Tales of Vesperia: So Yuri wins
That's good enough right there.
The Last Story: Completed.
The Last Story is a rather generic JRPG that puts a few interesting twists on the formula such that it turns into something unique and enjoyable. It does not excel in anything such that the game warrants high praise, but it does make for an enjoyable romp that plays and feels different than a standard JRPG.
The formula: Young inexperienced protagonist who is naive and good-hearted.
The twist: Is in a world where this does NOT tend to work out well.
Zael checks in as a protagonist with a dream, a True Love interest princess, and a super-entity granted special power. This is rather standard stuff for a JRPG, but it is explored from a very different surrounding then standard. Zael is part of a mercenary squad that aims to make it big for themselves and has allied with the Count of the island they are staying on to do so. As Zael succeeds and puts rightfully earned notches into his belt he falls more under the not-so-benevolent control of Count Arganann. Zael becomes a hero that serves to further the ambitions of the Count as opposed to one who protects and serves people in need. This was fairly well done as a plot point and Zael's unease over the situation contrasts nicely with Dagran, his boss', desire to secure a steady life for his band of mercenaries that has been through hell.
One credit to the game's plot and writing is the character interaction. The mercenary group (which doesn't actually have a name) is composed of people with differing goals and friendliness, but from the start it is clear that these people work well together. As you traverse a dungeon, the team will constantly talk about the ongoings and discuss strategy for handling whatever obstacles/monsters may be in their path. The banter is written well enough, and as the game goes on it changes appropriately to reflect character development (this is especially apparent for Yurick, who starts the game off rather cold towards everyone). This flows rather nicely with combat and plot scenes. My one complaint would be that sometimes you can cut off the discussions if you screen-change while they are ongoing. But the fact that I found myself waiting at doorways and such to finish hearing the discussions is a testament to how much I enjoyed them. I was even surprised by how much I enjoyed the 'true love designee princess' character, as after her eyeroll-worthy introduction was likable enough.
The game's over-arching plot is extremely standard JRPG 'save-the-world' stuff, with a poorly characterized nonhuman villain. This was extremely disappointing considering the fact that the human cast was quite strong. More focus on a competent villain cast would have done wonders for the game. In some respects this is like a Tales game as far as the value of PC/villain casts go... excepting one twist at the end.
The combat system is fairly interesting in concept but suffers from a crippling lack of difficulty for a large section of the game, owing to the fact that the PCs auto-revive 5 times before they are finally put down. That said the game was not without strategy and required one to utilize the various combat systems to leverage easier/faster wins. The gameplay is one part ARPG and a larger part SRPG, with commands given to allies playing a large role in the outcome of the battle. The game emphasizes team synergy moreso than most ARPGs do, with positioning bonuses, the ability to combine magic and physical techs to have zone effects, and Zael's 'special power' being extremely team oriented. Zael's special power doesn't do much for HIM perse, but it does attract enemy attention to him and speed up spellcasters in his team. Utilizing this cleverly makes the difference between an easy battle and one that acts as a total slog. The game also encourages strategy in terms of how to start off fights or engage groups of enemies. Rushing in headfirst is rarely a wise decision even if you can make it work. Sniping enemy mages or paralyzing specific nasty targets usually saves some of those 5 lives you have. The game really picked up at the end when the last few bosses started putting up quality fights that required managing often hectic battlefields against bosses who could one-shot PCs.
The largest complaint I can level against the combat system is: Why the hell can't you switch PC control? The game has every other PC than Zael be controllable at some point (except Mirania the healer). It would not have been difficult to include the ability to switch control to other PCs. This was quite egregious!
An enjoyable game, but a bit too easy right up until the endgame.
