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Tales of Zestiria


Maxel

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16 hours in and I can say that I'm enjoying it a lot already.  I generally don't care about the framerate in games like this, granted the other issues are annoying (screen-tearing that get's fixed with V-sync) but all in all it's still an enjoyable experience.  I haven't gotten my $1/hour requirement when it comes to games yet but who knows, this game could end up taking me forever and having several different reasons to play through it.  I also have to take into consideration that I pre-ordered it after symphonia got unlocked on the tiered pre-order bollocks so I get even more out of it than I normally would.

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I realize that I'm late on addressing this matter since the game already got released a few days ago but here I go anyways.

Most Japanese ports were originally built from the ground up to run at 30 fps since those games were only intended for consoles/handheld devices and the accepted standard fps limit for these platforms are 30. Now when these games are ported to PC, the developers usually lock them at 30 fps instead of optimizing to 60 fps since the game will have all sorts of problems with the game mechanics, graphical settings, control inputs, missing textures, etc when it is played on fps higher than originally intended.

One of the most common issue is that the game physics are tied to the framerates. This means that the speed of the animation being played out in the game directly correlates to it's current fps limit. So when a game in 30 fps is modded to 60 fps or more, the whole game moves in an unintended fast-motion. It feels like you're fast forwarding a game instead of a movie. I think it's best to show than just explain for a better understanding.

 

As you can see, the above game called Toukiden runs 4x times it's original speed when unlocked at 120 fps from 30 fps. Now to optimize this problem the developers have to rebuild the in-game physics from scratch or in best cases, they just have to modify some coding for the physics. But this takes time and effort and costs more plus all the other aforementioned problems so developers are better off locking the game at 30 fps rather than optimizing it to 60 fps without much incentive.

This kind of thing isn't uncommon even on western pc gaming market. Need for Speed Rivals had the same issue where the game's speed increased along with it's fps. This was reversed in the case of BIoshock where the game ran fine with 60 fps but the animation in game still played out like it ran at 30 fps thus making the game physics look weird and in slow-motion.

So far, I couldn't find any thread or video claiming to have unlocked Tales of Zestiria 30 fps caps to 60 fps and the lets play videos of the game at 60 fps simply uses interpolation and post-processing to give it an illusion of running at higher framerates than 30 fps. Even if someone did unlocked it, I think the game would have similar problem of in-game speed increasing if the quotes in this article are said to be true. I hope I'm proven wrong.

Either way, this 'physics tied to framerates' is a very outdated technique for simulating time in game engines while synchronizing them to rendering framerates and there is no good excuse for not optimizing it. Most AAA game developers avoid this but Japanese developers uses this since it takes less effort in coding and calculation done in-game and is effectively cheap in terms of costs.

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There's opinion of creator of GeDoSaTo(Durante) They guy's been tweaking fail ports of JRPGs, and other games too.

http://www.pcgamer.com/tales-of-zestiria-port-analysis-durantes-verdict

I would classify Tales of Zestiria’s Steam release as a success. From all evidence we are privy to, it appears the porting team did the best they could under the circumstances, and the result is a strong port, with excellently adapted controls, great and consistent performance, arbitrary resolution support and a range of graphical options.

Returning to the essentials, this port of Tales of Zestiria is about as good as you could ever expect it to be given the locked framerate, and the best version of the game available on any platform.

 

Honestly, I agree with this guy. PC Zestiria is the best available version of the game. There's only 2 negative points for current Zestiria port:

- Camera(which is a huge fuc**** annoying issue which they didn't fix)

- 30 FPS Lock(I was literally mad at the devs when they said it'll be 30 FPS... And I'm kinda sad that I didn't pre-ordered it now... The game is running at the CONSTANT 30 FPS(not ranging from 25-30), while it isn't silky smooth gameplay, it can be considered smooth, so it's not that bad)

If they would fix camera, would give the game 9/10 where I'm currently at(in the story)

 

Anyway, according to SteamSpy(http://steamspy.com/app/351970) Zestiria has sold about 65k copies, out of which I think 5k~~ maybe was refunded. So 60,000 x 50euro/dolars = 3,000,000 And it will probably learn more on sales, after updates etc. I think it's very worth it for them. They're only digital copies, so they just had to do some programming and put the translation in, that's all. Pure profit. I wonder how it's gonna go with other Tales games, will Bamco start making engines with thought about PC users? OR will they still stick to 30FPS. Will they release more Tales titles on PC? Will Berseria be available on PC? What do you guys thinks? Basing on numbers/reviews I think it's quite likely gonna happen, sooner or later.

 

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There's opinion of creator of GeDoSaTo(Durante) They guy's been tweaking fail ports of JRPGs, and other games too.

http://www.pcgamer.com/tales-of-zestiria-port-analysis-durantes-verdict

I would classify Tales of Zestiria’s Steam release as a success. From all evidence we are privy to, it appears the porting team did the best they could under the circumstances, and the result is a strong port, with excellently adapted controls, great and consistent performance, arbitrary resolution support and a range of graphical options.

Returning to the essentials, this port of Tales of Zestiria is about as good as you could ever expect it to be given the locked framerate, and the best version of the game available on any platform.

 

Honestly, I agree with this guy. PC Zestiria is the best available version of the game. There's only 2 negative points for current Zestiria port:

- Camera(which is a huge fuc**** annoying issue which they didn't fix)

- 30 FPS Lock(I was literally mad at the devs when they said it'll be 30 FPS... And I'm kinda sad that I didn't pre-ordered it now... The game is running at the CONSTANT 30 FPS(not ranging from 25-30), while it isn't silky smooth gameplay, it can be considered smooth, so it's not that bad)

If they would fix camera, would give the game 9/10 where I'm currently at(in the story)

 

Anyway, according to SteamSpy(http://steamspy.com/app/351970) Zestiria has sold about 65k copies, out of which I think 5k~~ maybe was refunded. So 60,000 x 50euro/dolars = 3,000,000 And it will probably learn more on sales, after updates etc. I think it's very worth it for them. They're only digital copies, so they just had to do some programming and put the translation in, that's all. Pure profit. I wonder how it's gonna go with other Tales games, will Bamco start making engines with thought about PC users? OR will they still stick to 30FPS. Will they release more Tales titles on PC? Will Berseria be available on PC? What do you guys thinks? Basing on numbers/reviews I think it's quite likely gonna happen, sooner or later.

 

I think it'll be risky for them. Simply put, Zestiria has sold so much for the "Tales of game coming to Steam with another as free for pre-order woohoooo" and the Tales of franchise fanbase. In all honesty, it's a completey subpar game. If it wasn't part of the franchise, this would have been a flop. Not a bad game, but most certainly one that doesn't inspire trust in a franchise. So, personally speaking, I think the public wouldn't react as well to the same movement (or smth even riskier) being done again.

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I was playing One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 which is also ported by Scamco, I mean Bandai Namco and it runs pretty darn smooth. It's a Warriors game so I guess is to be expected since all others like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors play amazingly on Steam. 

The 30 FPS lock is quite common in many JRPG ports on Steam. Not sure if this is the best they can do but it's tolerable to me. It doesn't need to feel like Call of Duty at all! :amane: 

Shadows seem to be an issue to me. It makes my game kinda laggy if I set it more than Low setting, especially during daylight and clouds are hovering by... Other than that, the typical very low antiasliasing, and vertical sync on on the graphics setting for most JRPGs fixes all the lag for me. 

Also note that the voices WILL NOT WORK if you set it to Surround setting but don't have surround speakers or something to feedback the sounds. Kinda weird glitch but luckily I found out a solution to it. Set it to Stereo will fix this problem also. 

It's not Vesperia, Abyss, or Xillia caliber but at least it's pretty, has nice waifus although I do not like the way they approached Alisha in this game since she

WTF!? just leaves the fucking party (no deaths or betrayal or anything) and I have to resort to cheat engine/hack to keep her permanently... And she's the main heroine in the game!? Rose seems to fit that category more and she has way more involvement with the party. 

, and the combat system is GOLD as always. 

Also not fun the way they handled DLC. They are already all available on the console ports but why the hell do I need to wait for them in the Steam version? I want my idolmaster and blue exorcist costumes already. They are already charging insane prices for it. So just take my money Scamco! :vinty: 

 

Edited by CeruleanGamer
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I was playing One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 which is also ported by Scamco, I mean Bandai Namco and it runs pretty darn smooth. It's a Warriors game so I guess is to be expected since all others like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors play amazingly on Steam. 

The 30 FPS lock is quite common in many JRPG ports on Steam. Not sure if this is the best they can do but it's tolerable to me. It doesn't need to feel like Call of Duty at all! :amane: 

Shadows seem to be an issue to me. It makes my game kinda laggy if I set it more than Low setting, especially during daylight and clouds are hovering by... Other than that, the typical very low antiasliasing, and vertical sync on on the graphics setting for most JRPGs fixes all the lag for me. 

Also note that the voices WILL NOT WORK if you set it to Surround setting but don't have surround speakers or something to feedback the sounds. Kinda weird glitch but luckily I found out a solution to it. Set it to Stereo will fix this problem also. 

It's not Vesperia, Abyss, or Xillia caliber but at least it's pretty, has nice waifus although I do not like the way they approached Alisha in this game since she

Hidden Content

, and the combat system is GOLD as always. 

Also not fun the way they handled DLC. They are already all available on the console ports but why the hell do I need to wait for them in the Steam version? I want my idolmaster and blue exorcist costumes already. They are already charging insane prices for it. So just take my money Scamco! :vinty: 

 

And the others characters immediately proceed to bash and insult Alisha wtf this was so wrong. Btw, this is the scam-y problem I told you guys about before. Many, many fans felt they had been cheated with all the publicity and videos having Alisha as the heroine.

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I was playing One Piece Pirate Warriors 3 which is also ported by Scamco, I mean Bandai Namco and it runs pretty darn smooth. It's a Warriors game so I guess is to be expected since all others like Dynasty Warriors and Samurai Warriors play amazingly on Steam. 

The 30 FPS lock is quite common in many JRPG ports on Steam. Not sure if this is the best they can do but it's tolerable to me. It doesn't need to feel like Call of Duty at all! :amane: 

Shadows seem to be an issue to me. It makes my game kinda laggy if I set it more than Low setting, especially during daylight and clouds are hovering by... Other than that, the typical very low antiasliasing, and vertical sync on on the graphics setting for most JRPGs fixes all the lag for me. 

Also note that the voices WILL NOT WORK if you set it to Surround setting but don't have surround speakers or something to feedback the sounds. Kinda weird glitch but luckily I found out a solution to it. Set it to Stereo will fix this problem also. 

It's not Vesperia, Abyss, or Xillia caliber but at least it's pretty, has nice waifus although I do not like the way they approached Alisha in this game since she

Hidden Content

, and the combat system is GOLD as always. 

Also not fun the way they handled DLC. They are already all available on the console ports but why the hell do I need to wait for them in the Steam version? I want my idolmaster and blue exorcist costumes already. They are already charging insane prices for it. So just take my money Scamco! :vinty: 

 

Hidden Content

 

Some people buy a Tales of game for the waifus. I know I did when I played Vesperia and Abyss... Tear Grants is still in my top 5 after all these years and all the VNs/JRPGs I played. :sachi:

I have no problems with the unique approach to the game but if you're gonna advertise the game, make sure

you don't market a character who leaves the party within 5 hours of the game and never comes back ever again... It's rude, unacceptable, and crushes the spirit of your fans who get nice 1st impressions of her. Rose and Lailah would have been successful pin-up girls for Tales of Zestiria if you gave them a chance....

 

Some JRPGs who did party member replacements right: Fiora from Xenoblade Chronicles dies with the 1st hour but comes back way later in the game as a much more improved character. Shana from Legend of Dragoon also dies but gets replaced by Miranda, a character of same playstyle, although not as interesting as Shana personality-wise. Krile from Final Fantasy V replacing Galuf. Her base stat growths are different but she's pretty much Galuf everywhere else.

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Shadows seem to be an issue to me. It makes my game kinda laggy if I set it more than Low setting, especially during daylight and clouds are hovering by... Other than that, the typical very low antiasliasing, and vertical sync on on the graphics setting for most JRPGs fixes all the lag for me. 

Why do you have your Vsync on? From the above post it looks like you are having low framerate issues, enabling Vsync will just result in more lagging if your fps doesn't remain consistent. If you have no screen tearing then enabling Vsync is pretty much useless since it forces your fps to match with your monitor refresh rate and it increases input lag on an already 30 fps locked game. If you still have lower fps than your refresh rate with the Vsync enabled then the worst that could happen is your fps would drop to 20 or even 15 just for the sake of maintaining every frame to be displayed twice. And it goes without saying that one would prefer higher fps over some minor screen tearing.

Note that Vsync never increases fps and instead lowers and locks it. Unless you have a G-sync monitor or a game that has some weird bug that doesn't let the Vsync function like it should (i.e. it makes the game have higher fps than before), enabling it to increase your fps is just not practical.

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Shadows seem to be an issue to me. It makes my game kinda laggy if I set it more than Low setting, especially during daylight and clouds are hovering by... Other than that, the typical very low antiasliasing, and vertical sync on on the graphics setting for most JRPGs fixes all the lag for me. 

Why do you have your Vsync on? From the above post it looks like you are having low framerate issues, enabling Vsync will just result in more lagging if your fps doesn't remain consistent. If you have no screen tearing then enabling Vsync is pretty much useless since it forces your fps to match with your monitor refresh rate and it increases input lag on an already 30 fps locked game. If you still have lower fps than your refresh rate with the Vsync enabled then the worst that could happen is your fps would drop to 20 or even 15 just for the sake of maintaining every frame to be displayed twice. And it goes without saying that one would prefer higher fps over some minor screen tearing.

Note that Vsync never increases fps and instead lowers and locks it. Unless you have a G-sync monitor or a game that has some weird bug that doesn't let the Vsync function like it should (i.e. make the game have higher fps than before), enabling it to increase your fps is just not practical.

Ooops must be a typo. I meant Off. :vinty:

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Hmm at least they're doing something O_O Patch 1.2Namco+Namco is better than Tecmo+Namco(http://steamcommunity.com/games/351970/announcements/detail/38638067705786919)

btw. The port of One Piece PW3 is awful 3/10

Anyone wanting better performance/quality for Zestiria try this, I'm using it: http://steamcommunity.com/app/351970/discussions/0/490123727975443236/

 

Edited by Maxel
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Hmm at least they're doing something O_O Patch 1.2Namco+Namco is better than Tecmo+Namco(http://steamcommunity.com/games/351970/announcements/detail/38638067705786919)

btw. The port of One Piece PW3 is awful 3/10

 

Really? I have no frame rate issues with it and it runs very smoothly just like the other Warriors games I have and lastly, I'm a OP fangirl so I can be a bit biased. Is it just the content being cut off like the multiplayer? 

Edited by CeruleanGamer
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It's a port of PSVita graphics on PC (LOL) and showing images of PS4 graphics on Steam Store(wtf? they should at least be forced to delete them/swtich to PSV ones, because they're showing false product in here), and missing textures for some Logia's... This is really unacceptable, but they get away with shit like this... I'm not even talking about missing MP... and the price of this shitty port...

Edited by Maxel
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It's a port of PSVita graphics on PC (LOL) and showing images of PS4 graphics on Steam Store(wtf? they should at least be forced to delete them/swtich to PSV ones, because they're showing false product in here), and missing textures for some Logia's... This is really unacceptable, but they get away with shit like this... I'm not even talking about missing MP... and the price of this shitty port...

It was gifted to me so I have no complaints and I like warrior games in general. But now that I looked at some of the screenshots with the Vita and PS4 ports, I do kinda feel cheated lol

Edited by CeruleanGamer
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The equipment skill system is rather frustrating and grindy. Too much RNG and also you need to be careful not just fusing randomly otherwise you lose some nice skill stacks or your precious Unions for bonus skills. Also you need to constantly grind the equipment to level its proficiency and make the skills useable in case they are sealed.... This was a step backward in what Xillia and Tales of Graces f did right....

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My first Tales game since Snes's ToP. It's a bit complex for what I'm used to nowadays - I think I've played too many intuitive (aka "dumbed down") games in recent years, now my brain is suffering from it, lol...

Don't mind it so far, but - a big turn off for me was noticing the subs are completely made up b.s., compared to the actual dialouge - switched it to dubbed so that I can at least hear the "reimagined" conversations, rather then just read them and feel like something is off~

I don't normally nitpick about that kind of thing, but I mean the subs were waaay off compared to the conversations, at least the parts I watched up to. I know enough of the language to know at least what is and is NOT being said.

EDIT: Made some decent progress and banked a few hours into it. Been a lot of fun, and the characters are likable - not really sure where the hate comes from for this game. Besides the sub/dubs issues, the only problem I have is the janky in-combat movement.

Despite some flaws, a worthwhile game.

Edited by Suzu Fanatic
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Welp, first playthrough done.  Worth the money, i'd say so.  It's not the best game but it's still good.  I'm going to go back and get the rest of my achievements so I'll probably hit like 80-100 hours on it at some point.  I'm more excited for symphonia if anything at this point.

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Welp, first playthrough done.  Worth the money, i'd say so.  It's not the best game but it's still good.  I'm going to go back and get the rest of my achievements so I'll probably hit like 80-100 hours on it at some point.  I'm more excited for symphonia if anything at this point.

how long did it take you to finish your first playthrough? 

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Welp, first playthrough done.  Worth the money, i'd say so.  It's not the best game but it's still good.  I'm going to go back and get the rest of my achievements so I'll probably hit like 80-100 hours on it at some point.  I'm more excited for symphonia if anything at this point.

how long did it take you to finish your first playthrough? 

around 40 hours but I meticulously did everything and found all the collectibles I could possibly get on a first run.

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Welp, first playthrough done.  Worth the money, i'd say so.  It's not the best game but it's still good.  I'm going to go back and get the rest of my achievements so I'll probably hit like 80-100 hours on it at some point.  I'm more excited for symphonia if anything at this point.

how long did it take you to finish your first playthrough? 

around 40 hours but I meticulously did everything and found all the collectibles I could possibly get on a first run.

What difficulty did you play at? I'm currently on intense, but trying to figure out how many fights it takes to unlock nightmare (or whatever it was called).

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I think it was 300 battles and they must be ALL wins (no running away). Once you get it, you should start playing it right away but grind on the weak monsters first. The equipment drops are so much better and allows you to perform those annoying Unions easily. 

Note that you get less EXP on higher difficulties, so switch to easy if you want to level faster and nightmare if you are doing endgame and want to be better equipment-wise. 

Edited by CeruleanGamer
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Welp, first playthrough done.  Worth the money, i'd say so.  It's not the best game but it's still good.  I'm going to go back and get the rest of my achievements so I'll probably hit like 80-100 hours on it at some point.  I'm more excited for symphonia if anything at this point.

how long did it take you to finish your first playthrough? 

around 40 hours but I meticulously did everything and found all the collectibles I could possibly get on a first run.

What difficulty did you play at? I'm currently on intense, but trying to figure out how many fights it takes to unlock nightmare (or whatever it was called).

I generally just start games like this on normal for the sake of the basic achievements, i'm doing it on hard now to finish the unlocking process and then i'm going to keep going from there.

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