Game: Tales of Xillia
Genre: JRPG / Role Playing Game
Rating: PEGI 16+
Developer: Namco Tales Studio
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Platform(s): PlayStation 3
This is Knights Gaming World review of Tales of Xillia. This is my first Tales game ever, so i did not know what this game was at all at first. also as a note this game came out in Japan in 2011, but just came out in 2013 in USA and EU as English Dub. so lets get on with the review.
GAMEPLAY
Ok, like i said i have never played a Tales game, but looking at videos, they all look like they play like this i think, so if you are someone who has played a tales game before, you know what the gameplay is, but if not this is what it is, there are two kinds of gameplay i guess in this, one is where you run around the world talking, looking around, and exploring, the other is the battles, some are set but most are not and are just monsters around the world, if you run into them or if they run into you, a battle will start, this will take you to a place where it puts you in like a invisible ring unless you go near the side then the edge will glow. the battle system is a very simple one and yet a brilliant one that can be hard to master, as you can go from start to finish i guess just pressing X, but trying to master the Arte's Attack, linking and getting the strategy's down does take sometime for someone new. as say if someone was weak to fire, you will need someone who uses water arte powers, but also you can make it better if you can a arte attack that can link with there water power attack so you can deal out more damage.
SOUNDS / SOUNDTRACK
The soundtrack is really good but it does replay a lot, as when i was in one part of the world for what i think was one hour or less, it had this one song that i did not like playing, and it just played that one song in that one place, it is not a bad thing, it is like every place has it's own theme, but you can't stay in one place for to long, and the battle songs could use a few more songs but they are well made songs i think. most of the voice acting is also very well done, really helps bring the characters to life in this game, but Milla's voice actor is not that good, most at the start of the game, she does i think get better but at the start, the voice acting did make me dis like Milla at first but i did over look that not that much after and the voice actor like i said did get a bit better, but the others did way better voice acting, but the sounds of the world are good, not really much to say about the world sounds.
GAMEPLAY 9.6 / 10
The gameplay was fun, not perfect, but fun to play, i never played a JRPG like this before, as i have only played turn base ones before, so this is a nice welcome in my mind to a JRPG, and i hope more JRPG games play like this.
SINGLE PLAYER / STORY 9.8 / 10
The story was a tad bit slow at points, but this did end up being a game where i would want to continue the story just to find out what happens next, when really should have gone to sleep or had dinner, that has to say something about this games story.
GRAPHICS 5.2 / 10
Good anime graphics, poor in game graphics. The art style was not the thing that made it bad graphics, i really do think that you can have this art style with really good looking beautiful graphics.
SOUNDS / SOUNDTRACK 8.9 / 10
The soundtrack is really good but like i said it can replay now and again, but it was 34 plus hours game so i don't know what else they could do besides make 34 plus hours of music, so i won't take that to much with the score. and the voice acting was good, besides Milla's voice actor, who was not good at all.
REVIEWER'S BONUS SCORE +0.5
Reason for being a +0.5 was just cause this game was brilliant, i can't wait to play Tales of Xillia 2, i may even replay this game as the other character, and i never replay the story of games.
Final Score 9.1 / 10
I never played a Tales game before this one, but i can see me playing all the other ones that come out from now on.
Knights Gaming World will try to get Reviews out every Tuesday
Genre: JRPG / Role Playing Game
Rating: PEGI 16+
Developer: Namco Tales Studio
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games
Platform(s): PlayStation 3
This is Knights Gaming World review of Tales of Xillia. This is my first Tales game ever, so i did not know what this game was at all at first. also as a note this game came out in Japan in 2011, but just came out in 2013 in USA and EU as English Dub. so lets get on with the review.
GAMEPLAY
Ok, like i said i have never played a Tales game, but looking at videos, they all look like they play like this i think, so if you are someone who has played a tales game before, you know what the gameplay is, but if not this is what it is, there are two kinds of gameplay i guess in this, one is where you run around the world talking, looking around, and exploring, the other is the battles, some are set but most are not and are just monsters around the world, if you run into them or if they run into you, a battle will start, this will take you to a place where it puts you in like a invisible ring unless you go near the side then the edge will glow. the battle system is a very simple one and yet a brilliant one that can be hard to master, as you can go from start to finish i guess just pressing X, but trying to master the Arte's Attack, linking and getting the strategy's down does take sometime for someone new. as say if someone was weak to fire, you will need someone who uses water arte powers, but also you can make it better if you can a arte attack that can link with there water power attack so you can deal out more damage.
SINGLE PLAYER / STORY
Now due to time, i could only play as one character as it took me 34 plus hours just to complete one main story with, i think a good % of the side quests done, and there are 2 characters to play as, Jude and Milla, but there is not much of a difference between the two, just how the story plays out, as sometimes Milla or Jude will not be in the party so this will be the main difference between the two, and some dialogue and side quests will be different as well, but in battles you can play who ever you want, as long as they are in you're party. The story shocked me, it was a really good story and i was a bit sad when it did end, the main story is that there is a spyrix-powered weapon and Milla must stop this weapon before it is to late, i want to say more about the story but that would just ruin the game for you, but i will say this game did keep doing stuff i did not expect at all, and I'm very happy for that. all the characters in this world are very well made., but i do feel like with some of them they could of done more, as some of them just seem to come out of no where, and then go like in one to two hours. also the conversations you have at random times in this game are very well made, i found myself laughing at many times, the humour in this game is brilliant.
Now due to time, i could only play as one character as it took me 34 plus hours just to complete one main story with, i think a good % of the side quests done, and there are 2 characters to play as, Jude and Milla, but there is not much of a difference between the two, just how the story plays out, as sometimes Milla or Jude will not be in the party so this will be the main difference between the two, and some dialogue and side quests will be different as well, but in battles you can play who ever you want, as long as they are in you're party. The story shocked me, it was a really good story and i was a bit sad when it did end, the main story is that there is a spyrix-powered weapon and Milla must stop this weapon before it is to late, i want to say more about the story but that would just ruin the game for you, but i will say this game did keep doing stuff i did not expect at all, and I'm very happy for that. all the characters in this world are very well made., but i do feel like with some of them they could of done more, as some of them just seem to come out of no where, and then go like in one to two hours. also the conversations you have at random times in this game are very well made, i found myself laughing at many times, the humour in this game is brilliant.
GRAPHICS
There are i guess two kind of Graphics in this game i guess, the video game graphics and the anime cut scenes. lets start of with the anime, i like anime, and this is very well made anime, you can tell they have skilled anime makers at namco, but i wish they would have used them more, as i feel they was used in the game for a very little time, but when they was there, they was brilliant. the rest of the game and most the cut scenes are of the in game graphics, and the in game graphics are not good at all, hair looks like parts of it is stuck together, the world looks not good and characters don't look good at all really, yes i know this game is 2011 so it is not new new and i know this is it's art style, but why does it's art style have to look so bad, I'm sure they can make this game look beautiful and still keep the art style, i don't hate the graphics down to the art style, i hate the graphics down to how poor they made it, this really is gameplay / story over graphics game, what is a ok thing.
There are i guess two kind of Graphics in this game i guess, the video game graphics and the anime cut scenes. lets start of with the anime, i like anime, and this is very well made anime, you can tell they have skilled anime makers at namco, but i wish they would have used them more, as i feel they was used in the game for a very little time, but when they was there, they was brilliant. the rest of the game and most the cut scenes are of the in game graphics, and the in game graphics are not good at all, hair looks like parts of it is stuck together, the world looks not good and characters don't look good at all really, yes i know this game is 2011 so it is not new new and i know this is it's art style, but why does it's art style have to look so bad, I'm sure they can make this game look beautiful and still keep the art style, i don't hate the graphics down to the art style, i hate the graphics down to how poor they made it, this really is gameplay / story over graphics game, what is a ok thing.
SOUNDS / SOUNDTRACK
The soundtrack is really good but it does replay a lot, as when i was in one part of the world for what i think was one hour or less, it had this one song that i did not like playing, and it just played that one song in that one place, it is not a bad thing, it is like every place has it's own theme, but you can't stay in one place for to long, and the battle songs could use a few more songs but they are well made songs i think. most of the voice acting is also very well done, really helps bring the characters to life in this game, but Milla's voice actor is not that good, most at the start of the game, she does i think get better but at the start, the voice acting did make me dis like Milla at first but i did over look that not that much after and the voice actor like i said did get a bit better, but the others did way better voice acting, but the sounds of the world are good, not really much to say about the world sounds.
MULTIPLAYER / REPLAY VALUE
There is no online for this game and the only multiplayer there is, is local, and that is only in battles and battles can sometimes only last 20 seconds. but the replay value is in the story itself and trying to 100% the game is something that could take a long time, going by another site, they say it could take 70 plus hours to get all the trophies and 100% this game. i can't see 100% why someone would replay the game as the other character, as it won't add to much to the game, but it does add, and if you ever where going to replay this game to 100% it or just to replay the brilliant story, you will get new things by playing as the other character, and that is something i can't over look.
There is no online for this game and the only multiplayer there is, is local, and that is only in battles and battles can sometimes only last 20 seconds. but the replay value is in the story itself and trying to 100% the game is something that could take a long time, going by another site, they say it could take 70 plus hours to get all the trophies and 100% this game. i can't see 100% why someone would replay the game as the other character, as it won't add to much to the game, but it does add, and if you ever where going to replay this game to 100% it or just to replay the brilliant story, you will get new things by playing as the other character, and that is something i can't over look.
SCORES
GAMEPLAY 9.6 / 10
The gameplay was fun, not perfect, but fun to play, i never played a JRPG like this before, as i have only played turn base ones before, so this is a nice welcome in my mind to a JRPG, and i hope more JRPG games play like this.
SINGLE PLAYER / STORY 9.8 / 10
The story was a tad bit slow at points, but this did end up being a game where i would want to continue the story just to find out what happens next, when really should have gone to sleep or had dinner, that has to say something about this games story.
GRAPHICS 5.2 / 10
Good anime graphics, poor in game graphics. The art style was not the thing that made it bad graphics, i really do think that you can have this art style with really good looking beautiful graphics.
SOUNDS / SOUNDTRACK 8.9 / 10
The soundtrack is really good but like i said it can replay now and again, but it was 34 plus hours game so i don't know what else they could do besides make 34 plus hours of music, so i won't take that to much with the score. and the voice acting was good, besides Milla's voice actor, who was not good at all.
MULTIPLAYER / REPLAY VALUE 9.8 / 10
The replay value in this game is a lot,it took me 34 plus hours just to complete one main story with i think a good % of the side quests done, and i still got a good % of side quests to do and another character to play as, plus all the trophies, as i only have like just over 20% of the trophies in this game, this game has a lot of replay value, and like i said before, replaying as the other character adds new things, may not be a lot, but it still adds, and that is something a lot of other games don't have.
The replay value in this game is a lot,it took me 34 plus hours just to complete one main story with i think a good % of the side quests done, and i still got a good % of side quests to do and another character to play as, plus all the trophies, as i only have like just over 20% of the trophies in this game, this game has a lot of replay value, and like i said before, replaying as the other character adds new things, may not be a lot, but it still adds, and that is something a lot of other games don't have.
REVIEWER'S BONUS SCORE +0.5
Reason for being a +0.5 was just cause this game was brilliant, i can't wait to play Tales of Xillia 2, i may even replay this game as the other character, and i never replay the story of games.
Final Score 9.1 / 10
I never played a Tales game before this one, but i can see me playing all the other ones that come out from now on.
Knights Gaming World will try to get Reviews out every Tuesday