Tales of Arise Review (PS5)

excellent
key review info
  • Game: Tales of Arise
  • Platform: Playstation 5
  • Show system requirements
  • Reviewed on:
Tales of Arise key art

I’ve been a fan of the Tales franchise since Tales of Vesperia made its debut back in 2008, although I’ve lost interest in the series over the years due to burning out. This is something that frequently happens to long-running games series, so one might say that it’s unavoidable. The good news is many times these franchises are revived in new formulae that reignite the fans’ passion and lead to major comebacks like the recent Tales of Arise.

After a five years hiatus, Tales is back in full force with a new title that promises to revamp the core of the series and offer JRPG fans a brand-new experience. Tales of Arise tells of story of vengeance and does not shy away from using darker tones and serious topics.

Although the structure is the same of any other Tales game, the core aspects have been completely revamped, including the combat system, visuals and art style. Make no mistake, Tales of Arise remains a JRPG and epic proportions, it’s just that Bandai Namco found a way to make it mainstream.

Tales of Arise takes place in a world where two planets are at war: Rena and Dahna. Three centuries after Renans managed to conquer Dahna, you take the role of a masked Dahnan slave with no memories of his past.

Tales of Arise
Tales of Arise
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After conquering Dahna, the Renans divided the land into five distinct regions that are very important not just story-wise, but also when it comes to gameplay mechanics. Our masked hero is a slave in the fiery region of Calaglia, a land ruled by a brutish lord who believes torture and fear are the only methods of keeping the Dhanans under submission.

A fortunate turn of events leads to Alphen, the protagonist of the game, meeting Shionne, a Renan girl hunted by her own people for unknown reasons. Shionne suffers from a strange curse that activates whenever someone touches here in the form of “thorns” that hurt those unaware of the condition.

Conveniently, Alphen suffers from a strange condition too that is known as CIPA (congenital insensitive to pain), so he’s the only one who can touch Shionne since he can’t feel pain at all. It’s also the reason he can use the “blazing sword,” a powerful weapon pulled from the Master Core in Shionne’s possession.

Because all the starts aligned, Alphen and Shionne seem to have the same goals: to get rid of the five lords ruling over Dahna. A bold objective that can only be achieved by someone wielding a powerful weapon like the “blazing sword.” While exploring the five different regions of Dahna, our unexpected duo will meet new characters with similar goals who join their small crusade, each with their unique personality and … combat style.

What I really love about Tales of Arise is that each region ruled by a Renan lord has different flavors: the barren and scorching Calaglia, the dark and cold Cyslodia, the fertile plains of Elde Menancia, the windy mountains of Mahag Saar, and the rainforests of Ganath Haros. Each of these five realms correspond to an element: fire, dark/light, earth, wind, and water. This is strongly tied with the combat system since you’ll have to switch your combat Artes to counter the monsters roaming each region.

Combat is one of the core aspects of Tales of Arise and probably the most enjoyable. Just like in the previous games, you’ll be using so-called Artes, more or less complex moves that do elemental or physical damage. In Tales of Arise, there are three different types of Artes for each character: Mystic, Ground, and Aerial. The more you use an Arte, the faster it levels up. You can only have three different Artes for each category equipped at the beginning of the game, but as you progress, you’ll unlock more Artes and more slots.

The trick to Tales of Arise’s combat is to successfully execute enough combos to trigger a Boost Strike, flashy attacks that do tons of damage. Once the conditions for a Boost Strike are met, you have to quickly press the D-pad to trigger it. Each D-pad arrow corresponds to a character in your party, so the Boost Strike will be executed by that character and another one randomly chosen by the AI.

And then there’s Boost Attacks meant to stun an enemy from casting or making a special attack. Each character has a Boost Attack suitable for certain scenarios. Some are meant for knock down flying creatures or stun monsters who are in the middle of casting, while other can steal a monster’s casting Arte for later use or block an enraged monster in its tracks.

Tales of Arise’s combat might feel overly complex, but it’s really not. You are gradually introduced to all these mechanics and encouraged to use them often, so they’ll become easy to trigger.

Unlike some of the previous games in the series, Tales of Arise actually has a compelling story. Many times, I surprised myself listening to the banter between character, even though the game doesn’t force you to do that if you don’t want to. The story in Tales of Arise is told through comic book-style skits, which I found quite refreshing. However, coming from Scarlet Nexus, another Bandai Namco game launched this year, it wasn’t something completely new.

Although some of the dialog might seem dumb at the beginning of the game, everything will start making sense later on when more is revealed about the characters. Tales of Arise does not lack deep characterization, but you’ll have to give it a pass for the first few hours.

Tales of Arise
Tales of Arise
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The Good

  • Compelling story
  • Deep characterization
  • Satisfying combat
  • Gorgeous visuals

The Bad

  • In-game ads break immersion
  • Many side-quests are just filler

Conclusion

Tales of Arise is a successfully comeback story. It’s definitely one of the most refreshing Tales game and probably one of the best JRPGs launched in 2021. I’m not sure if Bandai Namco planned to make the Tales franchise mainstream, but that’s something that Tales of Arise manage to achieve, and that’s probably the best compliment I can give the game.

My only concern is related to how Bandai Namco chose to advertise the paid DLC in-game, which consists of cosmetic items and spice up your adventures through Dahna. Resting in camps will always run an advert in the right corner, which totally breaks immersion.

Other than that, I believe Tales of Arise is not just the best game in the Tales series, but also one of the best titles launched this year. More importantly, the Tales franchise has finally gone mainstream and I’m very happy that more players are joining its fan club.

Review code provided by the publisher.

story 8
gameplay 9
concept 9
graphics 9
audio 10
multiplayer 0
final rating 9
Editor's review
excellent
 
NEXT REVIEW: Astria Ascending

Tales of Arise screenshots (24 Images)

Tales of Arise key art
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