Tales of Xillia - US/EU Release

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http://www.gamespot.com/news/tales-of-x ... se-6385882

This was a direct result of Graces F and Abyss 3DS selling well enough here, so it's reassuring to know that experiment in re-introducing the Tales series to the West worked out. Hopefully, they're committed to releasing Xillia 2 as well.

I'm not in love with the Tales series like some people are. They're largely generic animu games for the masses, with few memorable scenes and cliche-ridden storylines. They suffer from an almost complete lack of self-awareness: ridiculous details abound, like the nonsensical mid-battle cooking system in several games, and the unopened treasure chests sitting by roadsides. My favorite is Legendia, and that's largely because of its incredible artwork, character design and music. What the games have going for them are likable characters who are well fleshed out by the "skit" dialogues, and tight battle systems that allow for elaborate combos. Sometimes the bosses are a good challenge, too.

Thankfully I have a friend who is a huge Tales fan, which works out because they happen to be awesome co-op games. Aside from the parts when you're moping around towns, of course. I probably couldn't stand to play through all of Graces F by myself, but it's been a great experience co-opping all the battles and laughing at all the absurd details.

It's known that Xillia was a rushed and unfinished game, and it's missing a lot of the content that one would expect from a Tales game. I guess that's why they're making Xillia 2. Our Elixir has favorably reviewed it, which would indicate that it exceeds or at least meets the series' standards of quality. And it's got multiplayer, thank god. No idea why that was left out of Legendia. Seems pretty similar to Vesperia, which is my friend's favorite Tales game, so it should be a hit with both of us.

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Finding Tales of the Abyss 3D around when it was released was a nightmare, everywhere I went had it sold out, online stores had it backordered, I had to go to a GameStop in a mall, the one that no one goes to because there's another one right near the mall entrance to find a copy. And I got lucky that time, because I had done that twice already, and other GameStops were sold out. I was surprised it sold so well. Nice to see that effing Namco/Bandai realizes that yes, people do buy these.

A lot of the games definitely feel way too samey though, and the one I enjoyed the most was Tales of Destiny on the PS1. The translation isn't the best, but the story comes through, it looks like a SNES game on steroids, and the battles are extremely enjoyable. That last bit is 90% of why I even bother with the series, it's one of the few RPGs where enemy encounters aren't face-fuckingly annoying/boring to deal with.

Also, this makes me want a PS3 a bit more than a 360.

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Finding Tales of the Abyss 3D around when it was released was a nightmare, everywhere I went had it sold out

Odds are it was poorly distributed. SMT Devil Survivor: Overclocked was similarly impossible to find when it came out here. I heard most stores only got one or two copies each.

A lot of the games definitely feel way too samey though

Yeah, Symphonia/Abyss/Vesperia in particular all kind of blend into each other for me, with their many similarities in characters (i.e. Zelos -> Luke), graphical styles and battle systems. Legendia stood out because it feels more distinct than any other Tales; it has 2.5D battles, no cel-shading, music performed by a real orchestra, the unusual setting of the gigantic ship, and character designs by the Samurai Champloo guy. Unfortunately, it was really hurt by the random battles. More than the action-based gameplay, I think what keeps Tales battles from being a chore is that enemies appear on the field. (It's also nice in Graces F that their loading times never exceed one second.)

[Blackbird]

The main selling point of Tales games for me is the battle system; I get bored pretty quickly with vanilla JRPGs, so the active/combo battle system keeps me somewhat more engaged.

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You should get Graces F if you haven't already, it has the best battle system of the series by a good margin. Instead of TP, Artes are restricted by CC that quickly replenishes, but that doesn't make fights any easier. There's a huge variety of attacks available to you at once, a 4-way dodge/dash maneuver that rewards skilled timing, super armor obtainable by remaining in block stance, and the ability to quickly switch between party members with the D-pad in single player. It really has a lot more going on in the fights than in any other Tales. Make sure to turn up the difficulty to at least Moderate, though.

But yeah, the series is pretty much the definition of "vanilla anime RPG." I guess that's why it's remained so successful all these years. Japan likes generic things, as long as they have a huge stable of likable and attractive characters.