Tales of Arise (2021)

The writing is rich and evocative, and the developers took on a major creative challenge with the themes that they decided to tackle and did a superb job. The combat system is sharp and offers plenty of complexity, while being accessible to Tales series newcomers or people just looking to experience the story. The art and aesthetics are breathtaking, and about the only issue there is a lack of a photo mode so that I could make the most of it (what the hell, Bandai Namco?).

I may not have been the world’s biggest fan of the Tales series previously, but this game has immediately become one of my favourite JRPGs of all time. It’s hard not to love what Tales of Arise has to offer and while there are some small issues, it doesn’t take away from my opinion that this is the Tales game that will breathe new life into the series.

Characters 8/10 I really liked the protagonist and every party member got its own development. The skits really help here.

Music 3/10 Weak. Tales of Zestiria kind of weak. Elevator music. I don't think there's a single memorable theme throughout the whole game.

Graphics/Art 8/10 Very solid presentation. Definitely a step up from the previous entries. However, the watercolor filter in the backgrounds was unecessary.

Story 8/10 Solid, good pacing, the twists are there. I really like the ending.

Battle System 7/10 Good core battle system, plagued by poor decision on boss battles and very limited resources for no reason. Levels and gald as DLC.

Third game in the Tales franchise that I complete, the other two being Zestiria (My favorite) and Berseria. It can be said yes that Arise was a great evolution of the Tales formula.

My recurring problem with Zestiria and Berseria was the maps and their enemies. Maps used to be huge, flat and extremely empty where every now and then you'd find an item in the corner of the map that barely served you any good, besides the map being crowded with enemies that were basically damage sponges. This was fixed in Arise, the level design is much better designed, the enemies are more concentrated in specific places and the normal fights don't last as much longer even on hard.

The graphics are beautiful, one of the most beautiful Tales since Vesperia (It will probably be my next Tales, the look of that is very charming) the music of the 3 Tales I played are always top notch and for some reason they remind me of the vibe of FF 12 The Gameplay of the game is very fun, with 130 hours of gameplay I couldn't get tired, the only problem would be the visual pollution caused by the various effects of abilities on the field, not allowing you to visualize the enemies very well. In terms of story, this is really perhaps the lowest point of the game.

As much as the game's story is in a context of war and slave liberation I never feel such grandiosity from enemy parts except in Cazalia, you never have the threat of a large army and ships coming to get you, which the Zestiria and Berseria did a little better. After freeing a region from a lord, instead of them moving to stop you or set traps, they are each waiting in your castle for you to appear as if they were really NPCs while you wander around the cities peacefully. Villains are just stereotyped empty shells that serve as obstacles you have to overcome. What was supposed to be Alphen's big rival that appears in the Trailers is one of the most disappointing and unimportant things I've ever seen in a JRPG, the character is almost practically useless and bland. The main team characters are charismatic enough but the ones that really develop during the story are Shionne and Rinwell, the change in the way each of them behave at the beginning and end of the game was nice to see, but the others do not have great developments. The game's pace is strange, it starts very fast and more in the final line it drops completely and the game focuses much more on conversations, which for me as an RPG player wouldn't be a big problem if these conversations weren't actually a big loop of subject repetitions, this is not just an Arise problem, this is a problem that occurs in Zestiria and pretty much every modern JRPG nowadays, this crunching of every little subject that they insist on having, this part of Arise is very stretched. The story ends up being just "ok" at the end of the day.

Excellent game.

Got this email last night... I know it's not an absolute "it will be late," so I'm hopeful that I'll still get it tomorrow.

I'm honestly tempted to just buy the digital ultimate version as well, anyway. I'm going to have to buy all of the DLC as it is, since the US version of the Collector's doesn't come with it, and it might be worth it to not have to bother with a disc. Kind of a waste to buy the game twice, but...