Exciting news! Well, it is for me anyway. I have an Xbox 360 now! Which means I've finally entered the current generation of gaming consoles. So, that means I can review all of the many JRPGs on the 360. Today I'm going to start off by reviewing the game that made me put off buying a current gen console for the longest time, Tales of Vesperia. Why did this game make me wait so long? Well, there was a semi-legitimized rumor for a while that they were going to release in the U.S. the PS3 port of Tales of Vesperia, which had a new character (always a plus) and alternate costumes from Tales of the Abyss. However, they decided to bring over Tales of Graces instead, so the 360 is the only place to get this game.
If you've played a Tales game before, the plot is probably pretty recognizable. Maverick Yuri Lowell starts on a quest to help the people of the lower quarter in the capital city, but is captured almost immediately by the imperial guards. He meets a mysterious young woman in the castle, and agrees to let her tag along during his travels. As the story unravels, it appears there is a conspiracy to take over the world, and Yuri and his ragtag band of companions have to stop it, because no one else will. The story is the part of the game that I'm least enthused about. It's basic, but there's altogether too much of party members sticking with your group just because. It just feels a little bit too forced for the first half of the game, and that's a real problem. Still, it's not totally inadequate, but it illustrates how the Tales series is all about character driven stories.
Speaking of, the characters are great. Yuri is something of the opposite of your typical protagonist. He's the dark loner type, with a dark vigilante streak which is sometimes a bit jarring in an otherwise lighthearted game. Judith, the lancer chick, is refreshingly blasé about everything, not to mention having a reaction to her history that is somewhat unusual. Raven is your stereotypical sketchy old man, but he's got tons of secrets that actually make him pretty badass, though he mostly ends up playing comic relief. I really didn't care for Karol, the chirpy young adventurer, but even he's tolerable. The villains receive some good treatment, especially several of the midbosses. It's a little bit of a spoiler, but one of the best parts about the development of the villains is that you aren't aware of their villainous nature for most of the game, which makes for a fairly nuanced view of the motivations and character of each.
I can't really say too much on the battle system, because it's really in the same vein as Tales of Symphonia and several subsequent games. It's in three dimensions, you can move in a line towards and away from the enemy you've targeted, jump, and launch attacks and specials in combos. You can also run around the battlefield outside the line between you and your target by pressing a button and moving, but you can't make combo attacks while doing so.
There's also a synthesis system, which is pretty straightforward (stores have recipes, you give them the ingredients and money and they make you the item). In addition to main weapons, each character has a sub weapon which increases their stats and is used for various attacks. I wish they had done more with this, because it would have been really cool if it led to a system of dual wielding. Skills are learned either from weapons of subweapons, and the skills on the currently equipped weapon are automatically equipped, which makes it so you can strategize which weapon to equip on other grounds than whichever has the highest attack power. All in all, it's a system not substantially different from in previous games, but it still works fine.
Replayability has become one of the continuing features of the Tales series, and this game is no exception. After you complete the game, the grade (based on your performance in battles) can be used to purchase various benefits that can be transferred over to a new game. While there's not as much character customization as there was in Tales of Symphonia, you probably won't get the hang of all eight characters in one playthrough, so you might enjoy getting to know more characters during a new game. You can also try to find more of the skits, which are voice acted in this game! So, the rating is just about "replayable, but only for the sake of characters."
So, as for the rating in total, I should mention that this game incorporates one feature that I believe to be essential to a truly excellent RPG, minigames. There's a blackjack game, a dragon flying game, and a shooter that's kinda meh. These games are fun so they do improve the game. The overall total score for this game is 9.8. I really wanted to give it a 10 out of 10, but I couldn't ignore the weaknesses in the story. Everything else was great though. I may not have liked all the characters, but they grew on me. The gameplay was fun, and battles never really got boring.
Quick Tip: If you want to get every item or skill, make sure you make the karolian hammer +1 before you make the karolian sword, since you only ever get one karolian hammer.
Fun Fact: In the locker room on Namcobanda Isle, you can find a love letter from Natalia to Asch, both from Tales of the Abyss.
If you liked this game, you might want to try one of these games. Tales of Symphonia or Tales of the Abyss are both very similar in battle system and tone. Honestly, the Tales games haven't changed much in recent years. Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana has a less action oriented battle system, but its crafting system is similarly robust and enjoyable. Grandia III has a great, fast paced battle system, and though the story is a little underwhelming, it also has something of a crafting system that is pretty enjoyable.
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