Well, that didn’t take too long afterall! With at least one runthrough now under my belt, I feel that I can talk about it more at length! But please be aware that there may be spoilers contained in these words but I will try to steer clear of any major revelations.
Tales of Xillia is the 15th “mother” title in the series (basically, not a spinoff) but only the 6th to reach the UK and the first to be a PS3 exclusive title. As far as Tales games go, it’s got all the standard tropes one would expect from the series. with 1 or 2 exceptions (which I will get into later). In a unique twist to the formula, Tales of Xillia grants you the option to control 2 characters, which are chosen at the start of the game, Jude Mathis (a medical student) and Milla Maxwell (supposedly the physical manifestation of the main deity of the world in which the game is set). The majority of the game is played with the 2 together but on occasion, they will split and the character you chose will determine how the story unfolds. Now, if you haven’t played the game yet, here’s the biggest piece of advice I can give at this time… PLAY JUDE FIRST!!! Milla has lots of gaps in her story which are clearly part of Judes playthrough so you’ll have a much better understanding of the plot if you play his game first. Plus there’s an insufferable boss near the start of the final chapter of the game which Jude avoids entirely!!
As far as the game goes, the battle system has undergone another evolution and I dare say it’s one of the best in a tales game. For those who have never played a tales game before, combat is done in realtime, with the player controlling a single character with AI handling the rest. Players have access to basic attacks and special Artes. Artes are split into physical arts and elemental artes (basically magic). Characters have a limited number of Action points (AP) to perform attacks and technique points (TP). Every attack will cost 1AP while artes cost a certain amount of TP. The more powerful the attack, the more TP is used but TP can be restored using items or simply hitting the enemy. Balancing the 2 is important if you you want to perform powerful combos.
Key to the new system is the ability to “link” with other characters, which affects their AI to assist you with blindsiding enemy units and (most crucially) makes performing combined artes much easier than in previous games. Anyone remember how irritating it was to set up an arte circle in Tales of the Abyss, then luring the enemy into them before finally performing a linked arte? You can forget all that here! Instead, there’s a 3rd bar shared by the entire party which is split into 5 segments on the left side of the screen. When a segment is filled, you are permitted to perform a single linked arte with your partner. If the bar is full, it will slowly drain but allow you to perform multiple linked artes in succession as well as grant you access to your characters “mystic Arte”. Basically a massive super move unique to your character.
The world map is also gone and replaced with a quick warp system but I don’t think many people will miss that. However it does only allow you to warp to places you have already been (assuming that the plot won’t prevent you from doing so) so you will still need to traverse various fields and paths at least once. It’s similar to Tales of Graces but traversing the fields is a more brisk affair this time around.
Talking about Tales of Xillia is tough in some ways as players of previous Tales games will need little help with explanations while newcomers will need somewhat detailed steps on what makes the tales series stand out. But I’ll just say that the battle system in the tales series is one of its greatest strengths and one of the best I’ve ever played (behind the grandia series and xenogears).
Now, time to get into a bit more detail on the good and bad bits!
LOVED
- Combat – the tales series is a rare series where I will actively go out and take on a large number of enemies simply for the sake of battling them. Having an involving combat system definitely takes the sting out of grinding! The benefits of linking also help make the battle system very accessible.
- Good pacing – despite the story not really taking off until well into the last 1/3rd of the game, there’s always something to keep you going. The big picture may be shown late but there’s enough going on in the meantime.
- The Main characters – Compared to Tales of Graces, the main cast of Xillia are far more likeable, though it could also be said that they are also less distinct…
HATED
- The enemy cast – One thing which I remembered the tales games for were the enemies. Generally speaking, although they were misguided and were trying to do things which, in the eyes of the heroes, were evil, they were usually sympathetic and you can understand some of the reasons why they tried to do what they did. But with Tales of Xillia, the final boss was just a grade A DICK!! I had no sympathy for them at all and was more than happy to beat them down HARD! But what’s galling is that they didn’t even get any sort of comeuppance, just a scolding and then sent back home like a misbehaving child…
- Dark as HECK!! – The world and story of Tales of Xillia is very bleak, especially for a tales game. Old man Rowen got screwed over so badly in his sidequest that even I felt sorry for the dude and there was a distinct lack of humour in the skits compared to previous games. There were a few funny jokes but they were few and far between. Contrast that to tales of Graces and the trials of Hubert (who played the Bokke and Tsukomi in equal measure!).
- A lack of post game content – like many RPGs, older Tales games were usually very generous with their games content after you had beaten the final boss, but Xillia is rather bare. There’s one secret dungeon, which isn’t that hard, a few bosses for acquiring the ultimate weapons and a Colosseum which is somewhat lacking compared to previous games.
- Unfulfilled potential for dual leads – For a game which pushes the idea of a dual lead for 2 characters, the game never really pushes it to its full potential. As I said earlier, Jude gets the lions share of the story and Milla doesn’t really get anything. Much of the game is spent with the team together anyway so there seems little point in having the dual lead idea in the first place.
For the most part, I really enjoyed Tales of Xillia. So much so in fact, that I’m planning on getting the platinum trophy! It has its faults but it really feels like a game which is punching above its weight class and was a very pleasant surprise after Ni no Kuni, a game which was made of triple-A quality parts but didn’t feel like a triple-A title when you played it…
And we’re getting Tales of Xillia 2 next year! YAY!!