Tales of Arise [2020]

[FlareKnight]

Taking a few more looks at the trailers we got and yeah I'm looking forward to this one. Setting seems a solid one for telling a good story and the combat should be fun as always. Will have to actually play it in September to be sure about anything, but feeling pretty optimistic.

A game I was looking forward to last year and I'm still looking forward to it. Hopefully the overall experience is a good one.

[GDB]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Setting seems a solid one for telling a good story

Not the first time they've done the whole "two worlds in conflict, with one lording over the other" theme. Heck, not the second either! At minimum we've had it in Eternia, Symphonia, and arguably (though a weak argument because it's more background lore than an actual driving force of plot other than one or two characters) Xillia.

[Tactics]

YouTube

https://youtu.be/X5WrBVg7Oi8

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

YouTube

https://youtu.be/y23xiKoG1oQ

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

YouTube

https://youtu.be/ArwppbCgeJI

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Some Mystic Artes already shared; too fast and not clean enough IMO, Berseria did it better. Hopefully second, third and fourth MA in game will be better.

[Frontier]

Summer Game Fest trailer:

Opening Animation (by Kankaku Piero of Black Clover fame):

[GDB]

It now makes a bit more sense why Tales of the Rays had a Black Clover collab a month or so back.

[FlareKnight]

Yeah, I like that opening. Ended up watching it a few times. Think I’ll end up really liking this group of characters. Still a couple months to wait. But will enjoy this one when it arrives.

[Frontier]

Kisara's butt is totally going to become a thing and they know it .

[GDB]

Originally Posted by Frontier

Kisara's butt is totally going to become a thing and they know it .

They've literally emphasized it since they announced her. If anything, it's kind of troubling that it's the main thing they've focused on. Worries me that she'll be a one-note character, like how Cress has become nothing but puns in the mobile games (despite making like, one pun that I can recall in Phantasia).

[Frontier]

Originally Posted by GDB

They've literally emphasized it since they announced her. If anything, it's kind of troubling that it's the main thing they've focused on. Worries me that she'll be a one-note character, like how Cress has become nothing but puns in the mobile games (despite making like, one pun that I can recall in Phantasia).

I doubt that will be all that's there for her in the actual story, because I don't see them writing her that way...although there might be a joke or two about it .

Spoiler:

I could see her being the traitor though .

[GDB]

Spoiler:

I suspect that'll be Law. He's giving off strong Alvin/Raven/Zelos vibes.

[BPD Renegade]

Spoiler:

Law was giving off traitor vibes, but after the character intros we have so far, I could see it being Rinwell instead, if her people/the mages aren't actually all dead. It looks like the trio and Law are already on opposing sides upon initial confrontation.

[FlareKnight]

Seems like they've got good variety with the styles of each character. Although I'll probably just mostly use Alphen since the close quarters sword wielder is a comfortable type for me in this series.

[Kakurin]

Dabbled around a bit with the demo. The visuals of the scenery, especially in the distance, is absolutely stunning. Character graphics aren't much different in quality from Berseria, at least in my impression, although this doesn't really bother me. Also like the BGM that played since it created a very nice atmosphere together with the scenery.

Coming from Berseria I still have no real clue though how to use the combat system, so not sure how to feel about that. Was simply wildly pressing buttons and in the boss fight of the map playing with Shionne everybody else was dead and I was simply running around trying to keep the distance while spamming heal.

Will try with another character the next time I attempt it.

[iko_uwais]

Really enjoyed the demo. It took me a few try to get used to the battle system but finally managed to do it, at least good enough to not die fighting the boss in normal difficulty. So far, I've tried Shionne, Law and Dohalim. Really liked the skit's new manga panel style. I've already PO'd the game can't wait for September

[FlareKnight]

I do appreciate having a demo to dive into. Fully expected to buy the game anyways, but actually diving in just makes me feel all the more comfortable. It looks really good and I like the setup for the combat. Keeping the basic attacks on R1 (playstation controller) with the different arts attacks set to three buttons (both ground and in air combat) definitely allows it to feel comfortable. Sometimes the combat in tales isn't always comfortable, but the way they've spread everything out feels good so far.

The approach to skits honestly works for me and I like it more than the classic style. Still the same kind of banter you could imagine being done the old way but working fine like this.

Pretty sure I'll end up just playing Alphen most of the time since that kind of character fits how I normally play. But with a few weeks to go until the game comes out...I might as well keep playing different characters.

[BPD Renegade]

I'm surprised that the three endings for the demo had what seems to be major spoilers.

I prefer the new skit style over the floating heads/cutouts that cycle through the same handful of expressions.

[Tactics]

So ... I heard from my friend:

Spoiler for :

- MC (Alphen) kinda spoiled player gameplay-wise.
- There are DLC Artes, contain cameo artes from past Tales. I guess Bamco consider it won't hurt for casual as the "target" will be people that do combo exhibition.
- You can dodge bosses Mystic Artes. He made comparison doing it with Alphen is like dodging on action mobile games. Adapt, timed correctly, get bonus, all is good. My friend very dissatisfied with this decision because it lessen impact of enemies Mystic Artes in both visual and execution ("Imagine if X2 final boss MA (single powerful blow to stomach) ended up just punching air because you dodge, is that even a final boss?").

How about people here that already played it?
I probably will skip this because full 3D skit that looks rigid is a turn off for me compare to the expressive 2D ones.

[Dextro]

Originally Posted by BPD Renegade

I prefer the new skit style over the floating heads/cutouts that cycle through the same handful of expressions.

Now that I played the game for about 4 hours I gotta say I agree. The new manga panel style skits are actually pretty cool. Would I have enjoyed if they did the same thing but with 2D drawings like in the past? Probably. But this is not in any way a downgrade, it's pretty much on par.

Combat is also pretty fun. I enjoy the fact that you can dodge everything and come back with some killer counters. It's pretty fun overall. Now I will say that being able to one-shot bosses sounds a bit too easy but I'm ok with it. I play JRPGs for the stories usually so anything that reduces frustration is fine in my book. But I get others like the challenge so that's probably going to be a minus for some.

[FlareKnight]

Only really had a chance to start playing the game today and I'm loving it so far. The way they handled skits actually worked for me. The manga panel style can sometimes have awkward angles depending on choices, but overall I do like it. The old way wouldn't have been a negative, but this works.

So far keeping the difficulty up and that's going fine. Though I did have some rough spots with a big boss battle. But that's fine. The combat is something I can work with and if I fail there is a path forward.

[shmaster]

Grunt fight in this game is super fun, but the boss fights are just out right awful.
Who think giving every single boss in game permanent steel body is a good idea?
This made every single boss fight in game to be chip & dodge & repeat.
There is absolutely nothing interesting to do in a boss fight.
Boss Mystic Arts being non-threatening is not a plus either...