Best JRPG this generation.
To start i'd say my relationship with the Tales Series has been a mixed one.... Loved Symphonia 1, hated the bleh attempt at 2 on the wii. Loved this game (Vesperia) hated Legendia's story but thought the characters were compelling.
I have yet to try their last dance on the PS2 Abyss but hear it's great, it's sitting on my shelf. I also hated the ps1 ported ones from Snes days. Just thought i'd get that out there, because I was very very impressed with this game. It's story at first glance could be considered cliche but that's just the surface. Everything in between to every characters dirty little secrets (they have many) make this adventure interesting every step of the way once everyone gets together. Not to say it starts out slow, it does not. This game's pacing is one of it's high points. This is just a blog esc user review so i'll wrap this up Kotaku style:
Liked:
Story: while at first the story appears cliche it ends up being pretty interesting and deep. The very strongly developed characters add a ton of weight to the story investment leaving you really caring about the outcome and the world. Not just your party. The only part I didn't like was a cringe inducing "naming" of a few things near the end to keep it spoiler free that's all i'll say.
Voice acting: was superb, humor was spot on and the characters chemistry was top notch. I'd dare say are the most in synch crew ever developed in a JRPG... the skits added much depth to this.
Combat: Another great part of this game was it's combat, entertaining all the way with the new abilities frequent... to mix it up more you get to splice abilities by using each one x amount of times (not sure exactly how it works... been over a year since I got 1000/1000 on this game)
Graphics / Art Style: This game just has an awesome look, much better than the very meh Eternal Sonata which hit 1 year earlier. That game looked good, but was very stiff and barren when it came to the enviroments & towns. Tales Of Vesperia really delivers on all fronts.
Replayability: There's a ton of replayability here, not only do you get to spend TP points for bonus's like in other tales games but the secret dungeons & arena's leave you with post game quests to tackle. After beating it you do get the option to just continue before engaging the last boss which is a nice touch. Combine that with fun and engagint achievements (except the traveler one....) and you have a ton to do. It took me about 150 hours to get 1000/1000, if it ever hits the PS3 stateside you can bet i'll be doing it again :D
Dis-Liked: Anime cutscenes are low IQ and leave much to be desired as far as presentation.
Summary: If you're a JRPG fan buy this game. If you like RPG's buy this game, Tales has never been a very well received series. While this is valid on most entry's Tales Of Vesperia was criminally underrated, this games an easy 9.0 to 9.5. This is the strongest cast of JRPG characters this generation. If you need a quick fix to wash the bad FF13 taste out of your mouth, look no further.
