Tales of Xillia is the best title in the entire series.

Okay, we’ve gotten the platitudes out of the way early. That’s good. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone who has played everything released in the States from Phantasia to today. Individual games in the Tales series have each had their strengths, and there’s probably something about each one that I would say is better than Xillia. But as a whole? It’s not even close.

Let’s get down to the nitty gritty of what makes Tales of Xillia excel:

Story/Characters

The cast of characters is usually what drives Tales games. Sure, some of them rely on JRPG-standard tropes at times, but in general, the personal growth of the playable characters (and their increasingly fun interactions through scenes and skits) is what keeps you going forward as you play through a Tales game.

What’s surprising about Xillia is that for the first time in the series, the plot might be better than the individuals going through it.

At its core, Xillia is still a Tales story byproduct: Two nations are barreling straight toward a war with each other to try to gain control of some power that is beyond mortal comprehension, and after said war begins, a new threat emerges from the ashes. You could apply that synopsis to virtually any game in the series since Symphonia and make it work. But where Xillia gets it right is in the details — there’s an increased sense of importance to what’s happening, helped in large part by Gaius and the Chimeriad’s involvement.

As for the main cast? Jude’s one of the best progatonists we’ve ever seen, second perhaps only to Yuri Lowell, and Sam Riegel does great voice work as part of that. Some have complained about Milla’s lack of inflection and personality, but I think it’s fitting considering her character. Alvin, Leia, Rowen and Elize are all solid in support. About the only real annoyance is a sort of side character, Teepo (filling the standard “cute animal thing” role), but even he has his moments as the game forges ahead.

Gameplay

In my review of Tales of Graces f last year, I talked about that game having the best battle of any RPG ever made. That puts me in a weird position when it comes to Xillia, because I think it comes really close.

A lot of that has to do with the customization options you have, covered in more detail here. Some choices are purely aesthetic, like the attachments and costumes you have for your characters. But others have a huge impact on battles in Tales of Xillia, especially those pertaining to the Lilium Orb.

The Lilium Orb is this game’s Sphere Grid, an unlockable, expandable web of options that allow you to increase your characters’ stats and learn new artes in any order you see fit. Maxed-out, level 99 players will all have the same web, but the journey getting there is entirely up to you.

Being able to control how your character grows is a large part of what makes the battle system so fun. It also helps that Xillia has combined two earlier elements of the series into the smartest setup yet: TP returns as your mana, dictating how many artes you can use, while AC (which was called CC in Graces) limits you to a certain number of actions before you have to back off momentarily.

Essentially, this allows for the most freeform combos yet. Let’s say you have 6 AC, a pretty typical number for the middle of the game. You can chain artes together for all six of those attacks, like six Demon Fists (which is exactly how Tech Guy played Jude). Or you can make all six attacks normal strikes to gain back TP when you’re low. Or you can have Leia start with a right attack to spin the enemy around, an up attack to knock them in the air, two Spiral Strike artes to carry the enemy in the air, a Darting Claw to continue the aerial combo, and a down strike to finish it off. The system is extremely flexible, and that’s Xillia’s greatest strength.

Older games like Symphonia had an extremely cut-and-dry system, where for most of the game you could get three basic attacks and then add on a low-level arte and a high-level one after that if you so chose. In Xillia, your combos are only limited by your imagination and your execution. Jude, Milla and Leia are capable of some pretty heavy shenanigans both on the ground and in the air, so if you enjoy stringing together fighting-game-like combinations, those are the characters you should consider.

Ultimately, I think Graces has a slight edge in battles because of the nuts and bolts, but Xillia just feels like a Tales game should. It has all the systems we’ve come to expect over the years and utilizes them in extremely smart ways.

Graphics/Music

Saying this is the best looking Tales game to date isn’t much of an argument, but it’s true nonetheless. Xillia has the advantage of not being a Wii game ported over to the PS3, like Graces. It also has a leg up on the other true HD title in the series, Vesperia, because it comes toward the end of current-gen consoles and not the beginning.

The game features anime-style cutscenes that really show off how good the game looks, but even the in-game graphics are solid. Everything is clean, bright and colorful. The only downside is that if you’re playing with four players in co-op mode, certain cast members spamming certain abilities will cause some pretty heavy slowdown. The PS3 can’t seem to handle Milla being 20 feet in the air throwing out bolts of lightning while Elize casts 47 Negative Gates on small chickens. It’s not a game-breaking problem, but you will find yourself somewhat annoyed when there’s a ton of chaos on the screen, especially if your combos require timing.

As for the music, Motoi Sakuraba returns for his nine millionth Tales game here, and his familiar synth-heavy style is on full display. Unlike in Graces, however, there are several tracks in Xillia that leave a lasting impression. The soundtrack is still average overall, but at least some town themes and battle music stand out. The opening video (with music by Japanese pop icon Ayumi Hamasaki) is fantastic, and absolutely worth watching if you haven’t seen any media from Xillia yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5vdZx4hZ7E

Negatives

Like most Tales games, Xillia isn’t without its imperfections. The postgame content is surprisingly lacking compared to other titles in the series — there’s a boring extra dungeon with a fun boss fight, a coliseum with no cameo battles against other Tales characters, and…that’s about it? The New Game + mode offers plenty of replayability, though, especially when you can choose the other main character’s perspective.

I hate to harp on DLC in a game that doesn’t really have much to do with it, but the lack of available costumes in the game is pathetic. If you’re playing Xillia and didn’t preorder the game (which came with two free outfits), you have access to exactly FOUR costumes in-game: one each for Jude and Milla for beating their respective story, and a casual look for Milla and Alvin for turning 400 Jet Black Feathers. That’s it. So yes, that means half of your six party members have nothing. There are plenty of neat options through the Playstation Store available for $3 apiece — and yes, I purchased five or six of them — but having to pay through the nose to unlock on-disc content is horrendous. It would be less of an issue if each character at least had a couple choices through the game itself, but that’s simply not the case.

The Verdict

Despite a couple of pretty glaring negatives, the takeaway from Tales of Xillia is still that it is a fantastic game, the best in its series. Our playthrough lasted about 50 hours — including the extra dungeon — before I started farming additional grade for our New Game +. That 50 hours will fly by, however, as you enjoy the battle system and the interactions between your characters, and a couple of plot twists will keep you guessing along the way.

Anyone who is a fan of JRPGs, fighting games or having fun in general should check this game out. As an added bonus, Tales games have been doing well enough in the States lately that Tales of Xillia 2 is already confirmed to have an English release in 2014 — so you still have time to pick this up and enjoy it before the sequel drops next year.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 stars