With Tales of Arise, developer and publisher Bandai Namco set out to revitalize the franchise. To do so, it brought in veteran figures going as far back as 1998’s Tales of Phantasia and introduced a darker story while keeping everything that made the franchise great intact. In the task of revitalizing the franchise with Tales of Arise, Bandai Namco has succeeded.
Tales of Arise is set in a conflict between two planets—Dahna and Rena—as the former attempts to break free from the oppressive slavery created by the latter. It brings together many characters who call one of these two planets home, with each of them complementing one another. The main character, Alphen, is a Dahnan man without a past who cannot feel pain, while Shionne is a Renan woman who causes pain to anyone she touches.
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They are joined by Law and Rinwell, with the former being a “brawns over brains” style of character and the latter being the exact opposite, as well as former Renan Lord Dohalim and his former Dahnan Guard Kisara. Together, there are a lot of story and skit interactions in the party that invite conflict and resolution, despair and hope, pain and love, and freedom and oppression. Overall, Tales of Arise is a story told in pairs, and each exemplifies various elements of that story.
In combining the high fantasy common to the franchise with darker, sci-fi elements, Tales of Arise’s story is told masterfully from beginning to end. Added in are also the Tales franchise’s classic skits, with there being a total of 320 that players can find and trigger in-game. These go a long way in helping define the characters, their journey, and their story. Of course, its story is only one layer.
Tales of Arise’s combat doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel when it comes to JRPG combat, but it is the absolute pinnacle of it. Fighting with four characters at a time with two serving as support, players are able to string together combos, utilize devastating arte attacks, come together for powerful Boost Strikes, and deliver devastating Mystic Arte attacks. For the most part, players will spend their time as Alphen who has another layer thrown on top of all this: Flaming Edge.
Players will unlock various Flaming Edge attacks throughout the game, which Alphen uses in combat when holding down the Artes button to power up and deliver a brutal follow-up strike. Flaming Edge attacks require Alphen to sacrifice HP, and the more that is sacrificed, the more damage that is done. It’s constantly a battle between managing HP and dealing tons of damage, with the Flaming Edge strikes being a complementary option to the more difficult-to-execute Mystic Artes.
Items, Astral Artes, and more are required to survive, and all of these elements add a layer of strategy to the game. It should be noted that combat against Tales of Arise's bosses typically comes down to a war of attrition, where players must deal enough damage to beat the enemy to beat them before their supplies drain away completely. Should they grow tired of one brand of combat, players can change it up by switching to other characters or simply running from most combat scenarios. At its worst, it can feel like simple button smashing for combos; at its best, it’s a fun, intense combination of item management and frenetic combat.
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Monsters, brought from Rena and known as Zeugles, serve as the primary enemies players will face. Certain sections of the game will bring in more soldiers, but players will face beasts the most. The best part is that these include everything from lowly beasts and bugs to concentrations of astral energy. Players will indubitably face similar enemy designs throughout the game, but there is enough variety—156 enemy types, to be exact—that combat is even designed for their various tactics in mind.
For example, the aforementioned Boost Strikes can be used to deal raw damage, but if they are timed correctly, they can trap speedy beasts, stop charges, knock enemies out of the sky, and so on. The combat, enemy design, world lore, and more all combine to make the story and its combat flow together as if they served as their own pair like Alphen and Shionne.
Tales of Arise is also a technical marvel, perhaps a result of the game’s delay and extended development time. While players will encounter a ton of loading screens, they are often over before players can even read the tips screen. It’s one of the smoothest games released so far this year, given how buggy some games are when they first release., and it shines through every element of the game.
No matter how heavily recommended a game comes, there is always a flaw or two. Tales of Arise's side-quests by and large fall on the generic end: defeat this swarm of Zeugles, find these materials, obtain these items to learn a specific recipe, or defeat the giant Zeugle that is tormenting a specific area. However, because these can often be done on the go, players don’t have to search far and wide to complete these sidequests, and can instead complete them as they progress through the main story.
Dialogue, especially that which occurs during combat, can be awkward and repetitive. While Alphen and Shionne’s relationship begins as hostile, they soon grow close together, but this can be slightly undermined when Alphen expresses surprise at her when she heals him—even during the final boss sequence. What’s important, though, is that none of its flaws undermine the Tales of Arise experience or hurt it in any way.
Indeed, Tales of Arise is a game designed for long-term Tales franchise fans and those who have never picked up a franchise entry before, where story, combat, and various features come together to deliver a high-quality, highly-detailed JRPG. All of that makes it not just one of the best JRPGs on the market today, but one of the best games hands-down.
Tales of Arise releases September 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X. Game Rant was provided a PS5 code for the purposes of this review.
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