If you missed the announcement we made recently through our Social Media posts, past contributor and longtime Tales content creator Pássaro has rejoined the team at Abyssal Chronicles to spearhead a series of gameplay guides for the series, starting with Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition. Check out what we have so far below!
If you've been a fan of the Tales series and liked watching videos of skilled players showing off the full depth of the Linear Motion Battle System, there's a good chance you've run into one of Pássaro's videos. He's been making videos for the Tales series for over a decade now, putting a lot of work into showing how deep and more importantly fun and cool Tales is when played at a high level, and he continues to make more to this day. If you haven't, you can find them at his Youtube channel here. As we said, he's rejoined the team here at Abyssal Chronicles to spearhead a new project on this site: in-depth gameplay Guides and videos for the whole series!
It's no secret that Tales' gameplay can be hard to understand or learn for many people. Compared to most Action games, they're quite unorthodox. It's also just a general fact of games that not everyone is going to figure everything out themselves- after all, games with a lot of depth leave many things unexplained because you're here to play a game and enjoy everything that comes with it, not spend more time in a tutorial than learning the game. Unfortunately this also means whatever tutorials we do get are not adequate for many people, and they turn to other resources for help learning. That's why these guides can be super helpful. It's not just for players struggling though, many of us also enjoy exploring the full depth of a game, and as a community we work together, ask questions and discuss the intricacies of gameplay to learn even more about this series we're fans of. Whether you consider yourself casual or die-hard, beginner or skilled, we recommend checking these guides out.
This is not just an announcement. There's already a playlist of guides ready to go for Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition at this link! We'll also link a few key individual ones from the playlist below so you can get a good idea what kind of videos the playlist entails before you decide to look at the whole playlist. While these videos are just for Vesperia, guides for more games in the series are planned and it should give a good idea how to approach improving at any Tales game. There isn't a single clear solution to any obstacle or difficulty you encounter as a player. This goes hand in hand with all the depth and freedom the games provide. If you're willing to put in the work and lab the games yourself you won't just improve your skills. You'll find your own style, and your own fun. As is stated in the videos themselves: Practice, not Perfection.
Tales of Vesperia: Basic and Advanced Mechanics Introduction
These is a really good way to begin learning Tales of Vesperia, even if you don't intend to get too deep into the mechanics. It's still important to learn to make your playthrough smooth and fun. The game does give you a tutorial and in-game manuals, but that's not adequate for everyone to truly understand how to play, especially since the Tales series plays very different from your usual action games. If you're playing this game for the first time or you know someone who's just getting into it, we highly recommend sending them these two videos.
Pássaro's Bootcamp: Tales of Vesperia (full playlist Here)
Lesson 3: Spell-cancel
This is a very important one. Spell-cancelling is an important recurring mechanic in the Tales series, and one that's almost never available to the protagonist. In Vesperia alone it allows most of the party more freedom in how they use their Artes in a way that even Yuri doesn't have access to. Since this mechanic appears in multiple games and opens up a new world of play styles, this video is well worth paying attention to.
Lesson 5: How to "Learn" Judith
Learning how to play a character isn't as simple as reading instructions, but you get a lot more out of Tales games when you experiment with different characters and make an earnest attempt to learn them. You may find yourself enjoying a game a lot more when you find a playstyle on one of the party members that appeal to you more than the game's protagonist. Judith is a good example of this as she is one of the most unorthodox yet rewarding characters in Vesperia, and this video helps you get into the right mindset to learn and practice playing as her.
Lesson 7: How to deal with Boss Tech-outs (WARNING: this video contains Boss Spoilers)
Boss Tech-Outs (an unofficial name, other fans have referred to them as bursts or more literally combo escapes) are a hidden mechanic in Tales of Vesperia that allows the game to retain difficulty even after you master the ability to perform extended combos. Many fans notice this mechanic, but it can be hard to figure out how to deal with them, and in-fact it's not immediately clear that it's even possible to continue your combo after a boss does a Tech-Out. Thankfully, as this video shows, you can master this mechanic as well and remain in control of a boss fight. It's one of the most satisfying mechanics to learn, and it's also a good example of how deep the game's combat goes.
There's even more videos in the playlist itself, and yet more to come in the future! If you're interested at all in learning more and improving your skills, be sure to check them out. Remember, this is only the start-a lot more guides in various forms are planned in the future, so keep an eye on our site and our social media and we'll update as they come!
Tales of Vesperia is the tenth mothership title of the series initially released for the Xbox 360. The Japanese and North American English localization release dates of the game were within the same month, a first in the entire series. It later got ported to the PlayStation 3 with additional features, but this never got an English release. An updated version known as “Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition” will be released for both Japan & the West in Winter 2018. Vesperia tells the story of Yuri, a former Imperial Knight. A movie called Tales of Vesperia: The First Strike was later released which tells the story of Yuri prior to the game’s events.
