Falcom is one of the oldest-running Japanese game developers operating today. They are responsible for a lot of pioneering in the RPG genre and innovated “bump” style combat which would eventually evolve into the standard hack-and-slash method most action RPGs use to this day. Some of their innovations would eventually lead to inspiring Nintendo’s Zelda II and even Squaresoft’s Final Fantasy.
Falcom would gradually abandon their old bump combat and would continue to make sequels, remakes, and spin-offs of their games throughout the decades. Xanadu on Japanese gaming PCs in the 80s was a paradigm shift for game design and set the standard for action RPGs moving forward. Xanadu would continue to expand with the ongoing Legend of Heroes franchise which still has an ongoing subseries that has no sign of stopping.
At some point, the boys at Falcom must have seen the Persona games’ success and realized that they could apply the daily life and social link mechanics to their Xanadu series. Moving away from the medieval fantasy setting to modern-day Japan further reinforces the Persona influences but with an action RPG twist. Is this more than Falcom copying a trend? Or are they still the trailblazers whose innovations built genres? Find out in our Tokyo Xanadu eX+ review!
Tokyo Xanadu eX+
Developer: Nihon Falcom
Publisher: Aksys Games
Platforms: Windows PC, PlayStation Vita (as Tokyo Xanadu), PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch (reviewed)
Release Date: July 25, 2024 (Nintendo eShop)
Price: $49.99
Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is about Kou Tokisaka trying to live a normal Japanese high schooler life while moonlighting as an enforcer in a crew of misfits who explore a labyrinth that is a gateway for an alternate universe. Creatures known as “Greeds” spawn from this bland dungeon; they’re monsters that are functionally like The Heartless and are born from bad vibes… maybe.
Tokyo Xanadu eX+‘s story was very hard to get invested in. A lot of the rules of the plot are theoretical and the only way the game conveys information is by excessive exposition and characters talking. The storytelling in this game lacks visual flair and relents to stiffly animated characters explaining things very dryly.
The broad strokes lift a ton from the Persona games. Kou and his friends fit similar molds from the Atlus games and there is a lot of “shipping” pandering as most high school anime-themed Japanese games tend to have. There is Shio, the burly delinquent kid. Yuuki, the geeky hacker.
Then there is a bunch of interchangeable anime girls who all fit the same tired tropes; the aloof girl, the mature trad girl, and the energetic pop idol girl. In this day and age, most of these characters feel uninspired and tired.
Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is very heavily structured and follows Persona‘s daily life + social link by day and the choice of venturing into a dungeon festooned with repeating rooms and corridors.
The pacing is nowhere near as snappy or exciting as Persona; Tokyo Xanadu eX+ has much longer and more tedious writing where characters will reiterate the same information, go on tangents, or tiresome unfunny skits will drag the story to a halt.
Most of the time, none of the characters have something interesting to say and it becomes hard to fight the urge to skip everything. Even after speeding through excessive text, the story’s general idea is not that hard to grasp. The problem is that it is devoid of humanity or an emotional hook, making it impossible to care about anything.
The sterile and lifeless graphics are as cold as the story. Falcom has been using the same graphics engine for a long time and while it is perfectly serviceable, the developers seem to be more interested in producing their 3D games efficiently. As a result, Tokyo Xanadu eX+ appears to be very spare, and every character uses the same general template across most of their 3D games. At times it looks like the character models may have been recycled from some of the prior Legend of Heroes games.
The environments are very boxy and are made up of mostly straight edges and flat surfaces. Round edges and curves are hard to come by. Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is a soul-crushing game to look at. While it is true that the original version was made for the PlayStation Vita; there were PlayStation 2 games that came out over a decade prior that had more personality and style than this.
Thankfully, Falcom has preserved the panty shots of the girls. Most games today shy away from this attention to detail and will break the laws of reality and physics to prevent boys from getting a glimpse of heaven.
If you can soldier through the dull story and characters while not letting the bland world suck your life away, then you might enjoy the admittedly solid combat. If there was one aspect that Falcom cared about, it was ensuring that Kou and his friends were equipped to the teeth and could achieve some vicious combos. It still does feel like Falcom recycled a lot of the mechanics from their past action RPGs, but to be fair; it is a strong foundation.
Players can take up to three characters into a dungeon and can be switched freely. This fosters some creativity when performing combos and mixing their movesets. Each character plays uniquely; some are fast, some are slow but hit harder, and it’s on the player to find out what works best for any situation or what is more enjoyable. There are ranged attacks and foes can be susceptible to certain attacks.
The combat is not deep, but it is satisfying and reliable. Anyone who has played Ys VIII will feel right at home with its lock-on system, camera control, and playability. Thankfully, this is one piece of recycled content that fans can get behind.
Not everything about the gameplay is as reliable as the combat. Regretfully, a poor variation of the orbment system from the Trails subseries from Legend of Heroes is implemented haphazardly. Traditionally, this system is used to customize and upgrade party members so that they can acquire new abilities. It felt like a substantial change had happened when players augmented obrments.
Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is much lazier with its implementation. Often, orbments offer minor stat buffs that barely feel like they do anything. Expect to grind to upgrade these orbs to make them feel like they’re doing anything… or you can equip the absurdly overpowered DLC gear given to you when you start the game.
Some of the weapons and items you start with in this version will trivialize the entire game. The fact that people had to pay for these items at one point is also very questionable and makes me think that the developers did not have much confidence in their game.
Tokyo Xanadu eX+ does have its moments with the action between the moments while trudging through unbearably dull dungeons. The story is not going to excite anyone and for some reason, all the voice acting is front-loaded. There is almost no voice acting after the first few hours, not that it matters much because it is all in Japanese with no English VO options.
Nihon Falcom used to be a pioneer in the game industry. They revolutionized action RPGs and set the standard with awesome character art. Tokyo Xanadu eX+ feels like a fall from grace. Now Falcom copies whatever is trendy. They recycle concepts and assets and the art used in Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is utterly bland and generic. It is an unfortunate sign of the times that Falcom has resorted to these practices to keep going and stay afloat in an industry that is spiraling out of control.
Tokyo Xanadu eX+ was reviewed on a Nintendo Switch using a code provided by Aksys Games. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Tokyo Xanadu eX+ is now available for PC (via Steam), PlayStation Vita, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch.
