This review contains spoilers
While it sounds crazy enough to write a review about a game thats not even OUT LMAO. I why I can 100% confirm that this game will be my favourite game ever when it releases.
Tales Of Arise from a series I'm genuinely not that familiar with. beside playing Tales Of Vesperia on the 360 10 years ago. Having played a few hours of Tales Of Abyss on the 3DS and having watched like 7 episodes of Tales Of Zesteria and then dropping it out of boredom. You would genuinely be insane from a series where your intertest was never fully captured nor grasped to have the latest entry be your FAVOURITE GAME EVER?! Well here I will try to concretely enough explain my "My insanity" or for some of you guys "Stupidity" I'm assuming.
I found out about Tales Of Arise pretty late actually the game was revealed at E3 in 2019. I accidentally stumbled upon the game in march pure on whim. I was watching videos about JRPGs and I saw the games Trailer in my recommendations. I didn't even wanna click on the trailer nor did I want it to play YouTube Autoplayed it for me when I went to the toilet lol... but when I came back I was like "fuck it why not" and pressed replay and my mind was blown away... to most it's a standard trailer nothing outstanding or experimental enough for someone to lose their shit over it but man... I WAS IN. From the SFX of Shionne her heel the silent build up and the narrator to the strong fantasy athmosphere but with a striking distinct visual style. It reminded so much of every favourite Fantasy series I love and it happens so rarely that I ever have such a strong sense of nostolgia from past of something in the present that I have no strong knowledge. But from the previously mentioned things and flashy gameplay and strong and striking character designs. I just knew it was the one. The Fantasy genre is a VERY important genre to me because it helped me allot as a person throughout my life and I honestly watched allot of fantasy media but super rarely has this same feeling been matched before. I literally searched up every information about the game since and don't think I've ever been as hype for something as this game. The latest Info dump just made me even more confident in my feelings. I rewatched each trailer over 10x and watched the gameplay showcases over 10x. Did as much research as I can on the people working on it. Theorize heavy about future characters , environments and potential story beats. I genuinely have 100% trust in this game and don't think I can get dissapointed really.
So it really a case of pure feelings of nostolgia , charm and trust that makes me so sure. I know this seems goofy asf to write this but I know myself the best so I know best what my true feelings on the game will be.
( P.S I've done this before and know how my expectations work so I really cannot be dissapointed. also I will do a follow up in September on this when I play it.
Okay the follow up I already played the demo and wanted to follow up this but backloggd got scared and locked the ability to write reviews that haven't been released yet understandably 💀. Anyway
So yea coming out to yea I loved this game and it's my favourite video game of all time now I'm going to explain why.
First is just following this game was an experience harder than I expected I've been hyped for games and such but at most I had to wait a few months or I could just play it instantly after watching some videos or trailers on it. But for this game I had to wait 2 YEARS bro it was torture waiting. Constantly rewatching the trailers and seeing all the intriguing stuff , gameplay sections , environments and the characters. Reading every blog or info dump prior to release of the game in MULTIPLE LANUAGES. Like I was reading shit in Korean or Japanese using Google translate to get info about the game I was so hyped about it. Each trailer and new released stuff just got me more excited and it the more I heard about the game the more reassured I was about it being what I wanted. Which led to me playing the demo ( I touch upon that later ) and then finally the reviews of the game coming out which basically was just a last confirmation for me about the game. But just following a game for so long and looking crazy because you were hyping it up so early on with barely any footing on it just felt so rewarding which I never experienced with a game before nor do I think that is ever going to happen again. Also seeing the tales of series while me not being a person with a huge connection to the series I guess see the series get genuinely good reviews and reviewers not referring to the series as "jrpg fastfood." Or "jrpg comfort food." made me happy for my friends and the fans who have been long apart of franchise. Now about the game tho ( finally. )
First off the visual presentation of the game. I REALLLY BUT REALLLY LOVE how the game looks perfect sense of an artistic style mixed with realism. From textures of close up rocks , stones and ice where all just amazing to look at. The sense of scale it also adds by far off locations looking like a watercolor painting as some sort of highlighting it to spark curiosity and mystery for the player which happened several times for me.
Now the gameplay
• Exploration
I really loved the gameplay loop of this game. Explore looking for ingredients find a chest or find a hidden pathway that leads to a secret location. With great level and environmental design made traversing the world tons of fun. My favourite JRPG series xenoblade is where I love exploring too but the characters walking speed ( not including X ) being the same as a crippled grandma kinda put me off sometimes exploring new areas because of some backtracking I had to do. Here that wasn't present for me at all the environments where big and wide enough when it was needed but it never felt like a slog for me to get thru them.
• Combat
Probably my favourite thing about the game easily. The way it's heavy combo based , rewards the player for experimenting allot , rewards the player for going the extra mile being extra flashy WHILE also granting super flashy 1 hit finishers to satisfying kill enemies. On top of that love the break mechanic of the game. Insanely satisfying fighting an enemy and committing to a move that could potentially lead to your death but destroying their core which downs them which gives me immense pleasure for taking that risky decision. I know people don't like the lack of arte and move cancelling which I understand the dissatisfaction and frustration of it completely but in return getting that reward of labbing with certain moves and combo latter's seeing them payoff for me fully committing too it was just a great feeling that I rarely get from playing games at all. Now onto Boss Battles which I also know most people aren't a fan of either but I honestly loved them. It is a shame that the human bosses that stagger constantly which leads to a limited combo celling sadly enough. I think it would've been ideal for some type of revenge value hidden mechanic for the bosses where if you spam too move or don't punish accordingly they reach their Overlimit easier or something. Either way tho I still really enjoyed them from the presentation , to the build up , hype and the fight itself. Especially Balselph fight caught me by surprise how great of a 1st boss it was. Him being one of the bigger human bosses which makes it possible for effective use of aerial dodges that don't eliminate the usage of your aerial artes in his fights. Also the summoning spirit appearance which added allot of hype which really made me realise yea... this game is going to be something big lol. Anyway a fight like dohalim I think would've benefitted from the hidden mechanic that I mentioned earlier either tho the satisfaction I felt from double counter edging his arts and seeing him stagger because of it felt so hype to me. With also the amazing QTEs which I didn't expect to see in the game in the slightest which added another hype factor into the fights for me. The usage in strategy the bosses emphasized for me which made them all so memorable to me aswell. Me getting frustrated and cursing the game out for some fufu or cheesy shit but then changing my AI strategy, changing my arte layout and tweaking my party members art usage to fully capitalize on the bosses weaknesses. From battle going from 10min + vs 5-3min for me. Also love the battle gauge mechanic when you for example finish a battle there is this gauge that rewards you if you continously keep doing them which encouraged me to do some fights I honestly would've skipped if it wasn't for that mechanic.
• Music
Now I won't lie and say this probably the most mixed bag for me off the game. Music is one of the most important things to me and so "bad" music bothers quite allot. Which was one of the worries I had with the game since from what I heard of Sakuraba can't lie that stuff wasn't pleasing my ears and it made sense to me why I never heard praise of this series OST beside the titles go shiina worked on sadly enough. Either way tho the music in arise to me is just "good." And emphasis of just. Like the overall ost a 7/7,5 which is honestly a bit dissapointing but the reason for it isn't because I think the songs are bad but more so a lack of variety and lack of distinctiveness between the tracks. I love OSTs with choirs , vocals and that bombastic grandiose feel. ( Apocalyptic Noctis one of my favourite OSTs of all time. ) but when that is basically the whole soundtrack it loses the weight and eventually some songs come off as "white noise." To me but I'm honestly happy tho that I still love the style of the OST which led to me enjoying a good portion of the tracks overall. I'm still satisfied tho that the OST isn't BOTW or DQ11 bad to me. BOTW ambient approach to its OST I understand but it just didn't do anything for me personally. dq11 has had enough slander for the ost I'm not gonna say anything about it lol. But yea arise was more so 1 that focused on ambience rather than songs you could listen too outside the game. It did its job and enhanced the scenes & environments where tracks where played so again I'm okay with that.
• Story/Characters
May come off weird to some but I didn't expect this game story to be the greatest thing to touch fiction. I more so expected a story where its themes intrigued even tho me already being quite familiar with them already. Also wasn't expecting a xeno type of series full of insane plotwists and such more so dramatic irony where I'd have a strong idea where its leading to but wondering how it's being executed and how the game handles the theme's. I can confidently say im satisfied never did a story made me think of "slavery is as much a mental thing as it is physical." I ofcourse heard the lines such as "everyone is a slave to something." "A slave to one's desires." Blah blah those stories usually mentioned it briefly and wouldn't explore it fully or just never touch upon it again. (Which that neccasary didn't upset since the story wasn't about that theme in the first place lol would've been dope tho but probs out of place.) But yea the game asking questions such as when are you a slave and when are you your master of something. Which mainly was explored thru the protagonist of the game. Alphen being a slave "raised" in a slave camp.(wooahh insane right you didn't guess that huh ) that led him develop percussions and certain perspectives of the race of his oppressors. Where he basically was so deep in it during a conversation he basically asked "if we just commit genocide against the renas will we be truly free?" Which is ofcourse because he saw nothing but tyrany and misery from them. Seeing Alphen develop from a slave who was in the mental slave that he only could be a slave -> to a slave who started fighting because of the opportunity being presented at him in the moment because of others -> where he blindly followed them and their order's -> then being told that he should be his own master & think for himself and then finding out the answer to ending the conflict he's stuck. A slave to his percussions, a slave to the ones his follows and being a slave to the desperate need of guidance in his life. The way it's explored in the 3rd area in the game and with the main party and antagonists is probably my favourite tho. Shionne a slave to the ideal that she could only live in solitude, Kisara a slave to her dream/ideal , the people in menancia being slaves to the belief just because they get treated on "equal terms." that they aren't any different from other slaves just because they get treated fairly for their labor and the antagonists being slaves to power. I know people think the antagonists either are ass or just whatever. I think their simplistic approach fits better into the narrative and beside Vholran (Which I touch upon later.) Don't necessarily need a moral ambiguity or a some super complex motive with the root of a tragic backstory. They where victims of the elitism and social views of the renan society where power and status is everything which lead them all to be chained to the concept of Power. We see it in Balselph remove before he dies where he's genuinely shocked on why Shionne doesn't care about power and betraying renans. Ganabelt desperately clinging to ideal of him needing to be powerful for his followers on Lenegis , amahoela ( don't remember her name ) her basically being the 2nd biggest victim of it by how Dohalim discussed on how lenegis she did everything in her power to rise to the top. On top of that Vholran one who grew up in a environment where he was believed to be the one most powerful of all by triumphing , dominating , ruling and conquering all and anything. 1st display of him showing dominance towards alphen and the party by killing all the zeugles , conquering the party in that duel after you leave menacia , ruling heartlessly over the people who devoted too him and finally trying to triumph Alphen in their last fight. He was the ideal Renan Lord based on the social views that the renans preach and reinforce but in actuality being the biggest slave of all nothing but a hollow person with no ambitions of his own , convictions of his own and Ideals of his own. A Dahnan slave throughout that never got to break free from his chain and being the perfect Puppet that the renans wanted him to be. While the story has multiple messages and social commentaries but this one just stuck with me the most. When is a person a slave , when is a person his own master? How much in control are you of your ideals that they don't chain you? How do you keep being your own master throughout and never get stuck into those chains again? I never gave it much thought nor did I personally need the message but it's one I always will appreciate. Also the main cast I love them all and it's my favourite jrpg main cast. Love their conversations , banter , dynamics and relationships. Both in just how fun it is to see and how they impact the game thematically.
• Ending
2nd act of the game sadly enough goes a bit downhill in quality in my opinion more so story wise rather than gameplay for me but it didn't upset or affect me enjoyment that much where It stopped making me love the game since I still enjoyed act 2. It's just act 1 was a 10/10 and act 2 a 7/10 with a 10/10 ending so yea. Some stuff I want to address tho. The forgiveness and understanding stuff doesn't come out of nowhere as much people try to make it seem. It comes off cheesy at first and you think it doesn't make any sense conclusion wise if you only look at it from face value but Alphen character was never going to be that he just "kills" every lord. The reasons for that is at FIRST and FOREMOST helping his FELLOW SLAVES to a better future. So him aim changing from the Lords to wanting to end the cycle of hatred what him and Zephyr discussed about isn't a weird or drastic change. It's inline to what his character was leading to so stuff like wanting liberate the renans on lenegis aswell isn't weird or out of character since they are practically SLAVES mental wise too. Also the answer he was searching for on was forgiveness and understanding. Not always out of sympathy but also out of NECESSITY. He wants to end the cycle of hatred and stop the clogs that shift the conflict. Vholran is the biggest one of it. Alphen being the only person that could understand him and which led to him have such a obsession with Alphen in the 1st place is why the forgiving isn't so out of place. Also forgiving doesn't mean FORGETTING it's neccasary to move forward to a new future. The game also hammers the point of there being a limit to how much forgiveness and understanding can reach. Vholran was the nail of that point. Him killing himself was a proper conclusion and fitting narrative wise. Other stuff of act 2 tho obviously needed more breathing room and just more time overall great spirit , summoning spirits etc. Game would've benefitted from better placement of some of the exposure dumbs in act 1 or just act 2 being much longer. Stuff I liked tho that Great Renan spirit felt fear and anger which lead to Hatred. Symbolizing the end of the world's potentially being the hatred the races have for eachother. Uh the last dungeon was not as bad as I expected from the way people spoke about it I assumed I was just going to keep walking straight like FFXV later half and just fight bosses the whole time. Also only 2 being mandatory and the others avoidable or fleeable not souring my experience as much as I thought it would have. Uh stuff like Dahnas will too it being introduced early would've definitely helped maybe it was foreshadowed haven't looked thru all the cutscenes of the game tho so maybe the issue isn't as big as it now for me. Also probably me playing the last few stuff in sessions because of IRL stuff made it probably not as bad as I assumed it would lol. Uhhh loved the ending overall tho shionne finally being able to touch the party and rinwell being the 1st one making it 1st much more endearing how hateful they where early on with eachother. Stuff like seeing Dohalim play the violin again for Alphen when he talked about making a promise to him for playing it again little stuff like that also the song ofcourse and just the icing on cake. But yea despite the rough edges in act 2 I still love the game.
• Conclusion
For me something being my all time favourite just means a really positive unique experience that I can't have with anything else. Personally it doesn't need to be the greatest thing to touch humanity objectively. It doesn't need universal acclaim nor the most ambitious and thing in the world. Never did I play a game this much back to back nonstop , having fun discussing it with my friends and just a game that appeal to me in every way and shape. It being from my favourite gaming genre , type of story and themes , type of cast , type of gameplay and combat, type of art direction and just my type of game. Confidently say that is my favourite game of all time and that is not changing ever. Not a perfect game by any means but it will forever be my most memorable one.
• Extra shit
Gripes and stuff I love I wanna say in short
Beyond me how nobody talks about the lack of configuration options genuinely shocked lmao but yea hopefully the game gets a patch like scarlet nexus or so.
Lack of proper audio mixing biggest issue with the game for me didn't happen allot but when it did? sheesh
Love the character designs of each character especially Alphen. He gives off a edgy vibe. But he's just a good willed person with great characterization. Playful Rivalry with Law like them role-playing student and master during combat. His old man dynamic with Dohalim because both of them being the oldest of the party. His bickering and snarky remarks towards shionne to the point it's childish meshing well with his mature attitude. Him being a geek for weaponry and armor. His love for spicy food because he compensates it with his inability of pain and his vagabond like nature because he never had the chance to explore so much so he takes of too interesting routes and paths. I wish his personality was more of a thing in the main cutscenes of the game seeing people write him off just as "haha hero guy go brrr." comes off a bit irritating but the game treats parts of his personality as side bits which makes it understandable.
Sidequests being surprisingly worth it both content wise and also the types of sidequests. Like there are fetch quests but them being based on pairs and which leads to funny dialogue made them worth it imo. Also some really character focused Sidequests like Law getting a letter from Zephyr or the pancake one where great.
Uhh pop in issue obviously but yea we already know that lol.
Vholran being a villain that fits his purpose but most definitely still a underbaked antagonist his dynamic with Alphen could've been great the biggest miss of the game for me.
Yea I love this game thank you bandai Namco for making me a enjoy like this for the 1st time and the only time.
Still nr 1 just XBC3 kinda goated with the sauce takahashi his strongest warrior my loyalty always resided with Xeno.
Tales Of Arise from a series I'm genuinely not that familiar with. beside playing Tales Of Vesperia on the 360 10 years ago. Having played a few hours of Tales Of Abyss on the 3DS and having watched like 7 episodes of Tales Of Zesteria and then dropping it out of boredom. You would genuinely be insane from a series where your intertest was never fully captured nor grasped to have the latest entry be your FAVOURITE GAME EVER?! Well here I will try to concretely enough explain my "My insanity" or for some of you guys "Stupidity" I'm assuming.
I found out about Tales Of Arise pretty late actually the game was revealed at E3 in 2019. I accidentally stumbled upon the game in march pure on whim. I was watching videos about JRPGs and I saw the games Trailer in my recommendations. I didn't even wanna click on the trailer nor did I want it to play YouTube Autoplayed it for me when I went to the toilet lol... but when I came back I was like "fuck it why not" and pressed replay and my mind was blown away... to most it's a standard trailer nothing outstanding or experimental enough for someone to lose their shit over it but man... I WAS IN. From the SFX of Shionne her heel the silent build up and the narrator to the strong fantasy athmosphere but with a striking distinct visual style. It reminded so much of every favourite Fantasy series I love and it happens so rarely that I ever have such a strong sense of nostolgia from past of something in the present that I have no strong knowledge. But from the previously mentioned things and flashy gameplay and strong and striking character designs. I just knew it was the one. The Fantasy genre is a VERY important genre to me because it helped me allot as a person throughout my life and I honestly watched allot of fantasy media but super rarely has this same feeling been matched before. I literally searched up every information about the game since and don't think I've ever been as hype for something as this game. The latest Info dump just made me even more confident in my feelings. I rewatched each trailer over 10x and watched the gameplay showcases over 10x. Did as much research as I can on the people working on it. Theorize heavy about future characters , environments and potential story beats. I genuinely have 100% trust in this game and don't think I can get dissapointed really.
So it really a case of pure feelings of nostolgia , charm and trust that makes me so sure. I know this seems goofy asf to write this but I know myself the best so I know best what my true feelings on the game will be.
( P.S I've done this before and know how my expectations work so I really cannot be dissapointed. also I will do a follow up in September on this when I play it.
Okay the follow up I already played the demo and wanted to follow up this but backloggd got scared and locked the ability to write reviews that haven't been released yet understandably 💀. Anyway
So yea coming out to yea I loved this game and it's my favourite video game of all time now I'm going to explain why.
First is just following this game was an experience harder than I expected I've been hyped for games and such but at most I had to wait a few months or I could just play it instantly after watching some videos or trailers on it. But for this game I had to wait 2 YEARS bro it was torture waiting. Constantly rewatching the trailers and seeing all the intriguing stuff , gameplay sections , environments and the characters. Reading every blog or info dump prior to release of the game in MULTIPLE LANUAGES. Like I was reading shit in Korean or Japanese using Google translate to get info about the game I was so hyped about it. Each trailer and new released stuff just got me more excited and it the more I heard about the game the more reassured I was about it being what I wanted. Which led to me playing the demo ( I touch upon that later ) and then finally the reviews of the game coming out which basically was just a last confirmation for me about the game. But just following a game for so long and looking crazy because you were hyping it up so early on with barely any footing on it just felt so rewarding which I never experienced with a game before nor do I think that is ever going to happen again. Also seeing the tales of series while me not being a person with a huge connection to the series I guess see the series get genuinely good reviews and reviewers not referring to the series as "jrpg fastfood." Or "jrpg comfort food." made me happy for my friends and the fans who have been long apart of franchise. Now about the game tho ( finally. )
First off the visual presentation of the game. I REALLLY BUT REALLLY LOVE how the game looks perfect sense of an artistic style mixed with realism. From textures of close up rocks , stones and ice where all just amazing to look at. The sense of scale it also adds by far off locations looking like a watercolor painting as some sort of highlighting it to spark curiosity and mystery for the player which happened several times for me.
Now the gameplay
• Exploration
I really loved the gameplay loop of this game. Explore looking for ingredients find a chest or find a hidden pathway that leads to a secret location. With great level and environmental design made traversing the world tons of fun. My favourite JRPG series xenoblade is where I love exploring too but the characters walking speed ( not including X ) being the same as a crippled grandma kinda put me off sometimes exploring new areas because of some backtracking I had to do. Here that wasn't present for me at all the environments where big and wide enough when it was needed but it never felt like a slog for me to get thru them.
• Combat
Probably my favourite thing about the game easily. The way it's heavy combo based , rewards the player for experimenting allot , rewards the player for going the extra mile being extra flashy WHILE also granting super flashy 1 hit finishers to satisfying kill enemies. On top of that love the break mechanic of the game. Insanely satisfying fighting an enemy and committing to a move that could potentially lead to your death but destroying their core which downs them which gives me immense pleasure for taking that risky decision. I know people don't like the lack of arte and move cancelling which I understand the dissatisfaction and frustration of it completely but in return getting that reward of labbing with certain moves and combo latter's seeing them payoff for me fully committing too it was just a great feeling that I rarely get from playing games at all. Now onto Boss Battles which I also know most people aren't a fan of either but I honestly loved them. It is a shame that the human bosses that stagger constantly which leads to a limited combo celling sadly enough. I think it would've been ideal for some type of revenge value hidden mechanic for the bosses where if you spam too move or don't punish accordingly they reach their Overlimit easier or something. Either way tho I still really enjoyed them from the presentation , to the build up , hype and the fight itself. Especially Balselph fight caught me by surprise how great of a 1st boss it was. Him being one of the bigger human bosses which makes it possible for effective use of aerial dodges that don't eliminate the usage of your aerial artes in his fights. Also the summoning spirit appearance which added allot of hype which really made me realise yea... this game is going to be something big lol. Anyway a fight like dohalim I think would've benefitted from the hidden mechanic that I mentioned earlier either tho the satisfaction I felt from double counter edging his arts and seeing him stagger because of it felt so hype to me. With also the amazing QTEs which I didn't expect to see in the game in the slightest which added another hype factor into the fights for me. The usage in strategy the bosses emphasized for me which made them all so memorable to me aswell. Me getting frustrated and cursing the game out for some fufu or cheesy shit but then changing my AI strategy, changing my arte layout and tweaking my party members art usage to fully capitalize on the bosses weaknesses. From battle going from 10min + vs 5-3min for me. Also love the battle gauge mechanic when you for example finish a battle there is this gauge that rewards you if you continously keep doing them which encouraged me to do some fights I honestly would've skipped if it wasn't for that mechanic.
• Music
Now I won't lie and say this probably the most mixed bag for me off the game. Music is one of the most important things to me and so "bad" music bothers quite allot. Which was one of the worries I had with the game since from what I heard of Sakuraba can't lie that stuff wasn't pleasing my ears and it made sense to me why I never heard praise of this series OST beside the titles go shiina worked on sadly enough. Either way tho the music in arise to me is just "good." And emphasis of just. Like the overall ost a 7/7,5 which is honestly a bit dissapointing but the reason for it isn't because I think the songs are bad but more so a lack of variety and lack of distinctiveness between the tracks. I love OSTs with choirs , vocals and that bombastic grandiose feel. ( Apocalyptic Noctis one of my favourite OSTs of all time. ) but when that is basically the whole soundtrack it loses the weight and eventually some songs come off as "white noise." To me but I'm honestly happy tho that I still love the style of the OST which led to me enjoying a good portion of the tracks overall. I'm still satisfied tho that the OST isn't BOTW or DQ11 bad to me. BOTW ambient approach to its OST I understand but it just didn't do anything for me personally. dq11 has had enough slander for the ost I'm not gonna say anything about it lol. But yea arise was more so 1 that focused on ambience rather than songs you could listen too outside the game. It did its job and enhanced the scenes & environments where tracks where played so again I'm okay with that.
• Story/Characters
May come off weird to some but I didn't expect this game story to be the greatest thing to touch fiction. I more so expected a story where its themes intrigued even tho me already being quite familiar with them already. Also wasn't expecting a xeno type of series full of insane plotwists and such more so dramatic irony where I'd have a strong idea where its leading to but wondering how it's being executed and how the game handles the theme's. I can confidently say im satisfied never did a story made me think of "slavery is as much a mental thing as it is physical." I ofcourse heard the lines such as "everyone is a slave to something." "A slave to one's desires." Blah blah those stories usually mentioned it briefly and wouldn't explore it fully or just never touch upon it again. (Which that neccasary didn't upset since the story wasn't about that theme in the first place lol would've been dope tho but probs out of place.) But yea the game asking questions such as when are you a slave and when are you your master of something. Which mainly was explored thru the protagonist of the game. Alphen being a slave "raised" in a slave camp.(wooahh insane right you didn't guess that huh ) that led him develop percussions and certain perspectives of the race of his oppressors. Where he basically was so deep in it during a conversation he basically asked "if we just commit genocide against the renas will we be truly free?" Which is ofcourse because he saw nothing but tyrany and misery from them. Seeing Alphen develop from a slave who was in the mental slave that he only could be a slave -> to a slave who started fighting because of the opportunity being presented at him in the moment because of others -> where he blindly followed them and their order's -> then being told that he should be his own master & think for himself and then finding out the answer to ending the conflict he's stuck. A slave to his percussions, a slave to the ones his follows and being a slave to the desperate need of guidance in his life. The way it's explored in the 3rd area in the game and with the main party and antagonists is probably my favourite tho. Shionne a slave to the ideal that she could only live in solitude, Kisara a slave to her dream/ideal , the people in menancia being slaves to the belief just because they get treated on "equal terms." that they aren't any different from other slaves just because they get treated fairly for their labor and the antagonists being slaves to power. I know people think the antagonists either are ass or just whatever. I think their simplistic approach fits better into the narrative and beside Vholran (Which I touch upon later.) Don't necessarily need a moral ambiguity or a some super complex motive with the root of a tragic backstory. They where victims of the elitism and social views of the renan society where power and status is everything which lead them all to be chained to the concept of Power. We see it in Balselph remove before he dies where he's genuinely shocked on why Shionne doesn't care about power and betraying renans. Ganabelt desperately clinging to ideal of him needing to be powerful for his followers on Lenegis , amahoela ( don't remember her name ) her basically being the 2nd biggest victim of it by how Dohalim discussed on how lenegis she did everything in her power to rise to the top. On top of that Vholran one who grew up in a environment where he was believed to be the one most powerful of all by triumphing , dominating , ruling and conquering all and anything. 1st display of him showing dominance towards alphen and the party by killing all the zeugles , conquering the party in that duel after you leave menacia , ruling heartlessly over the people who devoted too him and finally trying to triumph Alphen in their last fight. He was the ideal Renan Lord based on the social views that the renans preach and reinforce but in actuality being the biggest slave of all nothing but a hollow person with no ambitions of his own , convictions of his own and Ideals of his own. A Dahnan slave throughout that never got to break free from his chain and being the perfect Puppet that the renans wanted him to be. While the story has multiple messages and social commentaries but this one just stuck with me the most. When is a person a slave , when is a person his own master? How much in control are you of your ideals that they don't chain you? How do you keep being your own master throughout and never get stuck into those chains again? I never gave it much thought nor did I personally need the message but it's one I always will appreciate. Also the main cast I love them all and it's my favourite jrpg main cast. Love their conversations , banter , dynamics and relationships. Both in just how fun it is to see and how they impact the game thematically.
• Ending
2nd act of the game sadly enough goes a bit downhill in quality in my opinion more so story wise rather than gameplay for me but it didn't upset or affect me enjoyment that much where It stopped making me love the game since I still enjoyed act 2. It's just act 1 was a 10/10 and act 2 a 7/10 with a 10/10 ending so yea. Some stuff I want to address tho. The forgiveness and understanding stuff doesn't come out of nowhere as much people try to make it seem. It comes off cheesy at first and you think it doesn't make any sense conclusion wise if you only look at it from face value but Alphen character was never going to be that he just "kills" every lord. The reasons for that is at FIRST and FOREMOST helping his FELLOW SLAVES to a better future. So him aim changing from the Lords to wanting to end the cycle of hatred what him and Zephyr discussed about isn't a weird or drastic change. It's inline to what his character was leading to so stuff like wanting liberate the renans on lenegis aswell isn't weird or out of character since they are practically SLAVES mental wise too. Also the answer he was searching for on was forgiveness and understanding. Not always out of sympathy but also out of NECESSITY. He wants to end the cycle of hatred and stop the clogs that shift the conflict. Vholran is the biggest one of it. Alphen being the only person that could understand him and which led to him have such a obsession with Alphen in the 1st place is why the forgiving isn't so out of place. Also forgiving doesn't mean FORGETTING it's neccasary to move forward to a new future. The game also hammers the point of there being a limit to how much forgiveness and understanding can reach. Vholran was the nail of that point. Him killing himself was a proper conclusion and fitting narrative wise. Other stuff of act 2 tho obviously needed more breathing room and just more time overall great spirit , summoning spirits etc. Game would've benefitted from better placement of some of the exposure dumbs in act 1 or just act 2 being much longer. Stuff I liked tho that Great Renan spirit felt fear and anger which lead to Hatred. Symbolizing the end of the world's potentially being the hatred the races have for eachother. Uh the last dungeon was not as bad as I expected from the way people spoke about it I assumed I was just going to keep walking straight like FFXV later half and just fight bosses the whole time. Also only 2 being mandatory and the others avoidable or fleeable not souring my experience as much as I thought it would have. Uh stuff like Dahnas will too it being introduced early would've definitely helped maybe it was foreshadowed haven't looked thru all the cutscenes of the game tho so maybe the issue isn't as big as it now for me. Also probably me playing the last few stuff in sessions because of IRL stuff made it probably not as bad as I assumed it would lol. Uhhh loved the ending overall tho shionne finally being able to touch the party and rinwell being the 1st one making it 1st much more endearing how hateful they where early on with eachother. Stuff like seeing Dohalim play the violin again for Alphen when he talked about making a promise to him for playing it again little stuff like that also the song ofcourse and just the icing on cake. But yea despite the rough edges in act 2 I still love the game.
• Conclusion
For me something being my all time favourite just means a really positive unique experience that I can't have with anything else. Personally it doesn't need to be the greatest thing to touch humanity objectively. It doesn't need universal acclaim nor the most ambitious and thing in the world. Never did I play a game this much back to back nonstop , having fun discussing it with my friends and just a game that appeal to me in every way and shape. It being from my favourite gaming genre , type of story and themes , type of cast , type of gameplay and combat, type of art direction and just my type of game. Confidently say that is my favourite game of all time and that is not changing ever. Not a perfect game by any means but it will forever be my most memorable one.
• Extra shit
Gripes and stuff I love I wanna say in short
Beyond me how nobody talks about the lack of configuration options genuinely shocked lmao but yea hopefully the game gets a patch like scarlet nexus or so.
Lack of proper audio mixing biggest issue with the game for me didn't happen allot but when it did? sheesh
Love the character designs of each character especially Alphen. He gives off a edgy vibe. But he's just a good willed person with great characterization. Playful Rivalry with Law like them role-playing student and master during combat. His old man dynamic with Dohalim because both of them being the oldest of the party. His bickering and snarky remarks towards shionne to the point it's childish meshing well with his mature attitude. Him being a geek for weaponry and armor. His love for spicy food because he compensates it with his inability of pain and his vagabond like nature because he never had the chance to explore so much so he takes of too interesting routes and paths. I wish his personality was more of a thing in the main cutscenes of the game seeing people write him off just as "haha hero guy go brrr." comes off a bit irritating but the game treats parts of his personality as side bits which makes it understandable.
Sidequests being surprisingly worth it both content wise and also the types of sidequests. Like there are fetch quests but them being based on pairs and which leads to funny dialogue made them worth it imo. Also some really character focused Sidequests like Law getting a letter from Zephyr or the pancake one where great.
Uhh pop in issue obviously but yea we already know that lol.
Vholran being a villain that fits his purpose but most definitely still a underbaked antagonist his dynamic with Alphen could've been great the biggest miss of the game for me.
Yea I love this game thank you bandai Namco for making me a enjoy like this for the 1st time and the only time.
Still nr 1 just XBC3 kinda goated with the sauce takahashi his strongest warrior my loyalty always resided with Xeno.
what the hell are these reviews
broke xenoblade 2
my buddy killbutt (he's the biggest tales fan in the world) told me it's the best game he's ever played. normally I wouldn't believe him (he's the biggest tales fan in the world), but he's friends with kanye west, and I really liked his work in the sopranos. so I'm inclined to agree; tales of arise is the greatest game in the
In a perfect world, Tales of would have died with Symphonia and Star Ocean would have been the franchise to survive and prosper.
No, I will NOT take my medication.
In a perfect world, Tales of would have died with Symphonia and Star Ocean would have been the franchise to survive and prosper.
No, I will NOT take my medication.
Quien me iba a decir que iba a jugar un RPG japonés en el que el tema principal son las guerras de clases. Normalmente siempre suele haber un indicio de esto en la mayorÃa de juegos de este estilo pero aquà toma completamente el centro hasta el punto de formar parte de uno de los giros de la trama. Eso júntalo al apartado visual, sonoro y jugable y el juego está bastante majo para mi. A lo mejor no lo parece por los tÃpicos tropos y japonesadas, pero el mensaje está ahÃ. Asà que quien sabe, a lo mejor inspira a la gente A LUCHAR POR EL PROLETARIADO. Fuera coñas es un buen juego con una buena combinación de RPG clásico con mentalidad actual.
I love straight people
I don't have the best track record with the Tales series. I've attempted to get into the series multiple times but the gameplay of previous titles just never clicked with me at all, feeling very awkward. I was finally able to find a Tales game i enjoyed being Tales of Berseria, a game which shifted away from Tales' familiar LMBS system and into something more traditional-feeling of an ARPG. So when i saw Tales of Arise continuing this trend, i knew i'd probably enjoy it. But what i didn't expect was an improvement to this scale.
First, let's get the elephant out of the room: the visuals. Tales has never looked this good and i guess when there's a five-year gap between this installment and the last one, it makes sense that the presentation would receive a major buff. I really have to know why there isn't a photo mode yet (maybe it'll come in an update) because this game really needs it. It looks that good. The music has also received a major buff. Motoi Sakuraba is a good composer but i've always felt his potential was being held back by doing the same style of Tales music for over 20 years. So imagine my surprise when i hear Arise's battle theme and went "oh shit, this one's actually good" and it just went from there. The quality of Arise's soundtrack is comparable to that of Sakuraba's non-Tales works, particularly the Baten Kaitos games. I mean heck, the battle theme here is just The Valedictory Elegy 2.
I mentioned the gameplay at the start of this review and it's definitely my favorite combat system in the series. Of course, that isn't saying much when the only other game in the series i've been able to enjoy is Berseria but i enjoyed it so much that going back to Berseria will be really hard for me, much like how it's really hard for me to go back to Xenoblade 1 after playing Xenoblade X and 2/Torna. In fact, i can compare the streamline-ness of this game with Xenoblade 2 a bit, what with how you use normal attacks to build up your meter so you can use artes. It's not quite as rhythmic as Xenoblade 2's combat and it's obviously just a different system altogether but i got the vibes that contributed to further enjoyment of this game's combat system. That being said, there were some quirks in the battle system that prevented it from truly being great imo. Probably my least favorite mechanic of the battle system is CP. On paper, it basically serves as a universal MP gauge for your healing and support artes. Having a universal gauge for something as simple as that doesn't sound like a good idea but what really kills it is that there's no way to recover CP at all without using items or resting at campfires or inns. This becomes especially problematic since CP is required for certain progression and i had to leave some dungeons a few times because i ran out of CP. The final dungeon was particularly bad with this, given how long it is and that meant backtracking once i got back. Besides that, i felt that the bosses were kinda weird in this game. For some reason, i almost always seemed to be underleveled when i got to it. I fought enemies regularly so it's not like i was just skipping fights. But even with equipment upgrades bosses just never really felt fun to fight for me. And speaking of equipment upgrades, the entire economy in this game is super wack. Everything costs way too much and your income is practically nothing, even with sidequests. You can't buy weapons for some reason, you have to craft them instead and considering that item drops can be stingy at times, this wasn't always reliable.
As for the narrative side of this game, i must say, i do quite like Alphen and Shionne as protagonists. They bounce off each other quite well even if they're quarreling throughout the first half of the game. Compared to other Tales protagonists, i'd say these two are my favorite because of their chemistry and you can't really have one without the other. It also helps that they stand out among the series' rather samey line of protagonists. The other party members are pretty fun too and while throughout the first game of the game, i was feeling they weren't quite as good as Berseria's cast, by the game's second half, i grew to like them enough that i wasn't so sure now about which game has the better cast. I really do appreciate that this game didn't dump all the party members onto you within the first four hours like Berseria did, instead introducing each of them in pairs. This gave them time to be fleshed out and we learned more about them before the next set of party members joined. In that sense, i do like this game's cast over Berseria's but Berseria's cast did have more fun banter so who knows. Guess i'll just be flip-flopping on this.
Story-wise, it's still a Tales game so it's nothing too special. This series isn't known for it's amazing storylines and that's fine, the plot does what it needs to do. What isn't fine though are the villains. The villains in this game honestly set a new low, i haven't seen villains this bad in a long time. I'm familiar with some of the series' storylines to know that writing good villains is a damn near impossibility for this series but at least the other games tried something. Meanwhile, all but one of Arise's villains just show up to die an hour later and the one villain that's actually a recurring threat is just a crazy edgy lunatic. There's nothing inherently wrong with villains who are evil for the hell of it but Arise's single recurring villain Volhran is just the most pathetic excuse for a villain i've ever seen. Part of why the villains suck so much is that we know nothing about them. They're barely in the plot and the story has the audacity to make us feel for them a little bit long after the damage had already been done.
Despite it's flaws tho, Tales of Arise is a good game. I would in fact call it the best Tales game,even though that doesn't mean much coming from me because i only ever actually enjoyed one other Tales game.
First, let's get the elephant out of the room: the visuals. Tales has never looked this good and i guess when there's a five-year gap between this installment and the last one, it makes sense that the presentation would receive a major buff. I really have to know why there isn't a photo mode yet (maybe it'll come in an update) because this game really needs it. It looks that good. The music has also received a major buff. Motoi Sakuraba is a good composer but i've always felt his potential was being held back by doing the same style of Tales music for over 20 years. So imagine my surprise when i hear Arise's battle theme and went "oh shit, this one's actually good" and it just went from there. The quality of Arise's soundtrack is comparable to that of Sakuraba's non-Tales works, particularly the Baten Kaitos games. I mean heck, the battle theme here is just The Valedictory Elegy 2.
I mentioned the gameplay at the start of this review and it's definitely my favorite combat system in the series. Of course, that isn't saying much when the only other game in the series i've been able to enjoy is Berseria but i enjoyed it so much that going back to Berseria will be really hard for me, much like how it's really hard for me to go back to Xenoblade 1 after playing Xenoblade X and 2/Torna. In fact, i can compare the streamline-ness of this game with Xenoblade 2 a bit, what with how you use normal attacks to build up your meter so you can use artes. It's not quite as rhythmic as Xenoblade 2's combat and it's obviously just a different system altogether but i got the vibes that contributed to further enjoyment of this game's combat system. That being said, there were some quirks in the battle system that prevented it from truly being great imo. Probably my least favorite mechanic of the battle system is CP. On paper, it basically serves as a universal MP gauge for your healing and support artes. Having a universal gauge for something as simple as that doesn't sound like a good idea but what really kills it is that there's no way to recover CP at all without using items or resting at campfires or inns. This becomes especially problematic since CP is required for certain progression and i had to leave some dungeons a few times because i ran out of CP. The final dungeon was particularly bad with this, given how long it is and that meant backtracking once i got back. Besides that, i felt that the bosses were kinda weird in this game. For some reason, i almost always seemed to be underleveled when i got to it. I fought enemies regularly so it's not like i was just skipping fights. But even with equipment upgrades bosses just never really felt fun to fight for me. And speaking of equipment upgrades, the entire economy in this game is super wack. Everything costs way too much and your income is practically nothing, even with sidequests. You can't buy weapons for some reason, you have to craft them instead and considering that item drops can be stingy at times, this wasn't always reliable.
As for the narrative side of this game, i must say, i do quite like Alphen and Shionne as protagonists. They bounce off each other quite well even if they're quarreling throughout the first half of the game. Compared to other Tales protagonists, i'd say these two are my favorite because of their chemistry and you can't really have one without the other. It also helps that they stand out among the series' rather samey line of protagonists. The other party members are pretty fun too and while throughout the first game of the game, i was feeling they weren't quite as good as Berseria's cast, by the game's second half, i grew to like them enough that i wasn't so sure now about which game has the better cast. I really do appreciate that this game didn't dump all the party members onto you within the first four hours like Berseria did, instead introducing each of them in pairs. This gave them time to be fleshed out and we learned more about them before the next set of party members joined. In that sense, i do like this game's cast over Berseria's but Berseria's cast did have more fun banter so who knows. Guess i'll just be flip-flopping on this.
Story-wise, it's still a Tales game so it's nothing too special. This series isn't known for it's amazing storylines and that's fine, the plot does what it needs to do. What isn't fine though are the villains. The villains in this game honestly set a new low, i haven't seen villains this bad in a long time. I'm familiar with some of the series' storylines to know that writing good villains is a damn near impossibility for this series but at least the other games tried something. Meanwhile, all but one of Arise's villains just show up to die an hour later and the one villain that's actually a recurring threat is just a crazy edgy lunatic. There's nothing inherently wrong with villains who are evil for the hell of it but Arise's single recurring villain Volhran is just the most pathetic excuse for a villain i've ever seen. Part of why the villains suck so much is that we know nothing about them. They're barely in the plot and the story has the audacity to make us feel for them a little bit long after the damage had already been done.
Despite it's flaws tho, Tales of Arise is a good game. I would in fact call it the best Tales game,
they finally stop making worse versions of Tales of Graces only to make boring bosses that they recolor and keep making you fight over and over. cool. anybody order the superarmor special?
full thoughts:
https://justmousestuff.wordpress.com/2022/01/02/some-tales-of-arise-gripes-or-a-very-long-winded-ramble-about-where-i-found-tales-of-arise-to-be-lacking/
full thoughts:
https://justmousestuff.wordpress.com/2022/01/02/some-tales-of-arise-gripes-or-a-very-long-winded-ramble-about-where-i-found-tales-of-arise-to-be-lacking/
kisara (retweet if u agree)
This is basically a game with a 10/10 first half and a 7/10 second half. It never exactly gets bad, but please lay off the HP sponges with no break mechanics Bamco.
I'd say the story is mostly worth though. It's good, even if the second half is rather rushed and full of info dump storytelling. The first half isn't like that at all though.
The first 30 hours or so are filled with some of the best exploration, areas, and storytelling I've seen in a Tales game though. If they could have kept that up the whole time, this would definitely be perfect.
9/21 edit: This game's post-game is actually really good and I recommend giving it a shot. The enemies aren't hit sponges, the bosses are fun, and you gain the levels required to fight them very quickly compared to the rest of the game. The Superboss is a treat. Odd thing to say but, I enjoyed the post-game more than the this game's last two story dungeons!
I'd say the story is mostly worth though. It's good, even if the second half is rather rushed and full of info dump storytelling. The first half isn't like that at all though.
The first 30 hours or so are filled with some of the best exploration, areas, and storytelling I've seen in a Tales game though. If they could have kept that up the whole time, this would definitely be perfect.
9/21 edit: This game's post-game is actually really good and I recommend giving it a shot. The enemies aren't hit sponges, the bosses are fun, and you gain the levels required to fight them very quickly compared to the rest of the game. The Superboss is a treat. Odd thing to say but, I enjoyed the post-game more than the this game's last two story dungeons!
Got past the 2nd lord and just not enjoying it at all. The writing is awful and reminiscent of recent disgaea games with its incessant need to constantly repeat certain topics over and over again. You can practically see the shallow writing process in the 2nd area where the unique thing about it is the "snake eyes" keeping an eye on everyone so every 2 minutes someone will mention the snake eyes until the section is over. The party interactions are insufferable with shionne being a completely unlikable tsundere and everyone repeatedly having the "Are you sure you want to help a renan/dahnan?" back-and-forth among other cliches. The new refined combat system is fun with its smooth animations and satisfying comboing but enemies quickly become tedious damage sponges (especially bosses) and Alphen seems to be the only character that's actually fun to play as. Visually the game looks great and is pretty much the only tales game to impress with its artstyle. The music felt as generic as the story and I really didn't dig how needlessly grandiose it could be at times. Maybe I'll get back to it sometime but at the moment I just don't feel the motivation to put up with the flaws.
This game is just like among us
Well, we've found it. It's taken scientists and game developers decades and thousands of games of toil, but here it is. The exact middle of the road.
Arise is the perfect game for namco to release in the landscape of 2021. Extremely conventional, easy to digest storytelling which is just trope after trope, put together with a level of polish that other games haven't been able to achieve(COUGH deathloop COUGH), and has enough good elements and good enough marketing to catfish the local RPG fan into thinking they're getting next final fantasy or at least the next xenobalde.
Ok maybe that's a little rude. It's a competent game. Most notably, the combat is pretty good. It's well animated, has a great flow, and making long combos with various arts and boost break moves is good fun, though its very easy to fall into the same combo patterns (Especially since launchers are so ridiculously good on the MC), and any enemies that arent bosses are particularly unchallenging. But particularly with the different party members on offer it's pretty good. It's about on the same level as the modern Ys games albeit with less in the way of challenge and variety.
It's also a very pretty game. Character models in particular are fantastic and so are effects, and adapt an anime style into very high fidelity quite well. There's particularly nice details on little things, notably character eyes and clothing that just looks really nice.
And right there, i've ran out of remarkable things to say about Tales of Arise. The story and setting are so... bland and have nothing to them, particularly in the early hours that I just glaze over. Your amnesiac protagonist works with your pink-haired tsundere waifu who has a fancy fire sword to kill some lads, each of which resides in these tiny lands with no character or theme beyond "fire world, ice world".
The only real curveball Arise throws towards being the most boring thing ever is its slavery and racism (?) angle, which could have been and maybe does turn into a complete trainwreck down the line but by the time i was tuning out mostly boiled down to mistrust and some very tame stuff so its mostly just uninteresting and conventional. Count the times someone doesn't trust someone because they're renan of dahnan or whatever and then never proceed to poke the concept any further than that.
This is excepting the one thing, which is that the slaves in the first chapter, who are ostensibly mining for materials, are actually getting legitimately harvested for their will/life essence/magic by being beaten down... or something. It's some pretty damn charged imagery I feel they go with and I'm not sure if the devs recognise this. You eventually go and kill the bad dude and the sucked up will turns into a dragon or something and tattacks both of you and then you stop the dragon made from the power of the will of the oppressed by sucking up the energy into your waifu's fire sword.
Now that could be really fucking wild (though not neccessarily good or nuanced), but the emphasis in the game is never on it and it doesnt even seem to make those connections. So when i say "you suck up the manifestation of the life energy of an opressed people into your waifu sword,", whilst that's legitimately just connecting plot points, the game seems thorougly disinterested in it and you're immedietly onto the next bad dude woo!
And that's Arise in a nutshell. Making suggestions at being something more interesting every now and then but far more interested in being palatable, tropey, and digestible. It has absolutely no rough edges, nothing actually interesting to hook onto. And hey, I get that comfy, conventional JRPG plots like this can be nice to chill out to, but this game makes Atelier Ryza look daring.
The combat is good and it is pretty and it's consistently competent. But that's kind of all it is.
Arise is the perfect game for namco to release in the landscape of 2021. Extremely conventional, easy to digest storytelling which is just trope after trope, put together with a level of polish that other games haven't been able to achieve(COUGH deathloop COUGH), and has enough good elements and good enough marketing to catfish the local RPG fan into thinking they're getting next final fantasy or at least the next xenobalde.
Ok maybe that's a little rude. It's a competent game. Most notably, the combat is pretty good. It's well animated, has a great flow, and making long combos with various arts and boost break moves is good fun, though its very easy to fall into the same combo patterns (Especially since launchers are so ridiculously good on the MC), and any enemies that arent bosses are particularly unchallenging. But particularly with the different party members on offer it's pretty good. It's about on the same level as the modern Ys games albeit with less in the way of challenge and variety.
It's also a very pretty game. Character models in particular are fantastic and so are effects, and adapt an anime style into very high fidelity quite well. There's particularly nice details on little things, notably character eyes and clothing that just looks really nice.
And right there, i've ran out of remarkable things to say about Tales of Arise. The story and setting are so... bland and have nothing to them, particularly in the early hours that I just glaze over. Your amnesiac protagonist works with your pink-haired tsundere waifu who has a fancy fire sword to kill some lads, each of which resides in these tiny lands with no character or theme beyond "fire world, ice world".
The only real curveball Arise throws towards being the most boring thing ever is its slavery and racism (?) angle, which could have been and maybe does turn into a complete trainwreck down the line but by the time i was tuning out mostly boiled down to mistrust and some very tame stuff so its mostly just uninteresting and conventional. Count the times someone doesn't trust someone because they're renan of dahnan or whatever and then never proceed to poke the concept any further than that.
This is excepting the one thing, which is that the slaves in the first chapter, who are ostensibly mining for materials, are actually getting legitimately harvested for their will/life essence/magic by being beaten down... or something. It's some pretty damn charged imagery I feel they go with and I'm not sure if the devs recognise this. You eventually go and kill the bad dude and the sucked up will turns into a dragon or something and tattacks both of you and then you stop the dragon made from the power of the will of the oppressed by sucking up the energy into your waifu's fire sword.
Now that could be really fucking wild (though not neccessarily good or nuanced), but the emphasis in the game is never on it and it doesnt even seem to make those connections. So when i say "you suck up the manifestation of the life energy of an opressed people into your waifu sword,", whilst that's legitimately just connecting plot points, the game seems thorougly disinterested in it and you're immedietly onto the next bad dude woo!
And that's Arise in a nutshell. Making suggestions at being something more interesting every now and then but far more interested in being palatable, tropey, and digestible. It has absolutely no rough edges, nothing actually interesting to hook onto. And hey, I get that comfy, conventional JRPG plots like this can be nice to chill out to, but this game makes Atelier Ryza look daring.
The combat is good and it is pretty and it's consistently competent. But that's kind of all it is.
This was my first "Tales..." game and I loved it. It's true that the characters and their interactions are sometimes a bit of a cliché, but in general the story is very big and cool, I was more into playing for finding out what's gonna happen than for the battles, until the very end, and I was satisfied. Besides that, awesome graphics and I got a bit obssesed trying to get all the damn owls! Very nice.
Imagine how good the game would be if they had the credits after the fifth lord and announced arise 2 so they can actually take time for part 2
Worst game I’ve ever played
Mais um jogo de anime linear e genérico com um combate razoável, sério a pessoa que diz que esse jogo é bom, deve ter ficado em criogenia pelo menos uns 15 anos.
Another linear and generic anime game with reasonable combat, seriously the person who says this game is good must have been in cryogenics for at least 15 years.
Another linear and generic anime game with reasonable combat, seriously the person who says this game is good must have been in cryogenics for at least 15 years.
Yet another low tier jrpg. MC is a barely likeable cringelord, good combat, okay music, very cheesy and formulaic story, saturday morning cartoon villains.
Overhyped hogwash.
Overhyped hogwash.
I really enjoyed my time with this game. I got very interested in the world and characters, as it had been a while a RPG of this scale and quality had been released. It's a very classic RPG, think PSX, PS2 era in nowadays graphics. A very linear game in its story, level design and character arc progression, which is what I enjoy with RPGs so that worked well for me.
It's also very much a Tales of game, with the usual anime story, reactions and scenes. Sakuraba's music is a bit hit and miss but when it hits (mostly the combat tracks) it's very good. Not his best work, but for Tales, I'd say he delivered compared to some of his past works on this series.
Most of the fun is during the combat, which flow extremely well and can be a lot of fun. There are a good number of systems and combo possibilities feel endless. Each character plays quite differently too so it's easy to keep the fun on by switching characters.
Unfortunately, the AI is not good enough to really allow this combat system to shine and it brings a lot of frustration. Some of the decisions made are truly frustrating, such as not being able to make your party members assist target on you.
The boss fights also feel like a different game all together that I did not enjoy at all. It turned into some Monster Hunter lite at times, where again, the AI could not follow leading to tedious and difficult fights with little fun.
Other negative points would be the limited bestiary that gets really tiring by the end and also way too many dialogues that are not necessary and just break the pace of the game.
It's also very much a Tales of game, with the usual anime story, reactions and scenes. Sakuraba's music is a bit hit and miss but when it hits (mostly the combat tracks) it's very good. Not his best work, but for Tales, I'd say he delivered compared to some of his past works on this series.
Most of the fun is during the combat, which flow extremely well and can be a lot of fun. There are a good number of systems and combo possibilities feel endless. Each character plays quite differently too so it's easy to keep the fun on by switching characters.
Unfortunately, the AI is not good enough to really allow this combat system to shine and it brings a lot of frustration. Some of the decisions made are truly frustrating, such as not being able to make your party members assist target on you.
The boss fights also feel like a different game all together that I did not enjoy at all. It turned into some Monster Hunter lite at times, where again, the AI could not follow leading to tedious and difficult fights with little fun.
Other negative points would be the limited bestiary that gets really tiring by the end and also way too many dialogues that are not necessary and just break the pace of the game.
i didn't go into this game with very high expectations and i left with a bad taste in my mouth - good gameplay and characters can't save a plot THIS bad. this game is not worth your money, let me just begin with that.
what arise has going for it is that it has the same tales series charm, with a loveable party that feels like a family. gameplay is fun, it feels like a lot of my favorite mechanics from the series are there although i would say it's still not my favorite system in the series.
however, there are plenty of issues with the plot itself and while i don't see myself fit to critique them, they absolutely cannot be overlooked by any means. this game could have easily been one of the best in the series if not for the glaring issues with the story (using slavery as a major plot point? really?). it's not as if this is a new thing for tales, but it's incredibly disappointing to see it happen time and time again. the story of tales of arise is just god awful, and the villains are a new low in the series especially when the game tries to offer them redemption.
also its sad how easy this game could be wonderful if they just removed the racism because it makes no meaningful commentary on it at all
what arise has going for it is that it has the same tales series charm, with a loveable party that feels like a family. gameplay is fun, it feels like a lot of my favorite mechanics from the series are there although i would say it's still not my favorite system in the series.
however, there are plenty of issues with the plot itself and while i don't see myself fit to critique them, they absolutely cannot be overlooked by any means. this game could have easily been one of the best in the series if not for the glaring issues with the story (using slavery as a major plot point? really?). it's not as if this is a new thing for tales, but it's incredibly disappointing to see it happen time and time again. the story of tales of arise is just god awful, and the villains are a new low in the series especially when the game tries to offer them redemption.
also its sad how easy this game could be wonderful if they just removed the racism because it makes no meaningful commentary on it at all
I love heterosexuals
mid characters, mid combat, good story, good graphics
berseria >>>
berseria >>>
Tales of Arise is something that I was really looking forward to play, since the very first trailer it had. And I'm really happy to say that it manages to live up to my expectations and BN has delivered a very strong game that modernizes a lot about the Tales formula, while still being true to its roots. For me, it feels like a game that basically sets the standards I'd like to see in future "anime" JRPGs. QoL elements, like a very detailed record and menus, and easy fast travel, a dense world that feels nice to explore, fantastic visuals that elevate the art style and are actually appropriate of a modern game. It was basically a bliss to play through. A slight nitpick, but despite how great the game looks, I though the reuse of enemies was really egregious, and the dungeons were distinct but felt kind of monotonous. Both seem like decisions due to budgetary reasons mainly, though I don't think the game was "cheap-looking" or anything like that.
As far as the characters go, I was very surprised with how much I loved the character dynamics that exist within the game. First and foremost, I really liked Shionne and Alphen's intimate romance, and I found them a very strong duo of protagonists, that carried a lot of the best moments in the game. But really, I couldn't neglect mentioning the chemistry between Rinwell and Law or Law and Alphen, or Dohalim and his quirkiness. While a lot of the focus is the main story, there are quite a few skits or extra scenes that highlight how good the party is, and I enjoyed how down to earth the characters felt. As for the main story, it is good overall, and I think it does a great job with highlighting most of the important moments, but there were some parts that I don't think were as strong as the rest of the game, mostly due to the pacing of the story. But regardless, I thought it was satisfying, and despite some common tropes in use, the conclusion was emotional and very pleasant.
Lastly, I wasn't a big fan of the combat in Berseria, but I think Arise improves upon it to a great extent. The flow is very good, and the combat is very satisfying, either you fight single, big bosses or mobs of enemies. Combos flow greatly, all of the characters feel like the play a role and a lot of the artes are fun to use. I think fun is a very apt word to describe it in general. Moreover, every character is unique, and feels like they have their own ways that completely change how you play. Altogether, maybe a bit hectic at times but definitely a fantastic combat system.
Basically, I had a great time with it, something I'd definitely recommend to people that enjoy JRPGs and to newcomers alike.
As far as the characters go, I was very surprised with how much I loved the character dynamics that exist within the game. First and foremost, I really liked Shionne and Alphen's intimate romance, and I found them a very strong duo of protagonists, that carried a lot of the best moments in the game. But really, I couldn't neglect mentioning the chemistry between Rinwell and Law or Law and Alphen, or Dohalim and his quirkiness. While a lot of the focus is the main story, there are quite a few skits or extra scenes that highlight how good the party is, and I enjoyed how down to earth the characters felt. As for the main story, it is good overall, and I think it does a great job with highlighting most of the important moments, but there were some parts that I don't think were as strong as the rest of the game, mostly due to the pacing of the story. But regardless, I thought it was satisfying, and despite some common tropes in use, the conclusion was emotional and very pleasant.
Lastly, I wasn't a big fan of the combat in Berseria, but I think Arise improves upon it to a great extent. The flow is very good, and the combat is very satisfying, either you fight single, big bosses or mobs of enemies. Combos flow greatly, all of the characters feel like the play a role and a lot of the artes are fun to use. I think fun is a very apt word to describe it in general. Moreover, every character is unique, and feels like they have their own ways that completely change how you play. Altogether, maybe a bit hectic at times but definitely a fantastic combat system.
Basically, I had a great time with it, something I'd definitely recommend to people that enjoy JRPGs and to newcomers alike.
Buenas minitas
Kisara has a nice ass
story could use some work but strong showing from the main cast, gameplay's great and provides good challenge, game looks and runs amazing. show me more of what you can bring to this series tomizawa. also shionne mains rise up
This review contains spoilers
an overall solid game, but a lackluster tales title, unfortunately dragged down by its' relatively short and rushed main story and very few interesting sidequests. it isn't my place to comment on wether the plot should've included the elements it did, but i will say that the slavery storyline felt poorly handled. the ideas were there but ultimately it ended up being another "you should forgive your oppressors and live together" fantasy racism plot ending, and while they did focus on the struggles of getting to that point they seemed meaningless in the grander scheme of things, especially with the god-awful endgame reveal that dahnans and renans are the same race and the 'real' villain wasn't the slave owners.
even putting aside the slavery plot, everything from lenegis onwards felt unnecessary to me. the red woman was the first tales antagonist i've been genuinely afraid of, so the reveal that she's an observant alien race fell flat, and the renan great spirit wasn't all that shocking to me, especially having played tales of the abyss and a lot of other jrpgs with similar sentience/will story beats.
the villains were incredibly bland and one-dimensional, and the brief attempt at humanizing the lords during the lenegis sidequest was frankly disgusting to play through; i really dont know what the team at bamco were thinking while writing that part. vohlran was almost interesting, what with his parallels to alphen, but his motivations and reasons were practically nonexistent and near impossible to understand. for most of the game i was praying for a well-written antagonist from a previous tales game like gaius, mithos or duke to show up but they never did. even heldalf from zestiria had more depth than this guy, and that's a very low standard to fail to live up to.
the highs of arise for me were the main party and the gameplay. every realm was distinct and a joy to explore, with ingredients growing around the map, secrets hidden in every corner and a lot to do and interact with. the cast were just as good as i've come to expect from the tales series, and while they're not top tier characters from an objective standpoint they're enjoyable and the party dynamic was always entertaining, especially with the characters warming up to each other and falling naturally into a found family trope towards the end.
nothing in arise felt particularly new to me; it was the same tales structure and plot twists (two worlds, bigger threat, fake endgame boss leading into the second half against said bigger threat, one world taking the others' energy etc etc) but aside from the incredibly uncomfortable and unfortunately prominent slavery plotline these tropes are so well-used because they work. yes we've heard the two worlds story done over and over even just within the tales series, but it's enjoyable enough and still engaging - it just saddens me that what could've been a great, if slightly unoriginal, story was overshadowed by fantasy racism being used yet again.
tales of arise was a fun experience, and i really do love the characters, but the story really felt like a few older tales titles thrown together and covered in a shiny coat of new-gen graphic paint and an overambitious racism plotline that tried to be revolutionary but ultimately fell flat. the only reason i give this game three and a half stars is for the gameplay and the cast - otherwise it would be a two, maybe three star experience at best.
even putting aside the slavery plot, everything from lenegis onwards felt unnecessary to me. the red woman was the first tales antagonist i've been genuinely afraid of, so the reveal that she's an observant alien race fell flat, and the renan great spirit wasn't all that shocking to me, especially having played tales of the abyss and a lot of other jrpgs with similar sentience/will story beats.
the villains were incredibly bland and one-dimensional, and the brief attempt at humanizing the lords during the lenegis sidequest was frankly disgusting to play through; i really dont know what the team at bamco were thinking while writing that part. vohlran was almost interesting, what with his parallels to alphen, but his motivations and reasons were practically nonexistent and near impossible to understand. for most of the game i was praying for a well-written antagonist from a previous tales game like gaius, mithos or duke to show up but they never did. even heldalf from zestiria had more depth than this guy, and that's a very low standard to fail to live up to.
the highs of arise for me were the main party and the gameplay. every realm was distinct and a joy to explore, with ingredients growing around the map, secrets hidden in every corner and a lot to do and interact with. the cast were just as good as i've come to expect from the tales series, and while they're not top tier characters from an objective standpoint they're enjoyable and the party dynamic was always entertaining, especially with the characters warming up to each other and falling naturally into a found family trope towards the end.
nothing in arise felt particularly new to me; it was the same tales structure and plot twists (two worlds, bigger threat, fake endgame boss leading into the second half against said bigger threat, one world taking the others' energy etc etc) but aside from the incredibly uncomfortable and unfortunately prominent slavery plotline these tropes are so well-used because they work. yes we've heard the two worlds story done over and over even just within the tales series, but it's enjoyable enough and still engaging - it just saddens me that what could've been a great, if slightly unoriginal, story was overshadowed by fantasy racism being used yet again.
tales of arise was a fun experience, and i really do love the characters, but the story really felt like a few older tales titles thrown together and covered in a shiny coat of new-gen graphic paint and an overambitious racism plotline that tried to be revolutionary but ultimately fell flat. the only reason i give this game three and a half stars is for the gameplay and the cast - otherwise it would be a two, maybe three star experience at best.
Tales of Arise has solidified itself as one of the best games in the series and has overcome one of the series' biggest weaknesses, gameplay. It's faster paced than the series, and demographic, is used to but it uses it's time and pacing well as it provides a sufficient and informed exploration of themes that are very relevant to the times. It's cast, as usual for the series, is strong and it places an emphasis on their growth both as individuals and as a group whilst keeping the group a nice size to not sacrifice this. Graphically, it's far beyond most JRPGs and the rest of the series as a whole with fantastic graphical fidelity and art direction that makes each realm memorable, unique as well as reflective of their thematic purpose without going overboard. A solid JRPG and one of the more balanced entries in the series.
much prefer Berseria's story and characters but the combat system here is excellent. the narrative is mostly good, let down by a relatively weak antagonist. it chooses to explore its subject matter in more depth than one would expect of a jrpg but does stumble at times in doing so. the stumbling is a positive for me since it shows the writers cared enough to address the more nuanced aspects of the story even if they didnt completely get it perfect every time
imagine how good the game would be if they had the credits after the fifth lord and announced arise 2 so they can actually take time for part 2