Alternative Character Interpretation | And The Fandom Rejoiced | Awesome Bosses | Broken Base | Complete Monster | Die For Our Ship | Game Breaker | Moral Event Horizon | Narm | Player Punch | Rescued From The Scrappy Heap | Scrappy Mechanic | That One Achievement | That One Attack | That One Boss | That One Level | That One Sidequest | The Scrappy | The Woobie
- Adorkable:
- Milla's innocent lack of understanding towards normal human social graces, and her enthusiastic joy at experiencing feelings we take for granted (such as hunger) is very endearing. She's particularly excited to experience a runny nose for the first time.
- Jude has his moments. Like his awkwardness at liking Milla, him gushing over various "cool facts", and just by being so genuinely nice and honest.
- Americans Hate Tingle: Milla is a Base-Breaking Character on the Western side of the fandom for a multitude of reasons, ranging from her voice acting to claims of Character Shilling. In Japan though she's fairly well liked enough to where she made it into the top twenty in the popularity polls.
- Anticlimax Boss: The Real Maxwell in Milla's story, since her version of the fight skips past the two Hopeless Boss Fight segments to the actual winnable part, and due to the boss's huge vulnerability to the Four Great Spirits, which in her story you've had a while to get used to using. It's probably intentional though.
- Awesome Music:
- Base-Breaking Character:
- Milla is either one of the best female characters in the series and a solid example of an action girl done right, or she's hardly developed and shilled to the Nth degree.
- Alvin is either seen as a backstabbing traitor, who nearly gets off scot-free, or as a Jerkass Woobie, who's trying hard to redeem himself.
- Fans are also divided on whether Gaius is one of the best villains in the series, or way too boring and another Karma Houdini.
- Ivar is either a funny screw up with poor judgement or an annoying idiot who ends up making everything worse for everyone in a moment of Epic Fail and deserves to die.
- Captain Obvious Reveal: This game has a couple, especially for veteran Tales series players:
- Alvin has every aspect of the Obvious Judas trope written all over him. It's his reason why he's one that is the main twist.
- A larger example is the twist that Milla isn't really Maxwell, which many players figured out thanks to how often it's mentioned in-game that she is. The Un-Twist is that Milla does become Maxwell by the end of the game, rather than simply staying the way she was after the original reveal is discovered, meaning that technically, she was right all along (in that ultimately, she embodied the concept of Maxwell better than Maxwell himself did by the end, if his officially bequeathing his title to her is any implication).
- The fact that Karla Outway from the History of Auj-Oule sidequest is Gaius' sister. It's not revealed until the final part of the quest, at the very end of the game, but it's obvious to most players from the first part. And the fact she has the exact same hair and eye colour as him makes it even more obvious.
- Demonic Spiders: From the Bonus Dungeon, Megistus Mandragoras. Suffer as they proceed to petrify your whole party in the blink of an eye. Easily preventable by equipping everyone in your party with Krona Symbols, which grants immunity to all status ailments, except stun.
- Die for Our Ship: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise here.
- Disappointing Last Level: Elympios. An interesting case in that it's disappointing because it should've been so much more that just a "last level". See They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot.
- Draco in Leather Pants: Gaius. It says a lot that an overlord who nearly committed genocide (immediate or otherwise) could have so many fans.
- Ensemble Dark Horse: Driselle. Despite being a relatively minor character, her sweet and kind personality on top of her becoming almost an older sister to Elize, quickly made her someone fans wanted to see more of. Combined with her good design and being implied to have taken training lessons from Rowen, and many wanted her to join the party, especially in the sequel.
- Fake Difficulty: The Final Boss's time stopping, considering there's nothing you can do to stop it and they can use it whenever they feel like it.
- Fan Nickname: There's an NPC vendor who can be heard screaming about fresh mutton in almost every single town that you go to. He gets called "The Mutton Man"; sometimes in direct reference to The Muffin Man
, other times simply because he's, well... a man who sells mutton.
- Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Xillia has been remarkably well-received by American audiences, arguably even more than in Japan. So much that Tales of Xillia 2 had its American release announced immediately after the release of Xillia. If Tales of Symphonia is the Tales series' answer to Final Fantasy VII, then Xillia is the answer to Final Fantasy X.
- Harsher in Hindsight: All of Teepo's jabs at people like Alvin and Leia, such as calling them names and accusing Leia of being The Load, become a lot less funny when it's revealed that Teepo is a booster that speaks Elize's true thoughts.
- Ivar's constant failing? Hilarious. Ivar failing in the most epic way possible by activating the Lance of Kresnik? Not funny in the slightest.
- This victory conversation between Alvin and Rowen becomes one later in the game, when both Rowen and Alvin fall victim to Did Not Get the Girl. Later Alvin shoots Leia (a lady).Alvin: We never miss...
Rowen: Our targets!
Alvin: Especially the ladies!
- Ho Yay:
- Alvin often lays an arm across Jude's shoulders. One of his battle quotes (mockingly) laments Jude giving him said shoulder ["Ouch, the cold shoulder~"]. There is a subverted moment of this with Jude saying he wouldn't care if Maxwell had chosen a male form for himself to which Alvin asks "You swing both ways?" to which Jude only says "That's not what I meant..."
- On the Les Yay side, there's Teepo repeatedly motorboating Milla. This may not seem that much at first, but it's eventually discovered that Teepo has no mind of his own. He just voices and acts on Elize's innermost thoughts and desires, including the ones she's not consciously aware of. Teepo is also always the most enthusiastic about Milla growing bigger Bazongas...
- Hilarious in Hindsight:
- An NPC at Fenmont's medical school says he imagines Maxwell as a wrinkled old man with a beard. At the time, it's funny because that's nowhere near what Milla looks like, especially if you're familiar with Maxwell always looking like that in previous Tales games. Then you find out she isn't really Maxwell, and the real Maxwell really does look like that.
- The skit where Rowen talks about how annoying cat lovers can be becomes an unintentional Brick Joke in Xillia 2, where you meet Ms. Kitty Cat, who acts nearly exactly the way he described.
- I Knew It!: Two examples were figured out pretty easily by Tales series players:
- No one was surprised that Alvin would be the one to do all of the chronic backstabbing that usually happens in the series.
- Most people saw the reveal that Milla wasn't Maxwell coming, or at least had a feeling something like it was going to happen, mainly because 1) the fact that she is supposedly Maxwell at all seems like something that should have been a major twist in its own right and 2) it was casually revealed not long after the game was announced and discussed heavily in the game itself from the very beginning, alerting players that there had to be something more to it. It doesn't help that players who've played other games in the series with Maxwell in them will already suspect if not outright know that Milla isn't him.
- It's the Same, Now It Sucks!: While the story is supposed to overall reference the previous Tales titles' stories, implementing various aspects of them into one, fans have complained that this caused all sorts of plot twists to be too obvious and lacking the intensity they had in the previous games, claiming the story isn't well-balanced and ultimately feels like a rehash.
- Some players have accused the soundtrack to be too similar to Sakuraba's previous works, especially taking a heavy lean on Graces' music, which wasn't considered that great to begin with.
- Launcher of a Thousand Ships:
- Alvin has been paired with Leia, Elize, Jude, Milla, and Presa; and that's with the primary cast more or less.
- Jude. All three of the female party members have romantic feelings for him in canon, but in addition to that, he also gets shipped with Alvin, Gaius, and Muzet.
- Magnificent Bastard:
- Maxwell, Lord of the Spirits, masterminded the entire plot comfortably on his throne within the Temporal Crossroads. Distressed by the rapid death of spirits due to spyrix use, Maxwell cautioned the denizens of Elympios against it. When his warnings went unheeded, Maxwell created the Schism and the second world of Rieze Maxia in hopes of keeping spirits alive on the better one. When Exodus breached the schism, Maxwell created his "daughters" Muzet and Milla, fashioning the latter to draw out Exodus and fulfill his plans unsuspected. Successfully getting rid of Exodus despite twenty years of inaction without a hitch, Maxwell was open-minded enough to listen to Jude and Milla's viewpoints and changes his ways. Despite betrayal from Muzet and Gaius, Maxwell successfully holds them off while casting the heroes to Elmypios as a contingency. When agreements are made, Maxwell peacefully passes on while abdicating his title of "Lord of Spirits" to Milla to usher in a better, unified world.
- King Gaius is the leader of the Auj Oule kingdom and one of Rieze Maxia's most challenging antagonists. Aspiring to unite the world under his leadership, he addresses the complaints of his people and abolishes unnecessary lethal traditions. When Milla Maxwell presents the possibility of his ideals dying with him, Gaius only barely flinches and vows to alter the course of history. Able to adapt to any situation, he chooses to team up with the heroes in order to defeat the mysterious group Exodus. Later, Gaius exploits Muzét's unrelenting desire for a purpose and recruits her. Together, they overthrow Maxwell and attempt to save Rieze Maxia from Elympios by destroying its spyrix technology, which would force them to use a safer way to live. After being defeated in the end, Gaius is convinced to stand down and eventually travels to Elympios to better understand its people.
- Memetic Mutation: Due to that one skit, it seems that the word "BAZONGAS" are now used a lot to refer to Tales of Xillia."Teach me about Bazongas!!"
- Moe:
- Leia, Elize.
- Many a fangirl would argue that Jude is incredibly adorable as well.
- Moral Event Horizon: Go here.
- Nightmare Fuel:
- Upon finding the Professor having his mana drained, his face is gaunt and looks like it's dissolving. Then he does dissolve. Then you meet Agria.
- Jude's Heroic BSoD to end all Heroic BSODs. He just sits there completely apathetic and dead to the world for god knows how long. And then Alvin, who's completely lost it, bursts into the room, rants for a little bit, and then grabs Jude by his jacket and presses his gun to Jude's forehead, fully intending to splatter his brains all over the wall. And Jude doesn't react at all. Not a word, not a blink, not even a, "Go ahead. Do it." He truly doesn't care anymore. Seeing Jude and Alvin reduced to this is terrifying.
- Obvious Judas: The game really doesn't try to hide the fact that Alvin is the resident mole of the group.
- One-Scene Wonder:
- Tales veteran Soichiro Hoshi as an Asbel expy... whose only real purpose is to make one empowering speech before handing the B-plot off to his younger sister.
- And in the English version, it feels strange to have Keith Silverstein (who voiced, out of all Tales characters, Lambda, the main antagonist of Asbel's game) voice said expy.
- And if you're playing Milla's story his death is completley off-screen, and you only really learn about it by talking to random NPCs and visiting areas you have no business going back to.
- Rescued from the Scrappy Heap:
- Elize was disliked early in the game by many, but by the midpoint, most people swapped opinions and praised her for being one of the few young Tales of characters who actually acts her age.
- Leia likewise was seen as a generic Genki Girl at first, but the scene where she saves Jude from Alvin after Milla dies really made her stick out.
- The English dub did this for Jude among a particular subset of fans. It seems that Tsubasa Yonaga's performance as Jude was Lost on some western players, who found him whiny and annoying, while Sam Riegel's take on the character is considered a bit more mature.
- Rewatch Bonus:
- Knowing that Teepo has no will of his own and is just a voice for Elize's inner thoughts, a lot of his earlier lines make a whole lot more sense.
- Rewatching when you know that Milla really is just a human woman who was duped is a fascinating and unsettling experience. Particularly anytime she mentions her mission, 'you humans', her role as Maxwell etc.
- Rooting for the Empire: Some fans of the game side with Gaius over the party and support his actions.
- Strangled by the Red String: Jude and Milla's Official Couple status has earned some criticism for this. The game doesn't really do a lot to develop it on Milla's end, and Jude's comes across as more like he idolizes her, but the game very heavily confirms they have feelings for each other. The fact they don't verbally confirm their feelings for one another also comes across as a Last-Minute Hookup.
- Surprise Difficulty:
- In general, the game's bosses leap up in difficulty compared to the normal enemies.
- In terms of non-bosses, if you're playing Milla's story, Fort Gandala comes as a pretty big Difficulty Spike. You go from having a 5-person party to Milla fighting solo, against enemies that clearly were designed to be fought with a full party. This wouldn't be so bad if it weren't for the fact that Milla has no healing skills, and that her charged spells are nearly impossible to pull off without someone to cover her.
- They Changed It, Now It Sucks!:
- Xillia got some hatred because unlike other Tales Series games, you can't just be good at comboing and stun-locking bosses to death in one endless Spam Attack combo. You will have to block and dodge in this game. If you haven't learned from Graces, then it's a good time to learn now.
- Some are also rather annoyed over the weak SFX direction, with Overlimit lacking the traditional Most Wonderful Sound.
- The fact you need a link to go into overlimit (and thus mystic arte), possibly a case of Scrappy Mechanic. It should be noted that bosses can have all the perks of the twin system and none of the downsides, and are able to use their mystic artes without being linked.
- The link system also locks out any other player controlling the character. Expect much annoyance from accidentally linking with the wrong character and locking out your ally.
- Also, the lack of item synthesis and cooking was not received well by the fans, as many felt it took away two of the main mechanics that had been in the series since the start.
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot:
- Early on in the game Jude is branded a criminal for helping Milla. Despite this being a good way to potentially develop Jude as a character, the event is only used for comedic moments and never effects any of his interactions, not even when he returns home. Imagine Jude having to face his parents for dropping out of medical school, and being now a wanted criminal! Nope, apparently nobody in Fennmont bothered to spread information beyond the extremely poorly drawn wanted pictures.
- Elympios. It starts off with promise, especially with the first city but it's all a waste as it has four allowable locations to visit; and there's hardly a reason to go there after you get the ability to visit both worlds, save for side quests. Fortunately, the world is explored more thoroughly in the sequel.
- The booster storyline sets up a possible backstory for Elize and Wingul, as well as setting up an explanation as to how boosters work. Instead the storyline is overshadowed by Elize's backstory, with the booster plot being dropped, resulting in Wingul's backstory being All There in the Manual.
- A frequent complaint of the branching paths the choice of protagonists gives, is that while both characters are central to the plot, Jude's path gets a lot more of the plot points, while Milla's path tends to skip around. This is immediately visible from the start: Jude gets a build up as to why he shows up at the research facility, establishing who he is and why he's there. Milla just teleports there, and her reasons are explained during the exploration - something both protagonists get to see because they tie in the main plot. This leads Jude's path to feeling built up as a story, while Milla's feels like you were just dropped in the game and said game trying desperately to backfill who Milla is and why Milla's there. The game could be best summarized as "It's Milla's story but Jude sees all the plot points."
- Ugly Cute: Teepo. It's downright creepy but cute.
