#it's just. idk. they established him as this antihero vigilante archetype. and then had Flynn as his foil.

[kingdomoftyto]

I never did mention, but I finally beat Vesperia! It was okay--a more than solid rpg, but not one of my personal faves from the series. The plot was pretty standard for a Tales game--maybe slightly more deus ex machina-y in the final act, though I may just be forgetting the most egregious things from some of the other titles. Rita stands out as my single favorite character (to no one's surprise) and honestly probably one of my faves overall for the series. Judith was also pretty fun, and I liked Raven's story arc even if it felt a little clumsy or confusing at times. And obviously the Yuri-Flynn dynamic/relationship/tension pretty much carries the entire game.

Speaking of which, I've already devoured a week's worth of Fluri fanfiction (impeccable ship portmanteau, btw) and have a whole stack of longfics still waiting in my Marked for Laters. They're so stupid and noble and good for each other, I love them a lot. I'll have to rec some of these later if I think about it.

(I also found out yesterday that there's a heckign FEATURE-LENGTH MOVIE about the two of them as knights-in-training, which!!!!!!!! guess what I'm watching tonight)

Anyway. Glad I finally played it! Not sure it quite lived up to my expectations, but then again I think Arise simply raised my standards to an absurd level lol, so it's not entirely Vesperia's fault. It also would've helped if I'd been any good at using Yuri in combat, but alas,

#Tyto plays ToV #I wanted to REALLY love Yuri as a protagonist and like. I DO like him. he's a good and interesting character #but I never felt like they QUITE scratched some of the itches I was hoping they were going to?? #I don't even know how to explain it really #it's just. idk. they established him as this antihero vigilante archetype. and then had Flynn as his foil. #and then had the Empire vs Guilds conflict going on sort of in parallel to that #but not REALLY bc both Yuri and Flynn are too idealistic to let any blind nationalism get in the way of what they think is right/just #and............. idk like they DO explore a lot of nuance within that dynamic but I was left wanting MORE still #and maybe the ultimate threat being mostly unrelated to the war was part of the problem? #like. they were just cramming too many ideas on top of each other for this one. #the villain is War but also.... Climate Change? a little bit? lmao that's oversimplifying obviously but #if you've played it you know what I mean #the answer to Both problems is humanity overcoming differences and choosing to work together even when it's inconvenient #which is an AWESOME central theme for a story and I really dig it. but like I said it felt kinda disjointed at some parts #(disclaimer I'm sure if I'd written out my thoughts like this for the other Tales games I'd have just as many things to nitpick ahfdjshf) #(it was still really good!!! I had fun I liked it this series rocks I'm gonna shut up now lol)