So I Tried... Tales of Zestiria

In each edition of So I Tried… a member of GameGrin will play a game they have never tried before. The game will be given half an hour, no matter how good or bad, to make it’s case. Will I find a hidden gem? Will I find something to eject from my PS4 and never look at again? This time I played Tales of Zestiria.

What I thought it was

A turn-based Japanese RPG in the vein of Final Fantasy or Persona. I had heard of the Tales series before, but never played or even seen gameplay of one. Being a Bandai Namco game, I expect a gorgeous art style and an engaging combat system. A podcast I listen to regularly, Bitsocket, brought the game to my attention when they mentioned it during one of their episodes. I’ve had my eye on it for some time.

What it actually is

It’s definitely a slow burner—I barely got out of the starting area before my time was up. The characters and world are certainly interesting enough on a first impression, though I do wish I hadn’t chosen the English dialogue. The combat is actually real-time with these early fights consisting of little more than bashing O until the enemy dies. It’s got a neat little remaining stamina/damage output ratio going on, having you decide between pouring on the attack or reserving your power for defending.

Will I keep playing

Sure! As I said, I’ve wanted to play this for a while, and while the story looks to be a little predictable, I’d like to follow it along. The menus and tooltips hint at deeper elements to the combat not yet introduced, so hopefully it won’t be long before I can take a more tactical approach. If I can I will definitely change to Japanese language though — the performances are almost insufferable.