Tales of Xillia, initially launched a long time in the past for the PlayStation 3, stands as one of many extra distinctive entries in Bandai Namco’s long-running JRPG franchise. Now, years later, the title is out there to a brand new era of gamers throughout a number of platforms by the remastered model. Whereas it divides followers in sure design instructions, its mixture of wealthy character dynamics, fast-paced fight, and dual-protagonist storytelling offers it a memorable id inside the sequence. Though it doesn’t totally escape the restrictions of its period, it provides a deeply participating journey for gamers who worth robust get together chemistry, thematic depth, and energetic motion RPG methods.
An Intriguing Fantastical Setting & Story
Set within the vibrant world of Rieze Maxia, the place people and spirits thrive collectively by the life-giving drive often known as mana, Tales of Xillia explores a society constructed on “spirit artes,” magic fueled by the very beings that maintain the land. The story sparks to life when Milla Maxwell, an enigmatic lady who proclaims herself the incarnation of the Lord of Spirits, infiltrates a secret navy facility siphoning energy from spirits. Her mission collides with the trail of Jude Mathis, an idealistic medical scholar whose second of curiosity pulls him right into a battle far larger than himself. Mistaken for accomplices and branded enemies of the state, Jude reluctantly follows Milla on a journey that quickly attracts in a various solid of allies, every carrying private burdens, ambitions, and causes to battle. As their journey deepens, the group uncovers a looming hazard: Gaius, the formidable king of Auj Oule, whose imaginative and prescient of a unified Rieze Maxia might come at the price of its freedom. Stopping his rise turns into the get together’s final take a look at.
One in every of Tales of Xillia’s most unusual options is the selection between two foremost protagonists: Jude Mathis, a medical scholar with a robust ethical compass, and Milla Maxwell, the stoic incarnation of the Lord of Spirits. Although the majority of the overarching narrative stays the identical for each routes, every perspective reveals completely different scenes, motivations, and character moments. This twin narrative is a daring structural concept for a JRPG, and whereas it doesn’t create two radically completely different tales, it does encourage replayability and provides gamers a way of authorship over how they expertise the world of Rieze Maxia.
Tales of Xillia Remastered brings collectively a full of life ensemble of characters who stay one of many sport’s greatest strengths. Jude and Milla make for compelling twin protagonists, their chemistry strengthened by how sharply they differ. Jude’s earnest perception in compassion often butts heads with Milla’s cool, analytical worldview. The supporting solid provides loads of attraction as effectively, from Alvin, the smooth-talking mercenary with hidden depths, to Leia, Jude’s energetic childhood good friend whose enthusiasm brightens even the darker moments. Collectively, the group strikes an ideal steadiness between heartfelt sincerity and playful humor. A standout function that elevates this dynamic is the skit system: totally animated non-compulsory conversations that inject character, banter, and emotional nuance into practically each interplay. Few JRPGs use these moments as successfully, they usually enable the solid to shine far past the primary story scenes.
Enjoyable, Quick Gameplay with a Few Flaws
Gameplay-wise, Tales of Xillia builds upon the franchise’s signature Linear Movement Battle System and introduces the Twin Raid Linear Movement Battle System. It permits gamers to hyperlink two characters collectively for synchronized assaults and help expertise. This linking mechanic provides nice strategic choices to battles. Every get together member has a novel playstyle and quite a lot of weapon varieties, and battles are each satisfyingly quick and dynamic, whereas additionally being difficult.
Fight animations are crisp and responsive, particularly within the remaster, operating easily even with a number of enemies and results on display screen. Boss battles are a number of the sport’s highlights. They’re flashy and intense, typically requiring sensible use of artes and linked skills to beat. Nevertheless, the sport notably has a steep issue curve in direction of mid-game sections. This forces gamers to grind out ranges and grasp combo timings to progress. Whereas not too unhealthy, the sudden shift may be jarring to many.
Regardless of this, taking part in Tales of Xillia has by no means been higher because of the sport’s new, much-needed quality-of-life adjustments. This contains an extremely helpful autosave perform, the power to sprint, making gameplay sooner and extra approachable, and the power to toggle encounters. Moreover, the sport now permits gamers to skip dialogue strains, skits, and cutscenes. This can be a important enhancement from the unique, because it had painfully sluggish dialogue scenes and skits. The remaster additionally grants entry to the store from the beginning, unlocking a number of options and offering cash to buy numerous helpful objects. Furthermore, gamers can lastly play the sport with Japanese dub, which options wonderful voice performing. General, taking part in Tales of Xillia is now one thing trendy gamers can bask in thanks to those options. The sport additionally runs easily on PlayStation 5 with no noticeable framerate dips, lags, crashes, or glitches.
Enhanced, Remastered Visuals
Visually, Tales of Xillia Remastered seems to be higher than ever. The sport options cel-shaded character fashions and extra expressive facial animations. The remaster offers the visuals a brand new coat of paint as virtually every thing seems to be genuinely HD, particularly the animated cutscenes and opening. Whereas the environments can generally seem sparse in comparison with trendy RPGs, the artwork course compensates with vibrant coloration palettes and plenty of ethereal designs and components.
Nevertheless, Tales of Xillia Remastered isn’t with out its tough edges. The pacing falters most noticeably within the center stretch, the place the momentum dips earlier than constructing towards the finale. Aspect quests additionally battle to impress, typically falling into repetitive fetch duties or easy monster hunts that lack the creativity seen in stronger entries of the sequence. And though the remaster cleans up the visuals, the character fashions clearly betray the sport’s age, giving some scenes a distinctly dated look. The English voice performing suffers an identical destiny. Whereas earnest and infrequently well-delivered, the audio constancy displays an period of extra restricted recording know-how, making it sound noticeably older in comparison with trendy requirements.
Closing Ideas
Even so, these points don’t outweigh what the remaster will get proper. At its core, Tales of Xillia Remastered stays a heartfelt and interesting JRPG, stuffed with the emotional storytelling, memorable characters, and exhilarating fight that long-time followers cherish.
Ultimately, regardless of its imperfections, Tales of Xillia Remastered stands robust greater than a decade after its unique launch. It’s a vibrant, character-driven journey that gives a lot for style lovers to take pleasure in, reaffirming why Xillia holds a particular place within the Tales sequence legacy.
The Overview
Tales of Xillia Remastered
PROS
Nice characters Enjoyable quick gameplay
CONS
Dated fashions Odd issue spikes
