Japan has been home to a number of different RPG franchises over the years, with the long running Tales series being one of the most popular. Once a more n

Action-based combat; Likable characters; Detailed progression system

Linear dungeons; Some weird twists in story

"Fans will be glad to immerse themselves in the fantasy world and the rich, engaging combat, but it's far from the series' best efforts." ? 2015 Bandai Namco Games, Bandai Namco Games, tri-Crescendo. All rights reserved.

Brilliant battle system; fantastic soundtrack; enjoyable cast

Slow start; battle camera; obtuse skill system; frame rate issues

Tales of Zestiria is a beautiful game, full of childlike wonderment and excitement; its characters have big hearts and great personalities, meaning you feel like you belong, giving you a great sense o

Friendly and welcoming characters; Music that flows and hits the emotional beats; A fresh new entry into a long running series

Never feels that challenging; Armatization feature is too freely available; A few frame-rate issues at certain points

I will start this by telling you that I love the Tales of series. I've played quite a number of them now, and I have yet to find one that I don't like. It just varies a bit as to how much I like them. The new Tales of Zestiria is not an exception to that rule!

- Very few franchises have stood the test of time and are still considered gaming favorites among their respective genres quite like Tales Of. While some would argue that there have been franchises that have been around for decades, majority of them are not consistent in their games releases.

A not-quite-ordinary, sword-wielding human (raised by non-humans) embarks on a journey (to purify the world) with his silver-haired, magically-inclined, non-human childhood friend. This is a summary of the beginning of both Tales of Zestiria and its series sibling, Tales of Symphonia .

Unlike many I am a newcomer to the Tales series, Xillia being my first. That being said I've only ever played through Tales of Xillia and Tales of Zestiria all the way through. Many people I know who have played the tales series always say they have really awesome characters, I can vouch that Xillia...

I am a big fan of the Tales series. In fact, a good friend and I run a Tales -themed Tumblr that preys upon people's feelings about characters and their tragic backgrounds or fates within the games.

This is the first Tales series game I've ever played. That's not to say I was avoiding the series. I have a copy of Tales of Symphonia lying around here somewhere and I fully intended to play it at some point.

The Tales franchise still feels like a great combat system in need of a much better game, especially given the banal script and dungeon design that mars this latest entry.

The battle system is excellent and the new elemental and combining gimmicks are particularly good; Open world environment is also welcome, in theory

The script and characters are weak and uninteresting, even by the standards of the franchise; The dungeon design is awful and the amount of needless travel hugely frustrating