• Light/Dark
  • Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
  • We have made minor adjustments to how the search bar works on ResetEra. You can read about the changes here.

Do you think Tales of Arise deserved the rave reviews it got?

You know the drill

  • Yes, definitely

    Votes: 466 37.9%

  • Good game but review scores were too high

    Votes: 426 34.6%

  • No, I do not agree with reviewers

    Votes: 339 27.5%
  • Total voters
    1,231
Dust

Dust

C H A O S
Member
Oct 25, 2017
32,283
I sat on this thought and honestly, after finishing it...I am not seeing it lol.
Granted, my point of reference are 2D Tales games and Vesperia/Berseria but outside great combat and graphics I have not seen anything outstanding in this game. It started really strong but then...

The party of misfits from Berseria shits on this party from sky high and generally the plot gets really generic the further you go. Not to mention god awful sidequests and bloated length. Music was extremely forgettable too.

Am I crazy? Obviously I won't call it bad and overall did enjoy it but where the hell did these rave reviewes come from? It seemed like...on par with decent Tales games to me? A lot of reviews presented it as FF7 moment for Tales and ehhhh🤔
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,742
No. Absolutely not. I went in expecting some massive change in the Tales format, and it's just...no. The writing is somehow WORSE than it was in Berseria, and Berseria's writing wasn't even that good. The battle system is comically imbalanced, and every single major boss fight is a fucking chore.

The graphics were nice. That was about it. Oh, and Dohalim is cool.
 
Renteka-Bond

Renteka-Bond

Chicken Chaser
Member
Dec 28, 2017
4,273
Clearwater, Florida
Absolutely not. The fact it got Game of the Year at the TGAs confounds me, even if it is just a dog and pony show. Tales of Arise is middling at best.

Its best quality is the artstyle.
 
Nugnip

Nugnip

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,744
Got bored in the middle of the third region and dropped it completely. Please convince me to pick it up again?
 
Valcrist

Valcrist

Tic-Tac-Toe Champion
Member
Oct 25, 2017
9,706
Best game in the series, best entry point for new players. I recommend it to everyone who hasn't touched a Tales game before.
 
Rean

Rean

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,329
you should be making this thread about deathpoop instead.
Arise is fine.
 
Reckheim

Reckheim

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
9,379
there are a few games this year where the reviews had left me scratching my head.

I'd personally give tales of Arise a 6/10.
 
Temperance

Temperance

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,812
[NO 2FA]
it's anime so it's supposed to be trash.

Tales games appeared to be on the decline, never really hitting big. Arise did and for good reason. Good combat and visuals for an RPG.
 
Rpgmonkey

Rpgmonkey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,348
I mean it got what each individual reviewer thought it deserved, so sure why not. Doesn't seem like critic reviews are way off from user reviews in this case anyway.
 
Finale Fireworker

Finale Fireworker

Love each other or die trying.
Member
Oct 25, 2017
14,713
United States
So as someone who has never played a Tales game, what is so divisive about this release? I know Berseria (Edit: Or maybe that was Zestiria?) was also viewed negatively by a lot of people. I'm interested why this game has such a major disparity between people who love it and people who hate it.
 
Last edited:
Mahaveer RaGOATnatan

Mahaveer RaGOATnatan

Member
Jan 18, 2021
1,344
Maybe. I enjoyed up until the "sepiroth" equivalent lord.

didnt enjoy the boss fights at all. I know staggering is a thing but some them nothing seemed to build up the meter
 
JCmasta

JCmasta

Banned
Aug 31, 2020
636
Dust said:
I sat on this thought and honestly, after finishing it...I am not seeing it lol.
Granted, my point of reference are 2D Tales games and Vesperia/Berseria but outside great combat and graphics I have not seen anything outstanding in this game. It started really strong but then...

The party of misfits from Berseria shits on this party from sky high and generally the plot gets really generic the further you go. Not to mention god awful sidequests and bloated length. Music was extremely forgettable too.

Am I crazy? Obviously I won't call it bad and overall did enjoy it but where the hell did these rave reviewes come from? It seemed like...on par with decent Tales games to me? A lot of reviews presented it as FF7 moment for Tales and ehhhh🤔
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

As a long time Tales fan, it's good to see the series evolve and grow in a meaningful way. ToA is probably the best entry in the series since Vesperia.

The graphics and art direction are great, the core action/gameplay is fun and has a lot of depth, and overall there's a lot to enjoy. It makes me excited for the future of the series in general.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
115,742
DumpsterJuice said:
I'm thinking about buying this game so I'll be watching this thread closely.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Do you like boss fights where you have to chip away at them for 20+ minutes, doing double-digit damage per hit, while the boss can instant kill half of your party with a glance? And healing items are extremely expensive and hard to replenish when you run out?

If you do, then Tales of Arise is for you!
 
Mullet2000

Mullet2000

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,907
Toronto
I haven't played it yet but I've seen a lot of negative sentiment about it from players compared to reviewers to such a degree that it really took me off guard.

r/JRPG really hates it and that subreddit is overall usually very positive
 
Hippopuncher12

Hippopuncher12

Member
Oct 25, 2017
16,287
Cincinnati
It was a good game and deserved good reviews, I liked it and thought it was one of the stronger Tales games but the party members were quite possibly the worst ever.
 
ARobotCalledV

ARobotCalledV

Member
Aug 22, 2020
1,554
Nope. One of the clumsiest and worst written stories I've experienced in a game in a while. Just absolutely abysmal and I don't know how anyone thinks otherwise. Fumbles themes on race so bad I can't believe it came out in 2021.

Pretty game though with a fun battle system that managed to carry me to the end.
 
nath999

nath999

Member
May 7, 2018
1,497
Yeah it deserved it. Not really a far departure from the series Norm but it's a fun game.
 
Thanathorn

Thanathorn

Member
Dec 10, 2019
1,187
Manu said:
Yes, but this thread is gonna be full of people saying no because that's its only purpose and how every single one of these threads go.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Yeah these threads only encourage people who dislike a game to come and share their opinions. The poll results and comments are the opposite of each other right now.
 
Lightjolly

Lightjolly

Member
Oct 30, 2019
4,576
If the game ended with the 5th lord, sure completely deserved.

Second half obliterated the fun entirely with its atrocious pacing, lore dump, spongy enemies. Im sorry some above want a positivity echo chamber but the games flaws must be known
 
dancingphlower

dancingphlower

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,058
I'm only a couple hours in but just the quality of life changes have made the game the best Tales experience for me, at least at this point. Combat is really fun too. Not sure where the hate comes from haha
 

Deleted member 5129

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,263
Honestly.. no. It's not my favorite and there's plenty of Tales games that got worse reviews but are actually better.
 
Bulebule

Bulebule

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,805
Tales of Arise was a positive surprise to me. I didn't like how the game looked at all from any videos or screenshots but once I got the game I was hooked. Gameplay was great but enemies/bosses were little too tanky. I had no problem with the cast either. Solid 8/10 for me.
 
Neverx

Neverx

Prophet of Truth - One Winged Slayer
Member
Sep 17, 2020
2,705
Florida
It's a good game but the reviews were wayyy to high, probably deserved around a 75-80. Didn't leave much of a impression comparative to more recent JRPGs (XC2, FE3H, P5R and SMTV etc), fairly shallow story/characters has led to a more soured opinion over time compared to when first beating it for me.

Worth a playthrough tho for sure, just nothing to write home about
 
Qurupeke

Qurupeke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
1,275
The genre is pretty "difficult", as a lot of people aren't willing to give such a game a chance because it's "anime", which is supposed to be a catch all word for anything they don't like or agree with from a narrative or artistic point, and because it's also a (J)RPG, which are games that usually require a bigger time or effort investment compared to other popular genres. So, all in all, I'm really happy to see such a game getting recognition and being considered by journalists, for whatever merit their opinion has, among the greatest games of this year.

It might not be the best game of the year necessarily, or it might not be one of the best RPGs that exist, but it's by far the most quality the Tales of series have seemingly offered and I also think it's an excellent game as an entry point to the genre. I really enjoyed the story and its themes, a pretty great cast of characters, and combat is quite fun. All that and it's also a game that in many ways is up to the standards of modern games, which sadly isn't guaranteed in the genre at all.

I've definitely noticed people being very vocal about disliking this game, especially here, and a lot of times I'm even questioning why did they even bother playing it, when they're predisposed to hate it.
 
Zafir

Zafir

Member
Oct 25, 2017
7,041
I mean maybe a bit overrated(if I had to score it I guess it'd give it a 8/10) but I dunno, I don't think it's bad. I still think it's a pretty good game, it's just very clear that they didn't quite finish their original vision. Everything after the 5th lord feels incredibly rushed and not particularly satisfying, both in story and just in general gameplay with it's recoloured enemies that you've seen 10 times before at this point (not even an exaggeration sadly), but that means there was still 25 hours before which were enjoyable.
 
Daysean

Daysean

Member
Nov 15, 2017
7,392
Not at all
Literally the only time in my life I had to lower the difficulty just to clear the content because I was just DONE
Went from hard to Easiest towards the end and i did not look back
So many fucking tanky mini bosses/giant "normal" enemies/bosses
That shit is NOT fun
Music is so wack I got the DLC with all the past battle themes and that shit STAYED on
Like after you get done with the Lords and the "second half" of the game kicks in, writing just goes ????????????????????????????????
Kisara and Dohalim were cool and fun to play as, and the whole Shionne/Alphen dynamic is annoying as FUCK until the second half
Game also felt like "no fun allowed" when it came to skits personally
Also, please no more Motoi...please no more violin...please try different things music wise
It took until FF13-2 for FF to get unique music wise, and even more so with 14, when will you do the same Tales of?
 
Last edited:

Deleted member 4353

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
5,559
Definitely not. It's a solid 6-7 and not even close to top tier Tales of stuff. I feel like people where just taken in by the graphics and barely functional battle system.

Shit story, awful characters (Shionne is one of the worst in any game), health sponge enemies constantly, awful music (that game opening track is a catastrophe). Sure the game plays well but that's about it.

I'm still slogging through the game but I do not like it at all. I finished Berseria earlier this year and its superior in almost every way.

Its down low in my tales of list, probably only Zestiria is below it.
 
Jakenbakin

Jakenbakin

Member
Jun 17, 2018
11,823
Sure, yeah. The writing was worse but the gameplay was better than ever, the graphics were beautiful, and the music was... uh, expensive, if not super effective outside a few pieces.
 
Fatoy

Fatoy

Member
Mar 13, 2019
7,228
I've played about 15 hours of it. It's a very beautiful coat of paint on a game that feels 20 years old everywhere but the combat.

That's not necessarily a bad thing, but a revolutionary game it isn't - except insofar as it represents an unusually rich, high-budget take on a genre that only rarely gets that sort of attention these days.
 
TheAggroCraig

TheAggroCraig

One Winged Slayer
Member
Nov 6, 2017
5,913
I think I'm like half way through the game (just got the 6th party member), and it's very good, but it doesn't stand out much more than other Tales of games that I've played. Regardless the positive buzz on it did bring in new fans so I'm fine with it.
 
CielTynave

CielTynave

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,223
Not really, as someone who considers Tales one of his favorite series, I'd say out of the 17 mainline titles there's about 7 that have better gameplay and 16 that have better story and characters. The only thing that this game excels at are production values. Not that I disliked the game (I played it for 75 hours and got all the achievements) but there are other titles that absolutely beat it out in most other categories, it just kind of hammers in the point that whenever people say they wanted the series to evolve all they really meant were they wanted a bigger budget.
 
Apollo

Apollo

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
8,094
No, not really. It's easily my least favorite Tales of game. This best games in this series excel typically for either a strong cast of characters or a great battle system. Arise has neither.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.