| Tales of Xillia | |
|---|---|
 North American box art | |
| Developers | Namco Tales Studio DokiDoki Groove Works Inc. (Remastered) |
| Publisher | Namco Bandai Games |
| Director | Naoto Miyadera |
| Producer | Hideo Baba |
| Designer | Yoshimasa Tanaka |
| Programmer | Toyokazu Endo |
| Artists | Kōsuke Fujishima Mutsumi Inomata |
| Writers | Daisuke Kiga Naoki Yamamoto Itsumi Hori Takashi Hasegawa |
| Composer | Motoi Sakuraba |
| Series | Tales |
| Engine | Unity (Remastered) |
| Platforms | PlayStation 3 Tales of Xillia Remastered Nintendo Switch PlayStation 5 Windows Xbox Series X/S |
| Release | Playstation 3Tales of Xillia Remastered Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Windows, Xbox Series X/S
|
| Genre | Action role-playing |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Tales of Xillia[a] is anaction role-playing game released for thePlayStation 3. It is the thirteenth[1] main installment of theTales series and is developed byNamco Tales Studio withNamco Bandai Games as the publisher. The game was released in Japan on September 7, 2011, and was localized in North America andPAL regions in August 2013.[2][3][4] The game takes place in a fictional world called Rieze Maxia where humans and ethereal spirits live in harmony. It follows Jude Mathis and Milla Maxwell who elude government officials after sabotaging a weapon of mass destruction known as the Lance of Kresnik. The plot's central theme isYuruginaki shinnen no RPG (揺るぎなき信念のRPG, lit. "RPG of Unwavering Convictions").
Tales of Xillia's reception in Japan was highly positive. At the time of its release in Japan, it was the most preorderedTales game in the series and sold half a million copies in a week,[5][6] before eventually shipping over1 million copies worldwide.[7] The game also won awards fromSony andFamitsu. The English localization received positive reception for its battle system, neutral to positive reviews for its plot and characters, and criticism for the map designs. A sequel,Tales of Xillia 2, was released in November 2012 in Japan and in August 2014 in North America and PAL regions.[8][9]
Tales of Xillia consists primarily of two major areas: the field map and the battle screen. The field map is a realistically scaled 3D environment where theplayer character traverses and interacts withnon-player characters,items, ormobavatars.[10] On the field map, character interactions between theparty can also be viewed in the form of asketch story; these sketch stories are referred to as skits and consist of animated portraits and voice acting. When coming into contact with a mob avatar, the environment switches to the battle screen, a 3D representation of an area in which the player commands the characters in battles against the CPU-controlled mobs.[10]
During battle sequences, the game uses theDual Raid Linear Motion Battle System, a variation of theLinear Motion Battle used in theTales series.[11] Four characters from the party are chosen to battle and characters not controlled by a player are controlled byartificial intelligence with instructions set by the players beforehand.[12] The enemy mob's number, appearances, behavior, vary and are dependent on the mob's avatar. Both sides' objective is to deplete the other side'shealth points (HP) using attacks andskills. When a party member's health falls to zero, the party member faints until revived with items, by ahealer, or resting at an inn on the field map; Mobs with zero HP disappear from the arena. Killing all the mobs will yieldexperience points, items, and allows the player to return to the field map. If all four participating party members are defeated, agame over will occur. Skill andattribute development is based on a system of orbs placed on the nodes of a hexagonal web called the Lilium Orb. When characters level up, they receive GP which can then be allocated to the orbs on the web in a uni-linear path. Each orb activated contains either a new skill or an attribute upgrade.[13]
Battles take place inreal-time. Player actions include moving, dashing, standard attacks, and artes; artes are special attacks which consume "Technical Points" (TP), the in-game synonym formagic points. Dashing, standard attacks, and artes usage are also restricted by the "Assault Counter" (AC), a synonym foraction points.[Game 1] Party members are able to link to each other to perform unified attacks called linked artes.[11] While linked, the supporting partner provides unique abilities to the character, while also increasing the Linked Artes Gauge. When the Linked Artes Gauge is full, the player character can enter Over Limit which gives them immunity to stagger, unlimited AC, and allows them to use linked artes in succession.[Game 2]
Two millennia ago, humans developed spyrix, a power source which absorbs spirits. In response, the spiritMaxwell gathered humans, who share a symbiotic relationship with spirits, onto an isolated land protected by a barrier; the isolated land became known as Rieze Maxia and the outer lands as Elympios. As spirits are needed to sustain nature, Maxwell waits for the day all humans on Elympios die off before dispelling the barrier.[Game 3] Twenty years prior to the present, an Elympion cruise ship becomes trapped in Rieze Maxia, eventually forming a terrorist group known asExodus. Exodus works with the Elympios military to find a way to destroy the barrier. In the present era, Rieze Maxia is ruled by two countries called Rashugal and Auj Oule. While the two countries appear to live in harmony, they both initiateblack operations in attempts to conquer the other in hopes of uniting Rieze Maxia as a single country.
In the present, medical studentJude Mathis investigates a military research facility in order to search for his missing professor. There he witnesses a spyrix-powered weapon called the Lance of Kresnik absorb his professor. The military prep Jude as the next victim, but he is saved byMilla Maxwell, Maxwell's successor. In response, the military activates the lance which absorbs Milla's spirit companions forcing her and Jude to retreat.[Game 4] Jude and Milla decide to confront Rashugal's king who had endorsed the Lance's creation. During their travel, they are joined byAlvin,Elize Lutus,Rowen J. Illbert andLeia Rolando. After Rashugal's king is defeated, Exodus obtains and uses the Lance to temporarily disable the barrier protecting Rieze Maxia, allowing Elympios' army to invade.[Game 5] Assisted by Auj Oule's king,Gaius, the party defeats Exodus at the cost of Milla's life.[Game 6]
After mourning her death, Jude leads the party to meet Maxwell and attempts to persuade him to dispel the barrier and save Elympios.[Game 7] Reunited with Milla, who has been reborn as a spirit, they convince Maxwell of their cause. However, Gaius and the spirit namedMuzét seal Maxwell within the Lance of Kresnik, intent on sustaining the barrier until all spyrixs are destroyed; Maxwell sends the party to Elympios before he is completely subdued.[Game 8] There, the party learns about Elympios' dependence on spyrix and an ongoing research on spyrite, a power source harmless to spirits.[Game 9] With renewed conviction, the party confronts and defeats Gaius and Muzét. Maxwell dispels the barrier and disperses its energy to temporarily power spyrixes until the completion of spyrites. The party returns to their daily lives with Jude joining a spyrite research team, Milla resuming her role as Maxwell, and Gaius uniting Rieze Maxia under his rule.
The game began development afterTales of Hearts was completed.[14] ATales game for thePlayStation 3 was announced on July 28, 2010'sWeekly Shonen Jump and officially announced byNamco Bandai Games on August 2, 2010;[15][16] On December 15, 2010Tales of Xillia was unveiled inWeekly Shonen Jump and its official website was launched.[17][18] Its staff, battle system and two main characters were revealed along with the game's main theme,Yuruginaki shinnen no RPG (揺るぎなき信念のRPG, lit. "RPG of Unwavering Convictions").[18][19] Between January and March 2011, Namco released information about the other four playable characters.[20][21][22][23] In May the game's release date, aXillia themed PS3, and the game's theme song, "Progress" byAyumi Hamasaki were revealed, with the Japanese vocals being retained in the Western release.[2] Before the game's release, a Korean game guide of the game was leaked onto the internet forcing Namco to issue a response.[24] Due to time constraints, some planned features were excluded such as anonsen scene and having Gaius or Muzét as playable characters.[14] The game was released on September 8, 2011, and was made available on the JapanesePlayStation Store a year later.[25] The game was re-released underPlayStation 3 The Best label on October 9, 2014.[26]
The characters were designed byMutsumi Inomata andKōsuke Fujishima.[14] They were each given characters which played to their strengths. During development, an old woman design was considered but dropped. For the antagonists, the development team gave them motives that were equally sound to the protagonists. During the development ofTales of Xillia, the developers intended the players to recruit Gaius and antagonist Muzét or vice versa; the idea was dropped due to time constraints.[14] Since both artists had different sizes for their character's anatomy in the concept art, the in-game models were rescaled for consistency.[27]
In March 2012,Tales of Xillia was trademarked in Europe and North America.[28][29] AWestern localization was officially announced by Namco Bandai Games Europe on July 6, 2012, throughTwitter.[30][31] On November 5, 2012, Ted Tsung, the North American producer forTales of Xillia, announced the completion of the English voice recordings.[32] On the same day, Europe's localization was announced to have subtitles in English, French, Spanish, German, and Italian.[33] In April 2013, Namco announced the game would be released in August for North America andPAL region; also announced was thecollector's edition of the game.[3][4][34] In North America, the first print of the game were released as a limited edition bundle.[35] The game was translated by8-4 and dubbed by Cup of Tea Productions.[Game 10]
Tales of Xillia had severaldownloadable content (DLC) which changed a character's appearance or provided in-game bonuses such as items, currency, or levels.[36] The majority of the DLC were released weekly between September 8 until October 6, 2011, on the PlayStation Store. Costumes were themed and released in sets; in order of release the sets were,Star Driver,The Idolmaster 2, swimwear, steward and maid, school, andTales series. Accompanying these costume releases were hair styles, accessories, palette swaps, and in-game bonuses DLC.[36] Two DLC codes were bundled with physical releases: Ayumi Hamasaki's albumFive contains Milla's songstress costume;[37] the first print of the game contains aTales of Phantasia outfit for Jude and aTales of Destiny outfit for Milla.[2] The final DLC was theSanta Claus costume set and was released on the PlayStation Store on December 1, 2011.[36]
In the English localization, theTales of Phantasia andTales of Destiny costumes were given with preorders of the collector's edition;[4][34] North America's Limited Edition and the PAL region's day one edition also contained the codes.[4][35] ExcludingStar Driver, the Japanese PlayStation Store's contents were released bi-weekly for North America and PAL region between August 6 and September 3, 2013.[38][39][40][41][42][43] The final DLC, the Santa Claus costume set, was released on November 26, 2013.[44][45]
Tales of Xillia spawned fourmanga adaptions: twoanthology collections and two traditional manga series.Ichijinsha were the publishers for the anthology collections. The first anthology collection isTales of Xillia Yonkoma Kings[Jp. 1]. Its two volumes were released on November 25, 2011, and February 25, 2012.[46] The second anthology collection isTales of Xillia Comic Anthology[Jp. 2]. Its three volumes were released between December 24, 2011, and July 25, 2012. The two traditional manga series areTales of Xillia Side:Jude[Jp. 3] byASCII Media Works andTales of Xillia Side:Milla[Jp. 4] byMedia Factory;[46] they are adaptions of the game's storyline and follows one of the two protagonists. The Jude manga has four volumes released between February 2012 and March 2013, while the Milla manga has five volumes between February 2012 and October 2013.[46]
Shueisha, Yamashita Books, and Enterbrain each published astrategy guide for the game.[46]Tales of Xillia was adapted into a novel series under the same name. It is published by ASCII Media Works and three volumes were released between November 10, 2011, and March 10, 2012.[46] A play diary byFamitsu was published byEnterbrain on December 8, 2011.Tales of Xillia Illustration: Matsumi Inomata X Kōsuke Fujishima's Character Work[Jp. 5] is a book by the game's character designers and was released on December 27, 2011, byIchijinsha. It provides details on the characters' back story and how their design came to be.[46] On the same day,Tales of Xillia Official World Guidance[Jp. 6] was released by Yamashita Books and expands onTales of Xillia's lore.[47]
Fivedrama CDs based on the game's plot were produced byFrontier Works.DJCD: Talesring Xillia[Jp. 7] volumes 1 and 2 were released on May 23 and June 20, 2012.[48]Anthology Drama CD: Tales of Xillia[Jp. 8] volumes 1 and 2 were released on September 26 and October 24, 2012.DJCD: Talesring Xillia Comic Market 83 Limited[Jp. 9] was released on January 26, 2013, in a regular and limited edition. It contains a cameo fromTales of Xillia 2'sLudger Will Kresnik andElle Mel Marta.[48]Tales of Xillia Original Soundtrack[Jp. 10] soundtrack was released byAvex Group on September 7, 2011, in a regular and limited edition;[48] it peaked 31st onOricon's charts.[49]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| GameRankings | 77.91%[50] |
| Metacritic | 78/100[51] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Edge | 7/10[10] |
| Electronic Gaming Monthly | 7.5/10[52] |
| Famitsu | 39/40[53] |
| Game Informer | 8.25/10[54] |
| GameRevolution |   [55] |
| GameSpot | 7.0/10[56] |
| IGN | 8/10[13] |
| Joystiq |  [57] |
| PlayStation Official Magazine – UK | 6/10[12] |
| Polygon | 7/10[58] |
| Publication | Award |
|---|---|
| PlayStation Awards 2011 | Gold Prize[59] |
| Famitsu Awards | Award of Excellence[60] |
At the time of its release in Japan,Tales of Xillia was the most preorderedTales game in the series and sold half a million copies in a week.[5][6] In North America,Tales of Xillia was one of the top selling games on thePlayStation Network in August 2013.[61] As of December 2013[update], the game has shipped over1 million copies worldwide.[7] The game was re-released in Japan under thePlayStation 3 The Best label in 2014.[26]
Due to the amount of sales, Sony awardedTales of Xillia the Gold Prize during the PlayStation Awards; the game also received the User's Choice award from the PlayStation Awards online poll.[59]Famitsu's review of the game was highly positive; they praised the game for its attentive visuals, accessibility, and fast battle system.[53] In the "Newtype Anime Awards" from 2011,Xillia won the "Game Opening Animation" award.[62] The English localized version of the game was also a nominee for theSatellite Award for Outstanding Role Playing Game in 2013, but lost toNi no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch, another game fromBandai Namco Entertainment.
All English reviewers agreed the battle system was fast and engaging;[10][12][13][52][56][57][58] however,Electronic Gaming Monthly,Game Informer,GameSpot, andPlayStation Official Magazine panned the map designs calling them repetitive, lifeless and bland.[12][52][54][56] The plot received neutral to positive reception.Game Revolution wrote "There's a pleasing inertia to the way plotlines form, unfold, and reach a conclusion that propels our heroes ever-forward, never stopping long enough to feel meandering but never feeling rushed or forced either.", praising the narrative to be one of the qualities to the game.[55] Game Informer described the plot as "investing" and liked the balance in tragic and lighthearted moments.[54] Joystiq lauded the execution of the plot for avoiding the usual JRPG "info dumps" and how small plot-lines intertwined into a larger conflict.[57]PlayStation Official Magazine considered the plot as average and called it a let-down compared to the combat system.[12] Reviewers have also noted the dual-protagonist execution caused incoherency in Milla's story.[52][56][58]
Reviewers had mixed opinions on the characters. Generally, reviewers liked the character interactions.[54][56][57]IGN praised the diverse characters but panned Milla's English voice acting.[13]Game Revolution felt the characters were relatable and agreed with IGN about Milla's voice noting it sounded robotic and forced.[55]Electronic Gaming Monthly described the characters as rather normal and competent compared to the previousTales games, adding that they could imagine the cast having lives and dreams outside of the party's journey.[52]Edge described the character interactions as engaging, well written, and praised how the characters avoided the cliché found in manga and anime.[10] Oppositely,PlayStation Official Magazine felt the characters "fall into the familiar anime archtypes" and that "flat voice acting and a melodramatic script" made it difficult to feel invested in the cast; Polygon agreed about the character archetypes and called it a lazy strategy used to make the characters understandable.[58]
Namco Tales Studio (August 6, 2013).Tales of Xillia (PlayStation 3).Namco Bandai Games.
