I'm not even sure where to begin with the utter atrocity that is this game's storytelling. Saying it's 'bad' does not do it justice. It is one of the most garbage narratives of any game or otherwise media I have consumed. The very simple and core concept in storytelling, 'show don't tell' is completely ignored. Every thought the game wants you to have is quite literally spelled out in dialogue right before and after the relevant events are taking place. It's as if they expected literal infant children to be playing this game. As sad as that is, some of the people who did play this game and liked it probably had the same mental capabilities of an infant as that is the only way anyone could enjoy a story that injects every thought it wants you to have directly into your head as those things are literally playing out on screen at the same time.

Dub is bad. Gameplay is mid at best. Characters won't STFU throughout the entire game, in a way that is somehow worse than any other Tales Of game, and I have played many of them. The only redeeming quality I can truthfully say this game has is quality environment design, and even then, by the end they are recycling the same three assets.

PLEASE- WHOEVER IS READING THIS, BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY THIS GAME IS A WASTE YOUR TIME.

Coming from Berseria to this is jarring, the story is so cliched and repetitive. You regularly get cutscenes only to get storyboard type scenes right after that repeat what you just saw in the cutscene. And it's chock to the brim with the same tired JRPG tropes that are in so many other JRPG's.

And unlike Berseria, the companions are just plain average. They talk A LOT but say very little.

Idk what went wrong when this was being made but it seems like it was just phoned in (much like most modern titles nowadays). There's no new interesting mechanics introduced (fishing again....REALLY?) and it just feels like you're killing time for the sake of it. Nothing makes this game stand out from the pack in the slightest.

Average in every way, 5/10.

A lacklustre story pulls down a game that is both graphically and mechanically better. If you are looking for a well rounded plot without a obviously rushed ending then do not bother with this one and try Vesperia, Symphonia or Berseria instead.