This week, Music to My Ears is looking back on a great game that could have been even better.

Tales of Vesperia was one of the better entries in the Tales series. To me, a lot of that comes from the cast of characters. Protagonist Yuri Lowell breaks a lot of the standard archetypes for these games — instead of constantly allowing villains to get away and do more damage, he just kills them off. It’s pretty legit. And the rest of the group (EXCEPT KAROL) has great chemistry and banter that keeps you going through a 50+-hour game.

So why could it have been better? Only because Vesperia got a follow-up release on the PS3 that included bonus characters, fights and features over the original, and that version never made it to the United States. You want Flynn to be playable? TOO BAD SUCKERS.

Fury Sparks only appears once in the game, but it’s at an important moment, when best pals Yuri and Flynn square off against each other in battle. The theme has become emblematic of Vesperia, appearing in other games like Project X Zone.

On top of the usual OST version that we post in MtME, I tossed in an extra arrangement that has shredding guitars. That’s a double bonus because I can’t go into great length on the description this week. I hope you forgive me.

Fury Sparks

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqNuGwqX6Y4

Music to My Ears covers soundtracks or individual songs from video games on Tuesdays. You can view all posts in the series by clicking here.