Bandai Namco’s sudden dropping of a Tales of Berseria Remaster was a bizarre choice. Players were confused as to why a 2017 game would receive the remaster treatment and not anything from their classic Tales catalog.
All I wanted was a Tales of Eternia Remake.
The Tales series has always been special for anyone who appreciates a good JRPG. It didn’t quite reach the heights of Square’s Final Fantasy series, but it has attracted a loyal community of players craving for an alternative to turn-based games.
It was the summer of 2007, and Dad just bought me a PlayStation Portable. I barely knew anything about Tales games. Much of my childhood JRPGs were Final Fantasy and the Ys titles, so the Tales games were never on my radar until I discovered Tales of Eternia through a bootleg shop and bought it.
Tales of Eternia was my first Tales game, and I had zero expectations going into it. Maybe it’s just another Final Fantasy clone? Imagine my surprise when I found it’s a real-time action game.
“It’s not a Final Fantasy clone!” I said, and that’s when my love for the series began. I was craving for a faster JRPG after I gave up on Final Fantasy IV (Forgive me, I was young), and Tales of Eternia seems to fill that void for me.
If not for its excellent combat system, the story was another thing that hooked me. Underneath its fantasy world lies an interesting story about the cultural divide. There’s a deeper tale to Reid Hershel and Meredy’s worlds, apart from their magic and cute anime girls. While cliche, it introduced 13-year-old me to mature themes like racism, blind faith, and corruption of man.
There’s just so much love and care put into Eternia’s world that it feels wasted not to be remade. Even its mini-game called WHIS was something I deeply adored. It was essentially my first version of The Witcher 3’s Gwent, and it had me in a chokehold every time I got to play it.
Bandai Namco could use the same engine they’ve built Arise with, and we could be seeing Eternia’s Infernia and Celestia in their full splendor. We really don’t need another retread of Velvet Crowe’s story.
My only concern with Eternia is its aggressive random encounters. Like Persona 1’s abysmal hallways, Eternia had us facing enemies after enemies every two or three steps. It was definitely frustrating, but 13-year-old me didn’t have a developed frontal lobe to rationalize my annoyance with that gameplay system.
A remake would fix some of Eternia’s issues while also introducing it to a fresh audience of JRPG fans.
Bandai Namco needs to realize that the Tales series is more than just Vesperia and Berseria. They have a massive catalog of classics that need remembering. What about a remaster for Tales of the Abyss or Innocence? Now, they’re all collecting dust, waiting for one exec to pick it up and let everyone know the series wouldn’t exist without it.
For more like this, stick with us here at Gfinityesports.com, the best website for gaming features and news.