A fantastic tale ready to be told...
What was your golden gaming period? Mine came in late 2001. After I exhaustively enjoyed six months of Dreamcast online sensation Phantasy Star Online, I switched to singleplayer RPGs and in a few short months got through the superb Skies of Arcadia, the great Grandia 2 and Sega's iconic Shenmue II, plus the seminal Final Fantasy VII. And it's happening again.
Wide-eyed wonder
Just a couple of days after finally conquering Square Enix's majestic Final Fantasy XII (Gambits > Defeat: Vayne!) Tales of Vesperia landed on my desk. What's a guy to do?
The Tales series has been around for going on a decade, but this is its first appearance on a HD-ready console... and it looks fantastic. Sure, it may not have the gritty believability of a Mass Effect or the sprawling gameworld of a Fallout, but this is a different kind of role-player. The wide-eyed characters, colourful landscape and stylised cel-shading in Tales of Vesperia come together to make this one of the best-looking Japanese-style RPGs on the Xbox 360, creating a world of childlike wonder that perfectly suits Vesperia's anime-style story.
The wide-eyed characters, colourful landscape and stylised cel-shading create a world of childlike wonder that perfectly suits Vesperia's anime-style story.
In that story, you take on the role of main character Yuri. At first, he seems like your typical JRPG lead character cliché; a sword-wielding loner with effeminate looks and a problem with authority figures. Only an hour in, however, and his self-depreciating nature and understated voice acting will have you warming to him.
Within that first hour you'll have explored the gameworld's capital city (and Yuri's home) of Zaphias, met a couple of key characters, gotten to grips with the battle system (more on that later), and eventually find yourself setting out along with your fateful pooch Repede and sheltered Palace-dweller Estelle to find a jewel thief, locate endangered imperial knight Flynn, and recover the blastia core (energy-filled crystals) which powers the water system for the lower quarter of caste-divided Zaphias.
Quaint
It's a quaint start, then, but one which snowballs into an epic and engrossing experience. As new characters join your party, small plot questions become larger mysteries and Vesperia's deep gameplay systems open up before your eyes, you soon find yourself almost overwhelmed with customisation options, collectibles, side-missions, stat-enhancing cooking recipes, equipment-creating synthesis combos, and an increasingly tactical battle engine.
Fights in Tales of Vesperia are not your typical complex, slow, tactical menu-driven affairs. Nor do they happen at random like in RPGs of old. Instead, you can see your foes on the screen, meaning you can choose when to enter and when to avoid battles.
Action-packed battles sit nicely between deeply tactical titles like FFXII and a more instinctive, fast-paced action game.
Walking into an enemy causes the screen to shatter, and loads up the battle mode itself – a small, 3D environment in which you control one character, moving left and right with the left analogue stick, attack with B, use that character's powerful artes attacks on A, guard with X, jump by pressing X and up on the stick, and run around the 3D area by moving whilst holding the L trigger. Items are accessed by pressing Y, and as is now fashionable in the genre you can assign your A.I. companions (up to three accompany you on the battlefield) different default actions and positions within your battle formation.
Polished
Initially it all seems a bit frantic, but as you get used to it, unlock new artes and overkill moves, learn new skills, discover items to allow you to switch party leaders mid-battle, and start to define which characters are your curers, spell casters, ranged attackers and melee strikers, Tales of Vesperia's action-packed battles take on an appeal that sits nicely between deeply tactical titles like FFXII and a more instinctive, fast-paced action game.
In many ways then, Tales of Vesperia is an altogether traditional Eastern RPG; but the polish, presentation and unusually high level of accessibility in its battle system make it an outstanding release – especially on Xbox 360, which isn't exactly famed for housing genre greats like those in my opening paragraph. In fact, it's fair to say that this is probably the console's best Japanese RPG – and with Final Fantasy XIII on the horizon as well, Microsoft's machine might just be entering its own role-playing golden age.
GAME's Verdict
- A typical Japanese RPG on Xbox 360 with a remarkable level of polish and refinement.
- The battle system is particularly approachable, and yet deceptively tactical.
- Beautifully dreamy cel-shaded presentation and charming, often understated voice acting.
- Refines the typical Tales RPG formula without doing anything especially new.
- There are more tactical RPG battle systems out there.
- Some of the wide-eyed cuteness can be a bit cheesy and won't be for everyone.
Review by: Mark 'Azure Edge' Scott
Version Tested: Xbox 360
Review Published: 16.07.09