Editor’s Note: Some of the issues and bugs noted throughout the article have been addressed in a post-launch update between writing and the point of publication.

The Tales franchise is one of my favorite RPG series of all time. Each one has a unique Action RPG combat system, with deep storylines and colorful characters. Seeing that Tales of Xillia was getting remastered, I was very excited. It isn’t Tales of the Abyss levels of good, but it is high on my rank of solid Tales games. This remaster, while it has some issues, is great for folks who have never played the game before. Let’s get into it.

Tales of Xillia is set in a magical realm called Riese Maxia, where spirits and humans once coexisted in harmony. You play as either Jude Mathis, a doctor who finds himself embroiled in an adventure far beyond his imagination, or Milla Maxwell, the human embodiment of the Lord of the Spirits. Milla and Jude adventure together, but depending on who you play, the perspective shifts a bit. The story is largely the same, but the perspective does offer some different scenes.

Tales of Xillia’s combat uses a similar system to other games in the Tales franchise. You move around a 3D plane, either in side-scrolling mode or free-running mode. Positioning characters is important to avoid some AOE attacks, plus you can link characters and do things such as mystic artes to perform massive damage.

Tales of Xillia also utilizes the Lillium Orb mechanic, which provides a skill tree that allows you to unlock passive skills as well as new active abilities. There is a lot of room for playstyles, and while the controls do take some getting used to, you can remap them for various needs.

New to Tales of Xillia Remastered is the early option to use the Grade Shop. The Grade Shop offers various bonuses normally offered to New Game Plus players. This allows returning players, or players who want an easier time, to enjoy things like enhanced XP and Gald (yes, Gald with an A) earnings, as well as things like increased item drop rates, etc.

There are other enhancements in the remastered version as well, such as auto-save, the ability to turn off enemy encounters, and more. I won’t go into everything here, because it should be something for fans to find. However, I do want to mention some notable things that are missing from the game.

There is no way to disable bloom, motion blur, or depth of field, which can be an accessibility issue for some players with photosensitivity issues. There are altered (or missing) voice lines for some reason, including lines that are key to the plot. I won’t go into details, but there are a few noticeable ones. Additionally, some skits do not play correctly, and some take forever to play, sometimes to the point that you are past where you should be for them to trigger. I hope these issues get addressed in patches, but there has been no word on that from official updates.

It is hard to look at Tales of Xillia Remastered and not feel a little disappointed. I love this game, but this port feels like it was phoned in a bit. Now I’m looking at the upcoming Tales of Berseria remaster with a bit of trepidation, because if this one needs so much attention, what about that one?

On one hand, there is a lot that is well done. The visuals are nice (aside from if you try to play at 120 fps), there are great animated cutscenes, and the voice acting is well done, though there are missing lines. If you can overlook these things, it’s definitely worth your time.

Tales of Xillia Remastered is a decent RPG, but it doesn’t live up to the ideal of preserving such a wonderful game. However, if you haven’t played Tales of Xillia before, this is definitely a solid entry that I would recommend checking out. Just don’t expect it to be a pitch-perfect remastered edition.

A PC Review of Tales of Xillia Remastered was provided by Bandai Namco for the purposes of this review.

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Tales of Xillia Remastered

$39.99

7.5

Score

7.5/10

Pros

• Great storyline
• Fun combat and progression
• Beautiful visuals
• Quality of Life Features

Cons

• Missing Voicelines for no reason
• Issues on 120 FPS
• Skits not playing correctly
• Missing options for graphical accessibility