Home Video Games Tales of Xillia – Review (Japanese Language Version)

Tales of Xillia – Review (Japanese Language Version)

Tales of Xillia - Review (Japanese Language Version) 1Title: Tales of Xillia
Developed By: Tales Studio
Published By: Namco Bandai
Based on: The long running Tales series.
Console: Playstation 3
Genre: RPG
Audio: Japanese
Subtitles: Japanese
Region: This review was conducted on the Japanese version of this Playstation 3 title. At this time, no English version exists of the game.
Classification: CERO B

After my Playstation 3 console decided to bite the dust so to speak, the one game I was most annoyed about losing my save data over was Tales of Xillia. I was devastated not because I would have to start from the beginning, but because I would be inclined to take a different route despite that I was saving the Milla route until the hopeful English release in 2012/2013… however shit happens and so I finally decided to put forth my opinions on this title as there does not seem to be many reviews around the gaming blogosphere. For this game as with all my other Japanese game reviews, will be reviewed a bit differently with no STORYLINE or CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT being reviewed as I do not trust my medium-level of Japanese knowledge to accurately portray the game, instead I will be focusing on just the other elements – a full review will be made upon the (hopefully) eventual English release. Despite this, I will be making comments on the plot so if you want to read into the storyline, please read the text after the image. So what do I think of the best selling Tales game ever, even beating Final Fantasy XIII-2 in first week sales? Find out by reading on!

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While I will not go into too much detail about the plot, there is a few elements in terms of the storyline which I would like to comment on. The game takes place in a world known as Liese Maxia, inhabited by both spirits and humans co-exist and everything exists harmoniously powered through spirit artes (Artes being the Tales equivalent of magic). As you may expect, there is a political warfare in this game with two nations vying for superiority who each hold their own values and use towards artes. Unlike other games as well as being great for replayability, there are two different paths to take this plot through with – each holding their own main character and points of view through the story. Your choice of either Jude (A normal 15 year old medical student) or Milla (An artes use of all four elements and holds the duty of protecting the world) does not mean you are limited to content during the playthrough and you are still given control of the same characters, the same general plot and can even ignore your main character and just use the protagonist you didn’t choose. This essentially means that while the game should bring you a couple of dozen hours in the first playthrough, you can play again and get a slightly different plot, helpful if you get bored doing trophy replays and find listening to the same storyline tedious.

The game provides you with a set of four secondary characters who each hold a pretty diversified playing style and cater to a wide range of storyline preferences. Alvin is what you could consider the 3rd main character as he appears shortly after you get control of the un-chosen protagonist and after rescuing them, holds a bit more weight to the plot than the other three. Elise Lutas and her (adorable) pet doll Tipo are personally my favourite characters and bring that childhood innocence to the plot alongside some kick-ass summoning skills. Leia Rolando a childhood friend and fellow nurse of Jude and Rowen J. Ilbert an old butler are also added to the ranks but I didn’t really pay much attention to their plots, although they are remotely interesting.

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As you may expect, the plot is not as linear as most other RPG’s, with many opportunities to side-track and take part in other quests and missions. The world is open map so in most non-dungeon areas you can simply return to the world map with the press of a button. There are approximately 100 quests included in this game, and most are not simply find X amount of Y but instead have some mini-plot behind them, a welcome change to many similar games which demand while providing very little. Overall, while I would not go calling this game as the best storylined Tales title, I think it was well thought out and was enjoyable to read – with the bonus benefit of a skip button for those who don’t understand Japanese.

When it comes to designs, this would have to be the best Tales game hands down, and would most probably beat most of my RPG collection in terms of building a creative environment and beautifully designed characters. The character designs have been developed by both Kosuke Fujishima and Mutsumi Inomata, each responsible for designing three out of the six main characters. While Milla has inadvertently ended up as the skimpy clothed mascot which is mentioned in the game, I think they pulled off a nice set of character designs, each of which matched the characters skills and personalities. As with previous installments, you are also granted the opportunity to collect costumes and accessories to decorate your character with. While the costumes are pretty much limited in number without DLC, the accessories are relatively plentiful through questing and while some may seem to have been added just for the sake of them – if you spend your time outfitting the characters you can get a very unique looking party – a party of catboys and catgirls anyone? Environment designs are also far superior to any game in the previous Tales installments. My last experience in the Tales series was with Tales of Vesperia, a heavily cel-shaded game that while looking good, didn’t leave much room for the level of detailing and refinement that Xillia has provided, which has allowed for not only brilliant character designs, but environment designs which put it up there with the big names in RPG’s – or as it did defeat the most recent Final Fantasy game in weekly sales… with other big names?

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To go with the series two protagonists, they decided to include two versions of the same theme song with one for each protagonist. The song is called Progress and is sung by Ayumi Hamasaki, with each having their own animations and just slight alterations between the tones. I love it and it is possibly my favourite of all Tales themes. The game itself has an extensive track list filled with the song styles you would expect in any RPG, and overall have been performed well thanks to the talent of Motoi Sakuraba – who is responsible for the soundtracks of many of my personal favourite games. You may recall me mentioning DLC costumes in terms of design right? Most of the DLC costumes also have  unique battle themes attached to them which is a small but nice gesture to warrant the rather hefty price of DLC.

Tales Studios and Namco have brought in a strong cast of voice actors and actresses to complement the characters. Special mentions go to Yuki Horinaka as Elise, Haruna Ikezawa as Tipo and Tomokazu Sugita as Alvin, however the entire voice cast proved more than efficient to carry across the emotions and personalities of their respective characters.

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For the most part, the gameplay system is the same as every other installment of recent Tales games, a system they have more or less perfected however with a few nice additions which is sure to appeal to fans – and given from past experience frustrate those who know little of the Japanese language in their rather vague tutorials. Using a party of four members, you must use both normal attacks and skill artes (Attached to different L and R analog sticks) to reduce your characters HP while taking into account your own magic levels, enemy weaknesses and the different play-styles of each character, and ensuring your 3 NPC party members do not get themselves killed as well.

The games battle system is known as the Double Raid Linear Motion Battle System or DR-LMBS, which differs from previous systems as it involves two party members teaming up in combat, allowing greater damage dealing to the enemy the player is attacking. The system is pretty effective and the AI does not screw up all that often, but to me it turned out to be a system I would set then sort of forget about so its overall effectiveness is one I am not too sure about. More importantly though is the ability to use Link artes through filling up the Link Gauge and allowing characters to perform unique paired attacks and sharing of select skills. However, if you have played any Tales of games before, there is nothing all too different and you are more likely to be messed up looking at the creative designs than say…. not choosing a right character combination.

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Character development does not rely on a random system of stat giving but instead through a mixture of both skills, artes and grid “web” based system of stat increases where every level earns you Growth Points. These points can be spent on levelling one of six stats (Strength, Vitality, Intelligence, Spirit, Agility and Dexterity) through their use, and growing one section of the web can unlock bonus artes, skills and stats boosts to be unlocked. It is not a new system, but allows you to tailor your skills to your liking. Skill system is pretty much the same as other games where you unlock Skill Points which can be invested and de-invested in different skill boosts ranging from battle skills to HP/TP increases. Another factor to your success is through weaponary and armor. You can go through the entire game without a single weapon unlock in the shops – but to do so and ensure success you must invest your random pick-ups off the field and from battle into one of a number of item categories, which allows you to level up the stores and give you access to more epic items. This game is one that requires you to invest your time and thought into it to ensure success.

As I mentioned above, provided you don’t mind going through the game a second time, you can get a relatively different storyline experience through choosing the alternate protagonist and it does come with a fairly different conclusion to boot. The gameplay does not change a second time round and depending on how successful you were in the previous playthrough will determine how much you can carry over to the second game, as you are given X points to unlock certain boosts or carry-over elements into the New Game. The gameplay is overall your normal Tales experience, but by now if you are still into it then you will enjoy this installment and its slight improvements.

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While I perhaps would like cheaper DLC for this game (As with The Idolm@ster 2 the cost can amount with several hundred yen PER CHARACTER COSTUME), you are provided with a game which uses signature Tales gameplay with many a improvement, one of the most visually appealing RPG’s for the Playstation 3 and with a good characters and storyline to boot…. I say as soon as this is released in English (or if you are strong in Japanese… right now) you should pick this title up as it was to me, a rewarding playthrough!

Final Score
Storyline/Character Development: N/A
Design: A
Music/Voice Acting: A
Gameplay: A-
Replayability: B
Personal Opinion: A
Overall Score: A

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