Tales of Zestiria (PS3/PS4/PC)

[Sacredus]

Originally Posted by Von Himmel

Yeah from what I get from my discussion with my friends and here http://yaraon.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-30112.html is that the DLC is about 1-2 hours. Also if I read that correctly there's going to be 2nd part..?

I wonder how many hours it will add up when they're finished with the Alisha story. I'm still hoping that they would port a complete and enhance version like Grace f in PS4 but we'll see.

oh and have I mentioned that it seems the DLC is more of Alisha bullying instead of Alisha's story?

So I heard this Alisha DLC is actually about Rose. This is true? And that screens with Rose beating Alisha hurts...

Well, after anime I wanted to play this game, but now when I know how Zestiria actually look like... No, just no.

[Tactics]

I've read several review about this game; surprisingly, instead of getting excited, I ended up feel glad haven't ordering this game yet.
Seriously, screwed up at anniversary title to the point even objective reviewers couldn't think any other way to fix it but from scratch?

Originally Posted by Sacredus

So I heard this Alisha DLC is actually about Rose. This is true? And that screens with Rose beating Alisha hurts...

Well, after anime I wanted to play this game, but now when I know how Zestiria actually look like... No, just no.

From what I've heard, the DLC is about Alisha, but Rose is still ... how should I put it? The main heroine, that's it.

[Sides]

Originally Posted by Von Himmel

I'm still hoping that they would port a complete and enhance version like Grace f in PS4 but we'll see.[/SIZE][/s]

Or VESPERIA!!!
Despite the controversy, with female lead and DLC, the game itself seems solid, apart from some bad framerate drops. I'm just going to import it, was hoping it was on psn :/
Sometimes I think japan are behind, regarding dlc and dd. What dlc exactly means, is it gives developers the right to release unfinished work and ask for more money for small patches, to complete there work in small instalments. They should just sell a season/complete pass for the game, that way people know that you are actually buying just a part of a game and not the full vision of the developers.

[Freeter]

Oh god, that catfight video. Baba must be hanging out with Kojima

[Galaxian]

Originally Posted by Freeter

Oh god, that catfight video. Baba must be hanging out with Kojima

Well, he had to learn that bait-and-switch from someone. Remember MGS2?

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

The DLC ends on a cliffhanger, so it's almost certain there will be more later.

There's also this hilarious catfight that has to be intentional trolling

Look at them rolling around in the background

I...I have no idea what to think of this .

Though the whole thing about future epilogue installments as DLC people will have to pay for is pretty dumb, especially after the original controversy over the Alisha DLC .

[FlareKnight]

Wow this is just pure bizarre. I mean...what?

Somehow fitting that this turns into a slap fest though. Just very fitting all things considered.

[Frontier]

One thing I'll say is that I never expected to see a straight up catfight in a Tales game, let alone one that could be so Meta .

[iceyfw]

i have to say some funny gifs were made from that catfight. i saw this one somewhere.

Spoiler for catfight:

[Frontier]

I'd love to see a gif of that barrage of slaps .

[serenade_beta]

I just realized, but if you look carefully at Rose's official website introduction, you can see that there is a statement repeated twice. Shows intelligence in the staff.

[Shadow5YA]

Even ignoring the silly waifu controversy, Bamco seems to have really poor synergy with other teams or departments in their own company.

In Baba's Taipei interview, he states that the team had issues with the camera because it was their first game where the combat wasn't instanced into a separate area. However, this just shows that the people responsible for level design did not cooperate with the people responsible for the combat.
For example, in the Bayonetta series, Platinum Games specifically makes sure that enemies only spawn in open areas.

The 30 fps cap also shows the lack of cooperation between the coders who designed the graphics engine and the rest of the team. Of course it's better than in Xillia's case where they run it at 60fps only to have it dip to 20 or less, but they should be well aware of what happens in an action RPG like Tales and what the console is capable of.

The apparently short and not on-disc DLC also shows how unreasonable the business department is with deadlines and how they're fine with releasing unfinished games.

[Sides]

Originally Posted by Shadow5YA

In Baba's Taipei interview, he states that the team had issues with the camera because it was their first game where the combat wasn't instanced into a separate area. However, this just shows that the people responsible for level design did not cooperate with the people responsible for the combat.

Looking at Baba's tracktecord, ever since he became the face of the Tales series, none of the main games were released completed at first, as in all of those titles had major reworked rereleases. Honestly I think he is partially the problem, instead of making complete games, it looks like he puts more efford into the brand itself. Tales festivals, merchandise aso are looking fine, it is just the mainline games that took a big step in the wrong direction.
It cannot be that Vesperia, Graces and Zestiria, being mainline titles, were released half-baked. In case of Xillia 1&2 it is even worst imo. I like all the games, but story and content wise the initial releases were a mess.
Nevertheless can't wait until monday for my copy ^^
Postman just gave me a package ^^

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Sides

Looking at Baba's tracktecord, ever since he became the face of the Tales series, none of the main games were released completed at first, as in all of those titles had major reworked rereleases.

Phantasia, Destiny, and Symphonia all had reworked rereleases, and all of them before Baba started working as producer...

[Sides]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

Phantasia, Destiny, and Symphonia all had reworked rereleases, and all of them before Baba started working as producer...

Ehh. There is a big difference between revisiting an old game and releasing unfinshied work. ToP on PS was releaed 3 years after the sfc game, ToD had a gap of 8 years, well and symphonia a year or so, but the changes to ToS wasn't huge.
ToV had a character cut out and repatched in the PS3 release, besides having Flynn part of the fun and it was released a year after the first version. As for ToG, everyone knows about that, one year gap and a massive addon to the story. Same goes with Xillia 1&2, it only had a year gap between them.

I have to say that ToZ is a bit of a disappointment, the jaggies are really really bad and it is cap to 30fps, and i don't think it reaches the 30 cap at all, it stays around the mid 20 and drops sometimes into single digits. The camera can be a big issue, if you are close to a wall, basically your controlling character becomes invisible and enemies will still attack you.
Now the big problem I have are the controls. It is based on graces, but here is feels sluggerish, it isn't as tight as the Wii or PS3 version of ToG. Instead of snappy input commands like in a fighting game, it feels like a MMO masking commands behind controller buttons. I never like the transition between map and battles, however if transition is required for a more responsive battle system, maybe it is better to have it. I'm trying to like this game, so I'm going to stop there.
Personally I think it should never had been released on PS3, the system is hold the game back.

[Shadow5YA]

There doesn't even need to be a transition, period. If they wanted real-time battles on the field, all they had to do was add a lock-on system like Zelda, Bayonetta, or Devil May Cry.

If other companies can do it on the Wii U and PS3, then Bamco could be able to as well.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by Sides

Ehh. There is a big difference between revisiting an old game and releasing unfinshied work. ToP on PS was releaed 3 years after the sfc game, ToD had a gap of 8 years, well and symphonia a year or so, but the changes to ToS wasn't huge.

I would definitely called Phantasia SFC an unfinished work in comparison to the PSX remake.

Originally Posted by Sides

ToV had a character cut out and repatched in the PS3 release, besides having Flynn part of the fun and it was released a year after the first version. As for ToG, everyone knows about that, one year gap and a massive addon to the story. Same goes with Xillia 1&2, it only had a year gap between them.

You're right about Graces and Vesperia blatantly being beta versions released on less popular platforms as a testing ground, but Xillia 2 is still a proper sequel, as much content as it reuses.

My point is more that I don't think enhanced ports and rereleases are new to Tales games and I don't think Baba is exactly to blame, blatant as it is now.

[Sides]

Originally Posted by Kaisos Erranon

I would definitely called Phantasia SFC an unfinished work in comparison to the PSX remake.

You're right about Graces and Vesperia blatantly being beta versions released on less popular platforms as a testing ground, but Xillia 2 is still a proper sequel, as much content as it reuses.

My point is more that I don't think enhanced ports and rereleases are new to Tales games and I don't think Baba is exactly to blame, blatant as it is now.

Personally ToP remake was remake, just like Biohazard and Biohazard GCN/HD, to me. As such I would not group titles like ToI and ToH in the pod, as their remake were different to the originals. Ports like ToR or ToE are fine as well.
But to me it is different to releasing a title, with the plan to release a better/complete version already in mind. Xilla was an odd case for me, Xillia 2 felt like a complete game, where as Xillia 1 was like a prequel to a main game. Either way one without the other didn't feel right, unlike ToD and ToD2 which could have been 2 standalone titles.

But back to ToZ.
:/ having 4 characters in a party and more than 1 enemy, the framerate gets bad and fluctuating framerate make the battle system hell.
I'm kind of confuse, people who already imported it told me and posted on blogs and forum, that the framerate is solid most of the time, but clearly that is not the case at all. However setting it to semi-manual seems to solve most issues :/, but why do you want to do that?

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Sides

Same goes with Xillia 1&2, it only had a year gap between them.

But that's a sequel, not a re-release. People can complain about Xillia lacking things like a Namco island or whatever, but it was a complete game. It might not have lived up to their hype, but it was complete.

Originally Posted by Sides

Xilla was an odd case for me, Xillia 2 felt like a complete game, where as Xillia 1 was like a prequel to a main game. Either way one without the other didn't feel right, unlike ToD and ToD2 which could have been 2 standalone titles.

Yet you make no mention of Symphonia 2, which was far more phoned in than any other Tales game I've ever played? You can say it's not a "main game" all you want, but it's no less a main game than Hearts.

[Tyabann]

Originally Posted by GDB

Yet you make no mention of Symphonia 2, which was far more phoned in than any other Tales game I've ever played? You can say it's not a "main game" all you want, but it's no less a main game than Hearts.

Didn't they specifically make a distinction like that, though? Hearts and Xillia 2 are mothership titles, Symphonia 2 is an escort.