Before you start reading, I have to admit that this was my very first “Tales of” game. I’d always been intrigued by the franchise since its inception, but never had the urge to plunk down the money for one until Xillia. I’m familiar with ins and outs of the JRPG genre, and have tons of titles under my belt, the most recent being Star Ocean: Last Hope and Ni No Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch earlier this year.
My
experience with Tales of Xillia was largely positive. Like most JRPGs, you’re thrown straight into
the middle of a complicated plot from the outset, and travel together with its
characters through shocking plot twists and unexpected turns. In a departure from other JRPGs I’ve played,
Xillia allows you to “choose” between one of two main characters – the robotic
and entertainingly harsh Milla, and the kindhearted and somewhat naïve
Jude. Your choice doesn’t have any
specific affect on the outcome or progression of the story, but there are times
when your decision has an impact on the presentation of the game’s events. To give a general example without spoiling
anything specific, there are times throughout when Milla and Jude are forced to
split up. Depending on who your focus
is, you get to see a different side of the events leading up to the point where
the two reunite. It’s a pretty neat dynamic,
but I feel it could’ve been used a whole lot more.
The world
of Xillia is beautiful and full of fantasy, brimming with magic, spirits, and ferocious
monsters alongside heaps of modern technology, a setting reminiscent of
previous generation Final Fantasy titles.
After adjusting to the initial information overload, I quickly grew fond
of each and every one of the main characters, a varied cast of lovable and
memorable personalities (if not a bit cliché), from the mysterious and
devil-may-care Alvin to the innocent and bashful Elize. Graphic quality is a bit choppy, but it
doesn’t hurt the overall presentation, in my opinion. Battles are full of vibrant colors and flashy
special moves. There are these wonderful “anime” cut-scenes sprinkled
generously throughout the presentation of Xillia’s story to emphasize important
events, too. As far as the game world
itself, Xillia lacks a traditional world map, and you move directly from place
to place by exiting one area and immediately entering another. Once you reach a certain point, you’re able
to fast-travel to any location you’ve previously visited, a handy mechanic for
tying up loose ends. Each “civilized”
locale is full of talkative NPCs that add more depth to story. One nifty feature I like – each person you
can speak to has a little smiley face bubble above their heads. When they have something new to say, the
lines of the face are dark. When you’ve
already spoken with them, it grays out.
This makes it much easier to determine who you’ve gabbed with, and saves
time when you’re trying to dive deeper into Xillia’s world.
Aside from
the main quest, you can take on some additional “side quests” along the
way. While this was a nice break, they
offered little in the way of substantial rewards, and became more of a
forgettable distraction as I got farther into the game. The majority of the tasks were your standard
“get this item for me” or “defeat those monsters” tasks, not diverging significantly
from the stereotypical “fetch quest” norm.
It was a good attempt, however, and it did add a bit of variation to the
sometimes linear progression of Xillia.
The “hostile” areas between towns are full of monsters to fight, but are
honestly on the whole a bit dull. You
can find bags of materials or sparkling resource points, both of which
regenerate after a time, and you can duck into tiny crawlspaces with treasure
chests inside (sometimes – funnily enough, your characters will comment if it
ends up being just an empty cave with nothing in it). This is all well and good for explorer types,
but the similarities between each area became too great. It felt like I was adventuring through the
same place over and over again, except now there was grass, or different types
of trees, or it was snowing. Sure, there
are some truly unique interior regions, but even those were a bit
cookie-cutter. It would have been
interesting to include a bit of flare that made each area truly special, rather
than rearranging and repainting the same general maps again and again.
To me, the
areas where Xillia really shines are the battle system, the loot system, and
the leveling system. In battles, each
character has a unique set of techniques and spells (i.e. artes) that can be
accessed by quick commands on your controller.
Each character also has a different ability that only he or she can
do. Milla, for example, can change up
her arcane artes, either channeling them as a devastating spell, or unleashing
it as a quick attack that works well in combos.
Rowen particularly was my favorite, as he can add additional effects
(and damage) to his magic by performing various button presses while the arte
is in effect. In a nod to Chrono
Trigger, you can also pair up with another character, granting access to powerful
dual techniques, as well as support abilities.
It almost felt like I was playing a fighting game! When Elize is your partner, she steals HP and
TP from your target and transfers it to herself and you, Jude restores a
portion of your HP if you get knocked down, and Leia attempts to steal items
from toppled foes. It was a lot to
absorb at first (I had a hard time which moves combined with which characters),
but all the information is easily accessible from a menu that can be accessed
during battle (which also pauses the action).
There’s also a meter fills up as perform combos and artes. When full, it allows each character to
unleash powerful (and cool) ultimate technique under certain conditions. In battle, you control one member of your
party at a time, but can switch between your current (and, later on, even
reserve) characters at will, and can change your backup partners in similar
fashion. The rest of your activate party
fight on autopilot, and act under AI strategies that you can customize. Luckily, Xillia’s AI does a pretty good job;
I almost never found myself cursing my computer controlled teammates. There’s even an option to let your team use
items automatically, which helped in tight situations (but it forced you to
really keep track of your inventory). All
in all, this system was challenging but very rewarding. I felt particularly proud of myself (I
literally fist pumped) when conquering a couple of the game’s more difficult
bosses.
The loot
in Xillia is comprised mainly of (1) equipment, (2) usable items, and (3)
materials. Equipment is pretty much what
you would expect. Each character has a
unique weapon type, along with slots for body armor, a helmet, and an
accessory. There is, however, a really
nifty collectible wardrobe of wearable items that change a character’s
appearance, but don’t improve on abilities in anyway. These include things like bunny ears, a
devil’s tail, pilot shades and half-rim glasses. It’s fun to play dress-up, but it would be
better if the actual equipment you wear (which, by the way, have beautiful
illustrations in the menu) changed your appearance, a feature that JRPGs are
notorious for ignoring. Usable items are
comprised of a variety of restorative and offensive consumables, although food
is something a little different. When
you eat a scrumptious dish, it provides lasting effects that continue over a
number of battles. Some boost gald or
experience earned, or restore your HP or TP at the end of each fight. While there’s no crafting system of any sort
in Xillia, you’re constantly picking up materials from treasure caches and
monster drops. At each shop, you have an
option to “Expand” the five vendor types (items, weapons, armor, accessories,
and food), which opens up additional, more powerful items for purchase. This is how you access more and more powerful
(and expensive) equipment. Xillia is unique
in that some of the best equipment is available for sale in a shop, rather than
hidden across the game world, and you’ll find yourself constantly grinding for
gald.
Lastly,
Xillia’s leveling system draws parallels to Final Fantasy X, where (like the Sphere
Grid from that game) every level earns you a pool of Growth Points that can be
spent on activating nodes. Each node boosts
a character’s base statistics (strength, vitality, intelligence, spirit,
agility, dexterity, HP, TP, and SP – Skill Points). To activate a particular node, you must have activated
one adjacent to it on the grid. When two
adjacent nodes are activated, the gridline in between lights up. In the middle of these gridlines are special
nodes that are unlocked when you light up all the gridlines surrounding
it. These provide new Skills, which are
permanent bonuses or enhancements to your characters that can be “equipped”
using a pool of Skill Points, or Artes, the special skills that can be utilized
in battle. It’s a complex system at
first, but it allows you to ultimately decide the direction in which each
character develops. As you progress, the
grid (called the Lilium Orb by the game’s characters) expands, and eventually,
a second orb is revealed beneath. Keep
this in mind, however – when you begin, you earn about 3 GP per level, and as
you advance, it increases to 4 and even 5 per level. But, once you reach around level 55 or 60, it
drops dramatically to 2 (and it may do so even further, but I didn’t get that
high), so make sure you spend your points wisely.
All in
all, Tales of Xillia was an enjoyable JRPG with a fleshed out game world, a
story full of unexpected left turns, and characters that made me smile. The battle system is challenging and complex,
shop expansions are an enjoyable twist on standard RPG looting, and the Lilium
Orb is a customizable (albeit familiar) way to strengthen your party. Although this was my first “Tales of” game,
it definitely won’t be my last.
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