RockTheCasba
08-09-2008, 01:14 PM
saw this over at ign and thought some of you might want to check it out.
Tales of Vesperia Preview
From fighting to fixing food, we delve deep into the world of Namco Bandai's new RPG.
by Ryan Geddes
August 7, 2008 - We've taken a few brief looks at Namco Bandai's upcoming RPG, Tales of Vesperia, over the last few months. But with a final build of the game now in hand, we've been spending some serious time with Yuri, Estellise and yes, even Repede, everyone's favorite pipe-smoking dog.
The newest entrant in the Tales series features a real-time battle system, a colorful cast of characters and a vibrant anime-style look. In the roughly ten hours of Vesperia we've played so far, we've gotten a solid introduction to the style and flow of the game, and we thought we'd share our relatively spoiler-free impressions here before our final review goes up later this month.
The action starts in the Imperial Capital of Zaphias, with a headstrong but good-hearted former knight named Yuri Lowell who's attempting to uncover the mystery of a stolen blastia core, swiped from the city's poor Lower Quarter. The so-called bohdi blastia play a big role in the world of Tales of Vesperia, from forming protective monster barriers around towns and cities to serving as magical weapons for individuals like Yuri and his friends. But the blastia-generated barriers are failing all over the kingdom, and it will be up to our heroes to get to the bottom of the mystery while dodging the heavy hand of their oppressive government and an ever-growing list of mysterious forces.
That means fighting, and there's lots of it in Vesperia. Encounters are part random and part controlled, depending on where you are. On the Field Map over-world, enemies spawn randomly in your path, but you can move out of the way to avoid them if you choose. But that doesn't mean you'll always be successful. Zigzagging usually works, but some enemies will make a beeline for you and catch you regardless. In dungeons and fields, which are fairly linear, enemies are placed in specific locations and are harder to avoid.
As with many Japanese RPGs, how you encounter your foes determines what your party members' stance will be in battle. You can have up to four active party members for fighting purposes, but if you get attacked from behind, your extra members will be drawn into the battle. You can also be attacked from both sides and even ambushed, which can definitely make things interesting.
But have no fear if your party takes a beating; the Tales tradition of cooking is back. By picking up ingredients along your journey and talking to the Master Chef (who's kind of like Master Chief minus the weapons and MJOLNIR armor) when you come across him, you'll be able to learn new recipes that can heal your party after a battle. By assigning shortcut keys to different recipes, you can cook up a healthy post-fight meal for your crew at the touch of a button. We're partial to sandwiches and Salisbury steak. Yummy.
If you played Eternal Sonata, also published by Namco Bandai, you'll be familiar with the look and feel of the menu system in Tales of Vesperia, which is similar, although far from identical. Hitting the Y button brings up the menu, and each party member is listed, along with their stats, levels, etc. A row of boxes along the top of the screen connects you to equipment, items, skills and the various texts that track your progress, including the Battle, Monster and Collector books. This is where you'll be doing the heavy lifting in Tales of Vesperia, managing your inventory, choosing your skills and tweaking your battle strategy.
Many weapons in Vesperia are magical in nature and can be combined with items found in the world to increase their power. Each time you defeat an enemy, they will drop a part of themselves (hair, teeth, etc.) that will be automatically placed in your inventory. You can either use trial and error to see what happens or heed the advice of NPCs who will share their ideas with you. And if you craft a set of particularly cool weapons for your party members, they will show up in cutscenes for you to ooh and ahh over.
The Tales series is known for its real-time battle system, and Vesperia carries on that tradition. You control a single character in battle, and you can move him around the battle area at will if you choose. Enemies and allies don't take turns attacking -- each can attack at will, either with magic or weapons, as soon as they are able. In addition to basic attacks, handled via the B button, each character also has access to artes, which are magic attacks specific to each person, depending on what they've learned and what weapon they have equipped. Access to artes is limited to how much TP you have, which is built up by landing traditional attack combos.
A few hours into the game, you'll also gain access to the Over Limit system. As you take and deal damage, you'll see a bar fill up on-screen. Once full, hitting a direction on the D-pad unleashes an Over Limit mode, which gives you increased artes and combo attacks for a limited time.
From what we've played so far, Tales of Vesperia is quite story-focused, so if you like your RPGs full of dialogue, exposition and character development, you'll be pleased with what Tales of Vesperia has to offer. There's plenty of battling to be done too, of course, but Vesperia breaks the action up with plenty of in-game dialogue scenes, 2D "skits," full cutscenes and music.
We've only scratched the surface of Tales of Vesperia, and we have a lot more ground to cover. But that's a basic overview of how the game is set up. You can also read our previous coverage here and here for more info about the latest and largest in the Tales series. Our counterparts in Japan are already playing the Japanese version of the game, which launched today, but U.S. gamers will be able to pick up Vesperia Aug. 26.
Tales of Vesperia Preview
From fighting to fixing food, we delve deep into the world of Namco Bandai's new RPG.
by Ryan Geddes
August 7, 2008 - We've taken a few brief looks at Namco Bandai's upcoming RPG, Tales of Vesperia, over the last few months. But with a final build of the game now in hand, we've been spending some serious time with Yuri, Estellise and yes, even Repede, everyone's favorite pipe-smoking dog.
The newest entrant in the Tales series features a real-time battle system, a colorful cast of characters and a vibrant anime-style look. In the roughly ten hours of Vesperia we've played so far, we've gotten a solid introduction to the style and flow of the game, and we thought we'd share our relatively spoiler-free impressions here before our final review goes up later this month.
The action starts in the Imperial Capital of Zaphias, with a headstrong but good-hearted former knight named Yuri Lowell who's attempting to uncover the mystery of a stolen blastia core, swiped from the city's poor Lower Quarter. The so-called bohdi blastia play a big role in the world of Tales of Vesperia, from forming protective monster barriers around towns and cities to serving as magical weapons for individuals like Yuri and his friends. But the blastia-generated barriers are failing all over the kingdom, and it will be up to our heroes to get to the bottom of the mystery while dodging the heavy hand of their oppressive government and an ever-growing list of mysterious forces.
That means fighting, and there's lots of it in Vesperia. Encounters are part random and part controlled, depending on where you are. On the Field Map over-world, enemies spawn randomly in your path, but you can move out of the way to avoid them if you choose. But that doesn't mean you'll always be successful. Zigzagging usually works, but some enemies will make a beeline for you and catch you regardless. In dungeons and fields, which are fairly linear, enemies are placed in specific locations and are harder to avoid.
As with many Japanese RPGs, how you encounter your foes determines what your party members' stance will be in battle. You can have up to four active party members for fighting purposes, but if you get attacked from behind, your extra members will be drawn into the battle. You can also be attacked from both sides and even ambushed, which can definitely make things interesting.
But have no fear if your party takes a beating; the Tales tradition of cooking is back. By picking up ingredients along your journey and talking to the Master Chef (who's kind of like Master Chief minus the weapons and MJOLNIR armor) when you come across him, you'll be able to learn new recipes that can heal your party after a battle. By assigning shortcut keys to different recipes, you can cook up a healthy post-fight meal for your crew at the touch of a button. We're partial to sandwiches and Salisbury steak. Yummy.
If you played Eternal Sonata, also published by Namco Bandai, you'll be familiar with the look and feel of the menu system in Tales of Vesperia, which is similar, although far from identical. Hitting the Y button brings up the menu, and each party member is listed, along with their stats, levels, etc. A row of boxes along the top of the screen connects you to equipment, items, skills and the various texts that track your progress, including the Battle, Monster and Collector books. This is where you'll be doing the heavy lifting in Tales of Vesperia, managing your inventory, choosing your skills and tweaking your battle strategy.
Many weapons in Vesperia are magical in nature and can be combined with items found in the world to increase their power. Each time you defeat an enemy, they will drop a part of themselves (hair, teeth, etc.) that will be automatically placed in your inventory. You can either use trial and error to see what happens or heed the advice of NPCs who will share their ideas with you. And if you craft a set of particularly cool weapons for your party members, they will show up in cutscenes for you to ooh and ahh over.
The Tales series is known for its real-time battle system, and Vesperia carries on that tradition. You control a single character in battle, and you can move him around the battle area at will if you choose. Enemies and allies don't take turns attacking -- each can attack at will, either with magic or weapons, as soon as they are able. In addition to basic attacks, handled via the B button, each character also has access to artes, which are magic attacks specific to each person, depending on what they've learned and what weapon they have equipped. Access to artes is limited to how much TP you have, which is built up by landing traditional attack combos.
A few hours into the game, you'll also gain access to the Over Limit system. As you take and deal damage, you'll see a bar fill up on-screen. Once full, hitting a direction on the D-pad unleashes an Over Limit mode, which gives you increased artes and combo attacks for a limited time.
From what we've played so far, Tales of Vesperia is quite story-focused, so if you like your RPGs full of dialogue, exposition and character development, you'll be pleased with what Tales of Vesperia has to offer. There's plenty of battling to be done too, of course, but Vesperia breaks the action up with plenty of in-game dialogue scenes, 2D "skits," full cutscenes and music.
We've only scratched the surface of Tales of Vesperia, and we have a lot more ground to cover. But that's a basic overview of how the game is set up. You can also read our previous coverage here and here for more info about the latest and largest in the Tales series. Our counterparts in Japan are already playing the Japanese version of the game, which launched today, but U.S. gamers will be able to pick up Vesperia Aug. 26.