Given that I’ve always considered myself an unflinching fan of the JRPG genre, for many years now it’s been a source of deep shame that I’d never played a Tales game. As it transpires, however, I’m not alone. Despite the series achieving success in Japan, falling just behind Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in terms of popularity in its country of origin, for some reason the franchise has never managed to replicate this hit status on these shores. Whether something was lost in translation is difficult to tell but, with Tales of Zestiria

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Originally conceived to mark the 20th anniversary of the Tales series, Zestiria is also pitched as an entry including classic features from the franchise, while also trying out new gameplay ideas. Some of these didn’t seem like huge innovations to me, but rather they serve to bring Zestiria in line with its competition. For example, this instalment marks the first time the franchise makes use of an open-world you can traverse, something we’ve become accustomed to in most other big-name JRPGs some time ago.

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I played through the game’s opening prologue, which was surprisingly meaty. It introduces you to the protagonist, Sorey, and his childhood friend Mikleo. Mikleo is a Seraphim, a race of humanoids only visible to those normal humans with enough spiritual energy to see them. Over the opening I discovered Sorey had been raised among a village of Seraphim despite not being one himself. When he and Mikleo rescue a human called Alisha and take her back to the village, only to discover she’s pursued by an evil monster called a Hellion, the stage is set for Sorey to make a big decision.

“ All in all, it feels like an auspicious time for the Tales series.

So far, so standard. Indeed, while the gorgeous painted backdrops and sporadic animated cutscenes were beautiful, the medieval high fantasy setting didn’t feel particularly unique, although it did ironically seem far more fantastical than the latest Final Fantasy games. I only played the first hour, however, so I’m sure there’s far more to come on that front. However, where Tales of Zestiria really did manage to capture my attention was in its combat system.

Far from the turn-based battling you may assume such a game possesses given its JRPG roots, the Tales series has actually been doing action-combat since before the mode du jour. Foes appear on the world map and are then pulled into an open-field environment, where you can run around to avoid attacks and the like in a manner similar to Ni No Kuni. The big difference comes in what’s called the “Linear Motion Battle System” – special skills called “artes” enable you to interrupt opponents, with blocking, dodging and stringing combos together all necessary if you hope to emerge victorious.

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We can argue over whether Final Fantasy lost some of its essence in trying to pander to more mainstream Western audiences until the cows come home, but there’s no doubt Tales of Zestiria’s action-combat is much more engaging than selecting abilities from a list. Running around as Sorey, judging when to block and working sidesteps into my combos meant I had to pay attention to what was going on around me, especially if I was facing more than one foe. With rocks and other battlefield features able to block your movement, you need to have your wits about you to avoid a bloody end. Though I only played the prologue, it’s a promising system I’d be interested to see scale as more party members and additional layers of complexity are added throughout the game.

All in all, it feels like an auspicious time for the Tales series. Alongside marking the 20th anniversary of the franchise, Tales of Zestiria is the 15th Tales game – an odd coincidence when you consider we’re also waiting for a similarly numbered Final Fantasy title. Although I’ve only just started to scratch the surface, with Zestiria also marking the Tales games’ debut on PS4 – albeit in remastered form – it seems like the perfect opportunity not just for Namco to bring the games to us, but for us RPG-starved westerners to readily embrace a series of proven pedigree that’s – perhaps – been ignored for too long.

Somewhat predictably, Tales of Zesteria ends when Sorey realises the Hellion he and Mikleo defeated earlier that day is pursuing Alisha, with her having no idea her life is in danger. With this in mind, he decides to leave the only home he’s ever known to explore a brave new world in the hope of finding something great.From what I’ve seen so far, maybe it’s time we did the same.

Luke Karmali is IGN UK News Editor. You too can revel in mediocrity by following him on Twitter