Tales of Arise

[Maf]

I played the first 4 hours of this and reached the title card. Going to be a long’un I think. 
 

The thing I like most about the game so far is the opening intro movie. It has a real Trigger Studio vibe to it which is kinda rad

 

 

As for the game. It’s nothing like the video and incredibly standard. 
 

The main guy has amnesia. There’s an evil empire that rules the world. There are magic crystals that hold super elemental power, no! Sorry not crystals. Cores. Totally different. The main guy is from the people who have been enslaved and the main girl is from the evil empire because Shakespeare wrote the game I guess. 
 

The gameplay has very standard background systems. Exp to level up, SP to unlock new skills of a very FF7R looking menu, craft weapons from materials. Super, duper standard not much to talk about.

 

The combat threw me through a loop. It’s a simple action RPG with more emphasis on the action, but the action is very loose and mashy. Fun enough but easy so I half-assed spammed buttons up until the first dungeon. Then when getting to the first dungeon it started to introduce more skill based systems. For example finishing moves that can be done if you do a high enough combo to an enemy, but the game is so mashy I don’t really know how to do it properly. On top of that the first boss is way strong, doesn’t really play like any enemy I fought up until that point (can’t be interrupted or air juggled, etc), and I think to be played well requires understanding of how to do these special finishing moves and stagger moves with proper control and skill. Needless to say I can’t do any of that and he destroyed me 3 times fast. Even when I finally beat him it costs me 3 life potions (Phoenix Downs) and an elixir.  

 

It was still easy-ish. But I’m annoyed because I won by being lazy and spammed potions and buttons, so I didn’t really earn the victory. I’m annoyed further by the fact that I don’t understand what I was supposed to do different. Watching a video after it looks like I was supposed to do the perfect dodge mechanic and then spam the new stagger move. I think I knew the game wanted me to do that, but the first boss was so dangerous I was put off from trying it and just tried to play the game how I had been.

 

Yeah. I’ll play more of it and hopefully I get a better grip on how exactly the combat is supposed to be played. Maybe experiment with the mechanics and look through the systems again. It was a game I was enjoying so-so, but I can’t lie the end of the session left me really sour. Always a good time when the first boss of a game flattens you like a fool.

[Maf]

This the hardest game I’ve ever played I’m only at boss 2 and having to look up strategy guide and how to survive mega, almost OHKO attacks. 

[Maf]

It took me nearly 2 hours and I had to look up the secret but I managed to beat boss 2 without using any Phoenix down’s. Very simple, you need to equip accessories that reduce light damage by 50% on all party members and it gets much easier. I’m not sure if I don’t like that answer because I was trying to learn mechanics and a good way to play, but actually strategy doesn’t come in to it, it’s just about having the right accessory. So fuck me for trying, I guess. Or I don’t like that answer because it’s so simple and I didn’t think of it.

 

I’m still skipping lots of dialogue and buttoning through character interactions I don’t think is important. Just a lot of trivial anime chatter. As stupid and bland as I find the premise, and generic and paint by numbers I find the characters, it’s starting to grow on me. The thing that really helps is the game looks really great. I just got to world 3 and what a lovely place to look at. 
 

 

Not my screenshot and looks sharper when playing it but nearly every place I’ve been in this game has looked cool. 
 

The fighting is making more sense to me as well perhaps. Here are 2 things I’ve learned. Combos are very important, and the way to keep combos going is by having lots of ATB gauges. What I’m aiming for is to get the combo count high enough for a super attack. So even though the game says don’t use the same move twice in a row because it reduces damage. It doesn’t matter because I’m just trying to keep the combo going. Now I’ve invested a lot in max ATB increases and keep using multi hit moves. They hit multiple times to get the combo up, but it also gives other party members time to get in on the fight and they do all their moves while my ATB recovers. It’s not a good boss strategy, I don’t know if that’s how I’m meant to be playing, but it’s working so far.

 

I feel like I’m being suckered in to dumb JRPG shit just because I’ve been playing the game too long. There’s something manipulative about this genre. I think it doesn’t matter how dumb or paint by numbers the story and characters are, and this game is both of of those things, because you spend so long literally looking at these characters I’m manipulated in to caring when this shit is dumb as fuck. 
 

I dunno I’m torn I think I’m starting to really like the game when I shouldn’t it hasn’t earned being liked I’ve just been looking at it too long. It’s like that soldier brain washing thing when they staples someone’s eyes open and force them to watch propaganda if you look at something long enough you just get in to it even though it’s bad.

 

Not to compare this game to torture but

[bellow]

Started this last night. Have to say it looks amazing for that hyper coloured cartoony style it's got going, and is smooth and stable with it.

 

Strange no one bothered with it except missing Maf. I thought this was a well regarded franchise in the JRPG genre. I think I put about 60 hours into Vesperia but walked away before the end because the (unskippable) scrip became badly annoying, with multiple characters chipping in some of the most inane dialogue I've ever experienced in a game. 

 

I did like the action side of it though and the RPG set ups, so I'm willing to get busy with this. Already I'm feeling it has a more reasonable premise and more grown up dialogue, and that make me feel I might make it. And the combat! Jeez. I'm in that simple early game, but it feels good. Very good.

 

[Nag]

I played Tales of Berseria and by the end the dialogue was like fingernails down a chalkboard for me... the actual combat was fine in that too.

 

That's the only Tales game I've touched though.

[bellow]

Maybe it's an in joke with the Devs to see who can come up with the most annoying conversation in a game.

 

By the end of Vesperia I was actively pining for the restraint and economy of Kojima.

[bellow]

Ten hours into this and I love it. Definitely the best action combat I've experienced in a jrpg. I do like a bit of turn based usually but here it's so well done, with all the stuff you're used to in proper action games - parries, dodges, counters, combos, and then the Tales usual special moves and team combos (arte's) - it's well above what you can usually expect when jrpgs go the action route.

 

Plus there's tons of arte's to experiment with and different characters to learn. I reckon I'll learn three here and save the other 3 for a later replay. There all so different.

 

Yeah it's pretty good. And I've noticed it's a game that has me thinking about it while not actually playing. And only a few games get that from me.

[mfnick]

Once I finally get my Series X set up again this is definitely going to be one of the first games I play. Sounds great. 

[bellow]

Level 26ish in this and still loving the bugger. Feck me tho, I've never encountered this many options in combat in any RPG before. First of all there's six characters you can choose from, all with completely different styles - martial arts, swordplay, magic, guns etc - and then they have access to 12 special moves each, plus the ability to combo thru the entire roster (even the sidelined ones) to build up ultra finishers. It's insane. It's a big explosion of light and noise, and yet you never get lost in the fireworks. Somehow the whole visual insanity of it makes perfect sense.

 

And then, when you've completely burnt out your eyeballs, you can go fishing, with the best fishing game I've played in a game yet. And I never fish in a game. But I am here. It's great.

[bellow]

Reached the halfway mark in this, (you get a full song and animation to tell you). Really enjoyed it, but I'm of the opinion that if I don't take a break from the game the second half will drag somewhat. But hey, 45 hours in, that's true of most games for me.

 

Interested in doing a couple of short games to refresh my RPG circuits, so I've fired up gamepass for a month and hope to tackle the flavour of the month, Hifi rush, then my last Gears game, Judgement, and also finish my playthru of Bulletstorm. It's bloodbath February!

[Nag]

Don't be fooled by its looks... Hi-Fi Rush isn't a short game.

[bellow]

That depends on the games you're used to.

[Nag]

Yeah... Good point.😂

[bellow]

Had a good few weeks break on this. Played hifi rush and stuck another 20 hours into my 'do everything' playthru of Witcher 3.

 

But now I'm back to the high drama of Tales of Arise. I've actually hit was is probably the run in to the endgame. There was a (strangely inconsequential) point of no return notification, plus the only notification you need in a Tales game that things are coming to a head - talking, feckin loads of it. 

 

Oh they can talk in these games alright.  Having indulged in the series before I was sort of expecting it, but it's still a bitch when it comes. You just have to sit back and take it. It's the only way. Embrace the pain.

 

I don't even know why they fight. They could probably just talk any boss into submission like the fucking Knights of ni.

 

[Maryokutai]

I didn't find this game mechanically interesting enough to be able to cope with the writing. I realise only a few JRPG really excel in that regard but Arise was so far down the drain I had to stop. The skits in particular were insufferable and I used to like these in previous games.

 

"I wanted to ask you, why do you have this big shield?"

"I carry a shield to protect my team."

"So you're saying you're using that shield to defend your party?"

"Exactly, having a shield means I can keep everyone safe."

"Interesting, I'm glad we have you on our team. I ask of you to keep me safe as well."

"My shield and I will certainly do so."

 

Please just shut up.

[bellow]

@Maryokutai, yeah I think, after a pretty solid 50 or so hours, I've stumbled into your camp on this one. The game has become intolerably silly, and obnoxiously so - meaning that it's just offering cutscene after cutscene in which the 6 characters reiterate non sensical plot lines as though saying the same shit over and over is going to make it less puerile.

 

I haven't played a JRPG for a while but I think I might be done with the whole genre after this. It's just too childish for me. While I'm often invigorated by the gameplay, which can often get tough and tactical, the cutesy characters and brain dead stories are making me cringe, and even feel a little embarrassed to be hanging around in virtual worlds obviously meant for younger heads than mine. 

 

At least in WRPGs there's an attempt (not always successful) to have characters interact in a manner approaching human reality. It might be a cultural or translation problem, but this black/white/nothing in between character building is leaving me cold. I'm done, I think.

 

[mfnick]

Wow the JRPG hate going off in this site lately  

 

Although if the dialogue is like as Mary says I can understand it with regards to this. I actually fell off Symphonia for similar reasons. Ruined King is terrible for that kind of dialogue too but if thankfully kept it to optional save point discussions for the most part. Easy to just ignore or skip. 

[one-armed dwarf]

It's a bit of an unfair characterisation I think, if you look for JRPG in the late 90s/early 00s you can find some much better written games I feel like. Stuff like Vagrant Story and Xenogears, they are games worth going back to. Matsuno games like Tactics and FFXII. These games might be on that PS classics service maybe, or maybe you can get them on Vita

 

(also xenogears is nothing like Xenosaga or Xenoblade in its writing, tho I think they do share the same world).

 

What I think is that games like the one this thread is about are probably similar to the 'shonen' genre of anime, but not all anime is 'shonen'. There's other stuff as well