Now first things first, this game is gorgeous, no questions about it. Not just the best looking tales game, but perhaps one of the best looking anime styled games period. The world, characters and effects are all gorgeous.
As for the music, while it doesn't really stand out or act as anything really memorable, it at least does a good job at setting the tone for whatever is currently happening.
The gameplay is also incredibly smooth, lacking much of the stiffness you would often associate with Tales entries of the past. The characters just feel like a joy to control. The one knock against it would be that it somewhat suffers from enemies just being incredibly spongy making fights frequently feel like they drag on.
One thing I do have gripes with is the story. Or I guess it would be more accurate to say that I struggle to give a damn about it.
More than anything, it just feels really bland.
Now first for what it does well, the main characters. The moment to moment writing for them is certainly a massive step up in the field, and it is also supported by an outstanding dub. The characters themselves, while they fall into rather familiar molds at the very least feel alive and it does a decent job at fleshing them out.
The rest of the cast however doesn't fare as well. There are hardly any notable side characters worth of note and the villains really get the short end of the stick.
The story in general just suffers from being a mostly generic good vs evil villain of the week story powered by the power of friendship. While it tries to present itself as otherwise, the longer it goes on the clearer and clearer it all becomes that it is your average anime fantasy story. This is also why the villains suffer so much in the character department, as they seemingly just exist to be pounded by the heroes and then for them to move on making just your common evil thugs. Even the closest the game gets to a central main villain feels more a like a footnote more than anything. And while the game tries to portray them as having had some redeeming qualities, it all just comes from small side notes, not really doing a good job helping their case.
There is also a frequent failure of the plot to consider the side effects of its characters actions. And what makes it so frustrating is that the game repeatedly flirt with the idea of exploring these deeper topics yet backpedals at the last second or changes the subject. For the most part the story settles on being a simple anti-discrimination plot being content with simple answers to complex questions, not really digging deeper.
Having completed the game, I am somewhat left with apathy towards it. It was just something that I completed then moved on. It wasn't bad or anything, but I wouldn't describe it as memorable either.
Gorgeous and well playing title that sadly feels like it lacks substance.
Now first things first, this game is gorgeous, no questions about it. Not just the best looking tales game, but perhaps one of the best looking anime styled games period. The world, characters and effects are all gorgeous. As for the music, while it doesn't really stand out or act as anything really memorable, it at least does a good job at setting the tone for whatever is currently happening.
The gameplay is also incredibly smooth, lacking much of the stiffness you would often associate with Tales entries of the past. The characters just feel like a joy to control. The one knock against it would be that it somewhat suffers from enemies just being incredibly spongy making fights frequently feel like they drag on.
One thing I do have gripes with is the story. Or I guess it would be more accurate to say that I struggle to give a damn about it. More than anything, it just feels really bland.
Now first for what it does well, the main characters. The moment to moment writing for them is certainly a massive step up in the field, and it is also supported by an outstanding dub. The characters themselves, while they fall into rather familiar molds at the very least feel alive and it does a decent job at fleshing them out. The rest of the cast however doesn't fare as well. There are hardly any notable side characters worth of note and the villains really get the short end of the stick.
The story in general just suffers from being a mostly generic good vs evil villain of the week story powered by the power of friendship. While it tries to present itself as otherwise, the longer it goes on the clearer and clearer it all becomes that it is your average anime fantasy story. This is also why the villains suffer so much in the character department, as they seemingly just exist to be pounded by the heroes and then for them to move on making just your common evil thugs. Even the closest the game gets to a central main villain feels more a like a footnote more than anything. And while the game tries to portray them as having had some redeeming qualities, it all just comes from small side notes, not really doing a good job helping their case.
There is also a frequent failure of the plot to consider the side effects of its characters actions. And what makes it so frustrating is that the game repeatedly flirt with the idea of exploring these deeper topics yet backpedals at the last second or changes the subject. For the most part the story settles on being a simple anti-discrimination plot being content with simple answers to complex questions, not really digging deeper.
Having completed the game, I am somewhat left with apathy towards it. It was just something that I completed then moved on. It wasn't bad or anything, but I wouldn't describe it as memorable either.