[lucablight]

Does anyone else find it strange that this game was released (region coded) in europe for the Xbox 360 where RPGs don't traditionally sell all that well?

If I was betting on what would sell better out of a european region coded version and a region free PS3 version I'm willing to bet the latter would sell alot better.

Would anyone else be completely baffled by this logic from Namco Bandai if a PS3 version isn't released eventually?

[Kandrick]

The 15 hours is pretty much impossible on a first run through. Generally the people getting that use the 10x Experience from the grade shop on a New Game +. I'd say without sidequests you'd be looking at 40 hours or so.

40 hours seems about right if you go straight to the end.

[slasher_thrasher21]

Alrighty then, thanks guys. I was just wondering since I'm about to start this bad boy over the weekend! I originally passed this up back when it was released but now having a craving for a JRPG, seems this is dubbed "The best" on the 360. So it must be good. Grabbed a copy a week ago.

[Tamanon]

Namco will definitely port Tales PS3 to the US. It's not even a question. they've got most of the voice work and text already done, there's very little additional localization even needed.

[Bitmap Frogs]

I always go with Yuri(because I usually control him) Estelle and Rita for boss battles, the fourth member doesn't matter(save for a few bosses where you'll need a specific character to finish a secret mission). Repede can steal things by the way, so if you need to steal a rare item from an enemy you should keep him in. Any other questions? You should also tell me how far you've gotten(in spoilers of course).

coliseum

Thanks.

Game's helluva deep, between managing the artes, the skills, the item synthesis and management to get the characters to learn the skills and on top of that the whole fatal strike thing...

Oh, by the way, enemies have an annoying tendency to drop to the ground where they can't be hit, any way to counter that?

[Tamanon]

Certain artes knock enemies down, that just means that they're more useful against bosses since they don't knock down easily so you can chain them. There are artes that knock foes up in the air also(Judith).

[BluWacky]

Does anyone else find it strange that this game was released (region coded) in europe for the Xbox 360 where RPGs don't traditionally sell all that well?

Not especially. As far as I'm aware RPGs don't sell much worse in relative terms than they do in the US - IIRC Germany had a big market for JRPGs back in the PS1 days, don't know about now. In the UK at least the FF games still sell very well, and Dragon Quest VIII went Platinum. Plus we've seen every other Xbox 360 RPG come out in PAL (however long after the overseas releases) so I don't think it's particularly strange at all.

And virtually every Xbox RPG has been region coded to lock out PAL until the local release. The only exception I can think of is Lost Odyssey's Asian release. And that only benefits native English-language speakers, anyway; although Vesperia isn't a great example here there are usually four other translations to consider for Europe.

If I was betting on what would sell better out of a european region coded version and a region free PS3 version I'm willing to bet the latter would sell alot better.

I'm not sure what you're getting at. I think you're trying to suggest that Bamco should have invested resources into translating the PS3 version for US release rather than translating the game into German/French and re-coding as appropriate for a PAL 360 release, but I don't think the two things depend on each other at all. It also reads as a big "fuck you" to us Europeans who've waited relatively patiently for Vesperia's release for the past year :p

Without over-analysing your comments, though, I'm not so sure. I don't have numbers but I would presume Eternal Sonata's PS3 version didn't set the world on fire, despite the existence of an "inferior" PAL 360 version. Plus how wide an area are we talking about when it comes to sales? I would wager that the PAL 360 version won't sell much worse than any potential PS3 release in PAL territories would; realistically only a tiny minority of hardcore gamers are going to bother importing a PS3 game despite the region-free possibilities.

Don't get me wrong, I think they'll release the PS3 port in the States at least. There won't be much in the way of additional content to translate and Eternal Sonata sets a precedent this generation (Symphonia PS2 was a terrible port, be glad it never saw the light of day in English). I don't think it'll sell amazingly, though.

[Natural]

Been playing for around 55 hours now on my first play-through and I think I am finally near enough at the end of the game.

I was surprised after defeating Alexei that the story continued and I actually thought it would end with Sodia killing Yuri.

Story-wise, it's nowhere near as good as Symphonia, it's still a solid game, but I was hoping for a twist that didn't really come.

[Einbroch]

120 hours, four playthroughs. I missed one title, and that title was Monster Hunter, which meant I missed a single monster scan.

Sigh.

[Pancakes]

120 hours, four playthroughs. I missed one title, and that title was Monster Hunter, which meant I missed a single monster scan. Sigh.

Haha, happens to all of us. I spent over 200 hours trying to get all the titles.

[Firestorm]

120 hours, four playthroughs. I missed one title, and that title was Monster Hunter, which meant I missed a single monster scan. Sigh.

Every monster except boss characters can be scanned at any time I think. I'm only missing one from the VERY beginning of the game. been too lazy to start the next playthrough. It's the first boss.

[Pancakes]

Every monster except boss characters can be scanned at any time I think. I'm only missing one from the VERY beginning of the game. been too lazy to start the next playthrough. It's the first boss.

Nope, some normal enemies only appear once.

Example: The monsters crazed by aer in Zaphias, and in Ragoes mansion

[Baloonatic]

I spent about 85 hours on my first playthrough. Only finished it last weekend so haven't started playing through it again. I think the only titles I didn't get were the monster book, collector's book and dog map related titles.

[matmanx1]

Namco will definitely port Tales PS3 to the US. It's not even a question. they've got most of the voice work and text already done, there's very little additional localization even needed.

Man I hope you are right about that. I put 75 hours into one playthrough on the 360 version but there's still alot of stuff I didnt do and I'd love another crack at the game with the additions the PS3 version are getting. The *only* weakness I can see with this game is the story and it isnt even that it's a bad story, it just doesnt thrill or do anything special. I feel that the rest of the game MORE than makes up for any weakness in the storytelling because the gameplay, technical polish and characters (well, most of them) are so good.

[Traitor to Heaven]

Haha, happens to all of us. I spent over 200 hours trying to get all the titles.

My final play time was about 300 hrs all titles and achievements. Karol still wasn't in the party enough to get any of his altered artes though.:lol

[Firestorm]

coliseum Thanks. Game's helluva deep, between managing the artes, the skills, the item synthesis and management to get the characters to learn the skills and on top of that the whole fatal strike thing... Oh, by the way, enemies have an annoying tendency to drop to the ground where they can't be hit, any way to counter that?

Your free-run+attack hit pops them back up and can lead directly into an arte. So hold the trigger for free run and hit your attack button

[Fimbulvetr]

Your free-run+attack hit pops them back up and can lead directly into an arte. So hold the trigger for free run and hit your attack button

I think only Yuri's does that, also some artes knock enemies back on their feet. Like Rita's Spread or Yuri's Crushing Eagle.

[NIN90]

Are the items that unlock through the secret missions great or can I just ignore them?

[RetroGamer42]

(Sigh) So a week ago I posted that I was going to have to start over in order to finish getting all of the achievements, because I didn't unlock the EX Dungeon, in order to finish magic lens-ing the enemies in there.

So on this run, I didn't even think about the fact that I needed to do the Giganto Monster quest so I could open up those paths in the EX Dungeon. Which means it's time to run back through the game AGAIN.

On the up side, I did manage to get Yuri's Treasure Hunter Title (dear God, that was annoying,) and Karol's Warehouse Master Title. (Surprisingly easy, Thanks, Youtube!)

So all I need is to finish using Magic Lenses on monsters in the EX Dungeon and the 200-man-melee to get Karol's Monster Hunter Title and the Monster Nerd Achievement, and finish the 200-Man-Melee with Judith to get the Blue Dragon Thunder title, and the "They Call Me" achievement, and then fly 10,000 KM to get "To Far Off Lands."

Also, Karol's Warehouse Master Title + Child's Pipe = Win.

[Alucrid]

(Sigh) So a week ago I posted that I was going to have to start over in order to finish getting all of the achievements, because I didn't unlock the EX Dungeon, in order to finish magic lens-ing the enemies in there.

I knowhow that feels. First run was for fun since the game was just released. Second was me forgetting to sleep at the Sage's house for the EX Dungeo despite a near perfect playthrough. Third I finally got it and 200+ hours and about 11 months later I finally finished the game. If the PS3 version does get localized I'll definitely get it.

[Tamanon]

Are the items that unlock through the secret missions great or can I just ignore them?

Yup, if you get the secret mission, you get an extra accessory from killing the boss. Whereas if you don't, you generally just get one of the materials to MAKE that accessory.

[R0nn]

Just finished the game yesterday after 85 hours. Really liked it. I didn't think I would get so much into it, but I really did. It's probably due to the development team behind it, as I also really enjoyed Symphonia, but couldn't really get into Eternia and Phantasia (GBA version though).

Just to summarize my impressions:

- I really like the characters. Most of them have lots of personality and there's quite a bit of humorous interaction between them. I was kind of afraid they would serve me up a stereotype cast of annoying cookie cutter jRPG characters, but none of the sort. Estelle has some of those typical corny jRPG antics in her personality and dialog, but it's never overdone. Yuri is a great lead and has some interesting scenes throughout the story. Anyone else feel sorry for Raven btw? He's constantly being picked on in cruel ways, while he does nothing wrong. :lol

- The music was serviceable, but it's not really as good as Symphonia's. It sounds kind of flat in many places. A bit run off the mill if you will. Voice over work was very well done though.

- Dungeons were never overly long and usually well layed out so you wouldn't get lost quickly. I really liked that.

- I don't really like how many sidequests can be missed so easily and are usually really obscure. The game doesn't give off any hints towards most of them, so it boils down to randomly backtracking all over the place. Many jRPGs do this, and I really wonder why?

- The combat system is really good and I enjoyed nearly every battle in the game. I have to admit though that I never put any effort in FS chains. My highest chain is 3. :lol At first I also didn't really know what they meant by FS chain. Fot a long time I thought you had to fatal strike more than one enemy in succession, but nothing of the sort. Also, I never bothered developing altered artes on characters other than Yuri and also never let them go into OL so they could use their burst or mystic arte. I was always under the impression that the AI would just fuck up their over limit and learning their altered artes would take too long (since they use their artes so randomly). Also never really bothered to play with a different character. I had to play with Karol a couple of times, but really didn't like it. Too slow for my tastes.

- While the CG/anime cutscenes are wonderful, the ingame cutscenes are mostly terrible. They clearly cut back on those, maybe to save space on the disc or whatever. Well, you get used to it eventually and then it isn't really bothersome anymore.

[Tamanon]

Raven do nothing wrong? :P

He did lie to them several times and GIVE ESTELLE OVER TO THE BAD GUYS THEN FIGHT THE PARTY!

[Baloonatic]

By the end of the game I always played as either Rita or Yuri. Rita is really fun and her Overlimit is great. That reminds me, I've only seen Yuri and Rita's Mystic Artes, I should check out the rest.

[R0nn]

Raven do nothing wrong? :P He did lie to them several times and GIVE ESTELLE OVER TO THE BAD GUYS THEN FIGHT THE PARTY!

Yeah well ok, besides that. :lol I guess I just really like the personality of the character, so I usually felt sorry for him when everyone was picking on him. He really reminds me of Jansen from Lost Odyssey. Doesn't he also have the exact same voice actor?

Another plot point I'm wondering about currently. What was Estelle's motivation to seek out Flynn at the beginning of the game? Maybe I overlooked, but it never became completely clear to me why she was so hell bent on meeting him.

Also, I'm really curious how others played the game, since I really have the impression that I didn't get everything out of it. I already mentioned that I underutilized altered, burst and mystic artes with party members and that I always controlled Yuri. How did you guys play the game? Also, how did you guys set up Estelle? I would always let her keep her distance and just let her keep spamming artes/spells, but I feel like she would also be quite decent in melee combat since she's got quite a bit of P.Def and quite a bit of melee artes. Almost like a Cleric from a D&D RPG.

[Kandrick]

Another plot point I'm wondering about currently. What was Estelle's motivation to seek out Flynn at the beginning of the game? Maybe I overlooked, but it never became completely clear to me why she was so hell bent on meeting him.

I forgot exactly, but i guessto warn Flynn about the assassin ( Zagi ) that is after him ?

[Fimbulvetr]

Raven do nothing wrong? :P He did lie to them several times and GIVE ESTELLE OVER TO THE BAD GUYS THEN FIGHT THE PARTY!

The scene where they all punch him out was hilarious though.:lol

[Natural]

Finally finished it after just under 70 hours.

Really good game, though the story was decent enough - wasn't as good as Symphonia's admittedly. Music was really well done in parts, Voice Acting I thought was particularly good and really suited each of the characters well (though Judiths' voice was annoying). Cut scenes were good.

Combat wise, the Fatal Strikes and FS Chain stuff didn't really grab me, was hoping for something similar to Symphonia's Union Attacks. The Mystic and Altered Artes was a nice touch, though I didn't really let any of the characters use the Mystic Artes (bar myself as Yuri) as I thought the AI would use the Over Limit at stupid times (which they did).

Only managed to clock up ~1900 Grade at the end of the game, so i'm somewhat limited to the things I can buy for the next play-through.

For the Unknown Difficulty, is that a harder difficulty similar to Symphonia's Hard/Mania setting?

[Geneijin]

I don't really like how many sidequests can be missed so easily and are usually really obscure. The game doesn't give off any hints towards most of them, so it boils down to randomly backtracking all over the place. Many jRPGs do this, and I really wonder why?

Sidequests are easy to find and do in Vesperia compared to Abyss if you haven't played although the very short loading times help that experience immensely unlike the other. Since the game is broken into 3 parts, I found it easier to double check for hidden quests really

[ZealousD]

Opened my mailbox today and had an unexpected surprise. I actually got the other parts of the 10th anniversary soundtrack. Included both Vol 2 and unexpectedly... a volume 3.

Not sure whether this was because of Tales Brigade or the Collector's Edition bonus, I ordered the soundtrack from both.

[Geneijin]

For the Unknown Difficulty, is that a harder difficulty similar to Symphonia's Hard/Mania setting?

Pretty much. But you may be surprised at the difficulty from Hard to Unknown.

[Pancakes]

Pretty much. But you may be surprised at the difficulty from Hard to Unknown.

It's not too bad, but most boss's Mystic Artes will insta kill you.

[Wizpig]

Out of stock everywhere... anyone knows where to buy Vesperia from a UK site or a site that ships to Italy too?
It's for a friend.

[Misterinenja]

Shit I missed the backstep for Yuri and I'm in the endgame right before the last dungeon. :lol Where can I get the skill?

Got all the materials for Last Fencer from chip machines in Nam Cobanda in like ten minutes. Still missing couple of fell arms. Game's so fun!

[Traitor to Heaven]

Shit I missed the backstep for Yuri

I did the same thing. I think you get the weapon in Deidon Hold.

[UltimateIke]

Shit I missed the backstep for Yuri and I'm in the endgame right before the last dungeon. :lol Where can I get the skill? Got all the materials for Last Fencer from chip machines in Nam Cobanda in like ten minutes. Still missing couple of fell arms. Game's so fun!

Why would you want Backstep now that you've got Glory? 'Tis no time for running; equip the Stun Talisman and full charge ahead!*

*No guarantees made on the quality of such a strategy depending character level and difficulty setting.

:P

But yeah, the Scimitar at Deidon Hold has Backstep.

[Kweh]

What is the idea behind Judith's Minimum Damage skill where she just hits for 1 all the time?

[Datschge]

What is the idea behind Judith's Minimum Damage skill where she just hits for 1 all the time?

It's for making endless combo chains possible without the enemy dieing on you. There are plenty videos of such from diverse Tales games out there.

[Fimbulvetr]

It's for making endless combo chains possible without the enemy dieing on you. There are plenty videos of such from diverse Tales games out there.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9V3Ee1fuiX0

But yeah, everyone learns the minimum damage skill. It's just for combing really(and grade grinding).

[Aexact]

What is the idea behind Judith's Minimum Damage skill where she just hits for 1 all the time?

You know those colored glyphs that tell you when Fatal Strikes are coming up? Enemy types will drop more LP, Gald or items if you perform a certain color Fatal Strike on them. As you advance in the game, you'll probably be killing things faster then you can activate the glyphs and miss out on the bonuses unless you have something like Minimum Damage. You can also increase the bonus by chaining glyphs which is basically making the glyph appear, not doing the Fatal Strike but continuing to combo the enemy (not allowing them to block or recover) until the same color glyph appears again. There should be a counter in the right hand corner in battle that tells you how long your chain is. When you've had enough, finish the chain with a Fatal Strike.

There should be a page in the in-game battle book that tells you what enemies are related to what color glyph.

[Papercuts]

FINALLY, shitty pic edition.

[img]http://i32.************/1zwp2zl.jpg[/img]

Only took 167 hours over the span of a year! :lol

Awesome game and all, but god damn I see why I usually never bother to 100% RPGs.

[Pancakes]

Awesome game and all, but god damn I see why I usually never bother to 100% RPGs.

Congrats, you got 100% faster than I did :lol.

[Netto-kun]

Beaten the PS3 version. Loved it from beginning to the end. Will probably start an EX New Game once I've done some grade farming and beaten Valkyria Chronicles. As for those who are curious about Flynn, he is playable during Ghasfarost, Baction, Heracles and becomes a permanent member after all the main events in Aurnion.

[Fimbulvetr]

As for those who are curious about Flynn, he is playable during Ghasfarost, Baction, Heracles and becomes a permanent member after all the main events in Aurnion.

I knew it.

[Firestorm]

Beaten the PS3 version. Loved it from beginning to the end. Will probably start an EX New Game once I've done some grade farming and beaten Valkyria Chronicles. As for those who are curious about Flynn, he is playable during Ghasfarost, Baction, Heracles and becomes a permanent member after all the main events in Aurnion.

If the game has trophies, are the secret missions the same? Wondering if I need to update the OP.

Any additional secret bosses? =D

[Fimbulvetr]

If the game has trophies, are the secret missions the same? Wondering if I need to update the OP. Any additional secret bosses? =D

Yes, some new Giganto monsters as well as the Sword Dancer.

Probably more too.

[DY_nasty]

I really rushed the game my first time through, is there anything I should really keep a look out for in the new game ex? I don't want to use a walkthrough or anything but if one is necessary let me know and I'll go ahead and swallow my pride.

[Hyunkel6]

I really rushed the game my first time through, is there anything I should really keep a look out for in the new game ex? I don't want to use a walkthrough or anything but if one is necessary let me know and I'll go ahead and swallow my pride.

It's been nearly 9 months since I finished the game, but I remember that the Fel Arms sidequest, the Giganto monsters and the secret missions were pretty fun to do.

That said, it's very hard to do those sidequests (except maybe the Giganto monsters) without a walkthrough.

[MelloBoy]

I really rushed the game my first time through, is there anything I should really keep a look out for in the new game ex? I don't want to use a walkthrough or anything but if one is necessary let me know and I'll go ahead and swallow my pride.

lots of skits and events and ultimately ... titles? (称号) are available during a limited time in the game. If you trigger events along the main story, some of them become unavailable. Also, some side-quests may override other sidequests which prevents a number of events from happening until the overriding sidequest/subevent/etc is cleared.

i'm not sure if that's what you're asking about, though...

[Netto-kun]

I knew it.

I forgot to mention that he is also playable during Zaude.

If the game has trophies, are the secret missions the same? Wondering if I need to update the OP. Any additional secret bosses? =D

Yes, the game has trophies, and there are 25 secret missions in total. The 1s new secret mission is against the Sword Dancer when you run into the abandoned pirate ship (Atherum or something?). If I didn't mistranslate the objective description, you'll earn the trophy by knocking down the boss while he is loading his revolver with bullets (secret mission 8 in the PS3 version). You'll fight him once more waaaaaaaay later in the game, in Nor Harbor right before all the events in Aurnion.

I assume (since I didn't beat the mission) that the 2nd new secret mission (secret mission 20 in the PS3 version) is against the Daybreaker and Nightbreaker, since that secret mission is shown after Alexei but before Gusio.

As for secret bosses, Rich at the King of Adventure mentioned 11 Giganto monsters in total. Yuri will also have a solo fight (minor part of the main story event) against Don Whitehorse in Keiv Moc (level 60+ with 160k HP), after beating the Gigalarva.