Board 8 > Tales of Arise Review Zone

(+) Yeah! (+)

RikkuAlmighty posted...

9 hours in and I'm still not sure if Shionne's default costume is overdesigned and stupid or really good.

It's a little too fluffy for me. But I've been using the red one with glasses and really dig that look. But once I got Kisara, she's no long my run around character.

---

Yeah Noble Scarlet is preferable for sure. If you put Lailah and Shionne next to each other I can 'Highlights magazine/spot the differences," but they're still too similar imo. I think the tiara is pretty dumb too, so I usually take that off.

Color me surprised when the big story behind Alphen getting his armor is that he saw it and thought it looked cool. Was expecting a bit more than that! I'm sure the background behind it will come back in the plot though.

---

I grew used to every outfit that I though looked awful in the previews, except Law's dumb Lion but he gets alts without it.

The only visual issue I have with the game is the barbie pose for all the girls. You can honestly tell they gave everyone of them default poof/armor around the hips to make it look less wierd, but when you use other outfits it's blatantly off putting.

That's actually another related issue: due to the improved graphics, wacky outfits look way more off in general.

---

yeah the barbie pose is really just lazy/gross honestly

another small thing: I also don't like how some chests just disappear with a ding while others are worthy of getting full chest-opening animations. I don't understand?

---

Menji posted...

It's a little too fluffy for me. But I've been using the red one with glasses and really dig that look. But once I got Kisara, she's no long my run around character.

Ya i gave her the pinkish one that looks a bit better. But also my field character is rinwell for now. Will be Kisara whenever i get to her.

---

colliding posted...

yeah the barbie pose is really just lazy/gross honestly

another small thing: I also don't like how some chests just disappear with a ding while others are worthy of getting full chest-opening animations. I don't understand?

I think all those instant chests are cooking items.

---

Anyone have any idea how to make that final dungeon easier to manage on resources?

I got tired of HP sponge enemies that kept draining me of CP that I'm dropping it down to Story mode just to get it over with.

---

Shadow Dino posted...

Anyone have any idea how to make that final dungeon easier to manage on resources?

I got tired of HP sponge enemies that kept draining me of CP that I'm dropping it down to Story mode just to get it over with.

You can run from every forced battle and the enemy dissapears, lol.

Bit of an oversight.

---

So if I'm about to take down the lord in the 4th realm, how far am I into the game percentage-wise, you'd guess?

---

For main scenario? Half.

---

Ok cool. I'm only 16 or so hours in.

Also, "main scenario"?

---

I mean just not doing any sidequests.

I was doing every sidequest and reached that point about 20ish hours in.

Obviously way more optional content later, but I think if you're only doing the main game and no sidequests it can be between 35-45 hours.

---

Rolled credits.

Overall a very good game, with some flaws that are annoying, but don't make it unplayable.

On to the post-game!

---

Spoilers for most of the way through the story in the 2nd area (Cysloden)

Man this guy from the beginning was obviously gunning for the world record Any% Betray the Main Party speedrun and he did not disappoint. Really just flawless execution on his part.
---

Can't lie, this is shaping up to be my second favorite Tales game since Vesperia (aka the only one I finished) which kinda makes me want to give Xillia 1 and 2 plus Beseria another chance. Graces f and Zestria can fuck off.

---

In terms of sheer quality and polish, this game trounces everything else to come out since Vesperia. I love most of those games to bits but they all obviously suffer from being rushed, having a shoestring budget, or both.

---

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-6aV3c4VUQ

---

I'm at Lenegis. I believe this is the end of the game or close to it.

Holy shit these are a LOT of scenes. It is getting a bit redundant walking a few steps - scene - 3 or so skits - repeat.

I think I've been playing too much today because some of those scenes are really losing my attention with how dialogue heavy and beating around the bush they are.

Roll the credits! Hell of a game. Will likely have a long series of thoughts to post tomorrow once I've slept and processed everything. I love the Tales series.

Finally a happy ending. Been such a long damn time.

---

Endgame is leaving a really bad taste in my mouth so far. For reference I just started the final area of the game.

I thought I was just tired last night but the game literally turned into a 9:1 ratio of Story to Gameplay for all the wrong reasons.
The game since acquiring the starship has been simply, walking a few steps. Scene. Few more steps. Skit. 3 more optional skits. Walk few more steps. Scene. Rinse and repeat for about like 4+ hours. And most of those scenes contain dialogue of very little substance. Most of it is reiterating things that have been drilled to your brain at this point. No comic relief or lightening the mood skits like previous games either. Just straight talking about the same plot elements already explained thoroughly in just a scene before.

I really liked the game and thought it could be a contender for one of the best Tales of game but this has really taken the wind off it's sails.

Tales of Arise beated!

The Ending was really good.

Onto the optional content that I couldn't tackle because of being under-leveled and the post-game content.

Gonna post my thoughts after I 100% the game.

There is definitely a huge, enormous chunk of exposition that just isn't very entertaining towards the end.

It's helped a lot if you mix it/preceded it with all the casual sidequests you can do after the last dungeon unlocks, because there's quite a bit of lighthearted humor in those, even if it is tonaly off putting with the moment.

---

The main problem I had with the plot exposition towards the end is not so much the exposition itself but the delivery. I think the overall story is solid.

It is just a bit jarring to have a 10 minute scene explaining everything in crystal clear detail and then the very next moment you get like 3 skits trying to drill the same thing you just heard with characters literally repeating the same lines again.

All that wouldn't have been as bad if Lenegis wasn't such a small area where you literally get a scene every few steps and then the forced backtracking of course. I really feel like the last two areas could have been handled much better from a gameplay standpoint. Speaking of, the final dungeon was not good either. I was really disappointed how it was just so boring in the most unimaginative way.

I have a lot of good things to say about the game too though which I'll elaborate upon once I'm done with everything.

Symphonia > Vesperia > Berseria > Abyss > Phantasia > Xillia > Graces f > Destiny > Eternia > Legendia

All the Tales games I've beat so far. Couldn't stomach Symphonia 2 and Xillia 2. Didn't even bother with Zestiria after how boring the start was and heard from people that the start is actually the best part.

Arise will be ranked soon.

I have Hearts R as well but haven't given it a shot yet. I think I lost the desire to play a Tales game after playing Zestiria and only played Berseria because I heard good things about it.

Arise would have to shit the bed really hard to lose out to Berseria as my favorite. If the final dungeon is really that bad, it might....but I dunno.

Strong characters and motivation and "Have we ever been nice" edgy presentation versus "This game is fucking gorgeous and puts every other Tales game in the dust"

Every other Tales was kinda bleh.

---

Axl_Rose_85 posted...

Speaking of, the final dungeon was not good either. I was really disappointed how it was just so boring in the most unimaginative way.

Honestly I will take a "straight line" over an existential nightmare like Berseria's.

I don't think any Tales final dungeon is better than Abyss, but Tales final dungeons are typically not good in general.

---

JRPG final dungeons are typically not very good in general.

---

KamikazePotato posted...

JRPG final dungeons are typically not very good in general.

I mean yeah good point. They either make it way to hard (usually too annoying rather than hard), or way too easy (Xillia basically doesn't even have one)

It's like the devs feel the need to make it stand out because it's the last one. Like, yeah, go AL out on the PRESENTATION, sure, but don't make it absolutely crazy to progress in for the hell of it.

Nothing worse than completely random teleporters all over the place...god Berseria's final dungeon is so bad.

---

KamikazePotato posted...

JRPG final dungeons are typically not very good in general.

The FFVIII fan has entered the chat

---

Ultimecia's Castle best final dungeon fight me

---

Eldrant is definitely the peak Tales final dungeon, but I'll go to bat for Tarqaron from Vesperia any day of the week as well for a really solid one.

---

Also, no final dungeon can be worse than FFIII....nothing

---

Beat FFIII like a month ago without save states, will confirm.

---

Strife2 posted...

Ultimecia's Castle best final dungeon fight me

Darn right

---

KamikazePotato posted...

JRPG final dungeons are typically not very good in general.

Yeah, Persona 5 Royal would like to have a word with that.

Also Ultimecia's Castle is outright one of the best dungeons in JRPGs period not just final dungeons.

Strife2 posted...

Also, no final dungeon can be worse than FFIII....nothing

Phantasy Star II

Axl_Rose_85 posted...

Phantasy Star II

No problem, as long as you had Shir steal the item that lets you save anywhere!

---

Este Luvah as a stopping point for now.

---

I did not like Ultimecia's Castle. Without the ability to turn off random encounters entirely, I never would've beaten FF8.

For JRPGs, final dungeons that are simple are almost always better than complicated ones. Quit padding the game when the climax of the story is 10 feet away, locked behind a puzzle door.

---

I mean you can go straight to the last boss fight in Ultimecia's Castle if you want, nothing simpler than that

---

That music though...

---

So, my overall thoughts, since this is in fact a review thread of sorts

First of all, the headline: Pretty solidly my third-favorite game in the series. Definitely not as good as Abyss, because if it was itd be the greatest game of all time, but it slots in just below Berseria for me, supplanting Xillia 2 in that top three. You can tell from that little ranking that I tend to favor the Tales games that get a little risky with their storytelling, which is a point Ill come back to later.

Namcos obviously making a concerted effort to move the series forward after a long period where it had definitely stagnated in some ways, and I applaud them for getting out of their comfort zone like that. I think they did a pretty dang good job with the aspects that received that sort of focus.

Gameplay: I played as Alphen on Moderate difficulty all through the game, so thatll be the basis of these takes. Definitely a step in the right direction after the putrid weakness system that defined Zestiria and Berseria (the latter of which I did at least mostly enjoy, but was still too button-mashy). Ive seen some people complain about the lack of stagger on bosses, and there was a point in the midgame that I agreed with them (the second and third lords, specifically), but as I got more used to the combat flow and settled on an artes lineup I was happy with, I never found it to be that much of a problem. Thought most boss fights were quite fun, really. I like the concept of triggering the other characters special abilities when needed but I feel like theres room to inject a little more creativity into it. I was a little worried the Boost Strikes would get tiring and invasive but they really never did. Graces is still the Tales combat king but this is a skeleton I wouldnt mind seeing more of going forward.

As far as other gameplay stuff Equipment management was kinda whatever, still wish theyd bring back Vesperias but at least it wasnt Zestys, which kinda crosses over into my thoughts on the title/skill system as well. I like the idea of CP, especially since it had to be used in conjunction with overworld explanation, but I think it needs a little more balancing, which would probably be improved with more interesting dungeon design as well. Speaking of dungeons They still suck. They look beautiful, for sure, which is in itself a massive improvement over the last few entries, but I sure miss the days of the Holy Trinity where they actually had puzzles. Imagine if, instead of just having to weigh the CP cost needed for an obstacle against the value of the equipment chest you can see on the other side (which is already a fine enough idea), it had some uses in solving puzzles as well?

Game looks gorgeous pretty much all around, as I touched on a second ago and which was clearly a point of emphasis. Everything from Elde Menancia on is stunning visually, and the stuff before that has some scattered standouts of its own. I think Im the only person in the world who has no strong opinion either way on the new skit presentation, and while I really miss the classic Tales HUD with character faces at the bottom and all, I got used to the new version and I understand why the change was made. Lack of victory quotes is kind of a bummer, but the dirty secret no one wants to acknowledge is that those really havent been that great since Graces anyway. The music is nice, too, although I admittedly expected a little more given that I tend to like Sakuraba more than most folks and Id been hearing that this was his best work on the series in some time.

---

The thing about the presentation being the thing that got the biggest upgrade with Arise, though, is that its the least important thing to me in a JRPG, which leads me into talking about the most important things: story/characters/etc. Ill save the majority of my character takes for my eventual ranking topic update (and because I still have some side content), but I quite liked the cast even if Magilous Menagerie was always gonna be a very tough act to follow.

The plot is the really interesting part. I get the impression that, because of all the focus being put into updating the series to modern standards in other ways, there was a conscious choice made to play it a little safe with the story. They kinda played all the Tales hits. Two worlds with one sapping energy from the other? Check. Discrimination between races? Check. Amnesia? Oh, yeah. Hell, one of the big pieces of lore in Hearts R had to do with a princess in a forest of thorns, and I think youd be hard pressed to find a better description for Shionne. And its all executed quite well - I never even had the problem with the pacing that some others have considering I was always gallivanting off to do something else when given the opportunity - but it makes for an experience thats comparatively less memorable than the peaks of the series where things got a little wilder. Huge shout-out for the actual happy ending, though - maybe the happiest in the whole series, even, depending on your interpretation of Abysss. The bittersweet thing had started to become almost as much of a Tales staple as traitor characters, so its nice to get a bit of a departure. Im even willing to forgive that the resolution was a little silly and out of nowhere, because otherwise I think the ending that was being teased wouldve been among the worst Ive ever seen in a game.

I could probably go on, but thats all the big stuff. Not a perfect game, but a top 3 entry into my all-time favorite series says a lot, and the only reason its not #2 is that Berseria lands with me thematically much more. Makes me very excited for the future of the series; once Namco feels more comfortable with this new direction and decides to really spread their wings, they could put out something special again before too long.

Oh, yeah, and Hootle is the new best mascot character.

---

Hootle rules.

We have the same top 3 it seems, though for you it appear to be Abyss>>Berseria>Arise, and for me it's Abyss> Berseria>>Arise.

I'm curious if you had the same panic moment as me. Shortly before leaving the 5th lords area you had been locked in, you get a seemingly very important scene where the woman burns her son's body, and Alphen gives a speech...and it's all unvoiced, even though it really feels like it should be. You then proceed to get the implication you're backtracking to an old area. You then go through what is easily the laziest dungeon in a game both visually and from a map layout. I was kind of terrified we were looking at a Zesteria style budget collapse.

---

So....Fourth Lord, kinda awesome but um...just no. That was both a dumb and awesome scene. Law, don't fucking stop Rinwell. I get why you'd think that'd be stupid to do, but I don't want to fight a boss when I could just kill her now.

---

OK, seriously, when is the game going to let me have more than three artes. Or am I missing something. Still in the third area.

---

colliding posted...

OK, seriously, when is the game going to let me have more than three artes. Or am I missing something. Still in the third area.

Right after the third area, literally the next map screen.

---