So 10 hours in Tales Of Vesperia and all I can say is that I currently loving it.
Now this is my first Tales Of game I have ever played so I’m not familiar with how they play or anything.
The characters are so like-able. I don’t hate any of the characters I have come across so far, which is very rare in a game. And they all have realistic personalities too, all the characters have been fully involved in the game so far, none have been pushed aside and you know who the main character is, but he isn’t dominant over the other characters which I really like.
The combat is tonnes of fun! I don’t get annoyed or bored with battles because they can all end up different and there is a nice variation of Artes too, so combat doesn’t really feel that repetitive.
I wouldn’t exactly say the story is this games strongest point. I find the characters seem to repeat themselves quite a lot, it’s like they think I’m stupid or something, if any of you said you probably are, rude. But I do love the Skits, they can be quite funny and very entertaining to listen to and watch. I never thought that some voiced squares on the screen could be so entertaining.
But I really am loving this game so far, it’s kind of calming and it not too intense. It’s a game that you can easily enjoy without the need of any seriousness, although it does have some seriousness to it. You can just sit and enjoy your time in the world of Tales Of Vesperia whilst time flies past in the real world without you even realising.
Tales games are rather known for using anime stock type characters and stories. Even so, I think Vesperia does a good job of not being as black and white as some of the other Tales games, and it definitely helps when someone like Yuri is the main character.
And I always felt like Tales games were aimed at pre-teens/teens, but they are usually charming enough (and battling is fun enough) for all ages.
They definitely feel like this is aimed at younger audiences, but like you said its extremely charming and so easy to enjoy. Yuri is a great main character, the whole cast so far have been great actually.
After this I definitely want to check out some of the other Tales games. Which do you recommend? I will end up getting Abyss, Graces F and Xillia since they are already available/coming to Europe.
I have not played the newest games (Graces F and Xillia) but I hear they are good. I would recommend Abyss. Legendia’s battle system is clunky (also linear scrolling like the very first games) but the story seemed decent (I only got about halfway through). Symphonia’s good too but it may be really expensive. I’m not sure if I should recommend the earliest games since their stories are simpler, the AI is terrible, and the it’s a scrolling battle system. I enjoyed them while I played them but it may be hard to go back to those games without fondness for old games.