Preview: Tales of Zestiria

It’s been little over a year since Tales of Xillia 2 was released in the PAL territories, and already we’re preparing for the release of the latest title in the popular Tales franchise. Bandai Namco were kind enough to offer us some time with the game before release, so last week I returned to their offices in Hammersmith, London for a sit down with Tales of Zestiria.

• Developer: Bandai Namco
• Publisher: Bandai Namco
• Reviewed on: PlayStation 4
• Also Available On: PlayStation 3, PC
• Release Date: 16th October 2015

I only had about two hours with the game, which ended up being the first chapter and a small chunk of the second. It was enough to see a suitable amount and, seeing as the first chapter is basically Zestiria’s tutorial, it give me a real for the mechanics and story, without being overwhelming.

The adventure starts with main protagonist, Sorey (who looks oddly like Andrew Garfield) and his friend Mikleo, exploring some ruins belonging to an ancient race invisible to all but a few humans knows as the Seraphim. The ruins are extremely high up, and the view from there is absolutely stunning, making the world feel huge already.

Sorey finds what he’s looking for, a mural depicting the Shepherd, a people who can interact with the Seraphim, whose power makes them both celebrated and feared by humans.

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Suddenly the sky becomes dark and stormy, and the two friends run for cover, falling through a collapsing floor into the ruins underneath.

The two friends see a girl lying on the floor a little way from them and decide to help her. That is, after they have a look around the ruins first, which if you ask me is kind of irresponsible. I mean, she could be injured, or dead. I was almost expecting them to follow up “It’s not like she’s going anywhere” and high five each other for their hilarious observation.

When exploring the ruins – or for that matter, the world as a whole – it is possible for Sorey to swing his sword. This is used for interacting with items and obstacles in the world, such as cobwebs which must be destroyed to unblock a path. It is also possible to hit enemies out of combat, giving Sorey and his allies an advantage when the battle begins.

After a bit of exploration, neglect, and spider house destruction, the duo encounter Zestiria’s enemy monsters – fiendish creatures known as hellions, which as turns out can “only be defeated by the power of purification” as explained in an oddly-timed flashback to a conversation with Sorey’s grandad in which he also tells the friends they themselves cannot defeat hellions and if they ever see one they should leg it.

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Tales of Zestiria wave’s good bye to flashy battle transition screen and arenas, this time seeing combat taking place in the same are the enemy was encountered, seamlessly blending from exploration to combat in a very similar style to Chrono Trigger.

Fans of the Tales series will be instantly at home with the combat. Basic attacks called Martial Arts are performed with circle and can be stringed together to create combos. Spirit Chain is needed to perform combos, and is consumed with every attack. It replenishes whenever the characters aren’t attacking, creating the mix of real-time and turn-based combat the Tales series is known for.

Treasure chests can be found, containing various items from consumable health items to new pieces of equipment. Stone monoliths called, well, Monoliths can be found throughout the world too, and offer instructions and tips for various things, such as combat or exploration. In the slice that I played the monoliths only really repeated, albeit in a much more abridged way, the prompts that appeared in battle telling me how not to die.

The two friends continue to battle way through the ruins until they come to a huge gap in the floor that needs to be crossed in order to reach the unconscious/sleeping/possibly dead human girl on the floor. Despite the fact that there is clearly a big patch of dust floating in the middle of the gap where an invisible bridge is, Sorey seems to think there are some stairs over “there” and becomes a new contender for most unobservant hero in gaming.

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Mikleo uses magic to reveal the bridge, and cross it, finally reaching the girl, who it turns out is just unconscious, and (gently) shakes her awake. She asks if there is anywhere she can rest up. Reluctantly, Mikleo agrees to allow Sorey to take the nameless girl back to their village to recover, albeit with the threat of their grandfather’s inevitable wrath.

The party of three leave the ruins and emerge into a gorgeous green, mountaintop landscape that merely teases at the size of Zestiria’s open world. The rest of the chapter is filled with numerous cutscene’s and exposition that would ruin several twists and surprises were I to go into them here, so I think this is a good place to stop as these narrative points are well worth being witnessed yourself.

There really is nothing else to say about this game without ruining some surprises, but I will say this – my brief time with Tales of Zestiria showed me a game worth of the Tales name, and a great way to celebrate twenty years of the series. I will definitely be making time to sit down and play this adventure through to the end when Tales of Zestiria launches later this week, and I highly recommend you do to.

Official Game Site

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