Niche Gamer has reviewed Tales of Berseria:

Tales of Berseria Review – Sometimes It’s Good To Be Bad

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Which brings us to Tales of Berseria, a prequel to Zestiria that, other than creating a badass female lead, was meant to build upon and improve the changes set forth in its predecessor. Initially – even as a fan – I was highly skeptical that much would change, especially for the better. I loved the first Tales of Xillia, but like its own quickly pumped-out sequel, it lacked the original’s impact.

Systems were unnecessarily dragged out, the new character roleplayed a coma victim through over half the game, and 90% of the world was just copy-pasted from the previous title. Call me pessimistic if you wish, but I was confident the same fate would befall Tales of Berseria. Thankfully, I’m starting to get used to being wrong about a lot of things.

Before I get into the most impressive changes in Berseria, let’s talk about its most shocking: The story.

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With such an outstanding story, great characters, a blistering fast (And addictively fun to exploit) combat system, a “less messy” weapon upgrade mechanic and the best visuals in the entire series, I feel comfortable calling this my new favorite “Tales of” game…or at the very least, tied with Graces f.

What’s great about Berseria is that unlike most Tales of games, it acts as a wonderful jumping-in point for new players. Combine this with its ease-of-use and flashy combat designed to accommodate more tactical, veteran players and you have one of the most complete JRPGs you’re likely to find on the current generation’s systems. Tales of Berseria is a must play for any and all JRPG fans.

The Verdict 9.5

The Good

• Great visuals/framerate (even on console)
• Easy to learn systems & combat
• Engrossing story & characters
• Lots of new environments, very little copied over from Zestiria
• Feels like a true “next-gen” Tales game
• Battles are highly exploitable if you know what you’re doing

The Bad

• Some mild backtracking, which can get tiring
• Battles are highly exploitable…which may be a turn off to some