Board 8 > Tales of Arise Review Zone

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://opencritic.com/game/11930/tales-of-arise/reviews

An 88 through 38 reviews so far.....that pretty much surpasses Symphonia and makes it the highest review Tales game in the entire franchise.

I'm still on Xillia 2 though so it'll be a long time before I ever get to Arise :|

GamingTrend
95 / 100
Tales of Arise is a huge leap forward for the series. Combat is incredibly fun and fluid, the story is fantastic despite a lackluster finale, and the characters are as charming as ever. It's not only one of the best Tales games, but one of the best the PS5 has to offer.

PlayStation LifeStyle
9 / 10.0
Tales of Arise is gorgeous. The lands are lush and vibrant, even those trapped in extreme weather patterns. Calaglia's arid landscape makes me thirsty and trudging through Cyslodia's tundra reminds me of long Canadian winters. Sadly this all seems to be lost when it's time to throw in some anime. The switch from game graphics to anime cutscenes is actually rather jarring and I'm not a fan. I like the anime separately as its own entity, just not within the game itself. If the coloring matched the game, sure. But it washes out all of the hard work the level design team put into the game. Pair this with just way too much going on with the artes system and you can see how, though a fantastic game, it falls just shy of hitting a perfect ten.

Noisy Pixel
9 / 10.0
Tales of Arise is the grand adventure weve been waiting for, and more, for veteran players and new fans alike. Its addictive and satisfying combat design, breathtaking narrative, gorgeous presentation, and engaging cast make it the quintessential JRPG to play. The characters met in this entry add to the growing cast of memorable personalities this series has given us, solidifying it as a true Tales title.

Easy Allies
8.5 / 10.0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuyiu062Hwc

Destructoid
8.5 / 10.0
Whether this is the big Tales breakthrough or not is a matter that history will decide. This is a Tales game that hits the right spots for me, puts a lot of love into its cast and its action, and somehow manages to strike a balance between the old and the new.

Worth Playing
8 / 10.0
Tales of Arise is a Tales game through and through. It's polished and consistently enjoyable, and it features an excellent combat system. The story and characters are not particularly ambitious or distinct, but they give you a fun world to explore for the 40+ hour runtime. In an era where "safe" JRPGs are uncommon, it's nice to have one that does exactly what it promises. It's not the best or worst of the series, but it is a darn fun Tales title that lives up to the franchise's name.

GameSpot
7 / 10
Tales of Arise is a lengthy, beautiful RPG adventure, but has messy combat and uneven pacing on occasion.

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Definitely looking forward to that unlock!

Need to figure out exactly what time that is. Hopefully midnight est but something tells me no.

I however am NOT liking this trend that these reviews are calling it a return to form or finally turning over a new leaf. Berseria was structurally not a departure from the last decade of releases before it, but it certainly was in terms of everything else. I feel like the updated visuals are causing these reviewers to sweep Berseria under the rug.

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Cool. Now to wait for it to hit $20

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plasmabeam posted...

Cool. Now to wait for it to hit $20

You mean $7.50.

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and here I am watching all the OPs again

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvn-PplByos

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I wish I was excited for this game, but I just cant get past the character designs. Looks so good otherwise!

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The lowest review so far, Gamespot's 7, seems to majorly factor in the existence of the DLC consumables in it's lower score. Not saying it isn't a valid complaint, but wanted to make known it seems to be the sticking point of the only score below an 8.

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JackMan posted...

I wish I was excited for this game, but I just cant get past the character designs. Looks so good otherwise!

I've seen quite a few costumes that look like completely viable alternate character designs that look a lot better. I won't disagree that the defaults for Alphen and Shiom don't do it for me.

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Wow, that's higher than I thought! I wonder how Tales diehards will find it, though.

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JackMan posted...

I wish I was excited for this game, but I just cant get past the character designs. Looks so good otherwise!

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. The cast looks like the most bland, boring, generic adventurers I've ever seen, good lord.

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Almost all of the reviews talk about how good the cast dynamic and characters are...we'll see, as it's something I've worried about too.

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User SaveEstelle says the cast is good

And it has fishing

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Zigzagoon posted...

Pretty much my thoughts exactly. The cast looks like the most bland, boring, generic adventurers I've ever seen, good lord.

Berseria's characters look really bland and boring on paper too though, so here's hoping

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I'm hearing wildly different answers regarding playtime. People claiming they did most of the content saying anywhere from 40 to 75 hours.

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I hope this keeps its lead over Symphonia for highest reviewed (unless it actually sucks).

I really loved Symphonia at the time, but boy does it not deserve to be the highest rated Tales game.

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Yes it does :(

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They should just start numbering them at this point call the next one Tales of 18

Rated AO

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Symphonia's reputation is deserved

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Must play now

And I always laugh that Symphonia Dawn of the New World isn't included in the mainline series while other direct sequels like Destiny 2 and Xillia 2 are.

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It's that bad

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I've made 3 attempts to replay Symphonia and the combat just makes it impossible for me nowadays.

But AT THE TIME, I mean yeah, I beat that game in 3 days for a reason during my vacation in highschool. I bull rushed it so hard I didn't even learn what CC was until after I beat it.

But it's just super hard to go back to. The line system feels so bad to play.

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ninkendo posted...

And I always laugh that Symphonia Dawn of the New World isn't included in the mainline series while other direct sequels like Destiny 2 and Xillia 2 are.

Waggle invalidates cannonicity.

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there's at least 5 tales games that are better than symphonia

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Is there any other series as reliable as Tales when it comes to all B8 topics inevitably turning into discussions about all the other entries?

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NBIceman posted...

Is there any other series as reliable as Tales when it comes to all B8 topics inevitably turning into discussions about all the other entries?

Ace Attorney

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NBIceman posted...

Is there any other series as reliable as Tales when it comes to all B8 topics inevitably turning into discussions about all the other entries?

danganronpa, but there's only three. every topic turns into a waifu ranking though

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Well to be fair the game this topic is relevant too still isn't out for another 25 hours!

Ranking Tales games is inevitable in all Tales topics,the only thing more likely to happen is people arguing about Tales of the Abyss' story.

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ninkendo posted...

And I always laugh that Symphonia Dawn of the New World isn't included in the mainline series while other direct sequels like Destiny 2 and Xillia 2 are.

Dawn of the New World doesn't even exist for me.

I refuse to acknowledge it's existence as Symphonia's sequel.

UshiromiyaEva posted...

Well to be fair the game this topic is relevant too still isn't out for another 25 hours!

Ranking Tales games is inevitable in all Tales topics,the only thing more likely to happen is people arguing about Tales of the Abyss' story.

What about the same three people mentioning that Berseria is underrated?

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

Waggle invalidates cannonicity.

But none of that was in the hd remaster!

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ninkendo posted...

But none of that was in the hd remaster!

Real talk, I'm willing to bet actual money that over 70% of people who bought that pack didn't boot up DotNW once.

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oh is it ranking time

Abyss > Berseria > Symphonia > Vesperia > Zestiria > Legendia > Hearts > haven't played the rest

I'm optimistic about arise let's see where it ends up
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KamikazePotato posted...

What about the same three people mentioning that Berseria is underrated?

...Berseria is underrated? Who says that? Tales fans wildly accept Berseria is one of if not the best game in the franchise.

UnderPLAYED, sure. Zesteria hurt that game's sales a lot! Thank God for word of mouth.

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Abyss = Berseria > Vesperia > Graces > Symphonia > Xillia > Zesteria

Only ranking ones I've finished. I have decided to give up on deciding between the first two.

Xillia 2 I...really tried, but after 20 hours it was just too boring. Great combat was not worth the rest of it.

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Haven't you said in previous topics that you didn't even play Zestiria? Or was that someone else who was shitting on that game?

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I documented my entire playthrough of Zesteria years ago.

If anyone remembers that thing, I had a very specific moment where everything started falling apart! I was very vocal, many all caps sentences were used!

I may in fact he this board's most vocal Zesteria hater, but oddly enough I think of the people (almost everyone) who hates it, I probably gave it the highest benefit of the doubt for a the first half or so of the game. I really wasn't having any problem all until the bad times began.

But to answer your question, I don't recall anybody shitting on the game who hadn't played it any any past Tales topics, and I think I've been in all of them.

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More Luke fon Fabre plz

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NBIceman posted...

Is there any other series as reliable as Tales when it comes to all B8 topics inevitably turning into discussions about all the other entries?

I mean the opening post already laid the groundwork for this!

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Are Tales games usually pretty good PC ports?

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I have only seen mention of two potential issues with the PC version: Xbox controller support issues (have only seen this mentioned once so may have been a bug), and....one guy said there was no way to exit the game? Said he searched throughout his entire playthrough and just had to Alt+Tab out every time.

Other than that, seems to be A-OK on PC.

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Alright, I guess I'll participate.

Abyss > Berseria > Xillia 2 > Graces > Vesperia > Xillia > Symphonia > Hearts > Eternia > Destiny > Legendia > Phantasia > Dawn of the New World > Being kicked in the crotch repeatedly and rapidly for 40 hours >>>>>>>>>> Zestiria

And also, yeah, I've never seen anyone say Berseria is underrated. It's neck-and-neck with Symphonia for the most widely liked game in the series at this point.

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Honestly, I think most of strong feelings I have for the series have waned over the years. Used to adore Symphonia and really like Vesperia and Graces, but those three have taken a tum downwards, especially Vesperia. This goes the other way too - as fun as it is to get into Abyss discussions I don't actually dislike the game quite as severely as I used to. I think part of this is me getting older and part of it is the uneven quality of the series in general. Still love Berseria but that feels more like an outlier than anything else at this point.

Looking forward to Arise - hopefully it manages to modernize the series a bit. I know that's probably a point of contention among hardcore fans, but the series REALLY has places it could improve on imo.

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Playing Vesperia HD was disheartening. It's still a damn fine game, but there's some serious rose colored glasses there. It's not in the running for best Tales, much less GoaT game material like it used to be in my head.

That middle chunk of the game is still very good, though.

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I will maintain until the day I die that Vesperia Definitive suffers more than anyone realizes by making Patty and Flynn party members. That game had its problems even on the 360, but those two additions exaggerated them and just made the whole thing feel less cohesive.

Anyway, on the subject of Arise modernizing the series, I definitely don't consider myself a purist that resists change in basically any media I enjoy, so I'm on board with Tales trying a fresh coat of paint, especially since it's being done in the name of trying to reach a wider audience. And, though I've only played the demo through once, everything they've done suits me just fine, with the lone exception being that I really, really dislike the new combat HUD. Maybe I'll get used to that, though.

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*sees the game has a second OP on YouTube*

ALRIGHT BACKING OFF, TAKING NO MORE RISKS HERE.

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I didn't get to play the demo but I did see a little bit of it on video and overworld exploration almost gave me a DQ11 feel to it?

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Haven't played Definitive Edition, but the idea of Flynn being a playable character has always really bugged me. That feels like diluting the purpose of Yuri's character arc for the sake of fanservice.

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Update we're at an 87 through 69 reviews

Nice

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Nice

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