I recently played and beat Tokyo Xanadu eX+ (what a name) and I had thoughts, mostly in terms of modern (J)RPGs, and what a AAA series like Persona can learn from a B-tier game, or rather, what I wish it could learn. This isnât a full-on, well thought review. Just some thoughts and things I just couldnât get out of my head and needed to note down somewhere. Donât expect it to be too cohesive either, I wrote it in chunks. I just figured I might as well use this ghost town of a blog to get it all out. I apologize in advance for any grammar or spelling mistakes.
I wonât be putting any spoilers, but honestly you could figure out some of the story beats pretty easily in the early parts of the game since itâs not all that complex.
Truthfully, I had not heard of the game until this year when I saw it on some JRPG lists for PS4. I was hunting for something good after I had finished Dragon Quest XI (a great, classic JRPG, by the way). I wanted something modern, with relationship building and good world-building akin to the modern Persona games. Falcom has a number of games with relationship building, mostly under their Trails series which I havenât delved into one bit, but after finishing this game and reading that it is a paler version of the Trails games, I might check them out when I have the time and see some sweet, sweet discounts. Regardless, after months of waiting and seeing this game on sale via PSN, I gave it a try. I waited until after I beat one play through of Three Houses and then fired up the olâ PS4 to give it a go.
Itâs important to note that this game is not exactly old. In fact, the version I played, the ex+ version, is the enhanced version. The original version came out on PS Vita (but no one but me and 10 others have one) but the eX+ version can be purchased for PS4 and PC. I wouldnât tell you to pay full price for this game, since itâs not exactly for everyone. If youâre looking for a Persona replacement, this wonât do it. Itâs better to go into it with the following:
Be ready for anime to happen. (Itâs very anime.)
Like I said, it isnât Persona, but the comparisons are there. Additionally, if you didnât like the social aspects of the recent Persona games, donât play this one because the gameplay and the story probably wonât be what hooks you in the same way.
Have no other games youâd rather play and are okay with reading the subs since there is no English voice acting in this game. Itâs a good game to take your time with, even if I did end up binging it.
Once youâve come to terms with these elements, you get to go on the ride of just pure anime. Donât forget to put the text on Auto mode so you donât have to click between text boxes and you can really just sit back and enjoy the show.
Iâm not even kidding when I say that, since unlike Persona this game has an even greater anime feel with the straight-forward the path is. I donât think itâs a bad thing, especially given that I have been on an anime revival kick recently, but it definitely is paced like an anime with chapters being the arcs and the side-stories being the filler episodes. Put the Epilogue as some after-credits scene or a special plus the After Story as another special, then you got yourself a full season of anime.
Much like Persona, this game takes place over a number of months and you get to see the calendar tick down as time passes. Itâs not a new concept or anything, but while I said this game isnât Persona, there are a lot of similarities that I canât overlook.
You get to walk around certain parts of your neighborhood, visit shops, etc. Itâs pretty normal but you are limited at times of where you can go.
For relationships, you use items called âAffinity Shardsâ to spend time with the main cast, but thereâs a limited number of them so you need to use them on the characters you want to use in battle the most and/or want to know more about. I only focused on a few characters since I just didnât find them all interesting enough to want to hang out with.
There are quests you can do in each chapter (each quest is pretty easy to complete) and most are noted in your Xiphone (yes, you read that right), but some are hidden and require talking to the townspeople to trigger, which is something I love to do and Iâll note that below.
The game is broke up into Chapters, Side Stories, an Epilogue for the True Ending, and the After Story (which you need to finish to get the option for a New Game+). This is nice for pacing how you play and basically resetting the tone of everything that is going on. It isnât a long game for the main game with the normal ending, but it really tacks on more for the Epilogue and the After Story.
The fighting is pretty normal for an action JRPG, with things feeling pretty easy even on normal mode. You can get by with hacking and slashing your way (it can feel fun just destroying the enemies easily and seeing your chain of hits go up) through dungeons. I didnât exactly go through the game with any sense of strategy and ended up not struggling much once I got the hang of the controls. I only really had a problem during the After Story (the last dungeon which was very pretty looking and final boss) when some of that came to bite me in the ass but I managed on the first try.
Graphics, Design, & Music
This game is not the most advanced lookingâitâs pretty clear it was meant for the Vita. The character designs are pretty standard and uninspired, but since there are a number of unique NPCs, you get to see their artwork and thatâs nice, I suppose.
The dungeon design is also pretty uninspired, just about as bland as the enemies that you fight. They arenât special, but they are passible. There are little to no puzzles and getting through the dungeons is pretty easy enough to do while watching or listening to something else. The music is generic and mutable, but it isnât grating at the very least.
As I said this game was not given English voice-acting, so we only have the text to guide us through the game. Not being literate at all in Japanese, I canât say for the accuracy of the translation, but if you can imagine quips in a B-tier anime that sometimes tries too hard to crack internet and anime jokes (âDamn, sonâ and variations of pop up multiple, unnecessary times) then you have a good idea of the way dialogue works. However, sometimes it did make me laugh with how bad it could be and how ridiculous some lines were. I took a number of screenshots of this, just for my own sake.
Itâs pretty a standard, high school boy needs to save the world with his friends who have awakened supernatural powers also kind of story. None of it is really groundbreaking, but there were some twists that surprised me. For the most part, it was an okay story, nothing more, nothing less.
The main problem I have with the game is that it has poor pacing and could do with a few more Chapters to let everything build up more. The normal endingâs feeling of urgency is pretty well done, but the path there just feels a bit lackluster, as if they didnât fully work to get the tension to that point. It wasnât earned, and that was a bit jarring when the climax occurred. The normal ending wasnât bad at all and I enjoyed it more or less.
At one point, a yakuza has a Gatling gun and it feels so out of place in the game but I appreciate that full-on ridiculous imagery so I will give that a pass. This wasnât the only time the game gave me a âwait, what?â moment but it was definitely my favorite. (A cute moment that I liked was that one character has a âstaffâ weapon and is more or less a mage character, and when they jump and do an aerial rush attack they ride the staff like a witch on a broom.)
However, I will say, the True Ending, doesnât really help the impact of the gameâs normal ending. It wasnât bad, though others will differ from my opinion, but it was okay. During the True Boss battle when the music swelled and the anime rock with lyrics kicked in, I was into it and all of the fanfare for that battle, which I canât say I felt that way for most of the game.
The After Story was better than the Epilogue/True Ending. At this point I was kind of ready to be done with the game. I probably should have taken a break, so thatâs likely more on me. For me, I found the game graphics and designs (I actually liked a few of the boss designs) to be better at this point as well, but maybe thatâs because it was a different color palette. The After Story is more or less the True-True Ending.
There were definite openings to continue the story (they made it clear they want to with the After Story) since and to give more context to the story itself if they ever wanted to make this a series of sorts. It wasnâtâ too bad toward the end, as I said, it just needs more resources (probably more time, money, etc.) to be put into it to really see it realized.
No, but you can talk to dogs, cats, and pigeons.
The Characters & Relationships
As you can see, this game has a lot of negatives, but this is where I think the game actually shines.
Your protagonist and main character is Kou (which Iâll just refer to as âyouâ interchangeably), a guy who works a lot of jobs. Conveniently, your parents are out of town for work for about a year. They arenât ever mentioned, so like Persona they basically donât exist. Hell, you donât even have a guardian. Kouâs personality is already set, so heâs not a blank slate MC.
You meet a mysterious, attractive girl named Asuka who recently transferred to your school and when you come across her in danger, the main supernatural part kicks in.
Then you have your childhood best friend who is a girl who, if you donât spend time with her to get to know her (I found her boring, so I didnât), seems to only exist for the sake of loving the protagonist. Not uncommon, but the clichĂ©s of characters donât end there! You have your goofy best-friend who hit on your pretty-boy friend when he first transferred, your hacker, your big-boobed student body president, your Chie stand-in, your tough guy (who has a past with the student body president that isnât romantic but was a bonding experience, the usual), etc. The main characters are pretty boring and standard in their tropes (including the homophobic classic of portraying a gay man as a sexual predator who hits on everyone, including high schoolers), but the most important character is Rion, the idol who is also in your grade and is my absolute favorite and Iâm not biased or anything. Thatâs just the way the cookie crumbles. (Other contenders: Ayato the NPC, hot teacher, the pigeons).
Thereâs no dating aspect to this game, but like I said you can use your limited Affinity Shards to spend time with members of the main cast. This helps both you and any party member get boosts.
While I found the main cast kind of boring for the most part, itâs the characters that fill up the world that I found the most fascinating.
Most of the NPCs in the game are given names, storylines, relationships, and personalities. This is where the game, for me, anyway, outshines the NPCs of Persona. Itâs kind of the basis of why Iâm writing currently. The NPCs bring so much more life to the game and I felt considerably more attached to the residents of the place I was trying to save. It helps motivate you when you know who is related to who, etc. when it comes to saving the world. As the game progresses and you speak with the named NPCs, learn more about them from others, etc. your Xiphoneâs âFriendâ list fills with little entries of the NPCâs character background and their development. Itâs really neat to see the whole list fill up and entries pop up. Of course, there are opportunities to not fill them all out, especially in with those characters that you need to spend time with by using an Affinity Shard as well as their associates. (I do have a bone to pick with this thoughâone time it kind of spoiled something for me before it was revealed in the story. The game spoiled itself).
Toward the end before the final fight(s) I went to explore the city and got cut-scenes I wouldnât have had of my main cast. Thereâs actually way more flavor-text than I think one would expect from this kind of B-tier game. Even in the middle of each chapter as a day goes by the NPCs will have somethings new to say. This is where I ended up hung up on taking time in the game, as I wanted to speak to everyone to see what was happening and who had what to say.
The events that happen during side-quests and spending time with your friends are sometimes shown/brought in the world around you and the main story.
Somehow, this game that definitely needed more resources in its production to flesh it out was able to better acquaint me with and have me interested in the NPCs of the city. Half the time in Persona, Iâll find that I donât really care about the people Iâm saving in the world because thereâs no connection to them outside of the main cast and a few stragglers. However, this game, with all of its faults (and there are many), managed to get me to hope that X character makes up with Y character, or that Z character finally asks out A character. Often the characters have new things to say and interactions with your party members, and you learn a bit more about the dynamics of your main cast outside of life revolving around you. There was a world outside of you and your internal conflict that made everything about the limited space you were forced into much bigger and more fun to explore. Even in the Epilogue and After Story I was learning things about the NPCs and that was satisfying. The world around the cast moves on, and it never really felt that way with some larger, more hyped games Iâve played.
I was iffy on Persona 5 compared to 3 and 4 for a variety of reasons, but I think if I felt more connected to the city (despite the theme of being an outcast, I should have learned more about the citizens) I wouldnât have had some of the gripes I had and felt more invested. Maybe Iâm just getting older, but Iâve come to appreciate multiple forms of storytelling mediums, and video games have the opportunity to really fill out the worlds they create.
If this game had more resources, I could see it being a much better game that would get some following behind it. Really, this game could have been a 13-16 episode anime series with how it was set up. This game could have been a contender against Persona and how it drew people into modern JPRGs, but unfortunately it does fall flat in many of the aspects in which Persona excels. While Tokyo Xanadu eX+ does earn the overall rank of B-tier, it can really put up a fight in some categories and was a fairly enjoyable experience otherwise. If it became a series of its own, Iâd probably buy it to see what they do with something new. If I come out of it with another âyeah, that was alrightâ then Iâll be happy.
Now, Iâm going to have a nice little video game break of sorts before going back to Dragon Quest XI⊠but this time on the Switch.
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