Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Tales of Zestiria the X
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11586 |
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Because the blade-shaped design on it is so bright, in quick shots it looks like that's all there is to it. The blunt thickness gets lost in the gloom. 
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natchu96
Posts: 189 |
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I see no major plot information here to begin with, much less it being shoved anywhere. Every hellion so far has been something else transformed by malevolence exposure, they're just telling us what dragons used to be. All matter-of-fact like as it should be, as there is nothing unusual or game changing about it at all. Not like being immune to purification is a shock either since they're simply that powerful. The previous hellion that was shot to death also resisted it and Eizen is far beyond that.
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Generations
 Posts: 206 |
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As an anime episode, Episode 10 (or 9 if you used 1 as 'Episode 0') is pretty standard. Slow, but I guess stuff kind of happened.
As someone who played the game, that was probably the worst episode yet, and probably where I'll draw the line when it comes to this adaptation. Not only has the pacing been abysmally slow so far, this episode skipped the Marlind adventure entirely AND dropped several incredibly fantastic character development points in the game that the anime desperately needed because -- aside from being very very pretty -- it's been mostly a snorefest. Mikleo as a Sub-Lord. spoiler[The anime did not discuss at all the dilemma of being a Sub-Lord. On one hand, it prevents Mikleo from being corrupted by malevolence being under the Shepherd's power. On the other, and why Sorey didn't want him to be a Sub-Lord, is that binds the seraphim to him until the contract is over, which basically means he'll need to completely exist inside Sorey's body instead of being able to walk around as a free seraphim.] Repairing the bridge. spoiler[This is probably one of my favourite scenes in the game, because it gave a very interesting dilemma and showed one of the sad aspects of being a Shepherd. The player had to choose whether to raise the bridge at night where no one could see or immediately where townsfolk would see. The extent of Sorey's powers weren't public knowledge, so raising a rock bridge in front of everyone would only make people fear something they didn't understand (and couldn't control), which ties to the solitary road of a Shepherd. And the more alienated he feels, he himself could surrender to malevolence. On the other hand, waiting until nighttime would delay the medicine getting to Marlind longer, and people would die.] Delivering the medicine to Marlind. spoiler[In the game, Sorey was the one who delivered the medicine to Marlind. This is important since (as stated in the previous point) Sorey is the 'saviour', getting directly involved would make people rely on him, which would only burden him, and thus would make him susceptible to malevolence.] Atakk the Normin. spoiler[Atakk was supposed to have turned into a hellion that killed humans, having lived inside the now-abandoned art museum in Marlind. Because of the war against Rolance, people started looking at the work of Rolance in the museum as a negative thing and started destroying them or selling them. Being a lover of art, Atakk became susceptible to malevolence and became a hellion. After being purified, he came to regret what had happened to him and solved to redeem himself by helping Sorey to defeat the Drake.] It feels like they skipped a ton of interesting world-building and character development for the characters and just delivered the bare-minimum of the plot. Those two random episodes of Berseria didn't help the pacing any, which I really think could have just been separated into its own OVA instead of being just an obvious promotion that has NOTHING to do with the current plot of Zestiria. |
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skywardprincessoftime
 Posts: 11 Location: USA |
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Zestiria is one of my favorite games, and I do like that the anime is doing things slightly different as the game had a few plot holes/flaws that needed to be smoothed out. However, it's been hit or miss. I really liked Edna's introduction in the anime and thought that was well handled.
I really don't understand the massive focus on Alisha. I'm sure a large part of it is responding to the backlash the game received about her character in Japan, but given the pacing and spoiler[ the fact that this cour is almost over and the main female companion, Rose, has barely been in it,] it doesn't make too much sense and it takes development away from Sorey, Lailah, Edna, and Mikleo. This episode's preview also makes me believe she will be the focus of the next episode, again. She's not a bad character, but she's received more development and screen time than the main characters and it's taking away from their development, leaving them one-dimensional. (Like Lailah). At first I really liked how the anime handled Mikleo's journey to becoming a Sub Lord, but I'm disappointed in its conclusion. There was major character development for both Sorey (who really hasn't had any development at this point despite being the main character) and Mikleo (arguably Sorey's most beloved Seraph). Game spoilers - spoiler[Sorey and Mikleo have a fight, because Mikleo doesn't want to hold Sorey back but Sorey doesn't want him to be trapped and forced to fight alongside him for his entire journey. Sorey wants him to be free. It was very important because it displayed the depth of their bond and how much they care about each other. Sorey had no problem asking the other seraphim to be Sub Lords. ] While the anime has done a great job showing the lengths Mikleo will go to for Sorey, I don't see the same for Sorey, who seemed fine with the fact his best friend just up and left randomly one day. Sorey and Mikleo have the strongest relationship (regardless of how you interpret it) in the series of all the characters, and it's not driving the plot like it should be. I agree with a couple posters that the Beseria ad should have been an OVA, as a couple critical points in the game were missed/rushed due to the lack of time. I hope Lailah and Mikleo get the same development as Edna received. Despite the fact Mikleo was gone on his journey for a couple of episodes, other than a couple pretty scenery shots and a new bow, It's felt like he hasn't grown too much as a character. My only minor gripe (although it happens with all game adaptations) is that the fight scenes are short and over in about two seconds. I mean, it took one shot only to kill the Drake? A young dragon? At this point, Sorey and Mikleo shouldn't be strong enough for that yet. Regardless, I'm still enjoying it, and the English cast is fantastic as always. |
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Dessa
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I've been thinking on the pacing, and this actually works out. Quite a bit of the game, while being mandatory, has a 'side-quest' feel to it, or simply wouldn't work well animated.
The entire spoiler[missing Pope] storyline The entire spoiler[find the Iris Orbs to fight Mayvin] storyline (and, with it, the entire spoiler[reason to go on the other side of the Great Camelot Bridge] Heck, even spoiler[the Trials] section is mostly spoiler[dungeon crawling and puzzles], so the character development could be done a different way. The next episode is likely going to be the end of Alisha's main story, at least from the preview. I'm guessing it will involve spoiler[Alisha asking to go with Sorey, but him refusing]. After that, we have 2 episodes left for the events of spoiler[the Basin], which will be a good place to end the cour. Even assuming 2 more Berseria episodes next cour, 10 episodes should be plenty. Last edited by Dessa on Tue Sep 06, 2016 12:23 am; edited 1 time in total |
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belvadeer
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Generations pretty much listed the differences I was going to point out.
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wolf10
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I will give the anime credit for doing a lot more to make Hyland's economic motivations seem a lot more justified. There's only so much death and destruction that can go on beore the country's supplies start feeling it. There's no such thing as free dragon-tornado repairs.
The ideological debate going on between Alisha and Bartlow is over whether or not striking preemptively (guaranteeing the deaths of soldiers on both sides) is the proper way to avoid a greater number of civilian casualties (which will only occur if Rolance invades). Rolance is the unknown quantity, and while Alisha thinks they will only strike if threatened (like by moving an army into disputed territory), Bartlow has nonetheless leveraged his own cynical view to sway the Scattered Bones. Alisha's stance is the only one that has a chance of preventing casualties entirely on both sides, but all it would need to fail is for enough people to decide "the world isn't that nice" in either Hyland or Rolance. In the game, Rose called BS on the contract before it could even be developed this much, but ZestyCross seems to want to extend that thread up until the end of the Hyland arc, perhaps to explain spoiler[Rose's presence on the battlefield when the actual main plot of Zestiria kicks off]. |
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Vaisaga
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They're aware of that, but what Alisha is suggesting is that Hyland not do anything until the other country attacks them. It's that initial attack that could cause lots of casualties, whereas a pre-emptive strike could prevent that. "You want to wait until Rolance wipes out a few border villages before you do anything? That will just make the people suffer!" That's why Rose agreed to the hit in the first place. But Alisha's iron will and sincerity won her over. |
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DDragonking
Posts: 107 |
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I got a few questions and if anybody can answer them it'd be great
1. Do we have 2 or 1 ep left of this cour? 2. Is the wind seraph gonna join in next ep or the ep after if we get one? 3. So we nearly have had everything from the opening in the anime so far minus a few things so does that mean we might get a Velvet vs Sorey fight in the last ep? because if so that would be so freaking cool. 
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Aerodynamic41
Posts: 236 |
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Velvet is the protagonist of Tales of Berseria, which is set in the past, so she and Sorey will never cross paths. |
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wolf10
Posts: 928 |
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It's listed as 13 episodes, so final number count should be 0 + 12.
Dezel comes with literal strings attached (his weapon of choice), so it doesn't look like we'll get much more wind seraph-ing before the end, unless the next episode moves very quickly so it can spend the last episode setting up the next arc. They're thousands of years apart, so (I think) the only way we can see a Velvet vs. Sorey fight is if they replace a certain not-yet-introduced major character with a beasted-out Velvet instead. That large a change would make up for how much they'll have to cut from the remaining 3/4 of the original game. |
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Australian JRPG Gamer
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I am liking the differences between this and the game.
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Kougeru
 Posts: 5577 |
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You have the episode count wrong. You're an episode ahead. You're counting episode 0 as episode 1 it seems. The episodes clearly state their proper numbers right on them. I assume Funimation might be causing this but Zestiria is 12 total episodes with episode 00 being bonus prequel. MAL has it properly separated like it should be. Daisuki.net has the proper listing it seems, as does ufotable's Facebook and Twitter accounts. Please correct this km your episode reviews and listings. Not only does it cause confusion for people, it's also just outright wrong.
Tldr: you called episode 10, 11 and such and that's wrong. |
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Generations
Posts: 206 |
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I complained a lot about the last episode, but I'm glad they finally got back to something happening. Too bad it took about 5 episodes for that to happen.
If there's one thing consistent about this adaptation, it's that Alisha gets the screentime she deserves. She was the best character in the game and has the most development. Her dialogue with Rose was anime-original, but it sums up everything about Alisha. They both argued good points: Rose believes that war was inevitable and that attacking first will save the people living closest to Hyland's borders, but Alisha believes that only comes at the cost of the people living closest to Rolance's borders instead and that war could still be avoided. Disappointed that the mercenaries from Marlind are cut from the game since I quite liked them, but they weren't that important in the grand scheme of things so I can understand that change. I think the whole 'Sorey absorbing memories when purifying human-based hellions' is a clever way to go around the investigating portions of the game where you try to find out why people become hellions, but I find it weird as an addition to an already huge list of why being the Shepherd is a terrible job that already exists. But it does make the upcoming battle -- the first battle of Glaivend Basin -- mean a different yet just as interesting thing as it did in the game. So yeah, at least we got to this part. Looks like we'll actually get to see the main villain of the game after all. |
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Agent355
 Posts: 5113 Location: Crackberry in hand, thumbs at the ready... |
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That is a MAJOR plot point to skip out, and as an anime-only viewer, I thank you for bringing it up here. The show has not brought up any downsides for a Seraph being contracted to a Shepherd whatsoever. I gotta ask though, in the Beseria prequell episodes spoiler[the Seraph/Malakh Velvet eventually "eats" was far away from the person she had made a contract with. How did that work?]
That little thing (Atakk) has such a dark backstory? Do Seraphim have any choice involved when they turn into malevolent Hellions, or is it an automatic process that they have absolutely no conscious control over? What about humans?
Totally agree with you about Beseria. I enjoyed it well enough (Rokuro has such a sexy character design! I just want to ship him & Velvet!) But it completely interrupted Zestiria's story and so far hasn't added anything to it. I like flashbacks in fiction more than the average reader/viewer seems to, but this seemed to be a very unnecessary flashback. And they supposedly cut some footage out of the TV broadcast version anyway. So what was the point? Ep 11--about the war with Rolance: does anyone in this world know the concept of "diplomacy"? Why do they keep assuming that there are only 2 scenarios in a kill-or-be-killed kind of way? And why is Rolance so poised to attack, anyway? As far as I recall they haven't given a good reason for Rolance's aggression. I was bothered by Sorey's matter-of-fact assertion that "grief leads to hatred." It's more like grief + unchecked anger can lead to hatred. No feeling in and of itself is destructive on its own. Human beings and human emotions are complicated. Even if they need to simplify things to translate it to a video game mode, it wouldn't be that complicated to add anger to the mix. |
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