Tales of Xillia 2 is the fourteenth mothership title in the "Tales" series, a Japanese Role-Playing Game series developed by Namco Bandai Games. This game is a sequel to the original Tales of Xillia, which was released in 2011 exclusively for the PlayStation 3 in Japan, and will be released this year in August for America and Europe. The game puts the player in the role of Ludger Will Kresnik as he fights through monsters, explore dungeons, complete quests, meet characters from the previous game and travel to alternate realities in order to pay off a 20,000,000 Gald debt.

The game plays quite similar to Tales of Graces and exactly like Tales of Xillia, however, unlike any of the Tales games before Xillia, the game world is viewed with camera angle behind the main character with free camera control so you can see and interact with the environment much clearly than before. Every town, dungeon and outdoor location has something to do and you never feel like you're spending too much time doing one thing or another, if you're not exploring, you're in engaging battles, if you're not in battles, you're looking for treasure out in the open, there's a lot to do in this game.

As you pay off the 20 Million debt little by little, new areas will open up allowing Ludger and his friends to progress with their exploration as well as continue on the story, it doesn't usually take long to rack up large amounts of Gald, as battles and quests are extremely generous in the amount of Gald they reward you with, the quests are your usual "look for x amount of item y and bring it back to the quest board" and "slay x amount of y monster and report back", making a return from Tales of Vesperia are the Giganto Monsters which are essentially optional minibosses that roam the overworld, if you manage to fall one of them, you can turn the quest in and get massive reward.

The battle system is identical of that to Tales of Xillia, you control one of four party members in battle and you move left and right in a line, while pressing up or down or forward while pressing the artes button will unleash one of your artes, which are basically special moves that consumes TP, if you hold down the L2 button, you can free run around the battlefield, very much like all the modern Tales games; the Character Link system returns from Tales of Xillia too, in battle, you can link up with one of your party members who can support your every action as well unleash Link Artes with your character, the Link Artes are all very flashy and unique knowing which do what really gives you the upper hand in battle.

A slight addition to the Tales of Xillia battle system is the main character himself; Ludger can switch between three different weapon types: swords, hammer and guns on the fly, each weapon type has a different moveset and knowing which one to use on which enemy as well as when to switch makes winning battles a lot quicker, but it's fine if you don't wish to micro-manage, Ludger also has the ability to enter his "Corpse Shell" when you unlock that ability, by pressing L3 and R3 together when the gauge fills up, Ludger transforms and pulls himself and the enemies into a separate dimension where he will have infinite HP and TP as well as buffed stats and a completely different moveset, this ability is very useful against some of the tougher bosses and can be considered rather overpowered, on top of the fact that Ludger is a rather overpowered character himself without Corpse Shell, being able to use abilities of every element (sword, hammer, guns, fire, water, wind, earth, light and dark) and being extremely fast in battle too.

Another addition to the game are "Character Episodes" which are side quests that focuses on one your party members, some of these episodes are rather short and just consists of dialogue, but most of them require you to go to different areas and do battle with enemies, while in a Character Episode or a Storyline Chapter, you are typically forced to bring one or two certain party members along (You must always have Ludger in your party at all times), but outside of that, you can freely switch between your party members in town from the menu. On top of that, anyone who's not in your present party will also gain EXP so no character will ever be underpowered.

Throughout the scenes in the game, as well as the various skits you view, dialogue options may come up, prompting you to choose what Ludger will say, or do at that moment, they are chosen by pressing either L1 or R1, some of these prompts are even timed, forcing you to think quickly, there are no penalties for choosing the "wrong" thing to do, but sometimes, there are benefits for choosing the "correct" choice, whether its improving your relationship with one of the party members, or avoiding needless battle.

The Lilial Orb level-up system is absent from the first Tales of Xillia, instead, you equip E. Cores on certain characters which can teach them new artes, improve their artes and/or give them new passive abilities, and improve their elemental strength, these can be switched at any time from the menu and is rather simple to understand.

There's a fair bit of customisation in the game, especially after the disappointing amount of attachments in Tales of Graces f outside of purchasing additional content from the PSN store, each character has a wide array of costumes and hairstyles which you can change at any time, you can also add up to three attachments to any one of them, such as party hats, glasses, shades, dolls, etc. they can also be fully customised, you can place them anywhere on their body, change its direction, increase and decrease its size and even change the colour of it.



In conclusion, Tales of Xillia 2 is a very satisfying experience, it takes everything Tales of Xillia did and improves it massively, it's a JRPG with a great plot, interesting characters, fantastic music, engaging battle system, addicting progression and customisation, best of all, there are no random battles and no backtracking as the game gives you a quick-travel system almost right off the bat.

Go buy it, especially if you like Tales of Xillia or any Tales game. If you're into JRPGs but have never played a Tales game before, I recommend you try out Tales of Xillia first.

How many times did I say "party member" in this review?

I recently completed Fire Emblem: Awakening several times, hurray for importing! I'm sick of late and crappy European release dates, but I really blame Nintendo for region-locking their damn systems.

Anyway, having completed my second playthrough on Hard/Casual, I decided to select the New Game option once more and was deciding whether or not I should do a third playthrough on Lunatic difficulty, shortly after, however, I was staring at the "Classic" and "Casual" options and it got me thinking.

(For those who don't know, the Classic option has permadeath on your units, while the Casual options lets your units return to you next battle after death, and allows you to save at any time during battles).

The thing is, the option of Classic and Casual has no effect on difficulty whatsoever, that's what the actual difficulty options are there for.

What the game really asking you is "Do you want to save a lot of time?" if yes, choose Casual, if not, Classic. In Classic, you can't save during battles and when an ally dies, you're going to have to reset, and what does that waste? Time. I'm sorry, but when I'm playing a video game, I want to have fun, I want to be entertained, I hate wasting my time doing ANYTHING, that's why I also hate games with no checkpoint in between long stretches of gameplay.

I don't have a problem with people playing Classic mode in Fire Emblem if they feel that that is the "true way to enjoy Fire Emblem", but for people who think they are hardcore and want to show off by telling others that they completed Fire Emblem: Awakening on Lunatic/Classic or Lunatic+/Classic, I want to just punch you.

Just like the title said.

Games of the Year (Consoles)

#3 Dishonored (Multiplatform)
Great combination of Deus Ex and Bioshock, has fantastic stealth mechanics and addicting gameplay and a fine example of a game not needing Multiplayer to be successful. Also, known as "Bioshock Infinite Early", if Infinite does not surpass this, I will be disappointed.

#2 Far Cry 3 (Multiplatform)
What I would call a combination of Just Cause 2 and Assassin's Creed 3, huge open world, lots of optional content, fun gameplay, great characters and voice-acting and just an all-around bloody, good time.

#1 Tales of Xillia 2 (Playstation 3)
A fantastic JRPG that transcends the original in every possible way, which is what sequels are meant to do. My love for the Tales series only grows stronger at this point.

Games of the Year (Handhelds)

#3 Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward (Multiplatform)
I'm in love with the 999 story, I have not yet completed this game as of the time of writing this list, but I just love these adventure games and I'm pretty sure I'll end up falling in love with this game as well, and I'm looking forward to the third game.

#2 Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask (Nintendo 3DS)
Great entry in the Layton series, fantastic story and characters, and great use of the 3DS' features for the puzzles.

#1 Persona 4 Golden (Playstation Vita)
I put over 200 hours into this game and I'm not bored of it yet, that might say something about what I think of this masterpiece.

Honorable Mentions

Defender's Quest: Valley of the Forgotten (PC)
Guild Wars 2 (PC)
Hitman: Absolution (Multiplatform)
Layton vs. Wright (Nintendo 3DS)
New Super Mario Bros. U (Wii U)
Silent Hill: Book of Memories (Playstation Vita)
Silent Hill: Downpour (Multiplatform)
The Walking Dead: A Telltale Games Series (Multiplatform)
Torchlight II (PC)

Disappointments of the Year

Borderlands 2 (Multiplatform)
Game isn't bad, just slow and boring, and when a game is boring, it's not entertaining, which is the entire point of playing a video game; to be entertained. I was already angry by the time I reached Sanctuary, and I forced myself to reach level 23 because I really wanted to like the game. It resulted in me snapping the disc in half.

Diablo III (PC)
Blizzard took out too many choices and everything that made Diablo II fun, not to mention that I paid £40 for a game that I literally could not play for a month after my initial purchase; it's not a bad game, but it didn't turn out to be what I expected, go play Torchlight II instead.

Worst Game of 2012

Revelations 2012 (PC)
Don't play it, don't spend money on it, don't even play it for free, because you would still be spending time on it, and spending time on it is the game actively taking time off of your life, that sir, is technically murder.

Anticipations of 2013

Fire Emblem: Awakening (Nintendo 3DS)
Dead Space 3 (Multiplatform)
Bioshock Infinite (Multiplatform)
Dragon Quest VII (Nintendo 3DS)

Just as the title says, here I list off some of my favourite video game soundtracks ever.

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Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations (Noriyuki Iwadare)

Trial 2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFXb9altU74

Last Window: The Secret of Cape West (Satoshi Okubo)

Heat Up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=reJ9iwc2T1s

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES (Shoji Meguro)

The Battle for Everyone's Souls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rdMhTL5bZrs

Heartful Cry
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56f2Kt6IeZU

Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4 (Shoji Meguro)

I'll Face Myself -Battle-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_58-XYXuJMs

Silent Hill 2 (Akira Yamaoka)

Theme of Laura
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LB7LZZGpkw

True
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UDKx1Rp1yAA

Tales of the Abyss (Motoi Sakuraba)

Meaning of Birth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SHM-7qMiDs

Yakuza 4 (Hidenori Shoji)

Four Face
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vraT8yZPDc

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So, what are some of your favourite video game soundtracks, let me know in the comments!

I'm curious, how many of you has played at least two games in the "Tales of" series? I think it's a fantastic JRPG series that should be treated with equal respect and acknowledgement as Final Fantasy (the ones before X).

My first Tales game was Tales of the Abyss on the 3DS, I played it and couldn't stop, I instantly brushed Kid Icarus: Uprising aside and eventually sold it because I knew that all I would be playing was Abyss because it was that good. After completing that, I went to play Phantasia, Destiny, Eternia, Vesperia, Graces f, Innocence R, Hearts, Xillia and Xillia 2 in that order, I just wish all of them are in English.

So, my ultimate question is, which Tales games have you played, and are you looking forward to the English release of Tales of Xillia in 2013? Leave your comments below and let me know. =)

By the way, Lulu the cat reminds me a bit of Jim (No offense, I love you Jim):

I'm pretty sure one of the first things people would want to know about an avid gamer are their favourite games of all time; well, since I'm so nice, I'll provide the list below to the zero of you who care.

(Megadrive) Phantasy Star IV End of the Millennium

(Megadrive) Shining Force II

(Megadrive) Streets of Rage 2

(Megadrive) Soleil/Crusader of Centy

(SNES) Super Metroid

(SNES) The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

(GB) The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

(GBC) The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages

(GBC) The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons

(GBC) Wario Land 3

(N64) The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

(N64) Paper Mario

(PSX) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night

(PSX) Final Fantasy IX

(PSX) Silent Hill

(PS2) Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence

(PS2) Okami

(PS2) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3 FES

(PS2) Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4

(PS2) Silent Hill 2

(GBA) Advance Wars 2: Black Hole Rising

(GBA) Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow

(GBA) Golden Sun 2: The Lost Age

(GBA) Riviera: The Promised Land

(NDS) Ace Attorney: Trials and Tribulations

(NDS) Advance Wars: Dual Strike

(NDS) Advance Wars: Days of Ruin

(NDS) Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin

(NDS) Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride

(NDS) Dragon Quest VI: Realm of Revelation

(NDS) Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan

(NDS) Moero! Nekketsu Rhythm Damashii: Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan 2

(NDS) The World Ends With You

(PSP) Final Fantasy IV: The Complete Collection

(PSP) Shin Megami Tensei Persona 3 Portable

(PSP) Tactics Ogre: Let us Cling Together

(Wii) Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition

(PC) Deus Ex

(3DS) Tales of the Abyss

(360) Tales of Vesperia

(PS3) Catherine

(PS3) Dark Souls

(PS3) Tales of Xillia 2

(PS3) Yakuza 4

(VITA) Persona 4 Golden