If there was any game that came close to being a "nostalgic" JRPG for me, Tales of Xillia would be it. I played it around 10 years ago and it's already crazy that it's been that long since I originally beat it. I decided to buy the remaster since it really has been that long and to maybe see if I can get my foot into the door regarding getting into the genre. It was supposed to be that way 10 years ago but it never amounted to much. After playing the game again, I can say the story and writing certainly holds up but the gameplay can be on the iffy side.
The story and writing is easily and by far the best part of the game. Parts of me was a little skeptical if it would hold up and another part of me knew it would since I beat it 10 years ago. If I didn't like it back then especially for a game that took me over 40 hours to beat, I wouldn't finished it in the first place.
As a whole, it mostly certainly does. I chose to play as Jude Mathis this time and what shocked me about his writing in that while he is naive, he is not an idiot. Characters who have traits of naive idealism can run the risk of being insufferable and obnoxious and thankfully, Jude avoids this. He has his moments of helping out the cast when Presa shows up early game and he notices something wrong in the rock formation and tells Alvin to shoot it. He also starts to slowly mature and grow out of his naivety as well.
The rest of the cast of characters are all equally as well layered and likeable too. Milla's interactions with various cast members can be entertaining due to being an all knowing spirit but she only watched humanity but never truly interacted with them which can lead to some entertaining observations and misunderstandings.
Characters like Alivn and Rowan are also entertaining. The former being a charming and sharp tongued mercenary who has a good heart but can often question who's side he's on. Rowan being a famous war general who was also a deserter but slowly starts becomes proactive and changes the world for the better.
Elise is a child character that manages to avoid being annoying, useless and slowly develops throughout the game. The ending in particular with her felt very touching.
What also greatly helps with all this is the skit system. It's something about this particular series I always liked since even when characters in your party aren't being used during gameplay, they still get speak and interact with the cast and aren't invisible until key story moments.
The story also tends to play with your expectations regarding who the real overarching villain is but when he does show himself, he is the most honorable and noble of the bunch. It's easy to see people do root for him and you almost want him not want to him.
It does get a little hard to follow due to a twist that happens late game but it doesn't get too convoluted.
Issues with the story is that the villains before the one I described can feel a bit underdeveloped. Natichal being chief among them. We learn so much about him and has one cool moment of easily defeating Millia then it's all over and doesn't do much of anything. There is also the fact that due to this, the subplot where fixing Millia's legs can really start to drag due to how long the main cast is seperated.
With all this said, while I'm not big on the gameplay. The sense of being on a journey this game created can feel impeccable. Beating the game felt like I just ended a relationship with a group of buddies I hung around with for a while. That is something I don't think a movie, book, TV show animated or live action can even create.
I'm describing the story so much because it's the main reason to play the game. Combat while fine for a few hours can start to get very, very montonous. With the party of Jude and Millia and using Elise for healing can often consist of fighting the same enemies beating them the same enemies over and over. Flame Sphere is a linked arte that can instantly end regular enemy encounters. Much of the game is this.
Bosses can be more challenging due to having more HP and later arcane artes but due to the monotonous enemy encounters, I lowered to easy because the former are more manageable and the latter is over much quicker.
Level design is also not very good and suffer from Castlevania Curse of Darkness problem where everything looks so similar and if you don't have the map screen at all times, it's easy to get lost. Doubly so if the levels have verticality. Not even the waypoint markers in the remaster alleviates this. It can almost be a guessing game if you are even going the right way. Finding the proper path felt like a game of luck half the time.
The shop system is admittedly kind of interesting in that it gave me something to look forward to after killing so many enemies to get money and materials to upgrade the shop. This aspect did prevent the gameplay from getting overly montonous.
Overall, story holds up but gameplay is on the weaker side.
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