'Tales of Arise' is the second 'Tales' game I’ve played, with a much older installment, 'Tales of Symphonia' being the first, so that’s the only one in the franchise I can compare 'Arise' to. That said, I am, by no means, a newcomer to the JRPG genre, I’ve had my fair share of great and mediocre titles, and with all that experience behind me, I’m confident to give a huge thumbs up in this review.
As with most JRPGs, Arise has a very engaging story and great characters, no question about it. Sure, veteran gamers will probably see some of the plot twists coming from very early on, but I think even they will be surprised once or twice by the time they reach the end. I think it’s cool how the writers managed to adapt to current times while maintaining the fantasy setting.
The combat mechanics aren’t perfect, but I’ve never been a huge fan of active battle systems in general, so don’t take my word for it. Some of the attacks look truly spectacular, though, I have to admit that. All in all, visuals, accessibility, music and voice acting are all excellent in my opinion, and the difficulty is just right, too – the main campaign is not super hard, but some optional bosses and quests are still quite challenging (and, of course, you can always replay the whole thing with a higher difficulty setting).
I, for one, would have loved if the developers had been just a little bit braver, maybe experimenting a little here and there instead of always sticking to the traditional, well-known formula, or making the story less linear… or maybe I’m just in a very nitpicky mood today.
To sum up, there’s hardly anything that 'Arise' does wrong, and I completely understand people who call this entry the new gold standard of JRPGs. Give it a try!
As with most JRPGs, Arise has a very engaging story and great characters, no question about it. Sure, veteran gamers will probably see some of the plot twists coming from very early on, but I think even they will be surprised once or twice by the time they reach the end. I think it’s cool how the writers managed to adapt to current times while maintaining the fantasy setting.
The combat mechanics aren’t perfect, but I’ve never been a huge fan of active battle systems in general, so don’t take my word for it. Some of the attacks look truly spectacular, though, I have to admit that. All in all, visuals, accessibility, music and voice acting are all excellent in my opinion, and the difficulty is just right, too – the main campaign is not super hard, but some optional bosses and quests are still quite challenging (and, of course, you can always replay the whole thing with a higher difficulty setting).
I, for one, would have loved if the developers had been just a little bit braver, maybe experimenting a little here and there instead of always sticking to the traditional, well-known formula, or making the story less linear… or maybe I’m just in a very nitpicky mood today.
To sum up, there’s hardly anything that 'Arise' does wrong, and I completely understand people who call this entry the new gold standard of JRPGs. Give it a try!