[ Blog Entry ] Satisfaction

Only one day after my claim that I was back to force Tales of Xillia into submission, I can proudly return and say the following: I was literally an hour or so away from the end of the game when I last put it down. I was literally one string of cutscenes away from the game telling me “Here, you’re a step away from the last dungeon; have open access to the world and its activities,” a la almost every console JRPG in existence. I wasn’t sated with simply accepting wrenching a victory away from this game and went in search of mysteries and optional activities. After going after extra boss monsters, completing a fair share of side activities and filling out my inventory lists sufficiently, I went after the final dungeon, who submitted to me with little more than a whimper along with its final bosses.

The universal sign for “you just got your ass kicked.”

With that being said, though, I can finally give my final word on the game: it’s great but it has its flaws. Have you ever had that group assignment while in school and you despised doing it because there was that one kid that not just didn’t do their best but also hindered progress of your assignment by either doing nothing or actually making things worse? In so many words, this is Tales of Xillia: a game that follows all the tropes, breaks said tropes, and then paves its own path… and constantly trips over itself constantly. If the leveling and shop systems were both only a little more traditional I would have enjoyed this game a lot more and it would have felt less like I had to turn it into a huge undertaking.

Where do I turn my sights, from here on out? I’m looking forward to Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes coming out soon, I might decide to revisit Lightning Returns if time and mood permits, I have several games that need completing… I could go in and demolish Dynasty Warriors 8 or see about waiting for the expansion to that… I’m not sure. I could wait for South Park: The Stick of Truth, as well.

I know I have, thanks to reader feedback, a little revisitation to The Last of Us because, I think, I got some of my information and research wrong when coming up with some of my theories. I need to get back into that. I also want to write a review for Tales of Xillia as well as making some music, as well. Stay tuned right here and thank you for reading!