Tales of Arise - review

Genre: RPG
Developer/publisher: Bandai Namco.
Platform: PS4,PS5,PC,Xbone.
Official Site: https://en.bandainamcoent.eu/tales-of/tales-of-arise
Release date: 2021-9-10.

 

Wasn't sure if I was going to write about this game... or even like it cuz at first sight

it seemed rather edgy with some shining tears/wind vibes.

Just by watching the OP you could see what i'm talking about that is if you're familiar with that trope...

So my initial impressions of Tales of Arise were kind of hmmmmm? its no wonder after

what happened with Zestiria and Berseria trying to fix it that bait and switch mess

either way I was pleasantly surprised Arise turned out better than I expected!

Pro's

- excellent story(better than i expected atleast).

- a likable cast of characters that can grow on you.

- Plenty of side content to keep you busy.

Con's

- Bosses can be a bit unforgiving.

- CP system is terrible.

- Loading screens are a plenty(kinda makes me nostalgic) 

There won't be any plot spoilers discussed in this post but there will be a few screenshots without much context

I should add here that there is a minor one in a screen but I don't really consider Alphen's mask thingy

that much of a spoiler considering one could unmask him with dlc stuff right from the start (weird)

needless to say I had to add this warning here since this game is fairly new i've made

those screens as small as possible so you can scroll past however considering the jpn

twitter openly posted artwork and you can see his face on dlc item the dev's didn't really care......

Story, no spoilers of course but in all honesty this was pretty well rounded

and engaging, always something going on making me wonder about things.

Some aspects early on with the 5 lords may be repetitive but it was still different everytime

though the pacing in the second half wasn't the best I swear there's like 4 hours of cutscenes

but maybe its good we get a moment to get to the bottom of things even if its at the cost

of exploring dungeons which we did plenty in the first half anyway.

All this let IMO to a satisfying conclusion but I have to add that I was so done

with a certain antagonist at the end of the game, if you know you know.

Part of me wonders if this game perhaps needed a little bit more time

The characters really help with this, the main cast is quite likable and they all

have their place in the story! A character that surprised me was Kisara she is a knight

that wields a mace and giant shield... not something you'd see often so it was really refreshing

but for the majoirity of the game she's more or less the mom of the group, the mom that kicks ass.

I really liked Law though... but he often gets bullied for saying whatever is on his mind.😅

Can't really talk about Dohalim but he has his quirk's that make him likable in his own way.

Both Alphen and Shionne were really likable as well, the dynamic/chemistry between these two...

At first Shionne can seem a bit bitchy, cold and distant she's a literal ice queen and won't minch words!

Alphen on the other hand is sweeter than he looks like... but he's no a coward.

 

OH BOY did I enjoy seeing them interact and discover more about them

it got so bad thast I really wanted them to get a room and its not just these two Law and Rinwell

also frequently go at it but in a more child-like way though I see them more as siblings.

Dohalim and Kisara... their relationship was rather mature? but not necessarily in romantic way.

Anyway by the end of the game the two main leads made me soft...

So if you're wondering if there's romance then yes there is! just not the harem-like way

and I like this some times it does get tiring to see all girls fawn over the MC

and after trails of coldsteel series I had enough of that for a bit.

Speaking of trails... Alphen does look a lot like Crow doesn't he?

In all honesty Alphen may be the most likable protagonist I have seen in a long time.

Not much to say about Rinwell but she is a very cute mage... and she grew on me

(she has her situation) well I think by the end of the game the whole cast really grew on me.

I did love how the title screen changed dependig on the story it might not be

like the classic tales of menu with individual portraits but this works too.

Honestly back in the day I could see why they had to use character art in the menus but the

graphics have become so good that it is no longer necessary to use 2d portrait for everything.

Oh I guess I forgot to mention it doesn't have Co-op... as someone that enjoys

playing RPG games alone this isn't a big deal to me.

 The skits and little chats on the field really helped with the group chemistry which made

for a really good experience there was many times I laughed there was a lot of fun moment

even though the plot can be quite serious. Speaking of skits... they're really enjoyable

even though its not like how they were in older games it is now in manga style and there are plenty

I understand if people could dislike this new style but... skits are skits and they're in.

There's also plenty of funny talks during battle, whenever Law speakings

he probably got clowned on by Rinwell again. The interactions overall were quite fun.

One of my favorites was Dohalim would cast a healing art on Alphen

whom  would be surprised then Dohalim is all like well I care about you!😂

Shionne knows how to roast Dohalim.

 There's also cooking and fishing... the latter might be a bit difficult to get the hang of though

but once you do I found fishing to be super easy.

Owl hunt was really nice, it makes you appreciate the environments more

as you explore and you get some nice things like butterfly wings or shades from them.

Honestly Law looks really good with sunglasses...

 

There was more side content later on, like a temple dungeon and the typical

colosseum/arena as well as some weird but pretty lime stone cave with high lvl mobs

I ran away from cuz I found it too early but was good to know there was stuff waiting for me

besides big giganto zeugles roaming around, throughout the main quest I maybe took out 3

and a bunch more later right before the final boss cuz I was poor, some might be better

not to wait too long cuz you outlvl them and they become piss easy but eh idk what's better

dying cuz they're too strong or stomping on them, though I do think lvl 45-50 is a perfect time

to take out that mantis you see in the beginning, either way you can always save when you see them

and decide to try take them out or not and the gald you get from these hunt quest really does help.

Its about high time I took you out!

Unfortunately gald will always be a problem in this game but considering the setting... its realistic.

Normal sidequests were pretty decent too anyway there's plenty to do besides the main quest.

There's also some optional bosses most of which aren't possible till post game which are

more or less a series homage, ones I liked were the spirit temple and farewell mage quests.

Unfortunaly fishing up boss fishes is the only reliable way of income, unless you sell

your omega elixers. Which is only worth it if you still have some after all post game battles.

  

Well it pretty much plays like any tales of really, mechanic wise I think they took some things

from older titles like CP being graces eleth pot and Xilias link combos into boost strikes.

Yea everything is free run mode now... but I don't think the old combat/movement system

would work anymore cuz I do think it was kinda restricting.

Some bosses could be a little unforgiving but as long as you pay attention and learn

what they're capable of I am sure anyone can make it through it! I played on normal

but there's no shame in trying the lower difficulty if you're just in it for the story.

Anyway this game isn't too easy its sits on that fine line were sometimes you might struggle

which is good cuz while I don't mind easy I don't want a face roll like sakura wars either.

 I do have my gripes with the CP system though they really could have done better with that

as well as have maybe a little bit more land marks for fast travel? I was really struggling with

the water lord's castle and the wedge... I had to go out to camp atleast once to restock gels/bottles

and then you have to go all the way back to the boss room. Those places were huge! >_<

The last dungeon was good but a little too big and the big enemies had some annoying

mob combinations happen as well, I did enjoy the sword dancer fight there

and well he had me in the first half NGL. 😂😂😂

If you take your time here to fight everything/get chests rip your items but honestly its better

to pick and choose your battles there, no shame in fleeing just to get the chest. 

I think the only thing I am disappointed with is that there are no victory screens even though

the battle is on a seperate field but oh well atleast the characters still comment on them before/after.

A few more words on CP... they did away with individual TP and made it a group thing so everytime

you heal/revive it will go down... its also used to remove obstacles in dungeons thus it will drain

rather quickly as well as your gald for restocking on items used to replenish CP/ko'd allies.

Either way I was not amused by this garbage system!

 

That aside the environments were nice and not too big either, this games environment

can look really gorgeous, it looks like painting! very water colour-ish.

I also liked how the weapons had unique models, and there was a glamour system

so that you could use your favorite weapon skin and there are some joke skins too

this attention to detail was really nice, so for example if you didn't like a specific look

of your newest weapon you can just keep the old one.

Music... its a typical tales of soundtrack really not much to complain about.

 

Urgh.... they get like this too many times its second hand embarrassment GET A ROOM.

 

 

The butterfly wings look so good on Rinwell...

 As for costumes... I liked how the main lead would often change his outfit

personally I did like his second outfit a lot so if you didn't like his edgy dark knight

costume you could always switch back to ocean blue/traveling attire.

As for the rest of the cast their original costumes were really good, especially Rinwell.

The DLC costumes are just the standard School,swimsuit and more...

don't have a problem with it as this stuff has always been there but I could see why

people are upset some artes were locked with them as well, I don't approve of that either.

I did buy the 100$ edition but even then I had a hard time putting some characters

mainly Alphen, Shionne and Rinwell out of their defaults... but the pack

did offer value and considering how enjoyable the game was it was worth it.

There's some in game costumes(not counting recolour) as well so its not like everything was DLC.

Though the point of worry i'd want to add before I leave this post alone is being able

to unmask Alphen right from the start with DLC I actually did this but then undid it

and pretend not to see...😅 consider we are given this option its more or less

for people that don't like looking at his mask all the time and really there's not much 

to hide or spoilerous about his face by itself, there is a plot reason but I won't go into that.

Anyway most people that do research before or after buying will probably see it on the DLC store.....

Its like Luke from abyss with short hair or Garnet from FF9, if you want to know why play the game.

Time for the isekai highschool AU.

In my opinion I think Tales of Arise is pretty good, imo tales games have never been known

for their stories and it was mostly the characters/skits and combat that shined but they did

manage to surprise me with the story/writing this time which I thought was really good.

This was an interesting adventure to say the least and its a tales of like the rest of them.

If you're curious about the length of a playthrough... took me about 50 hours

to finish the main quest, I did poke around with optional stuff though and watch lots of skits

so maybe if one fights less/only focus's story it'd be a little less.

  Though occasionally I did notice some typos in the text but it was usually an honest mistake

and for the majority of the game I had no problems and the text flowed pretty well

so I don't have much complaints except the CP system being garbage and making things

more difficult than it had to be as well as money being scarce (if you don't hunt/fish).

Either way if you consider everything this game has to offer its lenghty enough

even more with postgame/100%ing so there's plenty to do besides the main quest.

It might be cheesy... but sometimes I like cheesy, in moderation this can be good.

 Its hard to rank the games I played and liked, Arise is right next

to GracesF and Vesperia/Symphonia, don't look at me weird! I thought graces

had really good combat and a fun cast(loved their interactions) even if the story was just okay.

While playing Arise I couldn't help but see things from other tales of

all the way to their roots of how the dev team way back with phantasia split and

then seeing how there's this recurring theme of forgiveness it hit me really hard.

Tales of games can vary heavily in terms of plot... but I do think the dev's out did themselves here

cuz this game does have the same tales of spirit I am used to and it has plenty of content value

which may not be a whole lot but what is there is the same type of optional stuff in most tales games.

So is it worth it? I think if you're looking for another well rounded RPG with a cast

that you can come to like slowly as you learn more then I can definitely recommend this game.

9/10

Yea maybe I am biased... but I really did enjoy my time with this game its been such a long

time since I play an RPG that had my satisfied with its story by the end of it with little complaints

all things considered after ryza 2 left me sad, disappointed and confused

i'm really happy that this game was well-rounded. If I take in my dislike of the CP system

maybe my score would drop to 8/10 but honestly I had fun and that's more important than a rating.

~

 

Edit for a comment on further post game stuff I forgot to add:

The cameo's were nice and surprisingly fitting as well i'm surprised they locked the hotsprings

scene behind so much post game stuff... but I think they did it on purpose so most people

probably won't see it at all cuz it is locked behind some tough fights, its like a nice reward

and it was rather funny though... unfortunately it was one of the last things i did.

There was also a very annoying sub quest forcing you to talk to... many npc spread out

in all cities which just reminded me of some dumb fetch quest which it absolutely was.😂

Other than 100%ing isn't much of an issue and very doable, 300 skits was weird

cuz it said I had 302 but it had yet to pop so part of me thinks some don't quite count

but I got it eventually, good thing you can rewatch missed skits at the camp.

I do like how... you don't need to do everything for 100% you could very well miss a recipe

or a title if you don't craft a weapon for it, there's still things to do like the final solo arena fights

that are no requirement for 100%! nice because I have no clue how to play as everyone.😅

Special note to Alphen's Reigning slash/mega sonic thrust cuz if not for that...

I couldn't have finished the post game fights.

Okay that will end my babbles on Tales of Arise for real this time... its a pretty good game!

but unfortunately all good things must come to an end.