I'm not a huge JRPG fan. My experience in this area has been limited to a few titles so far – and I've been playing games for well over 30 years. In fact, the first major JRPG I actually had any real experience with was Final Fantasy VII on the original PlayStation. That game was a breakthrough for me – an experience that defined my entire approach to gaming at the time and set the standard for the highest quality RPGs for years to come. No other JRPG has ever captivated me as much. I've never enjoyed any other (with the possible exception of Dragon Quest VIII on PS2). I don't think I've been able to even finish any other JRPG, as they usually bore me after a dozen or so hours (yet I've completed FFVII a dozen or so times, on different systems – even years later – on Steam). Yes, I'm old...
Why did I start with this introduction?
Teles of Vesperia was another JRPG I decided to give a chance. A rather old game, bought on some Steam sale – for peanuts. I don't even know why. Maybe I was interested in the colorful anime-style screenshots? Maybe I found it at the right place and time. So I gave it a chance. And Tales of Vesperia did something no game of this type has managed in years – it captivated me. So much so that I even finished it. 160+ hours as of writing this review.
It's not a groundbreaking game. It's built on 3D graphics – in a pleasing, hand-drawn style – but the world-building is very outdated. All locations have a fixed camera and can only be viewed from a pre-defined perspective. NPCs are always in the same place and do the same thing; in fact, they don't even move much. Only when traversing the (rather empty) world map can you rotate the camera in any direction – very much in the style of the classic Final Fantasy VII-IX series. It didn't bother me at all, and I expected it. But I'm well aware not everyone will like it. Especially the more "modern" gamers ;-)
The plot is okay – but it's not amazing either. The plot twists don't knock you out of your seat. You don't pick your jaw up off the floor. But... there's still something about it that keeps you hooked. You want to know the end of the story. It starts off inconspicuously and then it picks up.
The main character (Yuri) immediately appealed to me. I don't know why, but I liked the guy – and I guess that's important in an RPG, to immerse you in the protagonist's story? The rest of the crew is also interesting. Sometimes annoying, sometimes crazy, sometimes childish, but definitely not boring.
Each of your companions has their own story, their own reasons and beliefs, and – of course – their own personal demons to deal with along the way. Each character has their own turning point, after which they're ready to sacrifice themselves for a higher purpose, abandon their current "fight" to join forces with the protagonist in the final battle – to save the world (of course). Much like Final Fantasy VII ;-)
I really liked the "skit" system and the characters' interactions while traversing the map or after battle. It was something fresh I hadn't seen before. But did I mention Tales of Vesperia was my first ever Tales of... series game?
Generally speaking, the main characters were a huge plus.
The rest is - unfortunately - much a cliche. It's pretty obvious who's who right away. Good people are just good. The clumsy-bad are good. Honorable-evil become good. The simply evil are just evil, the cheaters cheat, the traitors betray and the overly wonderful, so-honorable-big-talkers always get confused and become utterly mad & evil. From the dozen or so JRPGs I've played in my life, I've learned also one more thing – if there is a mysterious & handsome guy with long-white hair and a huge sword - and he is not the hero controlled by the player - he will definitely be beating the crap out of you at some point as a boss... enough spoilers ;-)
As for the combat, that's one thing I liked least. Battles take place in real time, in a circular 3D arena, and feel more like an arcade fighting game than an RPG. I'm used to turn-based combat in this genre, and I think it's the best solution in such games—allowing you to fully utilize the potential of all the characters.
Here in ToV, you can have four people in your party at any given time – this causes utter chaos during combat, as there's no way to control four characters simultaneously. You can supposedly assign them pre-defined tactics and choose how they should behave (focus on defense/attack/heal or melee/ranged or magic/no magic or free use/no use of items or even avoid damage and all contact etc.), but this – in my opinion - only deepens the chaos. I felt like the entire tactic fell apart after switching controlled character in active battle. And after each subsequent fight, I just didn't feel like doing it anymore. So 90% of the time, I played and controlled only Yuri (as the main damage dealer), with the computer supporting a second fast or heavy damage dealer (Repede/Karol later Flynn), and almost always Estelle (healing) and Rita in the back as magic-mostly-fireball-spell-caster. And this worked 99% of the time. Sometimes, I rotated the team to someone else when the plot demanded it... or just when I wanted to look at Judith's curves in a new costume ;-)
Well, to sum it up.
If, like me, you enjoyed Final Fantasy VII (and similar games), then Tales of Vesperia is definitely for you. You'll enjoy the story, the characters, and you'll feel the satisfaction every time you get a "secret" achievement. Classic JRPG style...
And maybe you'll enjoy - or like me, not so much - the specific battle system.
Oh, and did I mentioned the music & voice acting is really good?
And I watched & listened the whole intro every time i started the game ;-)
A solid 7/10 for me.
