I've played this game for over 100 hours so far. And while, it doesn't impress me as much as titles like Tales of Symphonia or even Tales of the Abyss did, it's a great game. Definitely glad they're hard at work bringing Tales of Xillia 2 over.
Also, glad to hear a certain character I like is back. Being vague of course to avoid spoilers.
I'm a little bit disappointed that Jude's story was better than Milla's. Part of their advertising for the game was how great it was you could play as a female main character. And you could, but Jude certainly got the better end of that deal.
I've played this game for over 100 hours so far. And while, it doesn't impress me as much as titles like Tales of Symphonia or even Tales of the Abyss did, it's a great game. Definitely glad they're hard at work bringing Tales of Xillia 2 over.
Also, glad to hear a certain character I like is back. Being vague of course to avoid spoilers.
I'm a little bit disappointed that Jude's story was better than Milla's. Part of their advertising for the game was how great it was you could play as a female main character. And you could, but Jude certainly got the better end of that deal.
Does anyone else think this game has some of the best, if not the best towns in the series? I've only seen four thus far but that's my impression. Fennmont's design is beautiful (I also love the skyline), Hamil is a nice looking countryside area, Nia Khera too and its unique looking house definitely accentuate the look, and Sharilton and its cool windmills are pretty nice as well. I sometimes think towns are a drag in JRPGs but Xillia has some great ones.
The rotatable camera certainly helps you appreciate the towns more. Even though rotatable cameras are new to Tales, when I started playing it felt completely natural.
Also worth noting is that I took a detour to Fort Gandala and I look up and it was pretty awesome seeing the "regular" day spirit clime in one half of the sky and the night spirit clime in the other. The water in Seafalls area also looked great (too bad you can't go into any water though. There's this small puddle in the Talys Highroad that I thought for sure that you could step on but you couldn't. Kinda lame.). The art direction in this game is top notch IMO. I don't agree with the people who don't think the game looks that good or that it looks like a Wii game.
Does anyone else think this game has some of the best, if not the best towns in the series? I've only seen four thus far but that's my impression. Fennmont's design is beautiful (I also love the skyline), Hamil is a nice looking countryside area, Nia Khera too and its unique looking house definitely accentuate the look, and Sharilton and its cool windmills are pretty nice as well. I sometimes think towns are a drag in JRPGs but Xillia has some great ones.
The rotatable camera certainly helps you appreciate the towns more. Even though rotatable cameras are new to Tales, when I started playing it felt completely natural.
Also worth noting is that I took a detour to Fort Gandala and I look up and it was pretty awesome seeing the "regular" day spirit clime in one half of the sky and the night spirit clime in the other. The water in Seafalls area also looked great (too bad you can't go into any water though. There's this small puddle in the Talys Highroad that I thought for sure that you could step on but you couldn't. Kinda lame.). The art direction in this game is top notch IMO. I don't agree with the people who don't think the game looks that good or that it looks like a Wii game.
I think so too. You can tell they put a lot of love and care into Fennmont. The game has good art direction like you said.
Although it's too bad the entire game isn't consistent with that quality though. The majority of the areas outside of cities have some pretty poor textures and diversity (?).
The Kijara Seafalls was one of the few exceptions though for me.
Thinking about it though, Vesperia had some nice looking areas and dungeons too. That one dungeon at the end of Part 2 was really nice iirc.
They rank pretty close to me, but Fennmont really does look nice.
I think so too. You can tell they put a lot of love and care into Fennmont. The game has good art direction like you said.
I don't feel the entire game is consistent with that quality though. The majority of the areas outside of cities have some pretty poor textures and diversity (?).
The Kijara Seafalls was one of the few exceptions though for me.
Thinking about it though, Vesperia had some nice looking areas and dungeons too. That one dungeon at the end of Part 2 was really nice iirc.
The fields haven't looked that bad for me texture-wise. I agree they're lacking in diversity though. All the field areas are relatively flat in structure/design and the the individual areas look mostly the same. If they plan on going with fields again for Zestiria and other future Tales games, they need to improve them.
I... disagree. The art direction and design in the game's towns are good, but that doesn't necessarily mean the towns themselves are designed very well with respect to map design or quest design outside of being hubs of places to dump your materials into or somewhere to get a sidequest in. The commerce system ends up making the towns kind of samey, too, so none of the towns end up standing out as much as they should. While there seems to be a lot of people in the towns, they're only there to give off a sense of depth or scale when in reality you can only talk to some of them or just the ones that give you quests. That doesn't really give the towns a sense of depth at all.
They tend to give off an illusion of scale and that's about it. They don't necessarily seem to be as meaningful as towns in general in the entirety of the series. Of course, this is somewhat remedied in Tales of Xillia 2 where every town has different weapon selections (and thus you can synthesize stuff more easily), even if the subquests are the same in each town... and you can talk to more NPCs, too, to have a better sense of the world around you.
I really do believe that adding something like Discoveries again would have made some of the fields or towns have more merit and meaning, but alas...
Basically, the towns look nice and have good art direction, but they don't really have a sense of depth to them in terms of general RPG town design. I never really felt like that all four times I played through the game. I felt like other games had better towns like Destiny, Vesperia, and Symphonia. They at least had better design and more depth to them as opposed to superficial design.
I... disagree. The art direction and design in the game's towns are good, but that doesn't necessarily mean the towns themselves are designed very well with respect to map design or quest design outside of being hubs of places to dump your materials into or somewhere to get a sidequest in. The commerce system ends up making the towns kind of samey, too, so none of the towns end up standing out as much as they should. While there seems to be a lot of people in the towns, they're only there to give off a sense of depth or scale when in reality you can only talk to some of them or just the ones that give you quests. That doesn't really give the towns a sense of depth at all.
They tend to give off an illusion of scale and that's about it. They don't necessarily seem to be as meaningful as towns in general in the entirety of the series. Of course, this is somewhat remedied in Tales of Xillia 2 where every town has different weapon selections (and thus you can synthesize stuff more easily), even if the subquests are the same in each town... and you can talk to more NPCs, too, to have a better sense of the world around you.
I really do believe that adding something like Discoveries again would have made some of the fields or towns have more merit and meaning, but alas...
Basically, the towns look nice and have good art direction, but they don't really have a sense of depth to them in terms of general RPG town design. I never really felt like that all four times I played through the game. I felt like other games had better towns like Destiny, Vesperia, and Symphonia. They at least had better design and more depth to them as opposed to superficial design.
The towns could use just a little more substance, but for me, the major things about towns are:
1. The design itself.
2. The NPCs.
The designs are top-notch and the NPCs are fine. It doesn't matter to me if there are a million NPCs to talk to, in fact talking to NPCs can sometimes be a drag for me, and Xillia has just enough NPCs to talk to where you still get something out of it without it being too boring because there are too many NPCs.
Actually something about NPCs that I like in this game is the symbol on top of their heads. It's black if you haven't exhausted the NPCs dialogue yet, but if you have, the symbol is greyed out. That means I can just run past them without talking to them to see if there's anything new. Wish more RPGs would incorporate that.
I don't really care that all the shops are the same, that's not something that makes towns stand out for me. I think different towns have different bonuses for materials at different times, that's some sort of a differentiator I guess.
As for sidequests, I kinda wish all RPGs would have a centralized quest board like Resonance of Fate. I don't like having to check FAQs all the time to see if there's a sidequest I missed because I didn't talk to this one person at a certain point, so having a quest board that keeps getting updated (oh, and preferably with nothing missable) is good. They can keep "sidequests" that are just voiced events separate though, at least if they are as mostly simple to discover as Xillia's. But anyway, the way Xillia handles NPCs with sidequests doesn't really bother me.
So I beat Jude's story this past weekend. Absolutely enjoyed the game! But part of me wants more tales action and I've already return my friend his copy. I only have a ps3 and 3ds/Vita so I'm curious to branch out.
I've owned graces before and got as far as meeting/fighting
malik
I think. Maybe a few hours after the time skip. I loved the battle system but after a hiatus I never went back. Poor opinions on the story also swayed my interest away. Is it worth picking up again as a whole?
I could always play abyss to completion on 3ds. IIRC I only played 20 hours of the ps2 version then watched the anime
Is there a good translation guide or story guide for vesperia? I've beaten RGG Kenzan on thePatricks Amazing guide alone. If there's something similar I'd have no problem importing.
aIs there a good translation guide or story guide for vesperia? I've beaten RGG Kenzan on thePatricks Amazing guide alone. If there's something similar I'd have no problem importing.
So I beat Jude's story this past weekend. Absolutely enjoyed the game! But part of me wants more tales action and I've already return my friend his copy. I only have a ps3 and 3ds/Vita so I'm curious to branch out.
I've owned graces before and got as far as meeting/fighting
malik
I think. Maybe a few hours after the time skip. I loved the battle system but after a hiatus I never went back. Poor opinions on the story also swayed my interest away. Is it worth picking up again as a whole?
I could always play abyss to completion on 3ds. IIRC I only played 20 hours of the ps2 version then watched the anime
Is there a good translation guide or story guide for vesperia? I've beaten RGG Kenzan on thePatricks Amazing guide alone. If there's something similar I'd have no problem importing.
Graces is worth revisiting, I would say. It's decidedly less ambitious than Xillia in terms of depth of characters or story but isn't profoundly worse on the whole. Them game systems are so delicious, I love it. Once you get all the characters and view skits more, you get to really enjoy the personality dynamics, which are top notch (minus Asbel being very straight.)
Beyond revisiting Graces, seeing as you already have Abyss down and are without a 360...I'm sort of at a loss. =\ I don't think a patch exists for Vesperia PS3 and I'm unaware of a video walkthrough. There's a FAQ/walkthrough on Gamefaqs if that interests you. By the time you've explored your options we might even have a release date for Symphonia HD (PS3) in the West, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
It seems like I may be able to borrow my friends 360 for vesperia, so possibly in the next month I'll be playing that once I'm done slogging through xiii-2.
I might pick up graces again. I liked pascal at least.
Considering you enjoyed Xillia and struggle stick with Graces, Vesperia is very easy to recommend, so this new development is good! You'll very likely enjoy it. I actually like it more than I do Xillia anyway.
It seems like I may be able to borrow my friends 360 for vesperia, so possibly in the next month I'll be playing that once I'm done slogging through xiii-2.
I might pick up graces again. I liked pascal at least.
While PS3 Vesperia has more content, I find the localization and voice acting of the 360 version is absolutely fantastic and the reason why I have a mancrush on Troy Baker. It's also the best overall package in a localized Tales game despite being gimped.
Finished Jude's side yesterday. I feel like the entire first 3/4ths of the game was just completely whiffed. And the last quarter wasn't capitalized on because it was only the last quarter.
As far as good stuff goes, I liked the battle system. It was not as good as Grace's, but it was a step up from Vesperia's. The link system was really cool and I sort of wish there were more characters to vary up your links with. I also liked how your entire party could participate in battle. I liked the last leg of the game even though it did the oft-trodden path of
"Hey, let's to the other world!"
at the end, it was still pretty cool.
I didn't like most everything else. The game felt rushed in really fundamental ways. The lack of a world map is an okay enough idea, but they didn't do anything with it. They were literally different texture sets over the same areas. There wasn't even much to do there, they had the most barebones secrets and sidequests possible in those areas. They were there to pad time and ended up harming the game quite a bit.
I don't think the towns were bigger than most of the towns in Team Symphonia games and they certainly didn't have that level of personality.
I felt like the presentation was really, really lacking. Often cutscenes felt unnatural in a way I don't recall from previous games. Apparently Leia was having a crisis of confidence at one point, but then it only sort of comes up once, then is immediately taken care of. Villains come and go in the back half of the game every hour, some barely seen or identified before they reveal their true nature that it's less "Oh no, that dastard!" and more "Oh, I think I remember him?" The
constant betrayals
became kind of laughable at some point.
There's audio problems present throughout the game (that is not present in the animated cutscenes, which makes it clear it was a mistake or compromise, neither of which is acceptable in a full-priced retail product) and the graphics aren't very good. The mocapping helps in some cutscenes, particularly the
scene where Alvin is trying to attack a listless Jude
, but by and large, it's not worth whatever trade-off they had to make that made this game look worse than Vesperia.
I felt the dungeons were forgettable and focused more on just climbing through it than solving puzzles. Which is fine here and there, but I liked puzzle dungeons in Tales games, I like them when they're well-made, and simply climbing to the top of things is not a good wholesale replacement to me.
It felt like the end of the game was sort of "Well, we're tired of writing and making games, so, here's a straight line."
In retrospect, arguing that Xillia is the FFXIII of the Tales series is probably not unfair.
The entire game felt like a truncated effort. Like that they had grand plans but couldn't get most of the way there, so they gave up a quarter in. Even simple things that shouldn't have been a big deal, like every Seahaven being a copy-and-paste of each other, speak volumes about how much they were willing to put in to this game and where they just decided what people shouldn't care about.
Overall fighting against normal enemies was alright but bosses were just a huge pain in the behind. I really dislike having enemies break out of combo's every few hits since it defeats the purpose of having combo's in the first place. Battles that are supposed to be between characters that are like rivals feel completely one-sided which is different from previous games where you could combo each other and felt like you were on equal footing.
Xillia's final boss fight was the most unfun I've had in the series. I want to like it but I can't when something so distruptive is calling my attention to it every few seconds during what are supposed to be the highlight moments of the gameplay. I really should have counted on paper how many times overlimit was used during that fight. There was definitely not enough playtesting going on when it came to how this affects the combat.
Overall I did enjoy the game, but there were many bumps in the hill that almost made me want to stop entirely.
I'm hoping that Xillia 2 alleviates some(all) of these issues.
I have to say though that that party is awesome. And the Jude + Leia arte Tempest Pitourette (sp?) is amazing for groups.
Btw I don't really have a problem with bosses. Them breaking out of combos makes it less easy to cheese them and I don't mind that. I beat all bosses in the first or second try anyway (usually first), even on Hard. No problem whatsoever even with the Chimeriad. The first Jiao fight was the hardest for me but what made me get by is expanding armor/weapon shops as much as I can and buying the latter stuff. Elemental weapons are godly.
Also Spirit Symbol (accessory shop lvl 55) is broken as hell. You rarely run out of TP and you regain it so fast (especially when stacked with the TP gains you get from using normal attacks!). I have everyone going all out on TP in the strategy menu...still no problem. I hear they nerfed it in Xillia 2 though.
Xillia's final boss fight was the most unfun I've had in the series. I want to like it but I can't when something so distruptive is calling my attention to it every few seconds during what are supposed to be the highlight moments of the gameplay. I really should have counted on paper how many times overlimit was used during that fight. There was definitely not enough playtesting going on when it came to how this affects the combat.
I agree on the combo comments, but I also wanted to emphasize this. I did the final boss fight on Hard, I can't imagine what it's like at a higher difficulty level. Tons of MA's. And figuring out too late about
why them two goofballs seemed to take forever to die
Whew, took a while but finally platinum'd the game again.
I will say the I did enjoy the localization. The voices were pretty great, I liked the text and it was pretty impressive to see everything was voiced unlike earlier Tales game.
I guess I should take a break before starting Xillia 2 cause I think I do need a break from seeing all the fields again.
i'm at the second boss (you go in through the top of cavern)
i cant beat this guy, the combat system... i really dont understand how to get good at it (this is true for past tales games as well)
i cant get timing right for blocks, cant tell if it's really magical or physical i should be blocking
attacking does no damage, using artes to chain, cant really pull off
the biggest thing is i guess, managing your other party members
they dont know how to block and just go in and get killed, they're not helpfull at all
Picked this up again. I miss the titles and synthetis systems from Graces f. The CC system is also preferred, but I'm still enjoying Xillas battle system. Characters are likeable, Alvin is great and the skits are really fun. I know some people dislike the skits in Tales games, but for me, it's part of the charm. The fields are a bit plain like people said, and in some way they make the game feel rushed. Lillial Orb system is boring and the shop upgrade system even more so.
Reached Hamil and really liked the song that plays there. Music is better than Graces f so far.
I few hours in, I'm enjoying the game, on the other hand, there are things that feel streamlined in the wrong way.
I'm guessing Xillia 2 will have some of the same issues.
Picked this up again. I miss the titles and synthetis systems from Graces f. The CC system is also preferred, but I'm still enjoying Xillas battle system. Characters are likeable, Alvin is great and the skits are really fun. I know some people dislike the skits in Tales games, but for me, it's part of the charm. The fields are a bit plain like people said, and in some way they make the game feel rushed. Lillial Orb system is boring and the shop upgrade system even more so.
I'm guessing Xillia 2 will have some of the same issues.
Played a bit more of Xillia last night and got to Xian Du. Really do agree with all the towns looking amazing. It really is a damn shame about the fields. Due to them all looking the same, having similar mobs and having the same music, they just become a bit of a trudge to get through.
Thinking about picking this up. Best Buy has it for $39.99 and they have a $10 coupon in their gamer coupons on the website (Free to all, no subscription needed) so that brings it down to $29.99. I'm thinking about it. Haven't really played a tales game, played a little of Symphonia and liked it a lot.
Thinking about picking this up. Best Buy has it for $39.99 and they have a $10 coupon in their gamer coupons on the website (Free to all, no subscription needed) so that brings it down to $29.99. I'm thinking about it. Haven't really played a tales game, played a little of Symphonia and liked it a lot.
Thinking about picking this up. Best Buy has it for $39.99 and they have a $10 coupon in their gamer coupons on the website (Free to all, no subscription needed) so that brings it down to $29.99. I'm thinking about it. Haven't really played a tales game, played a little of Symphonia and liked it a lot.
I am about half through the game and my biggest complaint is that the game feels unpolished, lacking details and has some technical drawbacks. However I still enjoy the game especially playing with another person but this will be my last Tales game for the next few years (probably easy because of Namco translation times) since neither Graces nor Xillia are a big step from Symphonia. This is in my eyes way to little to justify buying the games (at launch).
Texture quality, people popping up from nowhere, etc. on the technical side and Millas "I see", the level up gem where you have too zoom in and out and the "Fresh mutton" chanting on the design side are good examples that Namco really only invests the bare minimum to launch that game.
I think without some "western" help the Tales series is in big troubles. Compared to other RPGs cliches, "strange" characters and nostalgia won't be enough to compete. I personally hope Namco will try and make a 20 hour Tales game with the quality work and time it needs.
I am about half through the game and my biggest complaint is that the game feels unpolished, lacking details and has some technical drawbacks. However I still enjoy the game especially playing with another person but this will be my last Tales game for the next few years (probably easy because of Namco translation times) since neither Graces nor Xillia are a big step from Symphonia. This is in my eyes way to little to justify buying the games (at launch).
Texture quality, people popping up from nowhere, etc. on the technical side and Millas "I see", the level up gem where you have too zoom in and out and the "Fresh mutton" chanting on the design side are good examples that Namco really only invests the bare minimum to launch that game.
I think without some "western" help the Tales series is in big troubles. Compared to other RPGs cliches, "strange" characters and nostalgia won't be enough to compete. I personally hope Namco will try and make a 20 hour Tales game with the quality work and time it needs.
Have you tried Vesperia? I like Xillia but despite Veperia's combat system being a little rudimentary (it makes up for it in spades in other areas) I like it a lot better than Xillia. It is the best overall package of the HD Tales games.
There's a demo on XBL but be warned it's a bad demo.
Honestly we don't need more Japanese games being westernised in my opinion. The game lacks polish but that's down to the devs not getting enough time. That's what should be improved. More time dedicated. Not getting western devs involved.
As for it not being any different from Symphonia. I don't really know what to say, world map is gone, battle system is quite a good bit different, different world/designs and so on. Hell even the character quality has improved in my eyes though that's more subjective. I couldn't stand Colette and Lloyd was dull.
Have you tried Vesperia? I like Xillia but despite Veperia's combat system being a little rudimentary (it makes up for it in spades in other areas) I like it a lot better than Xillia. It is the best overall package of the HD Tales games.
There's a demo on XBL but be warned it's a bad demo.
Honestly we don't need more Japanese games being westernised in my opinion. The game lacks polish but that's down to the devs not getting enough time. That's what should be improved. More time dedicated. Not getting western devs involved.
As for it not being any different from Symphonia. I don't really know what to say, world map is gone, battle system is quite a good bit different, different world/designs and so on. Hell even the character quality has improved in my eyes though that's more subjective. I couldn't stand Colette and Lloyd was dull.
I meant the western approach more from a technical standpoint. I know time is a big issue that is why I hope for a shorter game overall so the developers have more time to work on it. Quality instead of quantity. I honestly don't need a skit telling me again what I heard in a cutscene 10 seconds ago also the "direction" sometimes is very strange whent characters just stand around not doing anything at all in a cutscene. Someone died/has been betrayed/etc. and person A just stands around before either showing a animation that has been repeated way too often or saying nothing. Those are always immersion breaking moments. Story and characters are subjective I don't need much improvement there because character A will be loved and hated by people anyways. Just a more streamlined process and some logic behind it. I liked the world map in Symphonia but on the other hand I also like the new store system and compared to Graces the battle system is better aswell. However I don't see any problems to get ideas and technical expertise from other RPG developers. Especially if I look at the sales numbers Tales is becoming more and more a niche product instead of a triple AAA title. This means even less reasons for Namco to translate the games and bring them to Europe/US in the future. Don't get me wrong I don't want Tales of Skyrim but a immersive world in RPG also needs good graphics, sound and a lot of attention to details and this is what the Tales series is lacking right now.
A little background about me. I buy all Namco RPG games LE editions but never open them. I always buy two of the regular editions and stash one copy away.
I own almost every tales US title to date only missing a few. I love almost all the games my least favorite being legendia OR symphonia 2. But I will say this xillia is getting to be myeast favorite quickly.
I'm at the end of judes game and have quit playing for the game drags on and on and I do not feel a connection to any of the characters.
I also am the guy who buys all the DLC and guides. If it says tales I want it. I'm.just really unimpressed with this game.
I meant the western approach more from a technical standpoint. I know time is a big issue that is why I hope for a shorter game overall so the developers have more time to work on it. Quality instead of quantity. I honestly don't need a skit telling me again what I heard in a cutscene 10 seconds ago also the "direction" sometimes is very strange whent characters just stand around not doing anything at all in a cutscene. Someone died/has been betrayed/etc. and person A just stands around before either showing a animation that has been repeated way too often or saying nothing. Those are always immersion breaking moments. Story and characters are subjective I don't need much improvement there because character A will be loved and hated by people anyways. Just a more streamlined process and some logic behind it. I liked the world map in Symphonia but on the other hand I also like the new store system and compared to Graces the battle system is better aswell. However I don't see any problems to get ideas and technical expertise from other RPG developers. Especially if I look at the sales numbers Tales is becoming more and more a niche product instead of a triple AAA title. This means even less reasons for Namco to translate the games and bring them to Europe/US in the future. Don't get me wrong I don't want Tales of Skyrim but a immersive world in RPG also needs good graphics, sound and a lot of attention to details and this is what the Tales series is lacking right now.
The entire industry is currently in stagnation, it's not exclusive to Japan, or the Tales of series. Not to say Japan/Tales of doesn't have issues, but that's another discussion entirely. Very few sequels radically change a series, and if they do, people outrage. Take dmc, I actually enjoyed the game personally, but many wanted the game to fail because they went for something different.
I meant the western approach more from a technical standpoint. I know time is a big issue that is why I hope for a shorter game overall so the developers have more time to work on it. Quality instead of quantity. I honestly don't need a skit telling me again what I heard in a cutscene 10 seconds ago also the "direction" sometimes is very strange whent characters just stand around not doing anything at all in a cutscene. Someone died/has been betrayed/etc. and person A just stands around before either showing a animation that has been repeated way too often or saying nothing. Those are always immersion breaking moments. Story and characters are subjective I don't need much improvement there because character A will be loved and hated by people anyways. Just a more streamlined process and some logic behind it. I liked the world map in Symphonia but on the other hand I also like the new store system and compared to Graces the battle system is better aswell. However I don't see any problems to get ideas and technical expertise from other RPG developers. Especially if I look at the sales numbers Tales is becoming more and more a niche product instead of a triple AAA title. This means even less reasons for Namco to translate the games and bring them to Europe/US in the future. Don't get me wrong I don't want Tales of Skyrim but a immersive world in RPG also needs good graphics, sound and a lot of attention to details and this is what the Tales series is lacking right now.
Don't know what you're talking about. Xillia is one of the best selling Tales games. It sold 650k+ in Japan and sold 100k+ in its first month in the US. That's encouraging, if anything. And Tales has never been a triple AAA title.
The game has some technical issues but none of it breaks the game. It's still an improvement over past Tales in ways. Also it's well known that Xillia in particular was rushed. And what you're saying about the skits and story is pretty typical of Tales, and I honestly think this is one of the best Tales stories yet.
Oh and a 20 hour Tales would be awful. The good thing about Tales is the big stories with tons of VA and a bunch of optional content. Xillia is lacking on optional content compared to some other Tales, but it still has 100+ sidequests (many of which are voiced) and I spent like 82 hours on it so I'm not complaining.
Don't know what you're talking about. Xillia is one of the best selling Tales games. It sold 650k+ in Japan and sold 100k+ in its first month in the US. That's encouraging, if anything. And Tales has never been a triple AAA title.
The game has some technical issues but none of it breaks the game. It's still an improvement over past Tales in ways. Also it's well known that Xillia in particular was rushed. And what you're saying about the skits and story is pretty typical of Tales, and I honestly think this is one of the best Tales stories yet.
Oh and a 20 hour Tales would be awful. The good thing about Tales is the big stories with tons of VA and a bunch of optional content. Xillia is lacking on optional content compared to some other Tales, but it still has 100+ sidequests (many of which are voiced) and I spent like 82 hours on it so I'm not complaining.
Yes and many of those sidequests are the same looking character asking for an item or a delievery without voice. I don't see how those add up to the gameplay. I want a RPG to be like a good fantasy book - you get caught in it and forget that you are reading/playing. Tales does that but often that immersion gets broken by the lack of polish. Xillia sold 140.000 until know so the core audience (100k) got it early and now the sale came to a halt. Europe is even worse - I bought the Day 1 edition but it seems not many more people did. If sales gets worse Namco will put even less effort into voice overs, translation and polish because it seems the gamers in Japan are content. No surprise they get the game within a reasonable time frame and without years of delay and it seems characters, anime cutscenes and costumes are more important.
The entire industry is currently in stagnation, it's not exclusive to Japan, or the Tales of series. Not to say Japan/Tales of doesn't have issues, but that's another discussion entirely. Very few sequels radically change a series, and if they do, people outrage. Take dmc, I actually enjoyed the game personally, but many wanted the game to fail because they went for something different.
Maybe I am too harsh and maybe the things I want from a game changed from the Gamecube era to the PS3 (soon PS4). I don't need radical change - but I hoped for more radical improvement when it comes to presentation and details. Most problems that really bother me are indeed due to lack of time and/or funding.
Tales of Symphonia sold more copies in EU/US and launched within a reasonable timeframe (1 year instead of 2 or more) and that was on the Gamecube. Sales in Japan have been slightly worse but overall it sold (so far) 100.000 copies more than Xillia on PS3 which has a much bigger userbase.
Yes and many of those sidequests are the same looking character asking for an item or a delievery without voice. I don't see how those add up to the gameplay. I want a RPG to be like a good fantasy book - you get caught in it and forget that you are reading/playing. Tales does that but often that immersion gets broken by the lack of polish. Xillia sold 140.000 until know so the core audience (100k) got it early and now the sale came to a halt. Europe is even worse - I bought the Day 1 edition but it seems not many more people did. If sales gets worse Namco will put even less effort into voice overs, translation and polish because it seems the gamers in Japan are content. No surprise they get the game within a reasonable time frame and without years of delay and it seems characters, anime cutscenes and costumes are more important.
Delivery quests don't make up most of the side quests. There are a good number of "substantial" quests in the game.
Also I'm not sure where you got the 140k number. But you know 100k+ in one month in the US is very good for an RPG series like Tales right?
And seriously...in terms of presentation Xillia is a huge improvement over Symphonia or Abyss. I'm not exactly sure what you're expecting, unless you go into specifics.
Tales of Symphonia sold more copies in EU/US and launched within a reasonable timeframe (1 year instead of 2 or more) and that was on the Gamecube. Sales in Japan have been slightly worse but overall it sold (so far) 100.000 copies more than Xillia on PS3 which has a much bigger userbase.
Delivery quests don't make up most of the side quests. There are a good number of "substantial" quests in the game.
Also I'm not sure where you got the 140k number. But you know 100k+ in one month in the US is very good for an RPG series like Tales right?
And seriously...in terms of presentation Xillia is a huge improvement over Symphonia or Abyss. I'm not exactly sure what you're expecting, unless you go into specifics.
ToS is not a standard, and userbase hardly matters for these games.
Of course the jump from GC to PS3 is noticeable but if you look at ToS running in 1080p on a emulator that advantage is not as big as it could/should be. Like I said before time and money are the biggest issues. There are a lot of repeating assets (textures, characters like soldiers, merchants, quest givers, ...), sounds ("fresh mutton" anyone), low polygon models, similar looking rooms and buildings, character popup, ...
Graces F was Wii port and it showed and if you take away the better resolution of Xillia you will have basicly a Wii/GC game again. Namco CAN do better - they showed with Eternal Sonata. I am happy with the story, world map, quests, characters, battle and level system but please package all that in a modern fashion.
I am not a 100% sure about the sales numbers - I read them a while ago. I only noticed a trend that Xillia 2 isn't selling as good as Xillia in Japan and that the overall sales of Symphonia have been better than Graces/Xillia. Look I couldn't care less because after all I have more than enough games I like to play but I have a somehow nostalgic connection to ToS and because of that I want to series to continue and evolve. My main issues come from a technical standpoint and I know Namco can do better given enough money and time. The problem is with declining sales Namco won't do that so I suggested that instead of concentrating too much resources on sidequests and artificially prolonging the game I thought maybe a smaller game might help to increase overall quality and sales.
Of course the jump from GC to PS3 is noticeable but if you look at ToS running in 1080p on a emulator that advantage is not as big as it could/should be. Like I said before time and money are the biggest issues. There are a lot of repeating assets (textures, characters like soldiers, merchants, quest givers, ...), sounds ("fresh mutton" anyone), low polygon models, similar looking rooms and buildings, character popup, ...
Graces F was Wii port and it showed and if you take away the better resolution of Xillia you will have basicly a Wii/GC game again. Namco CAN do better - they showed with Eternal Sonata. I am happy with the story, world map, quests, characters, battle and level system but please package all that in a modern fashion.
I am not a 100% sure about the sales numbers - I read them a while ago. I only noticed a trend that Xillia 2 isn't selling as good as Xillia in Japan and that the overall sales of Symphonia have been better than Graces/Xillia. Look I couldn't care less because after all I have more than enough games I like to play but I have a somehow nostalgic connection to ToS and because of that I want to series to continue and evolve. My main issues come from a technical standpoint and I know Namco can do better given enough money and time. The problem is with declining sales Namco won't do that so I suggested that instead of concentrating too much resources on sidequests and artificially prolonging the game I thought maybe a smaller game might help to increase overall quality and sales.
Every Tales game basically reuses assets. I agree there could be more variety though in Xillia, I hope they improve it with the next Tales game, but as you say the story, characters, battles, etc. are good and that's what matters to me the most, so I don't think the asset reuse (and some of the other technical issues) hurt the game too too much, at least IMO. At least the game has super fast loading, and some of the best towns in the series.
Also Xillia 1 and Xillia 2 are some of the best selling Tales games in a while. Xillia 2 didn't sell as well in Japan as Xillia 1 but it still sold 500k+. Symphonia sold well WW but Namco only makes decisions based on Japan, and the sales of the Xillia games in Japan are very good. We'll see how the next Tales turns out, but the sales are an improvement, not a downgrade, which might allow for a bigger budget (Xillia actually crossed the 1 million mark recently). Xillia is also their first PS3 Tales game (excluding Graces and Vesperia as they're ports) so there should be an improvement with the next one.
And I'm pretty sure the fanbase doesn't want a 20 hour Tales. Xillia was already criticized for being shorter than other Tales (even if it's still lengthy). Everyone expects to play these games for a long time.
Just found this game in a bargain bin at a store miss-marked. Took it to the register and they honored their screw up... Special Edition for 20 bones, yes please thank you very much.
I can't wait to jump in and get back to traditional JRPG's hope this lives up to the hype.
Just started my first play through of my little sister's new game+. IMO the game isn't as good Vesperia but it's a good game on it's own, wasn't too fond of the new grade system, seeing how she only amassed 2000 in her play through but found a nice way to farm levels early on because i'm lazy lol...
Finally getting around to playing this. Really enjoy the link system but I have to say...
Fuck the boss mystic arts in this game.
If they're going to put the bosses in overlimit every five seconds, the AI should be smart enough to at least try and dodge. Really my only complaint, but it really makes things a lot less fun.
Prompted by running out of life bottles on
Gaius
in Chapter 3 thanks to three overlimits (and clearly three mystic arts) in his last 1k hp.
If you see a boss go in overlimit, link up with someone if you haven't already and lead them away from the boss. Bosses won't use a mystic arte as often (in my experience) if the player you're controlling isn't getting hit. But if they do use a mystic arte, there's a chance that the boss will only hit one character if you spread your characters out, which isn't too bad. A couple bosses from the point you're at tend to go overlimit crazy so just follow what I said. It's a little annoying but still very manageable.
Also if you upgrade your armor shop frequently enough, you shouldn't have to be forced to use all your life bottles just for a single boss battle.
