Tales of Xillia

If you're a hardcore gamer in the west, then it's no secret to you that JRPGs are very likely one of the least popular genres in the western market. Game series such as Final Fantasy are an exception to this, though only because of the popularity placed upon it from the old-school gamers were noticed when gaming was still a rather unpopular pastime. All the same, for every one good JRPG that reaches a reasonable amount of sales in the west, there are a large amount that don't. The 'Tales of' series shift from popular to unpopular all the time, Vesperia and Symphonia being the most popular in the west. So, does Tales of Xillia deserve to be one of the few JRPGs that are revered in the West? Can it bring in more casual gamers and give growth to the franchise? What does it do better than it's predecessors, what does it do worse? Is it worth your money?

While this game has been a recent release in the west, it has been out in east for so long that a sequel has been released! It also has the feat of being the highest selling Tales game since Tales of Destiny 2 on the PS2, and that's impressive considering the fact that the Tales series has been out for so long and is so popular in Japan.

I'll warn you that as a veteran of the 'Tales of' series, I'll likely be referencing other games in the series, but I'll also be making sure that people who have never even heard of the series before may be enticed.

Changes and mentions - for the fans!

The first thing I noticed when starting out in Tales of Xillia that was different from all the other games was the fact that they had gotten rid of the traditional Main character, of whom is usually male, and lead female character. When starting up, you can choose which character you want as your main character, who you will be following 100% of the time. This is likely because one of two things, first of is that the female following for this series is rather big, and the other is that Jude is somewhat of no consequence to the story-line. Of course, since for the majority of the game the two main characters are together, their experiences will be exactly the same at some points. That being said, Milla and Jude both have their own opinions and the characters in the group react differently to the two. Going solo as Milla, walking around the town and talking to your companions before a big battle is much different than doing so as Jude. Not only that, but there are times where Milla is alone, or notices things differently from what Jude notices.

That being said, I can only see this as an extra reason to have a second playthrough of the game. A big problem for JRPGs is that they have an extraordinarily annoying tendency to be extremely linear, and takes a while to pull the player into the world, which in turn makes the experience rather stale the second time playing through. Replaying a JRPG reminds me of playing Last of Us for the second time. On the unlockable survivor mode, all the tension was gone because I knew what was coming around the corner, even when I was low on ammo. I knew how to get around an area, and I knew how enemies would react and form up. The luxury of the immersive experience waned pretty fast the second time through. The option to play through the story the second time as Milla, who is infinitely better as a character than her stalker Jude, is pretty sweet. However, I do recommend playing as Jude first, since Milla's story left me somewhat confused. Jude's story seems to explain the world, and the events going on inside much better than Milla's story does, likely because Milla is already in possession of that knowledge, and Jude has yet to experience everything first-hand.

Another thing that was a delightful surprise to me was the UI, and the interactions. Sure, it sounds minor, but only if you're extremely patient. Everybody you could interact with had a bubble above with a picture of a face with an open mouth. Once you talk to that person, and he says what he/she says what they have to say, then the mouth closes. This makes missing additional information in an area impossible. Also, missing sidequests (which is a huge problem for JRPGs, probably one of my most taxing pet-peeves) is unlikely too. Like alot of RPGs, the icon for a person with a quest is an exclamation mark. However, if you go to an area where such an icon is hidden away in a dark corner, one of Tales' trademarks named 'Skits' will pop up to hint you in that direction. All the sidequests were logged, and very few were missable. As a side note for all you trophy hunters out there, all the missable side quests are no longer needed for the trophy, meaning you won't have to spoil the story by looking for a guide.

Finally, cosmetic customization. Each Tales game has a range of these. Something that was taken out of the game that was present in almost all of the others was the ability to 'equip' a title, but fear not. It was replaced by something better! Accessories! As you progress through the game, picking up Aifreed's treasures and completing side quests, you can get accessories such as 'Devil Horns' or 'Headband'. Like in Tales of Vesperia, only much more refined and improved. You can equip such items on your character to add your own sense of personality to them, and customize where you want it and how it looks. There is no greater joy than making Alvin look like Elvis, or giving Rowen a mustache and pipe with a monocle. Of course, you can break the forth wall and customize it so that it floats in the air next to the character, but that's on you.

This game is also a lot more mature than other titles. As you run through town, you'll hear the towns folk hustle and bustle, you'll hear merchants selling their wares and children running around playing. When disaster struck and panic erupted, you could hear people scream and watch as they run away. You could see soldiers round up and run towards the area of which the disturbance was coming from. This is all a nice change from the quiet, lifeless towns that were present in the previous installments.

Gameplay

At a first quick glance at the gameplay of Tales of Xillia, you'll see much of the same things that is present in the older installations. Real-time battles, combo-rich boss fights, exploration and interaction, but there's much more to it than that. There are a few huge changes, and a ton of little changes that shape the game to be something alot more mature than the other games.

The gameplay in Tales of Xillia is probably one of the most Balanced in the entire series. Unlike the battle system of Vesperia - who had bosses that were harder to kill Elizabeth from Persona 3 (Gattuso anyone?) without spamming 'Destruction Field' over and over - this game's battle system is so balanced that playing it from start to finish on Hard mode is actually possible. I should know, i did it.

Many little advancements have been made in and out of battle, and many things have been taken away or simply dumbed down. You still have ton of skits (characters talking to one another), that seem to be a step down from Graces, and a cooking system that has been ripped away completely. The ingredients to food is simply gald.

So, let's talk about the new. Each Tales game has the same-ish combat system with some major tweaks added to it. This combat system gives you several new features. First is the 'personal skill'. Milla's personal skill, and probably one of the most useful, is called 'Spirit Shift'. This basically gives the player the ability to turn any long-range spell that requires time to cast, into a quick close-range attack. Combine this with her tendency to fight in the air and you have yourself a combatant that can hold their own at any place in the battlefield. Awesome.

Another addition, and probably the most documented, is 'linking'. This gives characters the ability to link with another character to assist them in battle and grant them specific boons. For example, linking with Alvin gives him the ability to break the enemy's guard, and linking with Elize has her use her pal, teepo, to sap away the mana and give it to the both of you. Not only that, but each enemy had an enemy 'type', which could range from a magic user to a high defense user. In addition to this, the 'link meter' will fill up gradually as you fight while linked till it caps at a certain point, and to uncap it and make it slowly rise to the point of overlimit, you must use an art that you and your companion can combine specific artes in order to pull of a more devastating one. Though, it isn't limited to mere attacks, you can also combine two heals to create a mega-heal for the entire party! Or perhaps, you wish to combine an attack-up with a magic-up to give to the whole party? The possibility's are endless. One of my main problems with this is that when you link with an ally, that ally will always reposition themselves close to the enemy to attack from both sides. That would be okay, but when you're linking with someone like Elize or the ever fragile Rowen, it can lead them to get WTFpwned.

Next is the flexibility of the combat. Nothing is smoother than Xillia thus far in the series. You can very easily switch characters in the heat of combat and have them heal/debilitate/ground and pound enemies, then switch right back to your normal character. Not only that, but you can switch out your characters for other characters that are outside of the party for them to come in and use their skills, and considering the personal skills and the link skills, you'll be doing quite alot. Especially on harder difficulties.

Finally, there's AC. Like in Graces, the ability to link together Artes has been taken away. Instead, it gives you the ability, if you like, to use whichever Arte in the order you want while racking up the combo meter and keeping the enemy staggered. Yes, sure, you can spam Demon Fist over and over again if you like,.but in the long run that would hardly be effective as the combo would end as soon as your AC runs out.

Other than that, this is the biggest improvement in terms of battle systems there has ever been, and is definitely the best in the series. The fighting is fluid, and is not as on-rails as the predecessors. All I can remember from the others was 'A A A A A B^ B> B<'. Be damned with the elemental weaknesses, since it seemed only one character had the means to exploit them.

This game also introduces a new leveling system named the 'Lillium Orb'. Everytime you level up, you gain GP, and with that you can choose which stats to upgrade, and which skills and artes to obtain next. Does this mean you can turn little-fragile Elize into a healing close-range warrior? ...No. Oddly enough, it seems that you get more of a boost in obtaining stats that would actually progress your character in the direction that would be default for that character. For example, Rowen can get alot of intellect for upgrading, but very little strength. That, in my opinion, is kind of a downfall.

I mentioned you can obtain skills from the lillium orb, and yes, I did mean the skills from Vesperia's system. In Xillia, you can set skills for your characters to have and spend SP on those skills to have them active. You won't have enough to keep all skills, but you'll have enough to keep the most important ones. The skills have passive or activated boon, such as the ability 'TP restore' which allows you to be revived with full TP.

Walking around towns is always fun, and transitions into battle and new areas are pretty fast, though not as fast as Graces F. Even so, there are times when the frames will drop noticeably when in the middle of battle, especially when using a decked out Alvin. I have yet to experience any proper frame drop in the game for towns, though. Another thing that may get on your nerves is the fact that your characters will never shut up. They'll often say something about food at times, which will be an indication that you can eat something else to increase certain stats during/after battles, but there's times where they'll just say things that can only be there to annoy you. If a certain character dies to much in battle, they'll say thing like 'Oh, damn, I sucked during that last battle huh? Shoulda rolled'. That would be okay, but sometimes they just repeat it out of the blue, and come on, isn't that just annoying?

That being said, there is one thing I noticed on my second playthrough. Travelling through the fields is just so terribly bland and boring... why? Well, that would be because they all look exactly the same. No, I'm serious, they all have about three areas, they all have the same sort of landscape. Even when the climate changes, the desert looks the same as the damned winterlands. It's pretty odd. The only places that don't look the same are dungeons, and you rarely have cause to return to those places.

The grade system has been replaced. You're not awarded with grade on how well you fight a battle (that system was stupid and prone to exploitation anyway), but how many titles you achieve! And before you say 'You just said there weren't any titles!', there aren't any you can equip. The titles are given to you for feats, but they're little more than in-game achievements that award you grade.

Over than that, I can't help but see a lot of pros in the gameplay that outweigh the cons. Given the characters unique abilities and roles, you should be able to maneuver your way around the battlefield and use those skills to survive much better than you would in other games.

Story

Most stories in JRPGs seem pretty weird to most western folk unless you're a real fanatic. Usually, it's full of a bunch of complex themes and lingo that is all but alien to you. Xillia is no exception, but that doesn't mean it isn't good. Unlike games like Graces and the Abyss, and much like Symphonia, Xillia's storyline contains a ton of themes that can be appreciated and thought about. In Symphonia, there was a lot of talk of discrimination and religion, while in Xillia, there is a lot of talk about War, and the cost of power. You see firsthand how cruel, short-sighted, and close-minded many humans are, and the effects that such actions have. Probably the most appealing thing to me about this game is how mature it is compared to the other games. Graces was pretty casual compared to this storyline, and there's alot more maturity where that came from.

Xillia starts out with either Jude -A humble and do-gooding honors student who is the top of his class and wants very much to help people - and Milla - the lord of spirits who is on a quest to destroy something called 'The lance of Kresnik'. Jude becomes enamored with Milla upon first-sight, but his willingness to help her lands him in some serious trouble, and he's swept up in a torrent of bad-happenings.

Xillia, like most Tales games, spends alot of the beginning exploring the world and how it works. You're ran through many of the technical terms and the inner workings of the society, with the help of your companions and of course the interact-able NPCs. You'll need to give it time, and even then the story-line isn't exactly the most refined in the series, but it's still better than the most recent installations. However, I will say that there are many badass moments in this game, so badass that I - at times - got goosebumps.

It's action-packed. You're constantly finding antagonists, and fighting them off. You fight kings, spirits, and evil villains as you make your way towards you goals, and I've got to say, one of the antagonists is my favorite in the series. The game is also extremely long, and whenever you think you're close to completely the game the plot thickens and more problems prop up. The antagonists you face not always wholly evil, and some of them are just as much caught up in this as Jude is. Some have their hands forced, while others feel it is their duty, and that you're the bad guy. That's what I enjoy most about the story, the clashing of ideals.

However, there are many aspects that are really unneeded. The lame, reoccurring, Milla fanboy named Ivar will keep propping up to get in your way, always shouting totally childish phrases. The very poor, hypocritical logic that Jude presents, and the unwillingness of the party to point it out. A very depressing, and infuriating scene that will make everybody despise Jude. And, of course, the cliche dialogue about resolves, and lending strength that the developers never needed in the past, but decided they'd put it in this one. It's so totally annoying, and unneeded. If I hear about Jude and the path he is on again, I'm gonna puke.

All the same, in comparison to the other tales games, the storyline is above average. It explores themes pretty well too, but other than that, it's average. Nothing special, and could have been much more enjoyable.

Characters

If there's one thing the Tales game does better than the majority of other games, it's the portrayal of characters. You have six party members, Jude the do-gooder, Milla the Lord of spirits, Alvin the mercenary (or as Elize calls him, the big fat liar), Elize the Loli, Rowen the wise, and Leia the great. You have seven if you include Teepo. While on their own they seem like cardboard cut-outs, and hardly anything special since you've likely seen them a hundred times before, there are still a couple of unique traits in a couple of them. Their interactions may not be the most thought provoking and entertaining (like Jade's insistence on trolling the party), but they can still be serviceable and somewhat fun to watch. Let me talk about the three that join almost right away.

Jude

Jude is one of the two main characters. He's a med student who got caught up in everything, and I have to say I don't exactly blame him for what he did to help Milla. He's a calm, laid back kid who's always willing to help, and at the start, he was actually a very enjoyable character. But he dulled as time went by, unfortunately. He was badass, using his wits to outsmart his opponents and gain the advantage, dodging arrows and the like. He was always so quick to come to people's aid, such as Elize, and risk his life to defend them. I liked him.

But he dulled as time went by. Most people hate at least one character in every Tales party, and this guy is the one they chose this time, and for good reason. His do-gooder sense dies with time and his badass traits abruptly stop as his obsession with Milla goes to a point that is beyond a one-direction fangirl. It gets to the point where most of the party seems friendly with one another, but Jude is completely apathetic when tragedy befalls them unless it's Milla. He won't lift a finger, or have a single thought if it's not all about Milla. He won't even acknowledge kindness, or act on his own. There's one very annoying scene where a certain someone gets wounded, instigating in a fight with the attacker. When the fight is over, instead of rushing to his close friend's side (who could be dying for all he knows) what does he do instead? Talk about Milla. Yeah. Makes me wonder why most of the party looks up to him.

But, this isn't the main problem I had with Jude. I thought he'd grow out of it, and move on, but I lost all hope in him as a character when his dialogue and personality changed from a calm badass into a wannabe hero. He started talking crap about resolve and choosing his own path, lending power from his friends and all that jargon, as if it was ripped right out of some sunday morning anime. His dialogue sucked, and he never shut up about it. But, my tolerance for that sort of cliche was pretty low to begin with, so it's all opinionated. Maybe you'll like him.

Milla

There's not much about her character to dislike. She does have a couple of lines about resolve and such, but nothing that she spams constantly, unlike Jude. Milla is a pretty damned good character, and is likely everyone's favorite female character in the party, or favorite overall. She starts out knowing much about the world, but very little about humans even though he says that she's very fond of them. Almost like a very smart person with little common sense, no offense to her, of course, since she does grow out of it as time goes on.

She's strong and steadfast, and she is probably the character who develops most overall. She had this theme going on where she would do anything to get on with her mission, and not stop for others, and while she doesn't shrug off that completely, it's enough. Her dedication and morals are something that people around her idolize and respect, and she inspires others to follow in her stead.

Alvin

Alvin is my favorite character in the game. He's a mercenary who is non-chalant and seems to take things non-seriously, as well as tease jude and, uh, put his arm around him a lot. He reminds me alot of Yuri, although he doesn't show any sign of loving to fight. He uses a giant-sword, and a mysterious gun that nobody seems to have seen before. Is there a reason behind it?

One Tales rule you may have notices by now is that every party must have a traitor, whether it's of massive proportions or low ones. Well, one pretty annoying thing about this game is that it makes it so obvious that Alvin is a traitor, making betrayals and being welcomed back into the party like it's nothing. However, there's a reason he's accepted back in, and it's that the betrayals never seem to be 100% in his interest, and more-so of the partys. Where do his true loyalties lie? Is he faking all of his betrayals for the benefit of the party, or is he working towards some ulterior goal? Only one way to find out.

As for the other characters, each have their own reasons for joining and their own traits, but considering some join later in the game I'll not spoil who they are or what they represent to the group, but the unnamed few that join are not necessarily bad character. But you've probably seen some like them before. As for major and minor characters outside of the party, there's a large host. There's psychotic girls in red, badass vergil-type swordsmen, strong unphasable badasses like King Gaius. There's enough to keep you interested. But, you might be sad to hear there's no hotsprings. :(

Voices and Soundtracks.

These deserve a quick mention. First of all, I have to say in terms of Voice Acting I've heard alot better. In all fairness, I don't think many of the characters had voices that suited them. The ones that were perfect were Agria, Leia, and Gilland. So, it does have an pretty good line-up, starring actors such as Patrick Seitz and the godly Liam o'Brien, but they're not often heard in-game. The others could have been much better, but there's nothing in this game that will sound like chalk screeching across a board... Like Shirley's voice in Legendia. At the same time, there's nothing in the game that will sound as good as Symphonia:DOTNW's characters, which was one of the only reason I kept playing that awful game.

The soundtrack, however, is some of the best in the series. There is a couple of tracks in there that I would add to my favourites list, especially the major boss battle theme. While the town themes lack any sort of wizardry, the same cannot be said for the battle themes. The battle themes are the best in the entire franchise, and I can say that with utmost honesty. Check them out, if you will.

Conclusion.

So, as a game, there is definitely enough in this to justify it's price. There is over 60 hours of gameplay for you in this game, with a ton of customization and side content to extend your experience. This game is a better starting point that Graces, in my opinion. If you're a fan, I am certain you'll be satisfied with what this game has to offer.

For feats it has achieved, I'll go ahead and say that it has the best combat, exploration and user-friendly features in the entire franchise. Even if you were to play all the Tales games back to back and get to Xillia, it's combat system would still be a massive revelation to you. So, is it any wonder that this is the highest selling game in the series? You'll never go long-stretches of grinding without hearing some new dialogue from the characters since skits can be activated by performing certain actions or reaching some sort of milestone.

So, is it better than Symphonia? The majority of Hardcore fans of the series hold Symphonia in the highest esteem as being the best in the series, and hold to that as testament. I am one of those people, but explaining why is for another time. So, is it better? In terms of gameplay, hell yeah it is. Soundtrack, no. Storyline, hell no. Characters, gotta say, yes. So, is it better?

Considering the fact that Symphonia is much older and the series has matured and gotten a lot of features since that time, I'm going to have to say it probably is better. Among hardcore fans, many will disagree. Xillia still isn't my favorite in the franchise, but that's subjective and it hardly matters.

Overall, If i were to give a score out of ten, I'd give Xillia an 8.5. From this point onwards, Tales will likely only become more popular, especially with the release of Symphonia Chronicles.

If anyone where to ask me which JRPG they should play on the PS3 first, I'd point them to Xillia.