Video Game Vintage Title: Tales Of Vesperia

Tales Of Vesperia

Tales of Vesperia is the tenth main title in the Tales series of video games. It was developed by Namco Tales Studio and published by Namco Bandai Games for the Xbox 360. Tales of Vesperia's characteristic genre name is RPG to Enforce "Justice" . The title was announced on December 22, 2007 at Jump Festa, and was released on August 7, 2008 in Asia, and on August 26, 2008 in North America. On June 26, 2009 Tales of Vesperia was released in Europe making it the fifth game in the Tales series to be released there. The game's character designer is Kōsuke Fujishima, the chief director and producer is Yoshito Higuchi , and the animated movies were done by Production I.G. The game's theme song is "Ring a Bell" by Bonnie Pink. A special limited edition was released in North America, including a metal case with unique cover art and a 22-track soundtrack. In April 2009 it was announced that those who purchased the special edition would be mailed a second 10th anniversary soundtrack CD. A prequel to the game in the form of an animated film called Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike was released on October 3, 2009. The Xbox 360 Version was re-released through the Games on Demand service on April 6, 2011 in North America and Europe.

Tales Of Vesperia Plot

When the aque blastia core is stolen from Zaphias' lower quarter, flooding the lower class, Yuri attempts to chase down the thief, but is arrested and jailed in the castle. During his escape, he meets a young girl named Estelle who is searching for Yuri's close friend and rival Flynn. Along with Yuri's faithful dog Repede, the three leave the safety of Zaphias' barrier to chase after both Flynn and the thief. On their way they encounter Karol, a young boy who joins them to catch up with his guild, the Hunting Blades, and Rita, an eccentric blastia researcher who takes great interest in Estelle's healing magic. On their journey, Yuri learns about the state of the world and the philosophy of the guilds, who gave up their citizenship in order to live free from the rule of the Empire.

Along with Raven, a high-ranking guild member, and Judith, a mysterious Krityan woman who is hunting and destroying blastia, the group stop the machinations of an evil guild leader named Barbos and recover the aque blastia core. Yuri turns the core over to Flynn and announces his intention to form a guild with Karol, later named Brave Vesperia.

Shortly afterward, Estelle is attacked by Phaeroh, a sentient monster, who calls her "the poison of the world". Following the attack, the new guild sets out to discover the truth behind his words. Estelle discovers that she is known as the Child of the Full Moon, an omen of the end of the world. Unlike the rest of the world, who require a blastia in order to reconstitute aer into magic, Estelle can reconstruct aer on her own: this is how she uses her healing arts. Unfortunately, this method of conversion is so efficient that it puts a great strain on the aer resources of the world, threatening to bring forth a disaster known as the Adephagos, a being that feeds off aer and would convert all life on the planet back to pure aer. The party also learns that the excessive blastia culture of the world is also threatening to strain the aer resources to breaking point, and that Judith's mission was to destroy the blastia that were causing the most damage to the environment.

Meanwhile, Yuri, seeing how the laws of the Empire are powerless against the corruption within its officials, takes matters into his own hands and murders two corrupt officials: Ragou, a conspirator in Barbos' plot, and Captain Cumore, a high-born knight who was using his power to commit atrocities. This brings him into conflict with Flynn, while the former is rebelling against the Empire, the latter vowed to change the Empire from within. Several times, their differences nearly come to blows.

Estelle is suddenly kidnapped by Raven, who is revealed to be Imperial Knight Schwann Oltorain. Commandant Alexei, leader of the Knights, is revealed as the mastermind who funded Barbos' schemes in order to create a replica of the legendary sword Dein Nomos, an aer-manipulating treasure of the royal family that can open the way to a powerful weapon known as the Enduring Shrine of Zaude. Duke, a veteran of the Great War, reluctantly aids Brave Vesperia by giving them the real Dein Nomos. Chasing after Estelle, Yuri and the party are forced to fight Schwann, who has been blackmailed with his life by Alexei for ten years. Taking back control of his life, Schwann sacrifices himself to allow Brave Vesperia to escape a trap set by Alexei, and they pursue the Commandant. However, Schwann is rescued by his loyal subordinates and rejoins the party, shedding his previous life as Schwann to pledge his new life to Brave Vesperia as Raven.

Alexei takes control of Estelle's aer-manipulation powers and, along with his False Dein Nomos, succeeds in reviving Zaude. Yuri rescues Estelle and they pursue Alexei to Zaude, where the Commandant�tasked with saving a world that he knew was killing itself through excessive blastia use�intends to use Zaude to rewrite the natural laws of the world, destroying and recreating it. Despite the best efforts of Brave Vesperia, Alexei succeeds in activating Zaude. But to everyone's surprise, it is revealed that Zaude is not a weapon but a giant barrier blastia that Alexei has inadvertently shut down, allowing the Adephagos to seep through into the world. Realizing that his fatal mistake has doomed the world, Alexei then dies.

Rita researches a way to stop the Adephagos, and discovers a method to transform apatheia�crystallized aer, which make up the cores of blastia�into spirits, which can convert aer into a safe substitute called mana. By converting every blastia core in the world into a spirit and using it to power a massive weapon, she theorises that it would have enough strength to destroy the Adephagos. Realising that such an action would irreversibly change the entire world, Brave Vesperia meet with the leaders of the Empire and Guilds in order to ask permission to carry out such an act, and to discuss ways to prepare the world to survive without blastia: most notably, without the barrier blastia that have been protecting the major centres of population from rampaging monsters.

During this time, Flynn, who has been promoted to Acting Commandant, confronts Yuri in order to settle the outstanding issue of Yuri's double homicide and his willingness to let Flynn take credit for all of his accomplishments (such as retrieving the aque blastia). Their swords and beliefs clash in a fight to resolve these issues. Yuri tells Flynn that he is the leader that the world needs right now, and that Yuri is happy to be a criminal in the shadows to achieve that end. Flynn accepts this, but warns that if Yuri continues to break the law then Flynn will have no choice but to stop him; an ultimatum that Yuri gladly accepts.

Brave Vesperia receive the blessing of the worlds' leaders to carry out their plan. Unfortunately, Duke�who has lost all faith in humanity�has revived an ancient weapon called Tarqaron with the intention of sacrificing the lives of every human in the world, himself included, in order to power the weapon and destroy the Adephagos. Brave Vesperia confronts him at the peak of the hovering city, but neither can stand down due to their shared desire to save the world in their own ways. Duke and Brave Vesperia fight to resolve this, and Yuri manages to convince Duke that humanity is willing to give up their blastia to save the world. With the aid of Duke and the power of every blastia-core-turned-spirit in the world, Yuri forms a giant sword that allows him to completely destroy the Adephagos, converting it into a multitude of spirits itself and revitalizing the world. Duke simply leaves as the guild celebrates their victory.

A scene during and after the credits shows Brave Vesperia continuing their adventures in the ever-changing world.

Tales Of Vesperia Gameplay

Tales of Vesperia uses an improved and evolved version of Tales of the Abyss's battle system, called the "Evolved Flex-Range Linear Motion Battle System" (EFR-LMBS). As with previous Tales games, characters can move freely around the battlefield to combat their enemies in real-time.

An added aspect to the game's world is the "Encounter Linking" system. If multiple groups of roaming enemies are in close proximity when a battle starts, the ensuing battle will contain all the enemies. Also returning from previous Tales games are "surprise encounters." Like in Tales of the Abyss, a surprise encounter rearranges the active party when taken into battle. Tales of Vesperia also makes use of "Secret Missions," special tasks or challenges that can be completed during boss fights for certain rewards.

Returning from Tales of Symphonia and Tales of the Abyss is the "Over Limit". As in Tales of the Abyss, it is marked by a visible gauge, but it comes in the form of a single bar that can be used by up to four party members at once, or used by a single character up to four levels to give more powerful effects. "Burst Artes", another new feature, are powerful attacks performed while in Over Limit mode and after using an arcane arte or a spell change. Depending on the Over Limit level, its duration increases, allowing players to add in more combos. As with previous Tales games, characters are able to pull off powerful Mystic Artes. Characters can also perform "Fatal Strikes", attacks capable of defeating enemies with one strike after a certain gauge is depleted. These attacks can also be chained for a higher score.

Reception
The game received critical acclaim. Famitsu awarded Tales of Vesperia a score of 9/9/9/8, totaling 35/40. Hardcore Gamer gave the game a 4 out of 5, praising the game for its anime-style graphics and characters. GameSpot gave it an 8.5/10, stating that "Tales of Vesperia is the best game yet in the series." In GameSpot's "Best of 2008" the game was nominated for "Best Story" and "Best Graphics, Artistic" categories, though it did not win either category. While they criticized the visuals as being a little inconsistent, IGN gave it an 8.2/10, stating "Tales of Vesperia is a strong anime-style Japanese RPG with a wide-ranging story, compelling characters and an intense real-time battle system that keeps you on your toes." In IGN's "Best of 2008" awards it was nominated for "Best Xbox 360 RPG" and "Best Xbox 360 Original Score". X-Play gave the game a 4 out of 5 praising its characters and visuals. In X-Play's "Best Of 2008" it was nominated for best role-playing game. VG Chartz awarded Tales of Vesperia "Best Game No One Played 2008" for the Xbox 360.