Tales of Vesperia is an action JRPG with a focus on storytelling. The Definitive Edition comes with a cosy, timeless art style that reminds me a little of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. The music is okay, with no track really standing out, but the voice actors do a good job and almost all of the dialogue is voiced. Overall, the PC port runs well, although the loading times for saving and entering new areas could be quicker.
The game mechanics are better introduced than in other Tales of games. The 2.5D fighting game combat system starts off simple: besides blocking, you have two types of abilities (artes): normal and advanced artes. The latter cost energy. In addition, you can sometimes trigger special artes. Later in the game, more advanced combat mechanics are unlocked, such as different types of artes and combo chains, which offer much more options and freedom.
Character progression is similar to Final Fantasy 9. Each character learns new skills by using certain weapons for a while. The crafting system is also simple: you make new items which slightly improved stats from resources you collect from enemies. Sometimes a character will unlock new artes as they level up. You can also cook food for temporary stat boosts.
The main protagonist, Yuri, stands out because he is not the usual hero. I like that he makes some questionable decisions throughout the game, unfortunately this is hardly touched upon by the other companions. I like that Yuri does not judge other people and lets them do what they think is right. He is also empathetic and has a charming way of empowering his companions and making them feel important. The other main characters are fine. Except for two child characters who fight alongside adults. Patty in particular can be quite annoying. However, each character has their own personal motivation and character development throughout the game, which makes them more interesting, although for some characters this may take a while.
Tales of Vesperia features a nice looking explorable world map. Unfortunately, there is nothing to explore. The game is completely linear, and other locations are off-limits until you reach certain points in the main story. The world map is only used for enemy encounters and walking from point A to point B (there is no fast travel). I wish your character could move faster, as some areas can be quite large and there is occasional backtracking.
I originally thought the game had no side quests, until I found in a walkthrough that there are a bunch of (missable) side quests, but they are not easy to find and some are only available for a certain amount of time (best done with a walkthrough). Moreover, it is sometimes not so clear where to go next - the game only gives you a description of the next location, and the in-game map, which is hidden in a nested menu, does not always help either.
The level design is mostly linear with some forks leading to dead ends with treasure chests. I did not like that many corridors and rooms look the same, making some dungeons feel like a maze, especially as there is no (mini) map for most areas. The world is quite large and offers many areas with different climates or themes. However, there are only a few places in the game that stand out for their unique design and atmosphere. I also like that the designers sometimes play with perspective, where you can either move in a 2D plane (left and right) or in a 3D space (left, right, back and forth).
Some dungeons require you to solve basic puzzles based on running back and forth and activating switches in the correct order. I like the puzzles in the Water Temple, which are a bit more sophisticated.
Enemies can be dodged to avoid random encounters, but some areas are so dense with spawning enemies that dodging can be difficult - There is a potion you can drink to avoid encounters, but you will need combat experience to level up to avoid being underleveled. Encounters let you fight different types of enemy with individual weaknesses, but most of them behave in the same way, and you usually only need to change your strategy for certain boss encounters.
The difficulty is easy in the beginning, except for challenging boss fights. The game does a poor job of explaining the more advanced combat mechanics and how to extend combos. For example, I was very annoyed that I could not hit enemies lying on the ground, until I found out from a guide that there are combos for that. Another example is jumping, which can be the only way to avoid certain attacks.
Standard enemies can be easily defeated by button-smashing, but there are difficulty spikes for bosses later in the game, forcing you to learn the advanced combat mechanics that you may have ignored before. I recommend playing in manual mode and studying the in-game battle book and each new entry from the beginning.
A nice (optional) feature is that you can fight with each party member and each one has his or her own play style. You can customize how your companions behavior in battle (via the Strategy menu). Furthermore, you can enable fully automated combat and change the difficulty level at any time.
My main problem with Tales of Vesperia is the story. It starts off relatively slow, and the first two-thirds of the game is spent chasing after changing objectives that I have little connection to. For example, the game starts with Yuri chasing someone I don't know, and I don't know why. A related problem is that I had no sense of urgency or importance for the objectives. Most of the time I felt aimless and the story seems to have no particular direction. Until later in the game, there are too few highlights and the game feels like it is just drifting on and I am wandering from one town to another. An additional factor is that the story is mostly told with the in-game engine: these scenes often feel static due to the lack of character animations. The skits (drawn anime) are fine though.
Another major problem is that the scope of the story is too large, covering a large group of characters from many different factions. On top of that, the game covers various political, social, technological, and historical topics. The game would have been better if it had focused more on the party members (maybe even fewer) instead of introducing more and more side characters in each new city. The result of the wide scope is that many aspects of the story lack substance, which becomes more apparent in the last part of the game. Here, the story changes quite a bit and more things happen and the stakes rise, but it also relies more on meaningless technobabble and exposition.
The last major problem is the villains in the game, who have a minimal background story and are barely introduced.
Another minor problem is that some of the conversations feel a bit repetitive: the party members repeat their current personal goals and argue why they should still stick together a bit too frequently. Most of the main characters also feel rather one-dimensional until halfway through the game, as each character only has one or two topics to talk about. In general, I found the dialog less funny than in other Tales of games.
In addition, I would have liked the option of not having to press a button after every sentence to continue the dialog.
An additional minor problem is that you cannot save anywhere at any time, and you may have to play another hour to reach the next save point.
All in all, Tales of Vesperia is a nice looking game with timeless art style, good voice acting, and decent music. I would recommend it to people who like combo-based combat systems. However, the story failed to grab me, mainly because of its vast, ambitious scope with a lot of story elements and characters, which led to a lack of substance and emotional connection that becomes more apparent in the last part of the game. I had similar problems with Tales of Arise, so if you like Arise, you might like Vesperia.
