I’m approaching Tales of Xillia 2 from a slightly odd place. Whilst I’m a massive fan of the JRPG genre and love anime, I’ve never played any of the “Tales of…” series let alone this games predecessor. This is both a blessing and a curse as, whilst it means I can review the game as its own product, it can also lead to a slightly baffling feeling to begin with. Thankfully the in-game encyclopaedia nicely brought me up to speed with the general setting and the world I was in, and a quick recap on Wikipedia.org (other plot spoiling websites are available) allowed me to catch up on the events of the previous game. Which is a good thing, as the new characters Ludger (The D is silent…) and Elle are joined by pretty much all of the characters from the previous game
The whole game oozes Japanese style, starting with a fantastically animated 2D J-pop intro to rival the best Anime series (though it has nothing on the Ichirin No Hana intro for Bleach…). It has all the character designs one expects from a JRPG (effeminite men and schoolgirls) but whilst they are perhaps clichéd in appearance, they do have interesting enough back stories for you to feel intrigued in their story. Additionally there has been the odd 2D animated cut scene but, to my disappointment, they aren’t as frequent as I would hope. There have been some occasions which would have greatly benefitted from this treatment to up the impact and spectacle.
The main reason I say this is because, unfortunately, I’ve had my eyes spoilt by the new generation of consoles. The graphics, outside of the battles and the lovingly traditional cutscenes, are very definitely seated in the last gen. With jaggies everywhere, It’s not as pretty as the world or plot deserves.
Gameplay wise, it has to be said that I haven’t been a fan of the real-timification of the JRPG genre. I’m very much a fan of the “two lines of people hitting each other with sticks/the power of the sun over any of the attempted “more dynamic” systems. (Final Fantasy 13 I’m looking at you! Oh you want to play with yourself, be my guest. Call me when there’s a cut scene…). The system in use here, however, is definitely one of the best iterations. It’s hard to describe in terms of similarities to other titles as it is a very unique style which has a definite RPG base, limited actions and stat-determined damage (with all applicable elemental types – even guns!) whilst allowing for a wide range of different button-combo-activated moves and attacks/defending.
All in all, it is a very good RPG game that provides a definite shot of JRPG to the arm, something I’ve been sorely missing for a long time, and I can’t wait to dive further into the game and its world. I’ll be in touch!
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