February 1, 2023

Tales of Berseria Review: If There Is Evil In This World...

 

NOTE: Some of images used in this article are promotional pieces from the developer.

 


 

During a ritual hosted on a Scarlet Night (blood moon), Velvet is accidentally transformed into a "Therion" (a type of daemon) while trying to stop her brother-in-law, Artorius from sacrificing her little brother to a god. Being an exorcist of sorts, Artorius has Velvet imprisoned until she manages to break free three years later. Consumed with rage, Velvet vows to kill Artorius.
 

Over the course of her journey Velvet gains the company of a child malak (spirit), an exorcist, a jester magician, a demon swordsman, and a cursed pirate.

Tales of Berseria is a prequel to Tales of Zestiria, taking place 1,000 years before the events of Zesty. While Zesty gave players the chance to experience what it was like being the virtuous "Shepard", Berseria reverses the roles, giving players the chance to experience what it is like being the savage "Lord of Calamity". Unusual for a Tales game, the story is dark, tragic, and funny all at once. It was certainly deeper than Zesty, exploring concepts of morality, sin and virtue:

• Velvet is rash, ruthless, and selfish. She kills, consumes, and destroys for the sake of her vengeance, unconcerned with the fate of the people who are left to suffer in the wake of her actions. She is also deeply loving and even motherly at times, particularly towards her family. Everything she does and sacrifices is either for them or herself.

• The Exorcists (led by the Shepard) are composed, selfless, and act with calculated reason. Everything is done with the best of intentions for the whole of humanity, but without consideration for the feelings of those under their authority. The few are always sacrificed for the many, even if the few sacrificed include children, friends and family.

There is an interesting conflict between logic vs. emotion, and order vs. chaos. Velvet and the Exorcists are both portrayed as virtuous and inconsiderate in their own way, and ultimately just as destructive and lethal as the other.


"I once put blind, unquestioning faith in the Abby's ideals of reason and justice. In making any decision I used not my head or my gut or my heart, but instead relied on the Abby's answers... [...] But I won't repent for my past deeds. To seek forgiveness from the Empyreans would be to repeat those very same mistakes. I will follow my own judgment now." -Eleanor Hume



 

Battles take place within an enclosed field in real-time. A party of up to four members use a mix of physical and magical attacks alongside the new "Soul Gauge". Each character has a separate soul gauge with five slots that automatically recharges over time, or is filled in with drops from fallen enemies. A full Soul Gauge will activate "Break Soul", a unique attack that allows characters to exceed their combo limit and bring unique effects into battle. The Blast Gauge can also be depleted by performing power attacks called "Mystic Artes". An additional mechanic called the "Switch Blast", consumes a portion of the Blast Gauge to swap out the current player character for a reserve member.

 

Travel between the different map regions is done by sailing aboard theVan Eltia. Players navigate each region through a third-person perspective, traveling from town to town on foot or by hover board through sectioned-off areas of varying size. There isn’t much to see or do in these areas, apart from fighting enemies or opening chests. The landscapes are nothing noteworthy either, just the same places you have seen plenty of times in other games - generic fields, tundra, mountains and so on. As with the previous Tales games, characters interact through Skits - animated clips that play outside of cutscenes or battle. Traditionally these have been hit or miss, but in Berseria's case they were more hit than miss.



 

While the combat is nothing groundbreaking, I found the story and Velvet as a protagonist rather compelling; she had more of a struggle and bite to her than other Tales protagonists. From the start it was apparent that no happy endings were in store for her and Velvet's last act was simultaneously selfless and selfish - a delightfully bittersweet conclusion to the story. It subverted my expectations and hit harder than I was prepared for.

Berseria is one of those rare prequels that actually makes a lackluster "sequel" better. It helped to put Zestiria in context and made me appreciate it more (not that Zestiria isn't still painful to play). Berseria is easily one of the best titles in the Tales of franchise that I have played, and I believe it wouldn't have been nearly as good without having played Zestiria first.


First posted to videogamegeek.com


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