[Multiplatform] Tales of Vesperia announced, next main Tales

The boss managed to beat me down my first time through, but I really enjoyed the demo. Music's not bad and I don't see the big deal about the controls either. It took maybe one battle to get the hang of attack and Artes being switched, but it didn't bother me really. There should be an option to change the config in the full version anyway.

I'm just pleased to get another Tales game similar to Abyss' systems and with likable characters. Playing Legendia after Abyss had kinda sapped the excitement over the upcoming Tales games for me until now.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

The music isn't bad at all; just standard RPG fare. It sounds the same as other Tales games to me, but then I don't generally pay much attention to who the composer is unless I happen to know the name already.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

But look! You get twice as many extra levels for only 100 points more if you just buy the 300 MS Points package. What a bargain!

The people who would buy any of that are pathetic, but compared to a lot of things Namco-Bandai have done in recent years this isn't too bad. At least the game works and it didn't take them twice as long to translate it than it did to make it.

So have they done away with the points you earned in battles to buy this sort of thing at the beginning of New Game+ in other Tales games, or is this just for the cheaters?

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I guess my issue here is more with the idiots who buy these cheats rather than Namco-Bandai. Sure, they're terrible things to offer at any price point, let alone the crazy ones they set, but I can also just ignore their existance and not miss out on anything. Like Diss said, it's not like we're missing out on any content that should've been put in the game already.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by LS

Loooool, is this World of Warcraft? I wouldn't mind paying for the additional dungeons for 1,600 MS points, Fucking better rather than this BS.

What now? For $20 I'd expect a hell of a lot more than an extra dungeon or two.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Well, Cetra overreacted and said he'd stop buying games from Namco-Bandai altogether, but it's practically an unwritten rule that someone has to toss out the idea of a boycot whenever there's bad news about a game/movie/TV program. It just wouldn't be the internet without alleged boycots and useless petitions.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

That's weird, all my local EBs and Best Buys don't have it yet either according to their websites. I'm still not sure when I'll buy this anyway since Infinite Undiscovery comes first for me, but this is a pretty confusing release.

FELIPE NO

Well, I broke down and bought Vesperia today. I made the fatal mistake of listening to some Tales of the Abyss music and remembering just how much I loved that game. Apparently my Best Buy didn't get their shipment in until 3:45 today, but luckily I wasn't able to get there until 4pm anyway.

I've been hooked on it all night, and so far my only complaint is how the combat feels a bit awkward. Then I remembered that Abyss did too until you learned some skills, and I like Vesperia's weapon artes system to learn those skills from equipment. I was very happy to see Backstep as my first one, since I used to use that constantly.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

What exactly do those "trial skill" packs do? It seems silly to download them if they're only temporary. I downloaded the gel pack for kicks since extra gels are no big deal, but it doesn't seem like they're in my inventory now.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

That's really strange wording then. I don't mind getting the gels since, well, they're just gels. Downloading the skills is a bit cheap though, so I won't be doing that. A lot of them seem to be stuff you learn early on anyway. Why would anyone need to download Backstep?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by SouthJag

Just beat that wolf-type monster in Ehmead Hill. Dunno about you guys but for me, that was a fairly difficult battle, even hitting Over Limit as often as I could. I had done only minimal level grinding (was at 16 before hand) and totally got my ass handed to me. Even when I rose to level 18 before the fight it was still crazy hard.

Yeah, that wolf boss was tough. I was only at 15-16 when I fought him and I probably would've lost if I hadn't already fought him twice in the demo (died the first time, but refused to lose to a demo boss). I just made it to Capua Torim and I think so far Zagi is still the hardest, though.

Zagi:

Zagi's also the only boss who I've missed the achievements for. I actually managed to complete the secret mission for knocking him off the boat, but then he slaughtered me so no achievement.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

I didn't really expect to get too many achievements out of Vesperia anyway, considering there are always a few really easy to miss titles/skits/items. The secret missions are nifty, though I wish the game told you about them at the first boss rather than waiting until you've gotten one. I only discovered them because I saw Skills had 5 achievement points, but I was farther along than him.

How ya doing, buddy?

Does anyone know what items like Glasses and Sunglasses do? They're listed as key items, but marked for certain people and they don't seem to be equippable or change appearance in battle.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Ah, that works. I completely forgot about the attachment slot under character details.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

It's basically Abyss enhanced. The biggest improvement I've noticed (aside from the world map not being a glitchy mess) is that you learn battle skills from your weapons and sub equipment rather than seemingly at random. Also, you can synthesize equipment in shops now, and some of it is solely for appearance changing stuff like hats and glasses.

Plot-wise the game starts out a lot better than Abyss. Don't get me wrong, I loved it, but the first 10 hours or so of Abyss weren't that great. Vesperia starts off good and hasn't slowed down yet where I'm at (roughly 25% complete).

FELIPE NO

Who is this second party member? Maybe I've missed it, but all the stuff I've seen has only shown that pirate girl.

If I wasn't already on a third (well, 3.5) playthrough to finish up getting everything, I would probably buy those Abyss outfits as DLC. I don't really care about any of the other stuff shown since I rarely use Mystic or Burst artes anyway, but I do love a good costume. Maybe if they released them very soon, but that's not going to happen.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Yeah, that's kinda weird that they've made Flynn playable. I mean, I kept expecting him to join me for awhile my first time through the game, but I liked how he had his own party going around the world fixing things. If he's with you, then where does that leave Sodia and Witcher?

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Leknaat

One of the main storylines of the 360 is Yuri trying to be better than Flynn. He keeps calling Flynn "The Great Flynn." Throughout the game, Flynn is one step ahead of Yuri. Until Flynn needs Yuri's help. And THAT's the only time they work together. To me, that makes more sense than what the PS3 version looks like.

Yeah, there are very few places in the game where Flynn could join the party and it not lessen the impact of that portion of the story. Hell, without serious retooling it wouldn't even make sense for him to be with you most of the game due to his knightly duties.

Of course, if the ending was changed around a little bit:

to show Yuri dumping Sodia's body over Dahngrest's bridge, and then high-fiving Flynn, it would be the greatest game ever. He did say he had no intention of forgiving her little bout of stabbity rage.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Oh man, first the Tales of the Abyss costumes and now this. I would replay Vesperia for a fourth time just to play as Sgt. Frog. It's not even a huge stretch since Karol already gets that frog costume title from the play. You'd think with all the utterly useless DLC Namco-Bandai shoved onto the 360 marketplace we would've gotten at least one cool thing like this.

Originally Posted by AcerBandit

But stranger things have happened. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is supposedly coming over here after all.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom has its own bad news with the loss of Phoenix Wright, though. He actually would've been enough of a reason for me to buy the game, and I'm not a big fan of 2D fighters.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.