Two millennia ago, humans developed spyrix, a power source which absorbs spirits to supply power. In response, the spirit Maxwell gathered humans, who share a symbiotic relationship with spirits, onto an isolated land protected by a barrier; the isolated land became known as Rieze Maxia and the outer lands as Elympios. As spirits are needed to sustain nature, Maxwell waits for the day all humans on Elympios die off before dispelling the barrier. Twenty years prior to the present, an Elympion cruise ship becomes trapped in Rieze Maxia, eventually forming a terrorist group known as Exodus. Exodus works with the Elympios military to find a way to destroy the barrier. In the present era, Rieze Maxia is ruled by two countries called Rashugal and Auj Oule. While the two countries appear to live in harmony, they both initiate black operations in attempts to conquer the other in hopes of uniting Rieze Maxia as a single country. In the present, medical student Jude Mathis investigates a military research facility in order to search for his missing professor. There he witnesses a spyrix-powered weapon called the Lance of Kresnik absorb his professor. The military prep Jude as the next victim, but he is saved by Milla Maxwell, Maxwell's successor.
The field map is a realistically scaled 3D environment where the player character traverses and interacts with non-player characters, items, or mob avatars.On the field map, character interactions between the party can also be viewed in the form of a sketch story; these sketch stories are referred to as skits and consist of animated portraits and voice acting. When coming into contact with a mob avatar, the environment switches to the battle screen, a 3D representation of an area in which the player commands the characters in battles against the CPU-controlled mobs.
Tales of Xillia uses the Dual Raid Linear Motion Battle System during battles. From left to right, the bottom screen displays the Linked Artes Gauge, character portraits and status, and the link supporting character. During battle sequences, the game uses the Dual Raid Linear Motion Battle System, a variation of the Linear Motion Battle used in the Tales series. Four characters from the party are chosen to battle and characters not controlled by a player are controlled by artificial intelligence with instructions set by the players beforehand. The enemy mob's number, appearances, behavior, vary and are dependent on the mob's avatar. Both sides' objective is to deplete the other side's health points (HP) using attacks and skills. When a party member's health falls to zero, the party member faints until revived with items, by a healer, or resting at an inn on the field map; Mobs with zero HP disappear from the arena. Killing all the mobs will yield experience points, items, and allows the player to return to the field map. If all four participating party members are defeated, a game over will occur. Skill and attribute development is based on a system of orbs placed on the nodes of a hexagonal web called the Lilium Orb. When characters level up, they receive GP which can then be allocated to the orbs on the web in a uni-linear path. Each orb activated contains either a new skill or an attribute upgrade.
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