Tales of Xillia Remastered Review

Tales of Xillia was a monumental moment for the Tales of series. The game originally released in August 2013 in the West, and was the second Tales of title to see an English translation after the series' localization drought. After the poor sales of Tales of Vesperia on the Xbox 360, there was a period of time when Bandai Namco stopped localizing titles and left the West in the dark. During this time, multiple Tales titles were released, with Tales of Xillia itself being a title that celebrated the 15th anniversary of the series. Back then, there seemed to be little hope that we would ever see another Tales of title outside of Japan. However, after Bandai Namco held a fan vote for which game they'd like to see released next, Tales of Graces f won, and the series' future was then reevaluated. Eventually, Tales of Graces f would launch exclusively on the PlayStation 3, and Tales of Xillia finally followed suit a year later.

Since then, things have changed quite a bit. Tales of is once again a well-known series among JRPG fans, with every single game making it to the West. Not only that, Bandai Namco spent a period of time catching fans up on most of the titles we initially missed out on, with only a handful still remaining exclusive to Japan. Thanks to Bandai Namco's Tales of Remastered project, however, many of these Tales of titles are now being brought to modern hardware for all to enjoy, and that includes none other than Tales of Xillia.

By today's standards, Tales of Xillia isn't anything too new for the series, but back in the day, this really was a big step forward. This is the first Tales title to ever receive full-body proportioned character models and feature a 3D world with a fully controllable camera—gone are the days of fixed views, and with that came the complete removal of the World Map. It also cut down on dungeons and puzzles compared to past entries, added dialogue while exploring, and it was one of the final Tales titles to use the classic-style battle system. That being said, the game has some rough edges due to this major step forward for the series, and the new Remastered version does not change the core game in the slightest. Instead, it offers enhanced visuals and includes new features such as quest markers and autosaves to help make everyone's lives easier. It is still Tales of Xillia, however, so fans of the original will already know what they are getting into.

Welcome Back to Rieze Maxia:

Tales of Xillia immediately presents players with a choice not found in previous entries: which of the two protagonists, Jude Mathis or Milla Maxwell, to follow. Though both characters are playable and co-lead the story, this initial choice is more impactful than it seems. The game's complete narrative is split between them, but the experiences are not equal. Jude's path is the recommended first choice as it is significantly longer, including an extended prologue and additional story chapters. Furthermore, it includes his vital monologues, which are absent from Milla's route and are key to understanding his character development. While fully experiencing the game requires playing both sides, selecting Jude's route ensures the player sees the main plot in its entirety, only missing a few supplementary details from Milla's side.

Once a character is chosen, the game begins and players are introduced to the world of Rieze Maxia. Rieze Maxia is a large landmass floating in the middle of the ocean and is the main setting of the game. In this world, people live in harmony with an invisible force known as Spirits. Spirits are creatures that bond with the planet's humans, forming a symbiotic relationship with them.

Humans are born with what is known as a Mana Lobe—a part of the brain that produces mana. Spirits require this mana to survive. In return for using human mana, the Spirits grant humans special powers—abilities that are considered to be magic in the world of Tales of Xillia.

Despite being a technologically advanced world, these powers still play a key role in human survival, and without them, civilization would be lost. From simple things such as lighting street lamps to operating elevators, the people of Rieze Maxia use a mixture of technology and magic to carry out nearly all of their everyday tasks.

After explaining the basics, the game then opens up with our two main heroes meeting by chance.

The young medical student Jude Mathis goes to search for his missing professor, who entered a government laboratory only to never return. While searching, he comes across a strange young woman named Milla Maxwell. Milla, who had plans of her own to sneak into the very same lab, ends up teaming up with Jude simply due to this chance encounter.

As she blows open an entrance to the lower levels of the facility, Jude quickly follows behind, and they both find themselves in trouble. Jude stumbles across a strange room filled with people suspended in tubes, whose life force has been drained—his professor among them. Milla, meanwhile, comes to his rescue when he is attacked by a strange young girl. With no other option but to stick together, the two slowly make their way into the lab's depths, where the true target was waiting.

It turns out that Milla had come to this lab for one reason: to destroy an object she calls a Spyrix. The Spyrix is a device that kills Spirits to power weapons of mass destruction, and one of these weapons—a massive cannon—just so happens to be hidden within the lab. To destroy this weapon, Milla, who claims to be "Maxwell, Lord of Spirits," calls upon the power of the Four Great Spirits. Her plans are quickly cut short, however. Despite the Four being the "kings of the spirits," they are no match for the weapon and are soon sucked into it. Due to the loss of the Great Spirits, Milla finds herself as weak as a "normal human," and she has no choice but to run, with Jude by her side.

Upon returning to town, Jude and Milla learn that they have been classified as criminals by the military and have no choice but to flee. Jude must now abandon his school, and Milla must continue her mission to destroy the Spyrixes of the world without the help of the Great Spirits.

After both are saved by a mysterious mercenary named Alvin, they are forced to set sail and begin a new adventure. As time goes on, Jude, Milla, and their companions slowly learn the truth behind the world. Before they know it, they get caught up in a series of events that lead them down a path they could have never foreseen.

The World Map, Dungeons, and Basic Exploration:

Tales of Xillia marks a major shift in the Tales of formula. While the previous title, Tales of Graces f, featured connected hallways between areas, it still maintained a fixed camera and felt like a traditional world map. With Tales of Xillia, however, the conventional world map and detailed dungeons have been completely scrapped, replaced by connected 3D regions to explore.

These areas allow players to travel from key point to key point, often with diverging pathways along the way. Fast travel helps prevent the need for too much manual backtracking, though key locations must be discovered first before they can be jumped to.

The world design clearly represents the Tales of series’ first attempt at featuring a full, connected 3D environment. Outside of regional differences, many paths do look similar. They are also heavily populated with enemies players can run into to fight, though there is ample room to simply avoid them if the frequency becomes too high. Thankfully, Tales of Xillia features arguably one of the best battle systems in the entire series, providing plenty of reasons to engage in combat, but the sheer number of enemy encounters can become tiring after dozens of hours of gameplay.

Thanks to the new Remastered version of the game, several quality-of-life improvements are in place: an auto-save system prevents progress loss, missable side quests and events are now clearly marked, and there is a toggle dash option allowing for quicker traversal across the world, which is quite large.

Each map is packed full of Search Points to gather items and materials, and of course, there are treasure chests to find as well. While there are no traditional "dungeons" with puzzles per se, most dead-end paths are still worth exploring as they typically offer rewards. This is especially prevalent in the handful of caves and story-event areas the game guides you through.

Towns act as the main hub areas for their respective regions. Here is where most major story events occur, and where players can find shops and key resources. Most quests and side events also begin in each town, requiring players to explore every nook and cranny before moving on. The addition of the new quest markers makes it much easier to discover everything without needing to refer to a guide—something that was almost required in the original release.

Unlike titles released before it, Tales of Xillia does feature a Quest Log that helps players keep track of every event they’ve either started or fully seen. This makes achieving 100% completion much easier, which is something most players will want to strive for. Although some quests are more basic, the vast majority add significant depth to the story and help develop the world, making them well worth seeing for anyone who wants to see the complete picture; any item rewards obtained often take a back seat to the narrative content.

Besides side quests and events, Xillia continues to feature the series' iconic Skit System, which consists of short mini-chats between the current party members. These skits are typically brief, but they add so much to the overall story and help the world feel much more alive.

Characters will not only comment on the story's current events, but they'll even talk about and joke with each other about their actions during gameplay. Is someone feeling left out in battle? They’ll complain about not being used. Do you come across a unique enemy or cook a bad meal? Chances are someone is going to talk about it. Players can expect this kind of dynamic banter throughout the entire game. There are hundreds of these mini-scenes to see and unlock, and they are added to a viewer for easy access at any time.

The Battle System:

Tales of Xillia features the classic side-view battle system many fans have come to know and love, but with multiple twists added to the formula. Similar to past titles, every single character is unique and offers a different experience when playing with them, but they also have their own added mechanics to further change things up outside of having different attacks or abilities. This new version of the system has been dubbed the Dual Raid Linear Motion Battle System, and is possibly one of the greatest systems the series has ever seen.

Similar to a 3D fighter, Tales of Xillia's battle system takes place on a full 3D arena, but with characters locked to a side view in line with their currently targeted enemy. From here, characters can unleash a variety of standard attacks and skills to create combos. Enemies can be attacked on the ground or in the air—with some characters performing better when airborne—and their unique mechanics can also be used to further extend said combos. For example, characters like Jude can back-step with perfect timing to instantly appear behind an enemy to blindside them and unleash a devastating combo. But this is only the beginning of what this new battle system allows you to do.

By using the new "Link" command, players can team up with a partner (controlled by the computer) to provide support in battle. In this linked state, your partner actively watches your back, helps execute combos based on your attacks, and unlocks special joint abilities.

As you land attacks or take damage, the Link Gauge builds up on the left side of the screen. Once this energy meter reaches a milestone, it glows, allowing you to trigger powerful Linked Artes. For example, if Jude is linked with Milla and executes an Arte, pressing the R2 button allows Milla to follow up immediately with a devastating Linked Arte. This not only deals massive extra damage but also dramatically increases the Link Gauge fill rate. If the gauge maxes out, you can enter an "Over Limit" state, enabling you to chain multiple Linked Artes together for truly immense damage.

Despite your partner being computer-controlled, you retain full control over the flow of battle. With a simple tap of the D-Pad, you can instantly switch which character you are actively controlling on the field. This allows for seamless, tag-team-style combo management. While you may start a combo as Jude, you can actually quickly switch over to Milla during Jude's attack to then continue the combo on her side, only to then switch back to Jude to either finish it off or keep it going. If you are able to get the pattern down, you will be able to unleash massive combos on your own, and really speed up the battle system while doing so.

Of course, the combat system does still have limits.

Tales of Xillia uses an "AC" system controls how many actions you can take during your combos—outside of the Over Limit state, that is. Each time you use an attack, 1 AC is used, and if your AC hits 0, then your combo ends. Thankfully, the moment your AC hits 0, it recharges to max almost instantly, but the short wait time still provides an opening where an enemy can escape your combo or retaliate. Of course, swapping to other characters can allow you to pick up where your first left off, so it is possible to stun-lock enemies for an extended period of time if you are skilled enough.

Besides the AC, there are other limits as well. The special skills (Artes) do require the use of TP, which is basically the series' version of mana (or MP). TP does recharge naturally during combat, but having a limited amount means Artes cannot simply be spammed the entire time. This means standard attacks are required to be a part of most combos, but the sheer amount of customization options for Artes makes combo possibilities almost infinite. Initially, only a handful of Artes can be equipped to each character at a time, but by holding L1 (on a standard controller) allows a second set of Artes to be pulled up and used as well. This brings the total of usable Artes to 16 for a single character, while computer-controlled characters retain access to their entire pool.

With all of these systems in place—basic attacks, 16 active Artes, Over Limit, Linking, etc.—Tales of Xillia features an extremely flexible combat system, and it constantly pushes players to experiment with something new. It is easily one of the biggest highlights of the title, and it feels just as good in 2025 as it did back in 2013.

Leveling Up and Skills:

Tales of Xillia moves away from the traditional Tales of leveling system. Instead of gaining automatic stat increases with each level, players earn Growth Points (GP) to spend in what is known as the Lilium Orb. This magical object not only justifies the characters' increasing strength within the story but also serves as the game’s core progression menu.

The Lilium Orb is displayed as a spider web where various nodes are connected by strands. By spending GP on the nodes that connect these strands, you unlock specific stat boosts (e.g., +32 STR). To gain new skills and abilities, you must fully surround the blank spaces between the web strands. Once all surrounding stat nodes are purchased, the center is "completed," unlocking a new skill that can then be used in battle.

The separate Skill System in Xillia allows for deep character customization. As you unlock new skills via the Lilium Orb, you can equip them to your characters at the expense of Skill Points (SP). These skills serve various purposes—some grant new abilities, others passively increase stats, and many offer useful boosts.

Crucially, many skills are now shared between linked characters. Skills like stat increases will apply to both the character who has it equipped and their current linked partner in battle. This feature makes linked characters significantly stronger than those fighting solo, often becoming essential when tackling the game's higher difficulty settings. For example, a character fighting alone might get a 5% attack bonus from a skill, but they would gain an additional 5% bonus just by linking with a partner who has the exact same skill unlocked. Consequently, shared skills are generally the most valuable for players to prioritize and equip.

In addition to character level and stats, shops also level up to provide new equipment to the party. Increasing the rank of a shop is achieved by either purchasing from them repeatedly, or by donating gathered material (or your hard earned cash). Each shop will also display which resources will give bonus exp when turned in, which is something players should keep in mind before blindly dumping everything into a shop. As most equipment is gained by purchasing it from a store, keeping shop levels up is also key to survival, especially when playing on harder difficulties. 

Quality of Life Improvements:

Tales of Xillia Remastered features multiple quality-of-life improvements across the entire game. Outside of the previously mentioned graphical upgrades, auto-saving, dash button, and quest markers, the game also gives players access to the Grade Shop from the get-go, allowing them to select from a handful of bonuses. This is great for returning players who would like an initial boost, such as increasing EXP gain or max AC, and is also helpful for those who may struggle with the game's difficulty. Once purchased, these buffs can actually be toggled off within the settings, so players are not locked into their choice of making the game easier.

In addition to this, the game includes most of the original's DLC costumes, adds subtitles to previously left-out text (such as in battle), displays items on the mini-map, and includes a retry option when dying to standard enemies. Of course sometimes reloading a save point will be needed if one is truly stuck on a fight, but in general the game no longer punishes players for one little slip up in battle.

All of these improvements help Tales of Xillia Remastered stand out over the original release, ensuring it is, in fact, the definitive version.

Should you play it?

Tales of Xillia is a great JRPG, and one Tales of fans should not miss out on. The battle system is one of the best the series has to offer, with its fast pace, wide range of Artes, and the Linking option that allows for countless unique combos to be unleashed. The game's cast is also solid, with every character having a distinct personality and outstanding character growth from beginning to end.

The game features quite a few plot twists that help it stand out among other games in the genre, and the world itself is one of the more interesting settings. Unfortunately, the map design doesn't match the quality of the battle system, and some fans may be let down by the lack of puzzles or "true" dungeon experiences. The overwhelming number of enemies on each map is also a bit much, but thankfully, you can avoid them easily without missing out on too much. Level grinding isn't really required either, as a player's skill level ultimately matters more than character stats.

Overall, Tales of Xillia is still a worthy JRPG all of these years after release, and fans really shouldn't sleep on this one. The battle system alone is what carries this title, but the great cast of characters doesn't hurt either.

VERDICT: Recommended
Reviewed on PlayStation 5