For those of you who have played Eternal Sonata or Blue Dragon due your ability to connect with characters that appear in an animated fashion will fall in love with this game. That is not to say those who enjoy your RPGs with realistic character models should stay away. Much to the opposite in fact. There is a rich story with charming characters set in a world struggling to understand its ancient history and technology.
The voice acting is nicely played with only the odd bit of cliched voice matching certain characters. The graphics are beautiful, always reserved, never attempting to show off the wonders it has to offer. The game's length is unexpectedly long, being just a single disc, I hadn't expected to still be playing 100+ hours. The game world is thoughtfully designed with many towns and dungeons to explore, many of which change depending on if entered during day/night or various weather effects.
The character design is a series staple with the main characters design… more »

For those of you who have played Eternal Sonata or Blue Dragon due your ability to connect with characters that appear in an animated fashion will fall in love with this game. That is not to say those who enjoy your RPGs with realistic character models should stay away. Much to the opposite in fact. There is a rich story with charming characters set in a world struggling to understand its ancient history and technology.
The voice acting is nicely played with only the odd bit of cliched voice matching certain characters. The graphics are beautiful, always reserved, never attempting to show off the wonders it has to offer. The game's length is unexpectedly long, being just a single disc, I hadn't expected to still be playing 100+ hours. The game world is thoughtfully designed with many towns and dungeons to explore, many of which change depending on if entered during day/night or various weather effects.
The character design is a series staple with the main characters design (Yuri and Judith in particular) being the most original but all holding their individual personality. There is also the option of aquiring titles which then changes said clothing to a completly different outfit ranging from maids, spa managers, knights, frogs, goths etc. Skits is a system in which the player views conversations of the characters in various situations and points in the story and allows one to gain helpful insight into the characters thoughts and feelings. This is a great way to connect with the characters without overloading the main plot with lots of character past events which are not relevant.
The battles are dynamic although the camera angle can feel alittle uninspiring hovering out infront but will change depending on where the character is on the field so it never becomes a problem. The skills and abilities are gained via items and weapons equiped aswell as developing basic skills to intermediate, advanced, arcane etc etc.
There are many many many side quests to undertake, many lead to knew titles or better weapons. Also a secret town, a mystery dungeon and a new game plus to get your teeth into once the main events are over. The new game plus allows one to buy certain effects (such as double exp; keep all items, titles, map, skills; increase item drop rates aswell as many other effects) using 'Grade', points aquired at the end of each and every battle, depending on ones performance (a bad battle can even take grade away from already accumulated grade). This coupled with cooking, item creation, dragon riding, online leaderboards and an original story that has few cliches, it is certainly a game for anyone that wishes to play more than just another JRPG.

Ok as any gamer knows this console generation has been generally lacking in the RPG genre in comparison to previous generations but boy do they have quality.

Lost Odyssey was simply the best RPG this generation and for some its an all time great.
Valkyria Chronicles was simply a brilliant rpg and just like Lost Odyssey its earned its title as king of RPG on the PS3.
Finally though through Tales of Vesperia we have a game that is just as good as Lost Odyssey if not better. Amazing gameplay brilliant story and simply the best looking RPG to date and that is saying alot considering just how beautiful Lost Odyssey looks.

If you are an RPG fan this is a MUST get Star Ocean was a bit of a let down but this Tales game delivers.

If you are new to RPG there really is no better place to start, the game eases you into its gameplay dynamics as to not overwelm you which is frankly a great way of doing things.

There were 2 RPG's that everyone who enjoys the genre… more »

Ok as any gamer knows this console generation has been generally lacking in the RPG genre in comparison to previous generations but boy do they have quality.

Lost Odyssey was simply the best RPG this generation and for some its an all time great.
Valkyria Chronicles was simply a brilliant rpg and just like Lost Odyssey its earned its title as king of RPG on the PS3.
Finally though through Tales of Vesperia we have a game that is just as good as Lost Odyssey if not better. Amazing gameplay brilliant story and simply the best looking RPG to date and that is saying alot considering just how beautiful Lost Odyssey looks.

If you are an RPG fan this is a MUST get Star Ocean was a bit of a let down but this Tales game delivers.

If you are new to RPG there really is no better place to start, the game eases you into its gameplay dynamics as to not overwelm you which is frankly a great way of doing things.

There were 2 RPG's that everyone who enjoys the genre should have:

Lost Odyssey XBOX360

Valkyria Chronicles PS3

but now I am frankly DELIGHTED to add another MUST BUY game to those two Tales Of Vesperia.