Tales of Vesperia is based in the world of Terca Lunanaries, the lands are far and wide but only populated in small pockets due to the monsters that lurk everywhere. To help protect these isolated cities the locals utilize ancient stones called blastia, in which their core projects a barrier which protects the inhabitants. Yuri and his dog friend/ninja assassin Repede live in the lower quarter of the Imperial city of Zaphias and the game starts with screams of fear as the local aqua blastia core has been stolen, causing huge floods. Being the type of guy Yuri is, rather than help the towns folk directly he runs off to find the thief and bring back the core. After some mistaken identity and a short spell in jail the story allows you to leave the confines of Zaphias and wander the huge lands of Terca Lunanaries and find many new cities, the story also veers off on some tangents, allowing new members to join you on your quest and of course for you to help them out.

 

 

As with all RPGs there are plenty of similarities throughout the game, Tales of Vesperia does however execute each area really well, most notable is the real time fighting that seems to be the direction which many games seem to be taking at the moment, when in battle you are able to run around the arena and fight anyone you fancy, the early fights are dealt with simple melees and combos but the boss fights require a lot more skill and in my case revive potions. You are not on your own during fights as you are supported by characters you meet along the way, most characters you meet have blastia on them, allowing them to harness special powers from themselves and also weaponry. As you play you learn more and more devastating attacks, each one can be pulled off easily with a quick flick of the LS or RS, depending which one you allotted it to. You can change tactics on the fly so if you see other characters get a beating you can tell them to fall back, allowing for some healing spells and potions to be used and then the reforming of your team attacks.

 

The menus and navigation of the many options is simple, making it very easy to equip weaponry, make food from collected recipes and use the synthesis mode in which you can make more useful items from your spoils of war.

 

The look of Tales of Vesperia instantly draws you in, it plays and feels like a cartoon or anime if you’re serious about these things. In fact the artist Kusuke Fujishima who is a fan favorite animator was brought in to offer some of his own style and it shows, the animations and look of all of the characters is quality. The backgrounds are also very detailed with mountains and mysterious castles just specks in the distance. Some of the later levels like the city of blossoms are beautiful to walk around and allowed the artists to really show their stuff.

 

The game is interspliced with cutscenes and talking heads movies, the cutscenes are a mixture of real time interaction using the in-game engine and real anime, the difference between the two is so subtle that it is really hard to see the changes. With this look also comes great voice-overs from all of the characters, each drawing you into their world and whilst most of the game has speech at times the game will switch to text and speech bubbles over the characters heads, this is mostly when dealing with smaller characters rather than the main characters. At certain parts of the game you can also bring up talking head scenes that bring a little more depth and humour to the characters but have little to do with the main story.

 

 

There is a good mixture of characters that you meet who will join your party during your quest, from the hard assed general type, the naive princess and comedy pairing of dumb Imperial soldiers out to capture Yuri, the game at times feels more like a movie than a game.

 

Tales of Vesperia instantly draws you in with its lovely look and holds you with a gripping story that is constantly evolving with every character you meet. Xbox 360 owners are certainly a lucky bunch as this title was well worth the wait.