Looking on picking up this game today, Can anyone telling how long this game is?

Thanks

I would say between fifty and eighty hours for first time through. I'm not 100% sure because I played it with my girlfriend and we went kind of slow, but that would be my guess. Just in case you're still undecided on this one, I thought I'd post my review here (sorry, it's a bit long and has some complaining about game reviewers in it...)

Here goes:

It's really a shame that game reviewers have started reviewing Japanese RPGs from the perspective of mainstream American gamers recently. Let's face it, most Americans don't like anime, and they don't like RPGs, so trying to tell them whether they’ll like a game like this is pointless.


However, to any Japanese RPG fan who might actually play this game, it is unquestionably a 9 or a 10. It is the best Tales game ever, better even than the early Tales games from SNES and PS1, and better than Tales of Symphonia. It's miles beyond Tales of the Abyss for the PS2, which despite having decent gameplay, had characters that were the worst mutations of anime, who got really annoying and made parts of the game a chore. Tales of Vesperia, by contrast, focuses on the simple humanity of its characters, and it's the best cast any Tales game has had, for so many reasons.


The game is full of characters who, despite being based off of obvious anime cliches (like the individualistic hero dressed in dark clothing, Yuri) really jump off the screen. They are characters you'll remember after you play the game, like the characters of a good fantasy novel. The world of Vesperia is actually rather innovative as well, I thought, though I haven't seen this mentioned in any of the reviews, all of which spend a good portion of their time stating the bloody obvious: (WARNING: this is a Japanese RPG, which means it is from Japan and is an RPG, and so on).


What makes the game world feel unique is that, instead of being a peaceful, ordered place that is threatened by some mad Machiavellian villain or organization, Tales of Vesperia is a world in which humans are a minority, struggling for survival. Early in the game you are shown that the only reason humans are able to survive at all in the harsh environment is because of magical force fields created by artifacts called Blastia barriers that protect the cities of the world, barriers that people rarely leave (anyone else smell a recipe for adventure?)


I'll stop there, because I don't want to spoil any of the game. Let me just say in conclusion, to anyone who’s still undecided about this game: I have never played a Tales game that I would rank anywhere near my favorite JRPGs. My favorite JRPGs are Final Fantasy 4, 6, and 7, Suikoden 2 and 5, Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, the original Final Fantasy Tactics, Lunar, and the Grandia 3 combat system (though the game itself sucked after 5 hours). I've played a lot of JRPGs (too many…) and the above are the only ones that I've ever replayed. Tales of Vesperia is actually worth replaying. Every aspect of it is enjoyable, from the fast action combat to the beautiful graphics to the great characters and surprisingly great voice acting (no whiny main characters here!).


What’s sad about the reviews this game has received is that you can tell most of the reviewers really enjoyed the game, and had almost nothing negative to say – they just felt that scoring it too high numerically would get them in trouble with the mainstream audience, and they may be right (I’m sure they know about that better than I do). What’s a real shame is that as a result of all this, a game that is clearly the stand out in a long series (the Tales games have been around for years) is receiving a lower metascore than most of the previous games in the series! For example, Tales of Symphonia: 85. Tales of the Abyss: 80. Tales of Vesperia: 79. Sure, that’s not a huge difference, but this is a game that should be scoring five points above Symphonia, not six points below! One last thing I didn’t see mentioned in ANY of the reviews – and I obsessively read these things – the game has four player co-op! So if you like playing RPGs with a girlfriend, wife, sibling, or just some good friends, consider this review score an 11. Going from exploration to cut scenes to combat in this game is like going from a candy store to a game store to glorious paintball. Two thumbs up and all that, what what.

Yeah it's a fantastic game. As far as JRPGs go on the Xbox 360, it's definitely one of the longer ones (compared to Eternal Sonata), and the best one out right now (I'd say Eternal Sonata still has the better story and characters though).

360 needs more JRPG love, more specifically, Kingdom Hearts! Though that's doubtful, even if so many games that were once previously exclusive to their native consoles are now going multiplatform. All we have are shitty Final Fantasy knock offs and old turn based combat craps (Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and the upcoming Lost Remnants is a game created with the hand of the FF creators so how could it be much different).

But Tales and Eternal Sonata have at least given the 360 some potential.