Tales of Arise - PlayStation 5

TL;DR: From my own personal enjoyment, I’d give it a 10/10. If I’m being more objective and taking my personal experience out of it, I’d still give it 9.5/10. In my opinion it’s the must play JRPG of 2021, especially for JRPG newcomers. There were many good JRPG’s this year, SMT5, Scarlet Nexus, etc... but this was the one I enjoyed the most. Tales of Arise is worth the $60 price tag, and if you can find it for less than that, grab it. I already wish I could play it again for the first time. EnjoyNote: If you’re someone who likes having outfits and planning on buying DLC, you’re better off buying the digital ultimate edition or the digital deluxe edition of the game. Although you can still buy it all separately for physical copies. If you wait for a sale, you can find the ultimate digital edition for around $45. It includes all DLC, minus a few exceptions (Level skips, SAO, etc..)This was my first Tales game, and it really surprised me. The combat is really fun, smooth/fluid, (Not sure why people are saying it’s turn based, combat is NOT turn based) and it has gorgeous animations; the graphics are good and the story is worthwhile, even if there are some cliche moments and overused plot devices like amnesia. There’s also a lot of character development with all of the party members, and I found the party members to be plenty likable. I also really enjoyed the theme of romance between the party members, which is something I’ve yet to experience before Arise. Each party member has their own love interest, not just the protagonist. But the development between Shionne and Alphen was great, I couldn’t help but root for them. It’s a very polished and fun experience, and I can honestly say that Tales of Arise is my game of the year. I haven’t enjoyed a game as much as I did with Tales of Arise in a very long time, probably since playing the original Persona 5. Some of the themes are actually somewhat similar too, and it reminded me a lot of Persona 5 in the best ways. So much so that I platinumed Tales of Arise, and normally I couldn’t care less about getting a platinum, but this game was just that much fun. I’d also consider Tales of Arise to be newcomer friendly too, even if you’ve never played a JRPG.Expect to drop anywhere from 50-100+ hours depending on whether or not you’re a completionist; whether or not you bought the double XP boosting artifact, and whether or not you actively searched for more XP boosting artifacts during your playthrough. These do however carry over in New Game Plus, so it’s definitely worth the effort. I got the Platinum for Tales of Arise in around 65-70 hours. You could also buy level skips and jump up 30+ levels in no time, which would drastically shorten your play time. There’s many ways to go about it, just do what feels right for you. If you’re short on time, you at least have the option to skip all the grind in favor of enjoying the story. I opted to buy the double XP boost Artifact that was like $3, and it was worth every penny. I opted to skip the level jumps though, it seemed like it would take the fun and the challenge out of it for me. They’re also expensive, and they don’t go on sale like all the other Tales or Arise DLC.My only criticism would be that the pacing in the second half of the game feels a little off, and there’s an info dump at around the halfway point signaling the second half of the game that can feel a bit overwhelming. It can also be quite a grind, more so than most JRPG’s. If you don’t want to spend hours and hours grinding, I’d suggest spending the $2-$3 for the double XP artifact, and actively search for artifacts while playing for further XP boosts. Another criticism I have is that some of what’s considered DLC feels like it should’ve been included in the base game; such as these paid double XP boosters.This game has a lot of dialogue, so if that’s something you don’t want, steer clear of JRPG’s, not just Tales of Arise. The game isn’t perfect, but with how fun it is, and with all the quality of life and ease of use that’s built into the game, this is an overwhelmingly great game. There’s also a ton of after story activities when you finally finish, and I’d say it has a high replay value. It already has a New Game+ available for future replays.If you’re a fan of SAO, the optional paid DLC is actually pretty fun. I’d say it’s definitely worth it when it’s on sale, that is only if you’re a fan.Edit: 11/3/2023: A new sequel DLC has been announced, which takes place one year after the end game events. I’m very excited about it, as I hoped for some kind of follow up or epilogue. I highly recommend this game.

I've been playing Tales games for a long time, since Tales of Symphonia for PS2 but didn't really get into the series until Tales of Xillia on the PS3. However, I wouldn't call myself a fan of the series because when compared to other JRPGs (e.g. Dragon Quest or Final Fantasy), every single installment of the Tales series always feel like it’s lacking something but can’t quite put my finger on what that is. They all felt cheap and sub-standard in quality in comparison to the FF or DQ series. Always felt like there was something holding it back from being in the same league as the FF or DQ series. 'Nuff said about that.But with Tales of Arise, WOW! This game is so much fun. I gave up on FF15 and FF7 Remake after putting in less than 2 hours each and never felt the urge to pick up where I left off again. However, with Tales of Arise, I find myself wanting to keep playing and never wanting to put the controller down. Even as I'm writing this review, I'm tempted to continue playing even though I had just spent 4 hours playing it non-stop. It is now 10PM so I better not pick up that controller again or I’ll stay up all night because this game is just that addictive and fun.What makes this game so amazing, aside from the colorful and vibrant cartoony/anime style graphics, is the battle mechanics and gameplay. I like the fact that the main character, Alphen, is equipped with this special ability called Blazing Sword which lets him execute powerful moves with his sword (moves that are so powerful that they burn his flesh and consume HPs in the process), but they are so worth it because these moves wipe out your enemies pretty quickly. Add to that there's also the Boost Strikes abilities that let multiple members of your party perform combos together to add tremendous damage to the bad guys. And there's also Limit Break which comes on after your character takes enough beatings. The screen dazzles as your party members each carry out their own moves and all of this makes for one beautiful spectacle to behold in every battle.The storyline is your typical run of the mill politics where you gang up with a resistance group to overthrow an evil and corrupt government official. The game takes place within the Twin Worlds, Dahna and Rena. There are tons of locales to visit and thankfully there's also the option to fast travel on the world map to places you've been to before. My biggest gripe about this though is that the game doesn't consistently show you the direction to head towards your next destination. Sometimes there's a dotted trail to a star (your target destination) with numbers slowly descending as you approach closer to your destination. Most other times though, this star trail is missing so you'll have to explore every nook and cranny of each town or specific locale on the world map to find your next destination. Maybe the game designers set it up this way intentionally to force players to do some exploration on their own so that they get to see the hardwork and breathtaking designs in every inch of the world that the designers had put so much time and effort into creating.The game cutscenes feature high quality Japanese anime style movies that are beautiful to look at. They come on sporadically as needed to advance the storyline. Sometimes the cutscenes are set up like a comic strip to show ongoing dialogues between characters. I usually skip through these cinematics because I would rather be fighting enemies - that's just how much I enjoy the in-game battle mechanics.Overall, this was a well spent $60. I'm surprised the PS5 version costs just as much as the PS4 version. If you have the option to get the PS5 version, do get it because it loads the game a lot faster. I also recommend buying the 100,000 Gald DLC for $1.99 from the PlayStation Store. This will help you stock up on those Apple and Peach Gels (HP Potions), Orange Gels (CP/MP Potions) and Life Bottles (for resurrecting fallen party members) to better prepare you for those big boss battles. These items are pretty expensive in the world of Dahna and Rena (500-1200 Gald each) and it takes quite a bit of time running errands and doing side quests and favors for NPCs just to make 1000 Gald.