Tales of Vesperia

September 28,2008 - Tales of Vesperia is the first notable Japanese-styled RPG for the Xbox 360, a console that has struggled to find both its identity and the cash of folks in the East. When compared to the broader reaches of the genre and not simply the confines of the 360’s RPG options, a cloak of the familiar shrouds Vesperia’s signs of brilliance. While that doesn’t discredit the fun it does deliver, it also ensures that it isn’t a groundbreaking achievement for the genre.

Vesperia takes place in the world of Terca Lumireis, a land where the people live in fear of the wild monsters loose throughout the valleys and forests of the world. They rely on “blastia,” a sort of magic power driven by “Aer,” the power source of the universe. These blastia have the power to create barriers for the various cities across the world. You take on the role of Yuri Lowell,  a former Imperial Knight from the city of Zaphias who hates the upper class nobility, and fights to protect the lower class as a sort of rogue warrior.

He get thrown in prison one day after investigating the stolen blastia that has brought down the barrier around the lower quarter of the city, escapes with the help of a fellow inmate who plays a larger role later in the game, and meets a young noble named Estelle who is being chased around the castle by knights. Along with Yuri’s dog Repede, the two escape the castle and begin a journey in search of a mutual friend and the mysterious blastia thief.

The story succeeds in delivering some compelling characters, but falters in search of a grander conflict to engage players and make you care about what’s going on. Though entertaining and well paced, Vesperia’s story is ultimately a retelling of a lot of well-traveled and oft-explored narrative roads that cause it to never find its own distinguishable place in the genre. It makes an otherwise excellent game feel a bit like déjà vu.

While Vesperia’s story falls to the conventions of Japanese RPG’s, it excels at continuing the series’ break from traditions with its battle system. You enter battle by running into monsters that are visible in the game world, and once in battle, Vesperia is very action heavy. You control one of four characters in battle with the option of having friends join in to control the others.

Ditching the menu-laden systems of most Japanese RPG’s, Vesperia embraces a well-balanced hybrid of Eastern and Western styles. You are free to run on a 2D dimensional plane in a 3D circular ring. You can break free at the press of a button and roam in 3D in order to be a bit more evasive against stronger enemies such as bosses, and the system works fantastically well.

The battle system is a real joy to play because it’s so fast paced, simple, and surprisingly deep. You attack by linking regular and special attacks called Artes in an incredibly intuitive and accessible fashion. One button delivers regular strikes and another can be combined with directions on the left analog stick to call up an Artes, which are very powerful but use Technical Points (TP) that must be replenished with items once its been used up. There are also shortcuts that can be assigned to the right analog stick, which will call up Artes by simply flicking the right stick in any direction.

Additionally you build up an Over Limit gauge over time as you battle that can be released, giving your character increased strength and an ability to quickly chain together Artes. Your computer controlled party members more than handle their own in battle, and you can go in and set your party’s strategy as well as tweak your order for each individual party member. You can also pause the action by jumping into the menu and tell other characters to do something next such as use a revival item on a fallen comrade or have barrier cast on your character.

You pick all of this stuff up on the go, and your mind will easily comprehend how the system works. In just a short time you will find yourself quickly chaining together attacks, moving around the battlefield, thinking quickly on your toes, going in and assigning specific actions for some of your computer controlled party members when it’s necessary, and realize that amidst all of the chaos on the battlefield, you still feel like you have a great deal of control and know exactly what’s going on in the battle. You’ll also notice that you’re having a hell of a good time.

Tales of Vesperia is an absolutely gorgeous game, astounding the senses with a mastery of the cel-shaded graphical style in a world that breathes the very vibrancy of color that is emitted off of your television screen. Lush vistas and decrepit ruins have an odd sense of a realism that should contradict the exaggerated and fanciful styles of anime, but somehow it seems to work perfectly in Vesperia.

The voice acting in Vesperia is underwhelming much like most English translations of anime films. With the exception of Yuri, almost all of the characters squawk awkwardly with overstated enthusiasm. After every battle there’s also a bit of boasting by one or two characters about their victory, and usually it’s not only poorly written dialogue but sadly poorly acted as well. Also, while the score does have some good stuff during some key sequences, it’s actually quite repetitive and not all that memorable.

Tales of Vesperia is a fine RPG, but its somewhat cliché story stands at the cliff of the compelling and doesn’t take a leap of faith. For that reason, it may feel as though you’ve played through this game before even though you surely haven’t. The battle system makes it a blast to play and the pacing between battle and story is insanely well balanced, which can keep you in front of the screen without realizing how long you’ve played. If you’re new to the genre, then you may find the story compelling and the experience memorable, but otherwise it might just feel a bit too much the same. Also, if you’re a 360 owner dying for a quality Japanese-styled RPG, this is definitely it.

Games, News, Reviews, Media and More