Tales of Vesperia
Namco - Namco
Xbox 360
Release date: 2008-08-26
Video Game
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Tales of Vesperia
Date undefinedAmazingly well done JRPG. Even though a little bit is lost in translation the story is good. The combat system is pretty sweet and you won't get too bored of it your first time through it. Had a lot of fun beating this game, took me about 40 hours without doing sidequests and the like.
Tales of Vesperia
Date undefinedI've been a longtime fan of the Tales series, and while it hasn't always made improvements, the series has steadily evolved. What Tales of Vesperia introduces is something that the series has always lacked: a deep element of customization.
Vesperia's new skill system allows players to choose from well over a hundred skills that grant everything from plain stat boosts to new features that dramatically alter the gameplay. Players can focus on adding skills that enhance particular aspects of the battle system they enjoy, and customize each character to their liking. The most interesting skills though are unique to each character, and serve to differentiate the cast more than any other game in the series. While one character is specialized in utilizing powerful charged attacks, another is specialized in lengthy aerial combos. No character feels like an inferior version of another character, because each character plays completely differently.
Vesperia's new skill system is an excellent addition to the series that already has the greatest battle system in an Action-RPG. Throw in an unusually strong pair of heroes, and you have the makings of the best RPG on the 360.
Tales of Vesperia
Date undefinedAfter beating Tales of Symphonia (ToS) atleast 5 times back on the GC, I was exciting to see the newest game in the franchise to arrive on the 360, however it turned out to be one of the worst games that I have ever played
The story starts out with poor 21 year-old named Yuri who lives in the lower quarter of the capital of the empire and one day, someone steals a blue rock (known as blastia which is the pinnicle of technology and a way of life for people) and takes off with it, however due to removing it, it causes all of the water to go everywhere and flood the lower quarter. Yuri decides to go after said thief with his ragtag team that meets along the way which include his dog, a princess, a 12 year old orphan, a perverted old spy, and a half naked spear weilding elf dragoon.
The main problem with this game is the lack of story, because quite frankly, there is none. You spend 1/3 of the game trying to recover the afermentioned rock, and then the story changes drastically another 3-4 times that follows the same pattern (something major happens, everyone leaves for a while, everyone meets back up, etc.) And the ending is one of the worst, most complete garbage excuses for a game that I have ever seen.
On your first playthrough, it'll take you roughly 40+ hours to complete, which is not including the various sidequests that you can come across, assuming that you even find them. Like most Tales games, its infamous to completely miss a side quest, simply by advacing the story, only so that you can never do said side quest again which would more than likely give you an item that would greatly help. This game even has a new feature to the series which are called "secret missions" which as the name implies, is something secret that you have to accomplish during a boss battle. In retrospect the idea sounds very good, however, it isnt. There are about 30 that you can complete and while optional, you wont get anything for completing every single one, unless your going for 100% completiong which would take another 2-3 playthroughs. Youll know if you completed a secret mission if the word "Great!" appears, afterwhich you only need to finish the battle and out of every single one, there are maybe 2 that help, 1 of which is nearly impossible to do while the other is obsolutely esstianly in winning the battle, while also at the same time very difficult to do.
The only reason this game receives a 2 out of a 5 is because the Tales series has a unique battle system of being in real time, however, not much has changed within 3 years. Back on ToS, you moved on the same plane as the enemy did and moved back and forth as you saw fit and attacked them. In Vesperia, its the same exact thing, only this time you have the ability to walk around anywhere you want. Sound like a good idea? Well it isnt, more than half the time if even attempt to do so, the enemy almost always outruns you and nearly kills you, thus rendering this new feature pointless, which brings up another issue about the game, the AI.
To put it mildly, the AI is just terrible. There were countless times when I told my healer and mage to sit in the back and cast magic the entire time like their supposed to for every other RPG ever made, however, even after telling them countless times to do something, there was a 75% chance of them ignoring me and deciding to rush the enemy and fling their weapons wildly untill they died in a matter of a few minutes. Bosses werent any different either. You will find yourself constantly going through the same dungeon 7+ times just to level up because your too weak to kill the boss who litterally cheats. Every other battle followed the same pattern: the boss comboed everyone, usually you and your healer and/or mage to the point where when you finally got a chance to attack, someone was litterally about to die and so much and shoving them caused them to die. Most of the attacks they did stunned you and would somehow manage to reach across to the other side of the arena, which is something they usually did for your casters because so much as slapping them across the face caused them to fall down and stop casting. By the time that you acctually start doing good, they boss usually used their overlimit move (which anyone, even common enemies can use) which causes said person to make a blash of energy that sent everyone flying in all directions and when you hit them, they didnt flinch at all and could attack you as many times as they wanted without needing to take a break, which in the end brought you down to near death. Most of the bosses even had "nuke" abilities where they would do something so powerful that it killed more than half of your party, while the other half was about to die and more than likely stunned and laying on the ground with more than 2 status effects, usually giving the fight to the boss and causing you to throw the controller across the room. Most people will just say "Dont get hit then." but thats the problem, you cant avoid anything by bosses, even if you attempt to guard, they would break it in about 3-4 hits and then proceed to whail on you.
On a final note, the graphics arent that great either, the honestly dont look any different than they did back on the GC and only really have some improvements with a few extra movements of a persons body, and it has more animed cut scenes, but hardly. If your looking to play the Tales series, than completely skip this one and go play ToS on the GC because that game was a masterpeice.
