So, the latest Tales of… game is almost here! It should be available for most people tomorrow, September 9th, and definitely to everyone on September 10th. Reviews so far (embargo was lifted a couple hours ago) are pretty solid, too.
I’m really excited about this game. I enjoyed Tales of Zestiria despite its issues (mostly pacing), and I loved Berseria. So naturally, after Berseria, I couldn’t wait to play the next game in the series. And after 5 years waiting, in about 30 hours I should be able to do so.
Anyone else interested in the game? I should be playing tomorrow the minute it becomes available, so if you have questions, I’ll be happy to answer them the best way I can.
Uh, that’s… tricky. Generally speaking, the series is similar to Final Fantasy in that individual games are self-contained and set in different worlds, only sharing some thematic elements (in FF’s case, Crystals and spells and chocobos; in Tales’ case, artes and skits, for example).
But just like FF has some sequels (FF X and X-2, XIII and its sequels) and games set in the same world but otherwise unrelated (FF XIII and Type-0 HD), the Tales series has some sequels (Xillia and Xillia 2) and games set in the same world (Berseria is a prequel to Zestiria).
Tales of Arise is its own thing, though. No connection to other games in the series apart from some “cameos”, I hear, which are traditional in the series.
I almost never preorder but made an exception in this case. The Tales games always seem to hit a sweet spot of complexity and storytelling for me, where it is engaging without being too punishing or demanding. I looked it up and the release date looks to be September 10th in the US, so I will have to wait an extra day :(
Note that there is a free demo available for anyone interested in trying it out ahead of time.
I will definitely be picking this up. Loved Tales of Symphonia on the GameCube and Tales of Vesperia, though I never did finish any of them (or fully grasp the combat system - too frenetic).
What sets this apart from the million other JRPGs I would confuse it with? @rhamorim’s enthusiasm is a great start, but as a total JRPG dilettante, I can’t tell if this is something I should be excited about as well.
Real-time, combo-based battle systems are a core component of the Tales series; this new one looks even more freeform and mobile than the rest. Mix in regular hits with jumps and Artes (special moves and spells) to juggle foes for maximum death.
They also TEND to be less self serious and morose than a lot of JRPGs, but I can’t speak to this part installment. They verge on twee at times.
Well, it is very JRPG. What sets it apart is the kind of combat it has - as Armando said, there are many JPRGs with real-time combat, but very few with the kind of combos and fluidity that the Tales series is known for.
It also tends to have really nice characters and a well told story. Again, many JRPGs have those things, but there’s something about the skits and the interaction between the characters that makes me appreciate Tales more than the likes of Persona, for instance. Of all the JRPGs I’ve played - and I’ve played a fair share of them - Tales of Berseria is arguably the one I had the most fun with. It’s also one of the few to have these memorable moments that still linger in my thoughts years after playing. It doesn’t rise to the heights of, say, NieR: Automata, but it’s not supposed to. It’s somewhere between that and Dragon Quest XI in terms of storytelling and tone; it’s at once funny and serious, chill and urgent, and it has tons of heart, and I like that in my games.
Of course, most of what I described above is true of Berseria and Zestiria, which are the ones I played the most. If Arise is about as good as Berseria, I’ll be more than happy. If it is better, I’ll be elated. But that’s me. I have no idea if this is the kind of game you’d appreciate, but for whatever reason I suspect not.
I preordered after playing the demo. I was really impressed with the changes they’ve made to the combat which I’ve never liked much before. The visual upgrades are long overdue, but the game looks great now.
I want to love all of these, but Zestiria is the only one that I’ve really fallen for in terms of completing it rather than dropping off after ten or fifteen hours. I still look forward to talking myself into Arise a couple of years down the road once it’s on sale.
Tom: I think of the modern JRPG long-running series roughly like this:
New games are big events, AAA development time and money, several years between games: Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, SMT/Persona, etc
New games every year or two, follow a formula, reuse your engine, sell enough to make the next game: Trails/Kiseki, Tales, Ys, etc
The best games in the first group tend to be The Best JRPGs, but if you find a series that clicks for you in the second group, that is a much more regular fix. As the others have mentioned, Tales tends to be lightweight but heartfelt anime fare and has much more action-oriented combat than most JRPGs. (It’s also been five years since the last one, roughly twice as long as any other gap in the 20+ year run of the series.)
Yeah, for all the ways that the transition to full HD and now 4K has hit Square and their absurd graphical overreach/perfectionism hard, it’s maybe been tougher for Bandai Namco who seem to have had a tough time finding a new happy level of “easy enough to produce but stylized/pretty enough to not immediately lose 100% of potential customers.”
I find it hard to believe to JRPGers would only ever look at highly produced games. I can understand trying to reach a wider audience but the graphics were always fine enough for me and I suspect most core players.
I think that expectations naturally rise, and you need to do a little to keep up with the times to hold onto everyone. True fans will play anything - wargames still get by on worse graphics than I could draw at birth, after all - but if you wanna avoid attrition and even build up a little (or have an occasional breakout success like Symphonia), you need to advance occasionally. Even Dragon Quest got pretty!
Uh-oh. I did not know this. There’s only been one JRPG series where I enjoyed a real time system, and that’s Kingdom Hearts. All other JRPG systems with real time battles have been really disappointing.
