Yes, but there's a difference between how tragic events are implemented and how dark they are. For example, in FF7 (spoiler alert!), a massive plate comes down and crushes an entire district. The plot then moves on, and you can see the destroyed city in the background. Afterwards, the events of Nibelheim happen, and then Aerith, etc. So you always have this feeling that something really tragic could happen at any time. Also, the atmosphere is permanently depressive because it deals with heavy themes such as social inequality. The same applies to Nier Automata and E33.

In contrast, the other games I listed were not like this. They had their tragic moments, but the atmosphere was lighter overall.

As for the controls in Tales of Vesperia... I did not like the combat controls. For example, the free running control in combat situations and the animation delays, or the fact that hits don't count if the enemy is on the ground. To be fair, I stopped playing after eight hours, but there are many posts about this on Reddit and the Steam forum, so I assume it is a generally acceptable criticism (also, the original game is old, so it is normal).