Tales of Vesperia

5 Responses to “Tales of Vesperia”

1. Alexander K. Dixon
   11/25/2009 at 7:36 pm

   It’s really a shame that game reviewers have started reviewing Japanese RPGs from the perspective of mainstream American gamers recently. Let’s face it, most Americans don’t like anime, and they don’t like RPGs, so trying to tell them whether they’ll like a game like this is pointless.

   However, to any Japanese RPG fan who might actually play this game, it is unquestionably a 9 or a 10. It is the best Tales game ever, better even than the early Tales games from SNES and PS1, and better than Tales of Symphonia. It’s miles beyond Tales of the Abyss for the PS2, which despite having decent gameplay, had characters that were the worst mutations of anime, who got really annoying and made parts of the game a chore. Tales of Vesperia, by contrast, focuses on the simple humanity of its characters, and always keeps their individual thoughts and desires in view. Not only does it stay true to its characters, following their adventures with humor and empathy, it’s also conceptually the best cast any Tales game has had, for so many reasons.

   The game is full of characters who, despite being based off of obvious anime cliches (like the individualistic hero dressed in dark clothing, Yuri) really jump off the screen. Even the 99% pink princess is charming because she’s realistically naive but also well educated, and it doesn’t hurt that she isn’t voiced by an annoyingly high voiced little twit. The best of these are characters you’ll remember after you play the game, like the characters of a good fantasy novel.

   The world of Vesperia is actually rather innovative as well, I thought, though I haven’t seen this mentioned in any of the press reviews, all of which spend a good portion of their time stating the bloody obvious: (WARNING: this is a Japanese RPG, which means it is from Japan and is an RPG, and so on).

   What makes the game world feel unique is that, instead of being a normally peaceful, ordered place that is threatened by some mad Machiavellian villain or organization*, Tales of Vesperia begins in a world in which humans are a minority, struggling for survival. Early in the game you are shown that the only reason humans are able to survive at all in the harsh environment is because of magical force fields created by artifacts called Blastia barriers that protect the cities of the world, barriers that people rarely leave (anyone else smell a recipe for adventure?)

   I’ll stop there, because I don’t want to spoil any of the game. Let me just say in conclusion, to anyone who’s still undecided about this game: I have never played a Tales game that I would rank anywhere near my favorite JRPGs. My favorite JRPGs are Final Fantasy 4, 6, and 7, Suikoden 2 and 5, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, the original Final Fantasy Tactics, Lunar, and the Grandia 3 combat system (though the game itself sucked after 5 hours). I’ve played a lot of JRPGs (too many…) and the above are the only ones that I’ve ever replayed. Tales of Vesperia is actually worth replaying. Every aspect of it is enjoyable, from the fast action combat to the beautiful graphics to the great characters and surprisingly great voice acting (no whiny main characters here!).

   What’s sad about the reviews this game has received is that you can tell most of the reviewers really enjoyed the game, and had almost nothing negative to say – they just felt that scoring it too high numerically would get them in trouble with the mainstream audience, and they may be right (I’m sure they know about that better than I do). What’s a real shame is that as a result of all this, a game that is clearly the stand out in a long series (the Tales games have been around for years) is receiving a lower metascore than most of the previous games in the series! For example, Tales of Symphonia: 85. Tales of the Abyss: 80. Tales of Vesperia: 79. Sure, that’s not a huge difference, but this is a game that should be scoring five points above Symphonia, not six points below! One last thing I didn’t see mentioned in ANY of the reviews – and I obsessively read these things – the game has four player co-op! So if you like playing RPGs with a girlfriend, wife, sibling, or just some good friends, consider this review score an 11. Going from exploration to cut scenes to combat in this game is like going from a candy store to a game store to glorious paintball. Two thumbs up and all that, what what.

   * (For those who play lots of JRPGs, this setting should sound familiar)

   Pros:
   Pretty much everything. See above. To me, the story is the most important part of an RPG, and the characters and how they interact with their world is the most important part of a good story. But the combat and graphics are also incredibly polished and probably better than any other RPG on the system.

   Cons:
   Every fourth cutscene or so isn’t voiced, but because all the inter-party banter is voiced, the game still has more voice acting than a Final Fantasy game, and probably better voice acting too (and I love the Final Fantasy games).

   I’ve heard the boss battles can be too easy if you control the mage character Rita for most of the game.

   Oddly enough, the worst voice actor out of the main characters in the game seems to be the dog, Repede, whose bark lacks… um… conviction. That dog needs to stop smoking (and walking around with knives in his mouth).
   Rating: 5 / 5
2. Luke A. Smucker "Prvt. Joker"
   11/25/2009 at 8:45 pm

   As someone who reads reviews before buying anything, I decided I would return the favor to Amazon.com by writing a review about a game that I believe is truly exceptional.

   Let me start off by saying that if you have been looking for an old-school role-playing game, this is the game for you. This game features boss battles, monster battles, spells, dungeon crawls, small towns complete with an inn, a tavern, a general store that sells equipment and towns people with plenty of random things to say that add nothing to the story what-so-ever. Most of all, this game features a compelling story and a lot of dialogue for your reading pleasure. In My opinion, this is the best RPG I have played since Lunar series (PS1 and Sega CD) and Final Fantasy 7. I believe that these days, the only company people trust with RPGs is Squaresoft’s Final Fantasy series and while I too play those games for a good story, a lot of times, I feel bogged down with all of the customization that must be done in order to truly experience the game. If you are like that, rejoice, for in this game, while there is some customization that can be done, it is not needed to fully enjoy the game. Just continuously equip the armor and weapons in the next town and be on your way, just like it used to be.

   If you’re looking for an original story, you won’t really find that here. This is the classic story of the troublesome angsty youth with a chip on his shoulder and no known job or schooling who starts doing a remedial task that takes him away on a journey against a seemingly invincible foe. And what journey would be complete without a clueless love interest and band of comrades to help the main character discover his personal identity? Even though this story has been done to death, to me, this story was a breath of fresh air compared to the complex tales that many games attempt to wave which leave you concentrating more on the back story and the world’s politics than on the main characters themselves.

   Now let’s talk sound, the voice actors are great. I would say a good portion of the text in this game is spoken and the voice actors do a good job of adding personality to a 2D character. I also appreciate that it doesn’t sound like one person did all the voice acting. The music is perfect as well and though you won’t recognize any of the songs, each one sounds familiar and won’t sound repetitive even if it starts over. Another added touch that you won’t notice unless you focus on it, is the sound of people walking. When you walk across a bridge, it clanks and as soon as your character steps onto the grass on the other side, it sounds different, instead of constantly sounding like you are walking on some kind of metallic surface no matter where you are.

   OK, now we come to the graphics. This game has beautiful backgrounds, colorful and memorable monsters, unique characters and beautiful areas (towns, dungeons, caves etc.). The game uses Cel-shading which, if you are not familiar, makes all the characters look like they are in a controllable cartoon. The beautiful thing is, the cut scene characters look just like the characters you play with, so you know how in Final Fantasy games every so often they switch to the ridiculous CG shots? None of that here. While some might see that as a setback, I believe it really helps keep the story in perspective and makes you feel like you are in control of the whole story and not just a majority of it.

   The battle system is not turn based at all and reminded me a lot of old Playstation games like Star Ocean or Grandia, where your characters are free to roam around the battle ground and you must move them to the enemy and press the “attack” button to attack. There is magic, but the battle system is best understood by playing the game for yourself. Or, if you would rather, you can play with a friend. No longer are your friends forced to sit around and watch you go through the story by yourself. In this game 2-4 players can play together (provided you have enough controllers). I believe they can only participate in battles with you, but I am not sure as I have yet to play the game with a friend.

   All in all, this game is destined to be a classic. Not just for the 360, but for video games as a whole. In this player’s eyes, it is an instant classic. A departure from all the ridiculously complex RPGs to a more simple time, when games were more about the story and characters and going on a journey.
   Rating: 5 / 5
3. Polar Bear
   11/25/2009 at 11:35 pm

   I have been a fan of rpgs since final fantasy vi for super nintendo back in november of 1994 anyways being true to the classic tales of vesperia is what you would expect from the series saving the world from destruction wandering around the world map from town to town from dungeon to dungeon leveling up to your hearts content earning new skills through levil gaining buying weapons armors sythening new items all same old same old that I like the story itself is not bad kept me going my only real complaint with tales of vesperia is that I found the game to easy I am about 85-90% done with the game in I am not even sure if this tales game offers a maniac mode like the last 4 or 5 did but I really hope it has been added in there but overall its a solid tales game I would buy it if your a tales rpg fan

   Rating: 4 / 5
4. JLower
   11/26/2009 at 12:13 am

   This game isn’t for everyone, it’s a RPG but it’s not turn-based when battling and the voice acting isn’t very good in English (I’m sure it has to be better in its native language). The game moves relatively slow because of the dialog and there is no way of skipping chunks of dialog at a time. The combat is pretty simple and makes for less tedious leveling up of characters. I’m rating it lower than perfect because the story isn’t as well developed as the FF series, I found it less interesting than it could have been.
   Rating: 4 / 5
5. ArouraLeona "AL"
   11/26/2009 at 12:42 am

   As a long-time fan of the Tales series and late-entry into the world of the xbox 360, I pretty much knew I’d love this game, and the game did not let me down. I won’t go through the summary or the particulars since other people and the product review have done that so well. What I will say is that I am not a hard-core gamer, nor am I a hard-core rpger. I play video games recreationally, and this game ate me up. I spent HOURS glued to my tv. My main hobby is reading and I went a week without touching a book. This game will grab you and grab you hard. The story is fun, if a little cliche, the characters are amusing, if also a bit cliche.

   The battle system remains the best thing about the Tales games, and this game does NOT disappoint at all. Fighting was FUN. You can chose to fight actively, or put all the characters on auto mode and sit back and play puppet master. Either way works.

   There are plenty of side quests to play with while running along the main plot, and while most are easy, some can be quite challenging.

   All in all it was a fun game. I suppose if you know more about video games than I do you can think of a dozen ways to make it better, but for me it was awesome.
   Rating: 5 / 5