As I was starting my JRPG journey I was pretty naïve and only had Final Fantasy on my mind, however one of my best friends never played Final Fantasy, but instead was obsessed by a series known as Tales (Shout out to Moe). This guy would constantly talk about how great the series was and it quickly led me to playing Tales of Xillia on the PS3 back in 2011 which I absolutely loved. Since then I have played a good amount of the sequel in Tales of Xillia 2 although I would never finish it. In addition, I also grabbed Tales of Zesteria for the PS4, but never really put a good amount of time into it. With all that being said, despite only beating one game in the series I really did want to get into the Tales franchise and the title the community raved about the most was Tales of Vesperia. This game was an Xbox 360 exclusive and being a Sony fanboy, it basically meant I would never touch this, until they finally released a definitive edition which I could play on PS4. Although I don’t have much experience in the franchise, Tales of Vesperia will now be the measuring stick to which all Tales games are measured for me.
First let me explain the differences between the definitive edition. As I mentioned before the initial version of Tales of Vesperia was an Xbox 360 exclusive, however the definitive edition is available on basically every platform: Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. All consoles run at 60 frames per second in battles, and 30 frames per second outside of battle. However, the Playstation 4 runs at 60 frames per second all throughout. This alongside the trophy support is the reason I chose to play it on the PS4 and god damn does the game run smooth as hell. The transition from exploring to battle feels completely seamless and I experienced no issues whatsoever.
In addition to the graphical updates, the definitive edition also provides a bunch of other content. The first that I quickly took advantage of was the option for Japanese voices. The Tales games all feel like Anime games and as an avid subbed Anime watcher I had to make the experience similar. The English voices are still pretty good, but the Japanese voices are perfect, truly like you watching an anime. In addition to this there is also DLC content. The first is alternate costumes, you start with several alternate costumes some ranging from completely goofy to some extremely awesome looking ones. Finally, the biggest improvement is that the definitive edition also allows you to have two new playable characters in the game. I don’t want to spoil who it is, but the more characters playable the better I say.
Now with every JRPG the test is the story. After 72 hours I can say I absolutely loved the story. It starts off super simple and of course it gets bigger and more serious as time goes on. Sounds super cliché, but I think that if you like anime you will like this story. It centers around Yuri who I think might be one of, if not the best protagonists I have ever seen in a JRPG. Yuri is not a blind protagonist simply always doing what’s right, but he is a closer to a vigilante like The Punisher from Marvel Comics. He always has a pure motive for why he does things and I consider him a genuine good person, but he crosses a grey area where you can understand why he does what he does. The story follows a ton of government corruption combined with an amazing antihero like Yuri equates to a fantastic story.
The one downside to the story I have is the cutscenes. With the really big moments in the game you get great anime like cutscenes. However, the problem with this is that it is so rare and far between, I think you maybe experience it only 3 or 4 times. Every other instance it is dialog options with speech bubbles. Although this does take you out of the moment, my biggest problem with it was that I was constantly needing to push X for the next option instead of just sitting back and watching. This may seem nitpicky, but I would have rather liked to experience it watching it like a show instead of having to push X right after they speak.
As I mentioned before, Yuri is an amazing protagonist, but he also has a collection of teammates that are great in their own right. Yuri starts the game with his loyal companion pup Repede, but very quickly Yuri begins to gain more and more allies. This is one of the reasons I love this game. Usually when you play a JRPG there is either some characters that are forgettable or some you just don’t like. Literally every single character I love in this game and they each bring something to the team. This goes beyond combat, the way the characters grow with each other to become a family and even how each character gets stronger, the character development in Tales of Vesperia is top notch. Each character even has a moment to themselves where you can see just how much they grow and I just love these guys so much.
Next thing I would like to talk about is the soundtrack. I am currently writing this review while listening to the soundtrack and that shows how good it is. First off, I love the opening track which is just like an anime opening and a cool fact is it changes from English to Japanese depending on the voice options you use. The soundtrack is very reminiscent of an anime soundtrack with soft soothing tracks for the heart felt moments, to hard songs for the battles. One of the best soundtracks I have ever experienced.
Like constant Tales tradition, Tales of Vesperia follows an action-RPG battle system. Although I love my menu-based combat, the action combat in this game is amazing. You have basic combat attacks and also special attacks you can allocate to buttons. This makes the combat super-fast paced and easy to access. The combat is super simple and easy to understand, but the more you get used to it the more you can customize not only the character you control, but also your allies. Each character controls pretty differently like Yuri focuses around close combat, but Rita uses offensive spells, and Estelle uses healing magic. If I felt like I could beat an enemy I would always fight them, that’s how much I loved the combat.
PROS
- Japanese Voice Option
- 60 frames per second on PS4
- DLC content
- Each character has own charm
- Great Character Development
- Protagonist is one of the best
- Great Anime like Story
- Combat is great
- Amazing Soundtrack
CONS
- Limited Anime Cut scenes
- Pushing X every dialog option
CONSENSUS
I will be using Tales of Vesperia to measure every tales game from now. If Berseria and Zesteria are even half as good I know I will enjoy them. With the cast of character being so lovable, from one of the best protagonists in gaming and a great story. Tales of Vesperia is one of the best.
RATING
10/10: MASTERPIECE
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