VIDEO GAME REVIEW - Tales of Xillia

I have been a fan of the Tales of series of video games since Tales of Symphonia game out on the Gamecube in 2004.  It a more anime-themed, character driven story than other JRPGs such as the Final Fantasy series, but that is precisely why I'm such a huge fan of it.  My husband is also a big fan of JRPGs, and had yet to play a Tales of game, so I thought what better introduction to the series than the then-most-current entry in the series on PS3:  Tales of Xillia?  Another plus that the Tales of franchise has over other JRPG series is that almost all home console versions of the games can easily plug in up to 4 controllers and have all battles become a multiplayer experience while the person who is the first player explores the map.  It's an ideal series to play with a family member or significant other.

Tales of Xillia follows the story of either Jude, a young medical student who practices martial arts, or Milla, a female avatar of the ruler of the spirit realm.  We personally followed Jude's path, but both paths are largely the same barring a brief divergence about 3/4s of the way through the game.  Their journeys begin when a lab near Jude's medical school is broken into by Jude, Milla, and Jude's professor one evening which culminates in the discovery of the conduction of cruel experiments on humans and spirits.  Jude and Milla fight to stop the experiments as Jude's professor perishes.  They fail, flee, and start a journey to gain strength and try again to halt the inhumane experiments and the people behind them.

Jude and Milla are later joined by the cute mage-prodigy Elize; clumsy staff-wielder Leia; mysterious, older mercenary Alvin, and out-of-military-retirement, old man Rowen.  There weren't too many characters that I felt we very greatly disliked.  I most just developed a strong liking for my few favourite characters, and very rather neutral about the rest.  The team dynamics were very cute; an example would be close to the final fight, a 3rd-party observer remarks to Jude that the members of the party all have similar goals, yet they all word them differently, and Jude just sighs and remarks that that's the sort of team they are.  I found the team dynamics to be cute, yet not too heavy-handed, and all-in-all very realistic.

My only quip in the story and character department was that the last fourth of the game was remarkably, quickly paced and I wish the final resolution was a bit more complete, but since a sequel release, Tales of Xillia 2, has been announced, this quip may soon be rectified once I purchase the sequel.  Standing on its own, completing Tales of Xillia just made me want more.

The Tales of series is known for having a lot of New Game+ content, and Xillia is no exception.  Many options opened up upon our completion of the game; however we have yet to explore them.  Also unlockable full-body costumes are few, but this is made-up for in the number of costume altering accessory such as large noses, funny glasses, angel wings, and bushy eyebrows which were a joy to both collect and use.  The battle system was also fun, and played out as a very smooth version of a real-time action system with a large range of movement, and a new spider web leveling system as well as a new linking system to broaden the number of skills utilized in battle.  It's the most fun Tales of battle system I've played so far.

If you are a fan of Japanese video games, don't mind needing about fifty hours to complete a game, are interested in a largely character driven story, are looking for a long-term multiplayer experience, enjoy an anime-style art aesthetic, and happen to own a PS3, then Tales of Xillia is a great game for you that I'd highly recommend.  I am also personally looking forward to its sequel Tales of Xillia 2, also for the PS3.

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