Post by kcdusky on Jun 1, 2009 0:58:36 GMT -5
Tales of Vesperia?
This may not be a game for everyone but it does have many entertaining qualities. It's a JRPG from a line of RPGs that also begin with "Tales of." These games share battle systems, skills, etc. They usually have themes, such as racism, the frustration of sacrificing a friend for the safety of everyone else, inferiority complexes and the like.
Summary:
Tales of Vesperia's protagonist is Yuri Lowell. Throughout his story, he meets a variety of characters that join and leave his party, in the fashion of all RPGs. His initial aim is to recover a stolen blastia, a source of energy and power that supports society and his world in many ways, but soon, the whole world is threatened by problems that he can't ignore.
Story:
The story for Tales of Vesperia is predictable yet confusing. It is predictable in the sense that you have a guy who does one trivial task which leads to him saving the world. It is complex in the sense that the game seems to have invented strange terminology and concepts based in it's own world; I found myself reading the dialogue for more than a minute whenever any an abundance of these strange terms were used.
I did like how the story explores the cost of doing what is right and the problems that occur with having one mainstream energy source and finding others. Despite some elements of the story being recycled from other stories and games, the journey and development of characters compensate for it.
Characters:
Most of the characters in Tales of Vesperia are not the most original but to be fair, I don't think anything can ever be. Yuri Lowell is a refreshing lead character as he has flaws that many leading male protagonists of other "Tales of" games did not; while he uses inappropriate means at times, he always strives to do the right thing.
The rest of the characters can fit many tropes: Repede is a dog who doesn't need to speak to communicate his personality, Estelle is a cute, clumsy and curious upper class girl, Karol is the younger "little brother" kind of character that looks up to Yuri and others and is in search of his identity and his place in the world, Rita is a scientist who is tough on the outside, cute on the inside, Raven is the lecherous old man who lets on more than he knows and Judith is the attractive easygoing female character who, like Raven, is also smarter than she appears.
Their interactions together are amusing to watch because they are each different and their views sometimes conflict.
Gameplay:
The gameplay in Tales of Vesperia is very similar to previous titles in the "Tales of" franchise. Instead of random enemy encounters, you only fight enemies if you touch one you run into in dungeons or on the world map. You control one of your party members while the remaining 3 follow strategies by default. The battles are real-time based; you can use artes, which are spells and techs depending on your character, as you hit enemies. You don't need to think much for many normal enemy encounters but later on, boss battles might require a good strategy and fast thinking.
For first time players of "Tales of" games, they may not be aware of all the controls at their disposal, which can be detrimental if you need a strategy for beating bosses later on. I recommend looking at the game manual for more information on the menus and controls beforehand; I mean, even I discovered new convenient functions to use that I hadn't known were there before.
Now let's move on to one annoying problem: you can't skip cutscenes. If you die before a in-game cutscene, you'll probably be button mashing to skip the stream of dialogue. If you die after a boss battle and there was a long cutscene prior to it, prepare to bash the buttons so that you can slip past the cutscene again. While it may not happen that often or you might find yourself with a short cutscene before a boss battle that you need to redo, it can break the flow of the game if it happens too often. At least it's a good incentive not to lose a fight, eh?
Music and Voice Acting:
Let's go on to the music and voice acting. Nothing noteworthy here in the background music category. The only song I can remember now is the one for the opening: Ring A Bell by Bonnie Pink.
On the other hand, the voice acting for most of the main characters is pretty good quality. It's hard to believe that Troy Baker, the voice of Yuri Lowell, also did Action Bastard from Shinchan or that Hynden Walch, the voice of Estelle, did Starfire from Teen Titans. If you prefer Japanese voices, however, you might not enjoy the voices here. It's mildly disappointing that many of the in-game cutscenes were left with no accompanying voices though.
Just like other "Tales of" games, Vesperia has skits you can watch if they pop up. You can skip them if you open them up and they are fully voiced, unlike skits for previous "Tales of" titles.
Graphics:
Last but not least, Tales of Vesperia has beautiful graphics. There is nothing grotesque about most areas, which may appeal to your aesthetics and tastes or not. On the down side, most of the towns are a bit unoriginal and feel smaller than they look because of the limited amount of space your character can roam around. This doesn't take too much away from the game, however.
In addition to the in-game graphics, the anime cutscenes are polished Production IG gems that I loved looking at and they were not too long, which gives you just enough time to enjoy the animation without losing too much time between gameplay.
In conclusion...
This game is definitely worth getting if:
1.) You enjoy RPGs.
2.) You're a "Tales of" fan.
3.) You like character interactions/development.
4.) You like the sound of the battle system.
This may not be a game for everyone but it does have many entertaining qualities. It's a JRPG from a line of RPGs that also begin with "Tales of." These games share battle systems, skills, etc. They usually have themes, such as racism, the frustration of sacrificing a friend for the safety of everyone else, inferiority complexes and the like.
Summary:
Tales of Vesperia's protagonist is Yuri Lowell. Throughout his story, he meets a variety of characters that join and leave his party, in the fashion of all RPGs. His initial aim is to recover a stolen blastia, a source of energy and power that supports society and his world in many ways, but soon, the whole world is threatened by problems that he can't ignore.
Story:
The story for Tales of Vesperia is predictable yet confusing. It is predictable in the sense that you have a guy who does one trivial task which leads to him saving the world. It is complex in the sense that the game seems to have invented strange terminology and concepts based in it's own world; I found myself reading the dialogue for more than a minute whenever any an abundance of these strange terms were used.
I did like how the story explores the cost of doing what is right and the problems that occur with having one mainstream energy source and finding others. Despite some elements of the story being recycled from other stories and games, the journey and development of characters compensate for it.
Characters:
Most of the characters in Tales of Vesperia are not the most original but to be fair, I don't think anything can ever be. Yuri Lowell is a refreshing lead character as he has flaws that many leading male protagonists of other "Tales of" games did not; while he uses inappropriate means at times, he always strives to do the right thing.
The rest of the characters can fit many tropes: Repede is a dog who doesn't need to speak to communicate his personality, Estelle is a cute, clumsy and curious upper class girl, Karol is the younger "little brother" kind of character that looks up to Yuri and others and is in search of his identity and his place in the world, Rita is a scientist who is tough on the outside, cute on the inside, Raven is the lecherous old man who lets on more than he knows and Judith is the attractive easygoing female character who, like Raven, is also smarter than she appears.
Their interactions together are amusing to watch because they are each different and their views sometimes conflict.
Gameplay:
The gameplay in Tales of Vesperia is very similar to previous titles in the "Tales of" franchise. Instead of random enemy encounters, you only fight enemies if you touch one you run into in dungeons or on the world map. You control one of your party members while the remaining 3 follow strategies by default. The battles are real-time based; you can use artes, which are spells and techs depending on your character, as you hit enemies. You don't need to think much for many normal enemy encounters but later on, boss battles might require a good strategy and fast thinking.
For first time players of "Tales of" games, they may not be aware of all the controls at their disposal, which can be detrimental if you need a strategy for beating bosses later on. I recommend looking at the game manual for more information on the menus and controls beforehand; I mean, even I discovered new convenient functions to use that I hadn't known were there before.
Now let's move on to one annoying problem: you can't skip cutscenes. If you die before a in-game cutscene, you'll probably be button mashing to skip the stream of dialogue. If you die after a boss battle and there was a long cutscene prior to it, prepare to bash the buttons so that you can slip past the cutscene again. While it may not happen that often or you might find yourself with a short cutscene before a boss battle that you need to redo, it can break the flow of the game if it happens too often. At least it's a good incentive not to lose a fight, eh?
Music and Voice Acting:
Let's go on to the music and voice acting. Nothing noteworthy here in the background music category. The only song I can remember now is the one for the opening: Ring A Bell by Bonnie Pink.
On the other hand, the voice acting for most of the main characters is pretty good quality. It's hard to believe that Troy Baker, the voice of Yuri Lowell, also did Action Bastard from Shinchan or that Hynden Walch, the voice of Estelle, did Starfire from Teen Titans. If you prefer Japanese voices, however, you might not enjoy the voices here. It's mildly disappointing that many of the in-game cutscenes were left with no accompanying voices though.
Just like other "Tales of" games, Vesperia has skits you can watch if they pop up. You can skip them if you open them up and they are fully voiced, unlike skits for previous "Tales of" titles.
Graphics:
Last but not least, Tales of Vesperia has beautiful graphics. There is nothing grotesque about most areas, which may appeal to your aesthetics and tastes or not. On the down side, most of the towns are a bit unoriginal and feel smaller than they look because of the limited amount of space your character can roam around. This doesn't take too much away from the game, however.
In addition to the in-game graphics, the anime cutscenes are polished Production IG gems that I loved looking at and they were not too long, which gives you just enough time to enjoy the animation without losing too much time between gameplay.
In conclusion...
This game is definitely worth getting if:
1.) You enjoy RPGs.
2.) You're a "Tales of" fan.
3.) You like character interactions/development.
4.) You like the sound of the battle system.
