REVIEW - Tales of Xillia 2 (2014)

Boy it's been a LONG time since I last did a game review. When was it, May with the Bioshock review? I guess a game review is long overdue, and I'm returning with one heck of a weight on my shoulders. I've said it before in the past that this games prequel is my favourite game that I have ever played, so when I got this game day one I didn't know what to initially think.

Luckily, Namco Bandai's Tales of Xillia 2 is a worthy sequel, though flawed in it's own ways.

The story in Tales of Xillia 2 is by far its greatest strength, and what is arguably one of the most depressing, powerfuk and somewhat topical game stories anymore. The schisim dividing Rieze Maxia and Elympios has been dispelled by Milla Maxwell and Jude Mathis, so now the two nations have been connected by a Bridge of Unity at the town of Marksburg. Elsewhere in Elympios, aspiring cook and rarely spoken (he literally only speaks in grunts, short one word replies or an occasional 'OH CRAP!') Ludger Will Kresnik wakes up late on his first day at being a cook at the Spirius Corporation in Trigleph. On his way to work he gets caught up in some nasty business with a little girl, Elle Marta who accuses Ludger of robbery or something (do you really expect me to remember such a minute detail) and Ludger chases her onto the train where he also meets up with Jude Mathis, complete with an EDGY redesign. What follows is a terrorist attack on said train and Ludger is thrown into debt by a fucking dick named Rideaux which wouldn't be a bad thing if IT WASN'T A 20,000,000 GALD DEBT. What follows these events are some of the most emotionally involving and depressing moments in gaming history. Seriously, Xillia 2 plays on and amplifies the originals biggest strength - the characters - and puts them into some dire situations, heightened even more by the fact that characters have their own side-stories now which you can undertake throughout the main storyline. I also love the way it subtly hints at racism aswell, showing the divide between Rieze Maxians and Elympions quite well (one character side story is purely about fixing relations between the two nations). Also added to Xillia 2 was a choice system. At certain parts of the story, you're given the option to chose one of two choices. Sometimes, they're kinda insignificant and only change a characters immediate reply but most of the time it helps build affinity with other characters and also change the ending you get. To conclude, It gets its points across perfectly and never becomes too complex or convoluted, and is one hell of an emotional story.

What annoys me about Xillia 2's gameplay the most - apart from the debt system which I'll get to in a second - is the new level up system, which has been changed to be needlessly complex and complicated. Rather than expanding on the Lilium Orb system from the original, Xillia 2 introduces the Alium Orb. The Alium Orb extracts skills and artes from elements such as Fire and Light as you level up, which is fine but the game never really explains how it actually works and how it affects your stats, unlike the original which gave a decent tutorial on how the Lilium Orb worked. Moving onto the other negative change; adding the Debt. The debt is literally one of the stupidest ideas in the history of the Japanese Role Playing Game. Not because its bad from a plot perspective or because you don't get rewarded (which you do actually) but its because its such a pace breaker. As soon as you complete a chapter, you have to pay off some more of your debt before you can advance which is so annoying especially if a chapter ends on a real OMG moment. Moving onto the positives, and oh my GOD has combat been improved (something I thought not even possible due to the sheer perfection which is the originals battle system). Ludger doesn't have one, not two but THREE INTERCHANGEABLE ON THE FLY Weapons to use in battle, all of which come with their own strengths and weaknesses (some more than others mind you). Another improvement is the new Chromatus system which is basically a temporary God like mode where you can unleash a can of whoop-ass on your opponent with no risk to your own health. The combat is addicting as fast, but also noticeably more difficult than before, due to the INSANE HP of the boss monsters (Even on Easy some of them gave me a hard time) and some ridiculous strategies (CHRONOS I'M LOOKING AT YOU, YOU FUCKER). Most of these bosses come in the form of rare monsters you can find on the new job bulletin, which is basically there for fetch quests, monster hunts and other things just to help repay that awful debt.

Graphically, not much has changed in a year has it? I mean it still looks amazing and the anime cutscenes by studio ufotable ( of Kara no Kyoukai fame ) look gorgeous but...there are a LOT of reused environments from the first game. Now this isn't really a bad thing since there are plenty of new places aswell but I was expecting more from this game (perhaps my hopes were just a bit too high). The game does have a more noir and tech-esque tone to it though, which does save it to bring that graphical fidelity back upt a 10 (the world looks bloody fantastic I have to say)

Tales of Xillia had my favourite gaming soundtrack of all time because it gave the world a perfect atmosphere (remember the first time you went on the Aladhi Trail in the original game and the music started playing? THE FEELS MAN), and thankfully - even though a lot of it is a reused soundtrack - Tales of Xillia 2 keeps the ball rolling with an almost excellent soundtrack, the highlights being the final boss theme (which is a remix of the lackluster Main Theme 'Song 4 U by Ayumi Hamasaki, which is a shame since she did so amazingly well in the original game) and the games first battle theme which is so catchy and is STILL Stuck in my head.

 

 

FUCKING MADOKA MAGICA DLC

Overall....Tales of Xillia 2 is a masterpiece in storytelling, direction, tone, and character although its flawed gameplay, heavy reliance on the original games resources and music do bring it down from being one of the best games ever. While it may not be a perfect game by any means of the imagination, I do think it's one of the best sequels in gaming and a perfect way of showing the importance and power of choice in video games.

STORY: 10
GAMEPLAY: 9
GRAPHICS: 10
SOUNDTRACK: 9
PERSONAL ENJOYMENT: 10

FINAL SCORE FOR TALES OF XILLIA 2: 9.6/10