Tales of Vesperia

Official Story Description

A power struggle begins in a civilization dependent on an ancient technology, the blastia, and the Empire that controls it. The fates of two friends traveling separate paths intertwine in an epic adventure that threatens the existence of all.

Setting

Tales of Vesperia takes place in a world called Terca Lumireis. In Terca Lumireis, human civilization depends on ancient blastia technology, which uses a magical substance called aer as fuel to power everything from water fountains to the barriers that protect its cities from the hordes of monsters that inhabit the world. The most powerful of these monsters are ancient creatures called Entelexeia.

The main powers in this world are the Empire and the Guild Union. The Empire is protected and policed by the Imperial Knights and is normally ruled by an emperor or empress, but no one has held that title for several years. Both the Imperial Knights and the Empire’s bureaucracy are plagued with corruption. The Guild Union is an association of guilds based in the city of Dahngrest. It is headed by the five most powerful guilds, known as the Five Master Guilds, consisting of Altosk, Fortune’s Market, Blood Alliance, Ruins’ Gate, and Soul Smiths. Most guilds in Terca Lumireis are members of the Guild Union as this is generally good for business. (Non-union guilds must pay a portion of their profits to the Guild Union when working with their members.) The Guild Union has rules that prohibit member guilds from fighting amongst themselves or interfering with other member guilds’ business practices. Anyone who is a member of a guild is not considered an imperial citizen, so the Guild Union is essentially the second largest governing body in the world.

Not yet available.

Battle System

Tales of Vesperia’s battle system is called Evolved Flex-Range Linear Motion Battle System (EFR-LMBS), as it is based on the FR-LMBS gameplay in Tales of the Abyss. One major change is that multiple groups of enemies encountered on the world map can be fought at the same time, with up to eight enemies appearing in one battle. In addition, new features like Over Limit levels and Fatal Strikes have been added in Tales of Vesperia.

Over Limit

The Over Limit gauge increases as the party attacks enemies. There are four levels of the Over Limit gauge that can be filled and used:

Each Over Limit level has the effects of all previous levels. Skill Symbol effects are also improved for higher Over Limit levels. In the PS3 and later versions of Tales of Vesperia, up to eight levels of the Over Limit gauge can be filled, but each character can only use four levels at a time.

Burst Artes

During Over Limit, Burst Artes can be used by pressing and holding the arte button after using an arcane arte. These are especially powerful artes that cost 0 TP to use. The type of Burst Arte used varies depending on what skills are equipped.

Mystic Artes

During a level 3 or higher Over Limit, use an arcane arte and press the attack button to use a mystic arte. Mystic artes are the most powerful offensive attack in the game and feature a special cut-in anime image. In Tales of Vesperia, mystic artes are only available for characters with the Special skill equipped.

Fatal Strike

Fatal Strikes are special attacks that can instantly kill non-boss enemies, regardless of their current HP. They also provide various bonuses, like increased EXP or LP. There are three gauges associated with Fatal Strikes: blue, red, and green. Every arte is associated with one of these Fatal Strike gauges, as are different attacking directions (up for blue, down for red, and forward for green). When an arte or attack associated with a gauge is used, that gauge will drain slightly. When a gauge is completely drained and another arte of its type is used, a symbol will appear on the enemy to indicate that the Fatal Strike button can be pressed to execute a Fatal Strike. Certain Fatal Strikes are more effective against enemies that are weak to them:

Secret Missions

Several boss battles in Tales of Vesperia have an optional “secret mission” that can be completed during the fight. There are 23 secret missions in total. Some of these are alternative ways of defeating a boss, while others just involve targeting a particular weak point or interacting with part of the battlefield. If all 23 secret missions are completed in one playthrough, Yuri’s “True Knight” title and its associated costume can be unlocked.

Game and World System

World Map

The world map functions similarly to those in other contemporary Tales games with the lead character moving around an abstract map, on which enemies also appear. One key change in Tales of Vesperia is that more than one enemy group can be encountered concurrently. This can occur when the player bumps into multiple enemy models at the same time or when a second enemy just close enough to the one that the player bumps into. This results in a more challenging battle with more enemies than normal.

Skits

Skits in Tales of Vesperia are fully voiced in both English and Japanese. They primarily feature the characters’ animated faces speaking, but occasionally show larger sprites.

Skills

A key part of Tales of Vesperia’s gameplay is the skill system. Skills can be equipped to improve a character’s stats or give them new abilities in battle. Some notable skills are Special, which is a prerequisite for mystic artes, and altered arte skills.

Weapons in Tales of Vesperia have skills associated with them. While a weapon is equipped, its skills are also equipped on that character. To equip a skill without also equipping the associated weapon, that skill must be learned by accruing LP (learning points) by winning battles with the weapon equipped. Once a skill has been learned, it can be equipped as long as the character has enough SP (skill points) available to equip that particular skill. Different skills have different LP and SP requirements, so some skills can be learned faster or equipped more easily than others. Each character’s total SP increases as they level up, so more skills can be equipped as the player progresses through the game.

Altered Artes

Certain skills can change a particular arte or help a character learn a new arte. Some altered artes are simply improved versions of the original arte, but others add elemental effects or completely change its effect. There are no level requirements for learning an altered arte, but the character must have the associated skill equipped and must use the arte a certain number of times to learn it. Physical artes must be used 100 times and magical artes must be used 50 times. Once the arte is fully learned, it can be used even when the skill is not equipped.

Skill Symbols

There are four categories of skills: Attack, Guard, Move, and Support. If enough skills in certain category combinations are equipped, a Skill Symbol is formed. Skill Symbols provide bonus effects during Over Limit, such as increased stats, more Gald/EXP awarded, and HP/TP recovery.

Cooking

Cooking is available in the menu in Tales of Vesperia, after it is unlocked during a scene in the Quoi Woods. Up to four recipes can be set to directional shortcuts to allow meals to be cooked from the victory screen after a battle is completed. While all of the human characters can cook equally effective meals, any recipe that Repede attempts to cook will produce dog food (which heals 1% of HP and TP) regardless of the ingredients used. Recipes can be obtained in three ways: story or sidequest events, locating the Wonder Chef hidden in a town, and by having a particular character cook a similar recipe repeatedly.

Each character has their own food preferences, so the effectiveness of a meal can vary depending on whether the eater likes or dislikes it. For example, if the party eats cake, Yuri and Estelle would have more TP restored than normal because they like cake, while Raven would recover less TP because he dislikes cake. In addition to having their own personal preferences, all characters get tired of eating the same thing over and over, so the benefits of a meal will decrease slightly for everyone if it is cooked two or more times in a row.

Costumes

Character outfits can be changed in Tales of Vesperia by assigning certain titles. Some costumes can be unlocked in game through various sidequests, but others can only be obtained via DLC purchases. The DLC costume sets were introduced in the PS3 version of Tales of Vesperia.