This review contains spoilers
Prefacing this with that I've not finished this game and I have no means nor any wishes to finish it. I played a good 30+ hours and got through the first half of the story, but at the turning point I just... could. Not. Keep playing.
I've played a few Tales games already and am already making my way towards playing more, but by far Arise is the absolute worst. And while my experiences with this series have generally been really positive, this one just feels... so awful.
The cons outweigh the pros, so lets start with what I liked about this game. It was... pretty. The art direction is really good, and the design of areas, monsters, and characters is something that really sticks out to me. This does however end with just looks— the music direction and story itself are very boring at best and make me livid at worst.
They had something going for it. Like... the game started off pretty bad. I didn't care for Alphen's characters and the plight that was going on in their world felt shallow and superficial. Many rpgs have gone the racism-is-bad route, and its been done well in some places, but this game definitely isn't one of them. At most, it was a backdrop for whatever story beat they added in at random next, and they never, ever tried to go deeper into it. They almost got close with Menancia, as the idea of a utopian city being built on blood, death, and deceipt is really interesting, but they ended up never going deep enough into the idea for it to truly be interesting or have any impact.
About halfway into the game, Alphen's mask breaks completely, and you find out... a lot of stuff, all at once, and it honestly feels like that is the story they wanted to tell, and the oppression aspect they had previously been running on was just for show, to get them far enough to tell the real story.
Alphen... he could have been really interesting. Sealed into an unbreakable mask with no memories of his past or even his name, unable to feel any pain, and somehow able to fight as skilled as someone who's been trained for years. But his personality is probably the flattest and most boring I've ever seen in a video game protagonist, and its incredibly disappointing that he came from the same franchise that created Luke fon Fabre. His backstory, too, is immensely interesting, but Alphen being the star of it just... sapped the joy out of everything.
Shionne, as well, could have been incredibly interesting, but again, she falls flat and nothing about her personality is interesting. If anything, she is extremely annoying, as well as many of the other protagonists (Rinwell, for example).
I've seen a lot of praise in regards to gameplay, but it also to me just felt so boring. It was annoying and frustrating, and to get any good gear at all you have to do a lot of pointless (and time-consuming) grinding. The enemies all have similar attacks, and they absorbed absolutely any damage you made, making even fights against basic and low-level enemies really taxing. I did everything I could to avoid every battle possible.
Overall, this game is just immensely disappointing and I can't find it in me to ever want to finish it, or finish it, period. It was a horrible experience through and through, and I hope I never have to play it again.
I've played a few Tales games already and am already making my way towards playing more, but by far Arise is the absolute worst. And while my experiences with this series have generally been really positive, this one just feels... so awful.
The cons outweigh the pros, so lets start with what I liked about this game. It was... pretty. The art direction is really good, and the design of areas, monsters, and characters is something that really sticks out to me. This does however end with just looks— the music direction and story itself are very boring at best and make me livid at worst.
They had something going for it. Like... the game started off pretty bad. I didn't care for Alphen's characters and the plight that was going on in their world felt shallow and superficial. Many rpgs have gone the racism-is-bad route, and its been done well in some places, but this game definitely isn't one of them. At most, it was a backdrop for whatever story beat they added in at random next, and they never, ever tried to go deeper into it. They almost got close with Menancia, as the idea of a utopian city being built on blood, death, and deceipt is really interesting, but they ended up never going deep enough into the idea for it to truly be interesting or have any impact.
About halfway into the game, Alphen's mask breaks completely, and you find out... a lot of stuff, all at once, and it honestly feels like that is the story they wanted to tell, and the oppression aspect they had previously been running on was just for show, to get them far enough to tell the real story.
Alphen... he could have been really interesting. Sealed into an unbreakable mask with no memories of his past or even his name, unable to feel any pain, and somehow able to fight as skilled as someone who's been trained for years. But his personality is probably the flattest and most boring I've ever seen in a video game protagonist, and its incredibly disappointing that he came from the same franchise that created Luke fon Fabre. His backstory, too, is immensely interesting, but Alphen being the star of it just... sapped the joy out of everything.
Shionne, as well, could have been incredibly interesting, but again, she falls flat and nothing about her personality is interesting. If anything, she is extremely annoying, as well as many of the other protagonists (Rinwell, for example).
I've seen a lot of praise in regards to gameplay, but it also to me just felt so boring. It was annoying and frustrating, and to get any good gear at all you have to do a lot of pointless (and time-consuming) grinding. The enemies all have similar attacks, and they absorbed absolutely any damage you made, making even fights against basic and low-level enemies really taxing. I did everything I could to avoid every battle possible.
Overall, this game is just immensely disappointing and I can't find it in me to ever want to finish it, or finish it, period. It was a horrible experience through and through, and I hope I never have to play it again.