The gameplay aged surprisingly well, and considering my other experiences with the Tales series (Berseria and Symphonia, so far) haven't been much to write home about in that regard, that definitely surprised me! I mainly played as Guy whenever possible, because his playstyle felt so smooth, to the point i didn't really feel like trying any other characters out.
But even so, that's not what blew me away about this game - it's the fantastic writing and cast that makes this game so damn good.
It's themes of finding your own place in the world and realising you deserve to fight for that place no matter what is told in such an incredibly strong way that i'll remember for a long, long time.
Only flaws i can think of is that there's some backtracking involved near the end (which didn't bother me too much because you're generally through those area's pretty quick) and that sidequests are implemented very, very poorly. If not for a friend of mine, i would've likely never discovered they existed. Worse than that, some of these are locked the moment you get too far into the story; and some of these include some incredibly handy Artes and additional characterisation for your party members that adds a lot to them, and because i found out about those so late, i had to resort to seeing them through video's instead, which was definitely a letdown. That being said, these aren't mandatory by any means; and i made it through the game with a minimal amount of sidecontent just fine. But if you'd want to find all that either way (which i definitely recommend solely for the aforementioned characterisation) chances are you're gonna have to use a guide, because these are hard to find and you can't figure out what counts as a cutoff point for these quests in-game.
But that aside, it's a fantastic experience. One of my favorite casts ever, and a great story elevated by some incredibly strong writing. It's one of my favorite games ever - i can't recommend it enough.
But even so, that's not what blew me away about this game - it's the fantastic writing and cast that makes this game so damn good.
It's themes of finding your own place in the world and realising you deserve to fight for that place no matter what is told in such an incredibly strong way that i'll remember for a long, long time.
Only flaws i can think of is that there's some backtracking involved near the end (which didn't bother me too much because you're generally through those area's pretty quick) and that sidequests are implemented very, very poorly. If not for a friend of mine, i would've likely never discovered they existed. Worse than that, some of these are locked the moment you get too far into the story; and some of these include some incredibly handy Artes and additional characterisation for your party members that adds a lot to them, and because i found out about those so late, i had to resort to seeing them through video's instead, which was definitely a letdown. That being said, these aren't mandatory by any means; and i made it through the game with a minimal amount of sidecontent just fine. But if you'd want to find all that either way (which i definitely recommend solely for the aforementioned characterisation) chances are you're gonna have to use a guide, because these are hard to find and you can't figure out what counts as a cutoff point for these quests in-game.
But that aside, it's a fantastic experience. One of my favorite casts ever, and a great story elevated by some incredibly strong writing. It's one of my favorite games ever - i can't recommend it enough.