Tales of Arise Reviews
The Tales of franchise never ceases to amaze us. This time it offers us a renewed experience, but maintaining its most classic essence. An action combat that leaves us with a very good taste in our mouths from the beginning of the game, a wide and efficient skill tree and how not to mention our dear companions; which complement each other and are indispensable in every combat. If I had to highlight any section, it would undoubtedly be the artistic one. Each kingdom is different and with its own peculiarities, the design of the cities, characters and their own graphics, are a delight. And if we already talk about its soundtrack and animations I would lack words to express the good finish of both.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Yes, it's not a perfect game and has several technical issues that limit it, but nothing serious enough to ruin your experience. I think you can overlook this, Tales of Arise is a must-see experience for lovers of this beloved franchise, and if you are new you do not have much to worry about either, since it is not necessary to have entered any other installment to understand it and Arise in particular presents very accessible mechanics for everyone, even if it is your first JRPG.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
All in all, this feels like a safe yet enjoyable follow-up to Berseria. Longtime fans will be satisfied with this entry after the five-year wait since the last mainline game even though Tales of Arise doesn’t feel like it strays too far away from the standard series formula.
Tales of Arise is to date the highest peak ever reached by the Bandai Namco franchise, which despite the ability to tell touching stories had never managed to shine even on a technical and graphic level. The transition to the Unreal Engine 4 and the adoption of the Atmospheric Shader have instead allowed the Japanese company to overcome its historical limits and create a delicious cel-shading, which without renouncing its identity marks a strong and evident detachment from the past.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Tales of Arise is a beautiful JRPG that is fun to play that fans of the genre will no doubt get a lot out of.
Tales of Arise is gorgeous. The lands are lush and vibrant, even those trapped in extreme weather patterns. Calaglia's arid landscape makes me thirsty and trudging through Cyslodia's tundra reminds me of long Canadian winters. Sadly this all seems to be lost when it's time to throw in some anime. The switch from game graphics to anime cutscenes is actually rather jarring and I'm not a fan. I like the anime separately as its own entity, just not within the game itself. If the coloring matched the game, sure. But it washes out all of the hard work the level design team put into the game. Pair this with just way too much going on with the artes system and you can see how, though a fantastic game, it falls just shy of hitting a perfect ten.
Tales of Arise accomplishes the rare feat of catering to its many fans while simultaneously making a compelling case for newcomers to give it a try, and it's a JRPG must-play that was more than worth the wait.
Tales of Arise a great step toward the JRPG's evolution and a must-play for fans of the genre.
Bandai Namco combines excellent writing, stunning anime visuals, and a deep, rewarding combat system to make one of the best JRPGs of the year.
Despite some issues, Tales of Arise is a fantastic game, especially for fans of the genre. Fortunately, it is also accessible to newcomers to the genre, because it has everything: a cool story, great characters, a charming world, and really good gameplay.
Review in Polish | Read full review
While Tales of Arise isn’t perfect by any means, it is a meaty, colourful, and engaging game that I think should be on any self-respecting JRPG fans must-play list. Mastering the action combat is a thrilling and rewarding experience, as is the satisfaction of finding rare materials to craft with or taking down massive beasts for big rewards. The overarching plot is richly detailed, filled with twists and turns that will keep you interested, all while embarking on the journey with a party of well-realised characters. With some minor flaws found in the game’s competing visual styles, graphical options, and side quest content, I think there are more than enough positives to be found that Tales of Arise could easily end up being one of the best RPGs released this year.
After nearly half a decade, Tales of Arise was worth the wait as a shining new example of what the series future may hold.
This title makes it clear that the folks at Bandai Namco have it in them to move with the times, without losing the essence of what a Tales game is.
Tales of Arise is a tremendous step forward for a storied JRPG series and should be experienced by all fans of the genre.
I came away from Tales of Arise with a new appreciation for the Tales series. I loved my time with the endearing cast of characters and the exciting, fast-paced story alongside the energetic and action-packed battles. Tales of Arise is an excellent action RPG, and a fantastic entry point into the series.
Hell, even the genre's fonts are similar (or the same), and that's across rival publishers and developers over major titles designed to clash against one another at retail. But this familiarity has kept the genre on top in its home base of Japan, and evergreen as far as pop-culture relevance goes in the West.
Overall, it sometimes feels like just moving on from each area to the next, with not much else in-between. Tales of Arise is a beautiful game to look at, but the game goes by too quickly due to the relatively limited side-questing. The last release in the Tales series, Tales of Berseria, offered a lot of gameplay in terms of extra content, and the story was enough to wrench your heart out. Tales of Arise offers a very compelling story but not much else in terms of extra gameplay.
As a result, we have a very highly detailed game where the story and gameplay are equally worthy of attention. Tales of Arise features a bright living world, peculiar charming heroes, dynamic battles that will keep you interested 50 hours in, interesting boss fights and exciting quests.