TALES OF ARISE TITLES SERIES

These artes represent the actions you have access to in combat, and you can equip six at the beginning of the game, eventually expanding up to twelve. No longer are characters tied to linear motion (towards the enemy and away from the enemy), as you can freely roam the battlefield destroying your enemies with artes. However, some of the historical baggage has been dropped in Tales of Arise.

Tales of has always been known for its action RPG combat, initially inspired by fighting games. CP acts as a party-wide resource that is also used to cast healing and support spells. Obstacles can be cleared with your characters’ abilities-such as smashing through boulders or absorbing flames-by spending Cure Points (CP).

Dungeons are largely straightforward but contain enough branching paths, simple puzzles, and rewards to make them interesting.

Towns are wonderfully atmospheric and often quite cozy, though unfortunately, you can’t enter many of their buildings. There are also loads of towns and dungeons to traverse. At campsites, you can cook stat-boosting meals, rest up, and watch adorable and heartwarming team-bonding scenes. There is much to be found, from cooking ingredients and crafting materials to deadly monsters and treasure chests-not to mention fishing holes and campsites. Areas are large (but not too large) and make great use of verticality, caves, and bodies of water. Wandering through Dahna’s gorgeous environments is a considerable step up from the past several Tales of games. In particular, the actor for the knightly party member Kisara gave a downright amazing performance. The voice performances are generally stellar. I usually use the Japanese voiceover when playing JRPGs, but the amount of banter during gameplay led me to play Tales of Arise in English instead, and I am glad I did. The quality of the voice acting meets the quality of the music for a strong sound design all around. The music always enhances the mood of a scene or gameplay segment.

TALES OF ARISE TITLES SERIES

Not to be outdone by the graphics, series composer Motoi Sakuraba seems revitalized: Tales of Arise is one of his best soundtracks in years. In addition, I find it a nice touch that the menu art of your party changes as you progress.Ĭyslodia is a snow-covered land where night is eternal. While there are some technical issues like texture pop-in and slow down when you get too wild with the large-scale artes, it is easy to be awed by Tales of Arise‘s sheer beauty. Superbly animated characters, wonderfully crafted settings, some killer views, and striking versions of familiar artes all make it a contender for one of the most aesthetically pleasing games I have played. Fighting your way through a series of dangerous dungeons and powerful bosses of a specific elemental persuasion is old hat for the Tales of series, but Tales of Arise adds immense flair to the concept. This focus on story arcs is reminiscent of the vignette-style storytelling in a Dragon Quest game, but on a grander scale. Before battling a region’s Lord, you learn about its people and culture, lending context to that fateful confrontation. To that end, Alphen, Shionne, and the friends they make along the way must travel to each of the world’s five regions.Įach story arc of Tales of Arise finds you exploring one of Dahna’s aforementioned regions, which each have an elemental theme. However, after Alphen obtains the power of the Blazing Sword from a Renan woman named Shionne, a clear goal forms use the blade’s power to overthrow the Renan Lords who rule Dahna. Both adults and children are enslaved to gather resources and astral energy for their technologically advanced masters, the Renan Lords. For three centuries, the people of the nearby planet Rena have oppressed Alphen’s people, the Dahnans. You, as Alphen, an amnesiac swordsman, get swept up in a growing rebel movement. Tales of Arise begins in a straightforward manner. Tales of Arise certainly shares a lot of DNA with past titles, and in many ways, borrows and expands upon their ideas, but it has a lot of exciting surprises in store too. After playing through the entire game, I don’t think they exaggerate in saying so. The past 26 years have seen many new games in Bandai Namco’s Tales of franchise, and, after the longest gap (five years) between two entries, the team behind Tales of Arise promises something special: a reinvention for the series.

Tales of arise titles