Tales of Arise - Quick Thoughts

Tales of Arise is the latest entry in the Tales series of JRPGs from Bandai Namco and the second Tales game I have ever played after Tales of Vesperia. If you have played any Tales game, then Tales of Arise is not particularly different to any of its predecessors. In fact, many of the things I have said in my thoughts of Tales of Vesperia apply to Tales of Arise. Tales of Arise felt like your standard, cookie-cutter JRPG. Nothing amazing, but nothing outright mediocre either.

I enjoyed the anime-style cutscenes and FMV, but I wished there were more of them, especially when compared to the overall graphics of the game. The graphics of Tales of Arise were just average, and I expected a bit more quality and polish for a game that came out on the PlayStation 5. The graphics looked like late PS3/early era PS4 graphics, which is not bad; I just expected more when it came to the visuals.

The combat is like other Tales games where you have free control of your character in a battlefield and attack monsters to defeat them and gain experience. The combat felt fluid, and you can chain together special moves (called artes) for massive damage. I found the combat of Tales of Arise to be like Dynasty Warriors in a sense in its satisfaction. I wish there were more variety in the type of monsters you fight, as you just face stronger versions of monsters you already fought as you progress through the game. 

I find the overall story of the game to be satisfactory, somewhat interesting, and easy-to-follow for most of the game. Essentially, your main character is a slave who leads a rebellion against the rulers of your planet, with the help of other characters you meet along the way. Speaking of the characters you travel with through the game, I think they were a good group of people that interact with each other well. The dialogue and voice-acting were fine, maybe a little bit on the cheesy side but I am okay with it.

Overall, Tales of Arise is a good JRPG experience, and I would recommend this game if you are already a fan of JRPGs and need to play something to pass the time. There is nothing spectacular, nor nothing terrible, just a standard JRPG game and nothing more. In some cases, that is all you need.