Since 1995’s Tales Of Phantasia, there have been 15 subsequent Tales Of games. Tales Of Vesperia is the tenthTales Of Vesperia Definitive Edition
A CLASSIC JRPG REVAMPED IMPRESSIVELY FOR THE XBOX ONE STEVE BOXER
PUBLISHERBANDAI NAMCO/DEVELOPERNAMCO TALES STUDIO/RELEASE DATEOUT NOW/COST £39.99/$49.99
Zaphias, Yuri embarks on a quest with
an ever-expanding cast of characters.
The quest mushrooms from gentle
beginnings into a big conspiracy,
getting more Final Fantasy-like the
further you progress.Wandering around
If you’re familiar with the arcane
conventions of JRPGs, the gameplay
won’t throw up many surprises. As is
customary, it’s a mixture of navigating
between cities, towns, dungeons,
woods and the like, battling random
monsters on the way, then performing
specific missions and engaging in a
spot of puzzle-solving when you’re in
a settled place.
There’s one problem, though:
the battle system is very much an
acquired taste. The actual battling
is fairly simple, with an emphasis on
guarding before picking a time to
launch attack-flurries. Your magic
attacks are mapped to a single button,
but you can select different ones by
twiddling the left and right sticks.
Most battles feel strangely static.
But when you begin to encounterFor fans of JRPGs
and anime, Namco
Bandai’s decision
to craft a Definitive
Edition remaster of
Tales Of Vesperia is
a big deal. The 2008 original is still
held to be the best of the still-extant
Tales Of series of games, and a bona
fide JRPG classic. It was also rarely
found outside of Japan in its first
incarnation. So the Definitive Edition
should give plenty of gamers a chance
to experience it for the first time. But
is it still the game it was?
First impressions are good: Bandai
Namco has definitely thrown some
resources at it and, in the general
pantheon of Xbox One remasters,
it’s pretty solid. It certainly looks
great – its classic anime graphics are
solid, vibrantly coloured and free of
blockiness. The superb soundtrack
instantly makes an impact, too.
There are a few extra bells and
whistles added to justify the ‘Definitive
Edition’ nomenclature – most
notably some added dungeons and
(quite respectable) mini-games,
extra costumes and new music
tracks – none of which strike one as
earth-shatteringly essential. The fact
that you can choose either English
or Japanese audio marks Tales Of
Vesperia: Definitive Edition down as
one for the committed JRPG fans.
You play Yuri – a young guy trying to
carve out a living in the land of Terca
Lumireis, in which towns and cities
are shielded from the monsters which
roam the rest of the land by devices
called blastia. Investigating the theft
of a blastia in his neighbourhood,
bosses, you realise you must delve
further into the battle system’s
complexities – in particular instructing
your party members how to act, which
is somewhat fiddly and confusing.
Still, we have encountered worse
battle systems in JRPGs, and one
aspect of being a JRPG fan is that, like
it or not, you’re going to have to get to
grips with some weird battle systems.
In the end, whether or not you get
on with them is a matter of personal
preference, but we weren’t keen on
Tales Of Vesperia’s one ten years ago,
and would have preferred Bandai
Namco to have tweaked it.
The good news is that its Definitive
Edition has been lovingly crafted, and
more than does the original game
justice. In our opinion as general
gamers, its gameplay is flawed, but
you could argue that it isn’t according
to the standards of those who revere
JRPGs. So Tales Of Vesperia: Definitive
Edition preaches to the converted –
who should find it pretty satisfying. Qshort
cutWHAT IS IT?
An Xbox One remaster
of the revered JRPG,
ten years after its
initial release.
WHAT’S IT LIKE?
Glorious to behold,
and a significant slice
of anime, but the
battle system isn’t
the best.
WHO’S IT FOR?
Very much those with
a major taste for
anime and Japanese
RPGs.“The battle
system is
very much an
acquired taste”
OXM VERDICT
A nicely
remastered, pretty
JRPG let down by a
slightly dodgy
battle system.7
LEFTThe story
strikes a
general vibe
between the
ZeldaandFinal
Fantasy games- perhaps
leaning towards
the former.
More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 091REVIEW