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[Sadist]

I never had that much experience with the Tales of.. series; I played Symphonia first on the Gamecube which I loved. I recently revisited that game through the HD collection and it's sequel and while it has it's problems, I still enjoyed the original. The sequel... not so much. Still with a PS3 at my disposal and the last new Tales of-game I played being Abyss I was in the mood for a new title series in the series. So Xillia it is! I'm 23 hours in and I'm really enjoying it. I mean, it's all pretty much standard RPG tropes, but I think it's game biggest strength. You know what's coming, but the ride towards it is pretty damn fun.

- I like the characters. I know I didn't play all of the games in the series, but overall the cast is likable. Personal favourite is Rowen. As with Regal in Symphonia Rowen quickly became one of the coolest characters because he doesn't act like an idiot. He can be serious, but at the same time has some tongue in cheek humor ready for some group banter. The group banter is pretty entertaining in this game. Skits are always fun, but in Xillia the group has some nice chemistry.

- Well, there is Teepo... seriously, bazonga's? Combining this with Teepo's creepy smile, oh boy.

- Fighting system is still good.

- The only thing that's kind of disappointing are the environments like the high roads; they're all the same.

- Storywise... it's what you expect from a Tales game. But the latest twists were a bit strange:

Spoiler

From out of nowhere Muzet joins the story. "Oh hey I'm Milla's sister. And moehahaha, now she's sacrificed herself from something which was discovered by the player and I'm so evil!" Even Alvin and Jude are so out of character it's just plain weird. The game rectifies that pretty quick, but it really was distracting for a moment.

So GAF, how do you feel about Xillia?

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Characters were horrible especially Gaius, can't believe

Spoiler

the wannabe Sasuke doesn't even die. Everyone admired him, even Jude, for stuff we didn't see him do. Milla showed him the err in his ways and he the manchild that he is tries to become god. He's so conceited any power he can't wield has to be uncontrollable. Maybe if everyone wasn't so caught up in crawling up his behind he might have been a little more humble.

Combat was great, played as Jude, though I didn't like the linking mechanic.

Didn't bother picking up the sequel.

 

[FSLink]

I enjoyed Xillia, though it really feels rushed.

Play Xillia 2 next because its story is actually pretty good and helps polish a few gameplay things.

Just don't try to get all the trophies in Xillia 1 before doing so, you'll get burned out by how grindy the trophies are, and how repetitive the locations are as well.

 

[OmegaDL50]

I played it when it was on sale on PSN as a digital release a year or so ago. I found it enjoyable.

I did like the level up system with that spiderweb like sphere grid thing.

I never played Xillia 2, but from what I understand it clears up some things from the first game so I'll need to play it eventually.

 

[Lucreto]

I love the game and it's sequel.

I enjoyed the character interaction and the comradery between the members of the group. I was a bit sad at the end when I finished the games as I enjoyed the experience with them. I wish I had friends like that.

Teepo was amusing but got irritating after a while but Rollo in the sequel was better mascot. Rowen was my favourite but I always like the kick ass older wise characters

The Battle system was the standard affair but I did enjoy the FFX like character upgrade system and the item upgrade system was enjoyable.

 

[Alric]

I went into it thinking it was going to be terrible because most people talk so badly about it. I'm actually still playing it right now, chapter 3 and I like it a lot. I honestly think it's a pretty great game and don't understand the hate.
So yeah, I haven't finished it yet but I really enjoy it so far, teepo and all.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I thought it was mediocre, all in all.

But in the pantheon of 3D Tales, mediocre is far better than it could have been.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Characters were great but how they were used was not in many of them's cases. That's the only way I can really say it.

 

[Henry Jones Jr]

I really liked xillia, but it took a few hours for the characters to grow on me and to really start to get into it. The same was true for xillia 2.

I played through the first game as Jude. Is it worth going back through as milla, or is it largely the same?

 

[jrush64]

Characters were great. Not as goods as Vesperia's or Symphonia's but still great. Xillia 2 is even way better.

 

[Hexa]

I really liked it. My favorite Tales story (though I haven''t finished anything past it or Vesperia) tied with Abyss. I really liked pretty much all the characters. Only played as Jude though. Didn't like the game enough to play as Milla considering how similar the stories were.

I was playing this and my little sister watching it, and she heard Teepo saying "If you don't eat, you won't grow huge bazongas" and asked me what bazongas were.

 

[Ludger Kresnik]

I really love the Xillia duology and think they get way too much hate.

I totally understand why they do, though. These games are ridiculous.

 

[Big Green Anus]

It was the game that got me into the Tales Game and since then, I purchased all of the other Tales Games(not Symphony Chronicles though) on PS3, 360 and Vita. Playing the other Tales did made notice more of the flaws of Xillia 1, but the game's combat is still crazy fun

 

[FStubbs]

Xillia 1 wasn't bad. Got a little repetitive but Milla is a likeable protagonist.

Xillia 2 OTOH was bad for 2 reasons:

1 - Lots of reused areas from Xillia 1 that I've already spent way too much time in
2 - The thing that totally BREAKS the game? The debt system. You're put in debt early in the game, and a debt collector (who probably has a crush on the main character) will literally interface screw you if you don't pay her often enough.
3 - Then the silent protagonist. Ludger has a good look but sucks on the mic, so to speak. Elle

Spoiler

lizabeth

tags along and, well, I'm used to characters like her at this point.

 

[K.Sabot]

Leia did nothing wrong

 

[Kikujiro]

It was fun for ten hours. The recycling was awful and the villains were awful.
I enjoyed Legendia more.

Characters were horrible especially Gaius, can't believe

Spoiler

the wannabe Sasuke doesn't even die. Everyone admired him, even Jude, for stuff we didn't see him do. Milla showed him the err in his ways and he the manchild that he is tries to become god. He's so conceited any power he can't wield has to be uncontrollable. Maybe if everyone wasn't so caught up in crawling up his behind he might have been a little more humble.

I'm so glad you posted this, 100% spot on, Gaius is one of the worst character in the series, the game tries so hard to paint him as a badass, but what his actions show is that he's a complete idiot and an unbearable manchild.

 

[Sadist]

Leia did nothing wrong

Hehehe.

Poor Leia.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Xillia is a fine game with a lot of issues. It has one of the best plot twist moments in the series, IMO, when *HUGE SPOILERS*

Spoiler

the sky breaks and you discover there's another world.

It also has the

Spoiler

worst trope-character in the series in Alvin, as it's so transparent that he was written as as a traitor, to the point where his betrayals feel more like the writers had to uphold to his conceptualized "traitor" persona than his actions feeling genuine or even in character.

The fields that are unique are very beautiful and well designed, like the marshlands or the beach or Fennemont, but the reused assets on the recolored hollowed out canyons (AKA 70% of the game) are awful.

Xillia 2 has better characterization and skits, but a worse plot and main character, and is bogged down by re-used assets that were already boring to begin with. The boss fights are also ridiculously hard in Xillia 2, to the point where normal battles and boss fights are an entire difficulty level or more of difference.

 

[Alavard]

I started out really enjoying Xillia, but the farther I got in the game, the less I liked it. By the end I was not really enjoying myself. The combat itself was great, but it really felt like they phoned it in big-time for the game.

I think most of it comes down to the stupid 'choose a character path' thing between Jude and Milla at the start. It really serves no purpose except to get you to play the ~30 hour game twice instead of the previous ~50 hour games once.

Whichever path you choose, you miss out on vital parts of the story at a critical piece of the game. And the real topper to me was that even if you choose Milla as the character path, there's still a sizable portion of the game where you can't play as her.

The game felt like a real disappointment after Vesperia, and Graces F, and I haven't managed to get back into the series since.

 

[K.Sabot]

Hehehe.

Poor Leia.

xillia 2 related play the game and come back lol:

Spoiler

I like how they keep giving her the short shrift in Xillia 2 as well, poor girl gonna have ptsd by now

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Xillia is a fine game with a lot of issues. It has one of the best plot twist moments in the series

but that's a trope of the series

Spoiler

almost each one of them has a 2nd world/sub world

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Reused assets are a non sequiter; it's a direct sequel in the same world.

 

[Kresnik258]

I enjoyed Xillia, though I can't say I was blown away by it.

I enjoyed Xillia 2 a lot more, and knowledge of the first game made the whole story have a lot more of an impact, so if you are enjoying I'd say to make sure you pick up Xillia 2 as well. For me, it improved on the original in every way (except that with both of them, they have a somewhat "rushed" feeling that detracts from the experience a little).

 

[RalchAC]

If you liked the gameplay in Xillia you should check Xillia 2 sometime in the future. It does some interesting things to improve the combat system, has a really interesting story and the structure of the game (there are main story chapters and secondary story chapters) is quite good. The later is something I'd definitely want to see improved in the next few games in the series.

Story wise I thought the pacing was quite good (especially for a Tales game), but the story wasn't especially greaat. It would have been a bit better if Alvin didn't need 25 hours before

Spoiler

he stopped betraying

and it definitely felt weird when the last few hours are completely rushed and you aren't able to explore

Spoiler

the new world you've just discovered

. I think Milla and Jude have quite a decent chemistry and I liked how they handled Jude as a character.

The battle system was never that good in my opinion. The ability to change your party members in battle (FFX style but real time!) was really cool imo and that paired with the link system allowed some really cool stuff. Still, I didn't like how bosses received an anti-staggering shield after a few hits. Graces f was so much better, I really liked the idea behind the 3 different auras in that game. Xillia 2 tried to implement it but they were a skill and I felt they didn't work as well there as they did in Graces.

It has some of the most boring enviroments I've ever seen and playing Xillia and Xillia 2 (which re-uses a lot of assets) would have totally burned me. But at the same time, some of the cities are absolutely beatiful. Xian Du and Fenmont have really amazing designs.

Milla's outfit is terrible.

If you want to play Xillia 2 wait two or three months, play other stuff. You won't stand the massive asset re-using if you play X2 right after you finish with the original. But I'd recommend you playing it sometime in the future.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

but that's a trope of the series

Spoiler

almost each one of them has a 2nd world/sub world

Yeah, I know, but the way it was done in Xillia was great.

Spoiler

It comes at such an unexpected moment, when there's already a lot of important stuff happening, and it happens in such a bombastic way that it leaves a lasting impression.

 

[Sadist]

I actually own Xillia 2 allready, so there's that. I got both for € 30 so it wasn't a bad deal hehe.

 

[Green Mamba]

I hate this game. I kept expecting it to get better, but I just found it incredibly mediocre, with an unfun battle system, an annoying to traverse overworld, and absolutely awful, awful cast.

EDIT: The "dual protagonist" gimmick was just that, a terrible gimmick, that ultimately made it feel like you were getting an incomplete story no matter which side you chose.

 

[Falk]

Xillia 2 is seriously one of the most depressing JRPGs ever.

For a Tales game especially, the contrast is actually a little distressing.

(Play it)

 

[Familienoberhauptvogel]

Yeah, I know, but the way it was done in Xillia was great.

Spoiler

It comes at such an unexpected moment, when there's already a lot of important stuff happening, and it happens in such a bombastic way that it leaves a lasting impression.

I don't know I was just annoyed with Gaius and everyone's infatuation with the manchild at that point.

 

[galvenize]

The sequel is better than the first game.

 

[Via Purifico]

Imo Jude is the least favorite protagonist of mine in the whole series. It felt like he had no ambitions of his own other than helping Milla and paying Leia dust.

 

[Drilbit777]

I really enjoyed Xilla 1 when I played through it, the story kept me interested and I liked most of the characters. I would usually switch out in between Milla, Leia, and Jude and I thought having team artes was pretty cool. The only real issues I had with the game is that it forces you to play the same game twice if you want the full story (which only has minor differences) and not to mention (story spoilers btw)

Spoiler

it felt so painfully out of place that Alvin would just betray you and wants to be friends again. I get that he was written to be the traitor but it could have done so much better and not to mention I'm not really a fan of Gaius or Muzet (mainly because she is introduced so late in the game and its obvious she's going to turn out to be evil).

 

[Trigonometrize.]

I really loved Xillia from the story to the characters to the fighting. Things I disliked though: vapid enviroments and the music. When I think of Xillia I think of that weird smooth jazz playing as you traversed the same tired environment.

Oh yeah, and good taste with Rowen

 

[Falk]

Dropping spoilers in a LTTP thread where OP is halfway through the game really isn't cool just btw.

Even if they're Tales tropes.

tomodachi bonanza

Hahahahah

 

[GKSilKamina]

I enjoyed the two Xillia games a lot despite their problems. They somewhat rekindled my deteriorating interest in the series. Xilla's characters were fun and X2's darker story felt super refreshing after the tomodachi bonanza that was Graces f.

 

[Inuhanyou]

Imo Jude is the least favorite protagonist of mine in the whole series. It felt like he had no ambitions of his own other than helping Milla and paying Leia dust.

And becoming a doctor, which he does.

I thought the game was good. It did have issues with recycling, the roads toward each town, but its either that or a flat overworld from the PS1 era, neither of which is particularly innovative or good.

I feel like a lot of the hate just comes from "lol anime tropes". Even though literally every Tales game is anime tropes the game besides Yuri.

People who played these games forget the entire purpose.

Also, Xillia 2 has a much better plot, and character development, but the recycling is FF10-2 levels of bad

 

[Falk]

Both Xillia 2 and FFX-2 literally take place on the same planets as their predecessors.

I mean yeah maybe that's an excuse more than a reason but what do you want, a completely different looking world in the span of a couple of years?

 

[RalchAC]

Xillia 2 is seriously one of the most depressing JRPGs ever.

For a Tales game especially, the contrast is actually a little distressing.

(Play it)

It feels nice to see other people that really like Xillia 2. Sometimes I feel I'm weird for loving that game despite of its flaws (which I'm aware of)

And becoming a doctor, which he does.

I thought the game was good. It did have issues with recycling, the roads toward each town, but its either that or a flat overworld from the PS1 era, neither of which is particularly innovative or good.

I feel like a lot of the hate just comes from "lol anime tropes". Even though literally every Tales game is anime tropes the game besides Yuri.

People who played these games forget the entire purpose.

Also, Xillia 2 has a much better plot, and character development, but the recycling is FF10-2 levels of bad

I was really surprised about how they handled the whole fractured dimensions thing. It could just have been an excuse to make the player go through more recycled content, but in my opinion it was really well executed as a major theme in the whole game.

And they really fleshed out Leia in Xillia 2. It became one of my favorite Xillia characters after the second game.

 

[Sadist]

Hmmm, so it's balanced.

I can understand that though. I've only played a few Tales games and the Xillia characters are really similar compared to certain characters in past games. Jude is the gentle idealist, Leia has confidence issues, Alvin... well you know. Rowen is the wise man of the group. Story progession same story.

Edit: the soothing jazz music makes me think of Dead Rising...

 

[Myriadis]

Come to think about it, Xillia and Vesperia are both pretty much fighting for the #1 spot in my list. Finally some rotatable camera with more open areas, I absolutely prefer the characters in this game over the ones in Graces and Symphonia , that game had some excellent ideas like the shop being expandable and the gameplay itself was really fun.
It had some flaws like the areas between the essential ones feeling copy-pasted, but all in all it's pretty great.

 

[Servbot24]

I had to stop playing this game due to Teepo. Unbearable.

 

[silva1991]

I loved the game, but I'm not sure if I want to play Xilia 2. I read that it re used bosses and locations from the first game.

 

[Ogawa-san]

I didn't hate it, but it would've been more palatable without the Cycle of

Spoiler

Alvin

taking place every five hours.

Spoiler

Act suspicious, get caught acting suspicious, betray the group, get accepted back, repeat.

Also the token annoying talkative pet thing, but it's not a Tales without one to piss you (and probably the protagonist) off.

 

[yami4ct]

Absolutely loved Xillia 1. I think the fighting system really clicked with me in a way that other tales games haven't. I also really dig the characters. The story is still pretty standard, but I think they tired for some new things and had some interesting themes going on. The environmental diversity isn't great, but that's sort of what I expect from a mid-budget RPG like Tales.

 

[OmegaDL50]

Tales of Xillia 2

It's a direct sequel to Xillia 1 that takes place one year later in the same world.

I don't think Namco Tales Studio could totally change everything having a returning cast of characters and revisited locales all looking different without some handwave nonsense. It doesn't make sense in the context of the game being a immediate follow up of the last game.

 

[OmegaDL50]

Double post - DELETE

 

[OmegaDL50]

Double post - DELETE

EDIT - Something is wrong here. I click to edit my post and it makes a duplicate. This is VERY, VERY strange.

 

[Roto13]

Everything with Alvin was fucking weird.

Spoiler

"What, that shady guy who was constantly sneaking off to do who-knows-what betrayed us? How can this BE! Well, he probably won't betray us again, so let's keep him around. WHAT! I can't BELIEVE he BETRAYED us again! Well, what are the odds he'd betray us a third time? WTF SERIOUSLY!"

 

[Sifl]

The first Xillia might as well not exist, the 2nd is better in every way and it's really not that good either.

 

[khaaan]

I'm interested in seeing what you think of the story later on in the game, OP.

I finished the game a while ago and though I didn't hate it, I don't think I loved it either. By the end of it I was "okay" with it. I liked the battle system, I liked the world, I liked the characters but I think the design hurt it a lot. Traversing through the world was boring because it felt like it was only a small step above Final Fantasy XIII's hallways. I'm also not sure how I felt about the leveling system, conceptually it seems cool but I never noticed any significant game play impact from it. It was kind of fun to be able to work towards certain moves before others but I felt like any that impacted gameplay was all in the perks/abilities system.

As for Teepo...yeah.