How are the characters?

[Pierson]

How do the characters of Zestiria hold up? I mainly play Tales games because I enjoy watching the cast interact and learning about their motivations etc, rather than whatever JRPG threat-of-the-week is going to rule/destroy/recreate the country/planet/universe.

If it helps I considered Abyss to be top-tier when it came to interesting and varied characters I gave a damn about, with Vesperia just below it. I even managed to get through Legendia's insane plot because Senel and Chloe et al weren't boring milquetoasts.

[Noa]

This is my favorite Tales cast by far, but as opposed to you I absolutely could not stand the cast of Abyss, so there's that.

But everyone is entertaining in this, and even though Sorey is usually the typical bland JRPG protag he has his moments when he starts geeking out over ruins with Mikleo. Dezel is also pretty generic but he really shines in a scene maybe 30 hours in that makes his story arc all worth it.
The dialogue in this is among the series' best. Everyone's quips and interactions are 10/10 all around.

[texhnolyze]

I love basically everyone. They have their own unique personalities and the conversations between them are just natural and funny at times. Rose and Edna is my personal favorites, while Dezel is my least favorite one. Sorey is a great Tales of main character as well.

[Mista Dobalina]

Sorey the Shepherd > Geralt of Rivia

[(deleted)]

I considered Abyss to be top tier too. In Zestiria, the character are likeable except for one young brat who have healing circle.

[Ponxha]

I love the interactions between the characters, especially between Edna and Mikleo. I just regret that Alisha isn't more involved, she had potential

[Zunnoab #931]

With the exception of Sorey and Mikleo I started out annoyed by each of the main cast characters, only to grow to like them after a few hours. Dezel isn't very likable to me yet, but he first joined in my file so he has plenty of character development potential.

Spoilers:
I liked Alisha but I have the opposite opinion of the above post. Rose first joined my party and I think she is way more interesting than Alisha.

[magickmynd]

I find the princess to be a bit whiny, but other than that I love the rest of the cast. If you liked the characters in Vesperia you will love them in Zestiria :)

[暁のヨナ]

Edna / Rose / Lailah pun crew ftw

[yhibiki]

My favorite tales cast is Vesperia, followed by Abyss and then Symphonia.

This one... is okay so far. I'm okay with all the dude characters, but I find the girls to be so generic and bland. I've seen them all before. And since I don't particularly care for moe waifus... eh.

I'm hoping the girls will grow on me, and I switched to playing in Japanese so maybe that will help a bit (good god Lailah's english voice is bland).

[Ponxha]

Originally posted by Zunnoab #931:

With the exception of Sorey and Mikleo I started out annoyed by each of the main cast characters, only to grow to like them after a few hours. Dezel isn't very likable to me yet, but he first joined in my file so he has plenty of character development potential.

Spoilers:
I liked Alisha but I have the opposite opinion of the above post. Rose first joined my party and I think she is way more interesting than Alisha.

I also prefer Rose, she complements Sorey well, it's just that Alisha started interesting until you reach the first town pretty much. After that I agree she just go downward without more development (hence my "had potential" remark), kind of foreshadowing what becomes of her character