While it made a really good job bringing the "Tales Of" franchise into the mainstream, I feel like this could have been much more.

Tales of Arise has an amazing graphic quality and artstyle, and it has "improved" combat from Berseria, I feel like its faster and more technical, but not really better.

But aside from that, I feel like Arise is such a dissappointing title, the main cast is really bland and boring, Alphen is not a bad character, but he's nothing special, I do like Shionne, but she is kinda cliché and the relationship these two have is not very imaginative either. Dolahim and Kisara arent bad either, but they are sorta mediocre, and Law and Rinwell are straight up bad, I feel like they were properly used in their arcs, but they are super underwhelming for being 2 out of the 6 members of the party.

The villains were awful, they felt super cliché and weren't deep at all, and while the first boss wasn't bad cause it showed us how the world worked, its really tedious and boring for the player to experience the same arc over and over again 5 times.

The soundtrack also felt kind of unispired, the main theme was cool, and i'm not saying it was bad, just very forgettable, please Bandai, let Motoi Sakuraba rest already.

And let's not talk about the final part of the game, which is terrible.

Anyways, I guess it isnt a bad start for JRPG newcomers, but that's it, don't expect much.

Finally played my second Tales of game after so many years.

This game was quite a fun and emotional adventure. I really enjoyed the whole main cast, the story was pretty solid too even if the game was quite chonky. The music was nice and the visuals were breathtaking.

My icks were the balance problem. Early game is hard to get through because of it, but end of game is too even if I hadn't really skipped over content or enemies so I had to grind a bit before the end. Another thing was the CP. They were quite problematic throughout the whole game, especially that last dungeon since it suffered length, a shit ton of big ennemies, plus walls to destroy and all. It's not the worst thing but eh.

Aside from that, I absolutely loved the fast-paced combat and gameplay. The pacing was actually really good.

ps : Dohalim... I need him. we can live together happily ever after with our son Law

Characters and Exploration are good, I think the characters are the best part of the game. They're good even if some of them are archetypes I've seen before in other media. None of them annoyed me or caused me to dislike them which i think is a win. I like the enviornments in this game, the exploration was fun and rewarding. The combat starts out kind of bad but gets a lot better when you unlock more artes. The weakest part of the game is the story and the villains. Theres plenty to do post game, which is what I am working on. Overall I thought it was a mostly enjoyable experience.

One of the first Tales of I've played.

The story, although at a certain point it got weird, I liked it a lot, and the gameplay was quite dynamic.

I will try more games of the saga.

Uno de los primeros tales of que he jugado.

La historia, aunque en cierto punto se tornó rara, me ha gustado bastante, y el gameplay bastante dinámico.

Probaré más juegos de la saga.

This was my first Tales game, and I was excited. The graphics looked good, and I was expecting an engaging story or at least a decent one, but most of all, I wanted to experience the great characterization the series is known for. Suffice to say, I didn’t find anything noteworthy.

The game attempts to deliver a grand overarching narrative only to trip by the rails and fall off the Empire State Building. The game’s premise, revolving around themes of slavery and racism, initially promises depth and complexity. However, this potential is squandered as these heavy themes are treated in a disappointingly superficial manner. Instead of delving into the harsh realities and moral complexities of these issues, the game reduces them to simple mistrust between groups and occasional, tame conflicts. This approach results in a narrative that, despite suggesting the possibility of more profound storytelling, remains primarily focused on being palatable and easily digestible, devoid of any real depth or rough edges.

The narrative structure follows a familiar pattern, where the first half of the game involves the protagonist embarking on a journey to free the world, only to evolve into a grander, but equally predictable plot. The story's beats and themes are presented in a very in-your-face manner, lacking subtlety or nuance. The treatment of the "racism bad" theme feels overused and shallow without taking any serious implications on the matter, akin to simplistic moral lessons found in low-quality webnovels. Initially, there are hints of more interesting and emotional elements, such as the characters' lives as slaves and their rebellion against oppressive rulers. However, as the story progresses, these elements are overshadowed by a focus on more generic and less engaging themes, such as uniting everyone through the power of love and friendship.

Where do I even begin with the characters, something I was hoping could carry the narrative quality and enjoyment of this game. Throughout the extensive runtime, it is challenging to form any emotional connection or care about the party members. The character development is minimal, and the interactions between them lack chemistry and depth. The skits, which are a staple of the Tales series and typically used to flesh out character relationships and personalities, are mostly expository. They focus on delivering background information and exposition about the game's geopolitical context rather than developing the characters' interpersonal dynamics. This problem is further exacerbated within the main narrative. Because the characters are bland and unengaging, the narrative itself suffers. The player's lack of investment in the characters makes it difficult to care about the events unfolding in the story. The protagonists and supporting cast are particularly forgettable, with personalities that are either one-note or poorly developed. The villains, too, are weakly portrayed, lacking presence and compelling motivations.

I wanted to like the game or at least give it a decent rating. The first half of the game was quite poor, but the second half made it even worse narratively. Combined with my expectation of high-quality character development and interactions, I would say if you are a fan of narrative, especially ones that are not too anime tropey, then stay away.