A memorable story with equally great cast of characters make this JPRG truly come alive. One of the best in genre. Ever.
But the journey from capital to the decisive battle is a long and memorable one. Our group of three is soon filled with a cast you'll be sure to love. A young warrior Karol, who dreams of building a guild in order to find fame and glory, but who eventually learns not all can be done alone and for your own ambitions. A genius mage Rita, who tries hard to keep up a facade of a tough girl, but learns to show her emotions and care for her friends. Old soldier Raven, seemingly carefree and passion for women, but a heart of gold and strong sense of duty. Finally there's Judith, a Krityan girl with a single purpose in her life learns the value of friendship and dreams. You'll genuinely care for their fates which in turn makes you want to save the world as much as they do.
A strong cast of characters and a great story is not all Tales of Vesperia has. The real time combat is very similar from earlier Tales of -games and is still a great fun. Encounters you'll face are fast and packed with action, great visuals and cool special moves (called Artes). The difficulty level never really presents you with a strong challenge, unless you're fighting one of the mighty bosses the game has in store for you. If you're playing with a friend (coop is supported in battles) even the boss battles should be a cake-walk. Indeed, the only battle I faced with real difficulty was the very last one and even that was a bonus encounter. The lack of difficulty is one of the very few faults Tales of Vesperia has.
As said, in battles you can use your special moves called Artes. These have variety of different levels and you can chain them together to make nice combos. By combining certain set of skills you can even learn secret Artes, called Altered Artes. Unlike artes, which are mostly learned in certain character levels, skill are learned from weapons. Almost every single weapon in the game comes equipped with one to three skills, which you can learn by using the weapon for a certain number of battles. After learning these skills, you can equip them by using a limited supply of skill points. Finding optimal set of skills and synthetizing (crafting) new weapons for new skills is great fun. You can get materials for items from monsters you defeat and it's fun to roam the lands trying to obtain that last item for your new awesome sword.
For a great RPG game a set of interesting side-quests is often necessary. Tales of Vesperia won't fail you in this aspect either. It boasts a plethora of different side-quests, some of which are notably lenghty, too. Rewards from these quests vary from new items to interesting back stories for characters. You can even unlock more challanging end game dungeon to explore after beating the game.
For every fan of JRPGs, Tales of Vesperia is a must-play game. The best part of it, story and characters are something you should not read from reviews or walkthroughs. Instead grab the game and start playing. Heck, it's good enough to buy an Xbox to have the chance. Games like these leave you with a lasting impression and remind you, what are the best things in JRPGs and even in gaming in general!