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. Avorax
    Sep 16, 2021
    10
    One of the Best tales of up yo date,the long wait was paid off.
    Gorgeus visuales, polished gameplay, mature story. 10/10
  2. caotri1986
    Sep 16, 2021
    10
    I am not waiting this game for release date. But when i buy it and play 40 hours than I recognized it is the best Tales game ever made. This is the future of Tales series and JRPG. PLAY IT AND FEEL IT.
    Graphic, sound and gameplay are incredible. 10/10
  3. botaGOATnmdKOBE
    Sep 15, 2021
    10
    Absolutely in love with this game! Always can tell how good a game is by how I seem to bow out of RPGs like 30-40 hours in and this game Is not that at all 50 hours in and still just want to keep crushing enemies and trying to get better materials and rarer enemies. Love love love this game!!!
  4. Supernerd47
    Sep 15, 2021
    4
    The only thing this game really has going for it is the combat, and even that is little more than button mashing.

    The story is only decent.
    The characters are stock standard anime/JRPG tropes.
    Music is completely forgettable.
    Graphics are a mixed bag. Characters are a high resolution but have the animations of a PS2 game, and the environments are pretty flat with TERRIBLE pop-in.
  5. hamoonbeigi
    Sep 15, 2021
    10
    ti's game so far great, gameplay great, story, and music so goodness , amazing stuff and steph
  6. DaLawUK
    Sep 15, 2021
    10
    Story 10/10
    Dialogue 9/10
    Graphics 10/10
    Gameplay 10/10
    Character Design 10/10 (Though didn't like the armour)

    Now the only reason I say dialogue is a 9 is because the main character references the 'wall' way too much, ended up making me laugh every time he said it.

    I didn't want to put this game down at all though, Very high contender to my top games.
  7. Pade
    Sep 15, 2021
    10
    If i compare this game to other games from this decade, i have to give it 10/10. Only few games got me engaged recently, but this is one of them. This game has so many strong points: story, music, combat and graphics are all top notch. Also it seems to be a rare thing for games to be in working state at launch, but this definitely is. Only complain i have, is with the pop in, but it is soIf i compare this game to other games from this decade, i have to give it 10/10. Only few games got me engaged recently, but this is one of them. This game has so many strong points: story, music, combat and graphics are all top notch. Also it seems to be a rare thing for games to be in working state at launch, but this definitely is. Only complain i have, is with the pop in, but it is so minor that i won't be taking point off because of that.… Expand
  8. lasmas
    Sep 15, 2021
    10
    What a game what a combat.

    Perfectly recomended no doubt best jrpg on this years
  9. Kenmei
    Sep 15, 2021
    9
    This being the first Tales of game since Berseria about 5 years ago, I had some fairly high expectations here. And with this being developed in a brand new engine, and it being the first game developed with only current gen in mind, it was also a great time for them to start over from the beginning here. And Arise not only exceeded my expectations but did a great job of reminding peopleThis being the first Tales of game since Berseria about 5 years ago, I had some fairly high expectations here. And with this being developed in a brand new engine, and it being the first game developed with only current gen in mind, it was also a great time for them to start over from the beginning here. And Arise not only exceeded my expectations but did a great job of reminding people who good this series of games can be.
    While the story has alot of trope filled key words at the beginning, things really do a great job of becoming a great and compelling story for most of its run time. Even though the ending started to taper off for me personally, the characters do a great job of keeping players invested, especially when the fantasy genre takes a hardcore spin into heavy sci-fi towards the end that I wasn't a huge fan of in the end. The combat is really well done as well and not only built on the older games Action RPG roots but did a great job moving it forward and was easily the best of the game for me.
    I do have some minor issues with the game. I had alot of sound issues when the music would just stop playing during some cut scenes for no reason at all, sometimes with characters in mid sentence. Also had the same issue with the voice overs for some scenes where characters just wouldnt say their line, even though their lips were moving on screen and the words clearly were being said. Nothing too crazy but it happened enough to be fairly noticeable and something that will need to be patched out here soon.
    However there's nothing bad enough here for me not to recommend this. Its easily the best JRPG overall I've played since the original Persona 5, and my favorite Tales game since Vesperia almost 15 years ago. I can't recommend this enough for any kind of JRPG fan.    … Expand
  10. Nessemm-1
    Sep 15, 2021
    10
    A great game that I first got acquainted with. It was unexpected for me to immerse myself in such a story-based game and it's great. I hope this series will continue to please its fans.
  11. CrazyFrytka
    Sep 15, 2021
    10
    Amazing game! Revolution in tales of Games. I hope so we will get secound part in the future!
  12. OldManLav
    Sep 15, 2021
    10
    I f**king love this game. Top 3 in the series, easily. Battle system is a perfect evolution for the series, usual colorful cast of characters, gripping story, great graphics, and another excellent soundtrack. Other than maybe FF7R, this is the best JRPG you can get on current gen. Expect some crashing on Series X, but that's really the only negative thing I could dock it for.
  13. Gabrielguti
    Sep 14, 2021
    9
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. At first the game seems cliche but the story has dark tones later. Later it becomes original and interesting.
    Combat gets better as you progress. In fact, it might be the best combat system of all the rpgs I've played. Bosses are unreal. Music is awesome. Character development is good after some chapters! There are lots of p    … Expand
  14. Drakosmick
    Sep 14, 2021
    10
    This game… this is truly the “next gen” of Jrpgs. Story 10/10
    Music 9/10
    Design 10/10
    Gameplay 11/10
    Graphics 10/10

    GOTY 2021 imho.
  15. Descending23
    Sep 11, 2021
    10
    So far so good. My first Tales game and I'm having a blast. I'm really enjoying the story and the combat is just getting better and better. I love the dynamic between Alphine and Shionne. Obviously theres much more to.their stories I cannot wait to unravel. My only criticism so far is the lack of mini games. Perhaps they will unlock later though. Will update this when I complete the game.
  16. Bufarrier
    Sep 14, 2021
    10
    en la version de pc, increible fluidez. 144 fps. los cambios le sentaron excelente.
  17. 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
  18. Martinii
    Sep 14, 2021
    10
    Best game ever Nice Nice Nice 111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111111
  19. Taryl
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    Best Jrpg of decade!!! Story 10,music 10, graphics 9. Wonderful characters design and personalities! I'm in love! Best Tales of all time, Berseria was ok, but with a confusing combat, this one is perfect in every aspect! Must buy!
  20. Gamingking007
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    Most amazingly beautiful tales game yet !
    This game blew my mind. The story and characters are perfectly created in this world of enldess beauty ! The gameplay is the best yet with incredible animations . Easily the most beautiful anime type game ever created, hands down !
  21. 1dur
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    Super smooth battles. Awesome so far. Can’t wait to pick the controller up to play some more.
  22. myjy
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    Best rpg I have played in the past 15 years easily. I love everything about it. I highly recommend for sure
  23. Ford8484
    Sep 13, 2021
    9
    Really fantastic JRPG. I've played Berseria and Symphonia before and enjoyed those games, but not enough to finish them because the combat never really clicked. This game however the combat is addicting and so fluid. I was a bit skeptical because the demo just throws too much at you but the regular game introduces the mechanics slowly and it helps to get well acclimated. Story startsReally fantastic JRPG. I've played Berseria and Symphonia before and enjoyed those games, but not enough to finish them because the combat never really clicked. This game however the combat is addicting and so fluid. I was a bit skeptical because the demo just throws too much at you but the regular game introduces the mechanics slowly and it helps to get well acclimated. Story starts out pretty cliche (hero with no memory, etc..) but is well paced and once you acquire more characters and explore the different realms, it gets very interesting, its awesome to see what comes next. Overall easily the best JRPG I've played since FF7 remake.… Expand
  24. 1ManRev
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    For the longest time, I've felt like I needed to play an RPG that scratched the proverbial 'itch' if you will. Even masterful games such as FF7 Remake, Witcher 3, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and others really weren't igniting anything in me that kept me engaged for even half an hour. On a whim, I decided to purchase Tales of Arise and try it out. Man. Let me tell you. One of the bestFor the longest time, I've felt like I needed to play an RPG that scratched the proverbial 'itch' if you will. Even masterful games such as FF7 Remake, Witcher 3, Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and others really weren't igniting anything in me that kept me engaged for even half an hour. On a whim, I decided to purchase Tales of Arise and try it out. Man. Let me tell you. One of the best purchases I've made this entire year in terms of gaming. The cast of characters are so intriguing, and each of them have dynamic and thoughtful backstories and motivations. The voice acting cast is absolutely fantastic. Honestly in a world where most people skip cutscenes or speed through dialogue, doing so in this game would be a complete disservice to the amazing plotline, and even yourself for missing out on some of the really thought and feeling provoking interractions and story arcs. The battle system is the icing on the cake here, with a near seamless combination of tactical and free flowing combat that feels somewhere between vintage RPG and Devil May Cry. Every single time I play this game, finding a stopping point seems harder and harder, as the impulse is to keep playing to see where the story is going next. Plus, you cant help but to feel emotionally invested in the characters and their goals and motivations. If I could rate this game higher than 5 stars, I definitely would… Expand
  25. 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
  26. 7Machado
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    Amazing. Brings me back to the amazing feel good era of JRPGs. Story, graphics, content its all there. Sit back and enjoy this classic
  27. gq_foine
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    ABSOLUTELY MIND BLOWING TALES GAMES! I have played most of the Tales Franchise games and this one is my favorite!

    Highly recommend this game there is so much fun content - collecting owls, fishing, cooking, raising livestock -farming, side quests, costumes, and etc! The story is absolutely riveting and emotional! And the English Dubs are phenomenal! Great cast of characters! This    ABSOLUTELY MIND BLOWING TALES GAMES! I have played most of the Tales Franchise games and this one is my favorite!

    Highly recommend this game there is so much fun content - collecting owls, fishing, cooking, raising livestock -farming, side quests, costumes, and etc!

    The story is absolutely riveting and emotional! And the English Dubs are phenomenal! Great cast of characters! This is my favorite Tales games!

    The Graphics is a 10/10
    Sound, English Dub, and Music 10/10
    Gameplay 9/10
    Story 10/10
    Overall 10!!

    Best JRPG since Dragon Quest XI, and Persona 5! Definitely RPG game of the year!!    … Expand
  28. Slapyomama
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    Its a great rpg. I fell in love with turn based, but this makes me not miss turn based one bit its super challenging.i just killed the 2nd lord and really am pacing myself I don't want this one to end.It also makes me want to go back and finish all the other tales games I left partially finished. Not to mention its gorgeous on ps5.
  29. Plushjavi
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    Que pasada de juego como mola perderse por su mundo con una música tremenda un 10/10 el mejor JRPG del año
  30. Dark063
    Sep 13, 2021
    10
    This game is a gem. Game of the year in my opinion. Just go buy it now! The combat, the music, the environment. Everything in this game will be worth your time.
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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.
    Read full review
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