Tales of Awesome

10 Jul 2014

Namco’s Tales series has been one of the most consistent JRPG franchises. My first taste was in 2004 with Tales of Symphonia, and that was a wonderful experience. I haven’t played every game in the series (there are a few duds it seems), but since Symphonia, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed Abyss, Vesperia, Graces, and most recently, Xillia. In a month, Tales of Xillia 2 will be released. I found Xillia to be a solid entry and the sequel is very, very well-regarded. RPG Fan has a great preview on the game; here are my main (and somewhat irreverent) takeaways.

• “Ludger [the protagonist] can switch between three weapon types (dual blades, a hammer, and a gun) to fight his enemies effectively at any distance.” Finally! Some game designer realized that the best weapon isn’t a sword, or even two swords, but two swords, a sledgehammer, AND dual-wielded pistols. Genius!

• “He can also transform into a demi-humanoid using the power of ‘Chromatus,’ dramatically augmenting his strength and ability repertoire.” Yes!!! Not only does he wield three different kinds of weapons, he can also GO SUPER SAIYAN!

• “The Double Raid Linear Motion Battle System (DR-LMBS) returns as well.” The awesome battle system in the Tales series is a cornerstone of the series, but I never realized how ridiculous they name the system.

• “Ludger and Elle are injured during a train hijacking early in the game, and a mysterious man takes advantage of their plight by paying their medical bills and putting Ludger into astronomical debt.” Sounds like Ludger and Elle don’t live on Elympios, but in the United States of America given the ruinous amount of medical debt they were able to incur. Running with that theory, it also sounds like the TSA should start securing our train systems.

Irreverence aside, August 19th can’t come soon enough because I’m super excited to dive in Tales of Xillia 2.