Tales of Arise

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Tales of Arise: The Tales of series is also the oldest JRPG series, on par with JRPG monuments such as Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest, with many extremely high-quality games such as Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Berseria, Tales of Vesperia…

However, it seems that except for JRPG fans, the Tales of series has never become “mainstream,” the way Final Fantasy VII did, in the international market.

With the determination to turn the tide, Bandai Namco “strongly” removed the old software framework and replaced it with the Unreal Engine 4 framework, improving the graphics and gameplay, hoping to turn Tales into a big JRPG on the global market.

Before going into detail on the Tales of Arise review, I would like to tell you through my history with the Tales of the line because a hard fan’s assessment and expectation with Tales of Arise will be different compared to someone who never played a JRPG (or at least hasn’t played Tales of).

In addition to the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series (the latest version is Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age), the Trails series (the most recent version is The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel IV), Tales of is one of the rare game series where the writer has completed all the games (not counting the side stories), personally feeling from the pinnacle of JRPG storytelling to unpredictable high-speed transformation gameplay.

Tales hold a rather special place in the writer’s heart, a position that is not as “stone” as Final Fantasy, a position that does not make the writer follow every move like that of a series like Dragon Quest.

But Tales of is still there, deep in a corner, with the adventures of the guy Yuri and Princess Estelle, the love story of Luke and the beautiful mage Tear, or the journey to restore the planet of the boy. Lloyd and Colette sometimes evoke nostalgia when completing those games, making the writer want to “plunge” right into a long JRPG story.

This small but persistent flame was enough to ignite a special excitement in the hearts of writers when Bandai Namco announced tales of Arise at E3 2019.

Why say special? Because the last four versions of Tales of (Tales of Xillia, Tales of Xillia 2, Tales of Zestiria, Tales of Berseria), although none are so bad, they can’t be called impressive, an unforgettable image in the heart of the writer like the previous classic JRPG titles.

That’s not to mention the graphics background of the series throughout the four games has fallen into a kind of “path” quite old (perhaps partly due to PlayStation 3 hardware limitations). Making it possible to experience four worlds, excitement in Tales of Xillia gradually diminished markedly with each release.

Thus, the excitement with Tales of Arise was vaguely interspersed with a certain reluctance. If this new game goes back to the old way? With a mid-range plot, is finished playing forgotten? Or a not-so-good graphics background? Will the writer still dare to put all his faith in the next version of Tales if the game fails?

If listed as a longtime fan of the series, the writer expected a lot with Tales of Arise but did not dare to expect too much, creating a confusing contradiction.

What does this game need? A story is so great that players can’t take their eyes off the screen, a combat system so attractive and attractive that players don’t even bother to use Holy Bottles to pass the level. This graphic background makes players want to stop and admire the world around them instead of running to the next place.

And, surprisingly, Tales of Arise satisfies everything!

The world of Tales of Arise consists of two planets Rena and Dahna, with two different races called Renan and Dahnan.

The Dahnan people seem to be still stuck in the Middle Ages, but the Renan people have achieved many scientific and technical achievements, developing extremely advanced and modern warship aircraft.

As a result, the Renan people built a satellite as a military base called Lenegis and then massively invaded Dahna.

Of course, spears could not fight lasers, and the Dahnan fell under the yoke of the Renan, were made slaves, inferior to animals, and completely assimilated when The history and culture of the whole planet were wiped out.

Dahna’s world is divided into five kingdoms corresponding to the five elements of Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, and Light (Renan people cannot control the element of Darkness, this is only available on planet Dahna).

A ruler rules each kingdom, and those who ascend to the throne will participate in a contest, held every ten years, to choose a successor to the position of leader of the planet Rena.

Criteria of the contest? Whoever harvests the most astral energy from the planet Dahna will be the winner. Astral energy is from the body of the slave Dahnan through a jewel implanted on the muzzle of their hands, absorbed into the Master Core of the masters.

In other words, the Renan’s were draining the life force of each Dahnan for no other purpose than to entertain.

Players will play the role of Iron Mask guy, a guy with amnesia, mining in Calaglia, Fire World. Here, this guy meets the girl Shionne, a Renan who is being hunted for stealing the Master Core from the owners of Calaglia.

Shionne is a “rose with thorns” in the literal sense. Beyond her beautiful appearance, she is cursed by a “curse of thorns”: anyone who touches her with mysterious energy makes shock.

However, everything is born with a pair. In addition to losing his mind, our Iron Mask also lost his sense of pain and became the only person in two worlds capable of touching Shionne.

Losing the sense of pain also grants Iron Mask (real name Alphen) the ability to wield a flaming sword drawn from Shionne’s flaming Master Core, an extremely powerful sword that also burns anyone’s arm.

From there, the natural-born “pair of circumstances” Alphen and Shionne set out to overthrow the five precepts, free Dahna from Rena’s domination, and find out the shocking secrets hidden between the two worlds…

At first, Tales of Arise seems to follow a very traditional layout: the hero meets the hero, the two go from world to world, “smashing the mouth” of the owners, liberating the people in that world, gather a few more people who “fight for ideals” and eventually meet the final boss after everything, etc.

In this respect, the game’s storyline begins to become special, as it explores the aspects of human life after we have defeated the owners.

Turns out, oppression is not just oppression by violence.

Turns out, overthrowing the yoke is easy, but maintaining independence is difficult.

Turns out, even if the Renan and Dahnan people live in harmony, 300 years of domination is too long and too painful for them to be “compassionate.”

Oppression not only requires physical violence, but oppression is also spiritual when in Cyslodia, no one trusts each other: children do not trust their fathers, grandmothers do not trust grandchildren, children are willing to sell out their parents, family The family is ready to “fight” each other at any time. At times, the writer feels that this method is more effective than the beating method.

How to maintain independence, when as soon as one master leaves, another comes to take his place, with a yoke that can be even more repressive.

How contented, when one side is too proud of its technical ability, the other side has been tormented for 300 years.

Tales of Arise breaks away from the usual JRPG rut, where everything good or bad revolves around the “final boss,” and everything will fall into place just defeating this final boss. Instead, the game explores one of the oldest story frames in the JPRG series: the world is dominated by bad guys. We need to defeat the bad guys – through a new multi-dimensional lens that makes the storyline more interesting makes the writer think a lot.

The issues raised by the plot are integrated into each segment (each segment is a gender) cleverly and reasonably. Not only taking full advantage of the characteristics of each gender to reflect the actual situation of the society itself creates a very natural and unforced storyline flow and urges the player to explore the plot.

Although the plot sounds quite tense and dark at first glance, Tales of Arise, with the help of the famous skit system, still contains moments of humor and fun. In addition to helping players understand deeper into the world, it also helps to capture the characters’ psychology and the relationships in the group naturally and fluently.

Another commendable thing is that the game’s story rhythm is very good, the events are not too sparse but not too rushed, and there is almost no dead space, keeping the player sitting on the chair for a long time. Do not “suffocate” players with too much information.

So far, the Tales of series uses Linear Motion Battle System, with the characteristic that the character will be “locked” to the enemy in a straight line, limiting the ability to move both on that line.

In the beginning, the battle screen was 2D, the character and the enemy moved and used skills on a plane very similar to the fighting style of fighting games.

Gradually, more modern titles will add new features. As a result, each game will use a variant of LMBS, such as Tales of the Abyss Flex Range LMBS (FR-LMBS ) with the “Free Run” ability that allows the character to run in 3D by holding the R button temporarily.

To Tales of Xillia, with the Double-Raid LMBS (DR-LMBS) system, almost the battle screen has changed to full 3D, but the character still… runs in a straight line to the enemy and is limited to moving move in that line, unless the player presses the Free Run trigger button.

However, to Tales of Arise, Bandai Namco decided to drop the “linear” aspect of LMBS and give players the freedom to move in 3D like a real action game.

That may make many loyal fans feel uncomfortable, but when experiencing the game’s combat firsthand, the writer feels that this improvement is right and reasonable.

where can you get a Tales of Arise online

Tales of Arise – PlayStation 4: Buy it now

Tales Of Arise (Xbox One): Buy it now

In Tales of Arise, the character can move freely within combat range, with basic attack commands, skills called arte, and the ability to dodge attacks.

Each character can attach six arte, three arte used on the ground, and three arte used in the air. However, the player will later unlock the ability to change arte sets mid-battle, meaning the player can use up to 12 artes at once.

Unlike previous versions where the use of arte in combat is often very economical, Tales of Arise includes an Arts Gauge mechanism to help you freely “discharge” arte.

Gone are the days when you didn’t dare to use arte because you were afraid of running out of TP or not having Orange Gel. Gone are the days when you couldn’t use one arte because you ran out of Souls; in Tales of Arise, the Arts Gauge will heal continuously during battle (recovers slowly) than if you’re attacking an enemy), giving you the freedom to use arte to damage enemies.

Of course, you also shouldn’t release arte indiscriminately because “combo” attacks are very important, and you don’t want the character to have to “take a break” waiting for the Arts Gauge time and interrupt the combo.

Why? Not only do you deal more damage the longer the combo, but you need the combo nonstop to trigger Boost Strike. Boost Strike is like a “fatal blow” for the enemy; when launched, the two characters on the team will use an extremely “colorful” combo move to deal great damage, and most of the time is the result kill the enemy instantly, saving battle time.

Therefore, despite having more freedom to use arte, the game does not turn into a “spam to win,” but players still need to use tactics to combo the artes with basic attacks (and combos with teammates’ skills) to optimize damage and battle time.

Speaking of Boost Strike, each character will have a Boost Attack in this game, a special skill that the player can use in battle.

When a character’s Boost Gauge bar is full, you can summon that character (regardless of whether he’s on a fighting team) to perform a Boost Attack with different abilities.

For example, Law’s Boost Attack will break an enemy’s shield, while Rinwell’s Boost Attack will steal the spell the enemy is casting and fire back at the enemy.

Therefore, fighting in Tales of Arise adds another layer of strategy: you need to understand the entire team’s capabilities and the advantages/disadvantages of the enemy. Know-how to calculate to retain Boost Attack (such as Rinwell’s) when necessary, react promptly when the Boost Gauge is full.

There are six playable characters in all, and no two are alike: each wields a different weapon, gun, sword, fist, magic, mace, and cue. As a result, each person’s arte set is completely different, making different controlling characters feel different and new. Players are free to research and find out which character with which arte set they want the most.

As another change, the healing arte now uses a special bar called CP shared by the whole team, and this bar does not heal during or after the battle ends.

The only way to restore CP is to “bite” the Orange Gel or go to sleep, so balancing healing in combat is important. If you run out of CP, you won’t use healing arte, which is disastrous in boss fights.

In short, combat in Tales of Arise offers freedom never before seen in the series and a degree of customization for players. With fast-paced action gameplay with few limits, but also no; therefore, it loses its tactical character, still requires the player to calculate and plan accordingly, providing an interesting and attractive challenge.

In particular, the stages with the World Owners are challenging, causing players to change their tactics constantly. Requiring quick reflexes and improvisation to deal with the Master’s moves, bringing great feelings of tension and suspense the writer has not experienced in the Tales of the line for a long time.

If a JRPG game makes the writer not skip any battle from start to finish, you understand how attractive and fascinating the battle is.

It would be remiss not to compliment the graphic aspect of Tales of Arise: a splendid, realistic world, breathtaking landscapes, but majestic landscapes on the way to adventure.

From ore mines full of glittering gems to dense forests of vines, even snow-capped mountains, the game locations are drawn as impressively as a painting. Creating a real sense of adventure spurs an exploration instinct in each player, making players look to discovering new places and stories.

The writer has often stopped to admire the scenery, zoom out, admire the small details on the cliffs, or a dreamy cave.

Compared to previous titles in the series, Tales of Arise has a lot of improvements that make playing the game less painful!

First, the game unlocks moving fast very early, apparently even before the opening movie. Normally, it is not until the end of the game that this ability is opened, and the beginning of the game is when gamers have to run back and forth the most.

Each character has only three pieces of equipment: weapons, clothes, and jewelry. That is a reasonable improvement; minimizing equipment will make it easier for many players to decide; anyway, Tales of Arise has a rather confusing casting system.

A special feature of the Tales of series is “title,” which the character achieves when completing certain milestones. Now, “title” is no longer fun but becomes a skill tree for characters to learn new skills and arte.

Skit episodes no longer use 2D images but switch to using 3D images as a real scene. Initially, the writer was familiar with the skit from the previous 15 versions (Tales of Phantasia did not have a skit, but it seems that the remake on PS1 does), so I felt something shaky but after experiencing it. After a while, I feel that changing the skit format helps the character to have a lot more expression.

Many other improvements are dotted in Tales of Arise, making for a satisfying gaming experience.

There’s almost no such thing as “biodiversity” in Tales of Arise; monster diversity is too bad!

Throughout the five worlds, the player will encounter a wolf, ice wolf, coyote, mad wolf, all kinds of wolves, which are just the original wolf but change color.

Next, we have hawk, archer hawk (?), fire hawk, still the original hawk but changing color.

Going around, except for the bosses with boss monsters, and sometimes get some different ones, the player will meet again and again these animals from beginning to end; this can be frustrating. Some fans have a hobby of finding and documenting monsters like in previous Tales of versions.

Overall, Tales of Arise has told a story from a new perspective; however, if you look at the details, many places are very stereotyped, and some of the next details are too predictable.

Some details are stereotyped that it is hard to believe, such as when a person is being executed in the middle of a large square full of soldiers. Not knowing how another person entered, like the “empty field,” ran to the middle of the square and… punched two fallen soldiers and untied the other!?

Where are the other soldiers? How could this person run to the middle of the square full of soldiers without anyone noticing? These “book” situations, although not having a big impact on the overall situation, still raise a few confusing question marks for players.