![]() It was good to see events from different perspectives, and it’s a nice touch for Tokyo Xanadu to explore the relationships other characters have with each other, rather than everything always revolving around the protagonist. These excursions slow down a story that already has a tendency to spin its wheels, but despite the initial frustration of halting the main narrative I ended up enjoying these. The plot twists slowly unravel through Tokyo Xanadu’s chapter-based narrative, and whilst some admittedly took me by surprise, without disclosing spoilers these revelations were a bit of a mixed bag in their execution.Ĭhapters are broken up by side stories, usually taking place from another party member’s point of view. The concept of high schoolers using special powers in a secret dimension is hardly new territory for JRPG players, but Tokyo Xanadu eX+ tries to keep us guessing with a few mysteries such as the identity of a secretive individual called the White Shroud, who has a propensity for standing on rooftops at night muttering things that sound important. Unlike Persona, these stats don’t particularly affect general gameplay and rank boosts from each stat only bestow items, courtesy of Kou’s hard-to-please grandad. Wisdom increases with things such as correct dialogue choices and reading books. Virtue is improved by completing optional quests, whereas courage boosts are earned by clearing Eclipse dungeons with high ranks. He even has three Persona-esque social stats which are bettered throughout the passing days and months, clocked on the in-game calendar. Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is set on the outskirts of a fictionalised version of Japan’s capital, and includes regular slice of life events where Kou can bond with party members. Meanwhile, unlike Cold Steel’s turn-based battle system, Tokyo Xanadu eX+ draws inspiration from Falcom’s other popular RPG name, the action-based Ys series.Īnyone who’s played a Persona game will also find many similarities. For the uninitiated, this means a passable visual performance that does the job without coming anywhere near the boundaries of the PS4. The graphical style is almost identical, from its interface to the environment and character models (there’s even a character called Towa, identical to the Cold Steel fan favourite). The plot is set against the backdrop of Tokyo suffering a devastating earthquake ten years ago, which took thousands of lives and had a profound direct effect on each individual cast member.įans of Falcom’s Trails of Cold Steel series will immediately feel at home. The Eclipse can only be perceived by ‘wielders’ such as our heroes, who have awoken to powers and can summon bespoke weapons with the ability to take down the Greeds. Evil creatures called Greeds prowl the Eclipse, fuelled by negative human emotions and often breaking through into reality when someone suffers great emotional turmoil. A chance encounter with mysterious female lead Asuka Hiiragi introduces him to the dangerous alternate dimension known as the Eclipse. ![]() It follows Kou Tokisaka, a workaholic high school kid whose snarky attitude and emo hairstyle aren’t enough to stop him diving head-first into anyone else’s problem at the drop of a hat. Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is an enhanced PS4 version of a PS Vita release, adding some additional gameplay features and an extra chapter. Tokyo Xanadu eX+ doesn’t quite revive the series with a home run, but there is enough promise here to suggest the name may not lay dormant for so long again. More recently, Falcom have enjoyed enough RPG success with other properties that they’ve dusted off Xanadu and given it another shot in the modern era. ![]() Granted, there was a release in 2005 named Xanadu Next, but this effort hardly penetrated the mainstream given it was release on the obsolete Nokia N-Gage. You’d also be forgiven for missing them altogether as the majority were released in the 80s and 90s on obscure Japanese gaming computers. You’d be forgiven for never hearing of the Xanadu series before, so it may surprise you to learn there are a plethora of titles bearing its name. ![]()
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