Tales of Arise

Tales of Arise feels like new blood in the Tales series veins, as it gathers all the qualities of the previous games, puts them together and takes them to the next level.

Tales of Arise is the perfect example of how a franchise can renew itself and achieve new quality standards. It's a JRPG with beautiful visuals and a fun, complex and spectacular battle system: a great game that you should not miss.

In short, Tales of Arise feels satisfying. It’s gorgeous to look at and the battles fun to experience.

Tales of Arise comes the most ambitious JRPG of the next-gen consoles, offering a great adventure with an excellent combat system and a soundtrack that will remain on the heart of fans of the saga for a long time.

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.

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.

Tales of Arise presents a refreshing sense of nostalgia in a shiny new package. At times it can misfire between its lovable but inconsistent cast of characters and political narrative, but there’s still a band of loveable heroes brandishing the classic Tales archetypes I’ve always adored. Perhaps it wields subtlety like a cudgel—placing Shionne, the woman who causes pain, and Alphen, the man who can’t feel pain, together—yet it’s that same ungraceful melodrama I remember being so fond of a decade ago. Arise elevates Tales back into the RPG spotlight, but it doesn’t leave the pieces of the past you loved behind.

Tales of Arise is a Tales game through and through. It's polished and consistently enjoyable, and it features an excellent combat system. The story and characters are not particularly ambitious or distinct, but they give you a fun world to explore for the 40+ hour runtime. In an era where "safe" JRPGs are uncommon, it's nice to have one that does exactly what it promises. It's not the best or worst of the series, but it is a darn fun Tales title that lives up to the franchise's name.

A successful attempt to modernise and broaden the appeal of the Tales series without completely abandoning its JRPG roots.

Dedicated fans of the genre will find exactly what they were looking for here. While its pacing doesn’t treat players’ time as well it could, Tales of Arise is an enjoyable, memorable action RPG.