Tonight at midnight, I’ll finally get my hands on Tales of Xillia.

If you’ve read any of my Tales articles in the past on this site, you know this is a pretty big deal for me. Tales games are few and far between in the States, so each time one is released is a celebration.

I’m actually taking a lit bit of time off from work to try to power through this game while Tech Guy is still around. Tech Guy has been playing Tales games with me since 2006’s Abyss. We also went through Symphonia at one point, but that wasn’t my first rodeo with that game (hell, by that time it was probably my fourth or fifth time through).

I’m hoping to have a review up within the next couple weeks, kinda like I did with Tales of Graces f. It only takes 20-30 hours into a Tales game to get an idea how good the battle system and characters are. I’m not super worried about the story, because it’s usually mediocre — although I’ve heard that this might be the best in the series. Here’s hoping. At the very least, I can get an early review up and then go back to amend it if anything awe-inspiring happens at the end of the game.

The only thing I haven’t done yet is pick a character. Although there will be four of us playing, I’ve got first dibs on a character because I’ve been playing these games for so long. Fair or not, I’m the super invested guy.

What I like, though, is that the majority of the cast looks like fun to play — and balanced, too. As much as I enjoyed Tales of Vesperia, two characters in particular became broken by the end of the game (Yuri, who could prevent being staggered, and Rita, who could “blah blah blah Tidal Wave” until the world was dead). From the artes video I watched, the only spoiling of any kind I’ve done for this game, it seems as though all characters have some options available to them. Jude is an up-close fighter like Senel from Legendia, but he can also do some limited healing. Milla can change between delayed, long-range spells and rapid, short-range abilities on the fly depending on the situation.

Basically, I have my list down to three choices. If Shaun, Jason and Tech Guy happen to pick those three as their characters, I’ll have to invoke dibs. If not, I’ll probably pick from the remainder. And so ends your way-too-long description of which character I’m going to play.

Anyway, if you’re interested in Tales games, JRPGs, RPGs with good battle systems, or games that have strong characters (if mediocre plot), you should pick up a copy of Tales of Xillia and help let Namco Bandai know that there’s a market for these games in the U.S. Do it for me. I’ll totally reward you with…um…a pony* if you do.

* Pony may or may not exist.