The “Tales of” series has been on my list of shame for a long while. I always felt I’ve done it all (almost) JRPG-wise with all the Final Fantsies, Suikodens, Saga Frontier, Ni No Kunis etc. A lof of those games could learn story telling from Berseria. The plot is great, the characters charming (thanks to the great VO and writing) and you end up really caring for them. It helps if you’re a fan of anime. On top of that the game has practically ZERO BUGS. The only issue I had was with the lack of camera control while on the hover board and the battle system takes some getting used to but once you do… oh man… it’s like you’re at the arcade again smashing up foes with a huge banana smile on your face. I really liked the skill learning mechanics too and I always felt compelled to check my gear for new skills and not just slap on the newly found one. The dismantling and enhancing was also interesting as you need to make note of who learned what already and how many hard-to-come-by fragments or scraps you’ve go to use. Another great thing is how they solved the fast travel system. While you can use potions to warp to other areas, they also introduced a hover board which is loads of fun. It basically turns the dungeons you already visited into snowboarding arenas. Gathering Katz Balls at higher speeds is also satisfying and adds a bit of extra challenge when revisiting areas. Now for some cons – there is a bit of back tracking in the game and I feel like certain areas could be made smaller (especially Innominat’s domain) which is a great dungeon except for the distances you need to walk. The music is also stellar (especially the heavy Titania theme which made me think of early album Dream Theater riffs. Some of the songs that use strings and more classical instruments sound like they used VST plugins for that (which is fine) as they still hold up good. There’s a vast array of interesting melodies in the OST and after spending 10s of hours in the game, some of the more melancholic ones can really move you. There’s loads of great comedy in the game too especially thanks to the perfectly acted Magilou character. Cheers to the acress who lended her voice. Brilliant Performance. I wish I wasn’t putting of playing this game for as long as I did. I talked to a lot of my friends and they seem to be doing the same thing. Berseria seems to be on the radar of maaaaany RPG fans that for various reasons decide to pick up a different title instead. I’m here to tell you to make the plunge and get into it. OH and don’t play the demo before hand. The combat system will just seem confusing. Better to watch the first hour of gameplay on YT instead. That’s what got me convinced to buy the game. OH,,, almost forgot! The game’s pacing is fantastic possibly due to the fact that the story is not watered down by a plethora of side quests. Those actually are few and pop up only by the end to wrap up really interesting plot lines that have been present throughout the game so you’re automatically interested!