Tales of Xillia Review [SPOILERS]

I found the premise and story of Tales of Xillia to be interesting and engaging. In the world of Rieze Maxia, the power of spirits keeps nature alive. People utilize mana from spirits to perform spirit artes, which can do anything from lighting a street to healing people. The game has two main routes for the story, making you choose a protagonist (Jude or Milla) at the beginning of the game. It is generally advised to pick Jude Mathis for your first playthrough, as his route contains all of the necessary story beats and information. Jude is a medical student in Fennmont, the capital city of Rashugal. One day, he goes to find his professor at a nearby research center, but instead finds the center under military lockdown. Jude sneaks in, only to find the professor dead with all of his mana drained. Jude is about to be killed for sneaking in, but is saved by a mysterious woman who is incredibly powerful. She introduces herself as Milla Maxwell, the Lord of Spirits. Jude and Milla discover that the cause of the mana draining is a superweapon called the Lance of Kresnik. Before Milla can destroy the Lance, it captures the Four Great Spirits and leaves her much weaker than before. With the Rashugal army now after them, Jude and Milla flee Fennmont with the help of Alvin, a mercenary. The three go to the neighboring nation of Auj Oule, with the eventual goal of confronting Nachtigal, the king of Rashugal, and destroying the Lance of Kresnik. Along the way, they meet new friends that join the party. Elize is a young girl who is hidden in a basement and ostracized in the village of Hamil. She has a seemingly sentient stuffed toy named Teepo who can talk. They also meet Rowen Ilbert, a butler in the city-state of Sharilton who was once a famed military tactician and formerly friends with King Nachtigal. 

The Rashugal military begins an invasion of Auj Oule, as both countries have maintained peace while also secretly wanting to be the ones to unify Rieze Maxia into one country. A battle with King Nachtigal and his right-hand, Gilland, at the military Fort Gandala leads to Milla losing the use of her legs after an explosion. Jude is determined to heal Milla, so the two go to Jude’s hometown of Leronde, as Jude once heard that his father was able to fully restore someone’s legs from paralysis. In Leronde, Jude reunites with his childhood friend, Leia Rolando, who becomes the sixth and final playable character. Jude and Leia are able to restore Milla’s legs with a device called the aspyrixis, which utilizes a spirit fossil. From there, they reunite with Elize, Rowen, and Alvin. The crew then goes to get into Fennmont through the air, encountering a terrorist group called Exodus along the way, whose goal is assassinating Milla. They also meet with Gaius, the king of Auj Oule, in order to access wyverns to fly into Fennmont. In Fennmont, they are able to confront King Nachtigal, but he is killed by Gilland as full-scale war between Rashugal and Auj Oule begins. It is revealed that the Lance of Kresnik is not a weapon, but a device that breaks through the schism to another world, called Elympios. Gilland, who is actually the leader of Exodus, leads an invasion of Rieze Maxia from Elympios. Exodus is doing this because Elympios is running out of energy, as all of their spirits are nearly gone due to their utilization of spyrix devices. The people in Elympios rely on spyrix because they do not naturally have mana lobes in their brains like the people in Rieze Maxia do. The party is separated and Jude meets Muzét, a spirit who says she is Milla’s big sister. The party then reunites, learning that Alvin is actually from Elympios himself. The team defeats Gilland with the help of Gaius and the combined efforts of the Rashugal and Auj Oule armies, at the cost of Milla’s life. 

After a brief timeskip, Jude wakes up to learn that Muzét has gone berserk, trying to kill the party members since they know about the schism. Alvin tries to kill Jude and Leia after striking a deal with Muzét that would get him back to Elympios, but he can’t bring himself to finish the job. The remaining members reunite and decide to search for the real Lord Maxwell, as Milla was just a proxy for him. After another journey (in which Alvin eventually returns again to try and atone), they find him and a reborn Milla. However, Gaius, who is now working with Muzét, seals Maxwell within the Lance of Kresnik as they plan to destroy all spyrix and leave Elympios to die. The party members believe there is another way that will allow both worlds to continue, that being spyrites, a renewable energy source that does not harm spirits. The final battle is against Gaius and Muzét, and after winning, Gaius relents and says that he will go along with their plan to research spyrites and preserve both worlds. The story ends with Jude becoming a spyrite researcher, Milla becoming the new Lord Maxwell, Alvin starting a business, Elize going to school, Leia working at her parents’ inn, and Rowen becoming a professor, while Gaius leads a united Rieze Maxia.

The story of Tales of Xillia has multiple intriguing character arcs. The main two are Jude and Milla, the game’s twin protagonists. Jude struggles with finding his purpose, as his life as a medical student disappears and he must determine what he wants to do. He determines that he wants to help Milla and protect people and spirits alike. Jude matures throughout the story, gaining the agency required to make his own decisions. When Milla is seemingly gone, Jude enters a deep depression, barely functioning as he grapples with the idea that Milla’s mission was pointless. With the help of Leia, Jude is able to get back to a normal state and continue. Milla’s arc involves her becoming stronger after losing access to the Four Great Spirits that she previously relied on, recovering the use of her legs, and continuing her mission at all costs. Alvin is another character who goes through many tribulations, as he strives to make things right with the other party members after betraying them multiple times for various reasons. The story of Rieze Maxia and Elympios is also a pretty strong metaphor for real-life environmentalism, with Elympios’ reliance on spyrix being very similar to us with fossil fuels, and the ultimate solution being renewable energy research through spyrites.

The gameplay in Xillia is similar to other entries such as Graces f and Vesperia. Battles take place in a 3D space, with combat in real time utilizing physical attacks and spirit artes. There are four party members in battle at a given time, and you can link two party members together to perform special linked artes. The battle system is intuitive and easy to understand. The other half of Xillia’s gameplay is exploring the world, finding items, and progressing. Like any other Tales game, Xillia also features skits showing interactions between the characters. The skits are fully voice acted and really help you get to know these characters.

Tales of Xillia has solid graphics and music. There are multiple areas that I find to be very nice looking, such as the snowy tundra areas and the gorgeous city of Fennmont. The soundtrack is also very good, with some nice tunes in the overworld and during battles. I especially liked the smooth jazz tracks in the urban cityscape of Elympios and its surrounding wastelands.

Overall, I really liked Tales of Xillia. It’s as good an entry in the series as any, with an interesting plot, good characters, and quality gameplay. It’s somewhat short for a Tales game, being a little over 30 hours long as opposed to others that get closer to 50. Regardless, I would easily recommend it to any Tales fan or JRPG fan in general, especially with the release of the remaster.