It has taken time, but finally the Tales of series has taken a big, and not least vital step forward. The series had completely stagnated, and I have to admit I doubt if I would have been willing to spend more time on it if the developers had not made some drastic moves. The cheap graphics that had barely evolved over several generations, a gameplay formula that was virtually identical from game to game, as well as stories that had nothing to say dragged the series down, step by step.
What we get now, four years since the previous game, is something completely different. Almost all the old is gone, and it’s almost not so I think I’m now sitting here and can think of how beautiful the whole thing is. From the character gallery that looks like hand-drawn pictures colored with watercolor painting, to the sometimes magnificent and impressive area we get to walk around in. There is a lot to tackle here, and it is clear that the developers have done their homework.
As before
Perhaps one of the best things about Tales of Arise is the world itself. Not only how beautiful and varied it is, but not least how big it is. It gave us the tradition of believing in a solid journey through different biomes and temperature zones, but it is never too much. It reminds me of old, classic Japanese role-playing games where the area was of a reasonable size where you got something to look at, but was also allowed to move on for you got bored.
This is how it is here, a number of areas that at times appear enormous, but are not really. It goes a long way, and how much time you want to spend on them actually depends on how much time you will use in dei. You can hunt experience points and side quests for many hours if you want, but you do not have to. There is no compulsion here to fish up an entire ecosystem, but you can. This clear freedom of choice is important, because many games are forgotten, and give you the feeling that you miss too much if you drop optional things.
Not Tales of Arise. Tales of Arise does not force you to jump on the bandwagon if you do not want to. You have a story to follow, and follow it if that’s all you want, but should you be interested we have a bunch of things her gone, and Tales of Arise is very good at motivating you to do things, because it rarely takes long. A superb map allows you to browse all the areas you have been in, and you can quickly teleport to exactly where a small mission awaits you. As a rule, you should not do more than remove some beasts, but this is not a game that needs advanced side quests. The goal is to become stronger, buy new properties and get new equipment, and the game offers many good, engaging ways to do this, and most involve combat.
Sensory warfare
Tales of Arise offers a value I like to run around in, and especially since the new combat system has finally really renewed itself. As before, we run around with one person in the world, but in battle it is the solid group of four that owes. We meet a character gallery of six very different people, and in battle you control one of them, even though you can switch between who you play.
Campaigns this gong are much more dynamic than we are used to. Attacking the enemy, with regular attacks or more advanced “Arte” attacks is quick and immediate and it has never been easier to link a combo. You go on the offensive, dance away from the enemy, go on the counterattack, and get help from someone on your team. The game is full of things to do, and when you get a little out of the game and have unlocked all the different techniques that lie in wait, it becomes a sumptuous fireworks that never quite stops delivering. It’s a lot of fun to go to battle in this game, and it’s been a long time since I have kindly spent so much time just hunting down as many enemies as possible.
Otherwise, it can be an exhausting process if you play for a while. Tales of Arise bombards you with sensory impressions and I have to admit I get tired of playing it. This is alt Bandai Namco has learned after decades of anime games. It’s flashy, lavish, and the heather sparks almost pop out of the screen. I have to rub my eye a few gongs because it’s so much. But it’s not just a visually lavish game. The sound design in combat situations is completely deafening.
There’s way too much noise, and it’s exhausting. Our islands are peppered in four levels. First, Motoi Sakuraba’s jazz prog rock is like a backdrop, then comes a notch for a sharply mixed soundscape of swords that ring, magic that sways, and explosions that fwoompar. Then come all the voices. A wall of screams and shouts because everyone is happy to communicate what they are doing at any given time and we sit with four voices shouting in each other’s mouths, and as if that were not enough, our heroes start talking together while fighting . It’s too much. Relax a bit, calm back.
When will they learn?
It’s now we come to the part I wish I had not written. It’s been a long time since I’ve had as much fun with a Japanese role-playing game as I’ve had with Tales of Arise, but it’s important to distinguish between the elements here. There are two main components to a game; gameplay, and history. The gameplay in Tales of Arise is absolutely superb. I love it, and I could play many more hours.
But. We do not get away from the other thing. History.
The best first. Bandai Namco has created an interesting and fascinating value. I like how it is structured, the general conflict, and what the overarching goal is. It is not the plot that is the problem, the plot is perfectly fine.
The problem is the cast. And you know what’s coming. I can not talk about this without going weakly into spoiler territory, but if you have played a Japanese role-playing game or seen anime from the last ten years, you most likely know what is coming; exactly the same as before.
I’m so bored. If there is any doubt, you should get a quick summary: We get the same stereotypical anime hero that we have received before. Thinks nothing, does not know who he is, must start life from nothing and quickly becomes a perfect human being everyone around him looks up to. He is perfectly emotionally balanced and all he says is revelations from a prophet to everyone around him. After a quarter of an hour, it spreads to the rest of the group and all everyone does is praise each other for how good they are at any given time.
Of course, the emotional break comes from time to time where we ask philosophical questions as if we actually have some right to save the world since we were once forced to do something terrible, but of course the nods are in place to build us up that while I’m most ready to give them all a solid fist in the lower jaw.
It does not stop there either. We are served strong boys who will protect emotionally weak girls from their own feelings, and everything is served through an overwhelmingly formal and pretentious language that does not resemble the pig. We’ve seen it before, heard it before, and most recently from Scarlet Nexus, shockingly enough another game from Bandai Namco. Someone needs to address this issue soon. One thing is all the nonsense the authors have written, another is the banal translation that takes idiotic things, and presents them in a language so rigid and unnatural that it is almost embarrassing.
You’re fine with your mouth again
But we are not done. We need to talk about korleis story is conveyed in this game. This is is Bandai Namco, and whether we have learned anything from Tales of Berseria and the Scarlet Nexus is that nothing should be left alone. Everything should be talked about. Everything. I mean everything. Exercise regimen and recipes, alt. Everything should be talked about. Everything. They’re talking in your head and I’ve reached the point where I think I might stick a pencil in my ear if I hear any of these voices again.
It is not just the perverse amount of dialogue that drags this game down. This is the useless way it is delivered. This is exactly the same game as Scarlet Nexus. 99% of all history is delivered through lightly animated, but most of all static, cartoon panels that are practically impossible to get involved with. These shoot the talkers over with their well-rehearsed anime voices, and there is no chemistry in the group. There are only sentences spoken in the air without any kind of interaction between the different individuals.
I held out for maybe 30 hours. I looked at it as my duty to absorb what the game had to offer, but in the end I could not take it anymore. I gave up, and I skipped over and said all of the story nonsense after that point. Had it not been possible, I do not know what I would have done, but my gaming experience improved dramatically afterwards.
It’s not just the amount of irrelevant pissing that drags the game down, it’s the monotony of it all. There is no variation in that. The humor is almost gone. Earlier in the series, there was a clear definition between things. History is over here, and for a little extra spice you could enjoy humorous dialogues over there on the other side. Or «skits», as the series calls it. Now they are completely gone, eaten up by the rest of the game and presented in the same way as everything else. Instead of something to laugh at, and which makes you want to absorb more, you get infantile dialogues about all sorts of irrelevant shit, they talk about unimportant people they have met, farming, owls, fish, and the gods know what we impossible can care about. You don’t think so right away either. They should come in a row, preferably three at a time. I get scabies. I can do no more.
The great tragedy of it all is that if the developers had dropped the majority of this nonsense and rather used the manpower that has been lost on it to make some proper film sequences that tell the story we want to see more of, this could have been proper Good. But no, in the city they prioritize that shit here.
Conclusion
Tales of Arise is a challenge. On the one hand, it is a fantastic great game with great entertainment value that really takes the series into a new era, at the same time as it takes good care of its own DNA. It sends us on adventures in beautiful areas that are great fun to navigate around, and it has a superb and action-oriented combat system that is perhaps the best the series has seen so far. Strictly speaking, Tales of Arise has a lot going for it, but it has a huge problem that it is completely impossible to ignore.
Over a good story, an interesting plot and a good value lies poor writing and frustrating localization work. It is too a lot of talking in this game. We get to brag about meaningless nonsense from a bunch of idiots who never shut up. They should always speak out, no matter what it is. Nothing can just happen without a comment. In addition, the location presents all this through a language that is both unnatural, rigid and frustrating to listen to.
Tales of Arise is actually one of my favorite games so far this year, but this endless hassle pulls down, a lot, and the only reason I do not pull down even more is that you can luckily skip all the hassle if you want.
– .
