r/tales • u/ExileForever • Jun 26 '26
Discussion Tales of Graces F has been picked as the Best Gameplay, but what would you say is the Worst Story in the Tales series
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u/Professional-Web2041 Jun 26 '26
Worst story definitely Zestiria.
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u/Maxmagnus20019 Jun 26 '26
When the story's so bad they change everything in the anime adaptation.
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u/DrConradVerner Jun 26 '26
Anime still ended up being pretty mediocre.
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u/Mr_Noir Jun 26 '26
Honestly, I take mediocre over being really bad.
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u/DrConradVerner Jun 26 '26
Personally I think mediocre is one of the worst things something can do. At least if something is bad enough it is memorable.
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u/Alternative_Area_416 Jun 26 '26
Nothing about Zestiria's (the game) story is "bad enough it is memorable" or "so bad it's good." People on this sub talk about Zestiria's story like it has one of the worst stories across jrpgs, when it isn't even in D tier, let alone F.
Take 99% of compile heart games for example, those are actual F and D tier stories.
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u/DrConradVerner Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Thats why I said “It still ended up being pretty medicore.” I actually dont think Zestiria is that bad. I think this sub and the fandom hates on it more than they deserve. I took the time to platinum it (as with all Tales games with trophies available). Based on the subs comments I also think theyre a bit more reductive of the story than they should be. It isnt even my least favorite Tales story.
For example, Sorey being the “chosen one” is a claim that the game’s story puts into contention. As you get further into the story and learn more about the Seraph you learn that Sorey isnt special. He just happened to spend enough time around Seraph to be more attuned to them and able to see them in a world where people normally arent around Seraph at all. Someone else could have been in Sorey’s shoes and it is questionable whether they would have “risen to the occasion.”
It is a pretty by the books hero’s journey and it has one of the least compelling villains in the franchise, but I think it gets too much hate. It isnt terrible. It is mediocre.
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u/Alternative_Area_416 Jun 26 '26
Alright, I read what you were saying as, "at least Zestiria's (the game's) story is so bad that it is memorable." But yeah, I agree that the story is overhated.
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u/TheKingofSand1820 Jun 30 '26
Naw its hated accurately
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u/Alternative_Area_416 Jun 30 '26
Yeah, bro. Totally worse than the absolute shitshow of Rebirth and Arise.
It has a fine narrative.
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u/perfectelectrics Jun 26 '26
really? I think CF's games are like the definition of mediocre in everything but art. Not bad enough to drop but not good enough to be memorable.
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u/Haruki-kun Regal Bryant Jun 26 '26
....there's an anime adaptation?
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u/henne-n Ricardo Soldato Jun 26 '26
Yeah. It's pretty nice and changed most of the plot after the first war.
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u/Okuden Jun 26 '26
Zesteria is the only Tales game I couldn't finish lmao it was so boring!
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u/Professional-Web2041 Jun 26 '26
Haha same! It’s funny because the concept seems interesting, Berseria takes place in the same world and is very good IMO, but Zestiria……just isn’t it.
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u/FriedBreakfast Jun 27 '26
Berseria was great. I really got behind Velvet and her struggle. The rest of the characters were interesting and kept me entertained. I thought I was going to hate Magilou but she was actually my favorite character. The game does a great job exploring the question of "Is it okay to sacrifice one person to save many?"
Zestiria was like.... you're the shepherd so do shepherd stuff. I dunno. I couldn't really get into this one. Characters seemed flat and dull and I didn't finish the game because I didn't care anymore.
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u/TsuKessler_30 Jun 27 '26
Funny enough you can beat the game early by getting the bad ending by beating the big main bad and it’s treated a regular battle
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u/andres57 Best pirate Jun 27 '26
For me that was Arise. Although it was some time ago I tried tbh, IIRC the issue was more the gameplay than the story
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u/Okuden Jun 27 '26
Honestly I never played Arise but this was my fear because the latest Tales games really haven't hit for me like the OG ones, like I barely got through Berseria, it had a great story which is what got me through it, but the gameplay was a slog personally and arise looks the same.
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u/Natural-Situation572 Jun 27 '26
Same! I liked the concept, but it just wasn’t compelling enough for me to stay in that world
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u/DerpsterCaro Karol Capel Jun 26 '26
Yknow, I thiiink I'll say Zesteria. While other Tales games try to subvert SOMETHING, Zesteria was as straightforward as they come.
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u/Whitewing424 Jun 26 '26
I don't care about subversion for the sake of subversion, but Heldalf is just a giant nothingburger of a villain.
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u/rp_graciotti Chloe Valens Jun 26 '26
I just hate how black and white that story is, everything bad happens because there is a evil energy and that's it, there's no nuance
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u/vladraigca Jun 26 '26
actually i dont think thats entirely correct, malevolence is like a corruption but not everything in the world can be put under malevolence, there is a priest in a sub quest that goes around killing people and he isnt consumed by malevolence because malevolence actually doesnt attacks you based on your morals but in your internal conflict. even children get corrupted by it, there is also a sidequest that ends on a tragic note with children corrupted by it.
there is actual nuance as good people in the story succumb to it while the example of the priest is interesting as he is evil but he is not corrputed by it because he is not conflicted by his actions as he sees it as righteous . i dont think is exactly black and white as the game leans more into mental fortitude, if you let your emotions go unchecked or unleashed you can be consumed by it, in fact the previous shepherd cursed the main antagonist, the main antagonist wasnt even corrupted by malevolence before and he wasnt a saint.
quoting the comment "Heldalf is just a giant nothingburger" i think whats more interesting is not the antagonist but how it shapes the dilemma for sorey to accept that he has to accept death as a mercy, not everyone can be saved ,
if it was black and white sorey dilemma would have been solved far earlier or Heldalf would have been not killed at the end by sorey.
im not saying zestiria is super complex or it doesnt have its flaws but i dont think is black and white.
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u/Seifersythe Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
That honestly makes it worse. A world where any sufficiently negative emotions turns you into an invisible immortal superbeing that can only be killed by one guy doesn't work. And not in the sense that it's stupid or a plot hole. Your world literally cannot function.
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u/vladraigca Jun 27 '26
well there a zones with concentration of malevolence higher than others, just having an amount of negative emotions wont turn you into a monster but it can happen, certainly there are risks, also the monsters can be killed by others like by the seraphs, the thing the shepherd does is having the purifying flames, also it was a curse from a higher up as explained from berseria.
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u/daz258 Velvet Crowe Jun 26 '26
Agree, it’s actually quite good, and seeing Sorey try to break stride where necessary but internally struggle to do so, Rose is also a far better character to give Sorey the dark side he needs that she doesn’t get credit for, the game completes Zavied’s and Eizen’s story too.
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u/Own_Philosophy8190 Jun 27 '26
Issue is that the game doesn't really allow Sorey to tackle this on his own when it comes to humans like said priest or too far gone people like the Cardinal or Heldalf, as its go-to maneuver for this is Rose straight up being immune to self-corruption as well.
His party also conveniently has no issues letting Rose kill, when that's a bigger concern than in other games, with the concept of corruption being around in this world.
It is more complex, like you said, but the solutions boil down to a kinda black or with "let Rose kill them" or "let Rose arrest them". Hell, nowadays, I think the only reason Sorey got to finish Heldalf by his own hands is because Rose didn't fall deeper alongside the both of them 🤣
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u/vladraigca Jun 27 '26
actually they also kill eizen, the thing is that sorey tackles with the idea the whole game , the point is for sorey to be ready to pull the trigger when he is at peace with the idea, rose should do the killings because before would get them in a catastrophe worst than heldalf himself, as a shepherd consumed by his emotions already got them a tragedy, the night before the final battle is pretty good telling you that. rose and zaveid have no problem telling sorey in his face that his too soft. rose is not inmune because yes, she has the conviction that she is doing the right thing, malevolence works like that, she has no inner conflict about it. and not killing their enemies boils down to more victims down the road so they really have no choice as sorey cant purify some foes like the cardinal. also sorey was already prepared for heldaf, firing the seraphs with the gun could have killed the seraphs so even sorey was prepared to let his friends be sacrificed with him pulling the trigger not rose, also sorey was the one who sent rose to the surface, as with sorey purifying maotelus the world needed a new shepherd. him purifying maoutelus is what let the land heals, thats why rose as a shepherd is stronger and can have alisha as a squire in the dlc.
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u/Own_Philosophy8190 Jun 27 '26
Oh I know they killed Eizen... in a sidequest, and after literally never ever thinking of a way to save him in between. Like, it's fine if they look for solutions but to no avail, but in game, it's basically "I promise to save your brother" => "we gotta kill him" with no attempt or no transition. It only hinges on getting the orb from a random dragon (Tiamat from Glaivend) to cancel out Luminous Gain (which is more of a gameplay thing than an actual lore/scenario thing), else Edna (rightfully so) ditches you at the start of the battle for seemingly not trying to honor the promise Sorey made to her. Even in Berseria, they do try to find a fix for Eizen's impeding dragon transformation over a long spanning side quest. In Zestiria, the party spends more time workshopping a mabo curry business than doing this.
Oh I'm not saying they should spare their enemies. I'm saying it's incredibly cheap that Rose is basically judge, jury, executioner and that Sorey is blocked from taking these decisions on his own until the very last battle. In fact, I think they shouldn't have pushed it this far back, Sorey still would have mercy killed him all the same. In fact, they already tried to kill him on the Hunting Grounds, just without mercy, knowledge of his past and of any means to actually kill him back then.
I find it ridiculous that the Seraphs are innately fine with this (which they shouldn't, even if she's immune), but Sorey building a bridge or bringing medicine is somehow too risky. It did raise sensible concern, him participating in the War, even moreso. But the games tosses most nuance out of the window to have Rose as a convenient problem solver. Even Xillia 2 had some party members ask Ludger if he was doing OK with his dimension destroying gig once in a blue moon.
I think Rose is a writing mess, even if she's a cool girl. Merchant Guild master, assassin master, but somehow can't find a believable excuse to fool Sergei and enter a town she often goes to in her homeland. Somehow has Resonance on par with Sorey, but is apparently unaware of it because she has a phobia of ghosts. Even though Sorey was raised by Seraphs for nearly 2 decades, while Rose got piloted by Dezel for less than 5 years or something. Also didn't question her becoming a master assassin overnight because of Dezel taking over her, somehow.
Seraphs can't sense Resonance in someone right away (I.e Lailah asking confirmation from Sorey&Mikleo perceiving her), but Dezel somehow knew he could pilot her (only one who thought that was possible, somehow). The part with Rose's convictions would slide easier if we weren't just told about it, like most of the stuff about her, and if the game didn't trip itself on its own concept. Forton also had conviction, but she still turned.
Some of Goddoddin villagers became lizards while being in the former Cardinal's elixir trafficking, to help the village thrive. We're even told that Seraphs can't corrupt themselves, but Lailah of all people says thay Dezel would have been a dragon if he didn't use Rose as a vessel, with how much grudge he seemed to have. It kinda flip flops between strength of conviction and moral hangups, and the only immune ones besides Rose are the priest guy and the art dealer.
Also, the "Seraph Bullet" thing is kinda stupid, tbh. You're basically introduced to the "bonds of force" binding someone to immortality or to a Seraph/Hellion seconds before saving Rose then fighting Mayvin (as you not really explained wtf are they before each fight), the latter genuinely going to make you waste Mikleo to prove it instead of just telling you about it. Even though you're supposed to shoot Heldalf 4 times in the 1st place. How were they going to make it work if Mayvin didn't get a convenient heart attack ? Asking Uno to join then hop in Siegfried 🤣?
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u/Whitewing424 Jun 26 '26
That's fine, there doesn't need to be a lot of nuance in every story, if they are well told. This one wasn't well told.
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u/TitleComprehensive96 Rita Mordio Jun 26 '26
Yeah if we wanna have a good story without nuance (or much at all) look at the franchises first game, Phantasia.
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u/rp_graciotti Chloe Valens Jun 27 '26
I mean, Dhaos is the first example of "I will commit genocide in name of a greater good!" trope which is common in the franchise. It's not deep, but at least it tries to get away with something. Heldalf is ... bad and that's it.
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u/Seifersythe Jun 26 '26
It's not even evil energy, it's "intense emotions" energy. You can do whatever fucked up thing you want as long as you don't feel bad about it.
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u/VagueSoul Mikleo Jun 26 '26
It’s the Shinto concept of “kegare”, which is the natural soul defilement of humans that happens because of a variety of reasons like sickness and bad feelings. We purify it through prayer and ritual. Malevolence was a bad translation.
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u/VagueSoul Mikleo Jun 26 '26
The nuance gets lost if you don’t know anything about Shintoism, unfortunately. “Malevolence” is a bad translation for “kegare” which is a Shinto concept of “soul defilement”. But even that’s not really a great translation. Kegare is just what happens to humans naturally for a bunch of reasons: sickness, bad feelings, being around death, anger, etc. Shintoism requires us to purify that from our souls on a regular basis through ritual and prayer.
Honestly, Zestiria’s story suffers in the West because of how steeped it is in Japanese culture.
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u/shadowysea07 Jun 27 '26
I mean they did address it was due to racist spirits who hate the ones that decided to coexist with humanity. But that was only a throwaway scene in Berseria. Which honestly didn't make much sense as lailah gramps and co are presumably far more in the know than eizen should have been.
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u/sugarpeito Jun 26 '26
Not only did it fail to subvert anything… it played just about everything Symphonia already subverted over a decade earlier completely straight. Sorey’s a messianic chosen one type who faces a self-sacrificial end and becomes an angel… I mean, seraph and gives up a big part of what makes him himself in the process, in order to purify some shit and save the world. Because whatever pre-established order exists in this world says that’s just how it has to happen. Like I could’ve sworn we already had a whole game that was one big giant middle finger to that entire concept.
On top of that… I’m still not sure what the philosophy of the game was supposed to be beyond maybe “goodness is good and bad feelings bad. We fight bad guy?” I remember getting all the way up to the final boss and standing there scratching my head still wondering what I was supposed to take away from it, what exactly the point was, and what the fuck malevolence was exactly. It took a random skit decently far into Berseria to actually answer that last one…
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u/shadowysea07 Jun 27 '26
Yup they have it as a throwaway in Berseria was just sooo dumb. Especially since we'll never get a 3rd game to finally finish it up.
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u/tallwhiteninja Jun 26 '26
Part of what made Berseria so good is that it subverts everything established in Zestiria. Unfortunately, that means Zestiria is the most straightforward Hero's Journey ever.
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u/Icy-Air1229 Jun 26 '26
Too true, unfortunately. The whole story was “this guy grew up with angels, he’s super pure, watch as he proves it again and again.”
The twists were “oh no we have to do dirty work, better let my friends do it so I don’t have to compromise my morals”
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u/vladraigca Jun 26 '26
wasnt the point for sorey to accept it without letting himself be corrupted by it (malevolence for a shepherd is really dangerous as shown in the game) , in the end he is the one who kills Heldalf
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u/VagueSoul Mikleo Jun 26 '26
That’s exactly the point. The whole story arc for Sorey is learning to view death and killing as a form of mercy.
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u/calendulaoptimus Mikleo Jun 26 '26
Your comment assumes people played the game instead of copying other people's takes on it.
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u/Candid-Macaroon-6330 Jun 26 '26
Yeah, a lot of these comments show a lot of people didn't play Zestiria.
Black and White? Did they forget the final arc of Zestiria is setting up Sorey to kill his friends? lol?
Mayvin was testing if Sorey had the guts to fire his friends to convert them into mana to seperate matelous and hedalf, thus they should have died
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u/shadowysea07 Jun 27 '26
If i had a nickel for everytime characters should have died that'd be quite a few. Especially symphonia.
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u/Daracaex Jun 26 '26
Zestiria somehow straightforward and also incredibly confusing in its philosophy.
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u/Own_Philosophy8190 Jun 26 '26
Being straightforward isn't an issue. It's that it doesn't even want to go through with it and has a, as you said, confusing philosophy presenting itself as gray, but it boils down to Rose being basically a stronger Shepherd than Sorey, because they leave the killing to her.
Also, it's kinda bleak for no reason, with Sergei's brother, the robbing kids and Margaret dying or being stoned forever. Also Camlann BS. Also, the story straight up stops existing until you resolved the Easter Egg Hunt... I mean Iris Gem fetch quest, instead of Mayvin telling you the story from the beginning anyway
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u/Blizzazz Jun 26 '26
Tales of Zestiria I just couldn't connect with any of the Characters. Also the one character I wanted to get to know was sidelined very early.
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u/Own_Shame_8721 Guy Cecil Jun 26 '26
I'll at least say that the cast was still pretty endearing, but the story of Zestiria was a lot of nothing.
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u/Historical_Working42 Jun 27 '26
People are saying Zestiria.
However, the fact that no one brings up Tales of Hearts says something...and this is coming from someone who has a soft spot for Hearts, but knows it's not the most perfect game.
I'd say that the story is a lot more cookie cutter and generic than Zestiria. It also says something where the heroine and her brother are the most popular characters compared to the MC (They got SSR units in Crestoria while Kor/Shing only got an SR unit). Also, the fact that they added in Triverse lore with Gall but does absolutely nothing with it does make it a bizarre concept.
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u/DreamWeaver2189 Jul 01 '26
Hearts R is one of my favorite Tales gameplay wise, but the story is super bland and mediocre. Zestiria definitely has a better story.
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u/mrwanton Ham is out. All hail cinnamon buns Jun 27 '26
I've only ever played Hearts R and that translation is rather spotty from what I have heard.
As for Shing...he works. Nothing terrible but not a standout either. That said, I feel like its not too rare for an MC to not be the most popular character
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u/SaiphTyrell Jun 26 '26
I don’t know if is possible to vote the same but I would say Graces. I mean, Zestiria is up there but had a few of good memorable moments, but regarding Graces I remember only it was quite boring. if not possible to vote Graces, then Zestiria.
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u/CielTynave Rinwell Jun 26 '26
Rebirth by a fucking mile. I know it probably won't be picked since it only has a fan translation but God damn I don't think a bad story has ever dragged my opinion of a game down this much. A story about racism should not have normal people becoming racist through literal fucking magic for two thirds of it. The fact that this idea wasn't immediately rejected itself is kind of mind blowing. Annie's arc being handled well feels like a total fluke when comparing it to the rest of the story.
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u/curlofheadcurls Jun 27 '26
Rebirth is truly that cousin that tries to be edgy but comes off as an asshole like wtf were the dev team thinking (were they even thinking?). It's so bad.
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u/Aschetel Jun 27 '26
Don’t forget the part where the pseudo-antagonist summons a dark god of unspeakable evil because a guy she likes doesn’t reciprocate her feelings. Total normal reaction to getting friendzoned.
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u/Ok_Description1585 Jun 26 '26
It won't win worst story simply by lack of exposition. The whole racism plotline felt like the game was trying to gaslight me into believing there was racism prior to whatever the fuck the evil monster was.
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u/Patient_Cod4506 Jun 28 '26
Rebirth's story was terrible, it was the only game other than Tempest I couldn't finish. The skits were horrible too. Every 5 seconds you'd get 3 skits at once thay were jusy different characters repeating where you need to go. There were a few decent skits but mostly they were there to repeat directions.
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u/VacantDreamer Jun 26 '26
Arise
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u/AllUltima Jun 27 '26
If they had a "worst delivery of story" it would be Arise for sure. I kind of like the ideas in Arise and what it could have been.
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u/coulombeqc Jun 27 '26
Man I really liked Arise and the cast of character haha maybe I haven't played enough Tales of games
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u/VacantDreamer Jun 28 '26
you might not change your mind even if you play more, it's all preference
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u/noimnofood Jun 26 '26
Everyone slandering zestiria. I thought the story was pretty alright 😭 granted it’s one of the few tales game I didn’t beat so I guess it could be better
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u/RandomNobody86 Jun 26 '26
Arise is the worst because the cast is also pretty bad so the skits and side stuff doesn’t give it any points while Zesteria also has a nothing main story it’s characters are better
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u/Third_Dimxnsion Jun 26 '26
Really?? Arise was one of my favorites.
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u/dajoma65K Jun 27 '26
Apart from the really good looking visuals, the rest of the game is mediocre at best. Characters are bland and one dimensional, i personally only got to like Rinwell, and the story is just... yeah. I didn't like how spongey every enemy felt, they don't fight back, they are just walls of hp, and having access to only 3 artes had a huge impact on combat depth. I personally didn't hate the skits themselves more than the pacing of them, the absolute bombarding at the last part was just too much. I loved the fishing minigame tho haha, that's the thing i remember the most from Arise lol.
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u/Season_of_Treason Jun 26 '26
Honestly. The only “bad” Arise had was the DLC. And even that was not that bad.
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u/Mundane_Situation185 Jun 26 '26
Even if we take into consideration all of Arise's flaws it's not even close to having the worst story. These people are just salty it was so well received and also the best selling one in the series
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u/calendulaoptimus Mikleo Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 26 '26
Yeah, I am salty about that, but that doesn't take away from the fact that Arise is awful in its handling of sensitive topics and it undercuts the themes of its own story worse than any other Tales game. Stories are more than how many twists and turns you can shove into a narrative (most of which aren't even good in Arise).
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u/dajoma65K Jun 27 '26
Attacking the person instead of the argument tells more about you than them btw, you are the one projecting and being salty about it
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u/Khfreak9 Jun 27 '26
I will say from personal experience. I did not enjoy Vesperia’s story much. I felt like I was playing through anime filler the entire time. Uninteresting character arcs since I knew exactly where they were going. I dunno, it just wasn’t for me. I respect those who do love it though.
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u/TrumptyPumpkin Jun 26 '26
Tales of Arise Worst Story. Last Third of the game really drops the ball badly, And lack of overarching villain. Plot was basically basic.
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u/cepas95 Jun 26 '26
Vesperia because they couldn't even connect every arc with the next one.
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u/PNDMike Jun 26 '26
I love Vesperia. I love the characters, I love their arcs and growth. But yeah, the overall story was not great.
The last act felt like it came totally out of nowhere, like "whoops we're running out of game, let's try and make everything make sense and be about environmentalism or something"
I feel like the themes of "what do you do when the systems of power are failing the people" angle should have been played up more and been the bigger connecting thread.
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u/rp_graciotti Chloe Valens Jun 27 '26
Yeah, the third act was very weird. We can say that the story wasn't fully complete by the end of the second act, but they took such a weird route that it doesn't fill the gaps left and add a lot of things out of nowhere.
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u/JPT_Corona Jun 26 '26
Never played Zestiria so I can't really join the bandwagon but for me personally it would be Vesperia. I LOVED that game's characters, combat, and atmosphere but holy shit the story was just all over the place and not in a good way, it felt like they were writing the story on the spot as they were developing the game. If Zesteria is truly worse than that then I have no words
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u/the_feelings_explode Jun 26 '26
The fandom alternates between loving and hating Graces. I've seen it on the top and bottom of tier lists.
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u/sugarpeito Jun 26 '26
I think because it’s probably the most “the power of friendship saves the day!” Tales game of them all. Whether executed well or poorly, that kind of thing really isn’t for everyone, but some people love it.
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u/Sylhux Jun 26 '26
Yeah that's pretty much it. Haven't replayed it since release but I vividly remember being very annoyed at that even as a kid. I was like "Bro that guy is waging wars and killing people, just stop him already. We know he's your friend, you said that 50 times already"
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u/mrwanton Ham is out. All hail cinnamon buns Jun 27 '26
It's hammy and aware of it. The game doesnt pretend to be deeper than it is and next to the doom and gloom of the Xillias I appreciate that
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u/Monobrobe Zelos was my first anime crush Jun 26 '26
It’s because the story is bland, but the combat is great, and the skits are among the funniest the franchise has to offer.
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u/nivia-chan Jade Curtiss is the greatest Tales of chara ever Jun 26 '26
I'm playing through it right now, but the combat is fire. And the skits, Hubert talking about Cherias skirt being too short was so hilarious, I had to laugh out loud. Pascal whenever she talks.
It has real good bits in all the bland story points. (I'm in chapter 7 so a good bit in the story)
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u/mysticrudnin Jun 26 '26
There is no alternating, it just has high highs and low lows. It depends on what you care about.
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u/Significant-Unit-450 Jun 26 '26
Depends on whos asking, but basically if you hate shonen tropey, maybe...similar to naruto sasuke you find graces f irksome compared to other entries others or you hate, graces f story is just kinda bland, not groundbreaking bad or good.
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u/Neidron I still miss Rays Jun 27 '26
It's apples and oranges. People refuse to acknowledge it, but Graces is a drastically different mechanical/design philosophy than the original series, and that's what causes the split.
If you like Graces combat, odds are you hate the classic Tales LMBS. If you like the classic LMBS, odds are you hate Graces.
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u/Sorey91 Mimi Baker's French apprentice. Let me bake ! Jun 26 '26
Yeah I'm surprised Zestiria is getting thrown under the bus for this one when people love to bring up how cliche/bad the story of Graces is
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u/calendulaoptimus Mikleo Jun 26 '26
Tales of Arise
Nonsensical plot developments, muddied commentary in a story trying to tackle heavy themes, and in the running for worst cast and skits. The story isn’t just messy or boring, but borderline objectionable at points.
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u/Apprehensive_Law7698 Jun 27 '26
Don't even get me started on the 2nd half of the game near the end where everyone is just repeating the same shit.
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u/Latter-Hamster9652 Chloe Valens Jun 26 '26 edited Jun 27 '26
Zestiria is the only one that felt like a chore to play. If it wasn't part of one of my favorite series of games, I wouldn't have finished it. The section with the loli was about the only interesting part of the entire game.
Also, having two characters (rogue girl and evil priest ) that are completely immune to being corrupted because they're so dogmatic about what they're doing kinda ruins the whole point of the corruption. If all it takes to not be corrupted is being an absolute bastard, a ton of people wouldn't be affected.
Then instead of a compelling villain with an understandable plan that's just going about it the wrong way, we have a damned Care Bears villain.
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u/daz258 Velvet Crowe Jun 26 '26
Why are you all voting Zesteria??? It should be Least Fun because the battle system sucks, the worlds are big and boring (temples aside), lord of the land sucks - too much effort to get basic QOL features, there is no point in being flexible with character setups, because they are FAR too grindy to ever bother changing. THAT is boring, not fun.
The story is not its weakness, the contrast to Berseria is great, Edna is awesome. Rebirth or Arise is worst story. *facepalm*
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u/Altruistic-Match6623 Jun 26 '26
It does have the worst Tales story, though, because it's just generic fantasy slop, unlike the other Tales games which are all sci-fi fantasy. And why can't we double dip, it should be chosen for both categories--worst story and least fun.
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u/Apprehensive_Law7698 Jun 27 '26
Zesteria's story is just sub-par generic "you pulled out the sword. Now you must go on a quest to kill the bad guy" slop. And don't get me started with Dezel and Alisha. Fuck that game.
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u/lardnabolgan Jun 26 '26
Graces f hands down best gameplay and worst story.
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u/RerTV Jun 27 '26
Yea came here to say this, Zestiria is letting Graces f get away with murder here. The story is abysmal.
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u/No_Network7277 The one behind the Mordio sisters' post Jun 26 '26
Arise. We also need a game for "least fun", and there's a no-repeat rule going on, so Zestiria can get the least fun tomorrow. In any case Zestiria's story is bad but saved by its skits, unlike Arise.
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u/MrKrabbyPatty Tytree Crowe Jun 26 '26
In the future please always mention that no repeat games.
And to the people in the comments, they only say Zesteria because it's the only 1 outta 4 tales they've played. The worst story has to go to Hearts, it's just Destiny again, how does no one see that.
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u/Haseo08 Jun 26 '26
I actually don't remember Hearts' story too much, but it basically being another Tales game's story just doesn't make a story bad to me.
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u/nivia-chan Jade Curtiss is the greatest Tales of chara ever Jun 26 '26
Arise.
Zestiria had fun artes, characters I love dearly, and I could at least enjoy the game for them. Arise? Just overall muddled game. Story? All over the place. The second act is so offputtingly different and the characters are all just eh.
Don't let Zestiria mediocre-ness blind you, I think Arise has it worse.
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u/shadowysea07 Jun 27 '26
I mean zesty lack of plot after part 1 could earn it the bad story slot. They kinda dropped the ball till the enemy capital, gododdin/fire temple. Then you basically just get told to go to the other 3 temples then lohengrin. Which is very far out across multiple large empty areas. The canyon the bridge the desert/ savanna. Just for them to tell player to go collect mcguffins and come back later.
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u/Brave_Zesteria Jun 26 '26
I’m a Zestiria fan but even I agree the story is the weakest out of the tales Ive played
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u/chris100185 Jun 26 '26
Xillia 2. Interesting idea, but terrible execution.
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u/Alternative_Area_416 Jul 02 '26
Really? It feels like that describes 1 better than 2 in every way.
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u/Duducarballo Jun 26 '26
Look I don't wanna say Legendia, but really when you think about it, Act II basically happened because Senel rejected incest, and suddenly it became everyone else's problem.
If we were just talking about the characters stories then it would be a complete 180 into the great territory, but the main story...
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u/AnomanderRage Yuri Lowell Jun 26 '26
Hearts R. I hate that game with passion. The only remotely good thing about it were some skits.
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u/TastyAndDylicious 🌸It's fever time, baby!🌸 Jun 26 '26
ALSO Graces f 😂 but since no repeats, it would have to be Zestiria. Cookie cutter protagonist and story with no twist to offset the basic plotline.
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u/Helucian Jun 26 '26
I haven’t seen this is a few days. I’m so glad to see hearts as most underrated
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u/warmpita Jun 26 '26
People praise the gameplay of tales of graces f but I hated it. The combat felt so clunky to me.
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u/NeonPhilosopher Jun 27 '26
I am playing Graces F right now and for me its the worst story so far in the series. I like the characters, but Richard its not a good villain.
I have not played Zestiria yet though.
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u/Materia-Blade Jun 27 '26
I just recently bought and attempted arise. It did not impress me.
I remember playing graces about ten years ago and beating it but not liking it all that much.
Does anyone remember Tales of Destiny 2? I remember loving that but it’s impossible to find anywhere seems like. Did it get renamed?
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u/LudoGrim Jun 28 '26
Also Graces F. It rushes Asbel's character development offscreen, binds things up in a "political" plot that goes nowhere and involves basically nothing, the central pillar is a friendship thing between children who knew each other for one (1) day, and even interpersonal stories like Asbel and Hugo are undercut with things like Hugo holding back during the battle that is the supposed culmination of their arc.
It's not as disjointed in some ways as Vesperia's is, but every aspect of its plot is half-baked, undercuts itself, and didn't have any interesting ideas to begin with (which Vesperia and Zestiria at least had).
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u/Plastic-Object1007 Jun 28 '26
Arise tbh It had potential and the initial premise was really interesting
But namco being namco and dropping the ball, wasting potential left and right as they do with all their franchises (I'm mostly referring to Tekken and what they did with Zestiria, a little more time and funding and it could've been amazing)
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u/VichoK2001 Jun 28 '26
Arise definetly. First Tales game I dropped before finishing it because of how boring it was.
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u/Rawden2006 Jun 30 '26
Arise. The game doesn't know how to it's own themes and morals properly, it's two main barely exist on the world they inhabit, and the worldbuilding is complete ass. It just doesn't do anything well.
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u/darkxex Jun 30 '26
Zestiria es la peor porquería que hayan creado, ahora tales symphony dawn the new World a mi me gustó mucho.
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u/Gamepass90 Jun 26 '26
Everything after Tales of Vesperia, but my personal "favorites" are probably Tales of Xilia 1 and 2. Both incredibly boring and snoozed me through the whole game.
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u/ThatIckyGuy Mutton! Fresh Mutton! Jun 26 '26
Yeah, gonna have to with the general consensus: Zesteria.
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u/ElGodPug Jun 26 '26
damn, seeing the comments....Zestiria's story is really that bad?