Tales of Xillia - Review
Tales of Xillia is one of the most well known and pivotal entries into the Tales of series. Marking one of the few that had such an expansive background lore and story that it merited a direct sequel. Did the remaster do enough to bring this classic to a modern-day staple, or has the passing of over ten years shown it to be another poorly aged JRPG?
Tales of Xillia’s remaster aims not to make ground-breaking changes but bring a plethora of quality-of-life options to the game to make it more in line with what players would expect of a modern day JRPG. A fundamentally strong entry in the series, perhaps one of the best, the additions that have been brought in the remaster take what was already a good game and make it even better.
The seamless additions of most of the quality-of-life updates in the remaster are done so well, that I was surprised that these features weren’t present in the original release of the game. I had played a bit of Tales of Xillia when it first came out, having spent a little more time with Tales of Xillia 2 than I did the first entry. Not being super familiar with the series when it first released. The few features that I would have expected to be part of the game already are almost fundamental additions in modern day JRPGs.
Perhaps the most notable addition is the inclusion of star icons on the maps to show the locations of main story quests, sub-events and unopened treasure chests. I spent a lot of time checking both the mini-map and area maps to look for sub-events and treasure chests. As well as lootable items in the environment. It makes collecting all the treasure chests in the world and ensuring that you encounter all the different side quests and sub-events so that you can complete the entirety of the game without having to trawl through every possible area and interaction to try and find everything on offer.
A plethora of other additions really improve the overall feeling of the game too. Autosave is a life-safer, and while veterans of JRPGs are likely to save at every save point they find, knowing that your game is being saved with an autosave gives you a peace of mind when putting a console into sleep mode, or running the risk of a longer stretch of a dungeon where there isn’t a save point where you could lose all your progress in a bad fight or from a power surge. Other minor things like a dash mode, which make getting around the world quicker and allowing you to explore faster is a welcome addition too.
The ability to skip cutscenes that you’ve already viewed is handy too. It means when playing through on a second playthrough as the opposite character to who you played on your initial playthrough, you can skip past all the cutscenes you’ve already viewed and only see the ones where something new is shown, or we see from a viewpoint we didn’t previously. One other addition I wouldn’t have even thought wasn’t present originally is the retry function. If you die in a battle, you can choose to retry from the beginning of that battle, rather than having to load a save file. This is particularly helpful when fighting any of the end game pseudo super bosses, where you run the risk of dying very quickly on higher difficulties.
For those that are unfamiliar with Tales of Xillia, with where the series is now it is a standard entry into the Tales game. For its time, Tales of Xillia was a marked change in the direction of the series, taking a slightly more serious and at times darker approach with the story. This was walked back a little with Tales of Zestiria and then the complete opposite end of the spectrum was broached with Tales of Berseria. A far more muted story than what would come after, and in a lot of ways, what came before. Xillia still manages to be a fan favourite, thought of being up there with Symphonia and Vesperia. While Tales of Grace may still be the most all-encompassing entry.
It is a bizarre choice for Tales of Xillia to be remastered with only the first entry, rather than both Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2. While both games have relatively definite endings, Tales of Xillia 2 not being remastered as a collaborative release with the first entry is a bizarre choice. Particularly with Tales of Berseria being the next entry to be remastered, rather than Tales of Xillia 2. It’s a minor point, but it is an incredibly strange direction to go, especially with so many other games having their first and second entries in multi entry franchises being coupled together. Something that series like Final Fantasy have been doing since as early as the PS1.
Tales of Xillia as a stand-alone entry is an enjoyable one. The combat is easy to pick up, fun to play and difficult to truly master. The game rewards you regularly throughout for simply playing it and engaging with its many different facets. The sub-quests, battling many enemies, using the chain artes system. The trophies on PS5 are incredibly grind heavy as a result. For the most part requiring you to hit the max title rank for most facets of the game. It means that to get the platinum you’ll be in for a lot of busy work, which is somewhat boring for a JRPG that had so many other ways to reward you for engaging with its content.
Probably the one aspect of Tales of Xillia that hasn’t aged the best is the overall story. There is nothing particularly unique here, it has a plethora of twists that are never surprising because it almost beats you over the head with the subtext, rather than leading you to a point of mystery and surprise. In particularly the ending feels incredibly flat and muted after being part of the journey for the last thirty to fifty hours. There is never a point where it truly feels like it tries to do anything special, which leaves it feeling somewhat hollow. Not something that could be fixed with a remaster but is made ever more prevalent when put in comparison to the rest of the series, and the many great JRPGs that have come out over the last ten plus years.
Tales of Xillia Remastered is a good example of adding a plethora of quality-of-life options to an older game, to make it feel modern and approachable by modern standards. While time has not been entirely kind to Tales of Xillia, it hasn’t been untoward either. Still a strong entry in the series, with a fun combat system and a generally okay storyline. A bizarre choice in not coupling both entries in the Xillia series into one release aside, Tales of Xillia Remastered is the best way to play this entry in the Tales series for those who have both played it before and those who have not had the opportunity to.
The Score
8.0
Review code provided by Bandai Namco
The Pros
Quality of life additions are fantastic
Combat is still enjoyable and engaging
Cast of characters are enjoyable
The Cons
No Tales of Xillia 2
Story is average overall
Trophies on PS5 are boring grinds
