Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Sep 28, 2021

  Check out my full review on this with pics on Sinical Anime Network! I don't normally write extensive reviews, but I felt this game deserves it as I've finished getting every achievement now without buying any shortcut DLC perks and maxed out all my end-game weapon stats. So let's get down to it.

  Story

  A quick rundown on the story is that there is a war between the Dahna and Rena, with Renans in control and enslaving the all the Dahnas. You get to control a group which consists of both Dahnas and Renans to defeat the five Renan Lords and free all the Dahnas from slavery. I felt the story was interesting enough as I progressed and liked how the story expanded much more than how I just described it. In this game there's a whooooole lot of voiced dialogue between your group which is always a big plus for me (over 300 voiced skits). I enjoyed all the bonding and antics between your group, especially since each of them comes from pretty distinctive backgrounds. Each of them gets their spotlight to shine and all in all making me actually care about each of the group members. Overall I think the story was nicely done. Score: 8

  Controls and Gameplay

  I use a PS5 controller for Steam, so the default control layout didn't make sense as the attack button was R1, the three Artes attacks was triangle, square and X, and the jumping button was circle. It wasn't a problem since I was able to edit them all in the settings. I changed the Artes attacks to L1, R1, and triangle respectively, regular attacks to square, jumping to X and initiating conversations with circle. After that, it felt much better as if I'm playing a classic action game during combat. Gameplay wise, the game is pretty straightforward on progressing through the story. It's not as true open-world as I initially thought at first, but many of the areas are big enough that sometimes I forget that it's a narrow path to the next destination. Leveling up and equipping gear is very simple as each character has a weapon, armor, and an accessory. You cannot modify your weapons or gear in any way which may be off-putting to some. You can however customize your accessory by leveling them up to 5 with modified stats via materials. In game battles are awesome with the implementation of perfect evading/guarding in which you can can counter with awesome looking abilities. Boost attacks/boost strikes are also very appealing and is a staple part of the battle system. They also included Over Limit mode which is their version of Limit Breaks when you can just go all out with your attacks without spending your CP. The best part about the battle system is while you can only control one party member at a time, each of them plays rather differently which keeps battles fresh. For example, I find myself controlling Shionne the most during battles as I prefer ranged gun attacks. Rinwell would come second as I love casting powerful AOE attacks that just pleasing to look at when the high damage numbers show! ^^ Score: 8

  Visuals and Sound

  The visuals here are the best aspect of this game. The anime cutscenes are done by none other than Ufotable, the animation studio that's behind the ever so popular Demon Slayer and much of the Fate series. That alone speaks volumes for itself. The in-game cutscenes are also still amazing especially with all the battle cinematics. It almost feels like the Final Fantasy VII Remake battle sequences with all the sword play going around! Haha. Character models are nice looking and detailed when showing their expressions. The area maps and environment are also awesome as well and I feel it has a very polished look as if I were playing another Square Enix JRPG game. For the sound it was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I felt the opening anime song is just so-so (felt like any typical anime op song that wasn't really memorable). Some of the area themes are really nice though, even so that sometimes I found myself just stopped from moving around just so I could listen to the music playing. After spending a good amount of time in the game and reaching the second part, the second anime op song comes in and that one was a lot more to my liking than the first. It has a much more serious tone to it, which makes the viewers know that the story going forward just got real. =P The ending song at the end was also nice and fitting. Battle theme is just meh. https://youtu.be/oTXee8msobw https://youtu.be/-ngiXNlj7IY Score: 10 for Visuals, 7.5 for Sound

  Replayability

  I know one would ask first "Are there any missables in this JRPG?" to which I can happily say no. I keep hearing about missing recipes and finding owls that aren't there anymore after a certain point but they'll just appear elsewhere later in the game. There's a total of 70 sub-quests that can be done alongside your main questline, and some of them are nice and expanding (some can only be done post-game). So I feel that's a plenty amount and can be done at any time. No pressure in getting to them before you finish the game. As with most JRPGs there is a New Game + in which you can transfer your character levels, equipment, Artes etc. given that you find the appropriate artifacts first. (Can be done post game if you prefer.) Next, this game is pretty linear in a sense. An example for that is with some JRPGs, there's different romance options or choices that can alter the dialogue and change the outcome of the game (like the Persona or Legend of Heroes games). Sadly there is no such feature here which to me is a bummer. It could have added major replayability value given the amount of party members. But the redeeming factor is that this game does have a healthy amount of challenging bosses and with the Chaos difficulty mode that can be unlocked, it certainly adds some replay value. The fishing mini game is fun with 44 fishes total and with several different rods/lures to use to catch specific types. Farming and cooking are also nice small additions to make quick gald (money) or boost stats via ingredients. There's even some nice cameos in game from other Tales games that you can re-encounter with at any time! Hehe. Score: 8.5

  Final Thoughts

  So overall I thoroughly enjoyed this game, as I'm now clocking in at over 100 hours now and am willing to write this review! ^^ This game can be an entry point for newcomers who've never played another Tales game. The story here is self contained. The polished visuals that I saw in the trailers in the beginning of the year are what got me to pre-order this game months in advance. And now that I've done everything I could in-game I can happily say that it was my money well spent. Also I just want to note that I don't see a reason for anyone to buy any of the leveling DLC. It literally took me 5 minutes to level from 86 to 100 easy with the right stipulations. Don't be a lazy bum. Anyways I always find myself comparing this game to the earlier Bandai JRPG title SCARLET NEXUS that got released a bit earlier this year, and I can say I very much enjoyed this a lot more than that one (completed that game as well). For this game I went the extra mile beyond getting all the achievements and spent hours with each character doing solo battles in Training Grounds just to max out their end-game weapons. =) So all in all I felt this game is my favorite JRPG of the year so far (next to Nier Replicant) with only looking at the soon to be released Shin Megami Tensei V to look forward to for JRPGs this year. I may not be familiar with all the Tales franchise games (having only played Berseria previously), but even I can tell that Bandai Namco has really stepped up their production value with this title compared to all the older ones, and I look forward to seeing future installments elevating their boundaries even higher. Overall Score: 8.6 https://youtu.be/ykWm2kOCpE4
• gamedeal user

  Nov 21, 2021

  Game is good. Don't listen to the turbo nerd hyper-critics that say the story isn't good. Story is just fine. Sure, it's no FF7 or Chrono Trigger, but they gotta let it go and realize that 1) that's a pretty high bar to overcome and 2) it took years for people to realize how amazing those stories were and even more years for them to feel nostalgic about. I say this as a guy who literally spent hours making FF7 shrinky-dinks in middle school, but still didn't think it was "the best game I've ever played" at the time. I could do without the weird falsetto singing in the cut scenes, but that's just because I'm an old man. Also, coincidentally, because I'm an old man, I'm used to Japan throwing some weird crap at me in their fantastic RPG's, you spoony bard.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 23, 2021

  The Quick & Dirty

  In a long story short: this game is great. If you can handle some mildly tropey, campy aspects of anime-style storytelling, I recommend just jumping right into Tales of Arise. As someone who rarely dabbles in JRPGs or anime in general, this was a delightful treat. The characters have vibrant personalities albeit with some tropey aspects to them; the plot is well written and thoroughly thought out; there is clearly a passion behind some of the surprisingly deep themes in the story (there is a message in this game); the art direction is stellar; the world design is breathtaking; and the combat is fun. What more needs to be said? Play it. And that's coming from a person who doesn't really play JRPGs. Just do it, you won't regret it. Now, in this next section, I'll delve slightly deeper into some specific aspects of the game spoiler free. I'll try to keep it as succinct as possible.

  The Plot/Characters

  You play as "Iron Mask", a masked, amnesiac Dahnan slave living under the tyrannical rule of the Renans, powerful wielders of a mystical force known as astral energy, on the subjugated planet of Dahna. By a stroke of fate, Iron Mask bumps into a Renan outcast known as Shionne, a girl cursed by a mysterious force that causes harm to any who touch her. Surprised that Iron Mask is immune to her curse, Shionne finds that only he is capable of wielding her flaming sword, a product of the astral energy housed within her master core, a receptacle for vast amounts of the astral energy that is being harvested from Dahna. Creating a pact, Iron Mask and Shionne set out on an adventure to defeat all five of the Renan lords ruling over Dahna, obtain the remaining four master cores, and put an end to the crown contest being hosted on Dahna by the Renans once and for all. The game leads you through to each of the five main realms of Dahna, each a host to its own astral energy, lords, biomes, and peoples. On the way, Shionne and Iron Mask encounter a colorful cast of companions during their travels, each bringing their own strengths but also problems into the party. Each character has their own thoughts and feelings, making each character feel alive in their own way. Each region poses a new challenge for the unlikely companions, forcing each character to confront not only their own troubles but also the troubles of their world. While not exactly a drama, the series tackles several deep themes within the confines of the twin worlds, each realm within tackling different aspects of the very real problems of classism and elitism. Because of the nature of their journey, the main characters are forced to come face to face with their own prejudices, learning how to overcome such obstacles. All the while, the group is confronted with concepts of forgiveness, love, loneliness, openness, and meaning that's present or isn't in their lives. In short, Tales of Arise is a passionately written, mostly heartwarming and wholesome story about the overcoming of prejudice in a world of very different peoples and the importance of coming together in an understanding of one another as best they can.

  The World

  As I stated before, Tales of Arise takes place on the world of Dahna. Within the realm, each region of Dahna comes with its own unique biomes, architecture, peoples, and problems. The game takes you through each of these unique regions and immerses you into their ambience with the beautifully orchestrated music as well as the lovingly crafted environments. And as is the case, each differing realm comes with its own host of unique problems, so don't worry too much about getting bored; there are many twists and turns in each region to keep things engaging. Tales of Arise is a truly visually stunning game. If you can play it in 4K, I'd highly recommend you do so.

  Combat

  The combat in Tales of Arise is slightly different from most games. Although open-world, the game actually transports you into combat instances for fights rather than keeping you in the over-world for fighting. The combat mainly consists of combo chaining, allowing you to do fancy movements and specials. Each member of your party is playable, and they all come with their own set of unique abilities and move-sets (and holy smokes, do the fight animations look stellar). Along with the natural character progression, you can further enhance each character's stats using items you find throughout game. While nothing groundbreaking, the combat allows for a mixture of dexterity and strategy, all enhanced with colorful visuals.

  Sound/Music

  I've been gushing over this game so far, and I'm pleased to say that the soundtrack is to be praised just the same. Each region of the game is host to its own unique theme, and these compositions manage to give a grand feel to each location. For the sound design itself, I had no complaints. All in all, I was pleased with the sounds and melodies composed for the game. While I won't say the Tales of Arise soundtrack is anywhere comparable to something such as the recent Halo: Infinite soundtrack (it's stellar), you can be sure that your ears are kept pleasantly delighted. (MAJOR SPOILER: BE WARNED) And don't even get me started on the three singing tracks in the game (DO NOT LOOK THESE UP UNLESS YOU WANT TO SPOIL SOME OF THE BEST MOMENTS IN THE GAME)

  Gripes/Issues

  To be honest, there was very little I took issue with in the game. The game was very well put together, and there wasn't much room for error. However, I did find that the first region of the game gave off a very campy, tropey vibe, which I wasn't all that excited for. After clearing the area, however, the plot picks up, and I was pumped. Next, though this is not really an issue I had personally, some reviewers have complained about the grind in the game. In my playthrough, I didn't really have to grind too much at all. I maybe spent an extra 5 hours altogether to grind when I needed to be a higher level for certain encounters. You could probably do even less than that depending on the items you acquire and food you cook. WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!! THE GRIPE BELOW IS ABOUT THE LITERAL ENDING OF THE GAME!!! DO NOT READ UNLESS YOU WANT TO SPOIL A HUGE PART OF THE GREAT STORY THAT WAS WRITTEN FOR THIS GAME!!! PLAY THE GAME FIRST!!! Now, I'm not going to say the ending was bad; it was far from it. In fact, the ending was actually perfect from a thematic point of view. HOWEVER, I was DEEPLY disappointed that the game does not continue after the final cutscene, and that important points of closure for the story are summarised in still images. What SHOULD have been done, is after the final boss, you should have been able to speak to each of the characters in regards to all that had transpired, and you SHOULD have been able to continue playing the game from then on as normal as well as being able to do some closure quests for each of the main characters (a wedding quest for Shionne & Alphen, a diplomacy quest for Dohalim, or maybe even an endgame quest to finish off the remaining astral beasts on Dahna). Needless to say, I was extremely disappointed at the lack of closure, and I was feeling the same when you're forced to continue the game from a point before the final boss. So, if you want to continue playing the game for the 100% clear or just to get endgame armor and weapons, you're forced to playthrough the rest of these moments in the context that Shionne is still cursed, and Alphen and her haven't had their moment yet. How disappointing...

  Conclusion

  Tales of Arise is a breathtaking adventure set in a lovingly crafted world with fleshed out characters and a meaningful story. If you have the chance to play it, do it. I paid full price, and it was the best $80 I spent this year (CAD). If you've not played it yet, don't read anything more about it. Just play it.
• gamedeal user

  Nov 25, 2021

  Great Game! Don't buy the DLCs.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 24, 2021

  ---{Graphics}--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ Paint.exe ---{Gameplay}--- ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ It‘s just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Starring at walls is better ☐ Just don‘t ---{Audio}--- ☐ EarGasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ Earrape ---{Audience}--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☐ Adults ☐ Human ☐ Lizards ---{PC Requirements}--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☐ Decent ☑ Fast ☐ Rich boiiiiii ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{Difficulity}--- ☐ Just press ‚A‘ ☐ Easy ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☑ Difficult (on moderate difficulty) ☐ Dark Souls ---{Grind}--- ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☑ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You‘ll need a second live for grinding ---{Story}--- ☐ Story? ☐ Text or Audio floating around ☐ Average ☐ Good ☑ It'll replace your life ---{Game Time}--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☑ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{Price}--- ☐ It’s free! ☑ Worth the price ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{Bugs}--- ☐ Never heard of ☑ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{Final Verdict}--- ☑ 8.5/10
• gamedeal user

  Apr 19, 2022

  Tales of Arise is incredibly fun but really falls short in a few places. Pros: - The combat is super fun, if a little repetitive, and has the right amount of flashiness and intricacy that I felt was promised from the trailers. Each character has a wide variety of skills and specialisations, with every one of them feeling vastly different when in the players hands. Good stuff all round. - The world is absolutely gorgeous. Every single zone is beyond pretty; even the first zone, which is very dull, still manages to have some stunning presentation. Some of the later game areas can feel a little same-y, but overall you never feel like you're in the same place twice. (Ganath Haros is beautiful, hands down the best area in the game.) - Music is very nice, combat music is an absolute treat and the overworld ambience is quite low-key but still enjoyable. One of the few games where I never bothered to turn down the volume. Cons - The monetisation is bad. Super anti-consumer. With outfits that have skill lines locked behind them (three for each character), levels, currency, and game enhancing artefacts - it really feels jarring to have a pay-for-power system in a single player RPG. - Late game areas and monsters drag. Hard. You feel it a little coming into the late game sections, but the lead up to the final boss in Rena takes about 3-4 hours and most of that time will be spent fighting the same, palette swapped mini-bosses from previous areas. This slog absolutely kills the momentum of the game and brings it down for me, as it also hurts the narrative pacing. Speaking of which.... - The story does NOT stick the landing. As basic as the story is I found it enjoyable, with a lot of nice story beats and healthy if predictable character development. The whole cast is interesting and bounce off each other quite well through the games scenes (about 300 of them, all quite fun to flick through). But. BUT. It fails to conclude in a way that doesn't feel forced. The natural end to the story felt like it took place about 4 hours prior but you get thrust into a massive, convoluted plot-line that makes a lick of sense yet tries to cram more concepts into its 4 hour runtime than the base game did in 20. This, paired with the massive combat slog, is super painful to play through and hurts the story way more than it should be allowed to. It overrides the natural conclusions of not only the main plot but the characters themselves for the sake of...I still can't tell. Not awesome. Overall I think the game is great, I got 100% on it for a reason, and the presentation is off the charts. While the narrative suffers near the end I feel like the fact its a small chunk of an otherwise fantastic game lets me forgive and forget. If you can buy the game on sale I would, its a good 30-40 hours you can spend immersed in a fun, if generic, JRPG with a beautiful combat system.
• gamedeal user

  Apr 27, 2022

  Tales of Arise is a great game but the scummy way they unlock skills behind DLCs makes me hesitate to recommend it.
• gamedeal user

  Jul 4, 2022

  ---{ Graphics }--- ☐ You forget what reality is ☑ Beautiful ☐ Good ☐ Decent ☐ Bad ☐ Don‘t look too long at it ☐ MS-DOS ---{ Gameplay }--- ☐ Very good ☑ Good ☐ It's just gameplay ☐ Mehh ☐ Watch paint dry instead ☐ Just don't ---{ Audio }--- ☐ Eargasm ☑ Very good ☐ Good ☐ Not too bad ☐ Bad ☐ I'm now deaf ---{ Audience }--- ☐ Kids ☑ Teens ☑ Adults ☐ Grandma ---{ PC Requirements }--- ☐ Check if you can run paint ☐ Potato ☑ Decent ☐ Fast ☐ Rich boi ☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer ---{ Difficulty }--- ☐ Just press 'W' ☐ Easy ☑ Easy to learn / Hard to master ☐ Significant brain usage ☐ Difficult ☐ Dark Souls ---{ Grind }--- ☐ Nothing to grind ☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks ☐ Isn't necessary to progress ☑ Average grind level ☐ Too much grind ☐ You'll need a second life for grinding ---{ Story }--- ☐ No Story ☐ Some lore ☐ Average ☑ Good ☐ Lovely ☐ It'll replace your life ---{ Game Time }--- ☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee ☐ Short ☑ Average ☐ Long ☐ To infinity and beyond ---{ Price }--- ☐ It's free! ☑ Worth the price ☐ If it's on sale ☐ If u have some spare money left ☐ Not recommended ☐ You could also just burn your money ---{ Bugs }--- ☑ Never heard of ☐ Minor bugs ☐ Can get annoying ☐ ARK: Survival Evolved ☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs ---{ ? / 10 }--- ☐ 1 ☐ 2 ☐ 3 ☐ 4 ☐ 5 ☐ 6 ☐ 7 ☑ 8 ☐ 9 ☐ 10
• gamedeal user

  Oct 17, 2022

  I'll try not to rant. Tales of Arise commits some egregious dlc no-nos and has gotten far too little flak for it. First of all, locking character abilities at all behind launch day dlc is some hot dogshit, but the fact that there is stuff as impactful as a characters only aoe heal is fucked up. This is huge and the worst dlc I've personally seen in a JRPG. Also this game has some of the strangest balancing... enemies are complete damage sponges, cash is very tight playing 'normally' without excessive grinding, and your levels are always lower and by a non-insignificant amount than the enemy's. These are issues I've never had in the history of the franchise. And what a surprise, you can just hop over to the DLC store to fix all these issues by purchasing money and xp boosts. And to top it all off, they put the DLC menu right in the camp and on your main menu and constantly find ways to give you the red "attention!" Signal on the UI for the store so it's constantly reminding you of it's presence. Honestly it's the worst DLC practices I've seen in the subgenre myself and I'm shocked only one reviewer seemed to mention it at all. The game is fantastic besides these issues imo, but I'd really recommend people avoid the game for these reasons. I've heard a lot of people excusing the practices as well - oh it's fine you're under leveled, farming dogtags gets you cash if you know what your doing, just use Shionne to heal, Tales have had xp/gald dlc before..... But the plain truth is this stepped way over a line. Never have I felt the need to penny pinch or grind levels in this series until Arise, which could just be attributed to a change in design, but when taking in the whole picture of the DLC it's hard to excuse it. Predatory dlc that's clearly effected the games design to extract money from players via low effort DLC. Straight up shameful, and really mars what would have otherwise been my favorite entry in years.
• PsymastaX

  Nov 13, 2022

  Not often you play a JRPG and get schooled on how to be a better person. Definitely got some character growth going on both in-game and out,