Review: Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition returns in good shape in 2019

Table of Contents

1. Yuri Lowell the Outlaw
2. fighting the evils
3. nefarious armies
4. The environments of Terca Lumireis
5. Definitive repackaged version

One of Bandai Namco's most successful intellectual properties in the East is the Tales series. With the growing popularity of JRPGs over the last ten years, it didn't take long for titles like the lauded Tales of Vesperia abandon their narrow niches and conquer a considerable share of the most popular games tier.

Whether for its gripping plot, the refreshed style of combat at the time — more dynamic than its franchise predecessors — or for being strongly considered by many to be a “playable” anime, the title was well received in 2008 and highly anticipated in its announced remastered version. for 2019. It remains to be seen what Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition is (or is no longer) after almost 11 years since its first release.

Yuri Lowell the Outlaw

Em Tales of Vesperia, we take on the role of Yuri Lowell, a former imperial knight who is already starting his adventure on the wrong foot: when he accidentally tries to free the skin of Princess Estellise, the renegade flees the city and takes the young woman with him.

From this, phenomena involving the imbalance of the energy source known as blastia aggravate each of the encounters and disagreements between the current and new members of Yuri's team. This adds to a power struggle between the game's antagonists, who want to freely and inappropriately use blastia technology for their own benefit.

The plot highlights themes, conflicts and clichés strongly present in anime, but the game also has an interesting dialogue system that resembles a manga with animations in real time. This type of character development is completely optional, but it gives the game a very authentic feel.

Some of the characters, like Flynn and Patty, only appeared in the eastern version of the PS3 port — meaning this will be the first time they've appeared in the plot for western players. In addition, voice acting in English will also be present for the first time outside of Japan.

fighting the evils

the fight in Tales of Vesperia takes place in real time, with the protagonist being able to move freely around the arena or heading towards the nearest enemy encounter (positioning and posture are very important). We are placed in the combat arenas every time we are 
randomly surprised by creatures that appear in the game's levels or open areas — beings that can violently approach us and summon even more enemies against our squad.

Combo (moveset) options and types of actions that deal damage improve throughout the game. One can use something known as weapon arts, special abilities that can be acquired naturally during battles. It's impressive to see each of them being used for the first time, with all the animations complete and the damage of the new moves - even more so with the unpredictability associated with their appearance in battles.

Fights that only involve Yuri are much more difficult to win, especially on the higher difficulties. The party is usually made up of a limited group of NPCs, who are not directly controlled, but who can act in favor of Yuri's healing and defense.

As we get to know more characters over the course of the 40+ hours of campaign, it's easy to know which ones we can use in each situation. Estellise (or Estelle, for those closest to her), for example, is an essential part of our group, as she masters specialized arts in healing and invigoration.

nefarious armies

Enemies in Tales of Vesperia have a creative aesthetic: there are dozens of monsters, humans and also special antagonists that cross paths with Yuri Lowell and limited company. Despite being visually distinct, the behavior of each creature is not different enough to save us from the boredom of common battles after a few hours of gameplay.

Battles against more powerful creatures (or bosses) require a little more healing strategy and good positioning in relation to the enemy. That's where we most use the special abilities of the protagonist and his friends, taking advantage of the bar that grants Yuri a very powerful and (almost) unstoppable combo.

The environments of Terca Lumireis

The world of Terca Lumireis has its beauty especially because it looks a lot like anime in the traits of the characters and colors of the environments. I'm afraid to say, though, that this kind of visual doesn't captivate me as much as other JRPGs, especially during battles.

There is a wide variety of environments in Tales of Vesperia, ensuring that the player has the real feeling that he is moving to new locations and exploring a mysterious and unknown world. My biggest caveat, however, is that he doesn't have an option that gives greater clarity to our goals on the map. Several times, I felt lost and had to revisit (in vain) everything I had done before just to know where I should go.

The soundtrack isn't bad or misused, but I can assure you that it's not the game's strong point either. Only one song from the entire game made complete sense when it was used. My impression is that if, by chance, the songs had been completely switched after the second half of the game, I probably wouldn't have noticed.

Definitive repackaged version

As it is a remaster of a 2008 title, Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition must also be commented on the aspect of revitalization of his original work. Originally released for Xbox 360 and later for PS3, the title arrives for the first time on consoles of this generation running at 1080p and 60 frames per second on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

This is also the first time that the game receives a portable version – in this case, for the Nintendo Switch. Despite the limited processing when compared to the powerful PS4 and Xbox One, Nintendo's hybrid console (used for this analysis) performed satisfactorily in its version of Tales of Vesperia in most respects. As expected, the title ran at 720p in handheld mode and 1080p when docked, hitting 60 frames per second during battle mode alone.

The textures and lighting of the game were treated and we can see that the work was really well executed: the colors are more vivid and detachable, further enhancing the aesthetic choice of the original art direction. All of the additional content previously released for the PS3 version is also present here — not to mention a few more things in the new version.

If you are a fan of JRPGs and also enjoy anime, Tales of Vesperia might be an interesting title for your taste — even more so when it comes to one of the most praised of the classic Tales series. The title bears some marks of its age — such as its slightly dated game design and slightly stale dialogue during cutscenes — but it does a good job of rescuing a (already considered) classic from the past generation.

Digital copy kindly provided by Bandai Namco of Spain. The game was reviewed on a PS4 Pro.

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