and so forth. The combat system is far from intuitive, and keeps you guessing for the first few hours, even after reading the walls of text the game throws at you time and time again. When you finally get the hang of it, it is forgettable at best. Its flashy appearance is just not enough. The exploration, which is one point I usually like about JRPGs, feels tedious and very little rewarding. It has you running around way too much, and doesn't let you use the fast travel system at will, which is very frustrating. The best thing about the game is the music, but unfortunately that is not enough to save this Tales title from failing. 4/10.… Expand
  7. Wrex
    Nov 5, 2015
    3
    As much as I have enjoyed recent Tales games, Zestiria is profoundly disappointing. My thoughts reflect that of the 'negative' reviews out there;
    - subpar graphics
    - cliche characters and plot lines - systems/mechanics that take far too long to unlock for the player, and then when they do, they start to become convoluted and unnecessary - an "open world' that is nothing more than a    As much as I have enjoyed recent Tales games, Zestiria is profoundly disappointing. My thoughts reflect that of the 'negative' reviews out there;
    - subpar graphics
    - cliche characters and plot lines
    - systems/mechanics that take far too long to unlock for the player, and then when they do, they start to become convoluted and unnecessary
    - an "open world' that is nothing more than a larger area map that is sparsely populated with points of interest
    - a battle system, that in my opinion, is a step down from more recent Tales games. There is far too much pause interrupting the flow of battle
    - just the general feel of the game is something I would've expected from a generic JRPG from a decade or two ago    … Expand
  8. midipon
    Apr 2, 2017
    4
    Play any other 3 Tales games and you'll see what goes wrong in Zestiria. The writing is atrocious, characters are one-note *except* for when their character arc are being barfed out (and later forgotten), the battle system took what they had been building with the Xillia games and made it more obtuse and irritating, aramtization is absolutely broken, playing as a seraph isn't fun becausePlay any other 3 Tales games and you'll see what goes wrong in Zestiria. The writing is atrocious, characters are one-note *except* for when their character arc are being barfed out (and later forgotten), the battle system took what they had been building with the Xillia games and made it more obtuse and irritating, aramtization is absolutely broken, playing as a seraph isn't fun because almost all the enemies will resist you, the A.I. is ass-retarded and always dies, dungeons are flat and pointless, and the music is the same old boring Tales generica. Play any other game in the series.… Expand
  9. talesfan
    Mar 30, 2016
    2
    I've played all of the Tales games that have been imported and this is the worst one of the lot. I'm not sure what the developers were thinking when they devised this plot that is so linear there's no challenge or "surprise" coming. Seriously, there are four shrines and to gain powers (Mystic Artes), Sorey must complete the shrines.

    Not only that, but the characters weren't all that    I've played all of the Tales games that have been imported and this is the worst one of the lot. I'm not sure what the developers were thinking when they devised this plot that is so linear there's no challenge or "surprise" coming. Seriously, there are four shrines and to gain powers (Mystic Artes), Sorey must complete the shrines.

    Not only that, but the characters weren't all that endearing, and were mostly tropes. Laliah's ridiculous babbling instead of giving information because of some perceived "pact," made this even worse.

    Finally, the game mechanics were terrible. There were times when the battle camera was so off, I couldn't tell what I was fighting.    … Expand
  10. hi-lite
    Oct 22, 2015
    2
    Isn't JRPG.
    Isn't Tales game.
    Inhumane character that can’t be completely understood.
    All unresolved.
    Sorey without showing the passion, has left this world.
  11. InvertedWave
    Dec 25, 2015
    3
    One of the worst recent Tales game imho. Boring generic anime characters, shoe horned Waifus, bland combat, boring environment setting ans story. If you want a good recently released Tales game play XIlla 1 and 2 (especially 2) They are way better than this garbage. I've been a Tales fan since the release of Vesperia on the Xbox360 and I have played every Tales game released up into thisOne of the worst recent Tales game imho. Boring generic anime characters, shoe horned Waifus, bland combat, boring environment setting ans story. If you want a good recently released Tales game play XIlla 1 and 2 (especially 2) They are way better than this garbage. I've been a Tales fan since the release of Vesperia on the Xbox360 and I have played every Tales game released up into this point. I have to say this is the worst installment out of the series.… Expand
  12. WuTangTurtle
    Nov 8, 2015
    4
    Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Vesperia are in my top 10 favorite games of all time. Which makes me so deeply disappointed with this game. Just before this game came out me and 3 friends had a blast completing Tales of Xillia but we all ended up giving up on Tales of Zestiria.

    The camera is just awful. The camera locks onto the enemy character that Player 1 is targeting and the    Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Vesperia are in my top 10 favorite games of all time. Which makes me so deeply disappointed with this game. Just before this game came out me and 3 friends had a blast completing Tales of Xillia but we all ended up giving up on Tales of Zestiria.

    The camera is just awful. The camera locks onto the enemy character that Player 1 is targeting and the camera gets blocked by environments, zooms in too much, and often times the players will find themselves lost outside the frame of the camera. This is the worst camera system I've seen, even an old game like Mario 64 had a better camera system.

    I'd recommend only playing it Single Player but even Single Player seems sub par compared to the rest of the series. Camera issues still apply here as well but slightly easier to manage. The difficulty seems too easy even on Hard Mode, I didn't really like any of the characters, and they changed cooking again, it kind of just auto cooks things at random...ugh, stop dumbing everything down.

    It breaks my heart that this game released in this state. I'm super glad i did not buy the Collector's Edition and now will hesitate on purchasing future Tales of games altogether unless they specifically address these issues.    … Expand
  13. tonka819
    Nov 4, 2015
    3
    Bought it because of the solid reviews I saw on here. I didn't enjoy it at all. Dialogue/story just came off as too stereotypical for this genre and the gameplay was confusing. Graphics also felt like I was playing something from prior gen. Just overall, not that enjoyable.
  14. Matt32767
    May 11, 2016
    3
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Very bland... Oh so very, very bland.

    The story of this game is just boring. There's no real twists or turns that make you feel like something amazing that lurking behind the scenes and pulling the strings suddenly gets revealed and you're like Oooooooh! The secrets that are revealed left me with a feeling of, "Really? That was the big deal? That's why you were always playing dumb, madame party member? Pfft!"

    The majority of the party members as well are just as bland. Like a lukewarm bowl of porridge! You dig your spoon in to this porridge hoping to find some brown sugar, a piece of fruit or perhaps a bit of cinnamon! Just to work your way to the bottom of the bowl and find out that, no, you're just eating lukewarm porridge.

    There were times when Sorey had a real chance to go through some sort of emotional turmoil that could lend itself to an even greater story and help the player form some sort of emotional bond with him, but nope. He just kinda shrugs it off without any emotional change whatsoever and continues skipping along.

    Apparently you can do whatever you want in this world, and if you don't feel guilt or have any emotional reaction to your actions, you're good! Want to murder people? Hey! As long as you don't lose any sleep at night you're good! No evil can touch you! Go ahead! Commit genocide and dip the corpses of the vanquished in candle wax and stick them in a birthday cake! As long as you don't feel bad about your little sister blowing out those candles on her birthday you're good to go! Step off a curb into a puddle and splash someone next to you by accident and feel bad about it and you'll become possessed by evil! There is no greater sin than having some sort of internal conflict in this games world!    … Expand
  15. Dynel
    Jul 21, 2016
    2
    After playing the game for about 15 hours, I gave up on it. Here's why:

    Story, Main component of ANY RPG. Bland, repetitive and unoriginal. It felt new at first, then, it fell into the mold of some other RPG's. Can't exactly point which because the story felt over used and forgettable. It never hooked me in, which is a huge part of any rpg. Graphics, the only "salvageable" thing    After playing the game for about 15 hours, I gave up on it. Here's why:

    Story, Main component of ANY RPG. Bland, repetitive and unoriginal. It felt new at first, then, it fell into the mold of some other RPG's. Can't exactly point which because the story felt over used and forgettable. It never hooked me in, which is a huge part of any rpg.

    Graphics, the only "salvageable" thing about the game. it still felt like I was playing some old 90's game though. Nothing impressive. Exploration felt lackluster and unrewarding.

    Battle System. While the addition of the fusion mode made it fairly new, it still felt old and outdated. Be either Overpowered or underpowered.

    Music and Voices. I always set up to listen to Japanese voices, as their are far superior to the cartoonish english voices. Intro was okay-ish, but, nothing good either.

    Other mechanics, Gear progression is very stupid and unoriginal. It felt like some outdated and badly made mmorpg. "level" gear by fusing it with other gear of the same name until it reaches a certain level, then you can morph it into the "next level". Am I back in Blade and Soul?! I have to say, gear progression is the single and most stupidly BORING decision for a jrpg EVER. The grindy nature of the game felt like a mmo... without the "rewards".

    Overall experience, Lackluster is the word for this game. Story is easy to guess. Characters are cliched and could see events coming miles away, therefore, no twists in the story that or nothing I couldn't see coming. Main character is forgettable, lacks resolve or a motive to do something aside from wanting to explore ruins, for a person supposed to save the world, exploring ruins feels... moronic. All in all, this game doesn't feel like any Tales of... game. Get something better or wait and see if Berseria improves.    … Expand
  16. HabarB
    Apr 17, 2020
    0
    I've been trying to like this JRPG because I'm a fan since the '90s so I picked it up again after I dropped and uninstalled this 2 years ago -- but now I've really lost patience and love for it because of:
    - the overly complicated combat and game mechanics,
    - persistent hand-holding and tutorials (just let me the player figure out the game) - the music is forgettable: I can't even    I've been trying to like this JRPG because I'm a fan since the '90s so I picked it up again after I dropped and uninstalled this 2 years ago -- but now I've really lost patience and love for it because of:
    - the overly complicated combat and game mechanics,
    - persistent hand-holding and tutorials (just let me the player figure out the game)
    - the music is forgettable: I can't even remember how any of its BGM sounds like now after playing for 9 hrs.
    This JRPG is a solid example of making a simple and outdated game design disguised into something sophisticated by placing much too many rules and terms just for the sake of making everything seem the game has depth.

    Heck, Tekken 7 and Soulcalibur 6's are more easier to follow and play than the battle/fighting system of this super otaku (Japanese for nerd) product. I'm not too sure now if I'll try it again the 3rd time after 2 years.    … Expand
  17. SplitMind
    Dec 22, 2020
    4
    I played this after the excellent Tales of Berseria, however this was a massive let-down in comparison.

    Firstly, the waypoints, or lack thereof. It is absolutely bewildering how many times there was simply a mission to go somewhere but absolutely no waypoint on the map to guide you. A simple solution to this is resorting to online guides, but I don't get how such a fundamental mechanic    I played this after the excellent Tales of Berseria, however this was a massive let-down in comparison.

    Firstly, the waypoints, or lack thereof. It is absolutely bewildering how many times there was simply a mission to go somewhere but absolutely no waypoint on the map to guide you. A simple solution to this is resorting to online guides, but I don't get how such a fundamental mechanic in any game is absent or at least inconsistent here.

    Secondly, the large empty arenas and severe lack of fast travel. These two are interconnected, as a pleasant and stimulating environment means you don't mind exploring like in Skyrim, however in ToZ this is inane, and combined with a lack of a waypoint, adds to the frustration. A fast travel mechanic between save points would have resolved so many issues.

    Thirdly, the stupidly messy and convoluted RPG mechanics. There is a difference between depth and convoluted messes. Zestiria falls into the latter. For the first few hours of the game that I played I was encountering walls of text after almost every battle detailing yet another game mechanic. Much of this 'depth' also seems very undermined by a battle system that boils down to button-bashing.

    I haven't even gotten to the story or graphics. These are just fine but also a bit bland. The game would be much better for me if the game arenas were smaller and more compact, rather than this faux attempt at an open world.

    Overall, this is not the RPG you were looking for. By now there are a plethora of options on the PS4, many of them better than this.    … Expand
  18. Gamepro3093
    Dec 26, 2022
    0
    Horrible game. The story is rote and uninteresting and lacks any memorable moments, the characters are one note and boring, the music is completely forgettable, the systems (ie combat, upgrading, fast travel) are unnecessarily convoluted and poorly executed, the environments are big but empty and you’ll be going through them way too frequently. Play Vesperia, Symphonia, Berseria and AriseHorrible game. The story is rote and uninteresting and lacks any memorable moments, the characters are one note and boring, the music is completely forgettable, the systems (ie combat, upgrading, fast travel) are unnecessarily convoluted and poorly executed, the environments are big but empty and you’ll be going through them way too frequently. Play Vesperia, Symphonia, Berseria and Arise and leave Zestiria in the trash where it belongs.… Expand
  19. Ingleberg
    Mar 30, 2021
    1
    easily the worst game ever made in this budget range. please never release a game again
    ridiculously convoluted battle system thrown at you with myriad and unending popups that you can never view again (i hear maybe towards end-game, so good luck)
    repetitive boring combat environments completely devoid of texture or furniture almost at all boring characters, boring setting, horrible    easily the worst game ever made in this budget range. please never release a game again
    ridiculously convoluted battle system thrown at you with myriad and unending popups that you can never view again (i hear maybe towards end-game, so good luck)
    repetitive boring combat
    environments completely devoid of texture or furniture almost at all
    boring characters, boring setting, horrible UI, horrible music, and HP bullet sponge bosses that make you want to tear your hair out
    buy a copy and immediately burn it
    the only satisfaction i got from this steaming pile was from deleting it    … Expand
  20. Reekum
    Nov 20, 2021
    4
    As with many other games, theres something good beneath all the trash in this one.
    Battle system is ok. Better to play in normal and just use attacks, defense, dodge and free movement than to care about the insane amount of gear buffs and passive abilities. History is so, so at the beginning but seriously drags towards the middle and third act is a lot of padding with even worse    As with many other games, theres something good beneath all the trash in this one.
    Battle system is ok. Better to play in normal and just use attacks, defense, dodge and free movement than to care about the insane amount of gear buffs and passive abilities. History is so, so at the beginning but seriously drags towards the middle and third act is a lot of padding with even worse storytelling and petty dilemma, tries to hard to not be good vs evil and turns out repetitive and ridiculous which is the main reason why i give such a low score, I just wanted it to end.    … Expand
  21. Dustofwarfare
    Oct 28, 2021
    4
    I really loved Tales of Berseria, which I actually played through first before this, and....this didn't really do it for me? The characters were too saccharine and a bit too bland, the story didn't grab me and I found the combat boring and glitchy. There were some nice moments -- I LOVED Edna -- and I liked seeing the connections to Berseria, but honestly, this one was a miss for me. II really loved Tales of Berseria, which I actually played through first before this, and....this didn't really do it for me? The characters were too saccharine and a bit too bland, the story didn't grab me and I found the combat boring and glitchy. There were some nice moments -- I LOVED Edna -- and I liked seeing the connections to Berseria, but honestly, this one was a miss for me. I liked Berseria much better, both in terms of gameplay and character/story.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

44
#44 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2015
5
#5 Most Shared PS4 Game of 2015

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 59 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 32 out of 59
  2. Mixed: 26 out of 59
  3. Negative: 1 out of 59
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    Mar 3, 2016
    63
    Tales of Zestiria is just bad and lazy entry for a 20 year old series. [Jan 2016]
  2. GameCritics
    Feb 5, 2016
    75
    Tales of Zestiria had a good chance to surpass Vesperia as my favorite Tales title, but the weak plot left me wanting more. On the other hand, the combat system is currently tops, so that's a plus. Overall I still enjoyed my time with it, and would recommend it to Tales newcomers. Just come to it for the combat (and not the story) and everything will be roses.
    Read full review
  3. Playstation Official Magazine UK
    Dec 16, 2015
    70
    Beyond its puddle-deep characters, Zestiria is a decent addition to the series. [Christmas 2015, p.86]
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