Tales of Arise

 PlayStation 4
Metascore
82

Generally favorable reviews - based on 12 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 11 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 0 out of 12
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  1. CGMagazine
    Sep 8, 2021
    60
    Tales of Arise is not so much an evolution of the Tales series as it is an awkward game that backs up decent combat with a bland, uninspired story and characters.

Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best PS4 Game of 2021
14
#14 Most Discussed PS4 Game of 2021

User Reviews

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User Score
8.2

Generally favorable reviews- based on 139 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 105 out of 139
  2. Mixed: 19 out of 139
  3. Negative: 15 out of 139
  1. Sweeb
    Sep 12, 2021
    10
    This is easily best RPG out this year and game of the year. This is how RPGs should be made.
  2. davygravy93
    Sep 13, 2021
    0
    Just a warning, there are advertisements for micro transaction dlc shoved in your face when camping with your party, disgusting andJust a warning, there are advertisements for micro transaction dlc shoved in your face when camping with your party, disgusting and inexcusable for an rpg. The combat is mindless button button mashing and the worst part is the characters NEVER SHUT Up they're just constantly screaming random lines like they have mental issues, it's so annoying. The story is laughably bad, it's almost as if the game is trying to be a cliché ridden mess. The characters all have weird designs that make them look like they're from separate games, the main Character has an armor eyepatch, nuff said. If you're a weeb you'll probably like this but otherwise stay far away.… Full Review »
  3. ItsTamo
    Oct 7, 2021
    8
    Cons:
    - Frame drop issues (probably cuz it's base PS4, but still.)
    - Devs should stop forcing victims to "forgive" everything. That's just    Cons:
    - Frame drop issues (probably cuz it's base PS4, but still.)
    - Devs should stop forcing victims to "forgive" everything. That's just not how things work. The whole story revolves around the theme of forgiveness and coexistence and I found how they delivered the message very unsettling. If they are dealing with colonialism in stories, they should've been a lot more sensitive.
    - Very, very disappointing ending. I was literally laughing out loud during the cutscenes since the whole ending sequence seemed really ridiculous and rushed and made no sense. Alphen was trying to be serious but I buy none of that lol.
    - Characters are straight out flat. Alphen had great backstories but was one of the worst protagonist I've seen in a video game. He's so static and absurdly obsessed with being the 'Mr. Nice Guy'. Toward the end, the whole journey is lead by his obsession to save his love interest and this is done terribly. All the other characters except for Rinwell and maybe Dohalim were poorly written as well. They just lack in any interesting character arch. The character designs are so great but their arches are such missed potentials.
    - lack of monster variant. they mainly play with the colour palette change.
    - Microtransaction seems really bad. I didn't buy any of the DLCs but I could see where BN was going at.
    - Soundtracks were bland. The most memorable ones were actually the returning tracks, like the field boss themes.
    - Character inflation in battles is seriously off. Kisara and Law ended up being mostly useless throughout the whole campaign. Alphen's the main character, Shionne's a must since she's the healer, Rinwell is a magic-user who can beat monsters of 20+ levels all by herself, and Dohalim is a secondary healer and necessary since Alphen can't heal himself and Shionne and Rinwell are very fragile.
    - Field monster health was unnecessarily high and I just don't quite get why... The Devs just don't bother to add any interesting skills or patterns in higher variants of the monsters, but instead just add a tonne of health.
    - UI/UX was oddly uncomfortable. You can't access the map from the menu and you can't access the quest menu from the map. I was consistently irritated by this toward the end.

    Pros:
    - Art Direction is gorgeous!!! The environment and the character graphics were so pretty. Honestly this is one of the most gorgeous art I've seen in a video game.
    - Combat is very cool. Fast-paced and engaging, and the cutscenes for the skills were also cool.
    - Battle camera was very, very, good. I've played Vesperia, Symphonia and Zestria and none of those had good cameras, it seems like I made some good improvements over the years.
    - I wasn't too in for the chain battle system at first, but quickly got very fun. It compliments the fast-paced combats very well.
    - Fishing is weirdly fun...
    - I loved the references to the previous Tales games. Rinwell and Shionne's casts were straight out from Vesperia and that was a really cool touch.
    - First half of the game was very engaging and interesting.

    I have more cons than pros but this game was fun enough. The first half of the game was seriously great. It got dragged down by its terrible writing and rushed and non-sensical story toward the end. I'd give it 9.2 if it wasn't for the story but story really brought the score down for me. The ending was really mediocre and I didn't feel anything as I took out the disc from my console...

    Overall fun experience. I wouldn't greatly recommend but still recommend regardless.    … Full Review »
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