This is the first Tales game I have played (+ 1-ish hour of Symphonia) and I can see why people say it's one of the best ones. From my very small experience with Symphonia, I can tell that the gameplay has been refined and the battles are much more dynamic and flashy than before. I am aware that this is a prequel to something else, but I don't really feel like I need to play it (mostly because I know people don't really like it).
Another comparison with Symphonia I can make that I feel works best for Berseria is the way the game handles morality. In Symphonia, you start the game with the protagonists being fully aware that there are concentration camps going on in their general vicinity, and are only slightly uncomfortable with them, which is... a weird thing that no one really mentions about that game! For some reason!
The way it's handled here is pretty funny actually. Velvet starts out as a blank slate, and she builds her ideology based on the opposite of what Arthur is doing. And Arthur just so happens to be doing colonialism, which is bad! So that works out pretty well I'd say!
Another comparison with Symphonia I can make that I feel works best for Berseria is the way the game handles morality. In Symphonia, you start the game with the protagonists being fully aware that there are concentration camps going on in their general vicinity, and are only slightly uncomfortable with them, which is... a weird thing that no one really mentions about that game! For some reason!
The way it's handled here is pretty funny actually. Velvet starts out as a blank slate, and she builds her ideology based on the opposite of what Arthur is doing. And Arthur just so happens to be doing colonialism, which is bad! So that works out pretty well I'd say!