Corgi Reviews: Tales of Berseria (2016) vs. Tales of Zestiria (2015)
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- čas přidán 7. 07. 2024
- this is a video three months in the making - a great learning experience, but a great deal of effort to go along with it. it came to be because i wanted to experiment with breaking from the formula i'd been using for my reviews before. just saying how i felt about tales of berseria wasn't enough; i wanted to compare it to its companion because although i didn't stream zestiria, i couldn't keep myself from thinking, "why did they use the same foundation, but turn out so differently?"
i hope you guys enjoy it, and that if you haven't yet played tales of vesperia, a completely unrelated entry, my endorsement will encourage you to do so.
0:00 - Intro
0:55 - Tales of Berseria Summary and Analysis
14:42 - Tales of Zestiria Summary and Comparison
23:40 - Berseria and Zestiria Development
29:01 - Special Guest Star Yuri Lowell
33:19 - Gameplay
37:14 - Final Thoughts
a couple items to note: first, none of the music is mine, obviously. i used OSTs from the tales games discussed in the video. youtube copyright is peeved with me anyway for daring to use music with lyrics in it.
secondly, there's a lot of factual information thrown out here, so i've linked the sources i drew from below. to avoid confusion, although i cited naoki yamamoto, the interview i took footage from is with berseria's producer, yasuhiro fukaya, who has made similar comments.
www.gematsu.com/2015/01/media...
www.vg247.com/tales-of-zestir...
jpgames.de/2014/08/animagic-2...
www.siliconera.com/japanese-g...
web.archive.org/web/201505080...
www.wired.co.uk/article/tales...
www.digitallydownloaded.net/2...
www.animenewsnetwork.com/inte...
and, if you watched the whole thing and really liked it, i do have a twitch and a discord server. thanks to the viewers who stuck through my berseria playthrough for the support!
/ butchcorgi
/ discord - Hry
after almost half a year of this video being up and a lot more attention than i anticipated, i figured i should clarify a couple of things:
1. PLEASE don't watch it if you don't want to be spoiled on either berseria or zestiria! though not everyone puts spoilers in reviews, mine include analyses that necessitate me talking about major plot events. you have been warned.
2. some folks seem to be getting the impression that i missed something in my playthroughs that made me overlook x, y, or z reason behind the villain's actions. i know perfectly well what justification the story gives for them, because i said all of that in the video, and saying it again to me will not make me think that a leap over the edge into theocratic fascism was sensible even as a writing choice. i just think it's dumb! sorry! hope that helps.
Honestly i absolutely loved Berseria. The banter between the many companions is quite enjoyable. When i found out Eizen was a optional secret boss in Tales of Arise, i went out of my way to find them. Found a Boss in the 3rd region that also looks like one of the Therions Velvet and her crew find in Aball in the late game of Berseria.
As someone who's favorite Tales game and 2nd favorite game of all time is Berseria, and dropped Zesteria after 2 hours. this was a great watch. Nice work! 👍🏾
dude, zestiria put me off JRPGs entirely for like a yeah. it was just all of the worst narrative aspects of the genre boiled down into a gray paste. i can only remember a single thing i actually really liked about the game and its just an aesthetic detail; an open field a ways into the game with big rocks and a _beautiful_ sky.
berseria, though, did restore my interest in the series, and zesteria couldn't keep me away from jrpgs for long.
For both games, I love the main cast of characters. They alone can carry this game's plot overall. 😁
amazing work as always corg :>>
Im wanting to finally get into the Tales series and this vid helped a lot! Thanks 😄
Good to see there is still support for Berseria being out. Whether it be a review, an edit, or even an analysis. I feel Berseria, as well as future Tales games to follow, should get more recognition for Western audiences.
Great video.
I think the role of malevolence in Zestiria resulted in a story that automatically writes itself into a corner. You have a lead character who has to have Christ-like levels of universal acceptance, lest he become corrupted and turn into the same sort of cartoon bad guy as the antagonist. He's surrounded by a class of characters whose flaws cannot be moral flaws by definition, lest they irreversibly turn into apocalyptic hell beasts. The rules of the world simply don't afford them the freedom to have the types of flaws and conflicts they needed. The characters of Zestiria are, in a certain sense, in the writing version of the sort of mind prison that Artorious tried to put the whole world of Berseria in.
A insightful and intelligent review of these games. You deserve far more subscribers than you have!😊
Celica's death was the straw that broke the camels back, Arthur had already failed to save his master. Reading between the lines the plan with Inomminat had been on the books for some time before that. On a side note it's my headcannon that Melchior arranged the whole thing.
Really enjoyed this analysis and the 'behind the scenes' bits about Zestiria and Berseria's development.
I never stopped to consider what Artorius having Yuri's mystic arte could mean, but I do like your theory. Interestingly enough, there's another mystic arte that previously was exclusive to a main character and who makes an appearance in Berseria. Eleanor gets to perform Lost Fon Drive, previously seen with Luke from Tales of the Abyss (my own personal Tales favourite). I guess both are characters that get their view of the world deeply changed by their journey, and who in the end do find their resolve to protect what is dear to them? Or they both have red hair, I dunno.
On Artorius' motivations, my impression was that losing Celica was less the impetus to start his "let's supress all emotions" plan, and more of the last straw. He was already almost broken when Celica found him, and she managed to pull him from the brink. With her gone, all Artorius was left with was the realization that the world he was in was seemingly hopeless, with humans doomed to either die or turn into dameons by repeating the same mistakes - clearly something he was already believing in, but managed to ignore for a few years of peace. So when he decided drastic measures were needed, it was basically the conclusion of a journey we unfortunately don't get to see. Basically, he was always leaning toward brutal theocracy, he just never acted on it until he had nothing left - at least that was the impression I got from the game.
On Tales combat... eh, I enjoyed Berseria's fine, though the equipment system was an absolute pain, and a lot of bosses are just kind of boring with inflated HP to make it last longer. It's not the best system I ever tried, but it mostly worked for me. Zestiria felt a lot more clunky in that respect. I'd also like to see the fonic field system from Abyss to come back, but then again, I already said I was biased toward Abyss.
And yeah, Zestiria, while not horrible, was pretty disappointing - though at the very least, this video reminded me it had at least a pretty good OST.
(also, Aifread is kind of a recurring background character in the Tales series, similar to Cid in FF. I don't think he's in every game, but he's at least named in quite a few of them)
oh, good eye regarding abyss - i've not played that one in over a decade but i'll have to revisit it sometime. i do wonder at times if the connections made between games are actually that deep or they're there as a wave to long-time tales fans, but my hobby just happens to be reading into things super hard, lol.
thanks for the comment, i'm glad you enjoyed the video!
Zestiria is ironically the game lacking in zest, the developers had decided what they were telling without ever figuring out how they were going to tell it.
Omg, you said the thing 😂
I played Berseria first, then played Zestiria second both with my friends. If you play Berseria first, you get a call back and remember places and characters from that game. If you play Zestiria second, it will hit more.
Taking into account Zestiria is FAR worse and came first, you really should play Zestiria first.
Many things in Berseria make far more sense and hit harder if you play Zestiria first and actively connect the dots.
Great video. It really was. Your closing statements are fantastic, and gives me faith in your opinion. Lol
But I still
Can’t decide which game to play first. I come from playing vesperia definitive addition when it was first released on the old Consoles and LOVED it. Hands down one of my favorite games of all time. Played it than and than replied and 100% it years later.
And than I had a little bit of time
With xillia And I was enjoying it (never got to finish it). It’s not as great as vesperia. But I was glad I was playing it .
And I played tales of arise, which I liked a lot. But not as much as vesperia.
Im on the PS5 so I can’t play graces yet. And I may pick up xillia/x2 on disc (the stripped it from ththe digital
Store for unknown reasons)
But until than I was thinking of getting my tales itch, scratched by one or both zest or berseria
wow, another vesperia fan! that one is still my favorite entry, if only for nostalgia reasons, lol.
the way i experienced it was zestiria first, berseria second; i wouldn't say there's a "right" order to play them, but i feel that if i'd played berseria first and then tried to complete zestiria i might have gotten more bored with it story-wise. you may also appreciate the zesty callbacks in berseria more if you play the former first. ultimately up to you, though - i hope you have fun with them!
@@butchcorgi7186 I certainly have nostalgia for vesperia. But even when I look at it objectively, like when I played it years later, it’s just so good. It really feels like an adventure with characters that really grown on you and with eachother. All JRPGs typically strive for that. And they don’t all hit it in such a way.
I think I will decide on zesty first. And berseria second. Thanks for the vid!
Artorius wasn't THAT hard to understand. He was a man who was wounded and alone, dying who was saved by a woman he fell in love with. After she gets pregnant with his child, a scarlet night happens, and in his mind, the villagers allow her to be sacrificed to some bandits who turn into demons and end up sacrificing her to Innominant, killing both her and the unborn child. Artorius simply snapped and wanted to put an end to Daemonblight once and for all, by using Innominant to control all the people to remove emotions so nobody could turn into demons anymore. It probably didn't help that he was being manipulated by Melchior the whole time.
I LOVE tales combat
I do actually enjoy both games. While I understand the issues with Zestiria, this was actually the game that got me into the series. I picked it up dirt cheap during a very hard moment in my life. Husband was out of work and sick so not much money. A lot of other things too. But it was a nice distraction when I needed to get away for a while. Zestiria is far from my favorite in the series but I’m so grateful for it’s existence
The thought of having Seraphim in Vesperia the entire time is scary. No matter how much we play it, we will never know until playing Berseria.
? Vesperia has nothing to do with Berseria, it's Zestiria that is connected to it.
@@AzureRoxe if my memory is correct, the guy said there was a theory of all the Tales of' games being in the same universe. That's why I wrote the message.
So for me, being a veteran bandai Namco Dark Souls and Elden Ring player. I found the controls for Berseria to be Jarring at first but vastly simple compared to all the things you'd have to juggle in SoulsBourne games.
Contrary to the simplified explanation of souls games being "dodge and poke" game play. The games do force you to resources manage stamina, healing items, enemy placement, environmental hazards, aswell as searching for viable windows to attack and know when to dodge.
Welcome to the Tales series 💕
I hope you have fun!
Berseria was my first Tales game (currently playing Arise). The story was good but the characters were absolutely GOD-TIER. Velvet is easily a top 5 video game protagonist for me, her design, her tragic backstory, her relationship with Phi and her inability to forgive herself made her journey emotionally gripping. I cried more than once by the end. The supporting cast were all great as well, especially Eizen, Magilou and Phi. The group dynamic had so much chemistry I never wanted to say goodbye to any of them.
I'm glad you found the ending satisfying, but I did not. As you mentioned, Innominat/Laphicet were exceedingly cruel towards Velvet and the others to the point where I felt ZERO sympathy for the character by the end. Feels like after the entire, trauma-filled PTSD-laden journey, Velvet ends up with a fate worse than death: unable to die, trapped in a dream/coma/The Matrix (which contradicts the theme established earlier when Eizen kills Zaveid's dragon girlfriend, arguing that if you are not even aware of what you're doing, then you're not really "alive"). It didn't feel earned or bittersweet to me because the writers made the critical mistake of making Innominat/Laphicet such an enormous, unlikeable piece of shit, his final words being "I hate you, Velvet!"
Phi doesn't get to live out his primary character motivations: neither living quietly with Velvet nor as his own person, "the master of his own ship," traveling the world. Instead he's forced to take up the duty of of a god (refusal meant global collapse). Eizen gets screwed too, but that wasn't Berseria's fault so it gets a pass. I didn't have an issue with Rokurou, Eleanor, or Magilou's endings, as their arcs were complete and the endings felt believable and earned.
Completely agree about the tedious gameplay. So far, Arise is a huge upgrade in every single gameplay category, but the story is pretty mid imo. Hopefully it picks up!
i chewed on this perspective for long enough that i almost forgot about it. i had figured that if berseria had a sticking point for people it would probably be the ending, so it's interesting to see my thoughts confirmed that my reasons for deriving satisfaction from it are pretty specific. this is especially because zestiria's ending made me feel next to nothing, and berseria's left me thinking a lot about whether i'd like it more if velvet hadn't gone into a long sleep. it's a question i still don't have a complete answer to, and one that doesn't come with an answer to "what about phi?" because berseria had to retroactively decide a lot of things based on zestiria. that may be its biggest limitation - though to be clear, my final thoughts remain unchanged.
i had to laugh a little bit because i completely agree that laphicet was hard on velvet for no stated reason when nothing about the person he was pre-innominat suggested as much, but i just couldn't summon the willpower to be fully angry about it. he's like, what, 12 or something? middle school age? when you're pubescent you'll say "i hate you" about anything so it had all the gravitas of an aggressive chihuahua to me. sure, kid, whatever. find a better role model than your redditor brother.
anyway, i've not played arise, but i hope the story got to be less mid. thanks for the comment!
Played both games twice now, I can say I prefer playing Zestiria. I have to say, I was not here while Zestiria was being marketed or advertised. I played both raw. Although Berseria is objectively better in more way, Zestiria does other things better. I prefer the cast of characters in Zestiria.
Is this video a total spoiler?! You should have mentioned that in the title!!!
Yes, it's MAJOR spoilers!
@@happycompy It's in the title, you can't compare both games without spoiling them.
I didn't see anything about Zestiria vs Beseria combat. Zestira was an attempt to balance thr Graces LMBS, by restricting how strong you were via solo. This watered down the game with new added and needed mechanics to prevent breaking the game. Zesty is a middle ground game, balanced fpr better or for worse. It does make seraphim outside of Laliah more boring. Mikleo, Denzel and Edna lack in Martial artes so only 3+ fusion characters are fun.
Berseria gives better character identity but has removed everything and added nothing to Zestirias LMBS. Think of Berseria as Xillia 2; Released damn near right after the first game woth 80% reused assets.
Berseria is more like a supplement to Zestirias wider lore; Wasteland Lore.
I agree that it loses steam 50% ahead with Zesty. Its overall game structure is decent, however, esp after coming from Xilla: The Non Games
Zestiria's cast interplay is weak because their conflicts feel forced. The only time Mikleo seems to even have a personality is right at the beginning of the game, where he gives Sorey a bit of ribbing like a brother might. But once the rest of the Seraphim brigade shows up, he basically fades into brown noise.
Compare that to, say, Guy from Tales of the Abyss. You see him early enough to establish that he's familiar with Luke and one of the few people who not only tolerates him, but is actually friendly to him on terms beyond royal obligation. The nature of their relationship doesn't change over the course of the game but the stakes and circumstances do, and it feels far more organic because Guy reacts to the problems both he and Luke endure (and oh boy does Luke have problems in Abyss. Deep, deep problems).
It doesn't help that Berseria's voice-acting cast and direction absolutely blows Zestiria's out of the water.
Sorey sounds like he's on Quayludes most of the time, and the rest of his cast (save Rose) are very one-note in their delivery. I think that was intentional, but you compare that to, say, Velvet and Laphicet's delivery and how they change RADICALLY over the course of their story? (with good reason)
They got it bang-on perfect in Berseria, where every voice and personality sounds distinct.
(this is one of the few things Tales of Arise gets right. I don't have much good to say about its story, combat or pacing, but the character voicing and SOME of the interplay writing is good...at least, when it isn't beating you over the head with the same point 6+ times.)
pretty sure making zestiria more dulled down was a conscious effort, since the overarching theme of this series is reason vs emotion, and velvet is all about the hate, anger and what not.
while zestiria is a modest adventure about a goody 2 shoes.
its a lot harder to make a spectacle when the main theme is "reason".
and like already said, to make the other game run, one had to crawl.
but i still argue that zestiria is an decent game and should be actually played before berseria, since its basically a preparation for whats to come and will make you appreciate berseria even more.