Tales of Arise is a good game... For the most part. Sadly the last third of the game comes across as rushed and uninspiring.
If you haven't played Tales of Arise yet and plan to, stop reading here. Below this line altho I won't be going too far into specifics there will be talking about the last third of the game.
Mechanically the game is sound, neigh almost perfect. The combat is fast, fluid and responsive with just as much emphasis on defence as offence. The face buttons are bound to your art moves which draw from your ever-dwindling and replenishing AG bar with the O (B) bound to a jump. Healing arts are feed from the Cure Points (CP) and once that is diminished you have to rely on items to heal/resurrect or to replenish CP.
Each member of your party has their specialities. Alphen is your main physical attack able to do fire damage at the cost of HP. Shionne is your healer and also deals with flying enemy type. Law is also physical but has the ability to punch through armour, Rinwell is your mage casting elemental spells and also able to stop your opponents from casting magic. Dohelim is a blend of physical and healing as well as a few offensive spells, he can also bind enemies so they can't dodge out the way. and finally, we come to Kisara she is unable to dodge but can block opponents with her shield. Every member of your party has their moment to shine and can be called upon when you need them.
The audio in the game can be a little bit hit and miss at times, there can be some tonal shifts in weird places but I don't know if I can mark them up to my ageing PS4 I'll eventually try out the PC version running from SSD and we shall see
The story is fantastic until you hit the last 3rd. There comes a point where you where its cutscene, walk 3 steps, cutscene walk 3 steps lather rinse and repeat for about an hour and a half - there is a small is a dungeon in there too but you have about an hour and a half of pure busywork and nothing but wall to wall exposition. The final dungeon is a slog it makes you question whether it's actually worth the time. It's a long uninteresting grind against the same 3 and 4 reskinned bosses with their levels slightly increased. Excluding the final boss and a sub-quest, there is 1 unique monster in this area and the sad fact is this unique mob is a lot more challenging than the final bosses.
Ultimately, the game falls just short of being a classic in the Tales series but it's definitely worth playing. After I finished ToA I have been taking a little break from playing before going back to do the post-game content and then start a New Game +
If you haven't played Tales of Arise yet and plan to, stop reading here. Below this line altho I won't be going too far into specifics there will be talking about the last third of the game.
Mechanically the game is sound, neigh almost perfect. The combat is fast, fluid and responsive with just as much emphasis on defence as offence. The face buttons are bound to your art moves which draw from your ever-dwindling and replenishing AG bar with the O (B) bound to a jump. Healing arts are feed from the Cure Points (CP) and once that is diminished you have to rely on items to heal/resurrect or to replenish CP.
Each member of your party has their specialities. Alphen is your main physical attack able to do fire damage at the cost of HP. Shionne is your healer and also deals with flying enemy type. Law is also physical but has the ability to punch through armour, Rinwell is your mage casting elemental spells and also able to stop your opponents from casting magic. Dohelim is a blend of physical and healing as well as a few offensive spells, he can also bind enemies so they can't dodge out the way. and finally, we come to Kisara she is unable to dodge but can block opponents with her shield. Every member of your party has their moment to shine and can be called upon when you need them.
The audio in the game can be a little bit hit and miss at times, there can be some tonal shifts in weird places but I don't know if I can mark them up to my ageing PS4 I'll eventually try out the PC version running from SSD and we shall see
The story is fantastic until you hit the last 3rd. There comes a point where you where its cutscene, walk 3 steps, cutscene walk 3 steps lather rinse and repeat for about an hour and a half - there is a small is a dungeon in there too but you have about an hour and a half of pure busywork and nothing but wall to wall exposition. The final dungeon is a slog it makes you question whether it's actually worth the time. It's a long uninteresting grind against the same 3 and 4 reskinned bosses with their levels slightly increased. Excluding the final boss and a sub-quest, there is 1 unique monster in this area and the sad fact is this unique mob is a lot more challenging than the final bosses.
Ultimately, the game falls just short of being a classic in the Tales series but it's definitely worth playing. After I finished ToA I have been taking a little break from playing before going back to do the post-game content and then start a New Game +
