Not really enjoying Tales of Vesperia DE so far

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

Will preface by saying that I've played Eternia, Symphonia, Symphonia 2, Abyss, Legendia, the original Vesperia, Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria, and Berseria. To this day I still hold Symphonia in pretty high regard (though it has aged), and I love Zestiria.

I don't really remember my opinion of Vesperia when I originally played it outside of the fact that in the end I thought it was okay though a lot of things about it annoyed me. But I was like, 12? When I first played it, so I thought I'd give it another shot.

So far, I'd have to say my opinion of it remains kind of the same? It's just.... "okay." The story doesn't really seem like there's passion behind it, and the characters aren't charming IMO. At least so far. I remember not liking Raven or Karol, and Judith not having any personality, but I haven't met those guys yet on this playthrough. Still no opinion on Patty.

But here's my biggest grievance so far: I'm sorry but of the Tales games I've played, Vesperia has the most bland ass soundtrack I've ever heard. The music in Zaphias was so dull and sounded exactly like 60 other town themes Sakuraba's composed. It actively hurts the game and completely sucks out any semblance of personality the location could've had. The battle them is also total ass, generic synth guitar riff that is just a pain to listen to.

Also, the voice difference between the two actors for Yuri.... oh my god. What were they thinking? The new actor sounds like the annoying creep uncle that you dread seeing at your family gatherings. Incredibly jarring, don't think I'll get used to it if I play it the whole way through

Do y'all just think of it as "a perfectly adequate game"?

 

[Stowaway Silfer]

and I love Zestiria

Click to shrink...

I like you.

I had started Vesperia DE when it came out but fell off cause life. I was enjoying though, should go back to it.
Yeah hearing two different voices for Yuri interchangeably even in the early part was weird. Having not played the original, I thought I'd hear only Troy Baker, then reach whatever they added to the PS3 JP release and then hear the new actor so I was surprised.

 

[Deleted member 63122]

I enjoy it, but fell out at the final dungeon.

 

[SpaceCrystal]

They couldn't get Troy Baker back for the extra scenes.

 

[Synohan]

Honestly, despite playing a majority of the games, Zesteria is probably the only OST I found very memorable. Phenomenal soundtrack on what is matched with Symphonia 2 as the worst Tales entry.

Vesperia is a pretty great Tales game. I started to get really engaged around midgame, which is the standard experience when it comes to Tales, personally.

 

[ignata]

I'm about 30 hours into it. I should also mention these hours started at launch in Jan 2019, so 30 hours over nearly two years at this point. It is a very mediocre game, yet I'm curious enough about the story that I'm still going. Just very, very slowly. I absolutely agree about the music, which is probably a more disappointing occurrence in a JRPG than anywhere else. I keep the voices off in most games, however I have heard the two voices for Yuri and they are very noticeably different.

 

[entremet]

They couldn't get Troy Baker back.

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He's still there. You're talking about the extra scenes.

 

[Massicot]

I agree completely on the voice actor gaffe. They should have rerecorded the whole game if Baker wasn't an option. Endlessly distracting.

The third act also feels kinda stapled on, which is somewhat emblematic of tales games of the era, lol.

Can't agree on the soundtrack though. It's not as great as Symphonia (one of my favorites all time), but I still like it a lot.

 

[SpaceCrystal]

He's still there. You're talking about the extra scenes.

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Yeah, that's what I'm referring to. I've should've clarified.

 

[Daouzin]

I think that's a strange take, but I'm sure every Tales of Fan has different favorites.

I used to think Symphonia was god-like, but when I tried replaying it a couple of years back I just couldn't get over a lot of the poorly aged aspects of it. The movement speed on the world map is a prime example.

I really loved Vesperia when I played it like 10 years ago, but no idea if it holds up.

 

[TheAggroCraig]

They couldn't get Troy Baker back.

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Supposedly they never asked him (I believe Troy posted about that himself), I wanna think they assumed they couldn't afford him but who knows tbh. I don't think the new VA is bad but I sorta just wish they went all in on one or the other and didn't do a mix.

I just got back into playing Vesperia DE a few weeks ago after getting myself stuck for like a year (I just forgot what to do and couldn't be bothered with looking up where to go) but now I'm pushing 25 hours in the game and enjoying myself after not playing since the 360.

Vesperia is definitely my favorite overall of the Tales games, and I have played Symphonia, Abyss, Vesperia, Graces, Xillia, Xillia 2 (barely, hated it), and Zestiria (stopped and never finished it).

 

[The Unsent]

I played through Graces and Xillia on lockdown too, "perfectly adequate" might be right. They're just so untaxing that I enjoy them and nod off.

 

[ThiefofDreams]

Same. I remember loving the game and was super stoked when I saw it was coming to game pass. but now the game design is so archaic that its a chore to play and enjoy. I like encounters, but they way to do the artes is so counter intuitive, I constantly either lock myself into accidentally continuously doing them OR i forget to switch to the artes button. Not to mention switching targets in combat sucks and running around during it is a hassle. I stopped blocking attacks because the delay in doing basically made it worthless.

Also the interrogatories got annoying because an event would happen in game where something is discussed, then the conversation would pop up and they would act like what just happened didn't happen and be surprised when someone talks about what just happened. the narrative disconnect is just too much for me right now.

Overall the design of the game just felt too locked into the past in a way that I couldn't appreciate and enjoy playing anymore.

oh and knocking that dude off the side of the boat to get the secret achievement was such a pain in the ass that it took me an hour to do, because you basically need to be in the most perfect position and cant rotate the camera to line yourself up. UGH!

 

[mnk]

I didn't really enjoy it that much either (first time playing it). Battles felt clunky and not as fun as I remember Xillia and Abyss being (only other two I've played), and yeah the story wasn't engaging me much. I forget exactly how far I made it before I dropped off. Shortly after getting the boat I think? I remember doing a tournament, and I think I was on my way to investigate some ruins or something.

 

[PlanetSmasher]

I couldn't make it through Vesperia the first time around due to the endless "GEEEEENIUS RESEARCHER" and "GUILDS" babbling from the two idiot kid characters. I can only imagine Patty's presence would've made it a hundred times worse.

 

[Renteka-Bond]

I think, like with Symphonia, Vesperia is incredibly overrated. It holds up better than Symphonia, but that really isn't saying much.

You're right about the soundtrack, though I'd extend that to most of the Tales OSTs. Motoi is very generic 90% of the time.

 

[tiebreaker]

Now that you mentioned it, I can't remember any soundtrack from the game.

 

[Nocturnowl]

The OST has a few good 'uns (the other side of the mirage probably being the best of them) but it was definitely a disappointment to me coming off Symphonia and my first instance of getting one of the "Sakuraba phones it in JRPG OSTs".

When replaying the DE I remember being a lot more annoyed by constant interruptions and character hunt sections where you wander around trying to trigger the next story beat in a town area, Patty was also not an addition I liked to a party I always held up among Tales of titles.
Still, I was able to play it up the obligatory direct to DVD third act of Tales games, even if the combat is pretty stiff these days (and even back then), meanwhile I can't push through Symphonia anymore.

Still a good JRPG, but only good, perhaps a decade ago I'd have said it was great..

 

[Soriku]

OP I've played all those Tales games you've played save for Legendia, I also hold Symphonia in high regard, and I liked Zestiria even though I wouldn't say I love it. I bought Vesperia remastered day one. Vesperia is the only one I couldn't finish. I got to act 3 in the story and not sure I care to finish it. The story is one of the worst, the cast is OK, and the battle system is badly balanced (normal is too easy, hard is too grindy) and it's not that interesting anyway.

 

[Strings]

I like the soundtrack in Vesperia a fair bit (and the game in general, though it's still like, 6 or 7 in my series ranking). You haven't mentioned my main problem with it though, which is the stiff ass combat.

 

[Hero of Legend]

I remember someone posted that Matt Mercer was first approached as Yuri here, but he declined due to not wanting to be Troy's voice-double anymore. Instead they went with Grant George.

I also suspect they avoided Troy due to how big he is now, to the point where he's been in less anime and such these days, likely because his role as Joel in TLOU basically made him AAA grade to the industry. Similarly why Laura Bailey has also been in less stuff with I think Alexis Tipton taking over most of her roles.

 

[Yasumi]

I'd honestly put Vesperia pretty low in my series preferences. Better than Legendia, about equal to Graces F. Rest of the mainline series is better.

 

[AngelL0ls]

The first Tales game I played was Graces F back on the PS3, I played through it with my younger brother and platinumed it with him.
Since then I played Xillia 1 and 2 and platinumed both of them also.

Jump to the PS4 and I picked up Zestiria and got bored and dropped it. Came back to it around the time of Berseria release and eventually platinumed Zestiria too, followed almost immediately by Berseria, getting the platinum in that too.

Went through a rough patch a small while back around when Vesperia DE dropped and decided I wanted to binge some lengthy JRPGS and that it might hit the spot, I had heard good things from people about it, people saying it was a gem on the 360 and heaping praise all over it. Jumped into it and begrudgingly made my way through it, it is the definition of "swimming in 7's".
The characters were average, the story was average, the combat and exploration was average and considering I can't even remember any of the music I would say it was most likely forgettable.

I eventually ended up platinuming it out of spite and my ultimate take away was that it was quite possibly one of the most overrated games I have played in recent memory, maaayyybe only a close second to Red Dead Redemption 2.

 

[Cess007]

I got a 360 for this game (and Ninja Gaiden) and I was super disappointed with the game. I don't think there was a single character I liked in the game

 

[Snowfruit]

I didn't like it when I played it either, same with Symphonia. I'm sure they were great for their time but having played older PS3 tales games and onwards first, the gameplay is too much of a downgrade.

 

[Pyro]

Looking forward to trying this out once I get a Series since the game is currently on GamePass, but you're telling me there are two different voice actors for the main character that interchange? Ugh.

 

[t26]

It has one of the best track in the whole series

 

[Wein Cruz]

Zesteria is one of the worst tales games not including the handheld titles and Vesperia is a far better game but it does feel dated in certain aspects.

It could absolutely stand to have some of the end game fluff cut out.

 

[Software Update]

This is disappointing, because I was eyeing Vesperia as my next JRPG. I liked the seemingly lighthearted tone compared to Berseria, which was still great.

 

[Tatsu91]

Will preface by saying that I've played Eternia, Symphonia, Symphonia 2, Abyss, Legendia, the original Vesperia, Xillia, Xillia 2, Zestiria, and Berseria. To this day I still hold Symphonia in pretty high regard (though it has aged), and I love Zestiria.

I don't really remember my opinion of Vesperia when I originally played it outside of the fact that in the end I thought it was okay though a lot of things about it annoyed me. But I was like, 12? When I first played it, so I thought I'd give it another shot.

So far, I'd have to say my opinion of it remains kind of the same? It's just.... "okay." The story doesn't really seem like there's passion behind it, and the characters aren't charming IMO. At least so far. I remember not liking Raven or Karol, and Judith not having any personality, but I haven't met those guys yet on this playthrough. Still no opinion on Patty.

But here's my biggest grievance so far: I'm sorry but of the Tales games I've played, Vesperia has the most bland ass soundtrack I've ever heard. The music in Zaphias was so dull and sounded exactly like 60 other town themes Sakuraba's composed. It actively hurts the game and completely sucks out any semblance of personality the location could've had. The battle them is also total ass, generic synth guitar riff that is just a pain to listen to.

Also, the voice difference between the two actors for Yuri.... oh my god. What were they thinking? The new actor sounds like the annoying creep uncle that you dread seeing at your family gatherings. Incredibly jarring, don't think I'll get used to it if I play it the whole way through

Do y'all just think of it as "a perfectly adequate game"?

Click to shrink...

i kind of agree i loved Zestiria and Berseria and it actually feels a tad behind in everything but gameplay i think it has better moment to moment battles but that is it.

 

[Wein Cruz]

This is disappointing, because I was eyeing Vesperia as my next JRPG. I liked the seemingly lighthearted tone compared to Berseria, which was still great.

Click to shrink...

Vesperia is a very good game with great combat and a likeable cast of characters.

Yuri is awesome and doesn't fuck around. He's like a light hearted anime version of judge dread.

 

[hwarang]

Didn't you just play through Zestiria? You could be burned out.

 

[kayos90]

I'm sort of surprised the story isn't hitting it off. Its themes and many of the strong scenes (in tandem with its amazing music) throughout the whole game is why people enjoy Vesperia, moreso than the gameplay.

 

[Deleted member 2834]

I quit 18h in. The combat was ass, everything else was mediocre. I have a hard time believing that this game was anything special in 2007 or whatever either. I would recommend just playing better JRGPs.

 

[Mass Effect]

I couldn't make it through Vesperia the first time around due to the endless "GEEEEENIUS RESEARCHER" and "GUILDS" babbling from the two idiot kid characters. I can only imagine Patty's presence would've made it a hundred times worse.

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Just think of her as a smartass version of Rukia from Bleach. Honestly I didn't mind her anyway.

But yeah Karol was legit annoying. Easily the worst member of the party, though I haven't started DE yet so I don't how Patty is.

 

[Zukuu]

I aborted the gamer after 12h or so. The combat is a clunky mess that is super atrocious and the AI is super useless.
It made me question my life choices.

Was super bummed after looking forward to it and I really liked the story-setup and characters up until that point. A shame.

 

[Dogui]

I don't remember any Tales of with a really good ost tbh. People will say Legendia but i just can't remember anything above average.

I really like the first 2 thirds of Vesperia, tho imo it jumps the shark in the last one. Maybe it's a tad bit overrated but i like the game overall.

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I aborted the gamer after 12h or so. The combat is a clunky mess that is super atrocious and the AI is super useless.
It made me question my life choices.

Was super bummed after looking forward to it and I really liked the story-setup and characters up until that point. A shame.

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I noticed that enemies that are knocked down are completely invulnerable until they're done returning to their normal stance; I don't recall this being a thing in other Tales games

 

[Deleted member 56752]

I agree completely on the voice actor gaffe. They should have rerecorded the whole game if Baker wasn't an option. Endlessly distracting.

The third act also feels kinda stapled on, which is somewhat emblematic of tales games of the era, lol.

Can't agree on the soundtrack though. It's not as great as Symphonia (one of my favorites all time), but I still like it a lot.

Click to shrink...

So weird hearing Yamato and suigetsu for the same character lol

 

[BasilZero]

They couldn't get Troy Baker back for the extra scenes.

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This isnt a surprise...considering Legendia's extra scenes never had voice acting in the western release.

 

[scarlet]

I liked the game, but somehow I haven't finished it.

 

[Dice]

I don't remember any Tales of with a really good ost tbh. People will say Legendia but i just can't remember anything above average.

Click to shrink...

I can try and help. If not hopefully others might like or wana try haha

 

[Hexa]

Vesperia just sort of blends in with most of the franchise as reasonably solid which was somewhat disappointing considering how much it had been hyped up but I suppose that's mainly on me. Only Tales games that really stand out for me are Zesteria as bad and Berseria as good. The rest all just kind of blur together. Not saying that's a bad thing though, as they're still mostly consistently fun even if they're not ground breaking.

 

[Software Update]

Vesperia is a very good game with great combat and a likeable cast of characters.

Yuri is awesome and doesn't fuck around. He's like a light hearted anime version of judge dread.

Click to shrink...

Thanks for your opinion. I'm liking the Judge Dredd comparison. I'll keep the game in mind.

 

[Nax]

As someone who got every achievement in Vesperia...

Yeah, it's not that good. I'm not really sure why I was compelled to power through it.

 

[Modest_Modsoul]

I'm sorry but of the Tales games I've played, Vesperia has the most bland ass soundtrack I've ever heard.

Click to shrink...

Clearly you haven't heard Graces F?

Vesperia was before Graces & somehow (unsurprisingly to me) Graces was worse...

I don't know what happened, but I personally sick hearing Sakuraba's music in Tales...

I don't have nothing against with Go Shiina, but really, new composers with new Tales music style is very much welcome by me.

Heck, I wish they hire Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger/Cross, Xenogears) for new games... : /

 

[pleaseinsertdisctwo]

I think I bought this during a week where I was VERY depressed and it was on sale

I ended up not liking any of the games I bought off PSN that week lollll

Or well, not that I think Vesperia is bad, but I just think it's not worth my time. I might give it a few more hours though

 

[Strings]

Clearly you haven't heard Graces F?

Vesperia was before Graces & somehow (unsurprisingly to me) Graces was worse...

I don't know what happened, but I personally sick hearing Sakuraba's music in Tales...

I don't have nothing against with Go Shiina, but really, new composers with new Tales music style is very much welcome by me.

Heck, I wish they hire Yasunori Mitsuda (Chrono Trigger/Cross, Xenogears) for new games... : /

Click to shrink...

Graces has a great soundtrack outside of literally the one meme track.

 

[Tibarn]

I don't really remember my opinion of Vesperia when I originally played it outside of the fact that in the end I thought it was okay though a lot of things about it annoyed me. But I was like, 12? When I first played it, so I thought I'd give it another shot.

Click to shrink...

Yeah I feel the same. I played the game at launch on 360, found it average (I still like Symphonia, Abyss, Berseria, Phantasia... a lot more, and the combat of Graces F or the Xillia games makes the, a lot more fun than Vesperia), then replayed the Definitive edition to see how I like it now (also, my english is far better compared to when I played the original release), and found it average again. Art and graphics are nice, but the music, story, combat... are IMO below average compared to the good Tales of games.

The same way the only thing memorable about Zestiria is the OST, the only thing memorable about Vesperia are the graphics, and I don't understand at all why it has been a fan-favorite since the 360 release.

 

[Brat-Sampson]

I hate to agree but... I'm in a similar spot.

Re Tales in general, I remember really enjoying Symphonia on the Gamecube back in the day but haven't tried going back to it. I also got the Plat for Xilia on PS3 but I don't think I finished Xillia 2 (didn't even hate it that much, just stopped). I haven't tried the more recent ones after Zesteria got pretty bad-ish reviews (should maybe grab Berseria on sale?) but having heard so much about Vesperia being this lost gem I was stoked to see it coming to Game pass and it's... ehhh. Quality of the audio in general seems low, I don't like the kinda smeary/blurry filter thing going on with the visuals, characters look bland and the combat feels kinda bad, with aerial enemies, stunlock loops and enemy recovery iframe animations all being real barriers to my enjoyment, and I even got the hang of dash cancelling. Plus it looks like their way of doing side content was just kinda... Good Luck! with no signposting for quests or scenes at all.

I've reached the point where you can freely travel the world on your boat, so about 15-18 hours in and I'm really not feeling much motivation to continue.