Tales of Arise

 PlayStation 5
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 727 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 543 out of 727
  2. Mixed: 73 out of 727
  3. Negative: 111 out of 727
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  1. Hubliterate
    Feb 5, 2022
    5
    First of all, I'd like to mention that I'm a huge Jrpg fan since the ps1 era and that I'm 35h deep into the game. Tales of Arise has been on my radar for a couple months and I was really eager to try it. Sadly, I didn't get hooked at all. Everything is so repetitive, towns are absolutely lifeless, story is boring, besides Shionne the cast is weak and to combat system is unbalanced (IFirst of all, I'd like to mention that I'm a huge Jrpg fan since the ps1 era and that I'm 35h deep into the game. Tales of Arise has been on my radar for a couple months and I was really eager to try it. Sadly, I didn't get hooked at all. Everything is so repetitive, towns are absolutely lifeless, story is boring, besides Shionne the cast is weak and to combat system is unbalanced (I try/play every game on hard or higher difficulty and I'm really struggling with this one on normal mode...and then I realised there were microtransactions, now it makes sense). I don't know if Persona 5 and FF7 remake set the bar to high but I'm really struggling in enjoying jrpgs lately. That being said, the game looks absolutely fantastic, music is great and the voices are too. 7/10 for me (I'm even wondering if i'll finish it and I rarely give up on games)

    Edit: I dropped my score to 5 after playing the last part of the game: a rushed disaster and endless boring cutscenes    … Expand
  2. OwtDaft
    Nov 7, 2021
    7
    +Great Graphics, animation and voice acting. Presentation is top class.
    +Dialogue mostly voice acted and very little reading.
    +-The story is pretty good but only gets really interesting in the last quarter of the game. -Story is overly structured and formulaic in the first 3 quarters of the game. -The combat tend to turn into a chaotic mess once you have 4 people in battle. -Combat    +Great Graphics, animation and voice acting. Presentation is top class.
    +Dialogue mostly voice acted and very little reading.
    +-The story is pretty good but only gets really interesting in the last quarter of the game.
    -Story is overly structured and formulaic in the first 3 quarters of the game.
    -The combat tend to turn into a chaotic mess once you have 4 people in battle.
    -Combat controls don't feel responsive at all because you can't cancel.
    -The music isn't very memorable.
    -Fishing mini game, how original. It's not one of the better ones either.
    =The story through most of the game is very formulaic going from area to area for the same task. The last quarter of the game is very heavy on the story it's almost like a visual novel and the tales games tend to over do it a bit with skits, which are little story segments. If the story was better in this tales of game they would be more enjoyable and the game's pacing is just a bit off.    … Expand
  3. eaboo316
    Nov 17, 2021
    6
    Just finished the game. It had alot of potential but wasn't executed well. I have played a few of the games in the Tales of series before and did not have an issue with most of the changes they made in this game (only gameplay issue I had was not getting able to customize the AI's battle movements). I thought the design of the environments and characters were great. I was extremelyJust finished the game. It had alot of potential but wasn't executed well. I have played a few of the games in the Tales of series before and did not have an issue with most of the changes they made in this game (only gameplay issue I had was not getting able to customize the AI's battle movements). I thought the design of the environments and characters were great. I was extremely disappointed with the storytelling and character development, character interactions seemed off and I didn't really believe in them as a group of adventurers. There was one character (maybe two) that had good development but everyone else seemed like shells. I think a lot of potential character development was missed because characters were designed to be paired with another character of the opposite gender which pigeonholed their interactions. I liked that there was a focus on romance in this game but I didn't believe in the couple and their budding relationship, the game designers decided they should be paired, so it happened. Overall, somewhat fun/good-looking game but disappointing storytelling and character development, particularly for a Tales of game. I would wait until the price lowers to buy.… Expand
  4. KisarasLegacy
    Nov 24, 2021
    6
    It's a very good jrpg, but missing some elements I would have loved to see (eg. the fights could start with advantage or disadvantage depending on how you approach your enemies) and am actually tired of the same 4 kinds of stereotyped characters, even if the themes in the story are really interesting and I love Shionne and her attitude towards power.
  5. Blindman
    Nov 21, 2021
    7
    Nice visuals.
    Mostly good voice acting.
    Combat is a bit hyper for my taste and the leveling up of skills could have been better explained.

    Wasn't too excited about the story otherwise I would give it a higher score.
  6. Cancery1987
    Mar 5, 2023
    7
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Game is boring...
    Graphic : 9/10
    Music: 7/10
    Combat 9/10
    Story:7/10
    Item/Equip system: 5/10

    2/3 early game is good, but the late game is boring as hell
    Weapon simple and boring like Mobile game
    Characters become stupid at late game.

    Wasted my money !    … Expand
  7. Wagion
    Jan 21, 2022
    6
    Tales of Arise

    Version played: PS5 Price: 35 euro (60 full) Graphic mode: Performance mode Tales of arise tells a story of a group of rebels ending slavery ran by 5 Lords of representing one element each. The two main characters have quite a unique and fascinating relationship - one overly compassionate man that cannot feel pain, and a bit of a heartless woman with a curse that    Tales of Arise

    Version played: PS5
    Price: 35 euro (60 full)
    Graphic mode: Performance mode

    Tales of arise tells a story of a group of rebels ending slavery ran by 5 Lords of representing one element each. The two main characters have quite a unique and fascinating relationship - one overly compassionate man that cannot feel pain, and a bit of a heartless woman with a curse that prevents anyone touching her without being struck by massive pain which leads her to struggle finding relationships. She’s in possession of an item called “A master core”, which let’s her summon a powerful blazing sword - so powerful that it burns the flesh of whoever wields it, thus the “Iron mask” (the male character) being the only person that can effectively wield it with the help of her additional healing powers.

    The story - while interesting, sadly has pacing issues. The story is fairly simple and concise, yet the game stretches it out. This is mostly obvious in “skits”, which are small cutscenes where you are prompted to press R1 to play numerous times throughout the game. Usually, the skits are told through comic book style cut ins, which admittedly looks very good. But most of the skits that aren’t comedy, explain the already thin and overtold story once again.

    The story lacks a good villain, as the Lords are also incredibly boring characters most of the time, most of their motivations come down to “I do it because I’m bored” or “I do it because I'm a moustache twirling villain”, with a few exceptions.

    About 25-30 hours into the game, the game enters its second half, which is when the story truly takes a nosedive and the pacing even becomes more sluggish.

    At one point I had to force myself to keep playing the game, mostly because the story just drags on, but the game has some genuinely great moments that I wanted to see.

    Throughout the rebels journey you’ll come across multiple towns and different sceneries. The areas themselves are truly beautiful. The outside areas are fun to explore, although a bit corridor -esque, but encouraged with plenty of food and materials to find. Sadly, the same cannot be said for towns and NPCs. While beautiful, tales games have always had issues with NPCs feeling void of life. They’re simply sign posts with a human model doing something very generic, such as waving their hand, slightly moving their hands as they pretend to speak. Not a single NPC in a town actually walks around, or does something remotely interesting, which breaks immersion of being in a town that supposedly should be vivid with life. Ironically, the most immersive town is one in ruins, one meant to be plagued by war and having multiple casualties because the lifeless and soulless npcs actually help set the tone of the city.

    Combat is the second reason I kept playing the game. This is one of the best iterations of the “tales of”-combat. It feels fluid and has quite a lot of player expression in it from all the different combo paths the game offers. Every party member also has a unique playstyle and strengths. You can have up to 4 party members on the battlefield at once, but the others can be tagged in whenever needed or occasionally support with their special abilities. All of the characters are very enjoyable to play as and can be freely switched around if you want to spice things up. You also have a fair bit of RPG-style customization that lets you play however you want and adapt to every situation that the game throws at you. You’ve got talent trees, weapons with different elements, craftable accessories with tons of different effects.All this while a banging combat theme playing in the background.

    Overall, I’d recommend the game to RPG fans that are fans of exploring, likes to experiment with character customization, and enjoy a good combat system, with the occasional good and emotional scenes. But sadly, this experience is best sought elsewhere if you are a fan of the genre.

    3/5    … Expand
  8. Reekum88
    Dec 12, 2021
    6
    Tl;dr, Story goes from ok to bad and then to very bad. play the demo and if you like the battles and decide to get the game play it in normal difficulty.

    As stated the story starts with interesting points but drops the ball about 1/4 to 1/3 in. Nonsensical World building that depends on extremely gullible and tunnel visioned characters to advance the plot points. Characters with no    Tl;dr, Story goes from ok to bad and then to very bad. play the demo and if you like the battles and decide to get the game play it in normal difficulty.

    As stated the story starts with interesting points but drops the ball about 1/4 to 1/3 in. Nonsensical World building that depends on extremely gullible and tunnel visioned characters to advance the plot points. Characters with no depth at all and in some cases even annoying and incoherent. The skits are a chore to sit through but fortunately you can mash them up to speed (which can also be done with most of the game cutscenes, truly a blessing) the voice acting ain’t bad but as other reviews say the just say the same bs on repeat (previous exposition, low key flirting, petty incoherent dilemma) so you can read few words and not miss any meaningful development.

    As for the battle system I did enjoy it, was planning to give a better rating just for it, but about halfway through, the game just throws you the same enemies but with different skins, truly lame, specially in the last dungeons were it is too noticeable. Seriously there are less than 20 different enemies. So normal is the way to go, battling as little and as fast as possible so it doesn’t grow stale too fast. I didn’t bother controlling other characters or modifying their AI, heck, Most of the time I didn’t even know which magic was friendly and which wasn’t with so much color balls and splashes in the screen. But you can stick to move alphen around, set the few artes you are confortable with and it’s enjoyable enough.

    It lacks volume control on battle voices which is inexcusable. Music is forgettable, the main battle theme with the fast violin is annoying tho.

    Also the last boss glitched on me and couldn’t do more damage after getting to 1hp. Had to reload. Utter bs.    … Expand
  9. Kash514
    Apr 25, 2023
    6
    Lepszy film animowany niż gra wideo.
    Brzmi i wygląda świetnie, rewelacyjnie wykonane są postaci i lokacje. Jeśli jesteś fanem japońskiego sposobu opowiadania historii, z całym tym wyolbrzymionym dramatyzmem, emocjami i gdzieniegdzie powtykanym humorem, to będziesz zadowolony. Zwłaszcza z przerywników filmowych, których jest cała masa.
    Niestety, sama rozgrywka nie dowozi. Głównie zawodzą    Lepszy film animowany niż gra wideo.
    Brzmi i wygląda świetnie, rewelacyjnie wykonane są postaci i lokacje. Jeśli jesteś fanem japońskiego sposobu opowiadania historii, z całym tym wyolbrzymionym dramatyzmem, emocjami i gdzieniegdzie powtykanym humorem, to będziesz zadowolony. Zwłaszcza z przerywników filmowych, których jest cała masa.
    Niestety, sama rozgrywka nie dowozi. Głównie zawodzą pojedynki, przede wszystkim te z bossami, którzy mają setki, tysiące punktów zdrowia. Ty natomiast posiadasz zasób zwany CP (cure points), który jest używany do odnawiania twojego mizernego paska życia i który notorycznie się wyczerpuję, szczególnie w większych potyczkach.
    Każdy z grywalnych bohaterów ma specjalny atak, który ma służyć do kontrowania konkretnych akcji wrogów, ale niemal nigdy nie jest dostępny wówczas, gdy naprawdę jest potrzebny.
    Sztuczna inteligencja twoich sojuszników jest tępa i ciągle doprowadza do ich śmierci. Zresztą gra posiada zupełnie niezrozumiałe dla mnie opcje automatyzacji. Można dosłownie uruchomić automatyczną walkę, wówczas potyczki przechodzą się same, o ile bohaterowie nie postanowią popełnić seppuku.
    Jest to gra wyłącznie dla zagorzałych fanów anime.
    Ps. jako DLC można nabyć m.in. nie tylko walutę gry, ale wręcz zwiększenie poziomu postaci. Jak to przeszło przez urząd celny?    … Expand
  10. deplorable
    Sep 13, 2021
    7
    Tales of wise this fits between graces to xilia to the kind of standard you might be expecting. They've spent a lot of money on this PS4 game, and you can tell. Oh i know it says PS5, but even that version is a PS4 with a lick of paint, do not expect anything too out there, they haven't went crazy with quality.

    Gameplay is what you expect, a lot of artes you've already seen, It's kinda    Tales of wise this fits between graces to xilia to the kind of standard you might be expecting. They've spent a lot of money on this PS4 game, and you can tell. Oh i know it says PS5, but even that version is a PS4 with a lick of paint, do not expect anything too out there, they haven't went crazy with quality.

    Gameplay is what you expect, a lot of artes you've already seen, It's kinda simplified but gets better later on, like 15-20 hours in, if you can gold on for that long. The first thing you'll want to do is move "dodge" away from R2 and somewhere else, L1 works quite well for me. Not sure what the developers were thinking, it's like they've never played a video game before. The story is the usual cliche with dark overtones (think the slave camp and previous tales of with two different "factions") - yes if you've played certain other tales of games, you'll feel they've recycled and altered it to suit. But it's the same old tale.

    It's certainly not game of the year; that'd be Psyconaughts 2. easily. Not even a contest. Honestly the amount of hype and advertising this game got i expected more. The previous 3 entries have been sub par so doing something good wasn't exactly going to be difficult.

    Combat is still largely the same (yes you can put it on Auto for grinding and do not rely on the AI too much, they're as dumb as they've always been). The camera during combat can, as always, cause issues. The skits aren't as funny or very well put together. The characters are sub par and they just feel off, like cut out and pasted into their terribly written backstories.

    It felt shorter from other tales of games, could just be me but even on what's termed as "normal" which is actually 'moderate'. because you know welcome to 2021.

    Worst part of the game is the fishing, mostly because it doesn't give you a tutorial. I think what happened is the person who wrote it, did it on a beer coaster which was covered in soy sauce so they couldn't read any of it. So just put what they could read into the game itself. It makes as much sense. It also comes pretty late on than it should, another design issue. I mean by the point you come across the jetty, it's like the 4th one you've visited. And finally fishing starts because only a certain character can do it. It feels tacked on for that very reason. Half way through they were probably like we have no mini games, quick shove one in... i mean the first jetty you come across has its own instanced area. I mean a little less obvious would have been nice. (probably added the ranch, again, own instanced area around the same time, as a weak excuse for a "mini game" or something else to do - the ranch is another terrible addition)

    The tutorials for most parts of this game are terrible, at one stage when you get a certain character with a shield (you get a basic tutorial of them for their skills) i got 2/2 success without actually using their skill. I know. fantastic. well done.

    It's a 7. terrible mini games. terrible cast of characters with badly lip synced movements for the english version. I mean it'd be a 6, but at least they cast kirito in here. Average part recycled story, i mean now they're just creating garbage for the sake of garbage.

    Take this back, pick up the "Trails of" series instead. Start with cold steel they're all on the PS4/5 now. Get some enjoyment out a established series that's fun. They should have remastered graces instead.    … Expand
  11. hazelhaunt
    Oct 20, 2021
    6
    Great game if you don't mind wading through all the patriarchal bs and sword=penis innuendo. It's 2021, can I just have a little gay content please?
  12. Coxy4454
    Oct 3, 2021
    6
    So the game play is pretty great! The graphics are good and there's a lot of fun different mechanics. THE STORY IS STUPID! THE CHARACTER DIALOGUE IS TRASH!!! So much emotion! The dialogue makes a Spanish soap opera look bland - angst, tears, preachy, self righteousness you name it. I also hate how they push the dlc at you all the time - it's even advertised in a scrolling banner at camps.So the game play is pretty great! The graphics are good and there's a lot of fun different mechanics. THE STORY IS STUPID! THE CHARACTER DIALOGUE IS TRASH!!! So much emotion! The dialogue makes a Spanish soap opera look bland - angst, tears, preachy, self righteousness you name it. I also hate how they push the dlc at you all the time - it's even advertised in a scrolling banner at camps. So if you can push through those two things you've got a great game with many hours of enjoyment (at least 40). If you like the "Tales of" games or are looking a jrpg to dig into you'll love the game play - but the way the story and dialogue is going I kinda want everyone , good guys and bad - to just explode half the time. This review done at 28 hours, 2/3rds the way through the story.… Expand
  13. SmartBR
    Sep 18, 2021
    7
    The most good looking of the series, but far from being the best...I was expecting to play hundreds of hours, took me only 60hs. Totally disappointed with the end/post game.

    - Music is mediocre; - Few types of monsters with different skins; - AI is terrible, Tactics menu is worse than ever - Combat is the same Tales Formula with some few tweaks to make it simpler (wich I disliked).    The most good looking of the series, but far from being the best...I was expecting to play hundreds of hours, took me only 60hs. Totally disappointed with the end/post game.

    - Music is mediocre;
    - Few types of monsters with different skins;
    - AI is terrible, Tactics menu is worse than ever
    - Combat is the same Tales Formula with some few tweaks to make it simpler (wich I disliked). Negative point to the simple dodge system (just like Ys 8) and no block (except for Kisara;)
    - Played on hard from start, a few challenging bosses fights but overall the game is easier than the latest titles;
    - Done eveything in 60 hours on hard mode (playing slowly, trying to enjoy everything)...it´s too short compared to other Tales. Trophies, End/Post game are pathetic, with very bad difficulty balance compared to the main story, people will just lower difficulty to get 100%;
    - Making the game easier (with stupid paid DLC´s giving huge benefits) and allowing you to make 100% in one go at any difficulty, destroyed the New Game+, wich was the most interesting feature of the the franchise    … Expand
  14. LasseRon
    Sep 28, 2021
    7
    A good game that overstays it's welcome. I really liked the games first 20 hours, but it quickly got way to repetitive, and the story is really bad.
  15. KB5K
    Sep 23, 2021
    6
    If you like PS3-level graphics and overplayed, prototypical JRPG tropes, then you'll love Tales of Arise.
  16. Mohammednasser
    Sep 19, 2021
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Good game .. i like boss fights in the game Im not into the story… this is first tales game to me… Expand
  17. yaqubian
    Nov 30, 2021
    6
    Its an okay game with many fun mechanics, but it also has many problems. I'll list the pros and cons below.

    Pros: - Great graphics/artstyle - Really fun and engaging combat with great boss/monster mechanics - Decent story overall - Great skill/arte system - Good worldbuilding from NPCs - Great voice acting - Nice, fitting music - Love the locations/environments Cons: -    Its an okay game with many fun mechanics, but it also has many problems. I'll list the pros and cons below.

    Pros:
    - Great graphics/artstyle
    - Really fun and engaging combat with great boss/monster mechanics
    - Decent story overall
    - Great skill/arte system
    - Good worldbuilding from NPCs
    - Great voice acting
    - Nice, fitting music
    - Love the locations/environments

    Cons:
    - Basically same story formula is used for each party member intro and the enemies with varying severity

    - Characters confirm the same lessons and what we already know way too much, and there are too many 'I wonder', 'what if', 'so many questions, lets ask around' situations that mostly go nowhere, they need to stop repeating things that we addressed ten times just to pad the story/dialogue, its lazy and repetitive

    - Reminiscing scenes are mostly either characters bickering at each other, characters repeating information we already learned but in different ways, and characters going through stuff then being supported by rest of party multiple times and with basically the same dialogue each time

    - Shionne (not a big fan of tsundere, especially when its overdone)

    - Dialogue is bland, same generic lines are used with each new boss or new party member

    - Great outfits are locked behind expensive DLCs, and in-game outfits are mostly the same but just with different colors

    - With how great the game looks and what the PS5 can do, mixing anime scenes into the cutscenes is jarring and tends to ruin an otherwise great cutscene

    - No photo mode, or way to change camera positioning

    - No option to skip boost strikes or finishers (I don't need to see the same lengthy animations 200 times) and setting input queing to short is not a solution especially when you get all characters with one boost strike/finisher after another

    - No option to turn off or reduce ally battle effects, there are some bosses where visibility is an issue, I can't properly see what the enemy is doing if my allies and spamming flashy skills all the time, so I then have to rely on hearing, I have no idea why they've done it like this

    - Forced reminiscing, for example there are times when the party disbands and you are required to talk to each of your party members to continue, but as I've said they just repeat facts we already know, and lessons we have already learned/went through many times, its just so unnecessary.

    Despite the many cons, I rated this a 6 because the pros outweigh the cons much of the time, especially the combat, so its still an okay game that is worth playing through.    … Expand
  18. Jonathanacolon
    Oct 2, 2021
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. positives: The game's gameplay is great, I like the level of customization, the story to an extent is enjoyable, the game is lengthy and it has substance. Cons: It's filled with unnecessary plot twists and long periods of dialogue without gameplay in between and it is not necessary. A great game in my opinion; builds on the premise it had in the beginning, Vs. throwing a game-changing plot twist near the end of the game and dedicating drawn-out dialogue in order to explain everything that happened in one go. There's also a lot of reiterating in the dialogue and it gets annoying.… Expand
  19. Fraise1611
    Nov 27, 2021
    5
    The game is ok-ish, not worth 79€. I kind of liked the main story, and the manga world spirit. The evolution of characters are RPG classics but efficient.
    I disliked the dialogues, too much, too long, too often and too childish. It is really unbearable after few hours of game. It is good that we can skip it.
    Progression is linear and the fights are really repetitive, but I found some boss    The game is ok-ish, not worth 79€. I kind of liked the main story, and the manga world spirit. The evolution of characters are RPG classics but efficient.
    I disliked the dialogues, too much, too long, too often and too childish. It is really unbearable after few hours of game. It is good that we can skip it.
    Progression is linear and the fights are really repetitive, but I found some boss fights really nice and epic.
    I was really happy to finish the game to finally move on…    … Expand
  20. Blahblahuser
    Sep 14, 2021
    7
    Bamco does it again with another mediocre Tales game RPG.

    1. Mediocre generic music check - sounds almost the same from zone to zone (either they don’t pay Sakuraba more and he ain’t having it or he has checked out long time ago for this series and is on autopilot). This isn’t new to this series and is expected the music has always ranged from average to mediocre, but this one takes the    Bamco does it again with another mediocre Tales game RPG.

    1. Mediocre generic music check - sounds almost the same from zone to zone (either they don’t pay Sakuraba more and he ain’t having it or he has checked out long time ago for this series and is on autopilot). This isn’t new to this series and is expected the music has always ranged from average to mediocre, but this one takes the cake. The only decent Tales game with nice music is Zestiria, and only because multiple artists contributed to the score among them the amazing Go Shiina.

    2. Terrible cliched story with so many predictable turn of events you swear they were checking off cliche points to add to the game. Among this the characters lack depth, and are pretty uninteresting blabbing the same dialogue on repeat with each other, and I am talking about the story here not the nonsense they repeat while you are exploring cause that’s expected.

    Overall a pretty average and not worthy of purchase game unless you are desperate for RPGs, and even then I would wait for a discount. The main points of RPGs are characters and story, and this series has a reputation of delivering mediocre results on both counts including this one. What’s worse than playing this game is discussing critically it’s faults with others who are fanboys and can’t see anything but rainbows. It’s no wonder this series has never achieved the popularity of other RPGs when Bandai Namco doesn’t even try.

    The only saving graces are the decent graphics, and the combat system which while decent it’s nothing revolutionary. It’s almost like Bandai Namco just focuses on combat, and throws whatever else on the game to drive the combat and forgets that this is an RPG first, and the combat should be secondary. It’s sad because one of my greatest joys is playing a game with amazing music and this series fails time after time. Well I say no more Bandai Namco I ain't giving you money for less than great results.    … Expand
  21. jimrock9
    Oct 13, 2021
    5
    I guess I'm in the minority, but I think the storyline is near unbearable and I'm struggling to finish the, presumably. last stage with about 35 hours in. The bad guys are just bad guys for little reason other than they are evil, with each just a different type of evil. The protagonists besides Shionne drive me crazy, with exception of about 3 minutes of Rinwell at the end of the 4thI guess I'm in the minority, but I think the storyline is near unbearable and I'm struggling to finish the, presumably. last stage with about 35 hours in. The bad guys are just bad guys for little reason other than they are evil, with each just a different type of evil. The protagonists besides Shionne drive me crazy, with exception of about 3 minutes of Rinwell at the end of the 4th stage. The little skits are extremely repetitive to each other and within it self.

    The combat is great, the CP usage is interesting, available tactics are lacking. Descriptions of each of the artes are minimal as to what they actually do and what the difference between the stars are besides doing a increasing damange - but how much, who knows? The game certainly looks great on the PS5, but I guess I'm more interested in a superb story - like FF10, than the combat.    … Expand
  22. MACBX
    Oct 9, 2021
    7
    Finally finished the game after 80 hrs (a month or so) and it really left me feeling mixed.

    Specifically, the game's quality drops significantly in the latter half -- so much so to the point that a combined rating doesn't make much sense. The first half of the game was a 9 or even 10 out of 10 -- it was just that great. The build-up was great, combat had surprising depth, and the story    Finally finished the game after 80 hrs (a month or so) and it really left me feeling mixed.

    Specifically, the game's quality drops significantly in the latter half -- so much so to the point that a combined rating doesn't make much sense. The first half of the game was a 9 or even 10 out of 10 -- it was just that great. The build-up was great, combat had surprising depth, and the story is a marvel to behold (for JRPG fans at least).

    The problem is the latter half. It had the same great foundations, but everything is much rougher and felt really rushed to meet the release date. You'll start to notice that enemies are less well-tuned and same enemy types will appear much more often, almost to where the combat will start to annoy you. You will also notice the drop in writing quality, a few gaps in storytelling that's unnatural if you're really invested (which I was). And the best way I can characterize the story's biggest reveal (without going into spoiler) is that it's unbelievable even in JRPG standard. If I have to give a score to the latter half, it's a 5, if not 4. Overall, I could finish the game only because of how much I loved the first half.

    So my final score is 7 out of 10, which is quite a bit lower than 9.2/10 user score it currently has. But it make sense because, judging by trophy completion percentages, most player abandoned the game before the quality degradation is noticeable and people only really like it stuck to the end.    … Expand
  23. Matt2790
    Aug 10, 2022
    5
    This is the worst, dumb, simplistic and bland story I've ever played in an rpg, only the last quarter gets kinda interesting. I really forced myself to play it. Repetitive combat with tons of enemies everywhere, and once you get the full party, you realize how shallow, messy and repetitive combat is. Doing the same strategy over and over, seeing the same combat cutscenes for 50 hours.This is the worst, dumb, simplistic and bland story I've ever played in an rpg, only the last quarter gets kinda interesting. I really forced myself to play it. Repetitive combat with tons of enemies everywhere, and once you get the full party, you realize how shallow, messy and repetitive combat is. Doing the same strategy over and over, seeing the same combat cutscenes for 50 hours. Characters speaking too much nonsense dialogue during the time you're not fighting. Simple and poor side quest design which, which in fact are merely fetch quests. Poor and lifeless cities. Rushed and disappointing ending. This has been my first Tales experience and didn't quite enjoyed it at all. Will play others anyway, can't judge an entire saga by one bad game… Expand
  24. DrZomboid
    Nov 9, 2022
    7
    Good jrpg but last third is just filler, with boring detailed story.

    I remember that Vesperia vas also long and boring at some point.

    So I rushed trough game and it was pretty difficult even on very easy in 32hrs...
  25. dr0nzer
    Sep 18, 2021
    5
    I haven’t played a tales game since berseria, and was excited to jump back in based on what I saw; Tales of Arise has exceeded my expectations
    Story is phenomenal, combat is solid and smooth, games systems is great and has a lot of depth.
    World is wide linear, which I’m okay with as everything has been solid and allows for some exploration whilst not breaking pace with the story too    I haven’t played a tales game since berseria, and was excited to jump back in based on what I saw; Tales of Arise has exceeded my expectations
    Story is phenomenal, combat is solid and smooth, games systems is great and has a lot of depth.
    World is wide linear, which I’m okay with as everything has been solid and allows for some exploration whilst not breaking pace with the story too much. Soundtrack is great and English voice isn’t terrible. Characters are not lame in dialogue and less cheesy.
    The game doesn’t spam you with sidequests and the rewards helps towards growing your characters power level which makes them worth doing.

    My only negative is the sheer amount of dialogue, sometimes i just want to get straight into it but often it can be anywhere between 5-20mins of “chain” dialogue and skits before you get control of your character again during zone/story key points. Late game there was so much dialogue that i ended up doing other stuff like cleaning the house, checking emails etc whilst the game was playing in the bg, just slap on headphones and keep the controller handy…. Seriously i am not kidding or exaggerating!

    If it wasn’t for the fact that the late game felt more like a visual novel with sections having up to 45mins of chain dialogue at a time, I would have given it a better score, i wanted to play a game, not listen to an audio book.

    Some games suffer from bloat in sidequests etc, this game suffers from too many cut scenes, seriously it’s insane.    … Expand
  26. Kingdomhear
    Sep 27, 2021
    5
    Ma tutti questi 10 il giorni stesso dell uscita?? Ma la gente gioca prima di dare i voti ? ...il tales perfetto...storia personaggi eccellenti ...ho giocato tutti i capitoli di tales usciti in europa ...e francamente non me la sento di dare più di 5... personaggi sottotono..storia allungata e confusa sul finale ..
  27. RodStrokes
    Dec 7, 2021
    5
    1st playthrough - Medium ; 2nd Playthrough - Hard ; Total Time: 81 hours
    How can i define Tales Of Arise? the latest entry in the series provides stunning graphics, beautiful landscapes and engaging combat, but what about the story? and the rest?
    Lets talk about what Tales Of Arise succedes first, the game has a nice combat, feels good to play it although it becomes remarkably boring and    1st playthrough - Medium ; 2nd Playthrough - Hard ; Total Time: 81 hours
    How can i define Tales Of Arise? the latest entry in the series provides stunning graphics, beautiful landscapes and engaging combat, but what about the story? and the rest?
    Lets talk about what Tales Of Arise succedes first, the game has a nice combat, feels good to play it although it becomes remarkably boring and uninspired in the later stages, the little things like the finishers and new skills help the game stay fresh for a while until it inevitably becomes boring again.
    The graphics are amazing, the landscapes look fantastic and full of life and beauty, the characters look amazing, their expressions are masterfully animated, you can feel the emotion that the characters wants to portray and so on and so forth.

    Unfortunately there isnt much positive things i can say about Tales Of Arise, now on to the negatives, the story is absolutely a mess, its bland, not original, which in it of itself its not a problem, but its bad and not original, the game is so surface level at explaining how things develop.

    Every single region its just a place where you do a couple of missions and bye, there is no remarkable characters in any region, there isnt a motive to come back aside from some mini bosses and some filler quests.
    The characters are some of the most uninspired, bland, personality-lacking ones ive ever seen, Aside from Shionne And Alphen, which are the protagonists, the rest of the cast fails miserably in developing connection with the player, maybe 1-2 party members have a good story but thats about it.
    The combat is mediocre at best, dont get me wrong, it is satisfying, it is engaging, it is phenomenal, for a couple of hours. after a while you will find youself spamming the same set of skills, doing the same things, not needing to adjust your playstyle at all, no matter what you do you will always end up defeating the enemy, so why bother? there is no incentive to get strong because the game is so easy and lacks challenge, you dont feel challenged at any point in Tales Of Arise, just spam a set ammount of skills and youre good, no big deal, the combat is so bland that playing the game for the second time was a pain, i found myself constantly just trying to get pass the enemy hitboxes just to not trigger a fight because you dont do ANYHING different.

    Ambiance: While the game does look fantastic and the graphics are phenomenal, the ambiance is a totally different aspect that cant be "bought" with good graphics, the regions are just so bland, they are so cliché and so outdated, it doesnt evoke any sentiment, its just a region, its just a let down really. if the awesome graphics could be combined with good ambiance, it would make the perfect atmosphere and even make the story better, but that doesnt happen.
    Bosses and Villains: they are just bosses, they dont have ambitions of their own, they dont have objectives, they are just there to fill the role of a villain, they lack story, they lack personality, everything, the villains are arguably the worst part of this entire game. their designs are bland, just like the rest of the game.
    Last but not least, the plot devices used in this game are ridiculous, characters will just let things be THE WORST POSSIBLE until they finally decide to act just so the game has a longer play time, and even when they try to do something it obviously turns out for the worst, never for the best, proving that its just a bait for people to think that the characters have some sense and some type of intelligence of their own, when it reality everything in this game moves around plot devices and dumb decisions and dumb characters.

    Overall Tales Of Arise is a overrated and painfully mediocre game, however, if you are looking for a plain story where you dont have to think too much or pay attention to anything, a gameplay that is fun for a little while, beautiful graphics, and some fuses of excitement and romance, go for it. BUT IF you are looking for a Great RPG with great story, great music, great ambiance, deep characters, profound dilemmas and engaging combat with actual difficulty, Tales Of Arise is NOT for you.    … Expand
  28. majorgamer
    Feb 19, 2022
    6
    i've played this game for at least 5 hours and it doesn't get good. graphics and sound is good but gameplay is just average at best, nothing new if you've played final fantasy before accept that this is much worse than a final fantasy game
  29. Fyxhcl
    Jul 22, 2022
    6
    Mediocre videogame. Really repetitive and with an uninteresting plot. I rate the game 6 since it has a good graphic and a nice setting (albeit very generic), there is a lot to do, to read and a lot of activities to carry out. Anyway, the rating cannot be more than this because it also has some serious flaws.

    Combat is average, it looks cool and is fun to control the characters and kills    Mediocre videogame. Really repetitive and with an uninteresting plot. I rate the game 6 since it has a good graphic and a nice setting (albeit very generic), there is a lot to do, to read and a lot of activities to carry out. Anyway, the rating cannot be more than this because it also has some serious flaws.

    Combat is average, it looks cool and is fun to control the characters and kills enemies... but it has no depth at all and is very repetitive. When your characters grow they just become stronger and new abilities don't change the way you use them or add anything interesting. Enemies are HP sponges, it's not fun to fight a wolf for 5 minutes, even less when it's the 10th wolf of the area.

    Story is ridicolous. So much plot holes and cliche. The setting is a planet that has been invaded by an advanced alien civilization; they enslaved everyone and divided the planet into 5 reigns. In the first few hours of the game you go from being a slave to liberate 1/5 of the world by simply entering the "king" room and killing him. After you kill him every other invader simply goes away despite them being there for 300 years and being technologically on another level compared to those who rebelled. You repeat this other 4 times and free the whole world. The story becomes very convoluted by the end but it's not really well explained and remains very disappointing. Dialogues are boring and they happen too often and are too long, characters lack personality and aren't really interesting.

    Subquests are boring and mostly consist of "kill this special enemy with 10000000000HP", or just fetch this item.

    I didn't play any other "Tales of..." game so if you're into the serie you probably know what you're getting into, but I don't recommend this game to anyone that isn't a super fan of anime and JRPGs with real time combat. And even in that case, you could dislike the game.    … Expand
  30. EternalCore
    Apr 23, 2022
    6
    Game is a huge disappointment. The only good things it has going for it, is cute characters, fun banter, weird accessories.. & it's pretty.

    Other than that, the game is extremely shallow & the combat sucks. The lock on/targeting in the game is a joke. The realtime fighting is a joke..

    I'm very disappointed in it.
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Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best PlayStation 5 Game of 2021
17
#17 Most Discussed PlayStation 5 Game of 2021

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
87

Generally favorable reviews - based on 76 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 75 out of 76
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 76
  3. Negative: 0 out of 76
  1. CD-Action
    Jan 19, 2022
    85
    The latest entry in the Tale series offers everything loyal fans could have expected, but also has a chance to enamor many newcomers. The story about two heroes from the opposite sides of a conflict joining forces is surprisingly multi-layered, the combat is flashy and satisfying, and the journey leads you across beautiful, varied regions. As for the flaws, I need to mention problems with map legibility and the necessity to grind, but fortunately both issues are occasional. [12/2021, p.68]
  2. Gamersky
    Dec 2, 2021
    85
    Tales of Arise achieved steady progress under the traditional JRPG framework. With a solid plot and refreshing battle, a very good JRPG experience has been created for players. Although the overall quality is very high, the game still has some problems in character creation and story logic, which prevents it from reaching the peak of the JRPG category.
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  3. We Got This Covered
    Nov 3, 2021
    90
    Tales of Arise offers fast and fluid combat and an epic story, paving the way for the first great JRPG of a new console generation.
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