Japan's most popular non-Square-Enix RPG series comes to Xbox 360
Article writ by Nick Des Barres
"On a freezing, rainy day in January, play editors Nick Des Barres and Dai Kohama were invited to Namco Bandai's Tokyo offices for an exclusive glimpse at a top-secret new project, the existence of which had only been made known two weeks before: Tales of Vesperia. A stunning 720p teaser trailer released to the net on the last day of 2007 confirmed that Japan's third-most popular RPG series was going gloriously next-gen, with an aesthetic that can only be describe as "living anime". The trailer made it clear we were dealing with a high-def game, and to paraphrase a statement made by director Yosh[ito] Higuchi in the days following the teaser's release, "that can only mean one of two systems."
Imagine our surprise when we entered a Namco Bandai conference room to find an elaborate shrine-like display of the Tales series's past triumphs...and a lone Xbox 360. The company has been famously high on Microsoft's 'box of late, blessing it with games like Beautiful Katamari, Ace Combat 6, and Eternal Sonata, but the Tales series represents what is arguably the most valuable non-anime brand the company controls in Japan. And it goes without saying, Japan hasn't been too hot on 360. While the revelation of platform proved a shock, so did the quality of the game-but for completely different reasons. Tales of Vesperia manages to trump Ubisoft's Naruto and Namco's own Japan-only iDOLM@STER visually, with jaw-dropping next-gen cel shading and huge, expansive background vistas that seem straight out of a Studio Ghibli film. Best realtime 3-D anime visuals ever? Take a look at these screens and get back to me.
What can we expect from the game itself? More trademark RPG excellence from Team Symphonia (responsible for Tales of Symphonia on Gamecube, and Tales of the Abyss on Playstation 2), with instantly-likeable characters, cunning puzzle dungeons, and, of course, frenetic, pyrotechnic, fighting game-inspired realtime action battles. Vesperia will mark the series's tenth anniversary in North America, and Namco is promising for the first time ever to put real muscle behind its English release. Both Symphonia and Abyss are generally considered to be among the finest J-RPG localizations of all time, so it would seem safe to assume this game will be just as good, if not better. As to when this role-playing animextravaganza might be spinning in our Xboxen, the teaser trailer touted only a release date of "2008" (Namco's lips are sealed on the matter, but the smart money for the initial Japanese release would seem to be fourth quarter).
We wish we were able to tell you more about Tales of Vesperia, but play necessarily walked into Namco Bandai's lair as information virgins, armed only with what we could clean from watching the one minute, fifty-second teaser for hours on end. Although director Higuchi and producer Tsutomu Gouda were unforthcoming with many details (such as the names of any characters besides protagonist Yuri and apparent antagonist Flynn), they were surprisingly candid about other aspects, including the reality of the Xbox 360's current situation in Japan and the perception of the Tales series around the world. It was clear they are very excited about their new baby, and it was impossible not to get swept up by their enthusiasm."
"This magnificent city would seem to be hero Yuri's home town, protected from monsters that run rampant beyond its borders by a huge, translucent barrier visible in the sky overhead."
"Tales of the Abyss's popular "FR-LMBS" battle system has evolved into "EFR-LMBS": Appropriately enough, "Evolved Flex-Range Linear Motion Battle System"."
"Vesperia's cast of protagonists revealed so far. The hero is dark-haired Yuri, described as an "empathetic" youth with a "fully-formed personality" (to contrast with the traditionally immature heroes of previous Tales)."
