So I got Tales of VS in the mail 3 or 4 days ago, and I've been playing it on and off ever since. Honestly, this game is fantastic! Originally, I wasn't all that happy with my PSP - I mostly bought it for Dissidia, and when that game let me down by being unbelievably confusing, I kind of felt like it was a wasted purchase. But now, with Tales of VS, I'm really happy with my PSP just due to this game!
As some of you probably know, I like what I've played of the Tales-series, but I'm kind of a noob when it comes to it. Only completed Symphonia, played far in Vesperia(gonna complete it) and only played a small bit into Abyss. However, I'm planning on playing some of the other entries relatively soon.
So, character impressions. When I checked Story Mode, four different pairs were available from the start - You play 2v2 team battles in the story mode. You get to choose one of the pair, and the computer controls the other one. The four pairs available were Lloyd & Colette, Lion & Kyle, Luke & Tear and Yuri & Farah. Given that I love Symphonia (and even more Lloyd and Colette), I chose that pair. I started off playing as Colette for a while.
Colette is pretty weak in close-combat, and it shows that they haven't tried to make all the characters similar. She's a caster type, and she's very good in team battles if you have a good protector around. She has some very strong spells, and if she's forced to fight in close-combat she can hold her own, though she's weaker than most others. The AI was pretty good, so I didn't have much trouble playing as Colette.
After a while, enemies got tougher, and I decided to switch to Lloyd. Lloyd is a really good all-round fighter, has great attacks, both quick and strong, and feels overall like a very strong and capable character to play as. Fans of Symphonia will surely be happy.
As for other characters, the only ones I've played more than one game are Lion and Luke. Lion is a beast, his attacks are unbelievably quick and he does fair damage as well. Playing a few matches as Lion convinced me to order a copy of Tales of Destiny, even. This guy is awesome, no doubt.
Luke is very agile and it feels like he's more mobile than most. I can't say for sure, but it feels like he has less cooldown after using attacks and overall he moves well. His attacks aren't anything to scoff at either, being pretty good overall. His range seems to be better than most, too. So far, I've found the game to be pretty well-balanced. One character I fought against several times did feel a bit overpowered - But that might be because the AI was good at this late point in the story.
This character was none other than Cless Alvein. Strong, quick, but the big thing about him was his specials. His specials did large AoE, and some of his specials teleported him to his opponent, he did his combo for huge damage, and then teleported himself back to where he previously was, leaving no blind spots whatsoever. This was so annoying that the final villain, Dhaos, felt like nothing in comparison. Either way, I'm sure it has a bit to do with my lack of skill as well.
Anyway, if any Tales-fans are interested, I could perhaps try and play a few matches as your favorite character and give you impressions? Or just give impressions of characters I have fought as. The characters I have unlocked right now are Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, Kratos Aurion, Luke fon Fabre, Tear Grants, Yuri Lowell, Kyle Duranis, Lion Magnus and Farah Oearstead.
