I knew it would be bad. Everyone said it was. And yet, what is it about surefire disappointment that allures me so? I've been really getting into the Tales series, and after recently finishing Zestiria and really enjoying it despite its glaring flaws, I was feeling a little quirky. I think it's not so much that Tempest gets a lot of bad rep, but just so the fact that not many people outside of Japan played it. Anything to join an elite (but useless) club just for a small sense of trite accomplishment. Was it worth it? Well, sort of.
This is a truly fascinating game. I mean, just the fact that it manages to be a whole lot of nothing. I just finished this game, and I honestly couldn't even begin to properly summarize what happened despite its ridiculously short length of only 10 hours. The most I got from the story is... SPOILERS: MC's dad is a furry.
True story, that is. Outside of the generally uninteresting story, the characters rarely get a chance to develop, especially with the absence of skits, which is a crying shame in a Tales title. Some of the older titles excluded, characters are a big part of what makes the series so enjoyable, and skits really enhance that aspect. Tempest sort of has a replacement in the form of "campfire breaks" that only really happen at specific moments in the story, and a few optional ones when using a tent at certain points, but none of these are very interesting, either.
Story is a bust. Characters are also a bust. Well, how about gameplay? It's surprisingly OK! And by that I mean it's not terrible enough to put me to sleep at least. It's a fairly simple battle system, but it gets the job done, I feel. The main issue here is the godawful encounter rate that makes getting from Point A to Point B a slog half the time. Oh, and the whole game save for the final boss is extremely easy. Just have fun dealing with the stupid AI which refuses to heal you half the time you need it.
All around, everything about this game is kinda stinky. Even the UI for the menus is terrible. Clunky and unintuitive navigation makes switching out gear more tedious than it needs to be. Still, as I said earlier, finishing this was sort of worth it. It was kind of cozy to play. Brain off. Right thumb mashing that attack button. Laughing at the jank and the insipid story; especially the two hilariously dumb plot twists that occur later in the game. The game was short enough that it didn't overstay its welcome (too much), and it was honestly pretty cool to check out this obscure piece of Tales history in the spirit of getting more into the series. It's not an offensively bad game, just boring, and definitely not worthy of being branded as a "Tales of" title. After all the negative reception it garnered, it makes sense why they decided to reclassify this as a spin-off.
This is a truly fascinating game. I mean, just the fact that it manages to be a whole lot of nothing. I just finished this game, and I honestly couldn't even begin to properly summarize what happened despite its ridiculously short length of only 10 hours. The most I got from the story is... SPOILERS: MC's dad is a furry.
True story, that is. Outside of the generally uninteresting story, the characters rarely get a chance to develop, especially with the absence of skits, which is a crying shame in a Tales title. Some of the older titles excluded, characters are a big part of what makes the series so enjoyable, and skits really enhance that aspect. Tempest sort of has a replacement in the form of "campfire breaks" that only really happen at specific moments in the story, and a few optional ones when using a tent at certain points, but none of these are very interesting, either.
Story is a bust. Characters are also a bust. Well, how about gameplay? It's surprisingly OK! And by that I mean it's not terrible enough to put me to sleep at least. It's a fairly simple battle system, but it gets the job done, I feel. The main issue here is the godawful encounter rate that makes getting from Point A to Point B a slog half the time. Oh, and the whole game save for the final boss is extremely easy. Just have fun dealing with the stupid AI which refuses to heal you half the time you need it.
All around, everything about this game is kinda stinky. Even the UI for the menus is terrible. Clunky and unintuitive navigation makes switching out gear more tedious than it needs to be. Still, as I said earlier, finishing this was sort of worth it. It was kind of cozy to play. Brain off. Right thumb mashing that attack button. Laughing at the jank and the insipid story; especially the two hilariously dumb plot twists that occur later in the game. The game was short enough that it didn't overstay its welcome (too much), and it was honestly pretty cool to check out this obscure piece of Tales history in the spirit of getting more into the series. It's not an offensively bad game, just boring, and definitely not worthy of being branded as a "Tales of" title. After all the negative reception it garnered, it makes sense why they decided to reclassify this as a spin-off.
Reviewed on Sep 26, 2022