Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition

Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition
80
Metacritic
81
Steam
84.503
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$49.99
Release date
10 January 2019
Steam reviews score
Total
81 (3 137 votes)
Recent
63 (19 votes)

Celebrate the 10th anniversary of Tales of Vesperia and the return of this fan-favorite with the Definitive Edition!

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Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition system requirements

Minimum:

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Microsoft Windows 7/8/8.1/Windows 10 (64-bit)
  • Processor: Core i5-750, ~2.7GHz / AMD X6 FX-6350 3,9GHz AM3
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: GeForce GTX 660 2GB / Radeon HD 7950 3GB
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 25 GB available space
  • Sound Card: DirectX 11 compatible
  • Additional Notes: Minimum Spec: Frame Fate: stable more than 60 Resolution: 1280x720 Setting: LOW/OFF Anti-aliasing: OFF The above conditions need to be met to achieve minimum system requirements.
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BishopManny
BishopManny

Ever since I finished Tales of Phantasia for the SNES, I've been a fan of this series. I also finished Tales of Symphonia for the Gamecube. Tales of Vesperia has continued the ancient tradition of the Tales franchise, refining and expanding the formula for newer generations. It's fun so far, my only complaint is that the menu is kinda buggy with the cursor jumping randomly. However, buggy menus won't stop me from saving the world (again).

Ahriman
Ahriman

I really wanted to like this game. Drawing is great. Story is quite good as well (at least in the beginning of the game). So what's wrong?

Most annoying thing is camera. Game is from 2019 and you can't rotate it ffs like it's bloody 1989. It's ok when walking around, you can manage but in combat it becomes a major problem. And don't get me started on combat. Real time combat on a small circular arena where you can't see where you're running - really? Controls are also unusable on keyboard so be sure to have a joystick.

TLDR: Sloppy console port of a JRPG. If you're not into JRPGs you probably won't like it.

BjarkeGunnar
BjarkeGunnar

Love the story its funny and catching, the design they have for quick cut-scenes is great. However the fighting is all but impossible unless you have a gamepad. I want to keep playing this but i cant beat the boss I'm fighting because i can only move in straight lines. I will play this later but i have to change to windows 10 so i can use a controller i have first, very disappointed.

iEchoism
iEchoism

Tales of the Abyss was the highlight of my childhood, so I was stoked when I saw some TotA easter eggs scattered within this game! Thus, Tales of Vesperia was reminiscent of my carefree youth.

dsorcic
dsorcic

This looks like it's probably a cool game. But, for me, I had such a difficult time first setting up my controller to play and then my keyboard and mouse.
It's just too awkward to play on the keyboard. There's just too many things to remember (being over 60 doesn't help lol). The controller did not match up all of the assignments to the buttons shown.
And then, ALL the TALKING!!!! Way too much!!! I've always loved this type of game but come on! This isn't a TV show!
I got a refund!

raisin
raisin

For anyone having controller issues with your controller just not working at all for whatever reason: this is gonna sound like a joke but ctrl+alt+delete and then cancel it. It worked for me for whatever reason so maybe it might for you! Don't ask why because I really don't know

Askolei
Askolei

Randomly crashes and doesn't work correctly with controllers. Yet another lazy PC port by Namco Bandai.

Code Slicer
Code Slicer

Story-wise it is "ok" (not the mature/philosophic content usually found in jRPGs), but everything else is a gorgeous S+.

The main story is big enough to keep you busy without wasting your time with fillers, there are some neat 2d cutscenes to engage you with the story, and the change between 1° and 2° arc makes you want to reach the end to understand what the hell is happening.

Gameplay wise there are A LOT of possibilities of different skill combinations, "artes", and the combos you can execute with them (with delightful animations for the higher level ones). Besides, all party members are playable, which gives the player a ridiculous amount of combos to master.

Its art style is awesome, and this applies to every single pixel of the screen. Also, this entry definitely has the best "anime like" 3d models I've ever seen.

The OST is good enough to make the scenarios/story point distinguishable, but except for the "Ring a Bell" they aren't remarkable as Final Fantasy ones.

Overall, I would recommend this for younger audiences or hardcore action RPGs fans
ヽ(´ー`)ノ

PS.: put the game on hard mode if you want some challenge

DeLuman
DeLuman

This is one of my favorite Tales games and I originally played it on the Xbox360 in 2008.

Overall this is a very good game, and a acceptable port to PC with some little glitches from time to time, but they were only annoying enough to notice two times in 50 hours played.

My real issue with the game is the changes in English Voice Actors from the original; I hate to be critical but they just aren't as good and it ruins the flow of dialouge when an obviously different VA replaces a character for one or two lines in the middle of a conversation.

Besides that the combat is fun, the plot and characters are some of the best in this series. There's tons of content I didn't get a chance to go through that would add dozens of more hours if you wanted and were looking for a nice game to get stuck into for days or weeks.

Poojipoo
Poojipoo

Vesperia is an excellent entry in the Tales series and well worth a play for JRPG fans and especially anyone who's enjoyed a Tales game.

+The cast and story is one of the best in the series.
+Yuri is one of the best JRPG protagonists, imho!
+Great art direction makes the game a visual treat even by today's standards.
+Almost fully voiced minus town NPC interaction and a handful of cutscenes, and the voice acting is great (minus some issues with the Definitive Edition additions I'll mention below)
-The battle system takes a while to pick up as it starts out very limited and doesn't give you skills for spicing it up till a ways in, but it eventually ends up being pretty fun, just not the best battle system in the series.
-The additions from the Definitive Edition are a little hit-or-miss, with the additional story and voice over sometimes being adversely affected by the long 10 year gap between voice recording and unfortunate re-casting mishaps in the English language version, but I did personally get used to it.

solar_sequence
solar_sequence

Honestly, this game is hard at certain points, and I recommend it to anyone who likes a good anime cut scene now and then. But if your not into hammering your keyboard buttons or controller buttons might not before you. I like it though.

NamVi3t
NamVi3t

Personally, I played a lot of the Tale Series game and Tales of Vesperia is my favorite out of all of the Tale Series Games. Now, I did play this game before on the Xbox 360. The characters are well written. My personal favorites being Yuri, Raven, Judith, Flynn, and Patty. All of them go through character development at some point in the story and you get to learn how each characters approach to different situations. Dialogue is great overall. It has a great balance of serious and funny. The characters in the story seem to vibe with one another and I love it. Voice casting for both English and Japanese are S Tier. I usually prefer to play most games in Japanese voices but the English is something special. This is game is nice. Sometimes its hard for me to find out where I need to go. I am basically Zoro from One Piece when it comes to directions. But overall, I love this game and I considered it a master piece. I would reccommend this game, I will say that this game is long but its worth it because the story is S Tier.

Tezius
Tezius

The visuals are nice. The voice acting isnt terrible. The dubbing is solid if thats your bag. The characters are a bit tropey, but its a jrpg so thats what youre signing up for.

The most amount of your time in these games though is spent in combat, and combat feels super clunky because of huge delays after any action. It's an intentional design choice because they give you an "overlimit" ability to trigger every now and then that removes all delay. So most of the time it feels like youre playing in molasses. It might as well be turn based. You also hit a grind wall very early (i was about 5 hours in) where it throws a level 20 boss at you that 2-3 shots a party member and is super fast. If youve done every fight along the way to that encounter you might be level 12 or 13 with a handful of healing items. It's a lot like running into the tiger boss in Secret of Mana, and just as annoying.

JRPGs are usually time sinks, but this is shaping up to be the the worst kind of "disrespect your time" kind of time sink as opposed to "bury you in all kinds of stuff to do" time sink. If you know what youre about and this sounds like your thing, go for it, but there are plenty of games that just do all this better.

Cosmicdancer87
Cosmicdancer87

A pretty good JRPG. The additions they did for the Definitive Edition are nice. The game does still kind of play like it is from 2008 though but overall still enjoyable. I haven't really gotten deep into the story so I can't say how good it is but the first few hours are compelling enough to keep wanting to play.

kkitts
kkitts

The game is severely unbalanced in one boss fight. Even using walkthroughs, and following them to the letter, the Gattuso boss is unbeatable. There is no way to buy or synthesize items in that section of the game, so I have to sacrifice hours of gameplay to backtrack, and then grind levels and massive amounts of money for many more hours so I can overstock healing items (5 life potions disappeared in 2 minutes, and that was all I had). I can't get past it now, so I'm done. The story wasn't that good, the party AI is boneheaded, and it's an ARPG with no way to stop the flow of time and issue commands, which I hate. It's a pity that they couldn't be bothered to balance their game, and it was stupid of me to depend solely on Steam reviews when I should have dug deeper into the battle system elsewhere and saved myself some money.

If you do purchase this game, grab a walkthrough and stick to it the whole way - read ahead before entering any new area, so you don't have the same awful experience I did.

Sauce
Sauce

One of my favorite JRPGs to date, own this game on 4 different platforms (360, PS3 JP, Switch and Steam). The game is hard but rewarding in my opinion; I'm curious as to why it has mixed reviews recently. I 100% recommend this for any JRPG fans and 'Tales of' fans.

blueberrycheez
blueberrycheez

One of the best Tales games ever made, both side quest and main story are worth it in my opinion. Also, my best girl is Estellise I love her so much

BigDip
BigDip

Couldn't even make it past the first fight with a medium difficulty boss. He uses the same combo over and over and over and over and over. While it interrupts you constantly and is Horribly obnoxious, it feels like I'm watching a horrible movie watching my character get knocked down time and time again while blocking, and getting healed over and over by an AI healer. Terrible opener and only shows what is to come. Uninstalled during that fight and wish I was intrigued enough by this game to make it to the 3rd save point, or even past the intro.

ringotaku
ringotaku

A fun Tales game with enjoyable characters. Solid recommend for anyone looking to expand their RPG playlist

kemcmil7
kemcmil7

Tales of Vesperia is my 4th favorite Tales of game (3rd is Eternia, 2nd is Abyss and 1st is Symphonia, games you should all also play!) The gameplay is frickin SOLID, the cast being veterans in their craft and not being newbies is refreshing, and the content the game has is VERY fulfilling and will overall will keep you entertained for a long time. I HIGHLY recommend this awesome game to anyone!

max784020
max784020

Except for Arise, i have all of the tales games and this is the only one i enjoyed cause the combat is unique, symphonia is like the older simplified version of this combat. Fair to say this is the only tales i liked.

Having said that, this game is fukin AWESOME. One of the best jrpg and rpg in general i have played. It's up there with the best of the best.

Despite the 3D cam of the game, the combat is 2D oriented similar to smash bros, with enough deep and flexibility to let you go nuts with combo and skill chains, being wih symphonia the only ones in the saga with 2D combat, for me the best combat so far.

TLDR: 8.5~9.5/10

Dr. Roy
Dr. Roy

I have beautiful good memories of this game and I am thankful for the definitive edition that means I can finish what I started many years ago with a friend who has since passed away.

Cheelye
Cheelye

Meu primeiro e favorito Tales of até hoje. Mesmo depois de ter jogado os outros, nenhum deles ainda me mostrou a magia que é esse game. Yuri Lowell na minha opinião é um dos melhores protagonista dos Tales até hoje.

Agora sobre o jogo, segue o padrão das series Tales of até aquela epoca, sinceramente eu prefiro mil vezes esse sistema de combate ( Que foi aperfeiçoado nos jogos do Xillia. ) do que o do Bestiria e Zestiria. E hoje em dia você pode jogar com legendas em BR então da pra entender bem a historia e os personagens. Eu recomendo demais, amo muito esse jogo.

Cream Cake 🍰
Cream Cake 🍰

Pro: Best content for Tales. So much to do.

Con: One or two side story are bug janked, need to reload couple of times to make it work.

Oscar Sosa
Oscar Sosa

I LIEK DA DA GAEM WUZ MEMORIABIBLE IT WUZ GUED AND MADE FANNY STAFF SAID AND LAUGH LOUD PAIRIST WER LIEK WUT ZO FANNY AM LIEK OH MY GOD SO GUED

Kinghexen
Kinghexen

Don't bother with is game, at least on PC. It runs horribly and no matter what I do, with or without mod fixes, it constantly stutters or freezes. Which is too bad because i'm sure this is a fantastic Tales game. Why does Bandai Namco make horrible PC ports, especially the Tales series? Fix your Shit already and stop half-assing your PC ports.

Lumgus
Lumgus

This game was definitely not optimized for PC very well. Recently, my controller inputs decided to stop working for this game (I've also tried to play some other Tales of games on my PC since this glitch happened and guess what! Controllers don't work for those games either now!) and every time I've opened the game since, the controller that once worked refuses to work anymore. This game, like most other JRPGs, is a long game. I personally wouldn't recommend buying it on PC because this game is very reliant on a controller and if this problem happens to you, you're pretty much screwed from what I've been able to find.

okasion1
okasion1

Best Tales game ever. It's a little pricey, yes, but has new events and it's slightly different from the console version. A hidden? JRPG gem.

oskiboy123
oskiboy123

The game is unplayable for me, it start stuttering really bad at the first boss guy like one hour into the game

Livvi
Livvi

Very nice entry in the Tales series. I cried, would recommend.

Kylie
Kylie

This might be me but I kind of hated this game.

I have recently been playing through All of the tales games I've missed playing before going to Arise and so far THIS one has been the worse. It's stuck in this very awkward transition period between Abyss and Graces, and it shows. While I had little issues with Abyss, This...felt horrible I didn't like any of the characters except Mordio and She only gets a pass because I have a soft-spot for her VA. Patty is great and I love her story but everyone else?.... Yeah....Really couldn't care less and it was an absolute struggle to get through this game.

For context, I've played Symphonia, DoTNW, Abyss, Graces, Berseria, Legendia. I just don't see a place for this game and it's story to exist. Abyss was hard to get into because of how Luke is for so much of the game, but Unlike this Abyss came into it's own and I actually Love the characters and story there. Not the case here.

JohnnyThunderC@ck
JohnnyThunderC@ck

I knew nothing about this game besides it was like some games I was playing alot at the time. Not a bad game. it's age does show but besides that it's still a good time so far.

TheMostManlyMan
TheMostManlyMan

Absolutely solid entry to the series. Great story, writing and likable characters. Smooth, well rounded combat which rarely feels unbalanced or unfair, and unlike other PC ports, I've experienced exactly no performance issues.

KvAdam
KvAdam

Wow, what an adventure! After 120+ hours there’s still so much content left to discover, it’s crazy…

Vesperia is my the third Tales game I’ve played after Symphonia and Arise, so those are the only two titles in the franchise I can compare this one to. Regarding difficulty, I felt that Vesperia is somewhere between these two, so it’s maybe a little easier than Symphonia (the main story, that is, as some of the extra dungeons and optional bosses are downright brutal), but definitely much harder than Arise.

The story, the cast and the world are all extremely fun, even if some of the plot twists are not that surprising for anime lovers. I especially loved the protagonist, who, in my opinion, is one of the coolest and most relatable main characters in JRPGs ever, right next to Cloud, Crono and Zidane.

As for the rest, I believe the graphics and music are OK (considering how old the game is), and the combat is quite easy to learn (but a bit more difficult to fully master), even for someone like me who’s not a huge fan of active battle systems. I enjoyed the dungeons, too, with only a few frustrating puzzles here and there. And beside the main story, there’s tons of stuff to do here, with all the different difficulty settings, side-quests, collectibles, skills, and so on… I’ve never played the original, non-definitive version, so I don’t know how much of this was added later, but man, you’ll certainly get your money’s worth if you buy this!

All in all, another great installment in the franchise, can’t wait to play the next one!

dan2000_8
dan2000_8

I like the animation and design but the game play for the fighting is too wonky and awkward. It is not enjoyable on mouse and keyboard.

Anonymous
Anonymous

loved the character interactions, thoughtful plot - sad about the easily missable quests

hx9
hx9

This isn't a historic masterpiece, but it's a good game for fans of the Tales series or JRPGs in general. A solid B- that will sink to no less than a C as time progresses.

Gameplay will not and does not stand the test of time. As someone who played this after Zesteria, Berseria and Arise, there are frequent points of frustration.

Although there are many characters, not all are created equal - the action rpg issue of ranged physical characters (bows/guns) being broken has only gotten worse over time while other fighters feel too dependent on their limited resource, TP. There are some broken mechanics, the most egregious and easy to acquire being a cooked meal that gives 2000 agility, even in the early game when you have less than 200. I found myself only using two moves on the main character for 75% of the game.

That being said, the story and world building is above average, probably on par with Arise but worse than Symphonia and the Zesteria/Berseria saga. There are few illogical moments and optional story elements fill in motivation gaps well in traditional Tales fashion.

ComedyShortsGamer (Ivan)
ComedyShortsGa…

ayo siri is this game any good?

gogle:ok

raynojam
raynojam

A bit clunky after playing tales of arise but the character interactions are excellent. If you want a JRPG that mixes fighting game elements and has an engrossing story this is a great choice.

Non-Binary Genital Connoisseur
Non-Binary Gen…

Dont let my steam numbers fool you.

I have over 1000 hours on the xbox 360 version.

All of the characters are great.
The story is straight forward.
Theres actual end game content.

I fucking Love Vesperia.

10/10 would have gotten 11 but Bandai wouldnt get troy baker back for the voice of yuri for the new lines.
But hes doing a whole crypto currency thing, So like the chances of him redoing it are farther away now.

Darkclaw3050
Darkclaw3050

Highly recommended for fans of party-based action RPGs, and of course the Tales series. A must-play if you haven't, and worth a replay if you have.

+Visuals, cutscenes, art style
+Music, Ring A Bell
+Story, characters
+Variety of skills, weapons, armor
+Difficulty options
+Tons of content

-Low-res world map view
-Slow movement
-Fixed camera only in towns/dungeons
-Enemy pop-in on world map

randomkitty
randomkitty

The controls are really bad and clunky, they make it so the game is not as enjoyable as it could be. If you have a controller it makes makes it more enjoyable.

Duster Addict
Duster Addict

Average Tales Of Vesperia enjoyer:

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Kameno-o
Kameno-o

I bought a 300 dollar Repede plush that took 3 weeks to get here so you bet that I'm gonna put my money in my mouth and actually play this game.

Corrie
Corrie

I always felt like this was the best Tales game. Maybe it was just the time when I played it that was perfect but it felt like the story was really well developed and fleshed out, the graphics are stunning, the combat system is deep enough to keep you interested and the music is absolutely incredible.

If you like Tales games and have 100 hours to spare give this game a try.

1Suspect
1Suspect

Game didn't do cloud save for me, all my progress lost and have to start from scratch.

UJayBtw
UJayBtw

I played this game when it first released years ago and to have it in Definitive release in complete new edition I love it. Good story and long hours of grinding.

LeinIX
LeinIX

One of the few good examples of a Tales of game, which not only is a great RPG, but also a great Tales of game. Recommended to anyone who wants to enter the series, which is one that really stands up from the rest of the RPGs out there.

BlazingGodstar
BlazingGodstar

I have very mixed feelings on this game, but what I can tell you is definitely pick this up.

First things first, play this game with a controller, don't use a keyboard and mouse. I tried for the first few hours, but it was so clunky. I used my Nintendo Switch Pro Controller to play this, and it was much more enjoyable afterwards.

The story is wonderful, so much charm and love. The characters were very well written, with great character arcs. Art design was superb, and same with the soundtrack.

My biggest complaint was the combat. I was not a fan of it at all. It felt very clunky even with a controller. I feel like once you master how the combat works you'll have a blast of a time.

World traversal was confusing, and I had to look up guides to know where I had to go at times. The last 2 dungeons of the game, I had to use a guide since I was completely lost.

I didn't do any of the side-quests since the game started to feel like a chore to me, and just completed the main game.

This review was mainly negative, but don't let that hold you back. Definitely pick this up, especially when it goes on sale.

Incredible
Incredible

This was my first tales game. Start out really strong, and was very enjoyable, but by act 3 I did lose interest in the plot. The good news is the characters and the dialog between them are super entertaining. There are a few moments at the end where there is a payoff for seeing how the relationships between the main cast has grown.

Since I have't played any other tales games yet, I will say that out of all the JRPG games that I have played this is one of my top games. I can't wait to start playing other games in the franchise!

Haseo
Haseo

One of the best Tales games I've ever played. I played this game on PS3 and now on Steam, still as exciting as ever.

Bats
Bats

Really fun cast of characters for the most part and a solid story to follow along with. I also really liked the graphical style of the game. Lots of charm to it, and I appreciated how the main character was not afraid to get their hands dirty, and a whole lot of other stuff I won't go into as it'd entail spoilers. Highly recommended.

Sebuko
Sebuko

Pretty good JRPG, with an overall good presentation. Alot of extra content in the Definitive Edition, like playable Bonus Characters or some extra sub plots. Storywise it wasn´t that interesting for me and the characters are not that likeable, like in other JRPG´s. But it´s fun and that counts for me. Also impressive is the very low CPU/GPU usage in this Game (10% i7-7700). Very happy, they still make those Games nowadays.

Essppreso
Essppreso

I have played Vesperia on the 360 and already own and beat the physical version of DE on PS4. Now I'm doing it all again on PC... I have no self control. Will say, the game starts out slow but it ramps up speed and in my personal opinion boasts the best combat system in the series, tied with Xillia. If you're looking for a fun story with great characters then I would highly recommend this.

SimonPaladin
SimonPaladin

One of the more flawed games in the Tales franchise. I played it all the way through and enjoyed it, but only because I am a big fan of the series. I think the story has good parts, but overall is not very well done especially with how it handles the antagonists. The characters are really what will keep you engaged in the story, as they are very well done.

The combat is fun with a good variety of moves and very satisfying special moves you can pull off after fulfilling certain in-battle conditions. This game can be very long if you do most of the side content, so the repetitiveness will probably wear on you. Particularly if you play this game on higher difficulties. I also found that my melee AI party members burned through their TP very fast. Maybe that was just the way I was playing. Also, I felt like you really have to push the boundaries of what the combat system allows you to do if you want to keep up with the more difficult bosses in this game. There are alot of bosses that move very quickly and like to suddenly break out of stagger to attack you mid-combo.

The english voice acting added for the definitive edition is.... not good. I was definitely just enduring it, although the rest of the voice acting is fantastic.

Overall, I would only recommend this game if you are a big Tales fan.

Tempy
Tempy

Somehow manages to be extremely dated even for a 2009 game, to the point the fanbase has to point new players to frame data exploits to make the combat anything more than a clunky slog

IamLight
IamLight

Play this game if you like JRPG and "Tales of" series.

Note: EXP grind is important in early game, so be patient with it

j04d4n
j04d4n

its very nice very nice indeed

BobMarleyC
BobMarleyC

Go for this instead Zestiria, Berseria or Arise, they are not even close to be good as Vesperia, I had over 1500hs on PS3 (japanese version). Besto tales on steam you won't regret.
Has the best combat and synthetize system.

Don't Shoot Teammates!
Don't Shoot Te…

A fun, nostalgic ride! If you enjoy older JRPG's like Star Ocean 1-3, this is a great game! I 100%ed it and it took me about 180 hours, which was only like 20hours longer than my first Persona 5 Royal run. A shorter game with tons of post game content and things to do. Would definitely recommend the game!

Critoniuum
Critoniuum

IN SHORT:
The 4 flaws listed make this game not as enjoyable for me as I was hoping. However, given these are not bugs or glitches but design choices, and such choices that don't break the game at all, I will conclude that the game devs successfully created the game they set out to create. The game is as far as I can tell, pretty free of bugs and the story and visual art style very appealing. Thus, thumbs up from me.

---

The graphics do the job they set out to do. No glitches that I can see and the art style is complimented and held together well. Some shots are quite breathtaking. And even tho this is an older game, the dev team clearly worked well within the limits to make a stylized art direction that is timeless and eternally beautiful.

I will always love a good overworld map. I mean, open worlds are great and all, but more games these days need to do an old fashion overworld.

The voice performances are good enough for me. Some sound a bit anime voice dub-y but thats getting harder and harder to avoid these days for japanese made games. So I'll take the performances here as a win.

I'm recommending this game because I feel it succeeds in doing what it the devs set out to do. But I will say I personally did not enjoy it as much as I wanted for these reasons:

1. I grew up with Tales of Symphonia, so playing this game after that one, there is a severe lack of puzzles in the dungeons. At the time of writing this review I'm 15 hours in and I've had 1 puzzle. It was a riddle. The rest of the dungeons thus far have been just moving through an area and fighting monsters. Not terribly engaging for me.

2. The shop system is streamlined a bit too heavily. All towns you visit only have 1 shop and 1 inn. The Single shop usually is just an item shop, but on occasion it can sell other things like weapons and armor as well. However, since all the dungeons seem to have new armor and weapons in chests, it really makes the weapons tab in the stores redundant. This for me is a problem. In other rpgs, towns have multiple shops for multiple things. It makes it feel more like a city or market. Simplifying it to just a single shop and inn takes away a lot of the economic parts of an rpg as well as the immersion of being in a world.

3. The towns aren't the whole towns. Given the Era in the story, these towns are more like cities so granted, being able to explore ALL of the city may be a bit daunting for the dev teams this time around. But I'd like to explore a bit more than the small town square spaces. Especially when combined with the above issue.

4. The combat works fine with one thing that really bugs me. And that's the coming out of an attack animation. After completing a basic combo, the player has this long drawn out resetting animation that must be completed before control going back to the player. For instance, Yuri Lowel, often times has to do this admittedly fancy looking sword toss from behind his back over his head into his other hand. WHY? This also might just be me, but the general attack reach is a bit short.

If these reasons aren't deal breakers for you, then there you go. ^_^

Protoman
Protoman

Grab the free DLC off the store.
This game is a solid entry in the Tales of series, but the gameplay can be pretty annoying specially in the beginning, where you don't have many options. It takes a good 5 hours to unlock most of the basic moves, and at least 30(!) to unlock everything else.
The story is rather bad. The characters themselves are endearing, but the plot goes nowhere for a good 20 hours. It gets better near the end of Chapter 2 (there are 3), then and goes into a crescendo... and crashes down to the ground again.

Anyway, cool characters, awful story, gameplay takes a while to get used to.

Weebland
Weebland

Fun game to play and tons of replayability with new game plus!

Easley Nightroad (アイゼン)
Easley Nightro…

Good JRPG game. Great story, good music, likable characters. It has simple battle system. There are surprise gifts. Check your inventory. The "Tales of" series is really good.

GingerNinja826
GingerNinja826

Story: Excellent, kept me engaged from start to finish with some genuinely awesome moments. I love all the characters, the dynamic between Yuri and the rest of the gang was very well done. One of my favorite jrpg casts for sure. The skits and extra events are well worth pursuing to really get to know them all. The english voice cast is great.

Gameplay: Not gonna lie, it has a fairly steep learning curve. It's a real-time action rpg and compared to some of the more modern ones (I recently played Nier and Ys before this) it feels a little clunky and slow. It makes sense considering this game originally released a long time ago, but just know that going in. Once you get the hang of it then you can get through most of the game without getting TOO frustrated (except when you're fighting flying enemies, I HATE THE FLYING ONES). The linear nature of the combat takes some getting used to as well. Lining up and charging an attack just to completely whiff because the enemy moved slightly to the left does get a little old.

It sounds like I'm just complaining lol but it really is fun once you get the hang of it. I'm over 100 hours in and still just figuring some things out, but when you hit your stride it feels awesome.

This was my introduction to the Tales series and I am definitely a big fan. I'm interested to see how the combat system evolves in the newer releases.

clouded_veil
clouded_veil

A great game, just make sure to have a guide in handy.

gabsrinoa
gabsrinoa

Pontos positivos: Gráficos, legendas em várias linguagens.
Negativos: Gameplay ruim, câmera ruim, target line totalmente sem noção, dublagem em inglês é insuportável, quase todos personagens são mal desenvolvidos e irritantes, mas a pior parte é a história, é péssima comparada a outros títulos da franquia ou ao mesmo gênero. To jogando na força do odi0.

Sek2.22: You Can (Not) Advance(d
Sek2.22: You C…

This is one of the most charming JRPGs I've had the pleasure of going through. I can see why during the PS360 era JRPG drought, that this was highly regarded.

My only complaints with it are numerous typos in the script (something Namco should've fixed this outing), brain dead combat (even the super boss can be cheesed despite the high damage rate), and that's about it. Everything else is so charming that the BBBA BBBBA XXXX BBBA combat can be brushed aside.

Totally worth going through if you enjoy Japanese Roleplaying games.

Flaak
Flaak

The best tales of game ever. Symphony and berseria are close imo and arise is just there but something about vesperia. Its long and achievement hunting almost ruin the game but its still enjoyable. If not going for achievements theres no better game to play jrpg wise.

Bowlsworth
Bowlsworth

What to say. Been out since 2007 (i believe) and its a great jrpg with an amazing cast. Play it you wont regret it.

winipcfg
winipcfg

So much content in a single rpg game

Malekith
Malekith

This game reminded me of FF 9 but with a more solid character cast. It's not the best game in tales of series ( at least to me ) but still a very solid game with lovable characters. If you searching for a classical JRPG to play this one will not disappoint you.

KarVastor
KarVastor

Absolutely worth your time and money. IMO best "Tales of" part. When you beat it, you gonna feel empty for few days an miss each nad every one of the characters.
P.S. Cute, nostalgic credis :)

Subarashii
Subarashii

Very nice gameplay, music, character development, and story

RenTheWitch
RenTheWitch

One of my favorite tales games!

chu
chu

Hi!

I played Tales of Vesperia a while back, and ended up having one save where I fumbled about for 20-30 hours, until I made a new one following a set guide and walkthrough; which I'll recommend new players also do - there are spoiler-free guides online.

Tales of Vesperia got me into the Tales-series which has been wonderful, however in retrospect I think it's a cool game with certain limitations:

Pros:

    • Engaging story, with a great amount of content alongside good lore and world-building. Dungeons and cities are also generally well-made across the board.
    • Well-voiced characters which are amicable
    • Fun, and quite in-depth gameplay, especially combat with certain characters (looking at you, Patty) - With the option for easy mode / hardcore for those interested.
    • The artwork is very pleasing for the eyes + great anime-like cutscenes. Great costume and customisation options for characters over the course of the game.
    • Good and fitting soundtrack
    • It has the option for Remote Play over Steam with friends! They'll be joining you in combat - which I did with friends and made the game enjoyable on a whole different level.
    "OH FLICKERING BLAZE BURN", "I'm only going to spam fireball"; to quote my friend who loved playing Rita.

Cons:

    • The game struggles with generally slow pacing:

    Gameplay-wise you'll be doing tutorials for quite some time (for about 1/3rd of the game) until you unlock enough moves and options for creative and vivid combat. (Same goes with world-exploration, but it's not that big of a deal)

    Story-wise you'll go back-and-forth, and some periods in the game will feel like a grind for decades for a little bit of story, whilst other periods will make you wishing for more.

    • This is originally an old game from 2009-ish, with the remaster made somewhere around early 2019 - and I think that's why certain parts of the game feel more wonky and difficult.

    Old games tend to have a high difficulty ceiling along with a tougher learning curve, and Vesperia certainly fits the bill. (I swear, some of the bosses kept me stuck for hours, but that might be me being bad)

    The game did require a guide / walkthrough for me to enjoy fun sidequests, legendary items, and skits with cutscenes that made the game memorable for me. Personally I felt sorta stuck following a recipe with a lot of backtracking, and it feels like a sacrifice I'd prefer avoiding if it were possible.

    The game does not track sidequests, items or mystical abilities after all, you'll have to discover them during certain intervals before they disappear or before you progress too far - which can be very unforgiving / require "save-scumming".

    • A few characters feel really underpowered / difficult, whilst others are much more enjoyable and stronger - which I found unfortunate given several of my favourites were difficult to play with. At the same time, the story will be tossing characters in and out of your party quite often - so you'll maybe be playing without your favourite quite often (looking at you, Patty)

    • You'll risk spending a lot of time managing items, abilities, passives and AIs in menus - which is fun, but it became tiring for me at certain points.

To conclude:

Tales of Vesperia is a fun, memorable, and pleasant JRPG, if you're willing to deal with using a spoiler-free guide, and slow pacing at times, whilst investing yourself into the vast story and (optionally difficult) combat system.

If you've played the sequel "Tales of Berseria" (which I heavily recommend), you will notice these games are different. And if you're considering buying either of these two or other games in the series, I'd say Vesperia is a great game to start with - rather than playing the sequels first.

Squelch
Squelch

one of the best if not the best

just_oliver
just_oliver

Suitable if you're looking to spend some time with likable characters in a pretty fantasy world, but a terrible, non-intuitive slog if you're aiming for total completion. Thanks to the game makers for adding auto-mode for characters since I could not cope with keyboard controls during battles. This gets a positive vote mainly for the character writing and the numerous inter-party skits.

Limey The Kind
Limey The Kind

Played this on Xbox, I love it! Well worth playing!

YuFish
YuFish

Great Game Held Back By A Horrible Combat System

Now before anyone ridicule me for putting a thumbs down on this game and putting that header title, please hear me out first: I think the game is lovely. Just an hour in and I'm already loving the few characters that I have met and I'm quite curious to the other characters shown in the opening movie. There are also a lot of other things that I liked through the first few hours of gameplay that I've experienced, such as:

Pros

    • Gorgeous character models
    • Decent soundtrack
    • Intriguing story premise
    • Lighthearted story beats and punchlines from character interactions
    • Pretty much everything else in the game aside from...

...combat. Oh my god. It's like nothing I've ever seen before. It's so bad. I'm not even gonna bother making a "cons" list because the only thing bad about this game, in my honest opinion, is its combat system.

I know this is the opposite of what Tales fans think because most of the community agree that Vesperia has the best combat system out of all the Tales game as of yet, but I just can't like it. People say that the early hours of the game are really rough and the combat does get better the more Artes you unlock, but I don't want to find it out and play the game long enough that I lock myself out of a refund. Maybe I'll try the game just a few more minutes to see if I can get the hang of the combat system, but I highly doubt that I will.

And before you people say that I came from Berseria and is the reason why I would find Vesperia's combat bad, please do know that I have played and finished Tales of Destiny for the PS1 not more than 5 years ago on an emulator, and I loved that game's combat system so much. And that has so much more restrictions and clunkiness than Vesperia's considering that it's a PS1 game. (I also don't know how people can call Berseria's combat system bad when it genuinely has one of the most smooth and fluid combat systems in recent years of JRPGs).

I think the biggest problem with Vesperia's combat is how slow it is and how it tries to be more methodical and tactical. And the fact that there's pretty much no animation cancelling unless you do convoluted stuff that I can't even begin to comprehend how, combat is just not enjoyable. You can't avoid trading hits with enemies or getting combo'd non-stop by enemies that move as if they're characters from recent Tales titles. I'm not saying that every action should be cancellable, but making everything uncancellable and you have to do a hidden tech just to cancel them just isn't really that great of a decision.

One of the core fundamentals of JRPGs is its combat and if a game can't get that right from the get go, it can only be improved for so much even after hours of gameplay.

I was debating whether to get this or Arise, but seeing as Arise has a huge monetization problem and people saying that the second half of the game feels rushed and uninspired, I decided to get Vesperia instead. Turns out I should've just bought Arise even if it has ridiculous paywalls and a mediocre story. Probably wouldn't be writing a review this early into the game.

I might change this review later when I try the game more before the 2-hour mark, but I'm not really expecting anything to change.

TL;DR definitely a great game, but the combat just pulls it down for me and it's why I'm not recommending it. Go buy and play Berseria.

EDIT: I've played an additional 40 minutes since my initial review and was finally able to figure out the "Manual Cancel" hidden tech that removes the end lag for Yuri's attack chain. It made the combat so much more bearable, but unfortunately, it's still not enough for me to consider it as smooth or fluid. It's too tedious just for an animation cancel. It saddens me to say this but I have to refund the game. The combat is just not for me.

Cobra Kaiser
Cobra Kaiser

Difficulty spikes in the game are complete trash. Shame, the rest of the game is fine, but bosses are just stupid.

Professor Gilgamesh
Professor Gilgamesh

As many others have said, there are just too many issues with using a controller and it doesn't look like there will be any fix after 3 years.

Eleutheen
Eleutheen

Unfortunately, this game was a rather tedious experience for me.
The game is not bad.
Actually, the story is great and the characters even greater.
(Noting that I played in Japanese. I also tried the English voiceover but found it bad.)

The problem is the gameplay.
Everything about the gameplay is tedious and annoying.
First of all the combat system and "surrounding parameters" are overly complicated: without getting into details (would be too long), there are too many mechanics and things to manage and keep track off, both out of battles and in battles. Making progressing in the game not enjoyable.
In addition, the battles are not fun. The standard monster encounters take too long to clear: they're not difficult, but they take too much time, and require continuous healing. Honestly these should be fast to go through with the occasional strong encounter and of course bosses.
As for the bosses, they aren't extremely difficult, but they do often require several attempts. An that's a problem as you often have to reach them from a save point, which is seriously annoying when you do that over and over, with monsters and sometimes cutscenes: no autosave, and several bosses have no save directly before (it’s a game and these stuff are easy to go through, but get tedious on repeat).
And, AI has very bad management of TP/skills: they just span artes until they reach the set threshold. I haven't found a decent strategy configuration.
There are no autosave as you progress, which can be a problem as some areas can take quite some time and you cannot stop if you need to do something else (only pause).
Ultimately, I ended up switching to "easy" mode, just to expedite battles and make them more enjoyable.

In terms of controls, the mouse is problematic in menus. I mostly prefer to use the keyboard when navigating (especially in combat). However, if you touch the mouse while doing so, it will suddenly change what you are doing.
Also, most cutscenes are annoying as you advance dialogues manually: so you can’t just sit back and enjoy, and there are a lot of cutscenes.
During battles, accessing anything other than left/right-click attacks requires lots of key presses (items for instance).

Finally, the game also requires some farming to synthetize stuff.

Havinstroke
Havinstroke

THE GOOD

+Excellent art direction that has barely aged since 2008.
+A large majority of cutscenes are voice acted.
+Deep combat system that becomes addicting once you fully understand it. You can eventually start making some really long combos, and there's also a neat system where you can learn a huge variety of passive skills by using the same weapon for long enough. Each weapon comes with a set of skills it can permanently teach your characters, and it incentivizes you to collect as many weapons as you can.
+There is a good reason why I knew the name "Yuri Lowell" before playing. He's a great main protagonist, and has chemistry with every character in the game. The rest of your party is also good, but Yuri deserves his reputation.

THE BAD

-The combat system takes way too long to get good, and is extremely sluggish until then.
-Lukewarm, disjointed story with lots of filler.
-Bloated dialogue. Characters will often say the same thing twice in a row, but with different wording. The story felt a lot more well-paced when I learned to skip incoming sentences that were of no importance.
-Sloppy overworld design.
-There are some instances where you'll have to go 20-40 minutes without the ability to save, and it's terrifying. To the game's credit, it never crashed at any point during my 49 hour playthrough.

FINAL SCORE: 7.5/10

Myxl
Myxl

The artwork and animation are nice and the battle system is a decent 2-1/2D target combo. It controls very well. One mild downside is it's on a linear railed path like older rpgs. Other than that, it has some good characters and dialogue and is pretty good overall.

at 9 o'clock
at 9 o'clock

I bought this game 3times and I wanna say "Great chemistry between characters by far"

If you loved this game, I recommended another one FFIX

Tintinnabulation
Tintinnabulation

8.5/10 game. If you're playing to complete the main game this should be mostly enjoyable. Probably the best of the Tales series (or as good as they come). However if you're a "95-100% completionist" type this is probably going to be painful near the end.

Bandai Namco really needs to stop making post-game (extremely difficult bosses/dungeons/quest hunting/etc.) so cumbersome. This was the same issue with Ni No Kuni 1 where I finished the main game in 70~ hours and ended up grinding to get alchemy recipes/running around doing errands for another 30.

There's no reason post-game content should be 50% of the main quest/gameplay time. Beyond absurd.

dyty
dyty

estelle & rita :3

Story: 5/5
Gameplay: 4/5

Xakrayn
Xakrayn

Game is good and I love the characters in it, Rita being my favourite. But I think because we're so much alike lol.

Having played Tales of Symphonia and Zestiria before this and being the only games of this style i have played, I can see how this one is transitioning gameplay wise between the 2. Accidently played Zestiria first before I realised this. The combat system is different and can be quite infuriating at times as you have no direct control over your allies and sometimes they just do stupid things. Particularly if you're playing one of the healer characters and you can't heal because you're under attack but no allies help you. Otherwise it mostly goes well. Combat is enganging, bosses are difficult without being impossibly hard, but being underleveled will hurt you a lot for bosses. Though the repetetive use of their big ability can be quite annoying at times.

Story line really gives you a chance to get to know each character, slowly figuring out who they are, why they're there and their own personalities.
Style is very cartoonish/anime looking.

Skill learning is different, many skills are learned just by leveling up but many are learned essentially from other skills, though far more detailed then that. By activating "passive" like skills, it can alter certain abiliites into new ones, use them enough and you'll permanently learn that new skill which is something i enjoyed doing.

I'm aware characters have their own Big abilities, yet for whatever reason I never got mine. The game gives no information on your characters even having these let alone how to activate or get them. I forget the actual term but its a bar that builds up in combat, activating it powers you up for at times, removes the delay between attacks and removes spell cast times. I read somewhere once about being able to get that to level 3, which even after finishing the game I have never seen. And Level 3 is required to do their "big" moves which I also have never seen let alone use.

The Ending was a little more sudden then I thought. I felt it coming but not what I expected and somewhat a little disappointed. But still loved the game and I'm excited to start on Tales of Berseria next.

InquisitorM
InquisitorM

I can't reasonably say too much as i didn't get all that far in, which really only leaves me to comment on the reason i quite playing: this is about the worst combat system of any RPG I can think of. There seems to be almost zero tactics to it, which means when it comes to a boss fight you're either levelled up enough to brute force it or you get wiped with almost no chance. The movement system is awful. The abilities system is awful. The skills system I couldn't work out as the game explains next to nothing. I did want to see the story, but the combat is a catastrophe and not fun in the slightest.

2/10

methosrocks
methosrocks

I want to like this game, I really really do. But it suffers from the same issues many others in the series have, except here it's worse: namely, the combat. The battle system is garbage, you'll spend half your time in boss battles being juggled by said boss with zero control or ways to exit said battle. Your only tactic is just to spam healing items and hope your party members do the same. Further, the dungeons are bland and uninteresting compared to previous games like Symphonia or even Destiny. This is also one of those games where you literally have to be married to a guide if you even hope to get everything, it's Trails in the Sky level tedious in that regard. I love a challenge, but when I'm forced to follow a guide to even experience some major aspects of the game, that sucks the fun out of it.

If there is a bright spot here it's the characters, namely Estellise and Yuri. Yuri is often cited as the best protagonist in the series and hat's absolutely true, his character development is top-tier.

All in all there are better Tales games, Symphonia, Destiny, Berseria.

Daichi Azure
Daichi Azure

Rita, is such a charmer whens she wants to and Repeed is best dog

Leomancer
Leomancer

The peak of Tales series right here

Jeff
Jeff

combat took a bit of getting used to, and the story felt really generic at first, but overall i'm definitely having a good time. There's definitely some hiccups, I still have a handful of gripes with the story, but I'm looking forward to finishing this game and I would recommend it.

Hex: Large Load
Hex: Large Load

9/10

On my third playthrough, 1st playthrough on PC.

One of the best RPGs (JRPG) I've ever played. Almost perfect especially compared to the AAA titles that have been released recently (2021, excluding the slightly dated graphics). Almost perfect story telling, fantastic combat system. My only complaint is that there are some situations where characters act out of character. Example: There is a scene probably 10 hours into the game where the main character trips an npc for no reason when his whole personality is based on helping people when the law has failed to do so. It doesn't deter from the game in any way, just stuck out to me.

SlyOnFire
SlyOnFire

So far so good. It's a slower game than what I'm used to but this ain't a flaw just a style. Still, it's relaxing to play and fun so far.

pastimebits
pastimebits

I have finished playing the game.

Story
It had good potential. Unfortunately, I did not enjoy it, it did not give me the satisfaction. The biggest problem with the story is that in order to fully immerse yourself in it, to get the full experience and storylines, you HAVE to open another tab to view the game guides. Otherwise, you WILL MISS A LOT. There will be lots of story elements which you will not get the proper closure (if there is even any). For example, [SPOILERS] you discovered later in the game that one key character in the story everyone's been talking about, turns out to be one of your party members. But the game did not explain how it came to that. You just hear the prominent figure's name, you try to search some clues about him, then almost at the end of the story, the figure revealed himself to you as one of your party members all along. What kind of delivery is that?? Is there even a skit/scene in which it is explained how that came to be? I don't know. I'm not going to explore the whole world to try to find it, as the game did not give me any clue other than "go explore the entire world and figure out by yourself, or read the guides". If I read the guides all the time while playing the game, is that not begging for spoilers? and what is the point of playing if at the end of the day I have to read it online?

Characters
The character's design is okay, I guess. But I do not like how the main character's face looks. Whenever he tries to be serious he looks like a spoilt brat from the movie, skulking every time he does not get what he wants. Whenever he teases/tries to be funny, he looks... like... I don't know... that smile and eyes creep me out.

Gameplay
It's a grindfest. the dungeons and puzzles is basically going around long areas with monsters here and there, with nothing challenging or stimulating.

Fore5tR
Fore5tR

Such an amazing game! I can only highly recommend it!! (9.5/10)
Great world, great and lovely characters, great story and great gameplay! This game really goes up in my favorite games of all time, just like "Tales of Symphonia". Always loved the high fantasy and this game delivers. If you want good controls and a general good experience in any "Tales of" game, you gotta play with a controller. Personally, I use an XBOX One controller and I haven't had any problems with it. Using a controller makes it way better to move around and makes the combats feel more natural. If you want the full experience, do NOT skip any skits or cinematics. They are crucial for the story, character development and immersion!
To conclude, I highly recommend this game to anyone looking for a story rich game and great RPG!

Keepsie
Keepsie

I haven't played long enough to judge the overall game, but i hate the combat so much I don't want to bother. Story so far seems alright.

xanth
xanth

Enjoyable story and good progression of combat

DigitalPhantasm
DigitalPhantasm

Pretty great action JRPG overall. Considering this game out originally as an Xbox 360 exclusive in 2008, the gameplay definitely isn't the best in the series and is dated in some aspects. But despite that, it is still very fun and if it bothers you that heavily there is an easy difficulty which makes battles go by quicker if that's your choice. This is a subjective point, but this game has my favorite story in the Tales series and the protagonist is definitely my favorite in the series, who isn't afraid to do what needs to be done, while still being a good and enjoyable guy in general. The characters are enjoyable and grow with the plot as well and I never found myself disliking any of the main party or cast in general. Overall this is definitely a classic JRPG and worth playing if you're a fan of the genre.

pplzdude
pplzdude

Great game, played around 500+ hours on Xbox, Xbox One, Switch, and now PC

Alpharaven
Alpharaven

FATAL STRIKE is all you need to beat this game

MiHyunBae
MiHyunBae

I played the original game back in XBOX 360 as it was THE game that made me want the console. I loved it then and the Definitive Edition makes me love the game even more.

It is hands down the best Tales of game from the series. Each character is written incredibly well - from the side characters to the main party. Their personalities shine not only in the skits, but the interactions between them within cutscenes, battle, and other side quest chit chat. The story and interactions between the characters and the world is what makes this game memorable on top of the battle system.

With the success of Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, I hope previous Tales of titles also get the same treatment.

Please remaster Tales of the Abyss!!

jabberwok
jabberwok

Low level play: Can only do a basic combo, get stunlocked repeatedly
Mid level play: I finally know when to backstep, learning each character's combos
High level play: Just spam random attack spells with Patty until I win

Honestly, I really enjoy the combat now, but it took a lot of getting used to. I think I still prefer Berseria's combat overall. Berseria wins on story as well, but Vesperia is still fun and full of likeable characters. And it looks beautiful. Definitely the best-looking Tales game I've played (it's only my 2nd one XD).

Solace
Solace

beaten the game
still don't know how to use mysic arts

Taiyo Shin
Taiyo Shin

One of my favourite franchises and an amazing game. Totally recommend it

Kell Maresh
Kell Maresh

nowhere close to being done but i can already tell this game is going to become a problem in my life 10/10

skyrimemailtest
skyrimemailtest

At the start the combat system is horrible! I am not going to waste my time hoping it gets better later because I might not get there because of the early game combat systems flaws!

Raptor
Raptor

This was my first game in the "Tales of" series so I didn't really have any expectations going into it. It pleasantly surprised me with a fun combat system, an interesting story, and an especially amazing cast of characters. Definitely one of my new favorite JRPGs.

ss5lobon
ss5lobon

one of my favorite Tales of games this is.

swenin
swenin

The combats kinda not good (clunky) but everything else is good.

Smyly
Smyly

Have played this game for more than 100 hrs and still a long way to go, though I am taking my time. It is fun and have a lot of things to do and complete. This is my type of game. I recommend it!