Following Tales of Xillia 2‘s confirmed Western release at Japan Expo, a summary describing the game’s story and combat mechanics have been revealed. There are also posted screenshots for the game, but they are not translated as of yet. Also, players who own saved files for Tales of Graces F and the first Tales of Xillia can get bonuses when playing Tales of Xillia 2. While the initial report was just for Europe, it was later confirmed for North America as well.
Tales of Xillia 2 is supposed to take place one year after the events from the first game. In this installment, players will assume the role of Ludger Kresnik, a culinary enthusiast who lives in with an older brother and his cat, Rollo (previously named Lulu in the Japanese version). On his way to work at the local cafeteria, Ludger will be in the middle of an accident, along with another youth named Elle Marta, thus changing their lives forever. And it’s his first day at work too!
As each Tales game is known for utilizing themes in its story, this game will base its narrative around the concept of “choice”. Players will control Ludger to make decisions that will affect how he reacts to characters and situations, and the direction of the overall narrative in the game.
But the concept behind choice does not merely end with branching story paths and making decisions, as players will also have to choose how Ludger fights in battle. In Tales of Xillia 2, Ludger will specialize in various weapons such as dual-swords, sledgehammers, and dual-firearms. They can be switched interchangeably at real time via the “Weapon Swap” mechanic, and allow for fast and strategic combat whenever running into the face of battle.
To build on the franchise’s famed real-time battle system, a new mechanic called the Cross Dual Raid Linear Motion Battle System has been developed. With this system, players can support any selectable character on the battlefield and link arte attacks together against a targeted enemy. Each ally will have different supportive traits and linked artes, thus enabling players to think about which characters to link with during each battle situation.
It sounds really interesting what the team behind the game is doing, as they are utilizing their design philosophy behind thematic storytelling to base a game’s entire design based on its particular story in making choices. Though it has been conceived to be radically different at the beginning, we’ll just have to play it ourselves and see if it’s truly a departure from the series, at least in the narrative sense.
Tales of Xillia 2 will be arriving to North America and Europe for PlayStation 3 next year under Namco Bandai’s publication. The first Tales of Xillia, also for the PS3, will be available in Western regions, starting with North America on August 6th.
