Quick Look: Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition

I have the original on 360 and still haven't played it... Maybe it's time?

To this day still my favorite JRPG of all time. When I traded away my 360 and all my 360 games to help pay for my launch PS4, I kept my copy of Vesperia as a keepsake. Then I bought the Japanese-only PS3 version at Magfest in 2013. Now I've got it on my Switch and PC and can finally play it again. So many great memories. In particular, getting Rita so brokenly overpowered by the end of the game that I beat the final boss by controlling her in battle instead of Yuri and just spamming the hell out of spells with the biggest smile on my face.

Some information about the different versions of this game:

Nintendo Switch: If your Nintendo Switch is docked, it will display at 1080p, but undocked makes it drop to 720p. It hits 60 FPS in battles and 30 FPS in all other situations.

PlayStation 4: The PlayStation 4 version always runs at 60 FPS in 1080p.

Xbox One: The Xbox One version always has a 1080p resolution. However, it runs at 60 FPS in players are in battles and 30 FPS when they’re not.

PC: The PC version has a variable frame rate and can display up to a 4K resolution. (Stuttering has been addressed with patch/mod from Kaldaien)

A painful amount of straight up false information. I'm glad they like it, but boy is this QL full of basic errors

@bathala: 360 version is basically a paid beta for the full release that came to PS3 a year later/version that got remastered. Unfortunately the case for a lot of those 360 era jrpg exclusives, you're just playing an unfinished version with chunks of the story missing.

Glad you're covering this, it's a good game and the perfect entry point for the Tales series imo.

@lunacantabile: Yeah, there's a lot of bad info/misunderstanding in here.

Wow, speaking of straight up false information. The 360 version is a complete game with nothing missing, and it's great. The PS3 version - which is in Japanese only, so unless you are fluent in Japanese or your PS3's firmware is like 8 years out of date allowing you to apply a language patch - only added bonus content. It doesn't represent a more "complete" version.

Patty is overall a pretty lousy new character that adds nothing of real substance to the game and seemingly only exists to appeal to the Japanese audience. Similarly making Flynn briefly controllable and customizable is not that interesting. They added more VO which is nice (the game is still not COMPLETELY voiced, even in this anniversary edition) and more optional boss fights and minigames are fun bonuses, but none of this fills in "missing" content from the original 360 release.

It's neat to have stuff that was once Japanese-exclusive included in this new remaster, but only as a curiosity. I would genuinely not miss anything if this were just a prettier version of the 360 game without Patty and the other bonus content.

This is a fantastic game that everyone should play.

Only few minutes in and I'm happy that I went with the PS4 version instead of the Switch. While the ability to play on the go would have been cool. I'm not digging the 30 FPS in the overworld.

I was thrilled when they announced this because I've been itching to replay this for a few years now. But I've just been too lazy to dig up my 360 again. The amount of free items you get is pretty ridiculous.

Hardest thing about doing these RPG QLs is trying to decide when exactly to actually do the QL, because (and this game is a BIG example) there are systems introduced deep enough in that it's, like, you don't get all the info about everything you can do in the game. But then you have to determine "is this too far to be spoiler territory" or how long it would take to get the QL out since the alternative is finishing it and going back to an earlier save with that later information.

I like seeing more breadth of content, but you gotta really think on when exactly you want to throw it out because this is sometimes the only thing people will see about a game, and that makes it a serious disservice. It's a losing battle, though. Time versus info versus content, and I don't envy it at all.

Glad Ben's having tons of fun with Vesperia, though!

I laughed so much when I saw the Klonoa skin. And then I got sad because I doubt we'll get another Klonoa.

Anywho, I'm 30 hours into this one and it's very good. I loved Phantasia, Symphonia, and Abyss, but I couldn't get into Zestiria or Berseria. This one is shaping up to be one of my favorites.

Couldn't help but laugh at Ben's "praise" at the end - "It's one of the more solid JRPGs I've played. There's nothing too annoying, nothing too obtuse."

To be perfectly honest though I'm not quite sure of what the point of this QL was. It's quite a bit after the game released, doesn't explain anything about the story and a lot of information is straight up incorrect (knight named Floyd..?).

I have played most of the Tales games and I have never understood why this one gets so much praise. I have always thought it one of the clunkiest in the series and while the look is nice and the characters are one of the better groups in the series the battle system and main plot are just real mediocre or below for the franchise. I'd much sooner recommend Xillia or Berseria over it for modern tales games. Also that guy doing his troy baker impression for the new dialogue is super weird.

Ben skipping character interactions while focusing on the main plot of a Tales game just feels real wrong to me XD. The series strength has always been its cast of characters and their little skits etc, the main plots are usually super generic and often pretty bad.... to each their own i guess.

@lunacantabile: What errors did they make?

@bathala: Same here but I played a few hours. I have half a dozen Tales games but never finished one. They are not bad I am just terrible at finishing games and buy too many.

This looks like a lot of fun! I might have to drop Dragon Quest XI for my JRPG fix and pick this up as I'm not having a lot of fun in that game and this looks like a better game.

@kid_gloves: I dont enjoy playing jRPGs but had a decent enough time watching a Zesteria LP so was looking forward to Berseria when that hit... I've gone through a few Streamers since then and they all seem to quit out of Berseria after that Kamoana dungeon.

@convox: That is kinda wild to me, Zestiria (which i slogged through) is commonly considered a somewhat crappy Tales game. Berseria aint perfect or anything but its dungeons are definitely an improvement over the tedium of Zestirias ones.

Different strokes for different folks but if it wasn't for the character interaction I probably wouldn't bother with Tales

@mb2814: Correction -- The Xbox One and Switch versions have unlocked frame rates. On Xbox One X, this means it hits 60fps and mostly stays there. One Switch however 60fps mostly only happens in battles, it drops a good deal elsewhere.

@magusmaleficus: This is from Bandai themselves. Take it up with them.

Also, you need to read the information more carefully next time.

Nintendo Switch: If your Nintendo Switch is docked, it will display at 1080p, but undocked makes it drop to 720p. It hits 60 FPS in battles and 30 FPS in all other situations.

And I didn't mention Xbox One X. Just the base model. From Bandai PR.

@mb2814: Or you could, ya know, read literally any forum on the internet regarding this game. And not be an ass. There's that.

@magusmaleficus: Or I could go to the source and read the the official information from the game makers/publishers.

@mb2814: Okay kid. Clearly the person that owns the game and knows better is an idiot and the big boy that can't do any research is the genius. Gotcha.

@magusmaleficus: I own the game too.

@mb2814: Evidently not on either of the aforementioned platforms. Or you're just blind. Dunno, don't care.

@magusmaleficus: I own it on PS4. Just doing a PSA. Don't know why you feel the need to get worked up about your purchasing decisions.

Is this the first Tales QL ? don't recall them ever taking a look at all the other ones

@chefmbeland: There's basic errors just about every 2-3 minutes throughout. About this game and the whole series. Just a handful of them:
"No CGI" Game mixes 3D CGI into it's 2D FMVs and it gets jarring
"Can't switch except between battles" Can totally switch between active party members during fights. On this one rorie seems confused since in zestiria you could later swap the characters you weren't controlling in and out with the inactive characters, but ben says you can't swap
"PC port seems solid" despite not having played it, or with any commentary on the poor ports tales has had for the last several games/ crash to desktop errors people are getting at startup

And then just a lot of constantly little things about symphonia, the series supposedly starting at symphonia, the original release, the port and what does/doesn't carry over in the definitive edition.

ACTUAL best game of last generation right here.

@garwalk: When a lot of what was added in the PS3 release was partially included or at least referenced to after data mining the 360 release, the fact that much of the content was indeed already in development was apparent well before the release actually came about. "I don't like it so it doesn't matter" isn't much of a rebuttal to the patty/seifer story and when the atherum and black hope are left in the story it's a conspicuous hole regardless of if you don't care about it or not. Flynn's brief control expands to become a full party member by endgame and if you think that the gameplay or 2 full party members is inconsequential we clearly hold the interactive element of these games in very different regards. A fair number of the most satisfying artes in the game aren't in 360, though they had references and unused dialogue for them and it adds up to missing out on a substantial amount of raw content that matters to those of us who played tales games for their gameplay and content, not just for a single run through the story.

tbf you can't switch mid-battle unless you synthesized the Moon Selector. So if you only played the original it's not crazy to think someone wouldn't know that. Honestly I completely forgot about the Moon Selector until I was digging around the free DLC for ToV.

It's nice Tales is getting some more coverage in GB, though I haven't really been a fan of the more recent ones.

That out of the way, it still baffles me how western gamers (or at least reviewers?) go about these games. Like it's fine to just brush it off as "anime" if you don't like that aesthetic or sensibility, in which case you just shouldn't play, but skipping all the character interactions on a character-driven, story based RPG...? Maybe they're just skipping it for the sake of a quick look, but I feel like you disqualify yourself from talking about the game if you're ignoring a big part of what makes the series. I must admit that the dialogue is... "different" from games originally written in English, but that stuff is what most fans and potential fans are playing these games for (And being a native Japanese speaker, it's one of the things that makes me sad about the quality of translation in JRPGs. They sound MUCH better in their original language).

Also, Rita uses a magic scroll for her spell casting, not a scarf. It kinda does look like one though :)

@kid_gloves:

"why this one gets so much praise"
It's probably a combination of the solid looks and decent characters, as you said. I agree that some of the plot points are kind of bad (like Yuri's bit about taking on the sin of killing for the greater good, but never actually being criticized or punished for them), which takes it down a peg or two for me.

"Xillia or Berseria"
It's really interesting that you say this, since I had a discussion with someone else on another site about the same topic. I only watched a playthrough of Xillia (that combined both routes) and haven't touched Berseria (so I can't comment on that one), but I felt that both the characters and overall plot of Xillia were downright atrocious. It made me wonder if it's a translation thing, where it made the characters more likeable/relatable in English for once, since I watched in Japanese. What do you think? Or I guess what made you like Xillia?

"skipping character interactions"
Completely agree. There's essentially no point in playing a Tales game if you aren't interested in the characters, or don't give them a chance to grow on you. Though I make an exception for Abyss, since I thought it had fantastic character development, overarching story, and music/presentation. Favorite of the series by far.

Finally, after 11 years.

:P

Berseria was a fantastic game. Too bad Rorie didn't like it. :\

It's my 2nd favorite tales game of all time.

lol some of these characters' alt costumes are horrendous

Vesperia is one of my all-time favorite JRPGs though. The cast has a good chemistry. Yuri does not fuck around. I had been waiting for the expanded version since it came out on PS3. Glad it finally got localized.

I actually really wanna play this after watching more of the quick look. This combat looks really fun and I love the cute character interactions and I usually don't care about characters but this is just fun.

Lol just finished watching the quicklook and it is hard to tell if making incorrect statements through out was suppose to be a bit.

Because of 10:18, I now proudly announce "Wollywoo succeeded in cooking sandwich!" whenever I make a sandwich.

It seems like a real bummer that this game's battles take place in a separate zone. Even though the transition is pretty quick, the constant gameplay pausing for the "now entering battle!!" and "victory!!" animations drives me crazy and breaks the flow of the game.

This game seems super corny and earnest - and I am here for it!

I enjoy me some Ben & Rorie QL combos.
RPGs of the J variety hasn't been my thing since FF6 but this game does seem to have a dog
which makes it a lot more tempting than the rest..

Ahhhh, that dungeon music was so soothing, it kind of reminded me of Final Fantasy X.

Playing through this again as this is one of the few Tales games I've played and enjoyed. Something about the party mix just works well and the story is cliched (as all Tales games are to some degree), but it hits the beats well given the character mix.

Only thing I wish is that it had adopted the style of the Final Fantasy and Trails of Cold Steel re-releases with super-speed modes. Those options really made those games great as a way to experience the story while speeding through the cruft and filler those games have. Speeding through the overworld and some quick options for your standard battles would be helpful.

Man this game is just so joyful.

Every JRPG-esque quick look has far too many nerds bitterly claiming stuff is "wrong". It's really, honestly, annoying.