53) Tales of Vesperia (2008)

Beginning development in 2005, Tales of Vesperia is the 10th installment in the Tales franchise, and was initially planned for the PS2. Feeling limited by system hardware, and at the urging of Bandai Namco's executives, the decision was made to push it to the next generation of consoles. As the PS3 had yet to be revealed and with the Xbox 360 doing very well in western markets, it was made with the 360 in mind, with the team working with Microsoft on how to best utilize the platform. This made it the first Tales game to feature online implementation, and the advent of LCD TVs at the time presented additional challenges for the background designers.

The story starts with our protagonist, a former knight named Yuri, living in the poor district of the capital city. When a charlatan steals the district's water blastia, a magical conduit that's meant to regulate water for the area, he goes off to track the man down. In doing so, he winds up getting thrown in jail, escaping with some timely intervention, and encounters a noble woman named Estelle and the two are attacked by an assassin in a case of mistaken identity. Having been mistaken for his friend, the knight Flynn, who has also befriended Estelle, the two leave the capital hoping to find him and figure out why an assassin is after him. Thus begins what eventually leads to a fight to save the world from an ancient threat, as these things tend to do.

Yuri is a fascinating character as he's not your typical protagonist by design. He's a man with a strong sense of justice, though he often plays around the law. He's willing to dirty his hands to do the most good he can, and he has no illusion of being a "good" person. He also doesn't really grow or change as the story progresses, instead having a flat character arc that enables those around him to grow. This fits well with his personality, and allows the other members of the cast their time to shine. In particular, we get to see the growth of Estelle, who starts off as a sheltered noble and is pushed, for the first time in her life, to consider what it is she wants. She's shown to be unsure and at times wishy washy, but Yuri never pushes his ideals onto her, instead allowing her to grow.

Combat is a real time action affair, with a focus on maneuvering around the field and setting up combos. You can choose any of the party members to actively control, and they all play fairly differently with multiple characters having options for healing in addition to offense. I found myself mostly playing as Judith, who focuses on aerial maneuvers while using a spear, though the only character I didn't enjoy was Rita, the dedicated mage, owing in large part to the long cast times of her spells. I can see people enjoying any of the characters though, and it provides decent incentive to revisit the game.

Unlike Tales of Graces, which used the title system as a pseudo job mechanic, the titles you earn here are largely just there to provide flavor or the occasional costume. Instead, character growth is tied to your weapons, with each weapon unlocking skills while new attacks are tied to character level as well as which moves you use frequently. It's an interesting choice that often had me using sub-optimal equipment in order to unlock new skills, and encouraged me to experiment with different attacks in combat. It also encourages you to interact with the crafting mechanic to make new versions of weapons. Its an overall clever system that I enjoyed quite a bit.

Over the course of our journey, we get to know the characters quite well and, through cutscenes and optional skits, get to see how they interact with one another. Every character, with the exception of our best boy Repede, has some secret that they either keep from the others or discover about themselves. This is a group that is often at odds with one another, but still come together to help save the world. I have a few issues with the story as a whole, but I found myself enjoying the characters and the world they inhabit. My biggest qualm comes down to pacing. There were times where things drug for way to long, and the entire final act seems both rushed and long winded.

Tales of Vesperia is a fun anime styled action RPG that, while having amazing character writing, unfortunately overstays its welcome. Whereas I bemoaned the length of Tales of Graces' prologue, here I found the opposite to be the case. The game has a strong opening that thrusts us into the action and gives us just enough mystery to keep us interested, but then limps to the finish line. Still, for fans of the genre or those new to the series, it makes a fine introduction and does more than enough right to make up for any wrongs it commits.