TALES OF XILLIA: Just the RPG I Need
You couldn't tell by my current collection (which consists of Tomb Raider, Gears of War Judgement, Batman Arkham City, & soon to be Injustice: Gods Among Us), but I love JRPG's. I also love color, which while beautiful none of those games are especially filled with. Enter Tales of Xillia, which is finally being brought over to the states on August 6 of this year. What is Tales of Xillia? Let me fill you in.
The Tales Series has been going for quite some time, and while there are many reasons the series has become iconic amongst its fans, the one I would like to highlight is how unapologetically Japanese it is. True, there are other series that do this, but Tales has a certain way about it, especially as a more heavily hyped title in this day and age of the more modern (i.e. Western) RPG. While companies like Square have tried to modernize their experiences, Namco Bandai has let the Tales team do what it does best, and I say we are all the better for it. Xillia looks to deliver all the hallmarks of the JRPG's of yore, with its colorful and bright world, tons of exploration, a party of likeable characters who walk the fine line between complex and trope, and delivering a more refined version of one of the best combat systems in recent memory (though I will say that screen above does make me miss Grandia). Peep the trailer to get a glimpse of what I'm talking about.
If you played Tales of Vesperia you know how great the combat was, but one thing that was just so-so in that title was the leveling system. It's pretty standard fare; while I love learning new abilities, there wasn't a whole lot of choice in how your characters developed. In Xillia, the developer has adopted a more expansive and detail oriented approach. Much like Final Fantasy XII's License Board (which is still one of my favorite leveling up systems period) you get to really customize your character the way you see fit. You can go for that one ability you really want, or try and get a little bit of everything, but it's up to you, and that is something that was definitely missing from Vesperia.
The story revolves around 2 characters name Jude Mathis and Milla Maxwell, who end up involved in a quest to restore the mana that has been sapped from the world. Not ground breaking stuff story wise, and even a little reminiscent of Vesperia, but what Tales does so well is make you not care so much about the goal at the end, but more about how the characters get there. The cliched line of "its more about the Journey" applies heavily here, but they've done it well in the past, so there is no reason to think Xillia will be any different. Numerous small character scenes, even when on the overmap, help break up the monotony of town-battle-town-battle-battle-battle-cave-town, something that many RPG's could learn from.
So, if you're at all as interested as I am then the recent spotlight on the collectors edition of the game might intrigue you. Aside from the game itself, you get the 100 page art book, the special selection (what does that mean?) music cd, and the pretty snazzy on its own Milla figure. You can preorder now through the official page. Is anyone planning on grabbing one? Peep the screens below and let us know in the comments.
