Tales of Xillia Remastered
Developer: Dokidoki Grooveworks
Publisher: Bandai Namco
Platforms: PlayStation 5, Switch, Xbox Series X/S (Reviewed), PC
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $39.99 USD – Available Here
Overview
Sometimes when it comes to a remaster of an original game, the biggest part of the game being re-released on modern platforms is exactly that, expanded availability. Tales of Xillia was released back in 2011 in Japan and at the time it was only ever released on the PlayStation 3 and has since been locked to that console throughout the years, with no other way to access the game in over fourteen years. So when Bandai Namco announced that they would be making Tales of Xillia the next game in their remastering project to bring seemingly every Tales game possible to modern platforms, fans were quite delighted to see this unique entry finally land in more hands and with some revamped graphics and quality of life features added in. So now that Tales of Xillia Remastered has arrived on these modern platforms, is this RPG still as enjoyable as it was over a decade ago?
Story
The world of Rieze Maxia has seen humanity coexist with magical spirits for as long as many can remember with issues only recently starting to arise as the spirits slowly began to vanish from the world. Players take on the role of either medical student Jude Mathis who was studying this issue only to run into the other playable protagonist, Milla Maxwell, the lord and ruler of the four great spirits. Milla has set out to investigate the source of a strange spiritual source within a mysterious weapons lab hidden beneath a town only to discover that a massive weapon constructed using ancient technology has been built within. In an attempt to destroy this abomination that could wipe entire cities from the map, Milla triggers a trap that sees the four great spirits of earth, wind, fire, and water, get trapped within in an effort to temporarily seal it away.
At the will of the spirits, Jude takes the weakened Milla and flees the area, only to find that with Maxwell now stripped of her powers, she is barely capable of fending off a single soldier, needing to place himself directly against the government to try and keep her alive as they flee to her hometown. With the assistance of a mercenary with strange origins and a young gifted child, the pair manage to make it to Milla’s hometown only to discover that things are far more dire than they ever could have predicted and now it will be up to this group to try and save the world from falling into ruin at the hands of those who wish to claim the spirits’ powers and dominate the lands, even if it means dooming the world in the process.
Tales of Xillia Remastered retains the original game’s aspect of having players select between either playing the game as Jude or Milla as the main character but, since the story remains entirely the same as the original game, it also has the same issues. This means that there really isn’t enough of a reason for actually giving players this choice in the first place since Jude and Milla are together throughout the game outside of a few extra scenes here and there. These sequences are short and only tend to feel a bit like filler, far from having players go through the entire game a second time just to witness. That being said, for those who want to know, Jude’s story is more character oriented and helps lay out some of the groundwork for the world and cast while Milla’s special sequences focus on the grander scale of the spirits and the world as a whole.
This isn’t that big of an issue, but it would have been nice to see it addressed here in some way. Another problem that tends to plague Tales of Xillia is the fact that it has a fairly slow burn of a start before things really start rolling in the storyling, this is especially true when it comes to introducing the eventually wonderful cast of characters that make up the player’s party. The cast in the game are some of the best that the franchise has had to offer as far as personalities and interactions are concerned and their skits are outstanding throughout the game. Combine this with the numerous twists and major revelations that keep players on their toes for the story and Tales of Xillia Remastered‘s storyline remains as strong as ever despite the odd split protagonist approach.
Gameplay
Tales of Xillia Remastered still plays the same as the original in many ways but the biggest elements come in the form of the quality of life improvements. First and foremost, all side-quests and their objectives now have clear markers of where players need to go to complete them, treasure chests, gathering points, and bags are indicated clearly on the map, and of course the ability to just straight up turn off enemy encounters entirely in the field if the player so wishes. Alongside these quality of life elements come the ability to dash, unlock “bonus” items early such as boots that make the player move quicker through areas and even a special Artes orb that allows for players to set-up a large number of quick-use Artes for characters beyond the initial amount.
Perhaps the biggest addition is the one that matches Bandai Namco’s most recent remaster effort with Tales of Graces f and that happens to be giving players complete access to the Grade shop with enough currency to “unlock” everything right from the get go. Generally only available as a New Game+ feature, these Grade Shop effects can trigger everything from 2x and 5x EXP gain, increasing gold and item drop values, adding additional attack strings to all characters’ combat right off the bat, and more. Many of these can be turned on and turned off in the menu once they have been unlocked, but this does ease the game a bit for those looking to simply revisit their favorite moments and perhaps avoid a bit of the grind or simply want to become incredibly overpowered too quickly. This is an entirely optional feature and something that those who want the purest experience will want to select liberally from as it can make many elements quite easy.
Anyways, When exploring out in the field or encountering an enemy in a dungeon players will find that Tales of Xillia Remastered uses a variation of the series’ action combat system only this time it happens to be called the Dual Raid Linear Motion Battle System thanks to the fact that the player will almost always be “paired” with another fighter on their team that will focus on assisting the player’s currently controlled character. It is also nice to note that every one of the four characters has their own unique feeling when it comes to combat, giving players plenty of variety to play around with if they so wish.
With up to four fighters available to fight at a time, players can swap between allies through a Link system with different characters offering special Linked bonuses, such as Jude healing the character that gets knocked down or Alvin providing guard-crushes to stubborn blocking foes. These characters can also be used to trigger powerful Linked Artes when players use Artes that match a compatible arte, triggering a powerful follow-up that can fill a gauge that, when filled entirely, allows for rapid firing of linked artes that can shred even bosses with ease. When characters level up, rather than gain direct stat gains like usual, they gain GP that can be used to unlock nodes on a “Lilium Orb” that provides stat boosts and unlocks new artes and skills, giving players some level of customization at the start of each expansion of the orb.
It is worth noting that the game does feature quite a bit of backtracking and while some of this can be alleviated by quick traveling to locations, sometimes this option is turned off entirely meaning players will need to retread old ground for no real reason other than padding and it is unfortunate that nearly all of the game’s side-quests are incredibly dull and lack any form of expansion or extra world lore. It is nice to note that the game does come with all of the cosmetic DLC that was released for the game back in the day, so there are tons of costumes available for those who like to dress up their favorite characters or make Milla more of a bombshell.
Audio & Visuals
With Tales of Xillia making the jump from the PlayStation 3 to modern platforms it is easy to say that a lot of things have been upgraded graphically, between the revitalized color palette for the character skits and more detailed character models to the way some of the fancier artes unfold in the smooth moving combat that runs at a constant frame rate no matter how chaotic things become. It is worth noting that despite being a remaster, it does still carry with it some of the issues that plagued the original version of the game and that happens to be that the backgrounds and dungeons are incredibly basic with some downright terrible looking dungeons players must navigate through here and there.
It does appear that the English voice work for Tales of Xillia Remastered remains the same as what was presented in the original game, with some cleaning up done to make the characters sound better and for the most part it works well. Unfortunately, whether it is due to Milla’s personality or the recording quality, Milla’s voice is notably worse sounding than the rest of the cast, though those who prefer the Japanese dub won’t notice this issue. As for the background music the game’s combat music and boss music is exceptional while the exploration and town music tends to be a bit too generic, making for a mix of good and bad even with the remaster.
Overall
Tales of Xillia Remastered does an excellent job freeing this solid JRPG from the clutches of the PlayStation 3 library and opening it up to the rest of the fandom even if it doesn’t really touch upon some of the issues that plagued the original, be it the uninspiring dungeons, strangely poor Milla voice quality, and bland side-quests. That being said, combat remains as intense and satisfying as ever, the characters help carry the story by being some of the best the franchise has seen, and plenty of quality of life upgrades make Tales of Xillia Remastered an excellent re-release of an RPG that desperately needed freedom and for newcomers, this is a great entry point into classic Tales gameplay, especially since its sequel is sure to follow if the current release pattern holds, while veterans will appreciate the quality-of-life upgrades.
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