Tales of Vesperia [X360]

Posted July 30, 2009 by maceman in Featured, Featured Home, Game Blog, Reviews, Xbox 360.

Reviewed on the XBox 360

I will start by saying that I am not familiar with the other games in this series, so I am viewing this with entirely fresh eyes. I do like Japanese animation, and I do have an awful lot of respect for the genre, but I would not say that I am a huge fan. My teenage daughter, on the other hand, is a hardcore fan and was extremely excited that the character design was by Kasuke Fujishima, who is the maestro behind Ah! My Goddess and You’re Under Arrest. If you are a fan of either of these Anime series then no doubt you will understand who this is and what the excitement is all about.

This RPG is like playing a cross between a Manga comic and an Anime cartoon, with all the movement of a cartoon but with the speech bubbles of a comic. Most of the cut scenes and parts of the game have voice acting, which is top notch, but then other times, when talking to characters within towns etc and other key parts, there is no vocal audio at all, just speech bubbles that need to be read. It’s not just this game, and maybe it is just my ignorance, but this is something that I do not understand about this type of RPG; in this day and age, with the space available on an HD disc, why not just have all vocal audio in the entire game with an option to turn the speech bubbles on and off depending on taste.

The story takes place on the world of Terca Lumireis where Barriers, powered by an ancient technology called Blastia, protect the cities and human population from the masses of monsters that roam the planet. Humans can also enhance combat and other abilities using Blastia that are created from a substance called Aer. After the Lower quarter of Zaphias has its Aqua Blastia stolen, the town’s fresh water supply is under threat and Yuri and his “dog” Repede (although he barks and kind of resembles a dog, he also weilds a weapon and wears armour) set off on a mission to find the culprit.

Yuri is the main character of this story, but he also teams up with other characters that, for their own different reasons, join him on his journey. Each has their individual back-story, strengths and knowledge to contribute to the journey and battles. Each player has their own set of powers called Artes and weapons, including the healer Estelle, the naïve boy and member of the Hunting Blades Guild; Karol, the infamous Blastia researcher; Mage Rita Mordio, who uses powerful magic; Blastia expert and member of the Kritya Tribe, Judith who uses spears and staves; the imperial knight and childhood friend of Yuri’s, Flynn; and the bow wielding Raven, who is commonly referred to as the “old man” of the group. Each of these character’s Artes and weapons can be changed and turned on or off via the options screen.

The map interface connects the dots among all the different towns and areas that you need to visit, and when you are viewing it, Yuri looks like a giant traveling on a microscopic world, with only the monsters roaming around matching his perspective. It is an original idea that, although seems foreign and strange at first, works well, with exception for that the names of the areas are not clearly labeled, and that it’s hard to navigate around leaving most of it to memory. There is also the traditional map available in the options screen, for all that information, but this also makes it hard to distinguish where you are, as only the main areas are labeled, and some of the other places are left off, like forests, etc.

Once you enter an area, everything returns to normal size, and you can go about gathering information to complete your main mission, as well as different side quests that you get dragged into. Buy items at shops located in the different areas, by winning battles or in treasure chests, found in the different areas. It is necessary to stock up on things like life bottles, health (HP) generating gels and poison bottles, and these are crucial to have plenty of in your stash, especially for bosses.

While just walking around the environments and the map, Yuri is the only visual character, and the other team members do not appear on screen through most of the wanderings around in the game, only showing their faces in certain key parts, cut scenes and the battle sequences. So where do they go, or in which orifice does Yuri hide them, until these crucial moments? Well, at certain parts of the game you are prompted to press the back button, which brings up the characters talking heads on what looks like trading cards, providing some background on the characters and just some amusing banter. So I bemused that maybe this is where they go; they all magically turn themselves into a deck of cards and Yuri then conveniently puts them in his pocket until they are needed again, like a Pokeball in Pokemon.

When you come across monsters and bosses within the map, and the other areas of the game, the screen appears to shatter as the real time battle engine kicks in, and although there are only a couple of buttons to press to perform different powers and attacks, the system is simple, almost elegant in nature. The general monsters are not that hard to defeat, but because there are so many of them it works well to keep the pace of the game flowing and gives the characters a sense of strength. You just feel as though you’re taking care of them casually, as they walk into your path, allowing the focus to remain on the story. The bosses are fittingly more difficult and need a couple of attempts to get the battle tactics right and seem satisfying once you have defeated them.

Most of the options for the characters, including what weapons they use, Armour, Artes powers and their placement on the controller, which character you want to control and whom you want to take into battle, are all changed via the general options screen outside the battle arena. The only time the order of the line up changes, is if a monster sneaks up on you in a surprise attack. The only things you can do while fighting are: pause the battle to use life bottles and health serums and top up your teams levels and strategically move your team around the battlefield and choose if they defend, leave it to me and moderate or Full charge. There are also special team power ups like Over Limit mode, where once the gauge at the side is full, you can activate it and perform unlimited amounts of Artes powers, which are normally dictated by the amount of power you have in your TP meter, until the Gauge is depleted. The thing that lets the battle system down, is that you can only control one character throughout the battles and the rest are controlled by the game’s artificial intelligece. There is no option to switch among them to take over manual control for each one individually.

The cell-shaded graphics are very impressive, with detailed characters typical to Anime, with oversized eyes, small mouths and, in this case, most of the guys have the long hair while the girls have it short. The backgrounds and landscapes are all impressively designed in the style of old school Anime, not the 3D CGI style of the new Gundam series, for example, and the monsters suitably look otherworldly and original. The can be best described as genetic mixtures of both plant and animal. The story is in depth with a lot of different layers, and the plot evolves as you play, with all the characters being well thought out, allowing for the player to get attached to them the more he or she plays. You will genuinely care about them while getting involved in their motives and their quest on an individual level.

Overall, this was a highly enjoyable game to play, but be prepared for a fair bit of reading. It is worth persisting through and will save having to pick up a book for a while. This can be best described to a new-comer, to this style of game, as like watching a highly enjoyable subtitled movie or cartoon for the first time. Purchase this game and let yourself be dragged into this bizarre world that mixes comic and action to create an interactive cartoon. It requires a lot of time dedicated to play through the game — about 40-50 hours in its entirety — but it is a thoroughly enjoyable journey for Anime/Manga enthusiasts, RPG fans in general and even those that are new to the genre.

Tagged as Bandai Namco, Namco, Namco Tales Studio, Project Vesperia, Tales of Vesperia