(Shelved for now, ~32hrs in, just beat Almeidrea/Mahag Saar)
I went into this game with an open mind - considering how divisive this game is and how much discourse I've watched from the sidelines over the years, I went into this very interested in finally experiencing this thing and seeing what I'd think about it myself.
turns out I came out on the side that frankly has a very low opinion of this thing.
I could go into a lot of detail with my gripes with the game's writing and pacing but I don't think I have that much new to add that probably hasn't been expressed by this site and many other RPG circles at large already. Arise's writing is just so abrupt, lacking momentum, lacking committment, and is just generally very shallow when it tries to say things. and even when it's not trying to be serious I just could not get invested in nearly everything about its plot, pacing and world. prologue was boring. the first 2 proper chapters had some of the most eyerolling twists and while I liked certain developments in the middle of the ch.3/the Mahag Saar chapter, the final scenes in that chapter just go back to being so stock and predictable and that's when I stopped caring to invest my time into this and shelve the game for now. Dohalim has probably the most interesting character story so far, but even then it feels like there's such an inorganic buildup to his climactic beats (and that's almost certainly the case with Law/Zephyr in Ch.1). and honestly I don't even mind most of the cast, they're likeable enough and I've enjoyed the skits overall so far. if the main party writing was a miss then god that would be utterly embarrasing considering this series' high standards and how mid every other aspect of the writing in Arise is. but thankfully our main cast is still good. not as attached to them as previous Tales casts, but I get something to love out of most of them. besides Alphen - I just get absolutely nothing out of him :). not gonna comment on the main villain since I haven't seen much of him yet. but I'll just put it out there, it's a shounen/JRPG sin to have both your main lead and main villain be boring - no matter how good or mid the rest of the supporting cast is.
while the core player-side combat systems are fun and fine, the boss fights (the most important gameplay thing in ARPGs to many people including myself) I've experienced so far were so utterly unsatisfying with how they barely ever stagger. since I'm only on Normal and I haven't tried experimenting as much as I did (and loved doing) with Vesperia, I'm not gonna pretend I have that much of an informed opinion on this aspect. but I just really have a hunch I'm still not gonna really enjoy the bosses on higher difficulties. Almeidrea and her dragon was honestly a miserable experience for me even if it was a cool spectacle. just like many things in life, a lot of the best action game bosses are as good as they are because there's an ebb and flow. bosses staggering and giving you a break is so important in a lot of ways and Arise is just very sparse with them. like boost combos are satisfying but most of them time they didn't down the boss or anything, it's just extra damage. Vesperia's equivalent actually downed the boss for a bit and that was a good thing. Vesperia's combo system was also just more satisfying to me in general but again I haven't engaged with Arise's systems that much yet to give the fairest take.
and I mean, Vesperia, the last Tales game I played about a year and a half ago, ended up being my favourite Tales experience I had so far and is fairly up there among my list of favourite RPGs. everything about the execution of that game's narrative, gameplay systems and presentation just jelled together so organically in a way that feels like an opposite to my experience playing Arise. that game appealed to my tastes pretty nicely. so while I'd like to say I went into Arise with an open mind, I suppose I can't deny a lot of the time I was comparing it to my experience with Vesperia and missing nearly everything about it. Yuri >>> Alphen. Vesperia's flawed but at least believable and endearing in their own ways cast of antagonists >>> Arise's clown circus lords. Vesperia's world and worldbuilding concepts slowly being built up organically >>> Arise just being extremely esoteric all the time and shoving in your face, what is rightfully criticized, a half-baked attempt at a fictional racism/slavery allegory. also, bringing out my VGM nerd for a bit: Shinji Tamura, the person who did a lot of fan favourite songs from Vesperia and overall a considerable amount of that game's OST, and his proficient melodic music writing >>> Motoi Sakuraba's aggressively boring and safe orchestral event/battle/environmental theme #3436. I miss Tamura so much.
will say though the art direction is on par with Vesperia and is easily the strongest thing about Arise for me. I was actually surprised. honestly I'd even say words can't really do Arise's art direction justice. there's actually a lot to appreciate about it. I appreciate the effort that went into the area designs (though the actual gameplay exploration is still very basic) and the colour usage and lighting of everything. Niez was a hauntingly beautiful town and lol I love that its theme song was basically just a Dark Souls 1/2 song. now and then Sakuraba hits for me if the context is cool, even if I'm meh on his outputs overall.
there were also many things I got out of Berseria and Abyss, the only other two Tales I've played, that I just barely ever got in Arise so far. Berseria was pretty flawed in a lot of aspects but you know what at least it's not something that's aggressively safe. I respect that game so much for being bold in a lot of ways. and Abyss, man that game's core story and cast of antagonists just.. worked. it worked so damn well and if you know, you know. it just had some bad pacing issues sadly with how much you have to move back and forth around different towns and the overworld so much. but honestly I'll take that town hopping to organically develop plot beats more over Arise having its formulaic chapter structure that feels incredibly limiting to its plot and expression of its ideas. monster + new party members of the week can work in some RPGs but it didn't work for me with Arise so far.
while I am shelving Arise I almost kiiiiiinda want to continue this game in bursts slowly now and then. I hear the 2nd half is the weaker part of the story to nearly everyone and honestly in a way that almost makes me curious again in a twisted way. maybe one day I'll see if I could possibly get something out of it again. but I'm not gonna force myself, I'll wait for stars to align.
I went into this game with an open mind - considering how divisive this game is and how much discourse I've watched from the sidelines over the years, I went into this very interested in finally experiencing this thing and seeing what I'd think about it myself.
turns out I came out on the side that frankly has a very low opinion of this thing.
I could go into a lot of detail with my gripes with the game's writing and pacing but I don't think I have that much new to add that probably hasn't been expressed by this site and many other RPG circles at large already. Arise's writing is just so abrupt, lacking momentum, lacking committment, and is just generally very shallow when it tries to say things. and even when it's not trying to be serious I just could not get invested in nearly everything about its plot, pacing and world. prologue was boring. the first 2 proper chapters had some of the most eyerolling twists and while I liked certain developments in the middle of the ch.3/the Mahag Saar chapter, the final scenes in that chapter just go back to being so stock and predictable and that's when I stopped caring to invest my time into this and shelve the game for now. Dohalim has probably the most interesting character story so far, but even then it feels like there's such an inorganic buildup to his climactic beats (and that's almost certainly the case with Law/Zephyr in Ch.1). and honestly I don't even mind most of the cast, they're likeable enough and I've enjoyed the skits overall so far. if the main party writing was a miss then god that would be utterly embarrasing considering this series' high standards and how mid every other aspect of the writing in Arise is. but thankfully our main cast is still good. not as attached to them as previous Tales casts, but I get something to love out of most of them. besides Alphen - I just get absolutely nothing out of him :). not gonna comment on the main villain since I haven't seen much of him yet. but I'll just put it out there, it's a shounen/JRPG sin to have both your main lead and main villain be boring - no matter how good or mid the rest of the supporting cast is.
while the core player-side combat systems are fun and fine, the boss fights (the most important gameplay thing in ARPGs to many people including myself) I've experienced so far were so utterly unsatisfying with how they barely ever stagger. since I'm only on Normal and I haven't tried experimenting as much as I did (and loved doing) with Vesperia, I'm not gonna pretend I have that much of an informed opinion on this aspect. but I just really have a hunch I'm still not gonna really enjoy the bosses on higher difficulties. Almeidrea and her dragon was honestly a miserable experience for me even if it was a cool spectacle. just like many things in life, a lot of the best action game bosses are as good as they are because there's an ebb and flow. bosses staggering and giving you a break is so important in a lot of ways and Arise is just very sparse with them. like boost combos are satisfying but most of them time they didn't down the boss or anything, it's just extra damage. Vesperia's equivalent actually downed the boss for a bit and that was a good thing. Vesperia's combo system was also just more satisfying to me in general but again I haven't engaged with Arise's systems that much yet to give the fairest take.
and I mean, Vesperia, the last Tales game I played about a year and a half ago, ended up being my favourite Tales experience I had so far and is fairly up there among my list of favourite RPGs. everything about the execution of that game's narrative, gameplay systems and presentation just jelled together so organically in a way that feels like an opposite to my experience playing Arise. that game appealed to my tastes pretty nicely. so while I'd like to say I went into Arise with an open mind, I suppose I can't deny a lot of the time I was comparing it to my experience with Vesperia and missing nearly everything about it. Yuri >>> Alphen. Vesperia's flawed but at least believable and endearing in their own ways cast of antagonists >>> Arise's clown circus lords. Vesperia's world and worldbuilding concepts slowly being built up organically >>> Arise just being extremely esoteric all the time and shoving in your face, what is rightfully criticized, a half-baked attempt at a fictional racism/slavery allegory. also, bringing out my VGM nerd for a bit: Shinji Tamura, the person who did a lot of fan favourite songs from Vesperia and overall a considerable amount of that game's OST, and his proficient melodic music writing >>> Motoi Sakuraba's aggressively boring and safe orchestral event/battle/environmental theme #3436. I miss Tamura so much.
will say though the art direction is on par with Vesperia and is easily the strongest thing about Arise for me. I was actually surprised. honestly I'd even say words can't really do Arise's art direction justice. there's actually a lot to appreciate about it. I appreciate the effort that went into the area designs (though the actual gameplay exploration is still very basic) and the colour usage and lighting of everything. Niez was a hauntingly beautiful town and lol I love that its theme song was basically just a Dark Souls 1/2 song. now and then Sakuraba hits for me if the context is cool, even if I'm meh on his outputs overall.
there were also many things I got out of Berseria and Abyss, the only other two Tales I've played, that I just barely ever got in Arise so far. Berseria was pretty flawed in a lot of aspects but you know what at least it's not something that's aggressively safe. I respect that game so much for being bold in a lot of ways. and Abyss, man that game's core story and cast of antagonists just.. worked. it worked so damn well and if you know, you know. it just had some bad pacing issues sadly with how much you have to move back and forth around different towns and the overworld so much. but honestly I'll take that town hopping to organically develop plot beats more over Arise having its formulaic chapter structure that feels incredibly limiting to its plot and expression of its ideas. monster + new party members of the week can work in some RPGs but it didn't work for me with Arise so far.
while I am shelving Arise I almost kiiiiiinda want to continue this game in bursts slowly now and then. I hear the 2nd half is the weaker part of the story to nearly everyone and honestly in a way that almost makes me curious again in a twisted way. maybe one day I'll see if I could possibly get something out of it again. but I'm not gonna force myself, I'll wait for stars to align.