- Pronouns
- he/him
Ever since I've gotten the Switch in 2019, I've been trying to play games and series that I had missed out on. And so in late April 2021, I had begun my first playthrough of a Tales game. As much as people complain about late ports especially from Bandai Namco, I don't really see that as an issue. I've never been an early adopter and RPGs take a lot of time sometimes so there is no rush to beat them. I was aware this was a remastered port of a PS3 game (I've been playing some PS3 ports lately anyway) and that Tales was slightly different from other JRPGs that I had been playing.
At first, getting used to the battle system was a little rough. But I adjusted and soon I got used to using Artes and items like it was second nature. I liked the protagonist, Yuri Lowell, right away. I was warned by a friend of a certain infamous early game boss fight that is considered difficult. That boss fight took me 4 or 5 tries, but at least you can skip cutscenes. That is a good feature for some of this game's more challenging fights. And so after the difficult fight at Emmead Hill, I proceeded along through Act 1 rather easily. At first, I really didn't like Patty. Her introduction scenes are just pandering trash but thankfully as the story goes on, she becomes a lovable character and the pandering stuff generally doesn't happen often. I was also warned or prepared myself for a certain 1 vs 30 fight but that was easier than that other fight as I did that fight in one try. I didn't think at first that I'd use Judith as much as I had, but she was almost always on my team when I could select her. Her aerial Artes are just so good.
Act 2 was when the story really starts to kick in, and I liked the twists and turns but honestly it was a little bit of struggle not having my main healer for a while (Karol does make a decent backup healer though). But man, I hated the fights where you have to fight your friends and I didn't like that fight at the end of Act 2 because that boss kept healing himself. It took me a few tries to figure out which party to use to keep damaging him so he couldn't heal himself fast enough. Act 3 was also good. There were a few grindy minigames that I kinda didn't like but I completed them too. Final dungeon was good even it was labyrinthine and I enjoyed the final boss fight as it gave the right amount of challenge, and I liked the ending, and I really liked how the big crisis was a metaphor for global warming.
And so I had spent nearly 100 hours playing this. I didn't really do the postgame stuff as I felt satisfied enough by finishing the main story. My main four throughout Act 3 were Yuri, Estelle, Rita and Judith. I really enjoyed the variety of skits that I saw and there were some interesting costumes for the characters as well (I enjoyed that Karol got a Klonoa DLC costume). I would definitely play another Tales game if it came to Switch so please Bandai Namco, I just want to play your games. I didn't think I'd enjoy Tales of Vesperia almost as much as I loved playing Ys 8. I'm definitely glad I persevered through the rough parts of this game. And so, your feedback on this game, Fami?
At first, getting used to the battle system was a little rough. But I adjusted and soon I got used to using Artes and items like it was second nature. I liked the protagonist, Yuri Lowell, right away. I was warned by a friend of a certain infamous early game boss fight that is considered difficult. That boss fight took me 4 or 5 tries, but at least you can skip cutscenes. That is a good feature for some of this game's more challenging fights. And so after the difficult fight at Emmead Hill, I proceeded along through Act 1 rather easily. At first, I really didn't like Patty. Her introduction scenes are just pandering trash but thankfully as the story goes on, she becomes a lovable character and the pandering stuff generally doesn't happen often. I was also warned or prepared myself for a certain 1 vs 30 fight but that was easier than that other fight as I did that fight in one try. I didn't think at first that I'd use Judith as much as I had, but she was almost always on my team when I could select her. Her aerial Artes are just so good.
Act 2 was when the story really starts to kick in, and I liked the twists and turns but honestly it was a little bit of struggle not having my main healer for a while (Karol does make a decent backup healer though). But man, I hated the fights where you have to fight your friends and I didn't like that fight at the end of Act 2 because that boss kept healing himself. It took me a few tries to figure out which party to use to keep damaging him so he couldn't heal himself fast enough. Act 3 was also good. There were a few grindy minigames that I kinda didn't like but I completed them too. Final dungeon was good even it was labyrinthine and I enjoyed the final boss fight as it gave the right amount of challenge, and I liked the ending, and I really liked how the big crisis was a metaphor for global warming.
And so I had spent nearly 100 hours playing this. I didn't really do the postgame stuff as I felt satisfied enough by finishing the main story. My main four throughout Act 3 were Yuri, Estelle, Rita and Judith. I really enjoyed the variety of skits that I saw and there were some interesting costumes for the characters as well (I enjoyed that Karol got a Klonoa DLC costume). I would definitely play another Tales game if it came to Switch so please Bandai Namco, I just want to play your games. I didn't think I'd enjoy Tales of Vesperia almost as much as I loved playing Ys 8. I'm definitely glad I persevered through the rough parts of this game. And so, your feedback on this game, Fami?