Tales of Questions for my first Tales of Vesperia playthrough (completed now)

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Currently I'm playing the PS3 version of Tales of Vesperia for the first time.

Since my WLAN sucks or doesn't even work, I can't download the translation patch and so I have to deal with the JP language.

It's not a bad deal, because I'm using a guide.

However not all of my questions get answered.

In some situation I still stuck or have questions about the characters or gameplay.

So I need your help!

I appreciate each little hint or answer from you :)

Well, I'm not that experienced with the Tales of series yet. Only completed Abyss and played Symphonia, Xillia and Zestiria a bit yet.

But Vesperia is definitive the hardest one for me so far.

Actually my party has trouble to survive against each boss, even in generic battles.

The reasons, why I have problems with this game:

• The A.I. of the enemies is pretty good. They're way more aggressive than in the other Tales of parts I've played yet.
• I can't hit enemies on the ground, even with down artes.
• Flying enemies are very problematic to hit.

I'm stuck against a giganto bird atm, which I can't hit at all.

Maybe someone can give my a few tips how to do the battles better (units and skills).

I don't even know which characters are really good. Mainly use Yuri, Rita and units who can heal (Estelle, Patty or Raven).

Yes, I'm playing the PS3 version, but without translation patch because I don't have internet in my room.

I have a guide and watch a LP, so I don't have any questions about the story.

Edited December 31, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Life]

I don't know Patty because I have the Xbox version but I'm assuming you're facing Pterobronc (Giganto in Mt. Temza).

If you've only gotten to Mt. Temza because you're trying to get Judith, skip Pterobronc. If you've already come back and you have the full party, here's what I suggest.

Judith and Raven are both amazing against aerial enemies, especially Raven with his long range and healing. Give Judith Aerial Force (x1.2 damage on aerial enemies) and control Raven. I'd round out the squad with Rita (she's quite excellent from midgame onwards once she starts really gaining a lot of skills) and either Estelle (if you're paranoid about healing) or Repede (he's quick and if he's got Light Spear or Pyre Spear, a complete menace). Work up to OL level 3 and then let loose.

Every character has their strengths and weaknesses but the weaknesses are so minute if you know how to tweak each character from the midgame onwards (I personally say that the midgame starts when you get to Nordopolica for the first time). I'll give a bit of a runthrough on each character (no Patty or *secret* character since I don't get them in my version).

Yuri - Yuri is basically instant utility from Baction onwards. There's no reason why he shouldn't learn Guardian Field because it does damage and heals, his damage options with artes is pretty impressive but the main thing about his is his ability to link artes like nobody's business. The Super Chain skills allow for you to go in almost any direction, the Tension Series (from the Tyrant Fist) can force OLs without using the gauge and he gets Combo Plus early and Combo Plus 2 around midgame (synth a Real Knight Sword). All in all, Yuri is pretty solid aside from no real range (Azure Edge and Azure Storm is about it).

Estelle - Funny enough, Estelle will be at best your second best healer (at worst, she's only better than Yuri). She's still great at it, especially if you can manage to teach her Nightingale (Ruby Wand teaches Crucible which will let you use it instead of Nurse). She's a lot better at offence than you'll be led to believe, especially once she gets Grand Chariot (Flamberge teaches her Chain and you can make one after the Sands of Kogorh). I personally think that she's got the second best Burst Arte in the game due to rivaling Yuri/Judith/Raven's damage and then tacking on a status effect for you. The only issue is aiming it properly but it's much easier to aim than Raven's. Skill-wise, focus on her support skills and use her in the same party as Repede once you pick up Lovely Dog.

Rita - Rita's weak earlygame and stupidly powerful late. If you want to power her up even more in the midgame, get her to learn Demon's Lance, Flame Dragon and Riot Horn, especially Flame Dragon (Spiral Flare is terrible but Flame Dragon is an amazing upgrade). Unfortunately, the Milky Way that teaches Resilience (no interruptions while casting) is only found after you've reached the spot of no return in the final dungeon (gotta go past it). She's great without it, mind you. Don't worry about defensive skills for her, make her purely offensive.

I'll tackle Raven/Judith/Repede/Karol later because those four are a lot more intricate than the above three. Yuri, Rita and Estelle work in any given party.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Cool.

hanks for the deteailed info!

I've beaten Pterobronc with Yuri, Estelle, Rita and Raven.

First I tried to use Judith. She can hit him in the air, but her attacks are very slow.

It didn't work with her so I played as Yuri later and replaced her with Raven.

I gave Rita an item (don't know the name), which incresed her HP. She had about 2400 HP and only few less than the others.

The pattern of Pterobronc is predictable. Just his attacks were so stupidly stong.

When I could bring him to the edge of the battlefield I could combo him very well.

Estelle learned crucible and resurrection, which saved my ass during this fight.

Patty uses guns and has some skills, which do random effects (recover, healing, barrier).

She's very interesting.

I must check out the names of all the English skills on Wiki today.

And I must find out what support skills exactly do. Never really have paid attention on them.

I've mainly used Wiki yet to inform about any sidequests or gigantos.

(Karel learned his special skill in Dahngrest)

[Life]

I said that I'd get around to it so here we go.

Karol Capel:

Karol's your tank.

There, I said it. Karol can easily soak up the most damage in the game due to his high base HP and natural defense (shares best armours in the game with Yuri and has natural defensive skills to back it up). The funny part is, you wouldn't guess it based on his artes. A lot of them do quite good damage, he's got both Recover (Nice Recovery Smash) and a good heal (Nice Aid Smash) which can be upgraded twice. And let's not forget Coil Beat (25% Attack) and the Destructo series (Spider Web slows the enemy while Booing is a P.Att de-buff for 20 seconds) as status effects

Yeah, about that heal. If you have the patience (and have beaten Goliath in Zaude), you can actually eventually get Nice Curing Smash. That's an instant 50% HP heal for 30 TP. As a comparison, Estelle's Nightengale is a 48% heal for 55 TP after waiting for the spell to cast. What the hell, Karol.

Karol's Burst Arte is probably the best in the game because it's almost guaranteed not to get interrupted (360* hit with the focus in front) and Ultimate Punishing Blast is probably the first Mystic Arte you'll get (sleep at the Inn in Dahngrest a few times after finishing the Manor of the Wicked). Karol's extremely effective during the early part of the midgame and just as his damage starts to drop off, you'll get to Zaude and can pick up the Mjolnir.

His only weaknesses are his two-hit combo (mitigated by his Mighty Charge abilities) and his slow movement (Motion Change is supposed to make him move faster but it's unconfirmed). And even so, he's not useless due to these two problems.

Repede:

Repede is probably the hardest character to understand because his strengths and weaknesses are so well hidden. But he's fast like greased lightning and probably has the single best attack arte in the game (Demon Spear).

The first thing of note is that Repede has the best collection of Move/Support skills in the game. As in he gets Item Thrower long before anyone else (absolute key if you play on Hard or Unknown and you're facing a difficult early boss like Poseidon or Gattuso (for the record, Estelle is the next person with Item Thrower and that doesn't happen until Capua Torim). You can even extend that list to Dreaded Giant since Estelle will be the only person with Item Thrower besides Repede at that point (everyone should have it by Gigalarva).

After that, Repede relies on his natural speed, Move and Support skills (Runners, Speed Up, Dash, Item series and Bark) and his terrific artes to keep pace with your other heavy hitters. Gale Dog grants invulnerability (I've dodged both Brilliant Cataclysm from the Zaude end-boss and Brave Vesperia from the final boss with Gale Dog, for the record), artes like Demon Spear, Pyre Spear and Cyclone Shot make mincemeat of flying enemies (bosses too) and Slash!!! is a decent Mystic Arte (I'd say middle of the pack behind Yuri/Rita/Judith). Oh and he steals shit with Thievery.

Repede's only weakness is that he's not particularly excellent at being an offensive beast or defensive giant. Sort of like a jack-of-all-trades-master-of-none character. Fielding Estelle with him lets her make use of Lovely Dog (gives her excellent stats) but don't expect Repede to soak up damage like Karol and Raven or dish it like Yuri and Judith. He sits in the middle but doesn't suck at anything. If you're going to use Estelle but no other women, field Repede too and turn on Lovely Dog. You'll enjoy the results.

Raven:

Best healer. Second best mage. Only pure long distance character.

I'll start with Raven's issues first. There's three of them: his inability to fight effectively without skills, bows and arrows, and his crap BA/MA.

Done? Excellent.

Raven easily has the most pronounced weaknesses and strengths. If you learn how to master his strengths, you'll forget about his shortcomings in a heartbeat.

Raven's skills are vital to his success in combat. Do not leave home without the following skills active: Change Style 1/2, Stun Magic, Chivalry, Hunter, Long Step and Long Range. That totals 51 SP on top of the basics (Roll, Backstep, ect.). It'll take a while but these are all vital (Hunter and Stun Magic less so but both are excellent on Raven. With these, Raven is a menace to enemies whether on not they are in his face or not. Learn to love Just Like Dancing.

Once Change Style 2 goes up, start playing around with Raven's artes. He's got 4 of them that will change with the range and I almost guarantee that Flying/Falling will be part of your repertoire (both are that good).

And then there's Love Shot. Once you've used it 200 times (and Raven will easily do that), he'll shoot three arrows that heal 15% per arrow. That means Raven can heal 3 people for 15% each or one person for 45%. Instantaneous. With no maximum range. Oh and it costs 18 TP for a mage. If I were Karol, I'd be fuming right about now. He pays almost double the armount of TP for 5% healing. It's quite spectacular.

I'll tackle Judith later.

[Fateborn]

Judith is the hardest character to master in Vesperia mainly because all of her powers comes from keeping enemies IN AIR.

With right hands and combination, she can stay in air forever provided the enemy doesn't die.

In this regard she can out dps rita or even Yuri as long as she's up there in the sky.

Here's one where the guy's showing all combos.

Then there's that guy who did a full hits possible without any repeat artes.

And a guy showing the aerial combos.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to find one where she was in air for lengthy amount of time.

She's good when on ground too, but she's far better when she's floating around.

The issue with Judith is that almost none of the party members can synergy with her.

All she requires is practice and right amount of patience to master her.

[Life]

That.

Judith is built to be a glass cannon if you can master her skills. She's very effective on aerial enemies and characters (vs. Schwann Oltorain, Zaude bosses, Tarquron bosses...) but needs practice if you want to unlock her full potential.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I must change the topic, becuase I've larger problems with this game atm.

Egothor forest would be the next dungeon, but I can't enter it, although Judith (used her in the character screen) talked to the Krytian in Aspio (the point where my army was split into two groups.

I don't know what to do now.

Yeah, I have noticed that Judith is kinda hard to use.

Her attacks are very slow, which screwed her in the arena.

However I know about her usefulness in the air.

Also have huge trouble with using Patty and Kael, because they've a slower running speed and can't dodge enemy spell casts.

[Life]

I must change the topic, becuase I've larger problems with this game atm.

Egothor forest would be the next dungeon, but I can't enter it, although Judith (used her in the character screen) talked to the Krytian in Aspio (the point where my army was split into two groups.

I don't know what to do now.

Yeah, I have noticed that Judith is kinda hard to use.

Her attacks are very slow, which screwed her in the arena.

However I know about her usefulness in the air.

Also have huge trouble with using Patty and Kael, because they've a slower running speed and can't dodge enemy spell casts.

Once you get the Kritian Bell from the Kritiya in Aspio, go back to Rita's house. I believe the rest of the party is there.

Again, I don't know how to use Patty but if you want to avoid spells with Karol, either tank them with Magic Guard or use Karol's Dash Attack in Free-run. It works wonders.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Jim Moriarty

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Once you get the Kritian Bell from the Kritiya in Aspio, go back to Rita's house. I believe the rest of the party is there.

Got the bell and the cutscene in Rita's house.

So Idk, why I still can't go to the forest.

[Life]

Got the bell and the cutscene in Rita's house.

So Idk, why I still can't go to the forest.

Are you sure you're going to the right spot? Egothor Forest actually looks like a mountain. West side of Hypionia.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

It should be on the southern isle, south-east from Nordpolica.

There's absolute nothing to do in Aspio anymore.

[spoiler=I used this LP as my guide and implented all in my playthrough.]

Well, Idk how to get and use the hair costumes... but I'm sure it's irrelevant to fulfill to requirements to enter Egothor forest.

Of course there could be a difference between the XBOX and PS3 version.

Edited December 19, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[shadowofchaos]

Patty's main strength comes from her form changes and incorporating that into combos.

Particularly, the later you are in the game, the more useful her "gambles" are because you get Critical Form more often.

You also get a free overlimit when she goes into Critical through one of her skills.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I trained in the arena in Nordpolica a bit... and the results were more depressing.

Could beat the 30 enemies arena only with Yuri and Estelle (barely in time). All the other ones failed (haven't tried Rita though).

In Patty's case running out of time.

Kael still doesn't have the skill, which prevents to lose TP while attacking.

I totally underestimated Repede. He was the only one, who could beat 50 enemies. He did excellent combos (even against flying units) and dodged quite a lot.

@ Jim Moriaty

I researched again a different source and there seems to be really a difference in the PS3 version, how to get to Egothor Forest.

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/945075-tales-of-vesperia/58115258/644536300

Going to check it out later.

@ Fateborn

Holy shit, that was awesome!

I still must practice with her a bit...

@ Rey

I really like Patty's gamble skills, because lots of them have a very useful effect. She can heal herself too (I think even everyone when I saw correctly?).

However I don't really like to play solo as her, because her moving speed is as slow as Kael's. Her attacks are way faster than Kael's, but she's not all that good for combos (yet).

Edited December 19, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Life]

Yeah, that doesn't exist in the Xbox version.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

After watching a (translated) LP of the PS3 version I made the way to Egothor Forest.

BTW many thanks for all your hints so far.

I'm going to use the arena to try mastering all the characters.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

A few more questions:

1. Is it normal that Rita has much lower HP than the others?

She has reached level 45 and just passed 2000 HP. All the others have about 3000. I didn't give her an item, which lowers her base HP / HP growth.

2. Is Flynn more the Lloyd / Guy sworduser type?

3. How to activate arcane / burst artes?

I couldn't active them once yet. If I'm correct, they're required to activate a mystic arte.

4. Are there any other requirements to activate a mystic arte besides performing while a arcane / burst arte?

Edited December 26, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Life]

A few more questions:

1. Is it normal that Rita has much lower HP than the others?

She has reached level 45 and just passed 2000 HP. All the others have about 3000. I didn't give her an item, which lowers her base HP / HP growth.

2. Is Flynn more the Lloyd / Guy sworduser type?

3. How to activate arcane / burst artes?

I couldn't active them once yet. If I'm correct, they're required to activate a mystic arte.

4. Are there any other requirements to activate a mystic arte besides performing while a arcane / burst arte?

1. Yes and no.

Her HP is slightly lower and TP slightly higher unless you have a skill called Combat Force equipped (Xaosologos teaches it and that's a secondary weapon). It coverts 25% of Rita's HP to TP, giving her 75% of her max HP and 125% of her max TP. Chances are that you've got it equipped.

2. I don't know. Flynn's the other secret character in the PS3 version. As I've stated, the Xbox version is only Yuri/Estelle/Karol/Rita/Raven/Judith/Repede in the party.

3. Lemme break this down for you.

Base and Arcane artes are learned naturally. Azure Edge is a Base arte. Dragon Swarm is an Arcane.

An Altered Arte is when you have a skill like Hell Fire (there's eight of these skills) equipped and use a specific arte in order to change it. That list is finite so don't expect it to happen with every arte. An example that I've mentioned is Nice Curing Smash (which is an Altered arte of an Altered arte).

A Burst arte can only be used in Overlimit. Hold the arte button (I change mine to be B instead of A) as you're finishing an Arcane or Altered arte and it'll activate. Divine Wolf is Yuri's. Burst artes can be altered by skills too. Divine Wolf Flood has both Great Deluge and Dispersion equipped. The Overlimit level doesn't matter.

A Mystic arte has a couple of criteria that need to be met:

- Character must have the Special skill equipped.

- Character must be in OL level 3 or 4.

- Hold the attack button after an Arcane/Altered/Burst arte.

There you go. And that answers question 4 also.

Edited December 26, 2015 by Jim Moriarty

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Many thanks!

I just must hold the arte button to activate the burst artes. Never really have done it.

I went back to the desert town to get the limit trio for OL 3.

Edit: Using burst artes makes the life quite a bit easier, but mystic artes haven't been activated yet (ptobably wrong weapon / no special skill).

1. Yes and no.

Her HP is slightly lower and TP slightly higher unless you have a skill called Combat Force equipped (Xaosologos teaches it and that's a secondary weapon). It coverts 25% of Rita's HP to TP, giving her 75% of her max HP and 125% of her max TP. Chances are that you've got it equipped.

This explains it.

Rita has much more TP than the others (> 500), so she has learned mentioned skill apparently.

Edit: She got a weapon in Herakles, which gave her a HP-boost.

Edited December 26, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Life]

The Xaosologos is synthesis only. 4 Grimoire Pages, 2 Bat Wings, 2 Spider Webs... should be available after you complete the Weasand of Cados. You won't find Bat Wings or Spider Webs before there.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Jim Moriarty

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

I see.

Thanks again!

Must fight a flying boss in the ice dungeon with Kael all alone now (hopefully solo only in the beginning).

This causes me lots of trouble, because I can't play as him at all.

His movement and attacks are so goddamn slow.

This game gives me the worst character for this fight. Thanks! :/

Edited December 27, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Life]

I see.

Thanks again!

Must fight a flying boss in the ice dungeon with Kael all alone now (hopefully solo only in the beginning).

This causes me lots of trouble, because I can't play as him at all.

His movement and attacks are so goddamn slow.

This game gives me the worst character for this fight. Thanks! :/

Oh, Baitojoh. I love that guy.

All you have to do is survive until Karol picks up the Bravior. Then you get the full party.

[Fateborn]

Just run around heal with his nice aid smash when you need to and keep running around. when he rolls in a scene for the third time you're home free with party unleashed.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

Beaten Alexei.

I think there's not that much to go anymore.

Just run around heal with his nice aid smash when you need to and keep running around. when he rolls in a scene for the third time you're home free with party unleashed.

Oh yeah, forgot about that.

Actually the part with Kael wasn't too bad than I mentioned in the beginning. Just had to run away, whenever he uses the ice arte on the ground.

Strangely in the latest attempt this cutscene wasn't shown unlike in my failures.

After the first cutscene the others joined already.

I've bought a weapon for Raven, which decreases all his stats dramatically (-50% HP + TP).

[spoiler=Now I've the question, if it's worth to teach him the skills he can get from this weapon.]

I let him learn both skills. After he had learned the second skill, other weapons couldn't change his stats anymore. This would make Raven pretty useless, because he couldn't take any hits.

[spoiler=What does this icon mean?]

BTW Patty can imitate the other party members, I guess.

For example she used Rita's and Estelle's artes.

Skills like fairy circle make her pretty broken.

It's just random.

Edited December 29, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach

[Fateborn]

Ah, one of the raven's weapon skill reduces his stats. I have no idea what's the advantage of it though, It's the blue skill.

[MisterIceTeaPeach]

^ I didn't teach him the second skill, because I don't want to let him fight with halved stats.

Anyways I did a pretty dumb mistake:

Accidently I've played this game on the second lowest difficulty (probably hard) the entire time, not the lowest one.

So I don't need to wonder, why most bosses gave me a real hard time.

I changed to normal mode to see the difference, and I must say it's even too easy for me.

The bosses are really easy, don't have any deaths.

The difference between normal and hard mode is pretty significant.

However I'm going to continue it on difficult mode.

I made it so far, so I want to finish it in this mode.

The main bosses are ok for me, only the gigantos are pretty terrifying.

Thankfully Rita learned meteor swarm, which makes this games a lot easier.

Overlimit Rita FTW!

I try to finish this game till friday.

My team for the final boss will be Flynn, Rita, Raven and Patty.

Edited December 30, 2015 by Mister IceTeaPeach