Tales of Xillia - Playstation 3

Tales of Xillia is the latest U.S. release of Namco Tales Studios. With juggernaut titles such as Tales of Abyss, Tales of Symphonia, and Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Xillia had a lot to live up to in the eyes of the fans. Fortunately, Namco delivers. Story: 5/5 An enthralling, stay-up-till-6am story awaits who decide to invest in this title. Like many other Japanese role-playing games, Tales of Xillia leaves the player in the dark, slowly building up the plot until it begins snowballing. Characters: 5/5 Characters are very well-developed, with empathizable personalities and back-stories, allowing for a much more enjoyable experience. In particular, the protagonist does not suffer from "The Generic Guy" trope. To spoil the first three minutes of the game, you start out as an up-and-coming medical student working under a professor in the Capitol. Graphics: 4/5 Graphics are ok, especially considering that the game was released in 2011 for Japan and no significant graphical alterations upon U.S. localization. However, as with all of the Tales games, anime pre-rendered cut-scenes are fantastic, rivaling anime studio powerhouses such as Gundam's Sunrise. Voices: 4/5 My greatest fear, poor voice acting choices, was alleviated upon reviewing the all-star cast, all of whom have had significant experience in video game dubbing. Unfortunately, due to translation issues, dialogue can sometimes appear to have slightly longer pauses than normal, but is barely noticeable. Gameplay: 5/5 As for gameplay, Tales of Xillia continues the "Dual Raid Linear Motion Battle System" of the Tales series. Essentially, when you touch a monster in an area, the game instantly flashes to a circular 3d battlefield where you control a character and fight in real time, casting spells, dodging attacks, and healing allies. Tales of Xillia has substantially sped up battles, allowing characters to do significantly more in the same amount of time as previous Tales games. In addition, the game introduces the "Link System", which allows characters to link up in battle such that they begin to coordinate their attacks in very cool combinations. In addition, every once-and-a-while, two linked characters can execute a special combo move. Music: 4/5 Music is great, but not phenomenal, although the other great aspects of the games make it so I don't even notice. All in all, this is one of the best games in the Tales franchise, and I hope Namco decides to localize Tales of Xillia 2, which has already been released in Japan for the PS3.

Tales of Xillia has quickly become my favorite Tales series game. Visually, the 3D overworld camera is quite welcome and the graphics range from decent to gorgeous. The style of the first city is particularly impressive, a starry, arcane-looking metropolis that is set in a perpetual night. The music is okay, I guess. Not brilliant, nothing terribly memorable. Some of the DLC costumes change it, for better (other Tales series outfits) or worse (the school outfits in particular). The story is pretty decent, if not amazing. The main characters are extremely likable and interesting, however. Somewhat standard Tales fare, if not a bit darker in overall tone than the norm. The combat is easily the best aspect. Due to the addition of the CC counter, which indicates remaining actions, fighting is a faster, more technical affair -- attacks come out immediately as long as you have CC, with minimal startup and are highly comboable. Right-stick mapping can be used to call other characters to use their artes (special moves), useful for continuing combos or for quickly calling for healing assistance. The link system provides various passive benefits for characters depending on who they're linked with, such as the ability to steal items, the ability to easily crush an enemy's guard, etc. Each character provides an interesting combat experience and spellcasters are surprisingly well suited for player control, a welcome change from previous Tales games -- playing as a spellcaster here is a far more enjoyable affair this time around thanks to the increased combat speed. Oh, and being able to switch the four fighters in battle at any time with those on the sidelines is the best, although they will only take the spot of a living party member (unlike say, Pokemon). Characters are customizable with various appearance items, often hidden in purple containers strewn throughout the overworld. There's a decent bit of flexibility, although there are times when I'd like to place certain items with certain others, and the slot I have open is incompatible with the add-on I have (notably, I want to have a hat, ears, and glasses on at the same time). Unlocking skills is a nicer process than some other Tales games, particularly compared to the rather opaque system from Tales of the Abyss. The Lillium Orb is used to adjust your character's stats and obtain new moves and passive effects, many of which are excellent and improve the combat even more, such as Millia's air-dash skills. There are a handful of minor problems -- in some areas, many fights are fought under a fair bit of slowdown. The combat usually keeps a steady 60fps, but there is no frameskip -- if the framerate slows, so does the speed of battle. Some of the voices are really annoying, such as Elize's. And lastly, there are occasional AI related things that may get you killed, such as AI teammates being rather incautious towards enemies and the effects of enemy attacks -- I've gotten hit by a boss's Mystic Arte because a teammate got hit by their Arcane Arte (which the boss will spam to try to connect it to try to trigger their Mystic Arte) for no good reason. The entire party died. Overall, I'd recommend this to anyone who enjoys action-RPGs or those who enjoy both fighting games and RPGs. It's great.

After reading the reviews from various gaming sites, I was expecting a good JRPG to pass my time, however this game exceeded my expectations and turned out to be amazing. Storyline that keeps you engaged throughout, characters are interesting, and the gameplay is awesome. Lots of subevents that build the give you a bit of insight to the world they live in. The only issue I had with this game was the trails/areas were more or less the same, little variety in that regard, sometimes it felt like a drag to run through them to get to the next part of the story. But that is a minor complaint for me. Otherwise if you're a tales fan, or are looking to try it out, this is a great game.

商品名はLimited Edition になっているが商品ページの画像は通常版 二度注文しましたがどちらも通常版が届きました。 Tales of Xillia Limited Edition は本当はサントラCDやキャラブックが同梱されていて外装も違います。 http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ECRZAY8/ ゲーム本体については言語が英語なだけで内容は日本版と同じ。字幕オンオフできます。 セーブデータは日本版と共通ではありません。

I've played most of the series of Tales games and without doubt this one is the best. Of course being a newer title the graphics are very nice, as is the story and gameplay. It was actuallly relaxing to play this game and I could hardly wait to get going after supper for a few hours. And, being that you have a choice of 2 lead players to use, you can do like I did and after finishing the game with one, I turned around and played right through the second time with the second leader which was just as enjoyable. Nuff said. Buy it and see.

英語学習のために購入しました。北米ようなので、日本語字幕も日本語音声にも切り替えはできません。またPS3のソフトは基本リージョンフリーなので、日本在住で日本で購入したPS3で問題なく使えています。ただ気をつけなくてはいけないのが北米版になりますので日本でDLCは購入できません。

There are 2 main characters in this game. You can select who to choose. The battle system is amazing and the combo possibilities are endless. The link system works really well. The version i received was the limited edition which i was not expecting at all. Shipping was kind of slow though it got delayed 3 times due to weather. I guess thats what i get for ordering when theres a big snow storm. It was well worth the wait though. I put 60+ hours in tales of the abyss on the 3ds and i will probably do that same with this game.