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 Tales of Xillia 2, unsurprisingly, is the sequel to 2013’s Tales of Xillia. In an unusual move for the series, Tales of Xillia 2 is a direct sequel taking place one year after ToX, presumably because Tales of Xillia had a lot of cut content to have the game released in time for the series’ 15th anniversary. Anyway, unlike the last direct sequel in the series, ToX2 is actually a good game, if somewhat controversial (some seem to think it improves a lot on Xillia, others think it’s markedly worse.) This, of course, means you need to play Xillia before Xillia 2. ToX2 drops August 19th in NA, and August 22nd in EU, for the PS3. Story:  ToX2 follows Ludger Kresnik, a 20 year old chef from Elympios. He ends up getting involved in a train crash rescuing one Elle Marta, a young passenger trying to reach the fabled “Land of Canaan” where she believes she can meet her father again. The person who saves them from the events of the train crash believes Ludger owes him a massive debt, and so you’re forced to sign a contract to repay him and end up working to pay off this debt. At the same time, Ludger begins searching for his older brother Julius, the prime suspect behind the train’s crash, as well as helping Elle find Canaan. In a somewhat odd decision, Ludger is a silent protagonist in the vein of classic JRPGs. This means the player will gave dialogue options, which affect Ludger’s affinity with the rest of the party and can purportedly affect the direction the story takes (seemingly just a good/bad ending thing.) Gameplay:  ToX2’s gameplay is pretty similar to ToX. The main difference concerns the main character’s unique fighting style, as well as the progression system which governs character growth. Ludger has two main gimmicks in combat. The first is his ability to switch between multiple combat styles - swords, guns, and hammers. The second is Chromatus, a super-mode unique to Ludger. While using Chromatus, Ludger deals more damage and can perform easier combos. Use of Chomatus is limited by a gauge that gradually fills as you fight. Other changes include improvements to the AI, particularly involving the behaviour of linked allies (spell casters don’t approach and attack when using links, computer links are more intelligent), more party members, and perhaps controversially, an inability to switch party members out on the fly. The three party members you take with you on a mission are the only three you have access to, and sometimes characters are forced upon you. Allium Orb:  Replacing the Lillium Orb from ToX is the Allium Orb. The Allium Orb works similarly to Capacity Cores from Tales of the Abyss - basically, you equip special items that teach you specific artes and skills the longer you have them equipped for. Structure: ToX2 also has a somewhat unique structure. The main plot is divided into chapters. Before the player can move to the next chapter after beating a chapter, they must pay off a sufficient amount of the debt Ludger owes. In this free time between chapters, there’s a variety of sidequests to be done, including Personal Missions, more involved sidequests about individual party members which boost affinity with said party members, provide other benefits, and flesh out their characters. Collector’s edition:  The Collector’s edition of ToX2 features: - Metal Case - Soundtrack sample disc - Ludger figure - Replica pocket watch - Art Book - Rollo Plushie Charm - Costume DLC* - The game itself *Yuri, Emil and Asbel costumes. Namco claims they'll not be for sale, who knows how long that'll stay true for. Furthermore, in PAL regions, there’s a Day One edition with a metal case and the soundtrack disc. Cake Attack fucked around with this message at 05:27 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 05:07
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So how much missable crap is in THIS Tales game? A lot of people hyped up Xillia's sidequest log making it "impossible" to miss anything, buuuut that wasn't really true at all.
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Aug 19, 2014 05:12
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Well, Xillia's sidequest structure made it pretty hard to miss stuff. Like yeah, stuff was time-locked, but so long as you made any effort towards getting everything, you'd, well, get everything. Dungeons were simple and all the sidequests were from random NPCs in town, as opposed to having arcane requirements just to get on the sidequest.
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Aug 19, 2014 05:14
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I don't know how important this is to people, but the Steelbox in the European CE is a giant Rollo face to match the giant Tipo face for the Xillia CE. Looking forward to people's thoughts on Volt and Nova.
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Aug 19, 2014 05:15
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Endorph posted:Well, Xillia's sidequest structure made it pretty hard to miss stuff. Like yeah, stuff was time-locked, but so long as you made any effort towards getting everything, you'd, well, get everything. Dungeons were simple and all the sidequests were from random NPCs in town, as opposed to having arcane requirements just to get on the sidequest. I think I only barely made 90 sub-events in Xillia 1. I was really scraping by at the end. I don't know if I missed any accessories or anything though and that sort of bugs me.  I guess it doesn't matter since I'm completely done with X1 now, so hopefully X2 will make things less painful.You should probably point out what Costumes the CE DLC entails though, and that its not going to be available to people who didn't buy the CE because Namco's a bunch of stupids.
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Aug 19, 2014 05:23
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Reposting from the main Tales thread, did anyone want to do a PSN share for this?
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Aug 19, 2014 05:57
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I'll probably buy the game tomorrow, is there anything that's required knowing before I go in? Attachments are super important, but I can live with missing a few of those, but I don't want to miss anything substantial. I don't want a repeat of missing Pascal's first Mystic Arte for 90% of the game.
Momomo fucked around with this message at 06:14 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 06:02
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Momomo posted:I'll probably buy the game tomorrow, is there anything that's required knowing before I go in? Attachments are super important, but I can live with missing a few of those, but I don't want to miss anything substantial. I don't want a repeat of missing Pascal's first Mystic Arte for 90$ of the game. Her third level one is her Efreet one, right? That was the first one I got when I played Graces the first time. I completely missed that road that leads from Barona to Gralesyde for like half the game and never went back until late because Backtracking was a major pain in that game.
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Aug 19, 2014 06:12
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For people playing this know that Rideaux is quite possibly the biggest rear end in a top hat in the series.
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Aug 19, 2014 06:36
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RMZXAnarchy posted:Her third level one is her Efreet one, right? Yeah, I didn't get Pascal's first one until one of her later titles which is supposed to just upgrade it, so I was wondering why I got her second one first. Then I followed a guide for my NG+ and went 'oooh...'
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Aug 19, 2014 07:04
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Any idea what time this will go up on the Playstation Store?
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Aug 19, 2014 07:44
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Is there anything to be gained by having a savefile from the first game? If so, does it have to be a clear save or would a regular donation one suffice?
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Aug 19, 2014 08:09
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Endorph posted:Well, Xillia's sidequest structure made it pretty hard to miss stuff. Like yeah, stuff was time-locked, but so long as you made any effort towards getting everything, you'd, well, get everything. There was some that had no indication you'd even missed them, or that they were available period though. Like the entire chain on Jude's route that involves talking to one random unmarked NPC right at the start of the game, but only after a specific point. Before then, he just says generic NPC dialogue. There's no skit to indicate there might be something there. There's no incidental dialogue. There's nothing at all. If you run everywhere at every opportunity and talk to everyone at the same time, then, yes, you won't miss anything. But the same is true of games with silly stuff like Abyss or Vesperia.
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Aug 19, 2014 14:26
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Szurumbur posted:Is there anything to be gained by having a savefile from the first game? If so, does it have to be a clear save or would a regular donation one suffice? Xillia savefile gives you a Jude doll as an attachment, Clear data adds a Milla doll. Graces f save data gets you Sophie and Yuri dolls.
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Aug 19, 2014 16:49
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FANSean posted:Xillia savefile gives you a Jude doll as an attachment, Clear data adds a Milla doll. Graces f save data gets you Sophie and Yuri dolls. More attachments are always welcome, so that's a nice bonus. Thanks!
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Aug 19, 2014 18:24
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I would say these things about the XDR-LMBS as well: 1) Weakness chaining is sort of back. If you hit a weakness, a timer starts during which that weakness extends to further combo hits (hitting it again extends it). 2) Everyone's weapons and artes are subject to Ludger's slash/blunt/shot attribute system, which is a new part of putting together parties since enemies are often resistant to some weapon types (in addition to elemental types). In exchange, and to interact with the first part, some physical party members are given artes that are bad in themselves but let them open with an alternate weapon type, such as Jude getting a slashing drop attack. 3) Rejoice - Mystic Artes are triggered from Link Artes rather than Arcane Artes, and correspondingly, you can trigger your follower's instead. You can do it the old way in the postgame.
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Aug 19, 2014 18:29
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Jesus the CE box is huge.
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Aug 19, 2014 18:32
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Debt collecting simulator is pretty accurate.
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Aug 19, 2014 19:53
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The PSN doesn't seem to be accepting my collector's edition code.
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Aug 19, 2014 20:08
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wdarkk posted:The PSN doesn't seem to be accepting my collector's edition code. Got to wait for PSN store to update. Should be any time now. The debt idea is pretty retarded. Really, 5 million gald for the goddamn cat? Lord Ephraim fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Aug 19, 2014 |
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Aug 19, 2014 20:13
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I guess there's no harm in playing the game while I wait for the update.
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Aug 19, 2014 20:14
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If I think Xillia 1 has the worst Tales combat since Eternity will I like this? I don't like anything about it up to and including the orb system, links, the way overlimits work, the general feel, and how I need to have it on semi-auto in order to not jump around everywhere and miss all my attacks.
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Aug 19, 2014 21:19
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Overbite posted:If I think Xillia 1 has the worst Tales combat since Eternity will I like this? I don't like anything about it up to and including the orb system, links, the way overlimits work, the general feel, and how I need to have it on semi-auto in order to not jump around everywhere and miss all my attacks. It felt like Xillia: The Expansion to me. It is on the same engine, after all.
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Aug 19, 2014 21:35
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Overbite posted:If I think Xillia 1 has the worst Tales combat since Eternity will I like this? I don't like anything about it up to and including the orb system, links, the way overlimits work, the general feel, and how I need to have it on semi-auto in order to not jump around everywhere and miss all my attacks. No, it's got some enhancements and a very different growth scheme (I think it's worse but if you hated the Lyrial Orb I have no idea how you'll feel about it) but it's the same basic engine, same Link Artes schema, and everything. (I hope your objection to Eternia doesn't have anything to do with the Craymel Cage because the Craymel Cage system was amazing in a way that they have literally never gotten in the same paradigm to ever again.)
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Aug 19, 2014 21:35
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Caphi posted:No, it's got some enhancements and a very different growth scheme (I think it's worse but if you hated the Lyrial Orb I have no idea how you'll feel about it) but it's the same basic engine, same Link Artes schema, and everything. I just didn't like how unresponsive Eternia was, even compared to Phantasia and Destiny.
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Aug 19, 2014 21:53
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Did anyone else get this yet? I just got mine from Amazon and it doesnt have a manual, the box is completely empty except for the disc. Is that how its supposed to be? I know some games these days have super bare bones manuals now but I didnt think Japan was really on board.
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Aug 19, 2014 22:06
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KoB posted:Did anyone else get this yet? I just got mine from Amazon and it doesnt have a manual, the box is completely empty except for the disc. Is that how its supposed to be? I know some games these days have super bare bones manuals now but I didnt think Japan was really on board. I'm still waiting on the slowpokes at UPS. Just because Guaranteed by 8PM is on their thing doesn't mean you actually have to wait till 8PM to deliver, and yet they do this all the time. Xillia 1 was the same way, no manual. Inside of the box was all the safety precautions and poo poo. But X2 apparently does come with a Manual, but only in the Collector's Edition.
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Aug 19, 2014 22:09
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KoB posted:Did anyone else get this yet? I just got mine from Amazon and it doesnt have a manual, the box is completely empty except for the disc. Is that how its supposed to be? I know some games these days have super bare bones manuals now but I didnt think Japan was really on board. They excise poo poo from the localized version. The JP manual for Graces F had something like 60 pages, and the US version had 20. I don't think Xillia had a manual, either.
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Aug 19, 2014 22:12
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That's how mine was too, just the disc in the box. The game explains the controls pretty well during the opening so I guess it's all right. I like the game so far though I'm still at the very beginning. I liked Xillia 1 a lot too despite its flaws, though, so maybe my opinion on this one isn't quite as reliable.
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Aug 19, 2014 22:12
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Mine was actually there when I woke up, made me think the apocalypse had started or something. Didn't actually look inside since I didn't have time to play though.
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Aug 19, 2014 22:13
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Anime bank, please leave me alone, I don't have the money for my medical bills right now.  This is a bit too depressingly realistic for a brightly colored anime RPG.
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Aug 19, 2014 23:58
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Tales is basically me trying to figure out how hecka sick of a combo I can make at any given time. I'm currently in the middle of Xillia 1 and enjoying it, even if I'm basically ignoring the plot. Are the new character cool for hecka sick comboing?
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Aug 20, 2014 00:07
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ThePhenomenalBaby posted:Tales is basically me trying to figure out how hecka sick of a combo I can make at any given time. I'm currently in the middle of Xillia 1 and enjoying it, even if I'm basically ignoring the plot. Are the new character cool for hecka sick comboing? Yes
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Aug 20, 2014 00:35
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I have to say, I kind of like the debt system. It's sort of nice to have a freeform goal to work towards, even if it's still fairly linear.
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Aug 20, 2014 00:52
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As long as money isn't as scarce. In the first xillia, you basically had to game the system chaining together mob groups with gald drop increasing food buffs to ever be not poor.
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Aug 20, 2014 00:56
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You should have plenty of money if you're doing quests. The problem is that at every phase of the game until chapter 14 or so, you get a collections call every single time you open your wallet if you have more than a specific amount (generally the total debt installment size for that chapter). So you can pay her off to go below that amount, and then she'll call you again if you breach it again. So either you can have your wallet locked down, or you can pay off 10 gald every single time you finish a battle, visit a shop, find any money on the ground, or change areas.
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Aug 20, 2014 01:11
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It's still not up on the PlayStation Store? I thought for sure that by the time I got home from work it'd be up here, but well I guess not. Edit: There it is, guess it just popped up or something? goldjas fucked around with this message at 01:54 on Aug 20, 2014 |
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Aug 20, 2014 01:26
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I just checked the PS store and the game is listed, and reports are flooding in that the CE DLC code has just now become redeemable. The strategy guide, on the other hand... I'm not sure if Amazon got hosed over, but mine's been on status "preparing for shipment" and had "guaranteed delivery today" listed, but no signs of any packages and everyone else who ordered is reporting the same issue, or that Amazon just outright cancelled their preorder. I guess I'll wait a few days and see what happens.
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Aug 20, 2014 01:38
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Caphi posted:You should have plenty of money if you're doing quests. The problem is that at every phase of the game until chapter 14 or so, you get a collections call every single time you open your wallet if you have more than a specific amount (generally the total debt installment size for that chapter). So you can pay her off to go below that amount, and then she'll call you again if you breach it again. Why pay 10 gald? I've just been tossing a thousand or two every time I get near the limit instead and haven't had any trouble with that. It seems like paying only 10 gald is the best way to make that a problem.
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Aug 20, 2014 01:38
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xov posted:I just checked the PS store and the game is listed, and reports are flooding in that the CE DLC code has just now become redeemable. Mine was previously listed as guaranteed delivery today, but last night I got an email from Amazon saying it would be delayed and now it says guaranteed delivery by next Monday.
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Aug 20, 2014 01:42
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