The ‘Tales of’ series has become what I consider the standard for RPGs in modern gaming. Much like how Final Fantasy or Dragon Warrior were back in the day. And Tales of Xillia only concretes that belief.

So what is it about the Tales series in general? As gaming has evolved, so has what is acceptable in RPGs. Things like random encounters now come off as a chore. A lot of modern RPGs do away with them. But with that comes the ability and the desire to avoid fight. With Tales of Xillia, though, they do a great job of making you WANT to fight. And they do it through several ways.

Aside from your generic experience, money, and random item drops, upon level ups you are awarding points to spend on your Lithuium Orb. Which is a lot like Final Fantasy XIII’s Crystarium… if it didn’t suck. In XIII, you travelled in a perfectly straight line from one stat boost or ability to the next. But in Xilla, it’s practically a spider web and you are allowed to travel the Lithuim Orb in any direction you want.



You can plan out which way you travel and which skill you unlock. Allowing you to customize your character. And there are special abilities within the Orb that unlock once you have surrounded it with other unlocked things. Things like stat ups, skills, artes (special attacks), and a huge list of passive abilities such as maybe being auto revived upon death with 40% of your HP once in a fight.

Also in battle, you are encouraged to use food like in past Tales games. You could cook dishes (which had a chance to fail) and would heal you or give you a buff for a fight. But in Xillia they both streamlined it, and made it much more useful. Food items were just bought pre-prepared. No having to search around for a vender who has eggs so you can TRY to make some sandwiches. No, they are already made and ready to go. They also had some VERY useful effects. Some of the better ones doubling your experience or money for 3 fights. Or healing you 75% of your total HP or MP for 5 fights. And while under these buffs, it made you want to fight.

But that’s not all. The Tales series has always had an ever improving battle system. And honestly, I don’t know how on earth they will improve anymore. Older Tales games were active battle, locked in 2D fields with your selected party members who fight very similar to something like Star Ocean. But it has gotten so much better now. Not only can you free-roam in 3D space, but you can now call any of your party members in, on the fly… much like Final Fantasy X. But what really made this was the ability for ‘linked’ combat.



At any point, you can tether yourself with one of the party members. Based on who it is, they will act differently in battle and provide a lot of options. One character might be able to stun enemies while linked. Or another, break enemy guards. But on top of this, you slowly fill a gauge. At certain segments of it, you can perform what is essentially a double tech from Chrono Trigger. And there are a TON of these. It was really fun mixing and matching characters and seeing what they could all do together. But once this bar is full, you go into a state that has been featured in several Tales games in the past. It gives you access to some serious buffs for a limited time and unlimited use of artes (assuming you have the MP for them). And eventually the ability to unleash the most powerful moves in the game, the mystic artes.



Also while in this state, you can freely do as many linked artes as you like without having to fill a segment of the bar. And this time around in this Tales title, the bar fills up fairly generously fast, so you feel less like you need to sit on it and save it for a boss fight, and they are just fun to do. So you can spam it. Overall, the battle system is tight, fun, and rewarding. As far as RPGs go, this is one of the best battle systems to date. I couldn’t think of a single thing I’d do to improve it.

But enough about battle. Let’s move on to the story. Tales has always been both original and unoriginal at the same time. I mean that because they really do develop their own new world every game that is different from any other series out there. Everything is believable and understandable. But they also re-use this every time just with a new name. If it isn’t mana and the use of mana lobes, it’s aer… or phonics, or what have you. A lot of the time, there’s a second world to visit one is going to cause the destruction of the first, and it’s the party’s job to find a way for both to exist.

Even so, these stories have always been good enough for me to become fully invested. Xillia is no exception either. All the character you play with are wonderfully developed (I’m a huge fan of Rowen) and the world has always been fleshed out with established lore, laws, and such. But Xillia, again, takes it a step farther. This time around, you get to pick your main character… much, again, like Star Ocean.



And also like Star Ocean, based on who you selected, the game will follow that person if ever the party splits up. So there’s good reason to play again to see the other side of the story.

To me it seems like the Tales series just keeps getting better and better. You really can’t go wrong with a Tales title (as long as you avoid Tales of Symphonia 2 Dawn of a New World. Every series has it’s black sheep, you know). If you haven’t played a Tales game, I highly recommend it. Specially Tales of Xillia.