by Tanner Kinney Disclaimer: This review is of the Nintendo Switch version of the game, played primarily in handheld mode. The Tales series is one of the longest standing Japanese role-playing game (JRPG) franchises. Starting with Tales of Phantasia on Super Famicom, the series was successful in Japan, but as with other storied franchises like Shin Megami Tensei, it didn’t get big in the West until the GameCube/PS2 era. Since then, the franchise has had a number of great games like Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Xillia, and the most recent entry with Tales of Berseria, but it still feels like they just blend into the background compared to bigger titles. So, it was a surprise to see Microsoft give a spotlight to Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition during their E3 showcase. It makes sense given that Vesperia was originally a 360 exclusive, but this release brings the Japan-exclusive PS3 port to all of the modern consoles for the first time. After playing through much of the Nintendo Switch version of Vesperia, it’s safe to say that this is definitely one of the best Tales games out there. However, compared to other big JRPGs and even its own series, Vesperia is missing a hook to keep a player fully engaged.
A standard Tales tale
Classic JRPG-style with a fresh coat of paint
The best and worst of Tales combat
Tales of Vesperia Symphonia Abyss Definitive Edition Tales
Nintendo Nintendo
