I've always had a complex relationship with the Tales series. My initial childhood run through of Tales of Symphonia on the Gamecube was one of my all-time favorite gaming experiences. Its masterful combat, wonderful characters, and epic sweeping story, all that can be experienced with up to 3 friends was a game changer for me. But all the other entries I've played (outside of Tales of Abyss) have felt fine. Not great, not bad just fine. Eventually I learned that both Abyss and Symphonia were directed by the same guy, and he directed the Xbox 360 exclusive Tales of Vesperia. Unfortunately I never owned an Xbox so this entry remained out of reach until its release on the switch. Now after finally playing I can definitely say that it was truly Yoshito Higuchi who elevated these games above the rest of the series, but Vesperia is easily my least favorite of his outings.
Vesperia absolutely nails the core elements that make the Tales series shine. The action-rpg combat is fast and fluid, and stringing together combos with your teammates to lockdown enemies, pulling off ridiculous super arts is immensely satisfying. While Vesperia is not as flashy as some of the more recent entries, it's grounded in moves with defined purposes and useful strings. There's plenty of great optional party dialogue, that helps keep the player abreast of every party member's relationship with one another, how they feel about the current situation, where they've come from and where they've been. While some are expositional, most are either very comedic or give a great glimpse into the party members. And the characters themselves have great designs and more charm then they sometimes know how to deal with. But more on them later. The area where Vesperia falters however is in the pacing of its narrative.
Vesperia tells a compelling story about heroes trying to balance a tense political standoff between a powerful empire and rogue guilds, with a looming monster threat, and the possibility that their energy sources are causing untold damage. All the characters have their own wants and desires throughout the conflict, and sides they truly care for and want to succeed. At its core the story is complex and poses interesting moral questions, unfortunately there are several key late story beats that are poorly setup or not capitalized on. Unfortunately both these story bits occur towards the end and leave a bad taste in my mouth as they are crucial to the climactic hours. Huge spoilers so if you don't want to see those skip to the next paragraph. In particular the main villains of the story are terrible. The reveal of the Duke comes out of nowhere. It feels we are suddenly supposed to be terrified and angry at a character we have almost never seen. And the fact that the final boss is trying to do the same thing we are but in a different way, takes some of the weight off of that as well. There's also the weird bit where Yuri "falls to his death" and then reappears in the capitol only to immediately stumble on Estelle and the rest of the party. We don't get to see any of the party deal with Yuri's supposed death, nor does it have any effect on his or anyone else's outlook. It feels completely pointless and a huge waste of potential.
As far as the cast while some of the designs vary from fine to great, the whole party are well-rounded and interesting. Yuri and his relationship with the rest of the party being the standout. His strong moral convictions, and the way those shape him, sometimes setting him against people he cares about works masterfully to propel the story forward. Estelle is possibly my favorite example of the "Princess learning about the world" as while she falls into that trope it consistently is used to show her strength of character and willingness to grow, instead of how sheltered she was. Rita is tsundere tech head, with just enough charm to separate herself, and a great outfit, but not enough to eclipse ruin maniac Raine. I also love Repede, the badass knife-wielding ninja dog. The new character for the extended edition, Patty, is one of my favorite examples of how to handle children characters correctly, and also how the good Tales games avoid anime bullshit. Throughout the game Patty consistently flirts with Yuri and calls him her soulmate. However as she is a child, its clear she's playing around with him, and that there is no real romantic affection there. As such Yuri, the other characters and even strangers don't make much of it. So instead of being a grossly weird interaction, it instead becomes a sweet and unique relationship. The rest of the party are good, and get their own brief arcs to shine, but wouldn't make a top 10 list of Tales characters.
As far as music and visuals, Vesperia is very good though not quite the best of the series. As much as I enjoy the crystal based, more nature focused designs of the localtions, it doesn't quite top the rigid, ancient tech looks of Abyss. The music is also great, definitely being added to my Soundtrack collection but I still prefer the more upbeat nature of Symphonia's tracks. In the end though both aspects are great, and it'll really just come down to personal enjoyment.
At the end of the day Vesperia is still an absolutely incredible RPG. It has clever writing, that tackles some pretty heavy topics, all of which is used to great effect on the characters and their development. It's fun to play, see, and listen to. If some of its supporting cast were a bit stronger, and especially if it corrected some poor narrative pacing decisions towards the end, it would be a nearly perfect Tales game. As it is, its definitely one of, just not THE, best.
8.5/10
