Tales of Zestiria is a JRPG developed by Bandai Namco, and tells the story of Sorey, a human living among a race known as the Seraphim who protects the world from Hellions, creatures borne of negative emotions.

Game website: http://www.talesofgame.com/en/game/tales-of-zestiria/

Gameplay link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WH5pQnsNe3c

Elemental Tetrad

Mechanics

• Focuses on exploration of the game world and interacting with NPCs
  • Eventually unlock more abilities, such as short-range teleportation and punching to break rocks to uncover more of the world
• Also focuses on real-time battles

Story

• Linear storytelling, with optional sidequests to flesh out more of the world
• Story begins with the player being introduced to Sorey, a human living among Seraphim with a passion for exploring ruins
• More backstory is introduced to the player as part of the main storyline, allowing the player to understand what transpired to bring the world to the state it is now

Aesthetics

• Visuals and audio are generally bright and colourful
• Certain parts of the world however are dark and gloomy, adding to the contrast between the normal world and the world covered in malevolence

Technology

• Uses standard hardware for PCs and consoles
• No particularly innovative technology being used here

Lenses

#27: Lens of Skill

• Exploration side of the game does not require too much in the way of skill, although certain objects are hidden in difficult-to-spot locations
• Battle side of the game requires several different skills
  • Managing attack types, as certain attacks are more or less effective against certain enemies
  • Reflexes, as blocking significantly reduces damage taken, while quickstepping at the right time reduces damage taken to 1.

#40: Lens of Reward

• Many types of rewards offered for both the exploration and battle side
• Exploration:
  • Chests: may offer equipment or items (or a fight against a Mimic Giant, which is quite rewarding)
  • Herbs: permanently increase stats such as attack or defence of a character
  • Normin: special characters that help increase the chances of getting beneficial effects on equipment obtained
• Battle:
  • Experience: used to level up, increasing character stats and allowing them to gain new skills. Experience gained is decreased with increased difficulty level
  • Gald: the game’s currency, used to buy equipment/items and to upgrade equipment. Gald gained is increased with increased difficulty level
  • Grade: a measure of how well the player did in the battle, increased by actions such as not taking damage, hitting a certain combo count, or finishing the battle in a short amount of time. Used to unlock beneficial effects from characters known as Lords of the Land. Grade gained is increased with increased difficulty level

#46: Lens of Economy

• Gald acts as the game’s universal currency
• Typically gained by exploration via chests, or from winning battles
• Additional other avenues to gain gald, although these do not contribute much under normal conditions:
  • Certain characters have a passive ability to generate items or gald after travelling a certain distance, and said items can be sold for gald
• In early to mid-game, gald gained is sufficient for buying items and some equipment, but doesn’t allow much for other features such as equipment fusion
• Late-game item exists to increase the amount of gald given by a battle by 50%, which can be used multiple times in the same battle, resulting in astronomical amounts of gald earned, trivializing the economy if done right

#68: Lens of the Hero’s Journey

• Less elements, and in a different order than that prescribed (potential spoilers below):
  • 1. The ordinary world – The first scene of Sorey is him exploring a ruin that is otherwise unremarkable
  • 4. Meeting the mentor – The player soon meets Gramps, who acts as Sorey’s guardian and mentor
  • 2. The call to adventure – Realising that the person Sorey met in the ruin was being chased by a dangerous Hellion, Sorey leaves his village with his close friend Mikleo
  • 5. Crossing the threshold – Sorey leaves the village of Seraphim he has lived in and travels to the human world
  • 6. Tests, allies, enemies – Too many to list, as this part takes up about a third of the entire story
  • 7. Approaching the cave – While solving challenges from the above point, he meets and is easily defeated by Heldalf, the main antagonist
  • 8. The ordeal – Sorey and his allies walk into a trap, which results in the loss of one of his allies
  • 11. Resurrection – While finding a way to defeat Heldalf, Sorey and his team discover that the malevolence in the world is caused by the corruption of the Lord Maotelus
  • 12. Returning with the elixir – While Heldalf has been defeated, Sorey stays behind to purify Maotelus, which is expected to take hundreds of years.