Tales of Xillia

Battles are fast and furious, but the overarching story fails to impress. [Oct 2013, p.72]

The combat also shows surprising depth, although the secondary systems don't quite measure up. It's not groundbreaking or deep, even in the context of its own series, but Tales of Xillia was engaging and satisfying.

Tales of Xillia feels like wrapping yourself in a comfortable blanket. It's like an old friend. It exemplifies everything the genre is today — good and bad — and serves as a reminder of why I fell in love with JRPGs in the first place.

Fans of JRPGs will find enough to satiate their Tales craving and others would be wise to take a look into the world as well.

Tales of Xillia is a gorgeous and fast-paced Japanese role-playing game that suffers from a few questionable design choices.

An unremarkable game, but enjoyable in its own quiet way. [Issue#138, p.106]

The combat system works and is intricate and balanced enough to provide for the tinkerers. But the rest is just so banal, so by the numbers that, honestly? We often found ourselves bored. [Issue#234, p.74]

What’s left is, while smartly streamlined, a thoroughly orthodox game within a well-established type, a niche within a niche that’s getting smaller all the time.

Proof that Japanese role-players can evolve without having to losing their own unique identity, although Xillia stops just short of being a full-on revolution.

There is nothing inherently wrong with the game, nor is there anything to make me recommend it. If you love JRPGs, you might enjoy this. If not, it will probably reinforce all your negative ideas about JRPGs.

With Tales of Xillia Namco is content with slowly but safely improving the Tales series. Tales of Xillia is more polished than ever but at the same time the rest of the RPG genre has passed the Tales series. New material is scarce and the story poorly written. But the anime graphics continues to be astonishing if a bit uneven and the fighting system is arguably the best in the series.

It struggles to find its footing here and there, but it manages to straighten up thanks to the help of genuinely likeable dialogue snippets, addictive battles, and a slick character augmentation system.

Were its opening acts more strongly defined, and the characters presented initially as less one-note, then it would be a far better game.

Ni No Kuni has more charm, Resonance Of Fate’s combat is richer, and Persona tells a far better story. And even then, if you’re intrigued by the Tales series then Vesperia is a better starting point. Fast, fun combat let down by a so-so story and lifeless environments. We’ve seen worse – and weirder – JRPGs, but also a whole lot better.

It is the quintessential “bog standard” JRPG, a sad showing considering it’s part of a recognised and long-running franchise that has certainly hit some impressive highs in the past. It manages to make a killer combat engine redundant and boring, and comes across as a lazy, poorly-engineered mess in all other areas.