A great experience for newcomers and fans alike, but marred by some huge flaws.
The game begins by giving you a choice between playing as one of two main protagonists; Jude Mathis, a 15 year old medical student (Don't ask me how he got there) and MIlla Maxwell, the lord of spirits who wants to investigate the source of why the world's spirits are dying. The two characters meet fairly early on in the game, at first it may seem like a fairly meaningless choice, but it gives the player the opportunity to explore the game from two different perspectives. Also note that its highly recommended that first-time players choose Jude, as Milla's story misses out a significant chunk of the game's fourth and final chapter. The opportunity to play as both main characters also gives the game more replayability.
The story itself is quite traditional fare, after the initial intro of Jude and Milla meeting, the four great spirits Milla controls are captured by a device known as the Lance Of Kresnik, a dangerous device that if used could spell the end of human and spiritkind. The pair are then chased out of Fennmont, the capital city of Rashugal. The aim is for the lance to be destroyed before it can be used in war with neighbouring country Auj Oule and for the four spirits to be rescued. While to RPG fans it may feel as if you've played similar games before, its gripping enough, and there are enough turns to keep you interested until the end, even if it does become a little predictable at times.
Xillia's main cast is also interesting enough, if a little hit and miss. Jude is your typical JRPG main character, and something of a do-gooder that sees the best in most situations. Milla's character is quite interesting, being a spirit she sees humans as something of pets and is fascinated at how they have developed but never changed, she does seem to have lived a boring life previously though, and seems somewhat socially awkward around the party.Wise-cracking mercenary Alvin is the next character the two meet, Alvin is the most charismatic member of the party and has the gift of the gab, however the player is made to feel instantly suspicious of him, not only due to the way he keeps wandering off, but also due to the fact that the idea of a "mercenary" character in a JRPG has been done to death, with very few actually being who they appear. *MINOR SPOILERS HERE*Sadly Alvin's character development is awful, and while he was initially one of my favourite characters, his character became something of a farce as the story develops. The way his true identity is revealed is, my opinion, extremely clumsily done *END SPOILERS*. Shy 12 year old girl Elize is also met fairly early on, with her being secluded in a shed for some unknown reason, she is also accompanied by rather annoying talking doll Teepo. Without giving too much away I felt Elize's backstory was one of the more fascinating, with one revelation in particular changing the way you view her and her character for the rest of the game. Old butler Rowen was my favourite character in the game, and goes against the traditions of the characters you have in a party in a JRPG game. An ex-war hero, Rowen acts as something of a clever tactician, often coming up with the ideas that work. The final party character, Jude's childhood friend Leia is the least welcome of the bunch in my eyes, as she appears irrelevant in the majority of the game, feeling like something of a stock character with almost no backstory, there just to make up the numbers. All in all it's a decent and interesting cast, with the option to view skits, which are short conversations between the characters which delve more into their personalities.
Gameplay-wise , the game also excels. The battle system is one of the best in the series, for those who have not played a Tales game before, battles are in real-time, and when you make contact with a monster in the field or in a dungeon, a battle is triggered. Pressing X lets you pull of a standard attack, while pressing O, or O coupled with a directional button, allows you to pull off an arte which consumes TP (Technical Points). You can also set 4 artes to "shortcut" by assigning them to certain directions on the right analogue stick. There is also the option of using Linked Combat, where you press a button on the D-Pad to "link" with one of the other characters in battle. This fills up an over-limit meter, and when it gets so high, use can press R2 to use a linked arte. When the over-limit meter is full you can then chain these linked artes together. It sounds complicated but in-game, its really easy to get to grips with and fun to utilise. When you level up, instead of your stats increasing, you earn GP (growth points) which you can assign to different stats, such as attack, defence and HP, meaning the character develops how you want them to, theres also the option to auto-level if you just want to rush through the game. When battling or exploring the field, you can also collect materials which you can donate to different shops, such as the item, weapon and armour shops. Certain materials are worth more, and when donating help level up these shops, to allow the player to obtain better goods or gear, this is a welcome addition and one which I personally hope to see again. The difficulty level is also just right, you can level-grind to get make bosses easier, but if you wish to just power through the story, bosses can still be killed without grinding, though there will be times you may have to lower the difficulty to easy if playing on normal should you choose not to grind or explore a little bit. Hardcore players who want more of a challenge will be happy raising the difficulty to a higher level too.
Despite all of this, Xillia is by no means perfect. First of all the graphics are generally sub-standard. This is apparent more when travelling between towns, with backgrounds and areas lazily copied and pasted, making the travelling seem like a bit of a drag. Monster designs are also relatively poor, and some of the areas and dungeons can seem rather dull and dreary, which can make them seem a chore to explore at times. The cut-scenes on the most part look OK however, and the cel-shaded ones look quite nice, however there isn't quite enough of this in my eyes. The music is also quite samey and traditional, with only a few of the songs left feeling particularly memorable.
The relatively short length of the main story is another criticism I have of Xillia. If done without exploring or doing side-missions, you can easily complete it in below 20 hours. This short length, while making the game accessible to newcomers, restricts the ability of the supporting cast to make much of an impact. The exception being ruthless monarch Gaius, who easily the most interesting supporting character. Gaius' Chimeriad (Personal guards) however, are left feeling severely underdeveloped, and don't get anywhere near enough screen-time for you to form much of an opinion of them. They all have potentially interesting backstories and motives that are touched upon but not explored, the Chimeriad's leader, Wingul in particular has a quite a number of huge, but unexplored plot-holes. A lot of characters are also introduced too late in the game, which hugely restricts the screen-time they get.
The main criticism however I have of the game is the pacing, which is a huge problem as the game approaches the later stages. It consists of four chapters, the first two chapters go along at a fairly slow, but decent pace, but then as the game goes into it's third chapter the pace increases dramatically, with all the drama happening at once with basically no pause for breath. This chapter, while really gripping has so many plot points and turns without pause it could potentially leave the player feeling a bit lost, as there is not enough time given to take in what just happened, before another major event occurs. Game designer Hideo Baba admitted that the game was rushed in order to meet a deadline, and with this chapter this is made to feel really apparent. The strange thing is, after all the action of the third chapter, it then slows back down for the fourth and final chapter, with a bit more option to explore being given. In truth the less said about the game's final hour the better, after all the build up from chapter 3 the game goes out with a whimper rather than a bang. The final dungeon is essentially re-treading old ground accompanied with some cheesy background music, and it doesn't feel like a final dungeon or final battle at all. It left me feeling a little short-changed in the end.
So, my final thoughts of Tales Of Xillia? It's a welcome addition to the series, and a great game despite its flaws. It also acts as a great starting point for newcomers. There may be huge pacing issues, but the story is decent enough, if a little predictable. The main cast and battle system are certainly amongst the best in the series, and some features such as the levelling system will hopefully be delved into further when the sequel comes to these shores next year. I'd recommend anyone with an interest in RPGs to pick this game up, and explore other games in the Tales series too!
The Good:
• Great battle system.
• Interesting story.
• Good main cast.
• Accessible to newcomers.
• Oppurtunity to play as one of two main characters is a welcome one.
The Bad:
• Major pacing issues.
• Disappointing final chapter.
• Short length leaves supporting cast underdeveloped.
• Graphics are below the expected standard.