Tales of Berseria Remastered: The Cult JRPG Returns!

Tales of Berseria gets a true Remastered 

Tales of Berseria Remastered marks the return of one of the most interesting episodes of Bandai Namco's JRPG saga, originally released in 2016. After testing the PlayStation 5 version, I'm ready to share my review, so you can understand how much sense this recovery operation makes, also available for PC, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X and S. We will be called to experience a fantasy adventure with a real-time combat system, a hallmark of the Tales of series which, from episode to episode, has always tried to bring some novelty or characteristic feature capable of keeping fans' interest high. 

Naturally, the question we ask ourselves is simple: after ten years, does it make sense to return alongside Velvet and her companions? Tales of Berseria Remastered is an extremely honest production starting from its name; in fact, we are facing a remastered in the strict sense, where the developers' work has been mainly dedicated to renewing the graphics, which now boast 4K resolution, and bringing the frame rate to 60 FPS. For the rest, the new features are meager: DLC content (equipment, items, and cosmetic elements), some improvements in map management, and the ability to use options from the beginning of the game that make life easier with various bonuses such as faster growth, more generous loot, and so on. Among these, there is also the option to decrease the experience received after battles, to the delight of those seeking a challenging experience. In short, it is a product aimed at those who want to experience or re-experience the original Tales of Berseria without expecting revolutions. The most welcome addition is certainly the quick save, allowing you to close your game at any time.

Tales of Berseria Remastered: The Plot

Our protagonist is named Velvet, but you shouldn't expect the classic heroine ready to save the world. Velvet is not driven by good feelings and does not have to carry out a mission for the good of the world; she is simply driven by a desire for personal revenge, although the plot will have interesting developments. From the prologue, we discover that the world of Midgand is ravaged by a disease that transforms people into ferocious demons, true monsters that endanger the lives of human beings. Defending what remains of civilization are the exorcists, a religious group that seems to struggle immensely in carrying out their task. Due to an inexplicable betrayal by her brother-in-law Arthur, Velvet not only sees her brother Laphicet die but is also infected and becomes a dangerous demon. After three years of confinement in a prison designed specifically to contain those like her, Velvet manages to escape and pursue her sole reason for living: to find Arthur and make him pay. From the very first moments, a more mature writing style can be noticed compared to the classic Tales of canons, although everything is always seen through the lens of a mainstream JRPG production. As time passes, we will discover Arthur's new role among the Exorcists and try to clarify what truly lies behind what happened. 

There is no room for pre-packaged heroism; both Velvet and the travel companions she will meet are characters born from human feelings and desires related to personal pain and suffering, where everyone has an all too close relationship with life's distortions, trying to go their own way. It will take several hours of gameplay to get to know our party, and the further we go with the plot, the more we will see the complexities of each of their personalities. We are facing a good script where attention to creating a dark and, in a certain sense, reflective atmosphere is evident; we can't help but become fond of Velvet and other protagonists, such as the enchantress Magilou, who, as the hours pass, manages to win over gamers' hearts with a complex and fascinating personality. In addition to cutscenes and dialogues, we will have the opportunity to discover many small facets of the cast thanks to optional skits, activatable during exploration, a choice already seen in the saga that proves, once again, successful. Good English and Japanese voice acting is accompanied by all texts written in Italian, to the delight of the local audience. On the side note, although Tales of Berseria was born as a prequel to Tales of Zestiria and there are several connections between the games, the two plots are extremely distant in terms of timeline, and you can enjoy Velvet's adventures without necessarily having played Zestiria.

Tales of Berseria Remastered, between technique and proven gameplay

From a technical point of view, there is little to add to what was said at the beginning of the article: the graphic impact is more solid, but the base remains that of 2016, and the feeling of having an outdated product in hand is only attenuated. However, it must be said that the edition I was able to test showed very bright colors, wisely alternated with darker tones depending on the setting and the moment of the plot. The character design is well done, but I point out that this remastered was created using the original Western edition which, compared to the Japanese one, had received some censorship in the outfits of some female characters like Velvet and Magilou (not to mention the dialogues sweetened from double meanings and the like). This could have been an opportunity to correct the course, but we will again have to settle for the sweetened version, although I am talking about fairly limited variations that do not ruin the gaming experience: from the point of view of violence and cruder content, nothing has been touched. Moving on to the music, compared to other episodes of the saga, there are fewer memorable tracks, but overall each track works to enrich the atmosphere, succeeding. 

The gameplay is divided between exploration and combat, but there are also some secondary activities such as cooking, crafting, hunting quests, optional bosses, and so on. The experience is extremely modulable, so much so that if you play normally you will reach the credits in about 50 hours, but if you want a more complete experience you can add several more tens of hours. Naturally, much of the experience revolves around the combat system which, as per the saga's tradition, uses a real-time system that activates every time we touch one of the many visible opponents on the map. We will use an active party of four characters, but we can only control one at a time, while the others will be moved by artificial intelligence according to our instructions. The system uses so-called arts, which are moves that can be chained with a simple press of the buttons. These create real combos that can have devastating effects if used intelligently to take advantage of enemy weaknesses. By fighting, souls accumulate, and when we have enough, we can spend them to use the deadly "break souls," which are very powerful moves. Souls, however, also have a strategic function, as the more we have, the more we can chain arts and increase our attack power, but to discover everything the game has in store for you, you will have to wait several hours of gameplay, as initially, everything might seem too oriented towards button smashing. On the other hand, the basic difficulty level is quite simple, which is why I recommend raising it from the beginning to enjoy a more reasoned and satisfying experience. 

Tales of Berseria Remastered is, therefore, an experience that deviates very little from the original and will hardly convince those who have already played it to do a second run, but it is highly recommended for those who want to discover a title that, although it shows its age, remains one of the most inspired Tales of games, especially in its atmosphere. If you missed the story of Velvet and her peculiar travel companions, now is the time to join their party and discover what it feels like to be transformed into bloodthirsty and vengeful demons, also thanks to the fact that the game is offered at the budget price of 39.99 euros!