Having been shackled to the PS3 ever since its launch all the way in which again in 2011, it is nice to see Tales of Xillia make a deserved comeback by way of Tales of Xillia Remastered.
A part of Bandai Namco’s ongoing mission to re-release nearly each Tales title on as many platforms as potential, Xillia Remastered is a predictably strong providing.
Its visuals have been cleaned up a bit with a lift to color saturation and backbone, it runs at 60 frames-per-second on PS5, and it boasts quite a lot of welcome high quality of life enhancements, like goal markers, a dash toggle, and even a useful autosave.
However for many who have performed Xillia earlier than, maybe the most important addition is the Grade Store being open proper from the beginning. Sometimes saved for New Sport+, the Grade Store options gameplay modifiers that may alter the expertise fairly dramatically.
You may improve expertise level and forex positive factors to hurry the journey alongside as you want, making replays a breeze should you’re simply right here for the nostalgia. Considerate stuff.
And we do suppose {that a} sport like Xillia wants a bit of additional incentive today. The RPG hasn’t aged badly, however elements of it do really feel barely misguided right here in 2025.
For instance, there’s lots of backtracking by way of same-y environments, the facet quests are decidedly boring, and on the whole, the sport simply takes some time to essentially get going.
Story and character-wise, although, Xillia holds up moderately properly. The twin protagonist strategy of Jude, a pointy however timid teenager, and Milla, the incarnation of what’s basically a demigod, nonetheless works, with each leads bringing utterly completely different views to the celebration.
The opposite members, in the meantime, are inclined to bounce off the twosome brilliantly. There’s an nearly prickly, unsure dynamic to the group, and the stress helps hold the broader plot attention-grabbing.
The fight system’s nonetheless good and punchy, too. Many followers will inform you that Xillia’s received a number of the most balanced battle mechanics within the sequence, they usually’d be proper — it is a refined combine of massive combo harm and distinctive character skills.
So, whereas there are components of Tales of Xillia that do not fairly measure as much as as we speak’s requirements, the core journey stays rock strong, and the remaster brings some welcome additions and extras to the desk. This PS3 RPG deserved a great re-release, and it is received one.
