u/iluvcelebi

C0R1 Lohen, Kuki on Instructors, C0R0 Nicole, C1R0 Durin

- Start Nicole E > Kuki E > Lohen E. Spam until Lohen skill goes to CD, then repeat. When boss is stunned do the Nicole + Durin DPS EQ rotation > Kuki Burst for Instructors > Lohen NA rotation. After Lohen does his third E, do the Nicole + Durin DPS EQ rotation into Kuki E > Lohen to prep boss regaining his shield. Then repeat.

- Oh lord I spent so much time trying to clear this with Fischl. Why did I do that to myself. Did you know if the boss runs too close to the floating Hydro things and you spawn Oz and the boss runs away Oz starts targeting the Hydro things instead of the boss. Oz is a fraud.

C0R1 Columbina and C0R1 Ineffa clears this easily. Ifa with TFD is the flex slot but you can clear faster if you use Sucrose.
C0R1 Mavuika with C0R0 Citlali and Xilonen. Even with suboptimal rotations I cleared this one try.

Tales of Berseria has some of the funniest moments in all of Tales games, and it's crazy how it managed to accomplish that despite the story and 99% of its characters taking themselves 100% seriously.

The antagonists are taken super seriously by the main cast and the writers and never played off for gags - Artorius is menacing, Melchior despite being an old man is menacing and not played off as a perv or wacky old man, even Shigure is always viewed as a legit threat by the cast despite his obvious laidback attitude. Oscar and Teresa, despite being narrative punching bags, fight with legit stakes on the line and their beatdowns are never played off for gags by the writers.

Meanwhile in other games you always have that one creepy weirdo who the gang keeps beating up but they keep showing up in the story for more fights like a dumb slapstick routine - like Zagi in Vesperia, Dist in Abyss, Ivar and maybe Agria from Xillia. Berseria doesn't even have a trickster shota (idk why I thought of Campanella from Trails here) or booba witch antagonist like Almeidrea from Arise that would take away any levity from beating them. In Berseria, we just be beating up crusty old men, dawg.

And then on the protagonists side, crazily enough we're missing the 'classic pervy old man' and 'girl who beats them down' character, meaning we have almost no skits geared towards jokes on women and flirting with them, like with Raven from Vesperia, Alvin from Xillia, or Zaveid from Zestiria. The closest thing I could find was one skit with Rokurou joking with Laphicet about taking a bath with Velvet, and Rokurou even says he only brought that up to relieve tension before their big battle in the final act.

It's crazy how Rokurou and Eizen have no interest in the girls whatsoever (their skit where they tell Laphicet to beware of women is hilarious) while Laphicet crushes solely on Velvet in an pure way. Bienfu, who is the closest we have to the trope, has one (1) running gag where he tries to cuddle up to Eleanor and keeps getting politely shot down. In fact, where in other games it would be the pervy old man taking the role of the comedic punching bag, in Berseria it's mainly Magilou who occupies that role, followed by Bienfu.

So yeah, Berseria's comedy is carried on the backs of the two chads - Eizen, with his super seriousness that flips around to be incredibly funny, and Magilou, the remaining 1% outlier who doesn't take any of the story seriously (this is in character for story reasons. crazy.), and is the sole shining beacon of humour the dark gloomy setting that is Berseria.

I'm impressed how funny Berseria's comedic moments can get without having to rely on these tropes and I like the story even more because of it.

Fearless clear with Arle / Lohen / Ifa flex

C0R1 Lohen clear for Fearless

Tales of Berseria is a lot more enjoyable than other Tales games because it lacks the 'anime old man perv jokes' and 'creepy weirdo enemy' trope in the entire story.