Tales Of Xillia - PS3 Review
rating: 2.5
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Tales of is a niche heavily fantasy Anime stylized JRPG franchise still kicking all the way from 1995 despite nobody really giving a damn about it outside of Japan. Last years entry titled Tales of Graces F reached cheese levels off the charts with a story that seemingly existed just to take the theme of friendship is power and club the holy hell out of you with it. I simply reached a point where I could not stomach anymore of the nauseous dialogue and gave up. I am a fan of the series though and when you combine that with Tales of Xillia receiving overwhelmingly positive reception and sales numbers during its 2 year head start in Japan, it was a no brainer to pick up the localized stateside release. Surprisingly, I am disappointed but hey, at least I finished this one. Equating it as the Final Fantasy 13 of the franchise isnt exactly strong praise either. Enter the artistically gorgeous world of Rieze Maxia in the shoes of your choice between two major protagonists; naïve medical student Jude Mathis or wielder of four elemental spirits and a typical for Japan disproportionate womans body, Milla Maxwell. Contrary to what you may initially think there really isnt much difference between which character you use outside of a few scenarios where the dual heroes find themselves separated. Furthermore, when you consider that most gamers are not going to play a 40 hour game twice, the whole experiment winds up pointless. For the sake of this review though, it is worth noting that I selected Judes perspective as apparently it is recommended for an easier first time understanding of the story. The keyword there was apparently as no matter how you slice it, Tales of Xillia is a bunch of convoluted nonsense. Jude is a medical student at a university in an eternally night sky eclipsed city dubbed Fennmont. After his Professor mysteriously goes missing, Jude searches for him in an equally perplexing underground laboratory. It turns out that someone for an unknown reason is using the spirits of strong willed Mana wielders to power a dangerous cannon looking weapon called The Lance of Kresnik. During this opening sequence Milla appears with the power of The Four (four elemental spirits that hover around and assist her) but they are absorbed by the weapon. Now completely powerless, Milla must find a way to resummon her spirits and destroy the weapon while struggling to adapt to human life and needs (hunger, mortal strength, sleep, etc). Jude decides to assist her on this mission as a means of avenging his Professor and getting to the bottom of it all. They are quickly labeled fugitives though and escape the city thus beginning the real journey. Along the journey you meet a number of eccentric characters that join your cause including a shady mercenary, Judes childhood female friend, an old and battle tested butler, and an introverted shy little girl with a depressing past befriended by a talking purple plushy toy. As to be expected from a Tales game their interactions and banter between each other is all lighthearted and charming, especially during the traditional Skits (on screen character portrait interactions) that are fully voiced and plentiful. http://youtu.be/SQ3lTJ-1qT8 The pacing of the actual story though is abysmally terrible and takes nearly 20 hours to witness anything relevant. It is admirable that all these characters get a fleshed out back story but the core plot suffers greatly. Tales of Xillia does not properly introduce its villains and threats until slightly over halfway through the game which is unacceptable. The result is mounds of plot exposition throughout the second half and a completely rushed resolution. Even your own party members just have shockingly illogical thought processes. There are more double crosses in this game than in a Pirates of the Caribbean film which sounds exciting, but not when it is this poorly written. All of these problems just hold back the exciting action sequences and ultimately leads to anti-climactic ending that leaves you wondering how the game immediately got a sequel.