Tales of Xillia Review

Tales of Xillia was initially released to commemorate the series' 15th year anniversary back in 2011. Two years later, fans in North American finally get to celebrate, albeit, a little late. With Tales of Xillia 2 already having a release date, will Xillia prove to be a memorable entry into the Tales of series?

Tales of Xillia's cast of characters, while interesting at times, simply aren't explored fully enough to be memorable sans Elize. Moments where characters feel like they're going to open up and develop fall victim to the story halting any progression and instead focusing on something else. This might be tolerable if the story was more engaging, but it isn't. Simply put, we've seen these story elements and themes before in other Tales Of games, but executed much better. Sloppy writing and inconsistencies frequently bog down enjoyment of the plot.

Our two central characters, Milla and Jude, are each given their own story paths at certain junctions in the game but largely share the same narrative. Depending on which character you selected to play as in the beginning will determine which plot points you'll get to witness first-hand, and which will merely be summarized to you once everyone has reunited. While branching off rarely happens, the moments you miss and are later briefed upon are important.

While having character choice may entice people to endure 30 more hours of retreading the game, it turns what could've been strong, impactful moments into events that fall completely flat. Witnessing these scenes later on, knowing what happens, isn't a substitute for the initial value of seeing them unspoiled. Overall, the plot and characters are a little weak.

Treatment of antagonists isn't any better; ranging from one-note villains to blatant fanboy pandering. No effort was given to really let opposing show their opposition until much later in the game. In the beginning, there's barely any screen time for any of them. It's hard to be against something or someone when their presence isn't being felt.

Keeping with tradition, Tales Of Xillia has an anime art style which boasts an impressive color palette, but still looks technically inferior to other games that have similar aesthetics. While vibrant and interesting, character models don't feel like organic beings, but rather, ventriloquist dummies due to the unnatural movements of their eyes and their generic flapping of their mouths when speaking.

Musically speaking, there's nothing of note other than an opening song by Ayumi Hamasaki. The rest of the soundtrack either merely serves its purpose or at worst, creates some odd juxtapositions. Later on, the game presents an environment going through a state of entropy, and how does the game complement this situation? With a mellow, cool jazz number. Strange decisions like this really kill the atmosphere.

Exploration is exciting in the beginning, each area feeling open and ready to traverse. As the game goes on, the terrain starts to become mundane. Level design is uninteresting and the areas feel like they were re-skinned to imitate various landscapes without much creativity. You'll find yourself falling into the same routine of checking rocks and bushes for materials and climbing into holes for hidden treasure chests. A few optional areas are scattered throughout the world map, but don't offer anything special outside maybe a hidden Devil Beast.

Traveling with your companions, through both dungeons and cities, you will run into vendors. What's unique about Tales of Xillia is each vendor shares the same inventory as their counterparts. Thus, you're never forced to run back to a specific location to pick up an item.

In order to progress the various shop inventories, you have to trade currency or materials, the latter is found in the sprawling outside areas throughout the game. Materials are plentiful and easily-spotted, so it's never too difficult to upgrade your shops as long as you put in a small amount of effort. Leveling up each shop will lower the cost of old items and open up more inventory options.

What is mysteriously absent, is the ability to make your own food. It's been tradition for the Tales Of series to include cooking and sometimes the Wonder Chef character, but both are nowhere to be found. Instead, food is purchased from a shop. I don't count it against the game, but it is a little disappointing to see both elements left out.

A shining spot on the game, Tales of Xillia has the most accessible battle system in the series so far. Most battle mechanics have been simplified and expanded upon to make you feel like you are the greatest determining factor in the outcome of a battle. Free-range movement, easy Arte button mapping, linking with certain battle participants, switching out characters; all of this has been executed well to enable strategy to play more of a role rather than random button mashing.

Artes are the unique special attacks each character is given and is a staple in the series. Up to 16 Artes can be assigned to the R-analog stick or a combination of the L-analog stick and circle button for simple executions. When linking up with characters, using certain Artes can initiate a prompt which lets you perform a Linked Arte. Participating in a battle long enough with the partner you are linked with and performing Linked Artes will drive up an on-screen gauge which, when full, will allow you to string together a series of Linked Artes; a process called Chained Artes.

What's disappointing is, some characters clearly link well, but other combinations are left almost completely incompatible as far as Linking Artes goes. Luckily each character's linked ability is unique and interesting. Everyone has their own special ability they can perform on their own, and everyone has their own linked ability like: draining TP from enemies, breaking enemy defenses and so on.

Tales of Xillia features a healthy collection of trophies which blend naturally to the mechanics of the game. You'll get trophies for defeating optional, hard enemies or performing feats in battle a certain number of times. What's interesting is, trophies tie largely in with titles in the game. Earning titles and trophies are one in the same. This is sure to excite fans of the series and completionists, but might annoying other due to the amount of repetition involved.

As a whole, Tales of Xillia avoids making any design faux pas, but doesn't excel at much either. It's a good entry into the series but fails to be memorable. Fans will like it, but for those looking to get into the series, Tales of Symphonia or Tales of the Abyss are still better candidates. As far as modern Tales of games go, I would put this one behind Tales of Graces F on my list.