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.