It comes out in a little less than a week, and man, am I excited. Tales of Xillia was my first game in the Tales of series, and then I played Symphonia (though I haven't finished it) and Graces f. It seems like no one likes Tales of Xillia compared to the other games, but it holds a lot of nostalgia for me. I also like the characters from ToX the best (though Graces' have been pretty good so far, too). So, anyone else excited to play it? What's your experience with the Tales of series been like?
Very! I'm a huge fan of Xillia. Wow. I forgot about the sequel. I pre-orderd it ages ago. Only 8 days until it's released where I live and I often receive games early. Now I'm in a happy mood! I was tempted to import the Japanese version. Man, last year I was so hooked on Xillia... I wanted to put my life on hold. That battle system is highly addictive. I took my time and finished with tons of points. Hell yeah, I fought the monsters with weapon tails. I destroyed the arena. I ran around like a nutcase collecting feathers. It was all insane fun. I've got a save file with a new game+ and loads of goodies waiting for a rainy day. Jude is my favourite character and I'm in love with his fighting style. I'm not gonna lie. I'd love to test my mettle against him if he were real. It was F**KING AWESOME to see a short guy portrayed as a badass hero. It's difficult to dislike the main characters. Although Alvin was later predictable and his behaviour ticked me off at times, especially before I understood why. I actually think it's impressive (good storytelling) if characters get under my skin for the right reasons. I don't usually care about stories in games... I paid attention to this one. I related to Milla being pretty impulsive, a bit awkward, knowing plenty stuff in theory and talking about people as 'humans' xD It was a hilarious game at times and yet also made an impact on my heart. I've yet to take Tales of Symphonia out of the shrinkwrap. And yet I recommended it to a friend xD I think it's because I check out video games on YouTube before I order them. I played Tales of Graces f, but I forgot about it because of other games. I think it was more technical and it had a long intro. With that said, I prefer Xillia to Graces. I don't wanna spend too long tuning gear for a fight.
Before I knew it was only available in Japan (around 5 months ago) I went to an American GameStop and asked for ToX 2, and they were kind of beating around the bush as to why they didn't have it. When I found out, I wanted to import it, too. Only, I can't read Japanese. DX I enjoy stories in games; that's one of the main reasons I buy a game and find it good. If a game doesn't have a good storyline, it's pretty much crap (unless it wasn't really trying to have a storyline, like Super Mario Bros. and stuff). Gameplay also plays a big role. I loved ToX's battle system as well. It threw me off going from ToX to Tales of Graces, with the weird CC system and inconvenient way of eating food before every battle. The eleth mixer is cool, but ToX had a better weapon/equipment system while I preferred ToG's skill point system with the titles. Both battle systems are good, though ToX's took way less time to understand for me. Jude is my favorite as well. Usually, the main character (if I had to pick Jude or Milla as the main character, I'd say Jude) is not my favorite, but Jude was, as you said, very badass and an amazing character. I even told my friend that I wish I looked like Jude. XD If there's a fictional character I have to have to use as a role model/representation of myself, it's Jude. Alvin annoyed me a few times as well, but it was very subtle, if at all. I felt so touched when Alvin was devastated by Milla's "death," as I thought he was a "manly mercenary" and couldn't let anything get to him. It showed how much he actually cared for Milla and how much Milla had impacted his life. Jude actually annoyed me around that point a little when Leia was trying so hard to take care of him but he was being very high-maintenance. The game had great voice-acting, and it was the first game I actually really noticed and liked the voice acting, which was why I tried to listen to every skit I could.
Tales of Xillia is amazing! The characters are all awesome and hilarious, even if Rowan's accent grates on me at times. Alvin is my favourite. He's a really good deconstruction of the Tales traitor character archetype and I genuinely just want to give him a hug at times. My biggest gripe with the game is that Milla's side of the story I find significantly worse than Jude's. You miss so much important stuff on Milla's side, including the best scene in the game and the final bits of development for many characters like Ivan and some of the chimeriad. I wish I'd played Jude's first, but after replaying it on his side, I don't really mind. You need to play both for the full thing anyways and I loved experiencing the story again. I'm a nerd for voice actors and this game has many of my favourites! Matthew Mercer as Alvin does an amazing job, so I'm excited to hear him again in ToX2. Liam O'Brien is amazing as always as Gilland as well. Damn, I love Gilland! Generally, Xillia is a great game. I don't know why some more long running Tales fans thought it was bad. I personally wasn't too keen on Symphonia in comparison to Xillia, Graces, Abyss and Vesperia, but that too is also a great game. It's an almost impossibly good franchise in my opinion and is one of my top 5 franchises overall. So excited for Xillia 2, but I am kinda more excited for Zestiria.
What did you consider "the best scene of the game"? I haven't finished Milla's side yet; I played Jude's first, so I haven't seen much of Milla's scenes and the differences between them. I almost considered setting Jude's stats up as if he were my main player in battle and as the leader of the party on Milla's side, just because I liked his fighting style better and he's much faster. X3 I haven't read much on Zestiria, hope it's great! I'm excited, too.
I think the best scene is the bit when Jude and Alvin fight. Everything comes to a head and it was a really emotional scene. I felt so into, despite having already beaten Milla's side. It was just generally awesome in every sense.
Oh yeah, I loved that scene! I'm curious as to what Milla's side will show me when I get to the parts where Milla and Jude are separated, and especially Milla's "death." I always find it amusing when you fight a person who was previously in your party; they always get a huge HP boost when they're the enemy and become a lot more aggressive than when they were actually on your team. It happened for fighting Alvin in ToX. Tales of Graces spoiler Spoiler And Hubert and Richard in Tales of Graces. I understand why they do it, I just find it amusing.
