Tales of Berseria (2016)

Always a shame when games and books take the coward's way out to letting their main characters do something potentially morally suspect. Even after making it clear the target is nowhere near innocent, they still have to contrive some stupidly convenient way for them to die.

All the more glaring in a game with the kind of themes this one has.

I haven't had a lot of time to play this in the past week. Last weekend I was busy with a lot of cleaning and trying to see friends; this week has just been hectic at work (when is it nottttt?).

I think one benefit of Arise being so linear and not having like, any puzzles or anything to really do other than "move ahead, fight monsters, fight boss, move through next area, repeat" was that I could easily sink hours into it each evening (and more on weekends). With Berseria and playing with a guide like I usually do in order to not miss quests and such, it's a little more...not tedious, but...involved? You also can't just save anywhere like you could in Arise (a new addition to the series that was very welcome), so I have to kind of schedule my time with it. That's part of why I've just kind of been playing a few indies/chill games when I have time to sit down in the evenings.

Either way, I'm still enjoying my time back with this game. I forgot a lot of the details of the plot and battle mechanics, so it feels fresh in a lot of ways.

I really don't want to get burnt out and start up another long JRPG but I haven't been able to stop thinking about finally replaying Berseria for like two days now, so I guess I'm doing this.

[I basically did everything I could do in Arise in the past two days--the little bonus quest that was cool, and then got my whole party to Lv. 100. I didn't do all of the training grounds, and I hate the fishing so Kisara is never getting those titles, but everything else is done. Not much post-game to speak of. I think, coupled with the fact that I've wanted to replay Berseria for years and just haven't, I also want to play a Tales game that feels more Tales than Arise did.]

I'm about 7 hours in and... I've put it on pause. The recipe for the plot seems kind of repetitive, and I really am not a fan of the combat. I know it's an RPG and I should expect to spend a lot of time in menus, but... I feel extremely overwhelmed by all the artes and how to combo them, etc. Instead of getting joy out of combat and customization, I was dreading it.

Who knows if I'll return.

Tales of Berseria (Progress Update) And here we are, the final part of the game. At the time of me writing this, I have clocked in a little over 50 hours into the game. And I enjoyed every second of it :). Can't wait to see how this all plays out....

SPOILERS AHEAD!

Saved the prince and the little girl from the abbey, but unfortunately the little girl had her free will removed from her since we were too late :(. Afterwards we headed up north towards Mount Kilaraus where the final showdown is going to take place. Awaken the 4 Empeyreans by sacrificing the souls of Teresa and her brother, have Rokurou take down Shigure with the blade forged with the body of the blacksmith, beat down Melchior, kill Artorious and finish off Inominat.... this is gonna be one heck of a battle lol

Tales of Berseria Update: And it's a long one lol xD. SPOILERS AHEAD.

So we finally found Aifread, and it turns out he was transformed into a demon by Melchior and the Abbey. Unfortunately, Eizen punched a literal hole right through his chest since he felt that Aifread was no longer himself and went against the very creed that he staked his life on.... I feel bad for the Eizen and the Van Eltia crew. Makes me wonder how it all would have turned out if Laphicet was able to fully use his power to remove all the malevolence from Aifread.

The group now plans to wake up the elemental Empyreans, which will somehow help reduce the power of Inominat (not quite sure how this is going to work out, but we'll see lol). On top of that, it looks like Inominat has started to strip away humanity's sin and ability to freely think. And many of the people are literally killing themselves since they are so sinful that they feel like they don't deserve to be alive..... this "utopia" is a lot creepier than I originally thought it was going to be. I totally thought everyone would have been just void of thought, and just go about their days as usual - almost like robots. Since they were all a "clean slate". But maybe this is all happening because Inominat doesn't have all of his power yet.... it's tough to say. Guess I gotta keep playing lol.

Tales of Berseria Update:

So I'm now approaching the end game of Tales of Berseria, and I'm glad they continue to push and develop the theme of self-interest vs self-sacrifice :).

Waaay to go Laphicet :). Finally smacked some sense into Velvet after confessing his love for her for giving him new meaning to his life - he's even willing to die for her simply for his own sake since he cannot imagine living a world without her (like being selfish for a good cause lol). Afterwards, Velvet acknowledges that what Artorious and her brother are doing to rid the world of daemons and sin isn't exactly wrong, but at the same she doesn't care about any of that is still willing to get her revenge because of the crap they put her through... she's driven by emotion, but at the same time it's what makes her human - the fact that she is angry and upset means she cares deeply and cherished the moments she had with her family. Good stuff!