The Silent Protagonist – Tales of Xillia

On July 6th this year, at the Japan Expo in Paris, Namco Bandai revealed that Tales of Xillia will be localised. That was brilliant news for Tales fans, as many of the titles fail to make it outside of Japan. It is being developed by Namco Tales Studio and is also the last Tales title to be developed by the Tales Studio as it was amalgamated into Namco Bandai Games back in November.

Some games that have been made by the Tales Studio would be my favourite game, Tales of Symphonia, my second favourite game, Tales of Vesperia and the recently released Tales of Graces F (check out my review in the next few days!).

The game is set in a world called Liese Maxia, in a land where humans and spirits coexist. The spirits grant the humans the power to control mana as “Spirit Power.” In Leise Maxia, there are two countries which are vying for power granted to them by the spirits. One, La Shugall, uses the spirits to bring prosperity to the country whereas the other, A Jule is a land which focuses on a militaristic front.

In Liese Maxia, there are many spirits, but the four great spirits return as Undine, Efreet, Sylph and Gnome. As with the previous instalments of the games, Maxwell, the lord of the spirits makes a return appearance.

The game follows a character called Jude Mathis, who is studying medicine in the capital of La Shugall and Millia Maxwell who is investigating the deaths of a large number of spirits.

Stunning art… I’m super excited!

They’ve changed the battle system again – they’ve brought the TP system back, which is absent in Tales of Graces F. Although the general battle mechanics will stay the same, there will be an Assault Counter, which will act in a similar fashion to the Chain Capacity, again from Tales of Graces F. For those of you have haven’t played ToG, the Chain Capacity determines how many attacks a character can do before he or she needs to “rest,” but it recharges after a few seconds.

They’ve also introduced a “Link System,” which is when the character that you directly control is known as “The Master,” and an ally supports you. This includes protecting your flank or circling behind the enemy to inflict damage. During Link Mode when the Link Gauge fills up, it is possible to do a link attack which combines two separate Artes and changes it into a more powerful one. For instance, by combining Jude’s Demon Fang and Millia’s Wind Lance, it is possible to form a Link Attack called “Severing Wind Blade.” This Link System seems to be reminiscent of the Unison Gauge.

Link Arte, Severing Wind Blade

The graphics are all anime-esque, as with all Tales games and I expect Skits will make a return. This is one game that I am really looking forward to – although fans are going to have to wait until 2013 until we get to see it! It is due to be released on the Playstation 3, so if you were hoping to get another Xbox Tales release… you’re going to miss out!

Coming up next time I’ll be taking a look at Square’s Chrono Cross… and how to get this NTSC game over here… it is well worth the effort!

To Be Continued…


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