Compare Octopath Traveler 0 vs Tales of Xillia Remastered

The campaign mixes battles, side quests, NPC interactions, recruitment, exploration, town building, elite enemies, and other optional activities, giving the very long runtime plenty of different things to do.

The remaster loses some original crossover or licensed content, which contributes to the feeling that the package is less complete than it could have been.

The silent protagonist is the main immersion complaint, with conversations sometimes feeling one-sided and emotional scenes less convincing as a result.

Crisp effects and environmental audio help one reviewer feel more immersed in the world and battles.

Handheld play works well overall and the HD-2D format suits portable sessions, though one reviewer found lighting more washed out on Switch 2's handheld display.

Portable play is possible, but one detailed comparison recommends Steam Deck or ROG Ally over the Switch versions because of image quality and performance compromises.

Towns and fields benefit from small environmental touches and atmospheric scenery, though some areas can look sparse compared with the strongest HD-2D entries.

Environmental detail is a recurring weakness: fields, caves, ports, and connecting areas are often described as bare, repetitive, or low-detail. Strong color and occasional attractive locations soften the criticism but do not erase it.

Sprite animation was singled out for conveying emotion with unusual subtlety and expressiveness within the HD-2D style.

Animation quality is mixed. Combat can look fluid and energetic, but stiff cutscenes, older facial movement, and dated character animation repeatedly reveal the game's age.

Dialogue is a weak point for several reviewers, especially when long cutscenes lean on repetitive exposition or generic villain monologues.

Skits and party banter are repeatedly praised for humor, chemistry, and characterization. Repeated lines and occasional slow or awkward exchanges are the main drawbacks.

The combination of HD-2D scenery, music, and dramatic storytelling gives the adventure a strong fantasy-RPG atmosphere.

The world's mood is split between cozy, colorful charm and criticism that repetitive spaces fail to captivate. Atmosphere depends heavily on how much the art style and cast carry the environment for the player.

The blend of questing, combat, exploration, recruitment, and Wishvale upgrades creates a rewarding loop that can make long sessions pass quickly.

The main loop can be engaging when combat and progression are clicking, but repetition becomes noticeable over longer sessions.

The eight-character party and Wishvale system add meaningful twists, but several reviewers felt the broader formula remains conservative and does not reinvent the series.

The dual-protagonist structure and combat ideas are credited as meaningful innovations for the series, even though later reviewers debate how fully those ideas were realized.

More than 30 recruits offer broad tactical variety, but the roster can become unwieldy and many characters lack enough story time to feel memorable.

The party is one of the most consistently praised parts of the game. Reviewers love the colorful personalities, chemistry, distinct combat roles, and character arcs, with very few complaints about the core cast.

Early experience, money, and job-point rewards can feel stingy, with a few reviewers saying the mobile-game roots show most clearly in the slow resource flow.

The shop-leveling economy is distinctive and can make gathering materials feel purposeful, but some reviewers think universal shop inventories and donation requirements overstreamline shopping or encourage unnecessary grind.

Dialogue choices and some role-playing decisions were criticized for having little or no meaningful effect on outcomes, limiting the sense of agency.

The dual-protagonist choice sounds more consequential than it often feels. Some reviewers enjoy the different viewpoints and replay motivation, but many say Jude and Milla share too much of the same story for the choice to transform the campaign.

Dynamic camera framing gives boosted attacks extra impact while generally keeping busy eight-character battles readable.

Camera behavior remains somewhat dated, with occasional clunky movement or obstructed views in combat, though not every reviewer finds it troublesome.

Loading was praised as quick enough that moving between areas rarely interrupted the flow.

Loading is dramatically improved on faster platforms and often described as nearly instant. The base Switch version is the main outlier, where longer loads contribute to a slower overall feel.

Turn-based pacing, adjustable dialogue speed, and voiced major scenes help players follow the game at their own pace, but motion-related comfort options were called limited.

Modern convenience and accessibility additions are broadly praised, including difficulty settings, remapping, encounter toggles, subtitles, autosave, and clearer navigation. The suite is helpful rather than exhaustive, with at least one reviewer wishing for options such as colorblind modes.

Bosses often provide satisfying tactical pressure, but difficulty is uneven: several reviewers reported sudden spikes or unusually punishing encounters while other stretches felt too easy.

Several reviewers call out difficulty spikes around the middle of the game. The challenge can be managed, but the curve is not always as smooth as the otherwise approachable systems suggest.

Orsterra rewards wandering with high-level areas, recruits, NPC interactions, optional islands, treasure, and side content. Reviewers often found exploration easy to get absorbed in.

Exploration benefits from faster movement, marked objectives, treasure indicators, and optional detours, but repetitive fields and backtracking keep it from being a universal strength.

The game preserves the series' combat, HD-2D identity, and Orsterra setting while changing the eight-protagonist structure. Some fans welcomed the fresher focus; others felt it was less distinctly 'Octopath.'

The remaster is praised for faithfully preserving what worked in the original while smoothing rough edges rather than rewriting the game.

The game is widely considered beautiful, especially in motion, with strong HD-2D lighting and sprite presentation. Some reviewers saw reduced detail, washed-out lighting, or a visual step down from earlier entries in certain areas.

Sharper resolution, stronger color, and cleaner presentation make the remaster look noticeably better, especially on PS5 and PC. Reviewers still see dated models, sparse assets, and notably softer image quality on Switch.

Later fast-travel upgrades are a welcome quality-of-life benefit, opening direct travel to roads and dungeons as well as towns.

Fast travel is a useful convenience that cuts down on manual backtracking once locations have been discovered.

The opening hours drew mixed reactions. Some found the systems easy to grasp, while others thought the early game was restrictive, slow, or poor at showing how strong the later experience becomes.

Newcomers generally get a friendly entry point through clearer systems and quality-of-life changes, though the Grade Shop appearing immediately can be confusing or overly front-loaded.

Combat effects and cinematic camera flourishes add spectacle without losing the retro-styled identity, and several reviewers called the particle work striking.

Battle effects are praised for looking dramatic and lively, helping combat pop visually.

The former mobile RPG is widely regarded as successfully transformed into a premium console experience, with gacha removed, systems rebalanced, and substantial story and gameplay additions.

Most reviewers consider this the definitive or easiest modern way to play Xillia thanks to autosave, markers, faster movement, smoother performance, and bundled extras. The central criticism is ambition: several call it barebones, conservative, or essentially an upscaled port, and the absence of Xillia 2 is repeatedly lamented.

The adaptation often feels like a proper console RPG, but some reviewers still noticed mobile-origin roughness in visual fidelity, pacing, systems, or missing content.

The remaster adds welcome polish and refinement, but reviewers still see visible PS3-era rough edges. The overall presentation is cleaner without feeling rebuilt from the ground up.

Most play was described as smooth, but a few specific locations or effects caused sharp frame-rate drops, making stability good rather than flawless.

PS5 and PC are repeatedly praised for smooth, stable frame rates, often at 60 FPS or better. Switch impressions are substantially weaker, with a 30 FPS cap and dips in busier areas.

Job points, mastery skills, transferable abilities, town facilities, and a flexible protagonist give progression substantial depth and keep party experimentation rewarding across the long campaign.

The Lilium Orb progression system is widely praised for being flexible, rewarding, and constantly engaging. Reviewers like choosing stat, skill, and Arte growth instead of following a rigid path.

The enormous 80–100+ hour scale is both a selling point and a liability. Fans of sprawling JRPGs felt richly rewarded, while others thought the game overstayed its welcome or simply became exhausting.

A first run generally lands around the mid-30-hour range, which some find comfortable and others find daunting when considering a second protagonist playthrough.

Pacing is one of the most divisive areas: some appreciate the escalating long-form structure, but many found slow openings, repeated climaxes, exposition, or the enormous second half exhausting.

Pacing is a recurring concern, especially through the middle of the game where cutscenes, formulaic progression, or repeated structure can slow momentum. A few reviewers still find the overall story flow strong.

Despite the large party and layered systems, reviewers generally found the fundamentals easy to learn, with complexity building gradually as new mechanics arrive.

Combat has a learning curve, but reviewers repeatedly say it becomes intuitive with practice and rewards players who keep experimenting.

The HD-2D presentation remains a major attraction, with dramatic lighting, sprite work, and a diorama-like visual style that several reviewers regard as one of the series' defining strengths.

The colorful anime-inspired art direction has aged well and helps the game retain charm even when individual models, textures, and environments reveal their PS3 origins.

Grinding is another mixed area: some reviewers appreciated systems that reduce mandatory leveling, while others found experience, gear, or late-game preparation slow enough to interrupt the story's momentum.

Grinding is highly context-dependent. Grade Shop modifiers can dramatically reduce repetitive leveling, while achievements, trophies, shop leveling, and some midgame progression can still demand busywork.

At its best, the writing gives the villains, themes, and later arcs real weight and emotional force. Critics of the script pointed to blunt messaging, clichés, uneven characterization, and occasional shallow dialogue.

Character-focused writing is a major strength, with reviewers praising expressive interactions, themes, and emotional arcs. Even more critical takes usually reserve their complaints for familiar tropes or underdeveloped larger ideas rather than the cast writing.

Eight-character front-and-back-row battles are the clearest standout, adding flexible swaps, party synergies, and deeper weakness management to the familiar Boost-and-Break foundation. A minority found eight characters harder to manage.

Combat is the clearest strength across the reviews. Linked Artes, character swapping, fast real-time attacks, and build experimentation are repeatedly described as fluid, deep, and fun, though a few reviewers find regular encounters repetitive or simpler than other Tales entries.

Most reviewers found the game highly enjoyable despite its flaws, often citing the combat loop, experimentation, exploration, and town building as reasons the huge runtime stayed engaging.

The game is widely described as enjoyable, charming, and easy to keep playing, with combat and party chemistry doing most of the work. Even more critical reviews usually still regard the core game as fun.

When the story lands, reviewers describe powerful late-game revelations, tragedy, rebuilding themes, and memorable character moments that give the long journey a strong emotional payoff.

The cast and story land emotionally for many reviewers, with heartfelt character moments, sacrifice, and relationship arcs giving the adventure lasting warmth despite structural weaknesses.

The story earns substantial praise for its villains, escalating arcs, stronger cohesion, and ambitious late-game payoff, but reactions vary sharply on its length and consistency. Some found major stretches bland, disjointed, or overextended.

The story is generally liked for its emotional themes, political conflict, and character focus, but opinion is not unanimous. Some reviewers find it layered and gripping, while others call parts predictable, underdeveloped, or weaker than the cast.

Managing a sprawling Wishvale exposes a usability weakness: locating specific residents can require manually checking houses instead of using a direct locator.

One reviewer specifically praises the character menu as organized and easy to return to between fights.

The customizable hero provides a clearer narrative anchor, but the silent-protagonist approach is frequently criticized for reducing personality, immersion, and emotional reciprocity in important scenes.

Jude and Milla are both regarded as compelling leads, with reviewers especially responding to Milla's unusual perspective and the contrast between the two protagonists.

Moment-to-moment controls were described as smooth and responsive, helping the turn-based systems feel easy to operate.

Controls are generally responsive and flexible once learned, especially in combat, but a few reviewers still find the older control and camera conventions clunky.

Party building is highly flexible through eight-character pairings, protagonist job changes, transferable mastery skills, equipment, and ability combinations, giving experiment-minded players plenty to tune.

Build customization is a standout strength. The Lilium Orb, Artes, skills, equipment, and party-link choices let players shape characters into distinct roles without making the system inaccessible.

Voice performances are generally viewed as a major presentation strength, adding personality and emotional weight to key scenes. A few technical comments noted compressed English audio or uneven implementation.

Voice performances are mostly well received, especially the ensemble cast, but audio quality creates a persistent caveat. Milla's English delivery and compressed or muffled voice recordings are singled out more than once.

Maps, quest markers, treasure tracking, and later fast-travel conveniences make the enormous world easier to navigate and reduce unnecessary friction.

New objective, event, and treasure markers are broadly useful, but the map itself can become confusing in multi-level areas where icons overlap or elevation is awkward to read.

Environmental ambience and battle audio generally complement the visuals well, with richer soundscapes helping towns, fields, and dramatic scenes feel more immersive.

Sound design is uneven. Effects and music can be crisp and immersive, but English voice compression, muffled clips, and occasional mixing problems are repeated complaints.

Level and dungeon design improves as the adventure opens up, with later areas becoming more elaborate, though some early dungeons were criticized as basic.

Level design is one of the most consistent weak points. Reviewers repeatedly call dungeons and field areas linear, samey, or visually repetitive, even when individual locations or gimmicks work well.

Boss battles are consistently praised as tactical highlights, with changing weaknesses, special rules, dramatic presentation, and punishing attacks that reward careful planning.

Bosses are often a combat highlight and can be memorable, but their quality is uneven; some rely on inflated health, stun-heavy behavior, or disruptive armor mechanics.

Orsterra is repeatedly praised for feeling interconnected and alive, with evolving regions, NPC backstories, political threads, and consequences that carry across story arcs.

One reviewer strongly praises the way political context and skits make Rieze Maxia feel lived-in rather than merely decorative.

Switch 2 players get a slightly lower town-decoration object cap than PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, a minor platform-specific compromise.

Platform parity is a weak point. Switch and Switch 2 users do not receive the same frame-rate and visual experience available on PS5 and PC, and reviewers wanted a more capable native Switch 2 version.

The enormous amount of content, strong production values, and removal of gacha mechanics make the premium package feel worthwhile to reviewers who enjoy very long JRPGs.

Value is positive for many reviewers who see a strong JRPG and useful upgrades at a mid-range price. Others think the package asks too much for such a conservative remaster, and premium-edition value draws additional criticism.

Performance is mostly solid across the tested platforms, but reviewers reported isolated frame drops, lag spikes, brief hitches, or heavier scenes that could strain Switch 2.

Performance is strong on PS5 and PC in most reviews, with smooth play and responsive combat. Switch is the clear exception, where lower image quality, frame-rate limits, and sluggishness receive criticism.

The soundtrack is one of the strongest points of agreement, with sweeping battle themes, memorable motifs, quieter town music, and late-game compositions repeatedly singled out as exceptional.

The soundtrack is one of the most dependable audiovisual strengths, with energetic battle themes, melodic town music, and orchestral pieces repeatedly singled out for praise.

One reviewer framed the game as a retro-styled RPG made for grown-ups, reflecting approval of its more mature themes rather than a child-focused tone.

One reviewer finds enemy AI too passive, reducing the pressure and tactical demand of some fights.

Technical issues vary by platform and reviewer. Most are minor or non-game-breaking, but reported problems include subtitle behavior, audio drops, visual glitches, high-frame-rate bugs, and severe pop-in in older-source impressions.

Character growth is one of the strongest narrative qualities. Reviewers repeatedly praise the way Jude, Milla, Alvin, and the wider party evolve through personal struggles and relationships.

The class structure drew criticism where fixed roles or uneven options made some jobs feel less flexible or useful than others.

One reviewer highlights the game's co-op capability as a meaningful way to share battles with other players.

Linked companions are usually helpful and automate partner abilities smoothly, but one reviewer reports allies wasting resources or positioning poorly against tougher enemies.

One long PS5 playthrough specifically reported no crashes, supporting strong basic stability in that test.

The post-credits and true-ending material significantly expands the adventure, with tougher bosses and major story payoffs that several reviewers considered among the game's best content.

Enemy variety receives mixed feedback: some reviewers enjoy the range of encounters and memorable foes, while others feel the regular enemy pool becomes repetitive.

Facial animation still looks stiff and dated in the remaster, limiting how modern the presentation feels.

The underlying gameplay hooked the reviewer quickly, with its systems feeling immediately engaging rather than merely functional.

Clearer directional and objective information makes navigation easier to understand at a glance.

One reviewer wanted the game's interesting ideas and lore explored more deeply, finding too much of the world-building left at a surface level.

The added dash and faster traversal noticeably improve movement, making the older world quicker and more pleasant to navigate.

One retrospective view treats Xillia as an unusually distinctive step for the series, crediting it with an identity that stood out in its era.

Pausing cutscenes has a specific technical flaw in one review: resuming can cause the voice audio to drop out.

Players generally liked being able to choose quest directions, wander into dangerous regions, change jobs, and shift between combat and town work, though the main story can feel less focused as a result.

The huge roster creates many useful combat options, but character depth is a recurring sacrifice. Numerous recruits receive only brief introductions or optional chats and then fade into the background.

The skill-tree-style Lilium Orb offers meaningful build freedom and depth for most reviewers, although one critique finds parts of the progression less satisfying than they first appear.

Tutorials are consistently regarded as helpful, making layered combat mechanics understandable as they are introduced.

Upgrade systems are mixed: character and replay modifiers can be useful and flexible, but immediate Grade Shop access can undermine the intended progression and sense of earning upgrades.

NPC interactions give towns unusual texture through information gathering, recruiting, purchasing, fighting, and other Path Actions. Some found the simplified system less distinctive than earlier entries.

Bundled costumes and legacy DLC are viewed as a welcome bonus, especially when included without extra cost, although some licensed items could not return.

Two protagonists, New Game+, and Grade Shop modifiers give the game real replay potential. The tradeoff is that several reviewers feel Jude and Milla's routes overlap too heavily to justify another full-length run.

Autosave is one of the most consistently appreciated additions, reducing the risk of lost progress and making long stretches between manual saves far less stressful.

One reviewer specifically enjoyed the open map structure, side quests, and tucked-away areas, finding that they add to the sense of adventure.

Puzzle and dungeon interactions draw mixed reactions: some reviewers appreciate the occasional environmental tasks, while others criticize the game for lacking substantial traditional puzzles.

Side quests are commonly described as basic, repetitive, or fetch-heavy. A few have worthwhile narrative context, but their structure rarely matches the quality of the main cast and combat.

Wishvale rebuilding is a widely liked change of pace that meaningfully feeds back into progression, resources, and training. Its biggest limitation is that building freedom can feel shallow, restricted, or slow to fully open.

The interface is cleaner and more usable for some reviewers, while others still find portions dated or awkward, particularly settings buried too deeply in menus.