With Newer Innovative RPG's Coming Our Way, Tales of Vesperia Has Been Hidden Away, Won't You Come and Pla
The combat is always an important feature to any JRPG as you'll spend a good portion of your experience in it. Have no fear, the combat is robust enough to have you actually wanting to go into battle. This is done by always keeping things interesting. The game is free flowing when it comes to combat in that you do not wait for your turn to attack. By pressing the B button, your character will perform an attack with his or her weapon. Should you repeatedly press that button your character will go into a combo that can be finished off with a special attack. As you progress through the game, your character will start to build quite the repertoire of "Artes" which are special abilities that can be used (at the cost of TP which acts as the game's magic bar) throughout battle to decimate your enemies. Many times I found myself switching to new abilities just to see what type of damage and effect they have on an enemy even if I didn't like it. An element that's been added to make the battles more unique and interesting is the Menu option that can be accessed by pressing the "Y" button at anytime in battle. Through this command you can use items, change skills, give orders to AI controlled characters, and change overall strategies. Something else I was moderately ecstatic about was the exclusion of random encounters. That's right, no more walking around a deserted dungeon to have the screen to suddenly change to a battle ground faced with enemies that have sudden manifested out of thin air (In case you can't tell, I have a slight biased towards random encounters). On the field screen all the enemies are visible and (excluding the rare encounter) can be avoided if it is so wished. As for the visuals, I feel it almost redundant to comment on them considering all of the screen shots and videos out at the time this review is released. And, if you're reading this review right now, I'm sure you've done your research into the matter and have seen exactly what I'm talking about. However, I will indulge any who wish to know my personal opinion on the matter. The cell-shaded textures, while though not stunningly detailed, are pleasing to the eye with many varying bright vibrant colours. This is not to say that the game is lack luster in detail either. Far from it. However with the quality of games that have been released, the bar has been set higher and therefore it must be commented on that in this current generation, this game isn't as detailed as some others. However, what it lacks in detail is easily made up for with crisp lines, unique art, and efficient loading screens. If you've played any JRPG on the Xbox360, you'll know that many of them (Not ALL) are terrible when it comes to loading. This can prove to be an annoyance as every time you enter battle the game has to load another section with more textures. In Tales of Vesperia, there is barely any transition from field to battle except for the screen shattering into tiny fragments as though smashed with all the expectancies of a gamer to have to wait for the battle to begin. The small quip at the beginning of battles is a nice touch too. Something to note from the graphics is the models that the game uses. As you equip new weapons upon Yuri (the protagonist), the change is reflected in the model on the field in that Yuri is constantly holding onto his weapon sheathed. This a found to more than enough of a nice little feature in a JRPG but they continued to impress by giving the player the ability to customize each character in certain ways. For example, should you obtain the specific amount of materials gathered from defeated foes, you can go to an item shop and create sunglasses for the protagonist or a bandage that fits snugly across one of the other character's nose or a giant scroll to fit onto the back of another. If you enjoy having the ability to customize your character, I'm sure this feature will make you just as happy as it made me. The story is good and as I'm limited to talk about it for fear of spoiling the experience for you, let me just say that it explores each characters personalities in depth and that each character brings something unique to the table. However, one thing I feel like I should touch upon also is the beginning few hours, as the story to the game develops quite well. Where other games may open up to having the character save the world or prevent some impending disaster, it's a nice change of pace to have the game start off by your character wanting to help only a small section of a city known as the "Poor Quarters" (for obvious reasons). From there events slowly lead up until you find out for yourself once you play the game J
All in all the game isn't perfect. Though the story is great and superbly told, there were sections that appeared convoluted to the point of wanting to try to confuse you. However these moments were few and far between. Unfortunately, Bandai also sought to bring back the ol' jump into the glowing ball of magic to save your process. And though the save points were generously scattered throughout the game, this method of having to find a certain point before I can shut the game down is beginning to feel Archaic and unnecessary. These complaints are minor however when it comes to the overall experience of the game. Usually you know whether or not you're a JRPG fan or not from past experiences, and my advice to you is, even if you're not, give this game a try.