pleaseinsertdisctwo
Member
It cannot be stressed enough: the characters were TERRIBLE.
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LTTP: Tales of Arise, looking better than ever but...yeah that's it
- Thread starter Fbh
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mxbison
Member
Pressing and spamming every button wasn't fun? Who would've thought.
You can actually do really cool and long combos in this game if you think about what you're doing and don't just randomly press stuff.
ShirAhava
Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
This.
Hard to get into a jrpg where if all the characters just randomly dropped dead for good you wouldn't even care or question it
German Hops
GAF's Nicest Lunch Thief
Valt7786
Member
I bought it on release, hammered it until the very last dungeon then just got...bored. Had to force myself to finish it like 3 months later, that dungeon was such a slog with the spongy boss enemies around every corner.
and yeah, other than Kisara, all the main characters were shit. Whiny monk kid was the worst offender, couldnt fucking stand him.
and yeah, other than Kisara, all the main characters were shit. Whiny monk kid was the worst offender, couldnt fucking stand him.
Fbh
Member
Kisara, as a character, was pretty bland.
Her entire personality, backstory and character arc can be boiled down to "my brother". I swear until like the last 2 dungeons she brings up her brother in every conversation.
pleaseinsertdisctwo
Member
Kisara was only okay because she was super bland, but even then, I didn’t like her voice actress or her incessant talking about her brother.
Both Alphen and Dohalim were extremely annoying Gary Stu’s, though Alphen is worse because he would also constantly talk about Law’s father (whose name I forgot), who he barely knew. On top of that, Alphen would also say crap like “if you think about it, those mass murderers are people, with families. Just like us.”
Shionne is overly mean for a majority of the game.
Law was okay until that scene.
I didn’t like Rinwell’s voice actress, her personality was very meh, and her constant flip-flopping on racism was annoying. “You guys are like my family” *next scene* “damn you Renans”
Eddie-Griffin
Banned
Didn't they make this game less open and more like various hallways and corridors with split paths?
lostinblue
Banned
I didn't like the smear filter, the combat felt stale and it felt repetitive, even in the demos.
I do enjoy a well made Tales of, but didn't feel Tales of the Arise was it.
Tales can only go for semi-serious anime with skits. It's driven by it's characters interactions. Xenoblade is focused on the world, characters are good but they are not supposed to cary the game (thank god because that's where Tales of flunks it).
PSone days were mixed, Tales of Phantasia was still the shit so they re-released it with anime, Tales of Destiny felt like it's SNES counterpart and that wasn't a bad thing, but didn't hit notes as high. Tales of Eternia is a "high" for the series in 32 bits although I don't love it, props to them for not going 3D on the PSone.
128 bits is where it blew up. Tales of Symphonia blew it out of the water, it had basically the same shitty plot Final Fantasy X had, but managed to be less bad because it seemed to not take itself as seriously and characters were more likeable, Tales of the Abyss though is the best of the lot. Meanwhile they were pumping Destiny 2, Rebirth (both 2D, evolving the 2D battle system- these were amazing games) and Legendia. Legendia doesn't really belong, tbh.
Tales of Vesperia was a good follow up from Abyss, great technological step up that could set the series differently if they kept that level of quality. And Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World while not the best game in the series (the way the plot is set up and how much of a wimp the main character is) picks up later and has a Abyss 2.0 combat system that made it the best in the series up to that point in that regard...
Then it all went to shit, IMO. They started merging all teams, doing boring characters that felt like a rehash of other characters and just lost sight of that Tales of identity and pacing.
I do enjoy a well made Tales of, but didn't feel Tales of the Arise was it.
There's still good ones coming out. Admittedly some teams fail at understanding the genre which is puzzling. But not reason enough to boycott a genre.
Not even comparable IMO.
Tales can only go for semi-serious anime with skits. It's driven by it's characters interactions. Xenoblade is focused on the world, characters are good but they are not supposed to cary the game (thank god because that's where Tales of flunks it).
Tales of was really good at some point. Tales of Phantasia on SNES is actually god tier for the system and as cliché as the plot feels today it wasn't back then. surprisingly dark, but doesn't dwell on it, good balance. Sung music on the SNES really set the bar for the series openings up to this day. Probably influenced a lot of games who started doing the same a few years afterwards. Game system was also fresh, L.M.B.S. was a thing and the jrpg world was better for it.
PSone days were mixed, Tales of Phantasia was still the shit so they re-released it with anime, Tales of Destiny felt like it's SNES counterpart and that wasn't a bad thing, but didn't hit notes as high. Tales of Eternia is a "high" for the series in 32 bits although I don't love it, props to them for not going 3D on the PSone.
128 bits is where it blew up. Tales of Symphonia blew it out of the water, it had basically the same shitty plot Final Fantasy X had, but managed to be less bad because it seemed to not take itself as seriously and characters were more likeable, Tales of the Abyss though is the best of the lot. Meanwhile they were pumping Destiny 2, Rebirth (both 2D, evolving the 2D battle system- these were amazing games) and Legendia. Legendia doesn't really belong, tbh.
Tales of Vesperia was a good follow up from Abyss, great technological step up that could set the series differently if they kept that level of quality. And Tales of Symphonia Dawn of the New World while not the best game in the series (the way the plot is set up and how much of a wimp the main character is) picks up later and has a Abyss 2.0 combat system that made it the best in the series up to that point in that regard...
Then it all went to shit, IMO. They started merging all teams, doing boring characters that felt like a rehash of other characters and just lost sight of that Tales of identity and pacing.
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names are for friends
Member
it's the only good part, because it's funny that the game is accidentally justifying concentration camps because "eh, we were both the same race all along! lol!"
The combat is legit braindead. It's probably better than a musou game, but that's a low bar
names are for friends
Member
Did you play Graces at least? It has a genuinely good battle system.
names are for friends
Member
You're going to have to explain this wild fucking claim pal. Some of us still have PTSD from this shitty game lol
names are for friends
Member
controversial opinion dq11 is a terrible game, as are all dragon quest games.No wonder DQ11 is a terrible game
tibia
Neo Member
Im into it for the adventure and don't find 200 hit combos to be cool. To me it's better to only be able to take a few hits before KO unless youre OP. More focus / more at stake, even if it's basic rock-paper-scissors like in Souls.
Not caring if the characters take 10 hits or 100 hits in a battle is instant yawn.
lostinblue
Banned
I did enjoy Graces.
Good game, albeit the plot lacked Oomph. I don't know why didn't list it as I didn't forget it. Probably didn't match my opinion that the franchise was getting worse and less inspired (not that it ever was) after Vesperia and omitted it because as a whole I didn't think it was better than that aforementioned game. But Tales would be fine if that was the type of game they were outputting. Great battle system too, and they they nuked the team that did it.
I don't. The beginning was horrible because you had to deal with Emil BS, but the end game wasn't, Emil evolved a bit and Martha countered it well. Wimpy JRPG main characters are nothing new and sometimes they don't wreck the game as the game isn't about them. But they could have handled him better specially in the beggining.
As for the battle system, it's just that Abyss had a better battle system than Vesperia did, IMO. The fact that they recycled the Abyss one and made it more combo heavy redeemed it on that front.
I should clarify though, best combat system up to 2008 in the 3D Tales of series. 2D was better.
No, no, no.
Haven't played DQ11, but DQ3, 4 and 6 are masterpieces and I never played a outright bad numbered Dragon Quest game. Final Fantasy wishes it had the Dragon Quest consistency. (as does Tales of)
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Boss Mog
Member
Played 80 hours on PS5 at launch, never had a single performance issue, always a locked 60fps. I'm extremely sensitive to framerate so I would've noticed it immediately. Now I'm not saying it doesn't exist for other perhaps, but in my playthough I never experienced it. I played it in performance mode though, maybe you're talking about the graphics mode which is kind of nonsense in a game like this that isn't going to look that much better anyway and not sure why you wouldn't prioritize framerate in a game with real-time action combat.
names are for friends
Member
based nep
Graces F is clearly by far the best Tales game, even if barely anybody has played it. The battle system is by far the best, no contest. Xillia is good but it's funny you mention Xillia 2 which, while I've finished, and while it's definitely better than Arise.... uh I missed my point but Xillia 2 wasn't that good. It just isn't as bad as Arise.
By the way I'm glad that there is a growing concensus that Arise is fucking dogshit because I was at the frontline of this argument day 1 shouting out that both the gameplay and story were absolute shit and I had sunk cost losers screaming at me because of that. Never forget that this game actually literally is about how you should forgive your genocidal slave masters and actually they're good people lol
names are for friends
Member
BTW can anyone remember who that machine character near the end of arise is called? I got into hysterics every time they said his name as if it was totally natural but I forgot what it was...
names are for friends
Member
No you can't. The moves don't have any real variable utility and whether or not you can continue a combo depends on whether the AI teammates decide to cooperate.
Nocturno999
Member
Namco JRPGs are high quality, but almost always misses in the fun factor.
Ezquimacore
Banned
I thought it was going to be some kind of match to xenoblade, oh boy was I wrong.
Kamina
Golden Boy
You mean the Alien?
Hevrekt-35
Hevrekt-35 (ヘヴレクトの３５, Hevurekuto no Sanjuugo?) is a supporting character from Tales of Arise. They are the Overseer of Daeq Faezol. Originally, like most of their kind, Hevrekt-35 was a slave to Rena's Great Astral Spirit. However, once their ship, Daeq Faezol, drifted away in space, too far for...
aselia.fandom.com
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Y0ssarian
Banned
In my opinion, Berseria and Zestiria were shit too. I mentioned Xillia 2 because it was the last one I enjoyed (besides Vesperia DE but that is a remaster of an older game so it doesn't really count).
I think only new fans are the ones singing Arises praises, because old Tales fans were eating better during earlier entries. The only thing that was good about Arise was the graphics.
YeulEmeralda
Member
Tales of Symphonia, Abyss and Vesperia are classic JRPGs that are among the best the genre has to offer.
Modern Tales series has two problems: declining budget and declining Japanese audience.
Trying to Westernise Tales just doesn't work.
Modern Tales series has two problems: declining budget and declining Japanese audience.
Trying to Westernise Tales just doesn't work.
sigmaZ
Member
Only Tales game I generally like. Wasn't amazing, but I felt it had good pacing and the skits (in Japanese) were generally somewhat grounded and entertaining. The ONLY major issue was the leveling speed. They purposely made the leveling slow so that you had to use the DLC if you cared about your time. The last act was a bit stale as well, but there's far worse.
Tales of has always been this sort of B-Tier JRPG franchise for me. They’ve always been enjoyable enough to be worth playing through but at the same time they’ve never truly been up to par with some of my favorites in the genre.
I had high hopes for this since the visuals and overall production values looked like a massive step forward for the franchise, which had sort of been trapped in the Ps3 era of visuals for a long time. But while I enjoyed my time with it, in many ways it still feels like that same B tier franchise, with several annoyances that nicer visuals can't quite compensate for.
The presentation is indeed very nice, the game has some awesome vistas, flashy effects and animations, a nice watercolor look that really sets it apart from other HD anime style games (like DQ11 or Xenoblade), and it also has some really nice looking towns which is always a plus in my book. Compared to the previous Tales I played (Xillia) I also found some nice quality of life improvements. There’s no longer MP but rather “Cure Points” which are only used for healing spells and buffs, so mages have become more fun to play and you also no longer have to worry about the AI companions using up all their MP in 30 seconds. The transitions to and from battle are also way quicker (though it's a tad disappointing that fights still happen in a separate arena), and they thankfully removed the after battle screen in favor of just getting the XP and loot information on the side once regular gameplay resumes.
This town in particular was really nice, I just wish there was more to do in it
I think overall my biggest issue with this was the story, which wasn't terrible but never managed to elevate itself beyond "just ok". The entire premise is very generic, there isn’t much in terms of interesting (or at least unexpected) plot developments and, maybe more importantly, the cast is on the bland side, lacking a lot of that party chemistry that I’ve come to expect from the franchise.
I think a part of the issue is that the optional skits seem longer and more exposition heavy than before. They used to be more lighthearted and comedic in tone, giving you some of that banter and team building in between the more serious story heavy cutscenes. But now a lot of them drag on and it’s often the characters repeating their same main story beats over and over with slightly different phrasing.
Bonus points for no young children, lolis or annoying furry mascots though
The combat is a mixed bag too.
It’s one of the rare cases where I think it’s much better when fighting regular enemies than bosses (usually I’m the other way around). Enemies are on the spongy side but it sort of makes sense as you are encouraged to stagger them and create long combos which eventually allow you to do a “boost strike” that insta kills them. Finding the best skills to create long combos as well as the right time to call in allies to keep them going was fun, and the boost strikes are just short and flashy enough to not get old despite seeing them over and over.
But then you get to the bosses and all of that gets thrown out of the window since you can no longer break their stance (so you can’t really do combos) and you can’t boost strike them either. Moreover they all have massive amounts of HP so you just feel like you are evading attacks and hitting a wall for 10 minutes. What’s worse is that towards the end more and more boss type enemies start to get recycled into regular encounters (the final dungeon is pretty terrible because of this).
The length was at least decent, I beat it in a bit over 40 hours doing quite a few sidequests which is thankfully pretty decent and not as stretched out as other 60+ hours modern JRPG’s, but despite that it still didn't manage to escape that sense of bloat as the last 6 to 8 hours could have been trimmed. It reaches a point where you almost can’t play 5 minutes without triggering some cutscene, and the final dungeon is annoyingly filled with bullet sponge enemies which makes it a chore to get through and takes away a lot of the fun from encounters.
Ultimately though, it was still ok. I’d give it a 7/10. If the next entry managed to combine this level of presentation with a better plot I’ll be looking forward to it.
Also bonus points for a decent PC port, still can't belive how nicely this ran on my 1050ti laptop.
mxbison
Member
Ok, guess I played a different game.
Remember that i bought the deluxe version or something like that, on ps5. Had never played a tale game before and was really looking forward to this.
I put in over 15 hour, not much i know, but i couldent stand it after that. The world was sooo boring to explore, the story and characters, well i dont even remember anything of it. I will play it again somtime in the future, couse i want to give it another chance, maybe it was me that was the problem.
I put in over 15 hour, not much i know, but i couldent stand it after that. The world was sooo boring to explore, the story and characters, well i dont even remember anything of it. I will play it again somtime in the future, couse i want to give it another chance, maybe it was me that was the problem.
Madflavor
Member
Did the game have sneaky good marketing or something? I remember when it released it got higher review scores than the typical Tales games, and people were saying the story was great. A revitalization of the franchise. Then everyone played it and realized it’s just another Tales game and nothing special. Starts off good but nosedives in quality in the 2nd half.
DonkeyPunchJr
World’s Biggest Weeb
It’s a long-running franchise with a decently sized niche fanbase, but has been accused of being “good but same-y”. Then they finally unveiled a “next gen” game that doesn’t look like a mid-budget PS3 title.
That’s like the perfect recipe for generating hype. So many people desperately wanted to believe that this was some “fresh”, “revitalization”, “renaissance for the series”, “most exciting since Symphonia” etc.
Not sure if it was smart marketing or what. But as soon as they showed something that looked like an evolutionary improvement over the previous 15-year era, the fanbase just ran with it.
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DragoonWalker
Member
I keep wanting to buy this game, and hearing it falls off the second half in terms of quality. I know exactly what that feels in other games (when you can sense they ran out of time or budget or both) like and I hate it. Nearly everyone who enjoys it even admits that.
names are for friends
Member
Zesty is the worst because they took the best Tales battle system (the Graces one) and just DESTROYED it. But you could still see the hints of greatness in it. It makes me so mad. Armitization is one of the worst mechanics I've ever seen lol
I haven't played Berseria in a while. A lot of people love it but I basically remember the story amounting to nothing and the battle system being braindead
The thing is that, even if most people will accept that the story, characters and skits in Arise are fucking shit, those people will also argue that the combat is okay. Or vice-versa. I don't know how you argue with these people. What I will say is, there are a lot of unintentionally funny scenes. The witch-burning and its subsequent aftermath, for instance.
names are for friends
Member
it's okay babe, that win button is waiting for you
Jsisto
Member
Has there been a Tales of Symphonia remake/remaster on any current systems? I don’t think so unless I’ve been oblivious to it. That’s the last Tales I truly enjoyed, there was something magical about it to me. It’s definitely a bit dated, but some modern QoL improvement would definitely help. A bit odd they haven’t rereleased it yet…
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HiFiVideogameMusic
Banned
I enjoyed it despite its flaws. Alphen and Shionne were likable. I didn't think much to the other characters. The ending was really good atleast. The end theme being done by the same woman that did the end theme in FF7 Crisis Core was a great idea.
eastcoastkody
Member
i have no dog in the fight. I vaguely had even heard of the series before. ANy anime looking RPG thing just aint my bag so i tune out. So that it had a free demo. Tried it. The characters were kinda bleh. the cutscenes tho i enjoyed how it was done. As i've never really seen something like that. The actual content of the cutscenes was annoying.
that said, i really enjoyed the combat.
After playing it i did some googling. and apparently theres like 4 million of these Tales games. And lots of ppl were saying this one was average. So i looked into some of the older ones. I found Tales of Beseria on PS4 for like 8 bucks. So i bought that instead. not as pretty. But just story wise i was kinda hooked pretty quickly.
that said, i really enjoyed the combat.
After playing it i did some googling. and apparently theres like 4 million of these Tales games. And lots of ppl were saying this one was average. So i looked into some of the older ones. I found Tales of Beseria on PS4 for like 8 bucks. So i bought that instead. not as pretty. But just story wise i was kinda hooked pretty quickly.
mxbison
Member
it's okay babe, that win button is waiting for you
I mean, there are plenty of combo videos on Youtube....
Find attacks that chain into normals/launcher, do the same in the air, use Shionne special to juggle and refill bars, repeat, attack that hits opponent back to the ground, other team special to bridge the gap into next normals to keep the combo going etc. etc.
But maybe it was all just random
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Raven117
Member
You really ought to give ffxiv a go. It’s one of the best RPGs ever…, one of the the top ff easily. I don’t do the mmo thing ever but damn the msq is great.
Captain Toad
Banned
I did? Did my post imply otherwise?
ValiantTraveler
Member
Gaffers will never grow out of their edgy "this game sucks" takes.
OP is the most sensible person here.
OP is the most sensible person here.
Raven117
Member
That was meant for Daijin! I share your opinion! Ffxiv is great!
kurisu_1974
is on perm warning for being a low level troll
All the Tales games lack something, not sure what but they're never that interesting to me and finishing them can feel like work. The last one I truely enjoyed was Symphonia on the Gamecube.
Fbh
Member
What's really weird is that the last few dungeons are filled with annoying bullet sponge enemies.....that hardly give out any XP.
You can fight them for 10 minutes, using up half of your CP and get almost nothing in return.
Or you look for a group of several regular enemies which are more fun to fight, can be dispatched in half the time and give you like 5X the amount of XP
Y0ssarian
Banned
> DUDE DON'T THINK ABOUT IT, JUST CONSOOOOOM
ValiantTraveler
Member
Very poor use of this meme. Maybe it would’ve been half-funny if I hadn’t written the second sentence.
Take yor favorite game of this gen. Someone here has said before that it’s utter shit.
Feel Like I'm On 42
Member
How is Souls games rock paper scissors?