English Deutsch Francais Español Portugues Italiano 日本語





Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition; a new version of the series of one of the best Japanese RPG

Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition; a new version of the series of one of the best Japanese RPG - Ultimate Guide

By
Jonathan Martinez
2019-01-11 20:32:58




A decade later, one of the best deliveries of the Tales of franchise is preparing to disembark in the consoles of the current generation. The original game was launched in 2008 in Japan and the United States exclusively for Xbox 360, although in Europe we would have to wait a year to enjoy it. At the beginning it had been announced that the delay was due to the fact that the game was going to be translated but, to everyone's surprise, the game was put on sale in perfect English (although in recent years it has been commented on social networks that had been translated). This provoked the anger of the players and the subsequent boycott in sales. All this was produced while in Japan an improved and more complete version of the game for PlayStation 3 was launched. This led to users asking insistently the release of this enhanced port outside of Japan, and to be able to be in the best conditions possible.

Although it was a pity that one of the best Japanese RPGs of the past generation was involved in some controversy, there were many users who enjoyed it and discovered that it was a little gem within the genre and the franchise. It is true that the Tales of franchise has several deliveries that share the love of the players (apart from Vesperia, Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss are two other favorites), but Tales of Vesperia offered a more adult and careful plot that fell between the public ... and that caused that the requests of relaunching happened constantly throughout the last decade. I even generated memes about it with the answers given by Namco Bandai's official Twitter account about it, telling users to ask them anything ... except that.

Finally, at E3 of 2018, what many expected was announced: the final version of Tales of Vesperia would be released on Xbox One, PS4 and Nintendo Switch. Fans of the franchise applauded the movement by Namco Bandai, the meme evolved (disappearing as if by Thanos) and even the official accounts of the company parodied themselves to celebrate what had been waiting for so long. community. Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition not only retains all the virtues that made it a great game (history and unforgettable characters, above all), but it does completely remastered, translated into our language and in the full version of Tales of Vesperia PS3, with new characters (Patty and Flynn), new video sequences, mini-games, new bosses, more costumes and skills ... Without a doubt, the best possible version for this second life of the game ten years later.

Tales of Vesperia and The story of Yuri


Tales of Vesperia is set on the planet Terca Lumireis. The inhabitants of this new world use for all an old technology called blastia, of amazing energetic and functional qualities, but dangerous for the human being in its pure state. The dependence on such technology is such that even the basic elements of society use it for day to day, including the water supplies themselves. One day, in the square of the imperial city of Zaphias, someone steals the device that controls this technology at the source, threatening to flood the entire neighborhood in which it was located. That's when the protagonist of this story comes in, Yuri Lowell, who is asked to solve the water problem (although only because Flynn was not available).

Yuri, along with his dog Repede, decides to go to talk to the administrator of the area, to take care of the situation, and for this purpose infiltrates his mansion, since he does not respond to calls at the door that makes him . But this raid would not go unpunished, and while they pursue their target, the guard will assault them. Repede would go after the suspect, while Yuri would end up locked in the castle jail. He would escape from his cell with the help of a prisoner in the adjoining cell, and while he fights to escape from the castle he will meet a maiden named Estelle, who is looking for the knight Flynn, a good friend of Yuri. From there, the thing will be complicated, as always in the franchise, and the real goal will be to face the Adephagos, an eternal creature whose intention is to eradicate the life of the planet.
Without wanting to disclose more of the account in regard to the argument of the game, without a doubt one of the most important points of all RPG of Japanese court, suffice to say that history offers us a humble beginnings to end up evolving towards a political intrigue and a confrontation of interests that will take us to fight for the future of life on the planet. An argument evolution that is quite typical not only in the franchise, but within the genre itself; but despite everything, it manages to be very attractive and it is easy to get carried away by a roster of very charismatic characters, and although there are many foreseeable moments, it is really nice to witness them. And is that although today is almost all invented, it is very important to give a personal touch to the creations, breathe a new life to already known elements. In that aspect, Tales of Vesperia does a very, very good job. In addition, in this definitive version we take into account the animated film Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike, in such a way that we will meet characters from the film and relate some events to link the film to the game more obviously.





Tales of Vesperia Characters

Throughout the argument, there will be several characters that will be joining our team and we can determine who we want to be the four members that will appear in the matches. Much of the merit goes to the excellent characters, starting with the main heroes of the adventure. Yuri, the main protagonist of this adventure, is a happy and carefree young man who grew up in the lower neighborhood of Zaphias. He joined the Imperial Guard along with Flynn, his childhood best friend, but he left the army because of the disappointment of discovering that the Imperial Guard was corrupt. Now he leads a life he feels proud of, helping people in the lower quarter to solve their problems, regardless of the type of problem. In contrast we have the case of Flynn, Yuri's friend and pseudorival, who also grew up in the lower quarter of the imperial capital, although he decided to stay in the army after he deserted. As he accumulated feats and military merits, he was moving up the ranks quite quickly, something that did not make much fun of the high officials. As with Yuri, his great sense of responsibility predisposes him to protect those weaker than him, but it is difficult for him to keep the balance between that desire to protect and the need for the law to be obeyed, something to which it drives a conservative and somewhat inflexible side of his personality. It is interesting to note that, in this version, Flynn will be a permanent character of the Brave Vesperia team and, therefore, will have more personalization options.

The third key player in the story would be Estelle, a girl who, as we mentioned before, finds Yuri in the castle while trying to escape. Estelle is a key piece of the plot and her relationship with Yuri and Flynn will be a fundamental axis of the game's narrative, so she will be a character on whom we will be constantly knowing more and deepening in her problems. This triad of characters is joined by Repede, a dog with one eye and a large scar on the face that has accompanied Yuri since he was just a puppy; Karol, a member of a group of hunters who joins Yuri and company for reasons that are not entirely clear, but his swagger hides many secrets; the ninja Raven, a frivolous, somber and disconcerting person who does not stop appearing from nowhere at unexpected moments; Judith, a lancera who belongs to a mysterious tribe and who is making a fundamental journey for her personal beliefs; Rita Mordio, who is possibly one of the best characters of the Tales of franchise, a magician who only cares about her studies; and Patty Fleur, a character not present in the original Xbox 360 installment, who is a young pirate who does not remember her past and is looking for Maris Stella.




Tales of Vesperia Review


In practically all its playable aspects, Tales of Vesperia is recognized as a game of the franchise, since it is part of some basic guidelines, which have been the key to the ten previous installments of the Namco series, which remains unchanged or with changes minors to adapt. To new technologies. To give some examples, the cities are maintained with the traditional system of fixed cameras to enhance the beauty of the scenarios; We can also talk to different street characters; at certain times, as we go, additional comments of the characters (the famous parodies of the franchise) will appear on the screen as a written dialogue with the faces of the protagonists who participate in the conversation; All this serves to give a greater sense of life in the game and makes it easier to feel part of the story that is told.


The dungeons also offer this system of fixed cameras, thought mainly to have the possibility of seeing the enemies on the stage. In that aspect, the confrontations follow the guidelines of the deliveries of that time and also of the later ones: when we enter in contact with them it will be when the combat begins, being able (if we want) to avoid them and to follow them. Our way after avoiding the confrontation. The distribution of the game on small screens (when crossing a door or when we reach a certain point we change the screen) makes escape possible, because even if they chase us, they will not do it from one screen to another. Something interesting if we have little health and we want to escape. It should be noted that all this we comment from the prism of the moment when the game was launched, as in the subsequent installations of the franchise were added several improvements that polish the various technical and playable aspects.

This is especially noticeable in the combat system, one of the most important aspects of a role-playing game, since with it we will spend the greatest number of hours of play. In this regard, we find an evolved version of the Tales of the Abyss system, the latest installment of the desktop console franchise before Vesperia. The characters can move freely through the battlefield to face the enemies in a completely real time, which gives rise to dynamic, fun and very satisfying games in which we will have many possibilities at our disposal. Obviously, it is a step backwards with regard to Tales of Berseria, since it is a much simpler system than the one we saw evolving during the six subsequent installments, but it was already polished enough to enjoy it completely. today, without transmitting that feeling that other handlers convey that the system has been outdated.

The skills system of the characters is another of the novelties that the game offered at that time, as they depend on the team we have. In addition to the experience, we will obtain learning points that will add to the skills that we do not yet know. When the marked figures are reached, new techniques are unlocked which, in general, are designed to be used with a specific weapon. It is possible to use them without such a weapon, but they consume skill points, which are only obtained thanks to the increase in level, so we must be very careful with them and take into account our abilities to perfect our combat capabilities. The possibilities offered by this system at a playable level are very interesting.






Technical section 

Undoubtedly, one of the most striking aspects of Tales of Vesperia is his great work in regards to designs. And, not in vain, the person responsible for the design of characters is Kosuke Fujishima, respected Japanese mangaka creator of works like Ah, my God! and You're Arrested His first job in the world of video games would be in Tales of Phantasia, the first installment of the Namco franchise, so his mark was a key element in the success of the license. He would also collaborate with Sega in the Sakura Wars franchise, but his main works outside the paper were linked to the Tales of, and he was also responsible for the designs of Symphonia, Abyss, Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria and Berseria.

Thanks to the techniques of cel-shading used in Vesperia, Japanese mangaka designs come alive with great success and at all times gives the feeling that we are facing a series of animation in which we are the protagonists. All this is enhanced thanks to these vivid colors, very defined shapes and careful effects of light, something that not only affects the characters, but also the scenarios, with lively environments and full of details, both in cities and in dungeons . In fact, the game also includes elaborate animated video scenes, developed by Production I.G. (Ghost in the Shell, Blood, FLCL, among other works) and that leave a great taste in our mouth at all times. Especially, because the jump between video sequences and the engine of the game is not very noticeable (although, as is logical, it is more noticeable than in more modern deliveries such as Tales of Berseria).

In the technical section of the game there is another name that shines with its own light; in this case, we talked about the responsible of the sound aspect of the game, the composer Motoi Sakuraba, a legend in the videogame industry, with hundreds of games under his belt and who took care of all the main deliveries of the Tales of franchise. Great connoisseur, therefore, of the franchise, Sakuraba leaves us in Vesperia one of his best works within the genre. All the melodies of the game are very attractive, intense and worthy to get us with the soundtrack. Another important name in this aspect is that of Bonnie Pink, the singer who stars in the catchy main theme of the game, which on this occasion can be enjoyed in Japanese or English. Tales of Vesperia Definitive Edition includes a voice selector for us to choose whether to enjoy dubbing in Japanese or English. Depending on the language we choose, the soundtrack itself will also adapt to that version.

The adaptation to the new consoles, however, has been carried out in different ways. The resolution on PlayStation 4 is 1080p at 60 fps; on Xbox One it's 1080p at 60 fps in combat and 30 fps out of combat; in Steam it has a maximum resolution of 4K and a variable frame rate; and the version of Switch, which is the one we have had access to for this analysis, moves between the 1080p on television and the 720p on the laptop, with a rate of 60 fps in combat and 30 fps out of combat. These disparities are somewhat striking, especially because the 30 fps out of combat are noted enough, with a movement not entirely fluid on the screen. When playing in portable mode, this effect is minimized and can be easily ignored. However, it should be noted that it is something minimal that does not affect the game experience itself, although more trained eyes will notice these details.

At a playable level, it follows the usual guidelines of the genre and, a decade later, without major novelties, innovations or surprises. Although in some aspects it is noted that it is a product of another era, in general it maintains the type very well and is very enjoyable today. The world is huge and we will have many nooks and crannies to explore and discover, with a duration of about 50-60 hours for the main plot, to which we should add the secondary missions, the dialogue scenes between characters that we can find, the return to sites already visited, etcetera. Also, once we have reached the end of the adventure, we will have the possibility to start a new game with improvements.

Other Tags
video game, gameplay, price, 60fps, steam


Other Articles Related