I Wish These Tales Games Would Have Been Remastered Before Tales of Berseria

With the Tales series Remaster Project, Bandai Namco is bringing back older entries in the series to modern consoles and PC, allowing more users to enjoy some solid JRPGs such as Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Graces f, whose action-oriented combat systems continue to be among the best in the genre.

Series producer Yusuke Tomizawa recently confirmed that more remasters are planned, shortly before the release of Tales of Xillia Remastered last month. He promised the next announcement would follow the October 2025 release. That promised announcement, Tales of Berseria Remastered for PC, PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch, has now arrived, to the disappointment of many fans, myself included.

As you may have noticed if you visit Wccftech daily, I didn't cover the announcement earlier this week, despite being a massive fan of the series. I was so disappointed by it that I didn't want my negative feelings to show in my report, because Tales of Berseria is objectively one of the best entries in the series and one that I thoroughly enjoyed, having played it for over 200 hours across the Japanese PlayStation 4 release and the global Steam release.

The game definitely deserves these new quality of life updates, including early access to the Grade Shop, destination icons, and the ability to toggle encounters. However, since the original released just in 2016 and is easily playable on other modern systems, a simple Nintendo Switch port would have served the same purpose.

Still, there are a few other Tales games that I wish Bandai Namco would have remastered before Tales of Berseria, to help the franchise stay relevant during its prolonged hiatus since the release of Tales of Arise in 2022.

Tales of Hearts R

Although Tales of Hearts R was launched in 2014, only two years before Tales of Berseria, the game has a major issue that its successor does not: availability. Having been released exclusively on the PlayStation Vita, one of Sony's less successful gaming systems, very few players had the opportunity to experience Kor Meteor and his friends' journey across the world of Organica. With the very real possibility that the Vita digital store may eventually go offline, the game's access could become even more limited.

It would be a massive shame if Tales of Hearts R never gets remastered. Not only are the story and characters quite enjoyable, tied together by a mineral-based theme that suits the world rather well, but the combat system is, to date, one of the best 3D renditions of the series' Linear Motion Battle System, granting players the chance of performing some cool, intricate combos without being overly broken with the Chase Link system. Even better, Tales of Hearts R solved the recurring issue of unbalanced boss fights by introducing a combo-breaking mechanic for all enemies, which can be countered by the players with a timed button press, allowing expert players to keep up the pressure. All this, combined with the unique fighting styles of all playable characters, makes Tales of Hearts R a joy to play for action game fans.

The potential of the Tales of Hearts R combat system is showcased well in this video by Rin Kiri

Tales of the Abyss

Tales of the Abyss, much like Tales of Hearts R, has an availability issue that's made even worse by the fact that neither the original PS2 release nor the Nintendo 3DS ports are available for purchase digitally, forcing players to track down physical copies of the game, which can be both costly and challenging, or rely on emulation. This, coupled with the great story and characters and its enduring popularity among fans, would have made a remaster of the game far more preferable than Tales of Berseria Remastered (though something could already be brewing, judging from a new image Bandai Namco shared on social media).

While a remaster would quickly bring one of the series' best entries to a wider audience, I would personally prefer a full remake. Luke's compelling story and charming companions are exceptional, but some gameplay elements feel a little dated. Specifically, the combat system feels restrictive due to its reliance on the old Artes trees, forcing players to exploit glitches to get creative. Additionally, the overtuned Free Run mechanics make it too easy to negate powerful enemy attacks.

This video from Statix shows the FoF canceling glitch/tech required to break the Artes tree system and get creative in Tales of the Abyss

Tales of Rebirth

While Tales of Hearts R and Tales of the Abyss have been released in the West at some point, a few older entries in the series haven't, at least not officially. Among them is Tales of Rebirth, which is not only the last all-original mainline 2D entry in the series, but an excellent game in its own right that was made fully playable in English for the first time only last year.

While Veigue's story can be hit-and-miss (and involuntarily hilarious) sometimes, the game's battle system is one of the most articulate combat systems in the history of the series, featuring some very interesting mechanics such as battlefields being divided in three different planes instead of one and the Rage mechanics which can be manipulated on the fly to improve either offensive and defensive capabilities, making for a very dynamic system that makes battles engaging for its entire duration. The ability to enhance Artes with unique skills is the cherry on top of a combat system that is far from being the flashiest in the series, but is one of the most interesting nonetheless, attempting and succeeding at addressing the button-mashing criticism sometimes addressed to the series as a whole.

The video tutorial above by lanyn showcases the complexity of Tales of Rebirth's combat system well

Tales of Xillia 2

With Tales of Xillia Remastered already having been released, remastering Tales of Xillia 2 next would have been a given. Not only is the game already localized, it uses the same engine as its predecessor, and it's generally, in my opinion, a much better game, successfully addressing many of its criticisms, such as the empty fields that replaced a classic world map, pacing, and lack of optional content.

Although it recycles much of Tales of Xillia's locations, Tales of Xillia 2 succeeds at making the second venture through the united world of Rieze Maxia and Elympyos engaging with a very personal story, which is elevated by some of the dark implications of Ludger's alternate realities eradication. Things do get a little confusing at times, as it usually happens when multiple dimensions are involved, but ultimately, Tales of Xillia 2's story and main characters, amazing combat system, and stellar soundtrack make it a game worth experiencing. Hopefully, it won't take long for the already confirmed remaster to come out.

Tales of Xillia 2 builds upon its predecessor's mechanics to deliver an extremely fun combat system, as showcased in this video by donguri990

Tales of Destiny Director's Cut

While I haven't purposelly ranked which Tales game I would have liked to see remastered before Tales of Berseria on purpose since I would love to see all of them on modern consoles and PC, if I only had to chose one, it would be Tales of Destiny Director's Cut, and not only because the original PSX release was the first entry in the series I played, or because I have played the game for close to 500 hours back in the day when I had all the time in the world and loved every second of it.

Seventeen years after its release, the remake of the second entry in the series continues to be, in my opinion, the best Tales game ever released. Everything, from the story, which does a great job of making Stahn's journey both exciting and epic, to the charming cast of characters and gameplay, remains unmatched in the series to this day.

However, if I were to pick only one reason to remaster the game, it would be its combat system. Marking the debut of the Chain Capacity system which has been iterated upon by future entries in the series, the Tales of Destiny Director's Cut rendition of the franchise's Linear Motion Battle System is, simply put, amazing, combining deep strategic thinking with the Weakness system that increases damage when hitting the enemy with an element they are week to, with almost complete combo freedom, doing away with the Artes tree system employed by past games to deliver an extremely deep experience with tons of tech that would even put some traditional fighting games to shame.

All of the Tales of Destiny Director's Cut mechanics come together really well to deliver the best combat system in the series, as showcased in the combo video above by donguri900

Even if we were to ignore the game's quality, remastering Tales of Destiny Director's Cut in the near future would be the best way to get the series out of the slump it has fallen into following the release of Tales of Arise. Although there are surely some technical challenges, such as source code issues and localizing the game in English for the first time, remastering the game ahead of the launch of the next entry in the series would give Western players what feels like a brand-new, excellent title that could revitalize a series that has been stuck on remasters for far too long. And with so many 2D titles finding success nowadays, there's really no reason not to make the game's beautifully detailed sprites shine at higher resolutions.

These are the Tales games I would have loved to see getting the remaster treatment before Tales of Berseria, but there are many other entries in the series still stuck on old consoles. Do you agree with my list, or would you like to see any other entry in the series getting remastered? Let us know in the comments!

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