When I first beat Tales of Arise about a year and a half ago, after beating the main story, and doing everything else, I got to the point where there was nothing more for me to do. I wasn't quite ready to put it down, so I spent about an hour just wandering the world, and talking to NPC's. I was almost sad in a way, nothing more for me to do, until now.
So just getting it out of the way. I am WELL aware this is a controversial title in the series, but I've always been a Tales of Arise shooter. And I'm not gonna spend time here reviewing this expansion on the base game's merits, especially when I already gave it five stars.
So that makes it a little hard for me to rate this expansion since it basically just is the base game. Nothing really new is added, which kind of makes it hard for itself to justify its existence in a way. Pretty much all of the new content is story and quest related, but I am happy to say that it doesn't disappoint in that regard.
Pretty much every single side quest you're going to be doing acts as sort of an epilogue to either a quest or a plot point from the base game. It was a joy to catch up with the world and characters I said goodbye to. All of the quests are pretty excellently paced as well. You never spend too long on one thing, and they're interwoven very well with combat and great character moments. Pairing all that together with an excellent main story that serves extremely well to the kind of abrupt ending of the main game, makes it for an excellently paced and nostalgic experience. The main conflict surrounding the mysterious new girl has its fair share of sweet and awesome moments, especially the ending, which had me out of my seat in excitement.
However, even I really can't justify the 30 dollar price tag. That's like half a full price brand new game, for really no new content outside of story. And even taking my time doing literally everything it only took me around 13-14 hours to complete. So I can't really give it the same full five stars I gave the base game. So maybe either wait for a sale, or buy the complete edition of the game if you're a new player.
But as a big fan of the series, this expansion provided me with a ton of fun, and I would totally recommend it if you enjoyed the base game.
So just getting it out of the way. I am WELL aware this is a controversial title in the series, but I've always been a Tales of Arise shooter. And I'm not gonna spend time here reviewing this expansion on the base game's merits, especially when I already gave it five stars.
So that makes it a little hard for me to rate this expansion since it basically just is the base game. Nothing really new is added, which kind of makes it hard for itself to justify its existence in a way. Pretty much all of the new content is story and quest related, but I am happy to say that it doesn't disappoint in that regard.
Pretty much every single side quest you're going to be doing acts as sort of an epilogue to either a quest or a plot point from the base game. It was a joy to catch up with the world and characters I said goodbye to. All of the quests are pretty excellently paced as well. You never spend too long on one thing, and they're interwoven very well with combat and great character moments. Pairing all that together with an excellent main story that serves extremely well to the kind of abrupt ending of the main game, makes it for an excellently paced and nostalgic experience. The main conflict surrounding the mysterious new girl has its fair share of sweet and awesome moments, especially the ending, which had me out of my seat in excitement.
However, even I really can't justify the 30 dollar price tag. That's like half a full price brand new game, for really no new content outside of story. And even taking my time doing literally everything it only took me around 13-14 hours to complete. So I can't really give it the same full five stars I gave the base game. So maybe either wait for a sale, or buy the complete edition of the game if you're a new player.
But as a big fan of the series, this expansion provided me with a ton of fun, and I would totally recommend it if you enjoyed the base game.