With all main characters from the first game returning, your only new additions are Gaius and Muzét, both of whom are characters from the first game as well as being the VILLAINS of the previous game. The new additions to the party this go-round are somewhat jarring, to say the least. Over time Ludger will also unlock a new combat mode akin to a Limit Break, but I won’t go into any more detail so as not to spoil it. Initiating combo attacks with your Link partner will also present as either a generic or unique attack, dependant on your weapon choice – Leia’s staff combos with your hammer, Alvin’s pistol combos with your guns, and so on. Different enemies will have different elemental and weapon type weaknesses, meaning that constantly switching between these options is your best path to a smooth victory. Added to this are Ludger’s ability to switch between three weapon types: dual daggers, hammers and pistols. There’s the usual ability to move around in three dimensions or linearly on a plane with your enemies, and the Link system returns allowing you to pair up with one of your three party members to team up on enemies and engage unique combat bonus skills. The combat system itself will be immediately familiar to any who played the first game. On the combat side, you also have a wide variety of elite monsters dropping into the world for you to hunt, which can rival some of the main campaign bosses in terms of difficulty, but pay out well in return. Completion of these offer numerous bonuses: alternate costumes, new combat skills, bonus scenes in main story segments, and cold hard cash. Between story segments you’ll also unlock ‘character chapters’, allowing you to pursue sidequests with each party member that delve further into their individual stories. These include cosmetic items for your characters as well as many used to complete the item hunt jobs, of which quite a few are exclusively available this way. You’ll also unlock a ‘Kitty Dispatch’ subquest that lets you send cats you rescue out into the world to collect items. Later on you also start receiving payments from the Spirius Corporation for investigating fractured dimensions that have started popping up since the Schism separating Elympios and Rieze Maxia was dissolved in the first game, speeding up the process.Ī lot of the new mechanics of this game spring out of the debt system, such as the aforementioned job listings. This is done through your usual battle grind and jobs posted for material collections and monster hunts. In the pursuit of Julius for answers about his presence on the train and the greater mystery of Ludger’s new powers, Ludger has to repay chunks of his debt to remove travel restrictions to the greater regions of Elympios and Rieze Maxia. At first mention this seems like a really tedious mechanic, but it honestly works pretty well.
Thankfully, the ever-friendly Spirius Corporation is happy to mend his, Jude and Elle’s wounds and lump him with a hefty ten million Gald debt to repay, setting up the game’s primary goal… Pay back that debt. Ludger comes out victorious, revealing strange new abilities – and getting himself seriously injured in the process. Unfortunately, a terrorist attack on the train forces him to partner up with Xillia 1 castmember Jude to stop them, and along the way Ludger is confronted by a shadowy version of his brother Julius who does his best to commit some fratricide. A young girl named Elle accuses him of attempted kidnapping as cover to sneak onto a train, forcing Ludger to chase after her to clear his name.
A year after the resolution of the first game, he is on his way to start his new job as a cook when things get complicated (as they often do for RPG protagonists). Tales of Xillia 2 follows an all-new protagonist in the Xillia universe, Ludger Kresnik, native of the technologically-advanced world of Elympios. With Tales of Xillia 2 hot on its heels, is there enough new stuff to draw you in? I quite enjoyed the first title’s mixture of fantasy and sci-fi, and it had without a doubt the best evolution of the Tales series’ LMBS (Linear Motion Battle System) to date. It wasn’t that long ago that the original Tales of Xillia hit English-speaking shores – you may recall Shane’s review around this time last year – so the speedy arrival of its sequel is well-appreciated.