There’s barely a concern to utter performance wise, though some transitions from in-game cutscene back to gameplay can freeze if for a fragment and building textures can look as clean as a splotch of porridge. Even with PS4’s enhanced capabilities, an added sharpness doesn’t completely help revitalise an otherwise deprived setting. For all the intriguing twists and turns that tease and allude to greater discoveries, a lot of Glenwood’s visuals - or at least that which isn’t blocked off by invisible walls and carefully-placed foliage - lack in anything other than a polished loft of color. Unfortunately, given we’re comparing two games from three (at the most extreme) generations apart, Zestiria‘s World looks, acts and feels untreated. Progression, in as much the World of Glenwood, feels familiarly acute to the way early 3D Zelda‘s cleverly tackled the issue by way of exploration of which was interconnected by cleverly-disguised corridor sections and regions that could pertain to mini-dungeons.
TALES OF ZESTIRIA GAME SERIES
The story isn’t teased or otherwise prolonged anymore than what’s necessary, so come the turn of the opening hour you’re left to get on with it and explore the grand open-world - a feature making its long overdue debut in the series - before you. Oh, and something about evil manifesting through negative emotions and dwindled loss of faith.
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You play as Sorey, a happy-go-lucky young man - and potential nominee for worst running animation in a video game - tasked with…you’ve guessed it…saving the World as well as fixing a once healthy co-existent relationship between mankind and a race of invisible spirits called Seraphim. That’s not saying Tales of Zestiria is entirely lacking outside its signature real-time tactics and combat system, but it wouldn’t be a stretch to proclaim you won’t come out of this speaking gospel of Zestiria’s rather expendable plot, and in effect, its character roster. Yet, there’s something whispering away to me from out the confines whether it’s the jubilant aesthetic of Symphonia or Xilia‘s gamble with setting – of which I respect – if I know I’m not staying, I can at least damn well enjoy my time and cut right into the meat of Tales’ appeal, and by extension, its first outing onto current-generation consoles. I’ve never personally identified as much with Bandai Namco’s go-to fan-pleaser as I have other eastern-developed franchises, be it the character-led resonance of Persona (akin to a Dr Pepper if you’re curious) or Xenosaga‘s (Irn-Bru right there) lofty ambition.
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If JRPGs were soft drinks, the ever-popular Tales series would easily fit the bill of the Diet Coke: reasonably balanced, not too indulgent and one best enjoyed in compartmented doses.