My "Tale" Thus Far

The 'Tales' series has been one of the greatest selling RPG series in Japan since the first inception way back in the early 1990's. It's almost as if creating a game with the word 'Tales' placed in the title is a sure-fire way to A.) make some dough and B.) sell a few hundred thousand units. Well, if we go by those two standards alone, Tales of Vesperia has already checked both of those boxes off in its first week of release in Japan. In this months NPD numbers Tales of Vesperia has sold over two hundred thousand copies and (here's the kicker) served as a conduit for 360 console sales in general. Confused? Try this out: Vesperia is a 360 exclusive [for now] and the only way for Japanese "Tales" fans to get their hands on the game is to by an XBox 360...and buy they did. On August 27th (this past Wednesday) the usual entourage of video games were released to U.S. store shelves; Tales of Vesperia was now accessible to the series loyal fan base back here in the states.

Lets do a quick check list:

• Gameplay Mechanics - Check
• Storyline - Check
• Fast Paced Real Time Battles - Boo-Yahh
• Beautifully Lush Environments and Graphics - Ding!

These are just a few (emphasis on few) of the positive points that I have come across since picking up Tales of Vesperia this past Wednesday. To date, I am roughly 10-12 hours into the campaign and I can honestly say, "Finally, the XBox 360's first great RPG!" Namco-Bandai (developers/Publisher) have yet again created an atmospheric thrill ride with Vesperia. Through breath-taking 'anime' cut scenes which show the vibrancy of the world to the ambient subtlety of each characters look; you cant help but realize that Tales of Vesperia is the best looking RPG to date on the 360.

Mechanically, the game is brilliantly conveyed through simplistic controls that make it easy to perform combo attacks as well as magic. Each character can be mapped to the controls right analog stick for easy control over each of your A.I. counter parts. By doing this it allows the player to enter a battle and not have to worry about micro-managing your team-mates. Simply map the desired characters magic power or strike you want to the analog stick, flick it in the up/right/down/left (which ever one you mapped) and watch the attacks flail around you! It's very enjoyable to watch as Yuri (main character, who you control) performs a multi hit combo but also has commanded Repedde (his dog companion) to come in and perform his own magic attack (Sonic Fang is my favorite right now).

The pacing is extremely fast once you enter battles. Basically, if you see a monster on the screen or world map you can choose whether or not to "encounter" it. This alleviates some of the stress associated with random encounters; seen in almost every other RPG out there. With this in place you can level grind whenever you want!

Story wise; I cant really discuss much seeing as though I'm only about 10 or so hours into the main quest. I will say that the story has been consistent and pretty easy to follow. One point of interest is that you can speed through the cut scenes if you so choose to do. You can also speed up the text speed, causing the characters to talk a little faster...a nice little touch in my opinion for us who want to follow the story and for those who don't.

All in all, Tales of Vesperia looks, feels and plays excellent. It wasn't a fluke when I listed this game as the number four most anticipated game of 2008 for me. Still, it is very early on in the game, in fact Vesperia boasts a 40-50 hour campaign and an additional 10-15 hours of side missions to boot. Time will tell if the game falters off track or stays on par with my first impressions...Here's to hoping the latter of the two prevails.

Look for a full review of Tales of Vesperia within the next week.

Until then.............

-GAME HARD-