Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
Game
Game2015
Tales of Zestiria
Developer BANDAI NAMCO Studio Inc.
Tales of Zestiria is an action role-playing game. It is the fifteenth main entry in the Tales series, developed by Bandai Namco Studios and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It was released in January 2015 in Japan on the PlayStation 3. For Western release in October of the same year, it was also ported to PlayStation 4 and Windows via Steam. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
305 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Oct 27, 2026 · last updated Oct 27, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
51
Mixed
91 positive · 89 negative
95% range 43–58%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 91 | 89 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 33 | 15 | 68 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Positive
3,487 of 4,530 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
51% recommend · 94 yes, 91 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 185 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mostly Positive (7,429 of 9,323 positive).
Some players find the game overhated and enjoyable despite flaws. [1][2] Several players appreciate the story, characters, and music. [3][4][5]
Liked
Representative posts
- [17]
The gameplay is...alright, I guess. Graphics and sound are...adequate for the time. The writing is what takes this from "kinda meh" to "avoid at all costs". The characters are all idiots, and what's worse is they're inconsistent idiots who apparently change their whole personality every five minutes so that they can pick the dumbest possible thing to do at any given moment. Whenever one shows occasional flashes of …
- [11]
Tales of Zestiria is one of those JRPGs that feels frustrating more often than it feels rewarding. The combat system is stiff and awkward, lacking the fluidity you would expect, and the battle camera frequently gets in the way, making fights harder to read and enjoy. Encounters happen too often, turning exploration into a repetitive and exhausting loop. The level design does not help either, as areas feel similar …
- [1]
Took a while. A lot of false starts and stops over the years. Opinion has not changed. Zestiria is blatantly overhated, and unreasonably so. This is where we explain. Three Elements, Three Different Opinions Cutscenes/graphics Gameplay/Combat/Controls Story/Plot/Characters Players of this game have chosen one of these, and disregarded the others. That's because for whatever reason, we got to a point where people …
- [4]
The game has a VERY slow start and it's bad at teaching it's unecessary complex systems ( I'm looking at you equipment skills and combining ). Has a low start as you open up your skills and "Artes" but if you can get pass this initial hurdle there's a very good game here I loved the story. The focus on the characters and their developments were wonderfull. The protagonist has a brother and this has been one of the …
- [3]
My favorite Tales Of game! My top three jrpg of all time are depressive and have themes of death while here Sorey is a classic hero in a classic JRPG adventure. I definitely needed this!
Summarised from 34 of the 274 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 9, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
The crowd is split on Tales of Zestiria: 94 recommend it, 91 don't. Which camp are you in?
Critics, per Wikipedia
The game received a positive reception overall. Aggregate site Metacritic gave the PS4 and PC versions of the game scores of 72/100 and 77/100 respectively. The Japanese version also received positive press prior to release: at the 2014 Japan Game Awards after that year's Tokyo Game Show, Zestiria was among the games that won the "Future Division" award. The game also received the Platinum award from Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu upon release. The story and characters were praised by Famitsu and fellow gaming magazine Dengeki PlayStation: Famitsu called the former "epic" and the latter "charming". Dengeki generally referred to Zestiria as the Tales series' "finest masterpiece". Erren Van…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 305 · most liked firstThe gameplay is...alright, I guess. Graphics and sound are...adequate for the time. The writing is what takes this from "kinda meh" to "avoid at all costs". The characters are all idiots, and what's worse is they're inconsistent idiots who apparently change their whole personality every five minutes so that they can pick the dumbest possible thing to do at any given moment. Whenever one shows occasional flashes of likeability they immediately turn around and ruin it with the very next…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's called (Zest)iria because of all of the gay tension between Sorey and Mikleo.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Took a while. A lot of false starts and stops over the years. Opinion has not changed. Zestiria is blatantly overhated, and unreasonably so. This is where we explain. Three Elements, Three Different Opinions Cutscenes/graphics Gameplay/Combat/Controls Story/Plot/Characters Players of this game have chosen one of these, and disregarded the others. That's because for whatever reason, we got to a point where people stopped caring about good stories and characters and only care about…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's 'post a random game of your collection' Saturday! I'm choosing Tales of Zestiria, it's the first Tales I played. One of a few PS4 games I have lying around while I sold my PS4 some time ago.
neutral · AI labelView post →I’m a long-time Tales fan, so I’m honestly not saying any of this lightly. I’ve loved so many games in this franchise dearly, which is exactly why Zestiria is such a huge failure to me. I tried. I really, really tried to give this game a chance. I played for many hours and got pretty deep into it because I kept thinking maybe something would click eventually. But I just couldn’t do it anymore. The soundtrack is amazing, I’ll absolutely give it that. I also like the cast. They’re likable and…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Don't let me 300+ hours fool you. Most of that is farming achievements. and I finally got bored and stopped. In total I spent around 30 hours running in a circle (Rubber banded my controller and went to work) so I get the "make all snacks" Achievement. Still dont have it. Lets go over some good and bad stuff Good: It's an open world but the games does a very good job of letting you know when you aren't supposed to be somewhere. the screen gets a purple tint and you're movement is heavily…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tried to play it despite the bad reviews. Failed to enjoy it. Watched the story summary. Played Berseria instead.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Happy 11th Anniversary Tales of Zestiria!! 💙🩵✨ So thankful I found this amazing game 7 years ago- for it getting me into the Tales Of series & to the friends it’s made me. I’ll continue to cherish it!! #TOZ11周年 #テイルズオブゼスティリア #TalesofZestiria #TalesOf
positive · AI labelView post →Honestly I have tried to play this game like 5 times but everytime i come to the same conclusion...its just...meh. The game play loop is uninteresting, the overland travel is sluggish, and the story isn't really exciting.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Its... okay. There's a lot of things I enjoyed like the characters, equipment system, and the start of the plot before it become kinda mindless. But it becomes very average and the battle system does it no favors, which is a shame because it is cool to transform midfight more powerful. Probably won't finish the rest after this review... Kinda like Soul Hackers 2, its a very MID game that had potential but couldn't stick the landing.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is like white bread with rice. You can eat it and get full, but you won't remember anything special about it in two days time. Edit: So it took me ten years of letting the save file do nothing but went back to try to beat it. I did beat it, but holy moly I am glad that I left the game where I did for ten years. I know people want this game to be good and will say the story is at least good or worth the horrible gameplay, but take it from me who loves every other tales game but ARISE,…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Happy 10th anniversary Tales of Zestiria!! I'll forever be grateful for this game and the wonderful people it brought into my life 💙 Let's bring back my personal celestial record recipe for the occasion! From the zine made with friends a few years ago (link pinned on the tozanniversary twitter)
positive · AI labelView post →If you see this game on sale, just skip it. It's 30fps locked and there's nothing about the game that's good enough to push through. It's significantly worse than Berseria or Arise.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I was a big fan of Berseria and wanted to like this. About 10hrs in I was struggling to find a reason to start the game again. A few complaints: - Locked chests in dungeons with the key located in a different dungeon. Just...why? Backtracking for 1-2 chests is extremely anti-fun. - Camera can be wonky and get stuck in odd spots during combat. - Forced to complete side quests to advance main story. Just a lazy attempt to make the game longer. - Combat doesn't feel satisfying. Different combos…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tales of Zestiria is one of those JRPGs that feels frustrating more often than it feels rewarding. The combat system is stiff and awkward, lacking the fluidity you would expect, and the battle camera frequently gets in the way, making fights harder to read and enjoy. Encounters happen too often, turning exploration into a repetitive and exhausting loop. The level design does not help either, as areas feel similar and uninspired, which only amplifies the sense of repetition. On top of that, the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tales of Zestiria I was prepared to be disappointed after seeing so many people hate on this game but I ended up liking it? Loved the main cast, the music is the best in the series by FAR, probably my favorite battle system of the Tales games I've played so far. It's WAY better than what people say!
positive · AI labelView post →Question Has there ever been a video game, or show, or something... that you really did not enjoy as an overall product but still played/watched the whole thing because of one or two characters? For me, it was Tales of Zestiria.. wasnt a fan of the game, but Edna and Zaveid were so fun
negative · AI labelView post →Don't remaster this one
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Got these today and I am so happy I need to yap about it. This is a manga adaptation of Tales of Zestiria (game) it's like, a decade old. Very hard to find. Got it from JP in the end, at an insanely good price (39 eur total!) It's technically used but I doubt it. Smells of new. I love the art sm..
neutral · AI labelView post →Its really good. You'll see a lot of people say berseria is better, and it is, but this has the charm of an old school fantasy rpg thats missing from that game. The cast is pretty dull, with little interesting interplay between them, but all of their generic "goodness" in combination with the setting and generic good vs evil plot reminds me of playing lesser known jrpg's from the psone days, which gives me warm fuzzies. Also, the combat, when playing on higher difficulties, strangely is more to…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Which games are you planning to play this year?. Happy new year everyone. As first post this year i don't just ask what you play this month, but i ask what's your plans for 2025. I made a [post](https://lemmy.zip/post/28915045) about the upcomming games in 2025. I will make a monthly post, updating that list. Since this post replace the january post it's still fine to tell us your plans for this month. Start from today i will credit some game anniversaries for the running month. Tales of…
neutral · AI labelView post →I feel like digging out my PS3 and doing a replay of Tales of Zestiria soon... sometimes I get flashbanged by how much this silly game means to me (also because Sorey and Mikleo were a massive inspiration for Julan and Topal)
positive · AI labelView post →i have mixed feelings about zestiria. a decade later i finally decided to play it, and while i don't think it's the biggest pile of garbage some people depict it to be, the game can be very easy described as "average and toothless" the first big issue is the areas. instead of going for more impact but smaller locations, every place was made to fit transitions into battles in real time/locations. and the result? locations suck. there's nothing going on in huge zones purely made to accomodate a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tales games stopped crediting their English localizers as of 2014, omitting them in Tales of Xillia 2, Tales of Hearts R, Tales of Symphonia Chronicles (and other re-releases), Tales of Zestiria, Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, Tales of Arise (base game + DLC), and the recent Remasters.
neutral · AI labelView post →I could write a novel on the things I don't like about this game but unlike Tales of Zestiria, I value your time. This is only a Tales of game in name. Don't waste your time. You can't get it back. Don't waste your money. You won't be able to refund by the time you realize what a crock of ♥♥♥♥ this is.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →"Tales of ..." fans know what to expect, but for anyone who hasn't played Tales of Berseria, then it is important to know that the game mechanics and fighting styles are very well-rounded and the gameplay and fighting are easy to pick up. Having said that, the main game can be completed anywhere from 30-50 hours, based on your play style. Although, there are a few things that seem to be a bit over-developed/forced if you are looking to 100% the game. Functions like fusion and unions are well…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sorry, I have to give a thumbs down for this game, I have to force myself to finish this game. It’s the most boring game I've ever played. I really disliked the combat system. On and off since 2015, and I’m on the last chapter now. The gameplay is capped at 30fps but there’s a mod for it to get 60fps smoothly, “Fix” but I get crashes during the cutscene. I disliked “Obtain the remaining spiritual powers” mission/quest, it doesn’t tell you where to go but you got to talk to Rose with…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →PS Plus Extra and Premium games for February announced. Sony has announced the next batch of games coming to PS Plus for Extra and Premium subscribers. **Extra & Premium** Need for Speed Unbound The Outer Worlds: Spacer’s Choice Edition Tales of Arise Assassin’s Creed Valhalla LEGO Worlds LEGO Jurassic World Roguebook Rogue Lords Tales of Zestiria **Premium** Resistance: Retribution Jet Rider 2 Tales of Symphonia Tales of Vesperia All games will be available from…
neutral · AI labelView post →My favorite Tales Of game! My top three jrpg of all time are depressive and have themes of death while here Sorey is a classic hero in a classic JRPG adventure. I definitely needed this!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tales of Zestiria is 90% off right now. It's only $5 and if I include all the DLC, it's $40. Should I go for it? I highly doubt it'll get the remastered treatment anytime soon or ever considering the apparent reception it got. I also don't want to judge the game without playing it first.
neutral · AI labelView post →A few too many issues for me to feel comfortable recommending this, I'm afraid. At the very least, make sure to play at the lower difficulties to avoid the headaches I had to deal with. Enemies are too spongy and too plentiful, especially at the later stages in the game. You will be forced into constant armatizing just to progress at a reasonable pace. Enemies will move around super erratically and force you to chase them down constantly just because they decided to attack a party member…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Friend has informed me of this and thought I must share!!! Amazing game, must play! and this is a crazy price. Get the Alisha DLC too, as it is a continuation of the main story! #toz #talesofzestiria
neutral · AI labelView post →- Dying Light 2 Stay Human – $25.19 on Fanatical - A Plague Tale: Requiem – $24.99 on Steam - Disney Dreamlight Valley – $22.49 on Steam - Need for Speed Unbound – $20.99 on Steam - Total War: THREE KINGDOMS – $20.39 on Steam - Timberborn – $19.99 on Steam - Red Dead Redemption 2 – $19.79 on Steam - The Wandering Village – $18.74 on Steam - Tiny Tina's Wonderlands – $17.03 on GreenManGaming - It Takes Two – $15.99 on Steam - Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition…
neutral · AI labelView post →The combat system is terrible, and the character upgrades are completely obtuse. This has one of the best opening tracks to a video game imo, and I think it was part of what kept me coming back, but I just cannot take this game anymore.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried to like this game but sorry I CAN'T! I picked Zestiria coz of Enda-Eizen appearance as optional boss on Tales of Arise, so wanna give it a try to play and understand her backstory. I believe The writer of Zestiria thought of great battles till end of the masterpiece but either the system of the mech are waaayyy too complicated for me to understand. I thought "Simple" mode is just for easy-going route with "No fret" of any battle settlement. I was totally wrong! Ok I list what I do…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Worst Tales of game easily. And the less I talk about the gameplay and the camera, the better. Sorey and Rose's friendship was pretty nice though.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Tales of Zestiria first time yayyy (thank god the game was on sale from 60$ to like $8 I love the Tales of series)
positive · AI labelView post →The game has a VERY slow start and it's bad at teaching it's unecessary complex systems ( I'm looking at you equipment skills and combining ). Has a low start as you open up your skills and "Artes" but if you can get pass this initial hurdle there's a very good game here I loved the story. The focus on the characters and their developments were wonderfull. The protagonist has a brother and this has been one of the few times where the writting made me believe they actually grew up together.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I’m veeeery close to finishing Tales of Zestiria. Nearly at the final boss but I’m wrapping all the remaining sidequests. I had a lotta fun w/ the game even tho it def has some issues and the gameplay can b a lil janky sometimes
neutral · AI labelView post →I don't have any new art for it this year, but happy 10th anniversary to Tales of Zestiria! Characters and themes from that game have been helping to keep my sanity afloat since late 2015, the haters be damned. 🫶✨
positive · AI labelView post →Happy 10th Anniversary Tales of Zestiria 🎉✨ So thankful to have fallen in love with this game. It opened me up to the Tales Of series & I’ve genuinely loved it ever since. Got a cake to celebrate too!! Zestiria helped me through a lot so celebrating it getting older is special to me 💙 #TOZ10周年
positive · AI labelView post →I play every Tales of game out there, and this Zestiria is the most ridiculous retarded sh.it ever. Tales of Berseria didn't even get anime adaption but this Zestiria got one? That's a shame. - Alisha suddenly got swapped with Rose, I don't dislike Rose but how they insert Rose into the story is disaster. - Controller support sucks, I had to swap between keyboard and my DualSense to Armatize to progress the battle (you can't change this unless fully restarting the game) - 30 FPS is…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game locked at 30fps. Trash
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →To summarize alot of the other reviews. Not the best game in the series. Suffers from Optimization issues. One of the best combat systems in the series. Story isn't anything to write home about. Decent story about a young lad who can see the spirits and merge with elements effectively making him the Dragonborn and Herald of the end times descending upon the realm. Music is ok, wasn't' terrible, sounds matched the environment. You won't hear heavy metal walking through towns and it's…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I recently played through Tales of Zestiria in co-op. Possibly the most fun I've had in Tales co-op yet, but more importantly, it was a chance to revisit the game with a fresh mindset and mend old wounds. The very idea of playing this game felt revolting for so many years. Not anymore though. 🧵
positive · AI labelView post →After playing Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Zestiria feels like a joke. The gameplay got worse, the mechanics became clunkier, and while the graphics improved, everything else went downhill to the point where I just couldn’t enjoy it. Story is OK.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Weakest entry in the Tales of series that I have ever played. Zestiria feels like a half-baked and watered-down version of its predecessors: poor story, bland characters, shallow world, and gameplay that lacks polish. I loved the past Tales of games, and I consider Zestiria the beginning of the end for the franchise.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The way my girlfriend describes Xenoblade 2 is a lot like how I describe Tales of Zestiria It’s a game with a lot of flaws, some that may completely turn someone off. But nobody else is allowed to shit talk it. Only me. So fuck you it’s a 10.
positive · AI labelView post →Any game that actually makes me want to do all the optional content has done something right, in my book. Yeah, the plot is messy. Yeah, the combat is clunky. Yeah, Dezel actually sucks. But it has a lot of heart where it counts, and that wins me over most of the time including here.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →- Dying Light 2 Stay Human – $25.19 on Fanatical - A Plague Tale: Requiem – $24.99 on Steam - Disney Dreamlight Valley – $22.49 on Steam - Need for Speed Unbound – $20.99 on Steam - Total War: THREE KINGDOMS – $20.39 on Steam - Timberborn – $19.99 on Steam - Red Dead Redemption 2 – $19.79 on Steam - The Wandering Village – $18.74 on Steam - Tiny Tina's Wonderlands – $17.03 on GreenManGaming - It Takes Two – $15.99 on Steam - Total War: ROME II - Emperor Edition…
neutral · AI labelView post →On one hand we have: A technical mess, a more miss than hit gameplay, a story so awful you remember it for being awful, environnements poorly recycled all the time, barely any storytelling, a washed out antagonist... On the other: Absolutely incredible musics that I still remember 11 years later, some potentially interesting lore, Zaveid <3 and a pretty good art direction that is, sadly, a bit too shy. With bad ingredients, you can't get a good final result. Zestiria is exactly that, it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Honestly love the game but now won't let me launch it at all.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is a little rough, some bugs with sound that prevent the game launching unless your sound is set to 44khz. Things that could be easily fixed but aren't for some reason. Otherwise, game play is pretty good. A bit repetitive but the story and sound track are good. Worth picking up on sale.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This company is responsible for One Punch Man Season 3. And should not be trusted with your time or money.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →14) Edna, Tales of Zestiria even if I wasn't a big fan of Zestiria as a game or story, I did find a fair few of the characters likeable in isolation and Edna and Zaveid were the two biggest examples of that.. they carried every scene with them in it i swear to god
negative · AI labelView post →Is Tales of Zestiria a good game? No. But IS Tales of Zestiria a GOOD game? Yes. And I’m honestly tired of having to explain myself.
neutral · AI labelView post →Every now and then I wonder why I never finished this game, so I start a new save. 3 to 4 hours into new save: "Man this sh** is boring"
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Kind of a 3/5. Get it on discount, preferably a deep one. Perfectly fine if you feel like dropping it midway because it will feel kind of a drag at times. Not worth for NG+ imo. I'd say it's a good enough game to get it on sale and maybe finish it once.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →this is one of the games ever
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Sad to say I'm giving up on Tales of Zestiria only partway through. I really tried to enjoy it. Zestiria has received a lot of criticism since its release (for a variety of reasons), but what tanked it for me is its port quality. Or rather, lack thereof. It's built as a controller game, but has very poor controller support on Steam. Button prompts in-game show up as obscure things like "2," which, through lengthy experimentation, do not seem to map to any button on the controller. Nor does it…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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