Amidst the shooters that have dominated the play space in the past while, I found reprieve with Tales of Vesperia , a Japanese RPG that was originally released in America in 2008. Tales of Vesperia follows Yuri, a former-knight turned rebel who starts off the tale chasing down a thief who’s stolen a magical artifact (referred to in the world as blastia) from his city. Yuri tracks down the thief alongside with his trusty pipe-smoking dog, Repede. In the middle of this mini-saga, you are joined by a doe eyed princess and a valiant hearted young hunter. Like all good adventures (and pretty much every Japanese adventure!), what starts off as a small adventure spirals off into an enormous affair. Your party becomes entrenched in a rivalry between the Empire and the free people (called the guilds), amidst a cosmic ballet of magic. The game is an epic adventure, to say the least, requiring around 40 hours to complete the journey. But that is to...