In the early years of the Xbox 360, Microsoft decided it was going to be THE console for JRPGs. And for a while, it was. There were Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, Infinite Undiscovery, Last Remnant, and others. But it was a fraught time for JRPGs - with the increased cost of developing HD games, Japanese developers wanted to earn that cost back, and they weren't sure if they could do it with turnbased games, which don't appeal to mass audiences. So JRPGs suffered an identity crisis in the dawn of the HD era, with Japanese developers not knowing if their games needed to be more action oriented, or more cinematic, or more like Western RPGs. Even Final Fantasy 13 is kind of a study in confusion. I remember vividly that at that time, nearly every game journalist in the known universe declared the JRPG "Dead."
However, Namco didn't seem fazed by any of this, and made Tales of Vesperia like they made the rest of the Tales games - a complex action RPG with a sprawling story and celshaded graphics. Released in 2008, it was an early high point of HD JRPGs, with great characters, an interesting story, and beautiful graphics.
Is it a little traditional? Yes. But that does not detract from it. It is very good at what it does, and does not suffer from the identity crisis that so many JRPGs did back then. It helps that the Tales games were always action-oriented.
These days, there aren't a lot of JRPGs on the Xbox. But for a short time in the 360's life, there was a cornucopia - though most of the games weren't very great. JRPGs have returned to the Sony fold (and also Nintendo at last).
The PS3 finally got Vesperia later, but only in Japan. This definitive edition has since been released for the PS4 and Switch.
I never finished Vesperia, but it's still my favorite Tales game. I really think it's the best in the series. I bought the new edition for the Switch and keep telling myself I'm going to play it. With the new Tales game coming in the next few years, it seems like Namco is upgrading the formula and look a bit. Well - if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
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