Gameplay is split between exploration of towns and combat in the overworld. A character seemingly there just for flavor might end up joining your party – or trying to cut you down in a wicked boss fight. Characters and events are introduced gradually and don't immediately seem to be connected, but let things play out and they will all make sense and, most importantly, stay interesting. The story avoids the kinds of info dumps that tend to bog down JRPGs, instead doling out small plotlines that eventually intertwine into a much larger conflict. The voice acting and anime-inspired artwork are marvelous, making each vignette or cutscene a pleasure to sit back and behold. Alvin is either a scoundrel or a mischievous older brother type, not that one precludes the other. Teepo is unfazed by the fact that he's a flying, talking doll. Milla is vain about her hair and blissfully unaware that her skirt is far too short. It's in these moments you get a sense of them as people, not just fighters and magic-slingers. Hit Select when the icon quietly appears in the lower corner, and you'll be treated to a brief, usually funny, exchange between the party members. Part of what makes Tales of Xillia feel so light when compared to other JRPGs is that it tucks much of its characterization away in small skits that are optional to view. Inasmuch as trying to rescue the spirits of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water before they can be used to power a massive gun can be, anyway.%Gallery-185484% They chat, they try to get to know each other, they tell jokes, they share stories. They don't crest a hill to stare off into the distance and ponder their fate. The companions they pick up along the way are familiar RPG archetypes – the slick mercenary, the young girl who hides a great power, and so forth – but they act the way people accidentally thrust together toward a common goal probably would. They're an unlikely pair, the deity and the doctor, but their chemistry is undeniable. You play as either Milla, the physical embodiment of the Four Spirits who benefit mankind, or Jude, a young med student who makes a horrifying discovery when he unwisely tags along after Milla one night. You're on an incredibly important mission, but that's no reason to be a sourpuss about it, right? It has the same kinds of trappings you'd expect from the genre, with man's misuse of nature threatening a cataclysmic catastrophe, but it's presented with a charming lack of artifice or self importance. High drama is pretty much par for the JRPG course, which is what makes PS3 exclusive Tales of Xillia such a wonderful surprise. There's some kind of meteor, or reborn god, or a god reborn as a meteor, and the hero has amnesia/a mysterious past/a tortured soul/a tragic destiny. As a fan of Japanese role-playing games, you kind of have to get used to overwrought stories.
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