I also cosplayed as her at A-Kon last year, and I was super cute! Milla is a boss-ass bitch, but my favorite character is Leia, because I feel my personality is very similar to hers. It was also really fun to play on 5x experience, so I could max out everyone’s levels and essentially blow through any bosses, so that was fun. There’s so much more to love about this game, but these are definitely my favorite elements. Strong female characters (more female protagonists, please!), pulling away from idealism in favor of realism, a complex relationship between the main antagonist and protagonist, a sympathetic villain (sympathetic villains are always hot, anyone notice that?), and a bittersweet ending where everything isn’t all wrapped up in a bow.
But I wish I’d played as Jude first.Īnyhow, since I’ve already played the game I don’t have too terribly much to say except that I love the way Tales is trying to take new directions with their games. So I understand the story a lot more, having played it with each character, and I realize that’s the point. You get more of the lore and the spirit stuff, but I missed out on some important plot that I just kind of had to hear about later but it wasn’t nearly as exciting. First of all, the first time I played, I played as Milla, which was great of course, but you don’ get to see as much of the story as her as you do with Jude. So, I just played Tales of Xillia for the second time, and I loved it so much more this time around.
Plus I was holding on to Tales of Hearts R for a week or so and was excited to start that. At that point I was like, you know, I’m at max level. Job board quests would have seemed hokey in the first game, but in a sequel they were tons of fun! I could not stop doing them until I had painstakingly run through the EX dungeon twice to complete the quests for it, then came back to find it filled back up again with monsters from other areas. Xillia 2 was everything an RPG sequel should be. Also, Elle and Rollo are the cutest damned things I have ever seen! Gah! >-<
Also, adding affinities was a huge plus for me, making it more fun to decide what dialogue options to choose and who to link with in battle. Xillia 2 may not have had as strong of a story, but due to primarily using characters from Xillia, there was a lot of history that was already established, and the continued characterization was super effective! They could have a lot more fun with the characters, and it enhanced my enjoyment. It definitely had a tighter plot, leaving no questions unanswered or confusing, and did a fantastic job of creating new characters and motivating them throughout the story. As far as story, I think Xillia is superior. Usually sequels are notorious for not being as good as the original game, and I would say that holds true in one way but is untrue in another. I maxed affinities and levels, got a bunch of trophies, unsealed everyone’s coliseum weapons, and completed the EX dungeon to get the bonus costumes. From the very first job board quests, I knew it was going to take me a while, and I loved every bit of it. So, it took me kind of a long time to complete Xillia 2, but that is because I played the everloving FUCK out of this game.