Tales of Berseria Remastered - Review
In a strange choice, the next Tales of game to get the remastered treatment is one of the most recent entries in the series. Tales of Berseria was initially released in 2016 and was the last of the previous generation of consoles, it was seemingly the final of the rapid-fire entries we’d seen since Tales of Xillia in 2011. Did this game need remastering treatment?
Tales of Berseria Remastered is a remaster in the same vein as what was seen with Tales of Xillia last year. A plethora of quality-of-life additions to bring this game to a more modern JRPG standard, while making it run smoother, look better and hopefully keep people interested in a series that has slowed down its release cadence. Between 2000 and 2012 we saw a total of twelve entries into the Tales series. With only 3 new entries between 2013 and 2021. Tales of Berseria was a questionable choice to attempt the next remaster on, being that it was one of the more recent overall titles.
The decision to remaster Tales of Berseria is one focused on the popularity of the title moreso than a necessity. There are some quality-of-life additions here that feel like they should have been present in the game on original release, and make it feel adequately modern. Things like icons on the map for treasure chests and side content, a faster movement speed available from the word go, early access to the grade shop makes an appearance here too allowing you to get an array of boosts from the word go too.
Tales of Berseria marked a distinct departure from the lighter-hearted entries we had seen from the Tales series previously. Following from Zestiria, which was seen positively, but perhaps not in the same light as previous entries, particularly coming off the back of the Tales of Xillia games. Tales of Berseria sought to give you control over a party of anti-hero type characters, moreso than the traditional ‘Heroes of Righteousness’ that had been prevalent in previous entries. The main character, Velvet, is a much more nuanced and well-rounded character than we had previously had and really drives Tales of Berseria forward in its overall narrative and atmosphere.
That isn’t to say that the light-hearted and jovial nature of the series is absent here. Perhaps almost to its own detriment, Tales of Berseria is almost too aware of how much darker and less ‘morally right’ Velvet is of a character and tries to offset this with a cast of characters that are almost cartoonish in comparison. While the moral fibre of Magilou’s Menagerie is questionable, there is a stark difference in the cold-hearted, vengeance driven and aggressive approach of Velvet compared to the rest of the party. Magilou is an over the top, eccentric and excessively narcissistic Witch. Number Two is the redemption character, one that attempts to humanise the rest of the party by adding a touch of innocence. The rest of the characters are more or less, typical tropes of the JRPG genre. A traditionalist with a desire to prove himself for his family name. A pirate that defies the traditional logic of a pirate, on a journey to save the man he admires. Velvet is the only character that really breaks traditional moulds.
This works two-fold for the story. The other characters don’t have qualms with the dirty deeds that they have to partake in, but they do question Velvet’s undeterred desire to do them. Attempting to temper he bloodlust in a way. The problem here is that while it is clear that there is an intention to make you think deeper about the choices, there was a missed opportunity to go in a much more serious and aggressive direction and move away from the child-like fantasy narratives that had dominated the series up to that point. We saw this in Tales of Arise, which had a far more serious and nuanced narrative that didn’t shy away from the more deplorable themes.
Tales of Berseria is by no means a bad game though. The combat compared to Tales of Xillia and even compared to Tales of Arise that came after, feels much more enjoyable. There is the same problem here as in many of the games, in that there are far too many overworld encounters. Not enough experience per encounter is balanced by this, but a reduction in the overall overworld enemies would have been a nice quality of life change for the remaster. Thankfully combat is quick, snappy and easy enough to get into, whilst offering enough complexity that min-max players will have a good time trying to optimise every encounter for maximum efficiency.
Despite the prettying up of the game, and the smoother frame rate, the design choice of Tales of Berseria makes it glaringly obvious that this is a previous generation game. Even at a native 4K and 60FPS on PS5, the character movement feels as floaty and detached from the world as it did in Tales of Xillia. In turn the lack of feedback on attacks during combat is a little jarring as well. Combat plays smoothly, but none of your moves feel like they are doing anything but throwing up numbers on the screen. There are times when you’ll stun your enemies, or they’ll react to being hit, but a lot of the time it just feels like you get guarded hits, despite the enemy not really looking any different. Couple this with running being the default movement in the overworld, and your characters just feel like they are operating on a different plane. They appear to be walking and running on the ground but are just disjointed enough that they also feel like they are just kind of sliding on ice.
I understand remasters are bringing quality of life and updated visuals to a beloved game, but there are things that could be focused on just a little bit to bring the game more in line with what the standard expectation is now. Having a character that doesn’t feel like they are floating or sliding through environments and having just the slightest bit of feedback when fighting enemies goes a long way in improving the enjoyability of a slightly dated game. Tales of Berseria could have done with some more performance tweaks to improve the overall quality of the game and justify the decision to remaster this entry next, before any of the earlier pre 2010 games.
Tales of Berseria Remastered is a fine remaster. The story and gameplay are enjoyable for the most part, even if it seems to lack a little bit of direction at times. The quality-of-life additions are done well, implemented correctly and enjoyable for the most part. The cast of characters are some of the more interesting in the series, and the DLC outfits for them are some of the better ones that the series has seen. There are a few performance decisions, or rather, the lack of a decision to improve particular areas of performance that hamper the overall feeling of the game, however. A solid entry on release, and a solid game in the remaster too. Hopefully there is an analysis done of things that could be improved further going forward for any of the other remasters to come.
The Score
7.5
Review code provided by Bandai Namco
The Pros
Map icons are a lifesaver
Velvet is one of the most interesting series protagonists
Min-max options give lots of freedom to how you play
The Cons
Characters feel like they are ice-skating in the environment at the best of times
The narrative overall does feel a little unfocused
Some performance hang ups that really should have been looked at
