I am a regular gamer. Not hardcore, but not casual either. Playing the game with a controller. As someone who took the leap of playing Tales of Zestiria before Berseria without any prior knowledge of the titles, I recommend playing it before for many reasons.

Pros:
- The hard difficulty is fair and the sense of progression feels satisfying,
- The combat system is deep. You can't bash buttons, and your understanding of the mechanics will make you stronger than the items themselves,
- The game design is clever, and there's a lot of management than can make a difference, without it being mandatory to progress.
- A few optional challenges will make you enjoy some gaming sessions of a few hours just to beat the monster you decided to focus on.
- The characters aren't dumb, and their story choices making sense is satisfying.
- Some cut-scenes are jaw-dropping...No joke.

Cons:
- The introduction of the mechanics are a quite intimidating at first. AND it takes you a while to understand what they mean,
- It feels sometimes that the story drags a lot in certain moments of its development.
- there are a very few areas with very punitive mechanics which will make you re-do paths, which can be frustrating,
- Save system is fair, but manual,
- Some quests are very vague. Talk to your companion to get directions, took me a while to realize it.

Overall, it's worth playing it. It's a very good game, and I can't wait to finish my last area and the last boss to start berseria after. You can safely go!

I am a regular gamer. Not hardcore, but not casual either. Playing the game with a controller. As someone who took the leap of playing Tales of Zestiria before Berseria without any prior knowledge of the titles, I recommend playing it before for many reasons. Pros: - The hard difficulty is fair and the sense of progression feels satisfying, - The combat system is deep. You can't bash buttons, and your understanding of the mechanics will make you stronger than the items themselves, - The game design is clever, and there's a lot of management than can make a difference, without it being mandatory to progress. - A few optional challenges will make you enjoy some gaming sessions of a few hours just to beat the monster you decided to focus on. - The characters aren't dumb, and their story choices making sense is satisfying. - Some cut-scenes are jaw-dropping...No joke. Cons: - The introduction of the mechanics are a quite intimidating at first. AND it takes you a while to understand what they mean, - It feels sometimes that the story drags a lot in certain moments of its development. - there are a very few areas with very punitive mechanics which will make you re-do paths, which can be frustrating, - Save system is fair, but manual, - Some quests are very vague. Talk to your companion to get directions, took me a while to realize it. Overall, it's worth playing it. It's a very good game, and I can't wait to finish my last area and the last boss to start berseria after. You can safely go!