Tales of Vesperia Review
Tales of Vesperia is the latest addition to the tales franchise. You will once again have to take up the mantel of a misunderstood hero who starts out on an adventure for their own motives, but ends up saving the world instead. This is the first Tales game to make it to the XBOX brand, and I'm sure after seeing the sales go through the roof in Japan, Microsoft will hope that this isn't the last.
Teh graphics are pretty solid, they're not going to blow you out of your chair but the look smooth, and the the animations look good. It has that anime feel to it, which I really don't mind, and each town you go to looks unique.
The controls are pretty simple, and your combos that you'll be gaining through the game will be executed through the use of the analog stick plus the A button. Your X button is going to be your block button, which if you're going to get anywhere in the game you're going to have to master. Your B button will be doing your normal attacks.
The music doesn't stray whatsoever from the formula that's been in place for the majority of the Tales series, you can tell when you are above land on the world map, when you're in a friendly city, when you are in a dark sinster dungeon, etc.
One thing that I do like, and I'm pretty sure its an addition is the synthesis menu that will become available at shop screens. Basically all those ingredients that you pick up from fights can be used for something, so don't sell them. Actually in addition don't sell any of your weapons either because they can be the base for a powered up weapon down the road. In Tales of the Abyss you turned all the ingredients in and you got a random item, this time around you are specifically choosing that item.
This game is solid, there's no way else to put it, but you are going to have to have some patience if you think that attack alot and block seldomly will get you through the game. You will find that most bosses will rip you to shreds with that strategy. So I give you this little bit of wisdom, level up all your characters, get them to discover new skills, make sure you have no problems with enemies near a boss fight, and finally SAVING is your friend (I can't stress that enough). You will find that the game really doesn't start going till at least 3-4 boss fights in, and that's around 8 hours into the game (well it was for me, at least). You can't go wrong with this latest Tales game, in my opinion a stronger game than Tales of the Abyss. I give this game a 8.2 out of 10.
