Tales of Eternia Remastered PC Evaluate

Tales of Eternia Remastered brings again one of many extra beloved entries in Bandai Namco’s long-running Tales franchise, giving a basic PlayStation RPG a contemporary coat of paint and a number of other quality-of-life enhancements. Initially launched in 2001, the sport follows a well-recognized JRPG components that options an incredible story, endearing characters, and loads of action-packed fight. Whereas the remaster does job of constructing the expertise extra accessible to fashionable audiences, a few of its dated design decisions and questionable visible modifications forestall it from being the unquestionably definitive expertise for the sport.

 A Conventional However Partaking JRPG Story

The sport follows Reid Hershel and his childhood buddies, Farah Oersted and Keele Zeibel, whose lives change after encountering a mysterious woman named Meredy. Unable to know her language, the group units out to find who she is and the place she got here from. Their journey ultimately leads them to uncover the existence of two interconnected worlds, Inferia and Celestia, and a catastrophic occasion referred to as the Grand Fall that threatens to destroy them each.

Because of the recreation’s age, Tales of Eternia unsurprisingly has a conventional JRPG premise, however the recreation’s characters and their interactions do quite a bit to make the general journey participating. Reid’s laid-back character, Farah’s energetic angle, and Keele’s extra critical manner create some entertaining moments, whereas Meredy brings loads of character to the group. The sport notably restores skits from the unique Japanese launch and totally voices them which is nice for followers who’ve performed the unique recreation or new followers wanting the complete expertise.

Nonetheless, whereas the voice performing is healthier within the remaster because it contains new recording and an up to date script, it sadly sounds crunchy because of the questionable audio high quality. Whereas it might have been a creative alternative so it might probably sound as near the unique recreation as attainable, the audio high quality feels subpar for a remaster. Moreover, some voice performances in English aren’t nearly as good as others resulting in a combined expertise.

A Enjoyable However Dated Gameplay Expertise

Gameplay is the place Tales of Eternia actually begins to tell apart itself from different RPGs of its period. Slightly than counting on conventional turn-based encounters, the sport makes use of the Aggressive Linear Movement Battle System, which places characters on a 2D battlefield the place they will transfer, assault, defend, and unleash particular skills in actual time. You’ll be able to chain primary assaults into highly effective Artes, use magic to use enemy weaknesses, and change between celebration members to make the most of their completely different skills. Managing your positioning and understanding when to make use of stronger assaults is essential, particularly throughout boss encounters.

Sadly, this method results in a finicky fight expertise as assaults really feel extremely floaty and miss after they clearly shouldn’t. Not with the ability to lock on to enemies as a consequence of its fight system is particularly irritating when compiling these points and contemplating the sport’s age. However whereas the fight takes some getting used to, gameplay stays principally pleasant, particularly whenever you begin unlocking extra skills and experimenting with completely different celebration mixtures.

There are additionally loads of conventional RPG actions to maintain gamers occupied outdoors fight. Exploring cities, trying to find hidden gadgets, finishing facet quests, cooking recipes, fishing, and discovering new tools all contribute to the expertise. The sport additionally options an intensive world map that connects its completely different places, giving the journey a higher sense of scale as you journey between Inferia and Celestia. Nonetheless, some dungeons and puzzles can really feel unnecessarily sophisticated, and the occasional backtracking doesn’t do a lot to assist the pacing. 

Nice QOL However A Blended Bag General

Fortunately, the remaster introduces a number of helpful enhancements, together with vacation spot markers, adjustable encounter charges, expertise and foreign money boosts, fast restoration, the grade store that permits a number of gadgets from the beginning, full controller help, and a high-speed possibility for automated battles. All of those make gameplay immensely extra participating and fewer tedious than booting up the unique recreation and are good causes to buy the remaster, warts and all.

Visually, the remaster is a combined bag. Whereas the up to date graphics and results makes the sport look cleaner on fashionable shows, among the modifications aren’t actually spectacular. Character sprites retain a lot of their authentic look, whereas sure backgrounds and cutscenes have been upscaled in methods that may make them look noticeably worse than the unique art work. Luckily, gamers can change between the remastered and authentic graphics, which considerably mitigates the frustration. The soundtrack additionally stays one of many recreation’s highlights, and with the ability to change between authentic and up to date sound results is a pleasant contact.

Sadly, not each facet of the unique expertise has made the transition. The elimination of native multiplayer is extremely disappointing, contemplating that cooperative battles had been one of many extra pleasant options of the unique PlayStation launch. Among the controls and interactions additionally really feel dated, and navigating sure environments could be irritating when making an attempt to work together with objects or characters. Whereas the quality-of-life enhancements assist quite a bit, they don’t deal with the entire recreation’s tedious older design limitations.

Ultimate Ideas

All that stated, Tales of Eternia Remastered remains to be a worthwhile return for one of many sequence’ basic adventures particularly for sequence followers who don’t thoughts retro jank. Its characters are endearing, the story has loads of appeal and nice moments, and the real-time fight is entertaining. The remaster additionally introduces sufficient helpful enhancements to make the expertise significantly extra approachable, even when a few of its visible modifications depart quite a bit to be desired.