Best RPG of 2008 for the 360.
GAMEPLAY (9.0) - Let's face it, even if a RPG has a great story and presentation, if the combat becomes a chore that can pretty much kill everything and be a real game-stopper. Fortunately the combat in ToV was fun from the get-go and became deeper and more enjoyable the further in the game you get. ToV features a deep, real-time combat system. The combat is both easy to learn and has a lot of depth. In addition to some button mashing it's essential to learn the use of artes, the game's special attack and defense abilities. As the game goes on the characters will learn additional and more powerful artes, sometimes through experience and sometimes through using a particular weapon. The artes become very important in the many Boss battles, as some will take very heavy damage against a specific arte attack. Furthermore, because encounters are not random (you choose to enter combat, both in the dungeons and the over world map), you can grind as much or as little as you want. Another plus is that ToV offers a coop option. Up to three other people can hop in and out of the game, controlling other allies in battle. I didn't realize this until about halfway through the game, and from that point on I played with my son Dylan, and we really had a fun time together during the battles. Your allies do have decent AI but there were times that having a real person fighting with you really helped.
GRAPHICS (9.0) - Last year I was very impressed with the graphics from Eternal Sonata, and ToV, while not being quite as detailed in some areas was still a very beautiful game to look at, especially on a HDTV. The characters are beautifully rendered, and the backdrops of towns, caverns, forests, castles and countless other locations are superb. Everything has a hand-painted look, with animation (especially during combat) that is smooth and lightning fast, and frame rate issues are nonexistent. You should never find yourself disappointed with the game's visual presentation.
AUDIO (9.5) - Surprisingly for a JRPG, the voice acting is well above average. While the translation isn't perfect, and the delivery by the English voice actors (unfortunately no Japanese option is available) isn't always spot-on, the characters sound genuine and appropriately emotional for the given situation, not to mention that at times they can be very funny. There are not only many lengthy cut scenes but also a number of simpler and optional skits. The skits are little more than talking heads, but their is still a ton of personality to these conversations. The sarcasm, rivalries and naiveties really come through and can be quite engaging.
STORY (8.5) - While some parts of the story can be predictable (rag-tag group that includes a princess somehow gets caught up in saving the world) it was still presented very well and it kept my interest all the way through. The main protagonist, Yuri, is a very likable character that is refreshingly different from many other lead characters that spend most of their time whining about their fate and how they just want to go home. Yuri is a former knight that eventually couldn't take anymore of the system and hads dedicated himself to helping the poor and oppressed. The game starts out with Yuri simply trying to track down a magic user that apparently ripped off the people from the poor section of town and then of course gets caught up in much bigger things. Yuri isn't looking for fame or fortune, he simply desires justice, and at times you'll be surprised at just how far he'll go to see that justice is done. yes, the game includes some wacky JRPG characters - a kid that uses clubs and axes that are bigger than he is, a dog that usually has a pipe in his mouth but switches to using a knife in his mouth during combat, but I didn't find them annoying as the developers did a great job in making you care about these people.
VALUE (9.0) - The game took me just about 60 hours, and I really didn't spend too much time level-grinding. I mainly just made a point of attacking any monsters that were in my immediate vicinity, and this was generally sufficient for leveling. ToV offers a ton of sidequests, and while I did do quite a few I'm sure that there were many I missed. It might almost take getting a strategy guide if one was determined to get every sidequest, as some of them depend on doing things that wouldn't naturally occur, such as spending an extra night at an Inn, while others might not happen if you don't do something specific at a certain point in the story. When I finished the game it gave me a certain amount of options as to what I'd like to carry over for a second playthrough, and the options were based on an overall grade I received from the battles. I believe the grades were based on things such as how quickly I defeated the enemies, etc.
SUMMARY (9.0) - I had decent expectations before I started to play ToV, and I'm happy to say they were exceeded. Though there were a few other decent-to-great RPGs I played from 2008 (Lost Odyssey, Fallout 3 and Fable 2) I have to say that ToV was the best of the lot, and I really felt a bit sad when it was all over, as I wanted to keep playing. Completely recommended to any JRPG fans and really to any RPG fans for that matter, simpky an excellent game.