Tales of Vesperia

Tales of Vesperia is another entry to the beloved Tales Of series. It's the series' first appearance in the high definition world of gaming and ultimately shows itself as being an expected but also enjoyable Tales game. This is pretty much your average Japanese-styled RPG experience, and a Tales game extremely by the book, with practically everything you could know about game mechanics from the previous games present along with a whole new adventure.

In Tales you are presented to various characters throughout the game, all of them are playable, including through multiplayer if you will. The story immensely revolves around a central character which plays the role of hero, in Vesperia this individual is known by the name of Yuri Lowell. Yuri and his dog, named Repede, will soon find themselves trapped in a labyrinthic set of events forcing them to go ahead and try to save the world. Of course he won't be alone on this one, as he advances he'll meet people who are to be found sharing the same interest with him.

These characters all have their distinct personalities, some may seem very generic, and indeed some look incredibly similar to those found in Tales of Symphonia. Like the bad boy swordsman who thinks a fight is the answer to everything, a naive princess with holy powers who will discover the infinite possibilities of freedom, the angry and often explosive little girl, the little boy who needs to prove to himself that he's capable of doing things, the sexy appealing woman, and so it goes. What helps breaking with these stereotypes is the engrossing story, which not only focus on events revolving the main plot or sub-events, but also gives us a really good insight in the relationship of these individuals. It's important to mention the skits, which can be triggered throughout the adventure at determined moments and show dialogs between the characters. The dialogs are often funny and seem very casual, generally demonstrating the character's reactions and thoughts about what has just happened in some determined situation, about what is happening in the story or simply their relations with the others.

The story will make lots of twists and a handful of antagonists will appear as you play. You start when the aque blastia core from the lower quarter of the Imperial City, the biggest city in this fantasy world, is stolen. Blastias are very useful in the world of Vesperia, as a source of great energy and for protection. The inhabitants severely base their existence upon them, and there are several different types. With the aque blastia gone the residents of the lower quarter found themselves with problems with water and it's up to Yuri to chase down the thief and bring back peace and tranquility for the people living there. The plans sounded easy enough for Yuri, and hadn't he know that this would turn to be much more than just going after some low-life thief.

As any RPG you find many items around the world, items of great variety and functions. You have the characters starting off weak as you climb your way to the top by fighting, leveling up, equipping offensive and defensive equipments, making your character evolve by learning new skills and all those aspects we all have as certain. In Vesperia you fight monsters, monsters of all kinds, shapes, sizes and difficulties. Again, knowing the weakness and resistances of each one can play a decisive role in winning or losing, but not so much as it is in other games of the genre. Tales focus more on action, the battles take place in a circular arena themed with the location's surroundings where you can fight not only one, but sometimes several monsters at once, of course you also get to choose 4 members of your party to take place in battle. The system is tridimensional is essence, but feels like 2D fighting. It is about targeting your desired enemy and laying down attacks on him with basic attacks, combos and specials. If you wish to attack an enemy perpendicular to the position of the one you're facing, you just switch monster and the camera will focus on the newly chosen foe. The system works great and with a little practice it can become very dynamic and easy.

In battle you can use items, artes (special attacks), define different strategies like ally position, enable/disable artes for computer controlled characters, control how they should help each other, and so on. Some new stuff debut like the fatal strikes and altered artes, as well as return of other fan favorites like mystic artes. This game also marks the debut of night/day periods, as well as weather changes. Some monsters will only appear at night, some only during the daylight; while some will appear only when it's raining, or snowing. The collectibles and completionists weren't left off as always, you can try to fill your monster books or get ahold of every single item if you wish so. Many side-quests mark presence too, even though they are generally confusing, many requiring an exact moment to be triggered, making some of them easily missable and forcing you to restart the whole game if you really feel the need to complete it. Fortunately Namco brought back the system in which you change grades for stuff at the end of the game and allows you to transfer most of what you acquired in previous playthroughs, items or completion status for things like monster book, to the newly started game.

Graphically Vesperia is much more advanced than any other Tales game. Not only because of high definition, the techniques sure have been evolving. This time the characters are much more detailed and have a noticeable improvement in ways of showing emotions. The cel-shade techniques are surely amongst the most advanced for any other game ever released until today too. It never ceases to emit an anime feeling while you play, so much that even some cutscenes are made in anime-style, they are rare so they only make their presence known at more important scenes. In battle you're bound to be impressed with so many effects of magic going on in the screen, some specials are really something to look at. Even though beautiful and with many things going on at the same time in the screen along with many characters fighting, sometimes, several monsters, the action will never let you down and the game flows gently without much problems.

As most might have expected, the musics and sound effects are a show in their own way. First you have the intro music, which is sung, and does its job in introducing the game if you wish to wait and see the whole little movie. But of course it's the in-game music that stands out completely. The compositions are absolutely gorgeous and will differ greatly from moment to moment in the game, depending on the city you're at the music will have a certain pace and rhythm. When the action finally comes, the faster pace takes place and will surely bring you the adrenaline needed for the fight to come. The sound effects does the job nicely too, many will be happening at once in battle as the relentless battle is waged, like spells cast, swords blows, explosions, in-battle characters' spoken lines, etc. Most of the game is dubbed, the voice-overs are top-notch and amazingly well recorded. The actors chosen succeeded in capturing a true essence for each character, and ultimately their job ended up being spectacular.

In the end it's clear that this game wasn't aspiring to redefine the series, nor the role-playing genre. If you've played a Tales game before I bet you know what you're bound to find here, it follows the series known formula closely and creates a game that still has a lot to offer for long-time fans. And if you're new to the series you'll be pleased to encounter a beautiful and deep story, along with great game mechanics that faithfully captures the core of a great RPG experience. The game is presented in a fabulous cel-shade style with clear anime influences. The sound is as beautiful as it can be, with numerous memorable musics. The battle system is great, and also an attraction for those easily bored by the turn-based RPGs bringing much more action and dynamism. The adventure will be satisfying and is sure to stay with you for quite a while, all thanks to great characters and their strong personalities, but much more to how exceedingly well it is portrayed for the player as a whole.