Tales of Xillia

[Annubis]

I think the game offsets the low amount of outfits with a ton of attachment. I'm kind of OK with that I guess.
(sunglasses + bed hair on the butler ftw)

[Klutz64]

I don't know how you guys do it. I've been mostly playing this and I haven't even finished chapter 1. I'm never going to get through my backlog.

[Agent D.]

I don't know how you guys do it. I've been mostly playing this and I haven't even finished chapter 1. I'm never going to get through my backlog.

I'm about to head to fort gandala, if that says anything.

[Tomara]

In my case it's a combination of reviewer powers (got my copy like nearly three weeks ago) and not having much work as a freelancer right now.

Anyway, the second half of a new game+ playthrough is fun on unknown! I've got awesome stats (powered up demon weapons, yay!) but so does the enemy. It's not exactly difficult (yet?), but I'm putting every bit of the battlesystem to good use and I'm having fun. I'm also glad I focused on elemental defences instead of just buying the most expensive stuff. Seeing Milla absord a fire Mystic Arte was awesome.

[Klutz64]

I don't know how you guys do it. I've been mostly playing this and I haven't even finished chapter 1. I'm never going to get through my backlog.

I'm about to head to fort gandala, if that says anything.

Exactly the point I'm at, actually. Makes me feel a bit better.

[Agent D.]

I don't know how you guys do it. I've been mostly playing this and I haven't even finished chapter 1. I'm never going to get through my backlog.

I'm about to head to fort gandala, if that says anything.

Exactly the point I'm at, actually. Makes me feel a bit better.

I started saturday night...

[Annubis]

I started Saturday morning and I'm like 2 dungeons later.
If it makes you feel better, you are creeping towards the end of chapter 1.

Speaking of chapters, I really REALLY like that in the quest/side-event tracker, they tell you precisely until which chapter you can do a quest.
That way, you know if you can leave one for later or if you need to do it now.

[Klutz64]

What can I say, I'm just really really slow at playing games.

[(Tunnels)]

What can I say, I'm just really really slow at playing games.

You're not alone. I'm still in the first area.

This game is fucking stylish. I love love love love the look of the menu, with that tree silhouette and that soft pink glow.

[Tsi Aileron]

Hah, I've been kind of playing it nonstop since I know when FFXIV comes out I won't be playing anything else! Working on some more titles before I start my NG+ play through, though.

I think the game offsets the low amount of outfits with a ton of attachment. I'm kind of OK with that I guess.
(sunglasses + bed hair on the butler ftw)

It's kind of annoying since they finally separate everything to customize with and then only have 4 costumes that can be attained in game. :/

[Dice]

As a self-identified Tales fan, anyone else kinda 'meh' on this game?

It's short, it's too easy, and there's a lot of treading old territory.  Ah well, it's still fun, but I can't help but really see that the title was rushed and certainly how the other titles really stood out by comparison.  Also, since when did Tales games make their dungeons so boring?  Literally it's Point A-to-B these days.  Tales of Symphonia's could sometimes be a pain in the ass, but at least the puzzles and tasks inside them gave you something to do other than fighting.

Alvin still kinda of annoys me with his "will he/won't he" game that he plays with the party, but his character is still quite strong (his plot just poorly paced/written).

I wish they changed "Long Dau" to something more English-based since it's odd to go from English to something really, really Asian sounding.  I'd have opted for pig Latin, normal Latin, or cockney English, or the weirder territorial version of English spoken in Scotland.
...No, I'm not being serious here.

I'm really paraphrasing here, but I loved the 'Long Dau dictionary' event....
Rowen: I picked up some of the language here and there, but not enough to make a sentence of it
Alvin: Let's help jolt your memory... how do you say 'roaring mad with passion'?
Rowen: ...

[Annubis]

I've stopped upgrading the shops and I'm basically walking around with crap gear.
The normal encounters are still piss easy on hard, but at least the last boss I fought gave me a pretty hard time.

I've gotten used to dealing with endless swarms of minions because half the boss, at the point I'm at, summoned minions.
What's up with that?

Dice - I won't complain about the dungeons because up to now, it's still better than Graces F (not that that was hard to beat)

[Dice]

I've stopped upgrading the shops and I'm basically walking around with crap gear.
The normal encounters are still piss easy on hard, but at least the last boss I fought gave me a pretty hard time.

I've gotten used to dealing with endless swarms of minions because half the boss, at the point I'm at, summoned minions.
What's up with that?

Dice - I won't complain about the dungeons because up to now, it's still better than Graces F (not that that was hard to beat)

Graces f had some shit dungeons (battery-dungeon is easy to bring back) but they still took some liberties.  Nevertheless, the series has demonstrated a declining interest in doing much of anything with dungeons other than a different type of ground to tread around.  In general I feel like a lot of games are taking a route that focuses more on large-scale exploration than doing anything of interest.

I don't really care for equipment in the game either; I feel that levelling up within the sphere grid Lulium Orb and performing Linked Artes (because they're really overpowered) is plenty enough half the time.

I'm also waiting for good accessories, but this seems to be an exercise in tedium.  wtf is up with accesories that cancel status effects *only* half the time and or raise strength by a measly 10% and why would I want to waste money on them?

[Klutz64]

I've pretty much surrendered myself to the fate that all my favorite RPG series' are slowly devolving into just a long sequence of barely challenging fights to tell a less-than-inspired story.

[PrismFlux]

Being something of a hardcore difficulty type person myself. Here's what I've been doing:

1.) Hardest difficulty (obvious)
2.) No consumables (this is every game I play)
3.) Starting equipment for everyone
4.) No Link Artes

It's fairly challenging at times, especially the bosses. I've gotten game over once, and that was when I encountered the "weapon beast" in the old mines. But there's been some close calls.