Great game that no rpg fan should pass up.
Tales of Vesperia is a wonderful action-rpg about Yuri, a teenager from the poor side of the capital city. His quest starts simple: obtaining a crystal that powers the local water supply from a thief who stole it. The story slowly gathers speed and builds into a fight for the survival of the world and mankind itself.
Story
The story starts a little slow but you should have a problem as the main character seems intriguing, albeit the stereotypical archetype of the brooding protagonist. You'll gain new allies as you progress. You won't be alone for long as you will quickly fill all four active slots in your party in at least an hour to two hours play time. Each character has their own story that will slowly be revealed as the game pushes on; and how their story intertwines with the fate of the world.
Most of the twists and surprises can be predictable but it doesn't keep the story from being any less intriguing. The characters and well written dialogue more than make up for it. The only complaint would be that a couple of the characters are not as well fleshed out as the other characters which makes caring for what they say and why a little hard.
During your game, you'll run across optional "skits" which give more life to the characters in the form of extra dialogue. The skits, as in other tales games, are character portraits that talk to each other and sometimes move around on the screen, trying to indicate the different actions the characters are performing. This seems a time when tradition more than innovation took over. Previous games used this portrait format as a way to conserve space on the disc where as the 360 has more than enough power to render in-game cutscenes for these skits. The skits are still written well but they could have been used to really create some depth to each character with an in-game engine cutscene.
Gameplay
Vesperia is an action-rpg in which you control one charcter (or none at all) and the rest of the characters are given general strategies that are specific to each character. All fights take place in real time on a pseudo-3D battle field. Your character can hold a button down and free run around the field, but when the button is let go, the character will only run left to right on a particular plane. The problem this poses is that attacks are still on a 3D plane while you are moving on a 2D plane. This means while you're attacking one creature, another can come at you from the side and hit you. You have to quickly press a button to switch characters (or free run and try to hit it) to counter but this can become increasingly frustrating as large numbers of enemies on the screen can keep you from hitting the target you want.
The only feature I stopped using after awhile was the cooking feature. The benefits of each recipe never seemed to really help once you get access to higher grade potions via shop items or synthesis. You gain new recipes as you make items (and find a special chef in different areas who gives you new recipes) and the benefits of each recipe get better and also harder to make.
During each battle, you are graded on how well you do and it adds or subtracts points in the form of grade points. At the end of the game when you start a new game plus you can choose extras to use on your next playthrough like 10x experience and item cap set at 99. This makes subsequent playthroughs more fun and much easier as well, depending on the extras you decide to buy.
Graphics
The graphics are very crisp and engaging. Classic cell-shaded style with vibrant colors that can really shine in the various locales throughout the game. Very easy on the eyes and the character designs are well done even if some of it is very stereotypical.
If you're looking for a fantastic engaging RPG, definitely give Tales of Vesperia a try. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.
