Tales of Vesperia (Xbox 360)

Story:
Tales of Vesperia follows the story of Yuri Lowell, a young man from the poor part of town, as he begins a journey to recover a stolen Blastia, and ends up saving the world. As happens in RPG's. This Blastia is a device being used to properly regulate the water in the Lower Quarter (the poor quarter), and when it ends up being stolen, dirty water floods the neighbourhood. Yuri can't just let this go, and he and his pipe-weilding dog friend vow to hunt down the thief.



He meets some rather eccentric companions on the way, and soon comes to learn that not all is right with the world. Politicians are torturing their citizens and not paying for their crimes, some of the guilds are acting sketchy, and some dragon-riding person is going around destroying the Blastia that people use to help their everyday lives. Yuri learns that the world is a lot more complicated than he thought, and while his friend Flynn is trying to change things from the inside as a respectable knight, Yuri has to take matters in to his own hands and takes care of what the law can't touch.

Gameplay:
Tales of Vesperia will feel familiar to Tales of fans. Four characters are present for battle, and you will control one of them. An item later on will allow you to switch mid-battle which character you're using. The B button is regular attacks and the A button unleashes Arte attacks that use up TP. TP can be restored using items, by attacking, or having some restored after battle. As you progress you will be able to make your artes even more powerful and perform special skills. You can set your character to manual, where you will take full control, semi-auto, where you select the action and the game positions you correctly, or auto, at which point you can set the controller down and read a book.



Outside of battle, you can synthesize special items, synthesize regular items and equipment, cook and find recipes, and engage in a number of side-quests, RPG style. Characters can also get titles as well as different outfits to choose from. You also get to view skits between your characters.



World:
Tales of Vesperia has a gorgeous world, in my opinion. It is very bright and vibrant and has some very memorable locations. While it starts off fairly linear, you do get to explore freely later in the game. It has a good variety of areas, ranging from forest to desert to ice level. The locations are all also very colourful, and even the darker areas never feel drab.



Characters:
(ordered from favourite to least favourite)
Estelle: A noble woman that Yuri runs in to in the castle. She's naive to a fault, but loving and caring to all things. She has great healing powers and can't help but help those in need.
A mysterious woman with questionable intentions. Judith is who she is and has a lot of confidence about it. She speaks her mind and fight for what she believes in.
Repede: Yuri's dog companion, he has a haughty attitude and likes to troll some of the crew. Very loyal and hard-working for a dog.
Flynn: Yuri's BFF Forever, Flynn takes the righteous path. Having joined the knights, he works to correct the system from within.
Yuri: A vigilante who originally was just trying to get a stolen Blastia back for his friends. He takes matters in to his own hands and can't stand to see the corruption everywhere.
Karol: A spunky but somewhat cowardly young boy who's been in a lot of guilds. He tends to flee from danger but he eventually grows a backbone and founds a guild with Yuri and Judith (and Repede).
Raven: A weird man who tends to come and go as he pleases, usually causing trouble along the way. There's definitely more than meets the eye here, though.
Rita: Genius mage and Blastia researcher, there is nothing she is more passionate about. Not afraid to voice her displeasure, but a bit less willing to provide positive feedback.

Overall:
Overall I really enjoyed this game. The story was fun and engaging, even after the part where the plot takes a weird turn, and it kept me interested. The gameplay was a bit easier to get the hang of the second time around, but it isn't the most intuitive system. The world is probably my favourite Tales of world, I think it's very stunning. The characters were strong, as usual, and all got a lot of good development. I think it was a really strong cast overall. The cooking was a lot of fun as well. The downside is I find it rather middle of the road for me personally. The characters, world, and story are all great, but somehow they don't stand out to me in the face of the series. Still though, I would highly recommend it to both Tales fans and RPG fans in general.

Verdict:
LOVED IT