Tales of Arise

This game... I both love it and hate it but I give it a thumbs up because it leans more on the good side.

So, first off here are the Pros:

GFX/VISUALS
_________

The visuals are awesome, its Unreal 4 and the visuals are semi-realistic but with a mild "painting" style coloring of the landscapes and the characters, I think it looks great and the performance is excellent - 10/10

COMBAT
----------

The combat segments are excellent for a JRPG, quick in quick out. I do have to mention that even at lower difficulty levels you still need to be strategic, especially with mini-bosses etc, make sure you have consumables and be mindful. You will also need to pretty much tackle as much enemies as you can to scale up or you will get filtered towards the end. 8/10

STORY (Base Game)
----------------------

The story is excellent with a decent ending, its a very very long game with many twists, so much so that in my opinion it was written by different people. The characters are great, good chemistry. It would make for a great TV series. 10/10

Here's where it drops off...

DLC?

Just don't buy the DLC, it was clearly made at the height of the "Empire" with extreme SJW messaging on how the oppressed do evil things and its ultimately not their fault they do these evil things but are somehow our fault for not understanding them??? Its terrible writing and will only spoil the base game for you as well as it really adds nothing to the character development at all. The whole thing is basically a lecture, if you remember at the end of 'Masters Of The Universe' episodes they would have He-Man teaching you a lesson on something? well this is 20 hours of that in the worst possible way. 1/10

TL:DR - Base Game Great but stay away from DLC, watch the DLC on Youtube instead if interested

Currently not finished and reviewed after 25 hours played so far but will be updated soon after finishing it off.
I’ve been on and off this game for a while (years). But it’s good to be back on it after being burnt out from other games.

You can play this game as a standalone no problem.

I've been a huge fan of JRPG games since the 90s. I find this to be a great tales game so far. The modern anime style and visuals are GREAT!
The gameplay is great, it's part of a JRPG.
The voice acting is great! English is great.

The downside is, I get annoyed by the voices during the battlefield, and get annoyed repeatedly. No way to turn off the voice in battle, people shouting over each other constantly but that’s part of Tales series.

The enemies are getting too much HP and are too long to fight on normal mode, but when I set it to Very Easy mode, it becomes less HP, and I spend less time on the battlefield, kinda balanced it out and more enjoyment. That’s the reason why I stopped playing on and off but easy mode, thank god for that and no, there’s no difficulty achievements from this game, feel free to change the difficulty setting anytime.

I bought the DLC story because I love this game so much. One of the best Tales of series I’ve played so far because of Visuals updated, voice acting, etc.

That was a fantastic adventure, it was my first Tales game and I will for sure check the other entries in the series out. It kept me on the edge of my seat for the whole story. 10/10

Good game but not very beginner friendly

Great game, story, art direction, and animation. Never regretted my purchase.

Story is PEAK. Absolute Cinema.

You can play this on steam deck without any tinkering. Just download and play.

Now for the game itself. It is good enough until second part story. EXPOSITION EXPOSITION EXPOSITION EXPOSITION EXPOSITION EVERYWHERE !!! Make me enough just read the text and ignore the Japanese voice. That is how terrible it is.

Expansion ? You mean expansion of EXPOSITION and EXPOSITION BEYOND OF EXPOSITION ???

Oh don't forget the "We are bad guy but we must understand the good intention of bad guy". Not enough evil.

This game forgets about why Tales has bad ass evil guy and we must defeat it because it is evil.

Loving each minute.
It's quite dark and but amazing anyway.

Like it was told to me, play it and get amazed!

I want to enjoy the story and a chemistry between characters but I can't because of the target lock and how clunky the input feedback is, so every time I'm playing this beautiful game I want to break the controller.

Great and fulfilling story, loved it!(Play it with Japanese Voices)

Buy Vesperia and wait for the Abyss remaster instead. All the meat on this one is biased to the art and opening sequences. Let's start with the negative, shall we?

CONS:
- The world is missing that 'Tales' wanderlust flavor that used to be intrinsic to the series. It's an improvement from Zestiria in terms of a fully realized 3D environ, but I'd take the classic, artsy fixed camera treatment over stuffy little regions that make no spatial sense (you walk a couple of screens from a lava region and suddenly it's the North Pole!).
- The story is meh. I get that Tales games are practically shonen anime in video game format, but it's still leagues below Vesperia, Abyss, and Symphonia.
- The opening arc is where all the hype is. And when you finish it, you can no longer refund when all the lukewarm juices come pouring out.
- I can't even remember a noteworthy side-quest.
- The love interest is fine, though the will-they-won't-they moments overstay their welcome.
- You can't romance the stiff lady of the knights.
- The towns felt more like art installations instead of properly lived-in adventure hubs.

PROS:
- The visuals are obviously stunning. It will also always look that good.
- Combat is peak but use a controller that you are willing to lose.
- Characters and their offered interactions are passable at the very least.

This game comes with 2 game modes: the base game, and "Beyond the Dawn" which is the DLC extra campaign you can purchase.

The base game itself is playable. Although it lacks many of the tiny details which made a "Tales of", a Tales of (e.g. there is no longer the iconic save icon sound which I recognised in every Tales of games I played: Symphonia, the Abyss, Vesperia, Xillia, Zestiria, Berseria). If you're new to the genre, it shouldn't bother you, but for people who are used ot it, well, I was a bit saddened to be honest. Otherwise, it's okay, although kind of lackluster when compared to the other "Tales of" I played.

As for the "Beyond the Dawn" DLC campaign? All I can say is: Meh. I mean, I feel like the entire thing was pointless. At least the gameplay was entirely identical to the base campaign so I didn't have to relearn everything. But the extra story wasn't very convincing to me.

It's meh.

The combat system has promise... until you fight a boss and they ignore everything you do. It makes only the quickest moves worth using, and significantly reduces the enjoyment of the combat system.

Items are actually worth using, something I can't say for most JRPGs which load you up with more money than you can use and a ton of items that will sit in your inventory collecting dust if you're even halfway competent. And because of that, budgeting carefully between equipment, accessories, and items is a genuine choice a lot of the time. Here, reckless mistakes could down your controlled character, adding a fair and enjoyable amount of difficulty to battles... again, until you get to bosses, at which point your best tactic is hit-and-run until you charge up a particular gauge and down the enemy to get a whole three seconds to wail on them.

The game simultaneously wants you to use all your fancy special moves since they don't cost MP (instead replenishable action points), but punishes you for trying to string together the longest combo you can if you're fighting a boss. They can't be juggled at all, and will interrupt you if you dare to chain together more than two artes at a time, so fighting them rarely feels satisfying.

As for the story, it's the most meh part of the game. Is it the worst Tales series story? No, not by a long shot. That still goes to the king of crap sequel Symphonia got. But the plot ultimately boils down to "slavery bad" and doesn't do much beyond that. The party characters aren't offensive (for the most part, Rinwell got on my nerves a lot), and serve the story, but they fail to ever be really engaging, with the exception of the final party member you get.

And of course, it wouldn't be an anime-looking JRPG without a healthy dose of pointless melodrama. The "big dramatic moments" the story has are undercut by half the cast standing by slack-jawed as something moronic happens in front of them, and the biggest moments in character arcs get kneecapped by the constant question of "why the hell are you doing this?" If the bad guy just slaughtered three dozen people in front of you, why the hell are you stopping a party member from attacking them? Join them, idiots. I dunno, it's stuff like that which makes it hard to identify with any of the cast.

The fact that I didn't care much for the party didn't help the near-constant brake-pumping that are the skits. What should be fun little character interactions end up mostly being used as exposition-dumps, and it never fails to bother me because nine times out of ten, I'd rather be moving toward my next objective. You can't finish a cutscene without two new skits being dropped on you, some of which completely derail any tension that followed said scene. Prior games were much more balanced about how often you'd see skits and when; this one takes the philosophy of more is better, and it gets annoying quick.

Ultimately, I'd wait for the next Tales game. Maybe they'll revisit this intriguing combat system and revamp bosses so they aren't miserable to fight.

Good game overall. It felt like most of the characters had good development, and evolved over time. Story was engaging, although it did get a bit interesting in spots. Unfortunately the combat got a bit stale, and it felt like it hit a wall. I was hoping for a bit more evolution of the combat as a whole, but it never happened. Unfortunately, many of the fights ended up feeling the same.

Overall, this was a good game. It was very fun, and I am glad that I finished the story.

I think the last Tales of game I played before this was Eternia on the PS1, I remember dying so many times to common enemies in that game and I just fell off. I've bought several in the years since and played for a few hours just to fall off, Beseria, and some other one supposedly connected? I loose track.

The story was.... okay, characters had nice arcs of development and the chemistry between them and all that. Combat was a bit clunky feeling and the frequent cut ins that yank you out focus was a bit jarring, also the dungeon quality suddenly felt like it dipped in the last quarter somehow, not a big minus but it was an issue for me,

I do feel like the tales classic mechanic of characters having random conversation while you traverse the map was something I missed, those are nice.

FINAL FANTASY IS THAT YOU??????
just buy it if u love ur cheesy anime stuff

Total Playtime: 60 hours

Tales of Arise starts strong, immersing players in a beautifully crafted world with engaging combat and an intriguing premise. However, around the 40-hour mark, the game begins to lose its momentum. The story starts dragging, with repetitive plot beats and an overabundance of unnecessary dialogue that dilutes the emotional impact.

The final act feels predictable, and despite the buildup, the final battle lacks a sense of grandeur or unique mechanics to make it memorable. The conclusion, while serviceable, doesn’t provide the payoff one would expect from such an epic journey.

While the combat remains a highlight with its fast-paced action and strategic depth, the pacing issues and excessive filler content make the latter half of the game feel like a chore rather than a climax. For fans of the Tales series, Arise delivers in terms of aesthetics and gameplay, but narrative fatigue and an underwhelming ending may leave some players disappointed.

Final Verdict: 7/10 – A strong start with stellar combat and visuals, but a bloated second half and lackluster finale hold it back from being truly great.

An emotionally charged story, fun character dynamics, very quick and engaging battle system, and a super colourful and vibrant art style.

This review is from an adult's point of view

First of all: This is clearly meant for young teenagers

the story was AMAZING! Really great, immersive and compelling.

The downside: Character interactions... It was ok until I was halfway in the game. Then I couldn't stand them anymore, repeating everything they've been saying in the past 20 hours over and over...

Combat is like everyone says, kinda boring and very repetitive. Changed the difficulty halfway through just to get the story rolling.

40h felt too long to get to the end of this. So I can't really recommend it even though the story was great.

I will say, I enjoyed my time on this game but honestly prefer the previous formula of Tales games.

I won't dismiss this entry though as they obviously tried to innovate and it's worth a play through, but please don't continue with this style.

Aura farming ahh game.

I liked the beginning of the game but then when it got to the halfway point it went downhill as the bosses became HP sponges and the variety of enemies were so little it felt like I was fighting the same thing over and over again. I wish I could like this game but I can't

I forgot to write a review for this game, so since I just finished the DLC and left a review, I'll do it here too.

Despite the fact that it was a stupid decision to remove the most iconic aspect of the Tales series, the coop aspect, Tales of Arise has managed to become my favorite of the franchise. The story and the characters kept me completely hooked throughout the entire playthrough, and I ended up 100%ing it in one go. One thing I especially liked from the story, compared to other Tales games, is that every thing you're doing in the story has a clear meaning or goal. In others, it feels like you get sidetrack after sidetrack on your way to the main goal. The best way I can put it is: in Tales of Arise, I always knew why I was at the place I was at and why was I doing that.

The combat is pretty different from all the previous games, but they already abandoned the classic system where you had basic attacks and artes that consumed SP a few games ago. I didn't like the systems they did after that, but in this one I think they did a great job. I has as much fun fighting enemies as I used to in older games.

Okay, this is by far the best RPG I have ever played. I've done Xenoblade 2 and a couple others, but this is just the best by a mile.

The story is amazing and has lots of unexpected (but well-built) plot twists, as well as a fair amount of actually morally good lessons, which is rare now. The combat is superb and flows nicely and only gets better as you unlock more and more artes to use.

The one thing I will say is that some characters, namely Law, have a tendency to swear. It is usually warranted for the situation (except for law) but it isn't that strong language, less so than the average Marvel movie.

Overall, 6/5 stars! I wish I could play it for the first time again.

Played this game first on ps4 (dropped it before the Lenegis part). So, I do have more hours on this game than my steam records mention. I tried it again on steam. I lasted 4-5 hours. A fairly interesting start that is marred by writers that clearly did NOT know how follow up on the great tone set by their own premise. This game is the definition of mid. And mid is not enough for me to spend 50-60 hours into.

TLDR: If you don't mind a story and characters that end up a generic, non-sensical and emotionless, you will probably enjoy the epic scope of this AAA JRPG with great visuals, music and a fairly fun combat system.

Pros
- Great visual style!
- Fun combat with varied playstyles
- Good music and voice acting overall
- Classic JRPG experience

Cons
- Strong premise that is absolutely mishandled
- Characters lacking any character or sense about what is going right now, killing any pathos the story could have had
- Worst, unecessary, repetitive skits of the whole franchise
- Stitled dialogue (yes, basically same points as before, but it needs mention)
- HP sponge enemies that absolutely lack variety, making the fun combat not fun real quick. THIS was was sealed the deal for me in dropping the game. Why grind a game that's just not interesting enough.

This game has a great story and characters, although one might not realize it at first. Some of the boss battles can be quite difficult even on the easiest setting, so some grinding may be involved (although I did minimal grinding). There are lots of side quests and the character interactions are very entertaining. This game is fun, although the final dungeon is a bit of a chore to finish. I highly recommend this.

Tales of Arise is a solid JRPG experience that manages to deliver a strong story and engaging gameplay. The main story is definitely one of the highlights, deserving a 9/10 for its classic JRPG plot that incorporates a satisfying amount of romance. The first half of the story builds up really well, with strong character development and a clear sense of purpose. However, the second half feels somewhat empty, as if the narrative loses its momentum and direction. Fortunately, the ending manages to tie things together nicely, providing a satisfying conclusion that helps redeem some of the weaker middle sections.

The combat system sticks to the familiar formula of previous Tales games, but it’s enhanced by impressive visual effects and a more fluid feel. The flashy animations and smooth combo system make battles engaging, even if they don’t reinvent the wheel. The addition of Boost Attacks and the way each character’s combat style complements the others adds a layer of depth that keeps things fresh throughout the game. The combat is fast-paced and responsive, making both boss fights and regular encounters enjoyable.

Visually, the game is stunning. The world design is beautiful, with a variety of landscapes that feel vibrant and alive. From detailed cities to expansive natural environments, each location feels carefully crafted and immersive. The art direction and use of color create a unique atmosphere that makes exploring the world a pleasure. Despite the graphical beauty, the exploration itself could have used more depth, as the game’s world feels somewhat linear at times.

Side content is where the game falters a bit. The side quests are largely uninspired and not very rewarding, often boiling down to basic fetch quests or repetitive tasks with little narrative weight. It’s disappointing that the side stories don’t match the quality of the main plot, as they feel more like filler than meaningful content. The mini-games are decent, providing a bit of distraction from the main quest, but they don’t stand out as particularly memorable.

The characters are well-developed and likeable, with strong personality dynamics and meaningful interactions. However, the lack of free costume options feels like a missed opportunity for more customization and personal expression. Despite that, the overall experience remains strong thanks to the core cast’s chemistry and emotional growth. In the end, Tales of Arise delivers a well-rounded JRPG experience with a strong story and engaging combat, earning a solid 8.5/10.

con el poco tiempo que estoy jugando este juego. Me esta enganchando mas. Me recuerda el primero de toda la saga Tales of Phantasia.

Game so good, I am doing my second run through....

The major themes of Tales of Arise are on the mature side but they don't distract from the adorable side to it. Yes I am a Dahnan owl fan and a superfan of Hootle!

The characters are phenomenal and they all show excellent character development as the story progresses. I enjoy their banters during battles, at camps and while walking. The enemies are well designed and there is a Sephiroth 2.0....at least that's what I choose to call him.

Combat is engaging and not repetitive, which is good considering how many of them you will have. Soundtracks are well done and suit battles nicely.

I have two major criticisms though, 1) Gald is hard to obtain, 2) Ridiculous spikes in difficulty
There is hard that requires strategy and then there is annoying, that is all about random damage...

Overall, excellent JRPG. Solid 9/10 for me.

A beautiful, fun adventure. Great character dynamic and development among the party. Love the Tales games and their stories. This Tales game is standalone so no need to worry about the previous titles for context. Soundtrack is great and splendid art direction. The voice acting is great. I highly recommend it in japanese since the lip synching is for it and it feels more proper with jp voice acting.

Combat is promising and overall decent. It does need polish and the ally ai also needs it as well if Bandai Namco decide to make more tales games with the action rpg playstyle. Would be nice if the 3D cutscenes were able to viewed at the campfire again, sadly only the skits and the anime cutscenes are the only ones that can be viewed again without needing to play the game another time. There is new game+ so you don't lose all your skills again.

(Plan on getting and playing the dlc eventually which the dlc takes place after the main game)

The message of learning how to forgive, understand, and move forward is greater than anything. <3
"It takes true power to forgive!"

i had 4 consecutive games got deleted even though it has cloud save, when i open my game it's NEW GAME. my save file nowhere to be found, was fun but can progress because of these problem.

Story and graphics are pretty great, but the combat system gets very repetitive in some points.

Gameplay is generally fun, but I couldn't stand the atrocious writing anymore.

HEY GUYS DID YOU KNOW SLAVERY IS BAD!! NO WAY!!

I've been a fan of the Tails of series since the SNES. This addition to the franchise was quite meh.
- Character designs are cool for the most part. They don't all look like children.
- There is tons of dialogue which isn't bad in and of itself and the characters are dynamic and grow throughout the story however, the conversations are EXCRUTIATINGLY repetitive.
- The story is quite generic and bland. The ending twists were quite nonsensical.
- The graphics are decent.
- Soundtrack is great and very on point for a Tales of game. If you like the music in the previous entries to the series, you will feel right at home here.
- The gameplay and fighting is probably the strong point of this game.
- Boss fights were disappointing, they had so much more potential.
- I don't think I've ever played a game with so many recycled enemies before. There are maybe 15-20 different creature types you fight throughout the game at most and they constantly keep reappearing in different colors and sizes. Even some of the bosses were reused. Extremely lazy.
- I'd give it a 5/10 at most. If you still want to get it wait for sale. It is definitely not worth full price.

ใช่ครับ ผมขอแนะนำในฐานะคนไทยคนหนึ่งที่เล่นเกมนี้จนจบ เป็นอีกหนึ่งภาคที่ทำทุกอย่างออกมาลงตัวมากๆ โดยเฉพาะArtes-Skillsที่นำหลายๆสกิลของภาคก่อนๆมาเอาให้หลอนหูกันอีกครั้ง ถึงตอนนี้ยังไม่เคลียร์ 100% แต่มีแผนว่าจะทำแน่ๆครับ
.
ทังนี้สำหรับ beyond the dawn ผมขอผ่านอาจจะสปอยแต่ผมว่าเกมหลักมันจบดีแล้ว ดังนั้นBytDผมขอนับว่าเป็นแค่spin-off

this is a great pickup on sale. The final dungeon is abysmal but everything else is pretty solid. I quite liked the fishing mini game and the characters.

Power of friendship genre junk food, you should know what you're getting into by now.

I find that I'm terrible at writing genuinely good reviews, so here is a pro and con list of the game. These are all my opinion.

Pros:
- Beautiful art style and scenery. I found myself just taking in the views at times.
- Easy to use equipment system. You always know what the best gear for your team is.
- Engaging story. Just when you think something is going to happen, it takes an unexpected turn.
- Auto-battle. I found it a bit tedious to battle every enemy I came into contact with, but I was relieved to find the auto-battle feature.
- Great voice acting. I personally played this in English, and realized how many big names there were cast in this. They did such a fantastic job.
- Every form of dialogue you can think of. They have forms like regular cinematics, anime cinematics, tap-to-skip, comic style, and a few others.

Cons:
- Difficulty. I didn't play this game for the combat, however, if I would have, I'd have to say that I'd still need to put the difficulty on VERY EASY mode to be able to get through it.
- Annoying fast travel system. At some points in the game, you cannot fast travel anywhere which makes it hard to go back and forge equipment or forge for items.
- Not all members of your team can be on field at once. In total, you will have 6 members of your team. 2 of which you need to bench while you are in battle. The only way they will appear is if you use their ultimate.
- Limited manual mode. If you decide to play the battle modes manually, then you will only be able to use 3 abilities on the character you choose to play as. Each character has a lot of abilities you can choose to equip in your menu, but you only get to use 3 on the character you fight with.

great story. fights are repetitive sometimes but 100 PERCENT recommended

Immensely satisfied with the story and gameplay.
Definitely looking forward to the next title for this series

This game is extremely cheesy. The story is fine and the voice acting is good, but wow I can't help but laugh at half the cut scenes. It falls into every trope you would expect from a JRPG, and not it a good way.

The combat is fun, but very arcade like. I haven't beaten the game yet, but I'm not really sure if I will. I just can't take the game seriously. I don't think it's a horrible game, but so far I'd give it a 6/10. Good enough to play if you have nothing else, but there are way better options out there.

One of my all time favorite games. I loved the story&lore and the graphics are amazing. 10/10

9/10

MAIN PROS
Easy review to be honest, great writing with good story progress. Amazing voice acting and combat mechanics, easy to grasp and progressively engaging. Also it's fun, an integral part of games most ambitious devs seem to forget.

MAIN CONS
Bit of a grind, also the story is linear.

Solid story and characters
Satisfying amount of content
Party members have alot to say to eachother

I like how the story has fantasy and sci-fi aspects

Owls pretty cute too

pretty great tales game if your'e in it for the story. great visuals and compelling story. the combat is fun but not as satisfying as other tales games but its not bad. towards the end of the game it gets extremely cut-scene heavy. After you defeat the volcano boss prepare for 2 hours of movies and cut scenes that trigger every 3 steps. i literally forgot the combat controls before i fought anything after that damn volcano fire golem it took so long to progress the story to lenegis. the game is still fun and would recommend. also check out nexus for some good mods easy to install.

I tried with this game. I tried. Story was boring and forced, combat felt pretty bad, and characters were NOT memorable. The little interactions between characters were cool at first, but then it was just ONE AFTER ANOTHER and they were so often that I just started ignoring them.

Wasn't for me but a lot of people seem to enjoy the game. If I was to do it over, I would have tried the demo first and I would have waited for a sale before purchasing.

Another good game from Tales series. I still prefer Tales of Berseria, but this one is also good and fun to play.

story dense.
battle gameplay.

that sums up the game. it's really good. simple.

Very fun game! The combat system is fun and rewarding. Dialing your preferred attacks is great. The art style is A+. This is one of the prettier JRPGs I have played in a while

I wanted to like this game. I music, graphics, and gameplay have improved from their predecessors. HOWEVER, the characters and writing are absolutely AWFUL! I can't stand it. No one has any personality, everyone over explains everything they think and feel. It insults my intelligence. There's nothing interesting about any of the dialogue, it's all so hollow. It's so cringe I tone out most of the time. I tried to enjoy this but I just can't. It's such a shame. 3 out of 10. Wouldn't recommend unless you don't mind having being talked to by the game like you're 5 years old.

Great game,the end was satisfactory even tho the last bosses was a bit tpp easy(no i wanst overlevel but i had all the top weapons). I like the story and the romance between the main characters, but the last 2 that join the party for me dont add anything(or at least i dindt care about then). Dindt do the post game and took around 70 h doing everything on base game.

Great game. Iike the way you can forge weapons and a great battle system.