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GAME: Tales of Xillia


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EnigmaticSky



Joined: 06 Aug 2011
Posts: 750
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:38 pm Reply with quote
I have always been wanting to get into the Tales games, but haven't really had a chance to. The one I have is Tales of the Abyss on the 3DS, but it feels a little awkward to be playing a huge JRPG on a portable console. I will be moving into my dorm soon though, so it will probably be nice to play when I can't have the tv on while my friend studies or is watching his own thing. I have liked it so far, but I will admit it does feel a little bloated.

I hear Xillia 2 is suppose to be even better than 1, so I may pick this one up and play through it. It has been a while since I played a good JRPG... Although I do still have Persona 3 downloaded on my PS3...
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bs3311



Joined: 07 Nov 2011
Posts: 416
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:51 pm Reply with quote
Well in my opinion, being that I played Graces F and now playing Xillia. I find Xillia to be a very fun game compared to Graces. Graces had some really boring stereotype characters with some bad artwork graphics to boot. Xillia has some stereotype characters, but there my kind of characters I enjoy listening to. Jude and Leia's childhood friend relationship feels better than Cherri's secret typical romance crush on Asbel. And with linking an the addition of TP the battles felt more challenging and more dynamic, the dual chains remind me of shonen attacks that felt and looked so awesome that I chanted the name on screen too. But I did wish they brought back the Iron Stance for characters along with side-steps. But the positives outweigh the negative IMO.

I felt the leveling system was a bit linear. But compared to FFXIII and Graces, Xillia trounces them. Graces's title system felt locked up, you pick a title and you got to stick with it to max it out and the completion-ist I am I always do that. With Xillia, you can choose your route. For me, I would gain stats for characters that they were weak on to balance them out along with adding skills, Artes, and SP. And sometimes I forget I left behind some stats or skill icons so I its not like FFXIII where you basically go through every single orb except passing level 3 or 4.

Landscapes from Xillia were a bit better compared to Graces backgrounds.

Music in Xillia was a lot better with some eerie exploring tones or some good rock beats that kicked Graces happy go music vibe that made me rather watch K-ON! Dubbing sounded alot better compared to Graces where that sound like the actors were just reading lines but not acting them. Everyone somewhat sounded like Sophie except for wacky girl. Though Milla sounded strange to me, it sounded she had a strange lisp when I played through jude's story. Its not like Amanda Winn Lee's dub work of Rei Ayanami where she sounded great compared to Brina's bad performance IMO it was really odd. But I got used to it within 2 hours. Sam Regal once again does good as a male protagonist, he would have done better than Asbels voice actor too IMO. Teepo's was probably the most shocking yet good performance but I do wish it was voiced by a more cute less spunky type actress.

Story wise. Xillia has somewhat of a darker story in the world its portraying. Hell, seeing the trailers while it was being promoted in japan had goosebumps of fear down my spine. But the game and story being shorter compared to regular Tales game's is and feels disappointing. But that got me deeply attached to the characters than I already have on other tales games. Come on! who does not love Teepo!?
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CrownKlown



Joined: 05 May 2011
Posts: 1762
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 4:51 pm Reply with quote
Wait did this guy complain because its only 30 hours or so. Right, you clearly have never played generic fps shooter x aka Halo, COD, etc. Or any game to come out of the west, or any none rpg. They average 5-10 hours for the main storyline. And you complain about a game that 30 hours of story.

Yes an opinion and review is subjective, but that right there is objectively bs.
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Rahxephon91



Joined: 08 Jun 2003
Posts: 1859
Location: Park Forest IL.
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:04 pm Reply with quote
CrownKlown wrote:
Wait did this guy complain because its only 30 hours or so. Right, you clearly have never played generic fps shooter x aka Halo, COD, etc. Or any game to come out of the west, or any none rpg. They average 5-10 hours for the main storyline. And you complain about a game that 30 hours of story.

Yes an opinion and review is subjective, but that right there is objectively bs.
Why do you feel the need to attack western games all the time? We get it, you have a bias.

Either way it isn't. RPGS are usually long and involving games, meant to be filled with tons of story or side quest content. So when one isn't, it can be a negative.

Anyway, FPS aren't generic and length and content messue should be completely different when it comes to measuring games from different genres. No one would want a 60 hour long FPS campaign. And besides many of them will fill the time when it comes to mp. Something tons of people dock FPS for, so should they dock RPGS for not having MP as well?

Anyway, I don't really like Xillia. I'd echo the complaints that the Tales game have basically become the same thing over and over.

I wish I liked this game as everyone else, but the more I play it the more dull it becomes.

I really hate the characters. I just find them really unexciting. None of them have really engaging story beats or fun/entertaining personalities. They all just seem dull. Even the dude with scarf(can't remember his name thats how bland it is) who seems like the mysterious and sly cool dude you're supposed to like seems so vapid.

And the blandness transfers to the environments and world. The environments are just simply boring and ugly to look at. It's a shame that this game looks aesthetically and maybe even technically worse than Vesperia. It's just not an attractive world and the environments do not inspire my desire to explore them.

Fun battle system, but most Tales games are fun and the additions here seem more like fluff than revolutionary changes.

And I'm just tired of Tales I guess. The bland animu fantasy world, the nature story line, and so of. It just feels so tired and done and unlike even Vesperia, XIllia dosen't seem to be doing anything great with it.

I just don't see whats so great about Xillia. Seems like the most stales Tales game in a while.
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belvadeer





PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:09 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
Saying it has "one of the best and most diverse" combat systems in the series sounds like a pretty positive thing, it's just that the rest of the game outweighed that aspect for this reviewer. Besides, all reviews are "biased" in some way since they are based on that particular individual's opinion. It would be just the same as if someone gushed about it simply for being a Tales game.


A blanket statement immediately reversed by the fact he compared it to Graces f's battle system instead of explaining its own merits isn't a positive. If you noticed, he flipped it around and trashed the battle system too.

In addition even people who gush about a game can admit to its flaws. This review sounds like he was revolted even talking about the game. I'm speaking from a neutral perspective here, but I wonder if there was anything he remotely liked about the game. I'm not a "your opinion on my favorite thing sucks!" person.


Last edited by belvadeer on Mon Aug 19, 2013 7:35 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Fencedude5609



Joined: 09 Nov 2006
Posts: 5088
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:37 pm Reply with quote
Keonyn wrote:

I swear, it's like people don't understand how this stuff works.


I haven't read the review yet, but you should generally try to assign reviewers who are at least potentially interested in the subject at hand.

This is a major problem on this site, honestly.
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:48 pm Reply with quote
Fencedude5609 wrote:

I haven't read the review yet, but you should generally try to assign reviewers who are at least potentially interested in the subject at hand.

This is a major problem on this site, honestly.


Dave's played all of the Tales games thus far. He knows what he's talking about.

Most of this is hardcore fan apologists being unable to express disagreement in a manner other than "your opinion isn't mine, so it's objectively wrong".

Which is a major problem on the internet, honestly.
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dan9999



Joined: 25 Oct 2011
Posts: 648
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:48 pm Reply with quote
BS review.

While not the best, Xillia is on par with other tales games. I have played them all, even those that haven't been released outside Japan mind you.

For the reviewer, play the full game before actually reviewing it, this is the problem with most supposed "pro reviewers and reviews", they dont actually play them beginning to end, (they) just taste it and think its enough to do a review.

Zac wrote:


Dave's played all of the Tales games thus far. He knows what he's talking about.



FALSE. Tell him to actually finish them. It could not be more evident that he hasn't to any of us real tales fans.


Last edited by dan9999 on Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:52 pm; edited 1 time in total
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HitokiriShadow



Joined: 09 May 2005
Posts: 6251
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:52 pm Reply with quote
dan9999 wrote:

For the reviewer, play the full game before actually reviewing it, this is the problem with most supposed "pro reviewers and reviews", they don't actually play them beginning to end, (they) just taste it and think its enough to do a review.


He clearly played the entire game. I'm not entirely clear if he played Jude's route, but Milla's is the one that reviewers SHOULD play in order to see the flaws in how the two-character thing was designed. Considering his comments about the differences in the routes, I'm guessing he at least played some of Jude's route. Achieving 100% completion is not necessary for a review.


Last edited by HitokiriShadow on Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:55 pm; edited 1 time in total
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Rahxephon91



Joined: 08 Jun 2003
Posts: 1859
Location: Park Forest IL.
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:53 pm Reply with quote
Yep BS review. And I say this because it disagrees with my opinion.

It could'nt be that maybe someone thinks Xilla is a sub-par game could it?
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ishmael



Joined: 21 Jul 2006
Posts: 128
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:54 pm Reply with quote
I haven't played the whole game yet but for what I have seen so far I disagree with the review. I find the characters interesting, the battle system is dynamic and the story is basic, but has so far a good pacing. If I had to make a complaint, it would be about the terrible bad guys who are seemingly part of the Saturday Morning Cartoon Villains Association. But the beautiful world compensates for it.
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Hypeathon



Joined: 12 Aug 2010
Posts: 1176
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 5:58 pm Reply with quote
dan9999 wrote:
FALSE. Tell him to actually finish them.

What makes you so sure he hasn't finished any of them?
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor


Joined: 05 Jan 2002
Posts: 7912
Location: Anime News Network Technodrome
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:00 pm Reply with quote
Hypeathon wrote:
dan9999 wrote:
FALSE. Tell him to actually finish them.

What makes you so sure he hasn't finished any of them?


Because dan9999 is a "REAL FAN" and therefore his opinion is the only correct one, and all these so-called "professional" "reviewers" and "critics" who "write" "professional" "reviews" can just go to hell because only TRUE FANS blah blah blah blah.
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ElectricDork



Joined: 08 Apr 2010
Posts: 73
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:12 pm Reply with quote
I'm about 20 hours into the game. Based on what I've seen so far, I'd say this review is right on the money.

What disappoints me more than the story (which for the last 12 or so hours has constituted little more than Jude and Milla attempting to get back to where they started by taking the scenic route) is the utterly bland design. I can't help but feel the move to a fully rotatable camera has taken away some of the artistry from the towns, fields, and dungeons; environments that previously had been carefully framed by the static camera now look decidedly ugly and artless.

Compounding this is how every location of importance is separated by multiple bland, flat, empty stretches of nothingness. And chalk me up as another one who misses the puzzles, though it's true that they've not been as prominent since Symphonia (still my favourite Tales game).

But I do like the battle system and the characters don't annoy me, which automatically elevates them above Graces' cast. I can live with the shop expansion and the Lilium grid but both seem superfluous at best.
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doctordoom85



Joined: 12 Jun 2008
Posts: 2091
PostPosted: Mon Aug 19, 2013 6:12 pm Reply with quote
I don't think he's objectively wrong since that's impossible since it's an opinion and not a fact, that being said his views on the franchise as a whole make it clear that his reviews of the current Tales games isn't as relevant to me as other reviewers in terms of who to check out on if this is a game that I personally would enjoy.

Not that it matters, as long as it's from a series and/or studio I trust I'll pre-order the titles without worrying about reviews. I did it with this game as well as Bioshock Infinite and The Last of Us this year. Injustice: Gods Among Us is the only game this year I took more of a gamble with pre-ordering (not really a fan of Mortal Kombat, however Injustice had a different fighting engine and I liked what I saw from the gameplay previews).
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