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In-depth at E3: Tales of Xillia 2

If you have read my Tales of Xillia review, you’ll know I absolutely loved it and scored it a 9.5. That’s still the highest rating I’ve given to a game, and looking back, I still believe it was well-deserved. The only thing stopping it from being a 10 is the somewhat niche market that JRPGs fall into in the west. Obviously when I found out I had a booking with Bandai Namco at E3 to talk about the sequel I was very excited.

Like all JRPGs, Tales 2 has been out in Japan for a while. In this case however it’s a very long while; the game was launched all the way back in November 2012, well before the western release of the first game.

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For those who have played the first Tales, there are plenty of familiar faces and places. Tales 2 is set one year after the events of the original and all the characters from the first game return for another adventure. The best thing about this is it’s mostly optional, so if you didn’t play Tales of Xillia you won’t be missing out on too much. For those who did, the original characters are part of side-quests; if you want to find out what the old gang have been up to, you can. You can also skip any characters you didn’t like from Tales of Xillia if you found any of them to be super annoying (sorry Teepo but I hate your face). If this is a major factor in whether you are picking up the game don’t be too disappointed by the idea of side quests like I was initially. I was assured they aren’t just half hour quests thrown together and that they are in fact very long and made with the sole purpose of keeping fans of the first game happy.

So enough about old news, let’s get into the new game… which is actually sort of old news.

Tales of Xillia 2 follows the journey of Ludger Kresnik. He can switch weapons during battle bringing a new dynamic to the series by dual wielding blades or pistols or switching to a fearsome hammer. Using this in conjunction with the linking system, which makes a return, the battles are similar but look to have been tweaked for more customization and allow a little more strategy. The biggest change is the introduction of Ludger’s transforming ability, Chromatus. It’s a temporary transformation but it allows Ludger to deal crazy damage.

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There is a definite noir feel to Tales 2, somehow melded with a very modern world. Ludger is rescued from certain death at the beginning of the game but not out of the kindness of his saviour’s heart. An astronomical debt is forced on him, making his early driving force to acquire money and pay of the debt. Other than this being important to the story, it’s actually used as an interesting game mechanic.

Without paying of certain stages of the debt, you wont be able to access new areas, which is a much better explanation for why you cant go somewhere than the old “the road is blocked by something” or “I’m a guard and it’s probably too dangerous for you out there, traveller I’ve never seen before”. With money as your ultimate goal in the early stages of the game there are plenty of opportunities to do side-quests for big paydays. These come in the form of contracts you can take up with NPCs and once completed more will naturally open up for you.

Tales of Xillia 2 will be a small beacon of hope in an otherwise crappy August release schedule. Launching for PS3 in Europe 22 August and in the US on 19 August, I know this will be a winner if it’s half the game the original was.


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About the author

Shane Wall

I'm just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe. A game geek turned audio engineer/musician. Shane's life is a delicate balance of video games, music and science fiction.