Since the Tales franchise has traditionally bounced back and forth between Nintendo and Sony consoles, fans were a bit shocked when Namco announced late in ’07 that its first next-gen installment would launch exclusively on Xbox 360. Knowing that Microsoft’s console isn’t doing all that well sales-wise in Japan, Vesperia director Yoshito Higuchi explained that when they finished Tales of the Abyss for the PlayStation 2 in 2006, they had to decide which platform would house the team’s next chapter in the long-running RPG series. Xbox 360 appealed to them because of ease of development. On top of that, Higuchi told us that it isn’t just that he hopes putting the game on 360 will bring more attention to the platform in Japan — his team also thinks the big 360 audience in North America will help expand the fan base for the franchise. Still, Sony fans are clamoring for this title as well, so how long Vesperia will remain exclusive is yet to be determined.

Platform-placement drama aside, Vesperia aims to skew more difficult than previous games in the series to appeal to what Namco believes to be an older audience of gamers. With this in mind, the game’s motto — “persistence in one’s belief of justice” — sets to cater to “high-school students and beyond” who’ve just begun to develop opinions about the world and justice in society. 

The “justice theme” permeates the story of Vesperia’s main characters: Yuri, Estelle, and Flynn. They’re actually adults — a surprising departure from the typical pre-teen set of most Japanese role-playing games. Prior to the beginning of the game, childhood friends Yuri and Flynn are both imperial knights. One thing leads to another and Yuri decides that being an imperial knight isn’t how he wants to bring about changes in the world, so he quits. Flynn continues his duty as a knight, feeling that the establishment is the correct way to make an impact. This contrast in beliefs weighs heavily on their relationship. In any other RPG, Flynn would be the typical hero, says Higuchi. Instead, Vesperia focuses on Yuri — the anti-hero. Take that, normalcy!

As the story goes, the citizens of Vesperia’s world need artifacts called Blastia to survive. But as the game opens, someone has gone and stolen a Blastia core from a fountain in the imperial city, and water begins to flood the town. Instead of waiting for the officials to help, Yuri decides to take matters into his own hands. Following a tip that a mysterious mage is the culprit, he breaks into a house with his trusty dog Repede to track down the important artifact. While his canine companion tries to attack the mage, the spellcaster drops a smoke bomb and evades capture — with no core to be found. As valiant as your break-in may be, the imperial city apparently has strict laws about breaking and entering — which you and your mutt have just done — so, with a little bit of smack-talk aimed at the ensuing town guards, you’ll launch into a combat tutorial.

An enhanced Tales of the Abyss combat mechanic — the Evolved-Flex-Range Linear Motion Battle System…we dare you to say that three times fast — sounds much more complex than it really is. In the Tales series, fights take place in real time and feel more like an action/fighting hybrid. You control one character in the four-person party, with the CPU managing your party-mates, just like Final Fantasy XII’s gambit system. You have the option to switch the party leader on the fly, which also plays into the combo system. For example, Estelle may blast an enemy into the air, and by switching to Yuri, you can pull off a combo attack to knock him around a bit more. Blocking attacks — or guarding — is also important, and if a character’s guard is up, they’ll take only half the normal amount of damage. For those who really want to strategize, you can use a handy map to set each character’s placement on the battlefield before combat begins — lining up stronger brawlers upfront with a healer and magic caster in back, for instance.

With all the customization, it’s hard to forget that Tales of Vesperia allows up to four-player, same-box cooperative play through the main story mode. Even though you’ll initially have control only of Yuri, Higuchi explains that you’ll have a full complement of four players after an hour’s worth of play. Unfortunately, the co-op is not online, however — Higuchi is planning that specific feature for the next installment. “I’d like to try doing online someday,” he notes. “In the future I’d like to not only do co-op play between four players, but also have multiplayer so you can actually fight each other.”

Tales veterans will be happy to know that the storyline and dialogue will stay true to the series’ quick wit and lighthearted humor. Even though we got just a taste of the beginning of the game, we were quickly drawn to the characters and anxious to see the story unfold.

Visually, the team’s first effort on next-generation consoles is breathtaking. Using an engine that brings hand-drawn, cel-shaded models to life with modern effects like depth of field, Tales of Vesperia feels like playing an interactive anime series. With a playable demo set to release sometime this summer, it looks like the JRPG love for Xbox 360 won’t be ending any time soon.