Tales of Vesperia - RPG GOTY Candidate?

[ZenfoldorVGI]

outlawauron said:
Yep I'm in the Oasis town now. 17 hours in.

It's really starting to push on Lost Odyssey.

Zen, please let me know when you finish and how long.

I had 28 hours at the point you're at, and was level 42 with everyone.

Some things you need to look for, that you're probably inadvertantly skipping:

Have you discovered the cake recipe?

Are you easily defeating the optional bosses?

Are you learning new artes through sidequests?

Are you working on your score?

Do you keep an eye on your skills, combo chains, and arte uses?

Are you synthisizing everything? Some items change the way you play, and greatly improve your abilities, like the Moon Selector or the Over Limit increases.

I'm not saying that you aren't taking your time. I'm just afraid that you'll finish the game in 30 hours and complain that you took your time and the game is really short. The game isn't short. The average gamer, sticking to the main story, will beat this in 40ish hours(I'm going by reviewer claims now). That's with a main story focused playthrough with very few sidequest completions. The maticulious gamer is gonna take 60, is gonna get the best weapons, is gonna powerup said weapons, and is gonna cut an evil swath of power through the game at ever stage, lol. That's how I like to play. I like the game to not possibly believe that I spent as much time methodically grinding and exploring as it should assume at that time. I like to dominate the game. That, to me, is part of the fun of a jrpg, and a major issue I had with Lost Odyssey's leveling cap.

At the airship point, the playfield is evened, but remember, at worst the game is only as long as FFVII, with a slew of sidequests and an end game just as big.

Check out this gameplay for an example of the potential power the character posess end game from Abyss(another fantastic game if you're interested):

Here's something really cool in the game. Put all the characters on auto, and watch the dynamic camera follow your AI battle. Also, put your "Only does 1 damage attack" sword on, and see how high you can rack up your combos with Yuri.

Anyway, if I'm guessing, being a completionist for me, 60+ hours first playthrough, 40 to final boss point on second, with an end game that will be with me as long as I own the 360.

My best guess for you, is just under 40 hours to the final boss, over half the sidequests beaten, 30 if you decide to opt right to the final boss. You'd be pushing it, but I'd wager the game could beaten in 20 hours on a speed run, as can most jrpgs actually. The game is slightly shorter than Abyss, almost equal in length to Symphonia, but granted a tad shorter than Symphonia as well(1 or 2 hours). More end game content than Symphonia though, modified battle system from Abyss(the above video is Abyss). Longer than Lost Odyssey in main story, simply due to the inability to grind until later discs, and with an infinite end-game. Most reviewers say the game averages 40. IGN said 60. The IGN reviewer is like me, I'd imagine.

We generally tend to think about a good jrpg as "The longer the better." That's usually true(Unless it sucks, in which case "The shorter the better."). However, we've also got to remember that jrpgs can be overlong. As far as a value score, I'd have to give it a 9. Considering the very tempting score replay, the only game that's matched it this gen, is FES, which gets a 10 becaused it was also only 30 dollars and was 2 jrpgs in 1. If it had Vesperia's quality of characters, it would have been the better game, but for me now, it stands as eversoslightly worse.

I ramble though.