I tried to play this but the combat is ♥♥♥♥ so I alt f4 and uninstalled.

Thought I was getting old and JRPG's weren't my thing. The game at the beginning had a hard time keeping me in I must admit but once you get over the "different" fighting system and you give this game a chance, it's amazing.

Great story, interesting characters, lots to do and to complete, truly a blast !

I've always been sure about my dislike for JRPGs: Tales of Vesperia made me realize that the only problem I have with the genre is how common turn-based combat is.

From start to finish I felt like the game was trying to adapt a shonen anime into a videogame and it does it perfectly.
The gameplay is really good: it's quite clunky (after all, it's a game more than a decade old) and a lot of enemies, especially near the end of the story, are damage sponges but Vesperia's combat system offers a level of complexity that I've not explored much but that is simply incredible.
The story, although following a lot of cliches present in shonen anime/manga, is entertaining. I really liked the feeling of journey that the entire story made me feel.
The best thing about the game is, by far, the cast. Every character is interesting, every interaction between them is entertaining to watch and I loved how most of them actually manage, by the end of the story, to beat their insecurities and defects.
The worldbuilding is... nice. It's not that original but I liked how some plot points (For example, the diplomatic crisis between the guilds and the Empire) managed to capitalize on it.

I bought Tales of Vesperia for around 5 bucks and, considering how much time I spent - and liked - on it, I can't recommend it enough, especially if you're into JRPGs or battle shonen.