Thanks to some super-sleuthing from the fine folks over at Gematsu, rumors had been circling that a Tales of Vesperia remaster was heading to the PS4. This news has finally been confirmed at this years E3! The remaster will be to celebrate the RPG’s 10th anniversary. Now you may be wondering why on earth you should get excited by a game that came out a decade ago? Well that’s because it’s widely considered by many to be one of the best entries in the Tales of series. This will also be the first time that it’s been released in the West on a PlayStation console.
Rumors of exclusive deals
The game was originally released worldwide on Xbox 360, which was a pretty strange choice at the time. This is especially true when you consider just how popular the series is in Japan and how Xbox 360 was not exactly making massive in-roads into that territory at the time. A community manager for Namco Bandai (now known as Bandai Namco Entertainment) commented online that Microsoft had paid for an exclusivity deal. This caused many fans to lament about how unfair these kinds of deals can be. The same Community Manager did later say that this statement had been inaccurate, but it was never fully clear if this sudden reversal was just something hastily issued at the decree of management.
A year after the Xbox 360 launch, the game was finally ported over to the PS3 and given tons of additional content including new characters, areas to explore, and boss fights. It also featured twice as much voice acting as the Xbox 360 version. Sadly, Western fans were again to be disappointed as this version was only released in Japan.
This will be the first time that Tales of Vesperia will be released in the West on a Sony console. Chances are it’ll also be remastered from the PS3 version of the game which means that we’ll be getting the most complete version ever seen in the West.
Why you should be excited
Tales of Vesperia has all the classic markings of a great JRPG, with the games protagonist rising from humble beginnings to go on to achieve great things. In this case, our humble hero is former imperial knight Yuri Lowell. He’s the kind of guy who wants to make the world a better place, but feels ultimately frustrated when there’s so much corruption throughout the government. After a magic gem is stolen from a water fountain in the poor part of town, Yuri sets out to catch the thief but ends up entangled in a much more epic adventure to save the world.
While that may all sound like the usual JRPG clichés, you’d be foolish to write it off too quickly. What rises this above the standard tropes is its terrific cast of characters who are all extremely engaging and likable. You will end up caring about each and every one of them.
Tales of games are known for their kick-ass battle systems and Tales of Vesperia is no exception. You won’t need to get far into the game before you’ll be throwing out fancy battle skills and explosive artes like the battle maestro you never knew you were. There is nothing more satisfying than using over the top attacks to pummel your enemies into submission.
As with all Tales of games, Tales of Vesperia is filled to the brim with side quests to sink your teeth into. With an abundance of costumes to find, cooking recipes to learn, skits to view, and mini-games to play this is one that’s sure to hold your attention for a good long while.
We need Tales of Vesperia on PS4
We’ve had two recent entries of the Tales of series on the PS4: Tales of Zestiria and Tales of Berseria. While they both reviewed well they did have many niggling issues – Tales of Zestiria had its somewhat awkward translations and average looking graphics, while Tales of Berseria suffered slightly with its insistence on still still throwing tutorials at you even when you were over 30 hours into the game. I feel like it’d be a huge boost to the series to have a strong entry like Vesperia re-released, and it would undoubtedly bring in both newcomers and existing fans alike.
With its gorgeous looking anime-style graphics, intense battles, and endearing characters, Tales of Vesperia is definitely the kind of RPG that we need on PS4, and it’s about time that it finally gets released in the West on a Sony console. Hopefully this is also a sign that other classic Tales of games will soon be heading our way. It’d be truly awesome if Tales of the Abyss was remastered for the PS4. This is another Tales of game that is widely brought up when fans are discussing their favorite entry in the series. I also wouldn’t say no to a Western release of Tales of Destiny, specifically the Director’s Cut version that was released only in Japan on the PS2 way back in 2008.
Are there other Tales of games that you’d love to see on the PS4? Be sure to let us know in the comments what your favorite Tales of game is!
