Tales of Zestiria Import Impressions (by Radiant Roar)

This is an incredibly detailed critical analysis of Tales of Zestiria‘s mechanics based on playing the import. The author is my friend Radiant Roar, who is a long time expert on the deeper mechanics behind modern Tales of games. There’s a few minor spoilers for certain party members and boss names in the post but is otherwise spoiler-free. This post covers the game’s mechanics and is not a critique of the game’s story. It’s definitely worth a read.

Here is Radiant Roar’s youtube channel as well. He’s made a bunch of great videos from various Tales of games.

It’s pronounced “EX-zillia”

The 13th game in a popular, long-running Japanese RPG series starring a female main character for the first time in the series’ history. Unfortunately, the game faced some issues during development resulting in some disappointment among fans. Eventually a sequel was released that fixed many of the issues in the first game while introducing a new male protagonist and a weird, somewhat bizarre plot.

Think I’m talking about Final Fantasy XIII? Nope! I’m referring to the 13th “mothership” title in the wonderfully prolific Tales of series, Tales of Xillia.

So, Tales of Xillia. What is there to say? I’ve been a huge fan of this series since 2005, so of course I had to get this game as soon as it came out. This is the ninth Tales game I’ve finished now? I’ve kind of lost count at this point. I love this series, and it’s slowly creeping up to the same level as Final Fantasy on my personal hierarchy of favorite game series.

The Tales of Series and Why I Think it’s Amazing

Ah, the Tales of series. This series of Japanese RPGs is like a comfort food and/or guilty pleasure for me. Anime art style? Check. Voice acting? Check. Some of the most classic JRPG tropes ever conceived? Check. Over-the-top flashy attacks? Check and check. Not to say that the anime art style is something I look for specifically in games. What I do like in a game’s aesthetics, however, is a disregard for reality in favor of vibrant colors and an imaginative world. The Tales series has both of these in spades.