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Tales

Tales of Arise – Video Game Review

February 13, 2022 by holojacob Leave a Comment

When I’m not writing, I’m usually playing video games, and my main game of the month has been Tales of Arise.

Tales of Arise Art

This is actually my second play-through (and my first experience with the Tales franchise in general). Initially, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Tales‘ combat system, but the good news is each character has a distinct playstyle, so by switching from the melee-focused protagonist (Alphen) to range-focused characters (Shionne and Rinwell), I was able to enjoy the game a whole lot more.

That said, the screen can become very chaotic at times, and one of Rinwell’s mechanics doesn’t help here. Since she can steal and then cast enemy spells, I often lost track of which spell animation was safe for my characters and which was a damage-dealing death zone. That and the charging enemies led to a lot of frustration. The window to utilize Kisara’s boost ability (to end charges and reduce future charge damage) is significantly smaller than those of other characters, leading to a lot of times where a charge would begin off screen and end with the enemy barreling through my characters for big damage.

In terms of story-telling and worldbuilding, I found the game a bit . . . hit or miss, but the main cast of characters is fun and likable, and some of the big reveals are very memorable. I guess the worldbuilding just didn’t click with me from the start for some reason. Maybe it’s because the locations and villains all felt very one-note to me. Also, the music is epic. So epic it began to wear on me. I think you could use the music in the tutorial area for “final dungeon” music in a different game. (From H.P. – This music is bomb and I will listen to it forever.) 

But these are all minor gripes for what is – at its core – an excellent and meaty gaming experience. In many ways, Tales of Arise felt similar to Final Fantasy 7 Remake, except I enjoyed Tales significantly more.

From H.P. – I haven’t played Tales of Arise yet, but I’m going to solely because there’s a series of subquests in which you collect a bunch of owls, and I’ve been hearing their distinctly-voiced hoots enough that I need to collect them for myself. Forget the rest of the story.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Final Fantasy 7 Remake, Review, Tales, Tales of Arise, Video Game, Video Game Review, Video Game Reviews, Video Games

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