Tales of Arise

 PlayStation 4
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
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  1. morjito
    Apr 12, 2022
    6
    Better Tales game to date, while retaining elements that distinguish tales game from the rest of the JPRPG crop. How is it better? The graphics, game play and story combined provide an immersive gaming experience. How about the characters? The playable characters are ok, each one based on typical RPG stereotypes, and the game provides just enough backstory and exposure to show theBetter Tales game to date, while retaining elements that distinguish tales game from the rest of the JPRPG crop. How is it better? The graphics, game play and story combined provide an immersive gaming experience. How about the characters? The playable characters are ok, each one based on typical RPG stereotypes, and the game provides just enough backstory and exposure to show the motivation of each character. The battle system is typical of Tales games, a bit of chaos with all characters shouting out their special moves, which is kinda fun until you get more battles, then you just mute down the volume, hahaha! By the way, kudos to the english voice actors, the voice-overs were well executed that its convincing to switch from original japanese voice-overs, especially since the text fonts are rather small and the walls of text are a pain to read.

    On the downside, the game has nothing new to offer, and after you finish the game, there is no replay value. The gaming experience is also not memorable, compared to Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Persona games that leave some lasting memory of the experience. Also, the paid DLC's suck and are obviously placed as an easy cash grab by Bandai Namco, such as DLCs for items to boost experience and gald drops (currency) that would lessen the grinding for xp and resources. Terrible, its like the game is tailored so the players are tempted to pay for the DLC due to the minuscule amount of experience, gald and item drops from defeated monsters. And that Sword Art online collaboration DLC, players have to pay for a training bout vs Kirito and Asuna, seriously, Bandai Namco want players to pay for a frickin' training bout???

    Anyway, enough of the DLC rants, finished the game and got the platinum after around 60 hours of game play. Overall, Tales of Arise is an improved Tales game that is slightly above average, its playable with a pinch of patience, interesting enough to play from start to finish, but totally no replay value. If you want to play the game, just rent it, buy at discount or buy a used game, and yeah ignore the absurd DLCs.    … Expand
  2. judgementblade
    Oct 10, 2021
    7
    I got introduced to the Tales of... series with Symphonia and since then played most mainline games (and caught up on the games that were released before then). So in part I'm a bit biased but also BECAUSE I love it so much more critical. Now for the actual review (in short):

    + good graphic (which is most likely responsible for the high score) + technically mostly clean even on a    I got introduced to the Tales of... series with Symphonia and since then played most mainline games (and caught up on the games that were released before then). So in part I'm a bit biased but also BECAUSE I love it so much more critical. Now for the actual review (in short):

    + good graphic (which is most likely responsible for the high score)
    + technically mostly clean even on a standard PS4 (just some character model delay pop-ups in cities and occasional collision issues getting me stuck on air near objects)
    # mostly interesting characters
    - feels like the midgame was cut/lost/left out
    - - insulting amount of pallet-swaps for enemies

    review (long):
    I would call this game alright but missing something to be as enjoyable as for more recent examples like Tales of Berseria and Dragon Quest XI. I would say I only have two major gripes with it but for that all the more. Generally I'd rate it alright and not doing too much wrong but what it does wrong, it screws up enormously. One thing that REALLY rubbed me wrong was the insulting amount of pallet swaps among enemies. It's like you only have 10 or 12 standard enemy types that get recycled every new region you visit with a pallet swap. The elite/boss monster are a bit more diverse but even then they get recycled 2 or 3 times.
    Another issue I had was that the game felt like it was missing the mid-game. You basically rush from your first assigned string of story missions to the endgame when you think, now is when the game really starts off. They advertise two planets linked and made me think they get treated almost equally much but they didn't. I have the suspicion that for one reason or another they gave up on doing part of the game and without spoiling much, many people playing it and who played some JRPGs before will notice that point. It's where you expect the second act twist to kick in. Instead of becoming the mid-game I thought, it turned out to be early post-game content. This also links to a minor gripe i have, the party having it's moments but ultimately feel like they not as close and well thought out as the game wants me to believe.
    It's a bit hard to put into words but I think two of the six playable characters (not consider spoilers since the opening movie literally shows them) got the short straw in that department and at least one of those would have likely had a major role in what seems to be the missing mid-game from what the game hints to in other places.
    Another minor gripe to me is the party AI. While you can customize some actions it feels like the AI still prioritizes aggression even when the team is dying. They seem to have difficulties to ascertain weaknesses in their attacks and you can't even tell them to specifically aim for them which causes unnecessary grieve in some battles. It is also insane how some enemies dish out when they should be around your characters level.
    Another problem was the money. I mean sure, wild monster shouldn't drop any money, at best some sparkly trinkets or gems that they just like but human enemies should drop some amount every time. Sure you get spoils to sell but compared to the costs for supplies and crafting and the value and amount of things you get to sell, it's imbalanced. Most RPGs have the issue that the later the game, the more useless money you have, here we have the opposite extreme you never get enough without hours of grinding and I did have a discount perk that came with the Collectors Edition.
    Since I did have some perks with the Collectors Edition I used for almost all the game that might otherwise be behind a paywall I can't really say for difficulty but even with them, I got into trouble a few times during the playing. There was a bit of a jump in enemy levels from 30-35 in one area to 40-45 afterwards and then 50-55 for the next area which is endgame (60 for final boss, on normal mind you) it further feeds my suspicion there was some mid-game cut and bad balancing to mask it.
    That about sums it up what I think of the game. While the last game I remember for outrageous palette-swaps on enemies was Tales of Vesperia (which is rather old comparingly), it's still good to remember for other things too but I suspect, I will remember Tales of Arise mostly for it's absurd amount of palette-swaps and not much else. Now to put in perspective for more recent Tales of... games, I really like Tales of Xillia 1+2. Tales of Zesteria was pretty bad as a Tales of..., I really did love Tales of Berseria so I guess Tales of Arise comes in closer to the Zestiria side of things and makes me hope that the next Tales of... will be just as baffling to me as Berseria was. But I still wouldn't say I regret paying 70 bucks for the physical copy of the game alone. It just wasn't as good as I hoped it will be.

    With that, see you and have a good time playing.    … Expand
  3. CadeWylan
    Sep 23, 2021
    7
    The game is ok. The enemies are sponges, the bosses are annoying and the story is generic yet rapid. The characters barely interact except to reaffirm plot points and the skits are heartless. The game leaves too much of tales of behind to truly be great
  4. OldAndCynical
    Sep 20, 2021
    6
    Yet another generic and mediocre JRPG that will give you absolutely nothing new or innovative. Not bad as such, but not inspiring or uplifting in any way, just... mediocre. I also reduced one point because they left out Pro support in order to make the PS5 version stand out more. Cheap practice, that. Buy Scarlet Nexus instead. Its not that original either, but at least it tried to be.
  5. Renzokuken
    Sep 25, 2021
    6
    The game runs great, it's visually pretty good, the plot is standard JRPG faire but that's what JRPG fans generally want, if you just want yet another tales game, ignore the rest of this review and go get the game.

    The combat is my biggest gripe, it's fundamentally broken due to extremely poor AI and systems that just don't work well on anything bigger than standard trash fights.    The game runs great, it's visually pretty good, the plot is standard JRPG faire but that's what JRPG fans generally want, if you just want yet another tales game, ignore the rest of this review and go get the game.

    The combat is my biggest gripe, it's fundamentally broken due to extremely poor AI and systems that just don't work well on anything bigger than standard trash fights. Opponents need to be broken with normal attacks in order to chain combos together, however only small normal enemies can be broken, meaning your strategy devolves into spamming your strongest single arte during bosses or larger enemies. While the plot is serviceable, it has several moments that really don't make sense in the wider context, and several character interactions, particularly in the first half of the story that are just grating. This does improve the closer you get to the end of the game though.

    My biggest problem though, and the reason this game is a 6/10 is it's horrendous DLC practices that not only offer boosters and costumes, but push adverts into the game and lock abilities behind a paywall.

    All in all, it's a bog standard tales game, with worse combat than previous entries and worse DLC. Get it if you like tales or are a massive JRPG nut, otherwise there are far better tales games out there for you to enjoy.    … Expand
  6. ismentis
    Sep 29, 2021
    6
    Story is good, characters are good, but the combat design is quite disappointing.
  7. OhNoItsSenpai
    Sep 28, 2021
    7
    If you're a hardcore tales fan I imagine you'll find a lot to love here. While I did enjoy the game and am glad I bought it I feel like the story wasn't nearly as good as Berseria, nor the art direction. I can understand that they wanted to go with flashier graphics so I wont hold the last part against them though. The combat feels the weakest here to me though with all the characterIf you're a hardcore tales fan I imagine you'll find a lot to love here. While I did enjoy the game and am glad I bought it I feel like the story wasn't nearly as good as Berseria, nor the art direction. I can understand that they wanted to go with flashier graphics so I wont hold the last part against them though. The combat feels the weakest here to me though with all the character constantly being needed for one type of mob or another, you can't actually find a way to play that feels fun and just run with it like I did in previous iterations. Last gripe from me is the load times. I bought mine on PS4 and the load times while not atrocious are certainly noticeable. With the load times I feel like I would have enjoyed it quite a bit more playing on the PS5; if that console does even truly exist.… Expand
  8. Risax
    Oct 3, 2021
    7
    Although I'm not the most hardcore "Tales of..." fan, I've definitely played a few games and Tales of Arise got on my radar because it certainly *looks* great. I imagine that's one of the reasons it's one of the more popular games in the series in recent memories.

    At first, the game had me hooked. I liked the mystery of Iron Mask (aka Alphen) and the fact that Shionne wasn't your    Although I'm not the most hardcore "Tales of..." fan, I've definitely played a few games and Tales of Arise got on my radar because it certainly *looks* great. I imagine that's one of the reasons it's one of the more popular games in the series in recent memories.

    At first, the game had me hooked. I liked the mystery of Iron Mask (aka Alphen) and the fact that Shionne wasn't your typical "Aww, your poor baby let me heal you!" type healer. Combat felt good, I liked the special moves every character had to down certain enemies as well as the risk/reward of the Blazing Sword.

    Unfortunately, as the game progressed combat began to feel more like a slog with enemies become big ol' damage sponges, drawing out most boss fights and making me feel very "meh" about the thing.

    As for the story, despite the game being somewhere between 40 to 60 hours long depending how much time you spend grinding or doing side-content, it still felt...rushed?

    Most of the Lords felt underdeveloped and more like mustache-twirling villains than any actual characters, although a late-game side-quests attempts to go "no, no, they were actual *people* you know?" but by that point it felt far too late. One party member even completes his quest for revenge in the same section of the game that he joins, and for the rest of it they're delegated to comic relief it feels like.

    Admittedly, the second half of the game has some crazy and interesting twists but even then it doesn't feel all that rewarding? I don't know, maybe I was already feeling pretty burned out with the game at that point. I also miss the 2D version of the skits, but that's a personal preference.

    Overall, Tales of Arise is an average/above average JRPG that I'd recommend if it's on sale but not as a full-price buy.    … Expand
  9. Jofe
    Apr 30, 2022
    7
    Not bad, but with quite a few flaws. The combat system lacks depth. But above all, the game universe has no culture, no lore. It's really disappointing, you don't feel involved in the world of the game. And apart from a few uninteresting quests, there's no point in returning to the cities you've already visited. And the writing sometimes lacks finesse. Scenes between Rinwell and Law areNot bad, but with quite a few flaws. The combat system lacks depth. But above all, the game universe has no culture, no lore. It's really disappointing, you don't feel involved in the world of the game. And apart from a few uninteresting quests, there's no point in returning to the cities you've already visited. And the writing sometimes lacks finesse. Scenes between Rinwell and Law are ridiculous and not credible.… Expand
  10. mytoothbrush
    Jul 7, 2022
    6
    The game was in general enjoyable with pleasant graphics (even if I prefered the anime-like graphics of Vesperia to the 3D-like graphics of this one), decent story and cute characters.
    The quantity of skits interrupting the gameplay was tedious, considering they weren't even funny and they didn't really add anything to the story, but the gameplay overall was fun enough.
    I must say    The game was in general enjoyable with pleasant graphics (even if I prefered the anime-like graphics of Vesperia to the 3D-like graphics of this one), decent story and cute characters.
    The quantity of skits interrupting the gameplay was tedious, considering they weren't even funny and they didn't really add anything to the story, but the gameplay overall was fun enough.
    I must say though, there were times when I hated how the AI worked to control the other party members and grinding for experience was a little annoying and frustrating.
    I was also disappointed because the amount of content available seemed to be much less than other episodes of the series, and sometimes I had the impression some ideas (i.e. the fishing minigame and the campsite breaks in particular) in the game resembled contents from other games, so I felt like I wasn't really playing anything original.
    I give 6 because I think casual players can enjoy it, but it's very far from the level of other previous games like Vesperia and Berseria, and I feel like they didn't really put too much effort in this one.    … Expand
  11. aaronnmp96
    Mar 24, 2023
    7
    It is a good game, but the performance is a bit bad, also the story is nothing special, for someone used to this saga it is a pretty bad point. The best thing about the game is the gameplay, here they have made a great improvement

Awards & Rankings

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

Critic Reviews

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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
  1. GRYOnline.pl
    Apr 15, 2022
    85
    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.
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  2. LaPS4
    Oct 27, 2021
    86
    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.
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  3. BaziCenter
    Sep 25, 2021
    90
    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.
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