Optional conversations that pop up throughout the game, skits fill in the airtime that players might spend grinding, or walking around the fields, delivering cleverly-written doses of story ranging from dry exposition about the world to hilarious little gags. This efficient-yet-endearing characterization is helped immensely by Tales‘ signature storytelling gimmick: The skit. Everyone is charming and just different enough from their selected anime archetype (make no mistake, they do adhere to a well-defined template most of the time) to stand out. In a series where sea changes are rare and innovation tends to happen in the narrative and around the margins, Tales of Vesperia‘s greatest strength lies in its cast, and it’s better than most at getting that cast far along the way towards embedding in players’ hearts. New to the playable cast are Yuri’s old friend Flynn (previously cutscene-exclusive), and cheerful pirate Patty.

Also here are Karol, one of the least-annoying anime children ever created, the blunt and honest mage Rita, shady veteran Raven, and the elfin badass Judith. Yuri quickly gets caught up in events that scale all the way up to saving the world.Īlongside him are a colorful crew of cast members, from his faithful canine buddy Repede to the almost painfully earnest Estelle.

Local ne’er-do-well Yuri is on the trail of a thief, who has the temerity to steal a precious blastia from the people who can least afford to lose it. The world of Terca Lumireis, ever beset by monsters, is only habitable thanks to the Blastia, ancient magical artifacts that protect from beasts and deliver conveniences. Given that Tales games tend to be fairly similar to each other in an outsider’s eyes, it’s not always easy to see what sets Vesperia apart from such a large roster of releases, but even to a Tales dilettante like myself, the saga of Yuri Lowell and his buddies gets to the key business of what makes a Tales game a Tales game quickly and smoothly. Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition (PS4 , Xbox One, PC, Switch) Which leads to the inevitable question: How does it hold up after a decade, and is it really the “ideal” Tales game? I still had to play more to know if Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition was worth the wait, or if it could be further elevated by the extra content brought over from the game’s enhanced, never-before-localized PS3 port. In retrospect, I didn’t quite follow up on that claim at the time, partly owing to the piece still being based on my earliest hours with a game many fans regard as the greatest in the franchise’s history.

A couple of weeks ago I speculated in my early impressions that Tales of Vesperia – now available once again in English after nearly a decade mired in a past of Xbox 360 exclusivity and held by a publisher seemingly cold on the idea of bringing it back again – might be “the ideal Tales game”.

Tales of vesperia characters