addove
I'm going to start this review by stating my entire opinion on this game in a single sentence: This game would be great... if Breath of the Wild didn't exist.
It all comes down to Breath of the Wild, in the end. I believe BotW really did revolutionize a lot of things, and it's clear when you look at the complete gameplay shift in the video game medium as a whole that came about after its release. It was not a perfect game, by any means, but it was genuinely good, and there is a reason it's so widely known and praised. I myself have hundreds of hours put into that game and have played it multiple times. But, in the end, it is still flawed, and in all honesty, its existence has made its own sequel a worse game.
I won't be going into details, but if you would like to avoid any spoilers, regardless of how small, now would be the time to leave.
The easiest example I can think of for that is that Tears of the Kingdom has had nearly everything from the first game wiped completely clean. There is not a single mention of the Calamity that poisoned Hyrule for an entire century, save in a single side quest. There is little to no mention of the Champions outside of area names, or item descriptions. I honestly don't mind the slight discrepancies with food items or enemies— that's what the suspension of disbelief is for. But the world that is set up in Tears of the Kingdom feels like an entirely different one than from Breath of the Wild. A world where the Calamity never happened, so there is no need to mention it.
This eventually makes the gameplay lag as well. Because it's an open world, and because it is set in the same world as the previous game, exploration and the like can get a bit slow. You're essentially doing the exact same thing you did in Breath of the Wild: clear the shrines, clear the temples, and defeat Ganon. I think Tears of the Kingdom is a lot better of an experience than Breath of the Wild for many reasons, but if you're asking yourself if you have to play the first game to understand the first... the answer is a disappointing no.
The things they did add, however, either make or break the gameplay for me. There were a lot of new places to explore, for example, and the way they set up more puzzles to get to shrines was an experience I really did enjoy! The challenge of getting to each sky island was fun, and I honestly think I enjoy the shrines in this game a lot more than I did the first. There are many new quests I enjoyed a lot (especially the ones in the 'side stories' tab, shoutout to Penn) and the cave systems were so much fun to explore. But... in some cases, I believe there was too much to explore. Which leads me to the depths.
The Depths just feels like a missed opportunity, to me. There is no lore to find, or any special items (that are useful!). There are no unique enemies, no unique weapons or drops. It really is just a very, very long and very empty space with little to do and little to find. There isn't even any special music— just a single power-up that I have used very rarely. It was honestly just a big disappointment, and that's coming from someone who finished the entire map and each of it's quests.
The main story, too, is largely flawed, but I think enjoyable. I won't go into spoilers, but I believe this game relying on the "memory" function to view story-related cutscenes was a very large and obvious crutch that ended up hurting the game more than it did anything else. That was a mechanic that worked in Breath of the Wild because they weren't telling us any information we didn't know, but in Tears of the Kingdom they were. It made me feel like an outsider to the story I was meant to experience. It also felt like they bit more than they could chew, telling a story that was so big in so few parts, so it ended up feeling like it was missing a lot. It is a step up from what they did in Breath of the Wild in many ways, but I also believe it is a very big step down as well.
Even with all of that, I still very, very much prefer Tears of the Kingdom over Breath of the Wild. Its gameplay is a lot more fun, and the combat feels much more active. Its characters are so enjoyable, and I had much more fun playing this game than I did Breath of the Wild. It's less empty than the first game, and it feels much more like how an open world should— full of things to collect, explore, and do. It really, really would be a great game, if it weren't for the existence of Breath of the Wild. The title of "sequel" brings it down in so many ways, and a lot of what I saw in this game I've already seen. Not exactly a good thing for an open-world game. Whereas I could play Breath of the Wild for hours on end, for days on end, I got very burnt out of Tears of the Kingdom very quickly. It's easy to say that I won't be excited for another open-world Zelda any time soon.
It all comes down to Breath of the Wild, in the end. I believe BotW really did revolutionize a lot of things, and it's clear when you look at the complete gameplay shift in the video game medium as a whole that came about after its release. It was not a perfect game, by any means, but it was genuinely good, and there is a reason it's so widely known and praised. I myself have hundreds of hours put into that game and have played it multiple times. But, in the end, it is still flawed, and in all honesty, its existence has made its own sequel a worse game.
I won't be going into details, but if you would like to avoid any spoilers, regardless of how small, now would be the time to leave.
The easiest example I can think of for that is that Tears of the Kingdom has had nearly everything from the first game wiped completely clean. There is not a single mention of the Calamity that poisoned Hyrule for an entire century, save in a single side quest. There is little to no mention of the Champions outside of area names, or item descriptions. I honestly don't mind the slight discrepancies with food items or enemies— that's what the suspension of disbelief is for. But the world that is set up in Tears of the Kingdom feels like an entirely different one than from Breath of the Wild. A world where the Calamity never happened, so there is no need to mention it.
This eventually makes the gameplay lag as well. Because it's an open world, and because it is set in the same world as the previous game, exploration and the like can get a bit slow. You're essentially doing the exact same thing you did in Breath of the Wild: clear the shrines, clear the temples, and defeat Ganon. I think Tears of the Kingdom is a lot better of an experience than Breath of the Wild for many reasons, but if you're asking yourself if you have to play the first game to understand the first... the answer is a disappointing no.
The things they did add, however, either make or break the gameplay for me. There were a lot of new places to explore, for example, and the way they set up more puzzles to get to shrines was an experience I really did enjoy! The challenge of getting to each sky island was fun, and I honestly think I enjoy the shrines in this game a lot more than I did the first. There are many new quests I enjoyed a lot (especially the ones in the 'side stories' tab, shoutout to Penn) and the cave systems were so much fun to explore. But... in some cases, I believe there was too much to explore. Which leads me to the depths.
The Depths just feels like a missed opportunity, to me. There is no lore to find, or any special items (that are useful!). There are no unique enemies, no unique weapons or drops. It really is just a very, very long and very empty space with little to do and little to find. There isn't even any special music— just a single power-up that I have used very rarely. It was honestly just a big disappointment, and that's coming from someone who finished the entire map and each of it's quests.
The main story, too, is largely flawed, but I think enjoyable. I won't go into spoilers, but I believe this game relying on the "memory" function to view story-related cutscenes was a very large and obvious crutch that ended up hurting the game more than it did anything else. That was a mechanic that worked in Breath of the Wild because they weren't telling us any information we didn't know, but in Tears of the Kingdom they were. It made me feel like an outsider to the story I was meant to experience. It also felt like they bit more than they could chew, telling a story that was so big in so few parts, so it ended up feeling like it was missing a lot. It is a step up from what they did in Breath of the Wild in many ways, but I also believe it is a very big step down as well.
Even with all of that, I still very, very much prefer Tears of the Kingdom over Breath of the Wild. Its gameplay is a lot more fun, and the combat feels much more active. Its characters are so enjoyable, and I had much more fun playing this game than I did Breath of the Wild. It's less empty than the first game, and it feels much more like how an open world should— full of things to collect, explore, and do. It really, really would be a great game, if it weren't for the existence of Breath of the Wild. The title of "sequel" brings it down in so many ways, and a lot of what I saw in this game I've already seen. Not exactly a good thing for an open-world game. Whereas I could play Breath of the Wild for hours on end, for days on end, I got very burnt out of Tears of the Kingdom very quickly. It's easy to say that I won't be excited for another open-world Zelda any time soon.
2021
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.
2011
I have so much to say about this game, but I think I'll summarize my thoughts here & I'll make sure to keep spoilers out of it. Here goes;
This game is absolutely phenomenal. In regards to the easier things, the gameplay is really easy to get behind and get used to, and I didn't have much trouble, if any, during the game. Sometimes it was hard to know where I was supposed to go, and it's easy to get lost on the world map in the early parts of the game, but I think those things are easy to get around, especially once you get used to it. Fights were fun, a mix of old-style rpg fighting & free style, which I really enjoyed.
In regards to story... I don't know what I'm supposed to say or how I'm supposed to say it. I absolutely loved the characters, and I don't think any of them felt static in any regard. Every party member (and even the antagonists!) had separate character arcs and, though some of them were short and could have been explored more, felt satisfying and I really enjoyed getting to know each and every one of them.
...yes, this does include Luke. At the beginning of the game he is horrible, snotty, and a Grade-A Asshole, in all honesty, but I still found myself loving that part of him. He was earnest and kind in unexpected ways, and he was someone I could relate to even at his worst. Emphasis on "worst," because he gets better. So much better. If you stopped playing because you couldn't stand Luke... trust me when I say he is one of my favorite characters in any video game ever. I cannot explain how much him and his character arc means to me.
The plot itself feels as though it goes a little quick at some places, but I definitely loved it all the same. It felt like I could never put it down— I just wanted to see what happened next at every single turn. The symbolism and the themes are just so.... they're so good. I love this game a lot, and I can't recommend it enough.
This game is absolutely phenomenal. In regards to the easier things, the gameplay is really easy to get behind and get used to, and I didn't have much trouble, if any, during the game. Sometimes it was hard to know where I was supposed to go, and it's easy to get lost on the world map in the early parts of the game, but I think those things are easy to get around, especially once you get used to it. Fights were fun, a mix of old-style rpg fighting & free style, which I really enjoyed.
In regards to story... I don't know what I'm supposed to say or how I'm supposed to say it. I absolutely loved the characters, and I don't think any of them felt static in any regard. Every party member (and even the antagonists!) had separate character arcs and, though some of them were short and could have been explored more, felt satisfying and I really enjoyed getting to know each and every one of them.
...yes, this does include Luke. At the beginning of the game he is horrible, snotty, and a Grade-A Asshole, in all honesty, but I still found myself loving that part of him. He was earnest and kind in unexpected ways, and he was someone I could relate to even at his worst. Emphasis on "worst," because he gets better. So much better. If you stopped playing because you couldn't stand Luke... trust me when I say he is one of my favorite characters in any video game ever. I cannot explain how much him and his character arc means to me.
The plot itself feels as though it goes a little quick at some places, but I definitely loved it all the same. It felt like I could never put it down— I just wanted to see what happened next at every single turn. The symbolism and the themes are just so.... they're so good. I love this game a lot, and I can't recommend it enough.