Tales of Xillia Remastered Review

“Tales of” fans have been eating well over the past few years. With the release of the latest title in the series, Tales of Arise, along with more upcoming and already released remasters such as Graces f and Symphonia, we’re now getting the newest offering in Tales of Xillia Remastered.

In Tales of Xilia Remastered, players will take control of Jude Mathis, a promising medical student from the capital, or Milla Maxwell, a mysterious woman accompanied by four spirits. Set in a world where humans and spirits once lived in balance, that balance is now threatened as the kingdom of Rashugal has activated a mysterious device that drains mana, the planet’s life force. Milla and Jude now set out to destroy the device and restore peace to the world.

Tales of Xillia Remastered is generally considered a solid entry in the series, praised for its highly customizable combat system and character interactions, but also docked for pacing issues and a predictable story. Considering this is simply a remaster, fans and newcomers can expect it to be mostly the same as the original release if the previous remasters are anything to go by, though several quality-of-life updates have been added. We’ll see if those additions spell a winning formula for the game.

Fun and Flashy Combat

Tales of Xillia Remastered finally makes a return to consoles and PC, following the formula of recent remasters. Don’t expect sweeping changes, but you can expect a faithful release that builds on the strengths and charm of the original while addressing many of its frustrations. Whether this is enough will depend entirely on your expectations, but as mentioned, it’s basically a fresh coat of paint.

As before, Tales of Xillia Remastered offers one main reason to play: its Linear Motion Battle System, a real-time 3D arena where players employ directional-based attacks and skills for a fast, fun, combo-centric experience. This detail remains fantastic in the remastered version and serves as an excellent example of how timing and positioning are crucial to the free-flowing combat. This is governed by the Assault Counter, which determines the number of times you can attack consecutively, and TP, which is basically your mana pool.

Players will control one character, while the rest of the team can perform actions based on preset commands. While regular attacks often do the job, the combat system is punctuated by the Artes system, which encourages timing and coordination for flashy, cinematic attacks. Pressing a direction while attacking changes the nature of the attack or the Artes used, and is a great way to add a certain degree of depth while keeping things relatively simple, appealing to even newcomers.

Additionally, Tales of Xillia Remastered also allows players to link up with another party member to perform Linked Artes, along with other benefits like shared HP recovery and damage transfer. Linking with another party member also allows for flanking attacks, which enable players to attack from behind and score easier critical hits. This is a nice way to emphasize the importance of positioning and add a tactical layer to combat.

As you can imagine, the combat system of Tales of Xillia Remastered is really its feather in the cap, and is engaging from start to finish. This is further enhanced by the Lilium Orb System, a sphere grid-type system that unlocks various additional skills and stat bonuses using Growth Points. It’s a system that’s very easy to pick up but will take time to master, and is really as good as advertised.

A Shiny Coat of Useful Paint

As a remaster, there’s a visual upgrade, but it’s nothing to write home about. Sure, character models and backgrounds are smoother and easier on the eyes, but the anime-style graphics don’t really reflect that too much. Instead, one of the bigger updates to Tales of Xillia Remastered is the quality-of-life upgrades, which are indeed plentiful and very helpful.

Tales of Xillia Remastered is packed with a range of quality-of-life improvements that are designed to respect players’ time and preferences. One of the better changes here is the Grade Shop being available from the first playthrough with 5,000 Grade to spend. This alone makes the game way easier to play, considering that the grade shop contains options such as an experience modifier for faster leveling up, reducing arte cost for flashy combos, and even items coming in at 50% off.

Other updates include the addition of autosave, navigation pointers and destination icons to avoid aimless wandering, along with more subtle improvements like adding dash mode, battle subtitles, auto-skip events, camera distance switching, audio language switching, and many more. There’s a LOT, and most, if not all, are really helpful to modernizing the experience.

The number of improvements is quite staggering, and it clearly demonstrates the extensive work that went into this release to appeal to newcomers and even veterans who have already played the game.

Showing Some Age

Despite these improvements, Tales of Xillia definitely shows its age. Since it is just a remaster, there are no attempts to modify the game beyond the aforementioned quality-of-life updates. What you make of this, whether it is a plus or minus, is up to you. Additionally, there are even some changes to certain expressions from the original version that purists and eagle-eyed fans may not be too thrilled about.

Voice acting-wise, the English cast of Tales of Xillia Remastered could have been a lot better. It’s serviceable, at least, but is probably not the preferred way to play when the Japanese voice option is readily available.

Tales of Xillia Remastered has story beats that still connect, particularly through its themes of responsibility and sacrifice. Due to the pacing issues in the original title, the quality-of-life updates now enable players to experience more of the story at their own pace, further solidifying the narrative’s impact.

Verdict: Buy it!

Overall, Tales of Xillia Remastered is a welcome title to add to the series of remastered titles that are planned. Combat remains a highlight, with its fluid, responsive system sure to satisfy action RPG players who love experimenting with party setups and flashy combos.

The suite of quality-of-life improvements, from early Grade Shop access to autosave and encounter toggles, provides players with options that allow them to play to their preference, and even gives an easier point of entry for newcomers who are going to be trying to play this game for the very first time.

Despite some drawbacks, such as mediocre English voice acting and only minimal updates to visuals, Tales of Xillia Remastered remains a fun experience that shows its age to a certain degree.

*Tales of Xillia Remastered was reviewed on a PS5 with a review code provided by the publisher.