#tales of arise cutscenes

[segasonic-popcorn-shop]

had a dream a while back that at one point involved a tales of arise cutscene but with no audio and fucked up subtitles and all i remember from it is at one point alphen called shionne babygirl

[browniefox]

Anyway, been playing a lot of FFXVI recently and gotta say, I’m enjoying the story more and more! I still feel like there’s a lot of unnecessary stuff and way too many cutscenes, but I’m getting attached to a lot of the characters! I love Clive’s reunion with his Uncle and Wade, and while Mid kinda comes out of nowhere I do like her design.

I also really loved Jill’s arc about dealing with feeling like a monster, especially how she gets to feel that hatred and kill the man who caused her so much grief, with Clive by her side and trusting her. My sister’s been playing tales of Arise, and a female character is denied from getting to do that w her romantic half stopping her, so it’s a cool juxtaposition and I love this more

[the-east-art]

Ah, playing Tales of Arise with my friends is just… why did they make these decisions? Why am I going through a dungeon where every ‘floor’ is an identical layout with the same enemies in the same places? Why are there literally 30-50 minutes of cutscenes chunked together? Why does the game about racism only have one character of color and he’s one of the slave owners?

As is, tragically, often the case with big budget games I’m like… this one could have used a couple more years in the idea phase

[etesienne]

Finished Tales of Arise's main game and I can't over how fucking bad the final boss fight was. Not bad as in difficult, just plain bad game design.

- solo fight. why. The game spent hours shoving monologues down my throat about how friendship is all that matters and together there's nothing we can't achieve. but fuck it my party can't participate in that fight, which also means no healing (unless items).

- fight cuts when final boss' health drops to half. fucks up the flow of battle but at this point whatever, I'm kinda used to it.

- fight resumes after a cutscene and my attacks have automatically been changed ?? I can't switch them to what they were because I can't open the menu at all ?? and so when the final boss eventually fucks me up, my HP just disappears altogether ?? no game over, no starting over. the battle just continues, I still technically take damage, but I can't die. I can't even lose. I just have to pummel the boss with the shitty attacks the game forces me to use until he dies. big cutscene, credits roll. wow.

[shuttershocky]

Not somewhat excited for the Musashi Musou huh?

Apologies in advance for going full bitch mode but I'm going to be honest, I need them to say it's not a musou first before I bother getting excited.

I mean it's Koei Tecmo so it's almost certainly gonna be another musou like Extella but please god please I've been waiting for a real Type-Moon hack and slash for years, I want something that has combat with actual bite. I want to be playing against a boss with a ridiculously diverse moveset I want to learn strict parry timings or string together SSS combos I want 5 enemies coming at me at once to be an actual challenge I want a servant battle to feel like it has all the weight of a duel between heroic spirits I want to look so cool while playing I hit record on my PC so I can upload clips to this blog like when I played Tales of Arise and saw the combo potential in that game

I don't care how exactly they'd do it I'd take anything in the vast lands in-betwen DMC and Sekiro just please please I want real combat I don't want another Extella I was so bored with Extella's combat

For once, JUST ONCE, I want a Fate game I play for the actual game design and not just for the story cutscenes. I want to see TM succeed in making real games beyond Melty Blood instead of me sheepishly linking new Fate/Extra players enemy move list guides because actually playing Tamamo's story for yourself is a masochistic exercise

[asotin]

i'm still laughing about the tales of arise review that complained about the unskippable cutscenes for mystic artes and boost strikes. maybe it's because symphonia and its nigh impossible to trigger ougi system made me appreciate them more, but i think they're fun

[moonlight-at-dawn]

There's the link to my Tales of Arise screenshots. I think I got nearly every bit of non-skit dialogue in the game. Cutscenes, battle dialogue, post-battle dialogue, etc.

There's definitely doubles, especially for loading screens. Some things might be black screens from me mistiming hitting the screenshot button, and sometimes I hit it when I didn't mean to, especially during battles where I was grabbing a lot of dialogue.

I didn't clean or organize any of this mess. Screenshots are probably in 2 different resolutions, as my laptop's native resolution is different from my monitor's.

Will leave it up for roughly a month before I take it down.

@talesfairy111

[konigstigerr]

How is Arise in your opinion?

Vesperia is one of my all time favorites and Berseria is excellent as well, so i'm curious if it holds up

it's a hard game to recommend tbh.

gameplaywise, it's almost good. the new mechanics are interesting and give a nice amount of options to engage your party members more than any game before and the movesets are varied and combo well. almost as good as berseria, but that's a very high bar to clear. the real issue is the fact that enemy numbers are so unbelievably inflated. no boss will ever be won quickly or without a large number of deaths, and yet it won't be compelling either. berseria suffered from this but it was at the end, this is a problem in arise from the very beginning.

a lot of people complain about party ai, but i think it's just because of how much damage bosses pump out that you can't afford your party to run into aoes like you could in previous games. it almost locks you into playing a melee and three casters with all of their close-range artes disabled. you could play in other ways, you're just gonna have a bad time, because ai alphen will self-damage himself into death, ai law can't keep dps and ai kisara will walk into aoes to get aggro.

the story is on the same boat. the ideas are good, but many aspects are barely explored. the first three realms are great, but the fourth and fifth have almost nothing on, they're more for the party's development than anything else. and the second half is just like xenogears disc 2, similar themes, similar tone, and similar fucking unfinishedness.

and it repeats itself, god does it repeat itself. characters will learn something, have a conversation about it and their next choice of action, immediately after you'll get a skit or several about the exact same thing, and on the next cutscene they will restate the things they learned.

it might be subjective, but the writing feels cheesier than previous entries. tales is always a bit cheesy, but it feels worse in this one.

the characters are alright, not the best, not the worst, but compared to the terrorist cell of weirdos of berseria they are as bland as crackers, particularly alphen.

visually, it is great, beautiful areas, great character design. can't fault that part at all. tho, i feel they phoned it in with how few attachments you get, but that's a nitpick.

it's not a terrible game, but unless you're a big fan of tales in general, you can totally skip it.

if you have a ps3 play xillia 1 and 2 tho.

[ffgames2023]

Journey into the Enchanted Realm: A Tale of Mystery and Whimsy

Jack, Jed, and Ash's expedition into this enchanting realm, replete with both beneficial and detrimental effects on the subsequent framework, exudes an intriguing air of mystery. On one hand, it imparts an element of enigmatic allure; on the other hand, one might yearn for a comprehensive King Arthur and the Knights of Justice-inspired inception, or something similarly evocative. Adapting to their predicament necessitates some time, but a substantial portion of the audience will eventually acclimatize, and the absence of upfront information indeed assumes significance in the denouement. Contrary to the marketing, Jack exhibits a demeanor that is far less insufferable than initially perceived. The cast's lighthearted handling of his cantankerous nature injects a considerable dose of levity, and conversations revolving around Chaos, such as where to buy PS5 games, dominate the early discourse.

The proceedings often tread the path of silliness, with the characters serving as the finest embodiment of this whimsical quality while also considering where to buy PS5 games. The central voice cast delivers performances that range from serviceable to exceptional, even when tasked with rendering some of the most extravagantly exaggerated lines, primarily emanating from Jack. The narrative is replete with moments that are deeply rooted in character development, both profound and light-hearted, each contributing to an elucidation of the intricacies of this unique universe. Virtually the entire game is endowed with full-fledged voice acting, and minutiae such as a royal assistant meticulously transcribing the initial lines of your journey's recount or the banter among party members never fail to elicit a gratifying smile. The same sense of satisfaction extends to the meticulously crafted cutscenes, which faithfully represent the current accouterments of each party member.

A Fantastical Odyssey and Commemorative Final Fantasy Experience

One embarks on their adventure within Jack, Jed, and Ash's odyssey in this fantastical realm, an experience that simultaneously enhances and challenges the narrative foundation that ensues. In one respect, it instills an aura of tantalizing mystique; conversely, there arises a yearning for a narrative initiation akin to the comprehensive King Arthur and the Knights of Justice reference, or something equivalently proximate to the beginning. The process of acclimatization to their peculiar circumstances demands some patience, but a significant portion of the audience will eventually bridge this gap, and the scarcity of initial information assumes consequential significance in the ultimate reckoning. Contrary to promotional claims, Jack's irksome demeanor reveals itself to be considerably less abrasive than initially assumed. The cast's light-hearted jesting regarding his irascibility contributes substantially to the narrative's buoyancy, and yes, discussions about Chaos loom large in the initial phases.

The proceedings frequently gravitate toward the realm of absurdity, with the characters arguably serving as the most apt embodiment of this characteristic. The core voice cast delivers performances that range from proficient to superb, even when tasked with delivering the most flamboyant and over-the-top lines, the majority of which emanate from Jack. The narrative boasts numerous moments centered around character development, encompassing both profound and lighter facets, all coalescing to illuminate the intricacies of this distinctive universe. Virtually the entirety of the game is endowed with a comprehensive voice acting ensemble, and minor details such as a royal aide meticulously jotting down the opening lines of your journey's retelling or the camaraderie among party members never fail to elicit an appreciative grin. The same sense of gratification extends to the meticulously choreographed cutscenes, which faithfully depict each party member in their full regalia.

Beneath the veneer of cringeworthy prose and a narrative that defies logic, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin harnesses the rich tapestry of Final Fantasy fan service, incorporating a rapid and profound combat system to offer aficionados a commemorative experience unlike any other in the franchise's history. While the presentation exhibits an erratic quality and the equipment system lacks a clear sense of direction, Stranger of Paradise: Final Fantasy Origin manages to deliver an immensely enjoyable experience from its inception to its culmination.

[dany36]

i did it! 😍 I finished the game before New Years! I rushed the final part of the game and skipped the sub events that you can apparently do before the final fight, but since I eventually plan to replay this as Milla, I’ll just do them there. definitely enjoyed this game and I’m glad I finally got a chance to complete it. I felt like right after the big plot twist with Maxwell and Milla, the game kind of…hmmm dipped a bit in terms of the story pacing for me. but that ending?? fuck yes!!!!! <3 thank you namco for not going down the usual path of male protag + female protag = lovers. anyway, more long ramblings about this beautiful game below because i need to (as usual) dump out my feelings about it!

so first for the things i liked.

milla!! holy crap, she's definitely become one of my all-time favorite characters in the tales series and i'm aching to start a drawing of her. what an amazing character. she's such a determined, courageous, strong-willed, bad-ass woman, and OF COURSE i'm a huge sucker for female characters who just know what they're about and don't let anything or anyone stand in their way! yeah her anatomy is outrageous (she looks like she could snap in half at any moment) but just like velvet i'm letting it slide because her characterization is just wonderful. she starts out not really caring for anyone or anything but her "mission" and protecting humans and spirits alike, but then elize happens!! leia happens!! and of course jade happens as well but like!! elize and leia never hesitate to show their care, love, and admiration for milla and just ahhhhh their relationship in the game is everything to me. that post-battle scene of milla patting elize and thanking her for her help would always make my heart want to explode of joy. 🤧 thank you namco for feeding me with such an admirable protagonist who clicked so well with the rest of the female characters. can't wait to play her side of the story!

i've already mentioned in another post how much i love teepo (hands down best tales mascot yet), but i also loved elize and leia as well. i know it's implied that jiao had something to do with elize's parents but next time i'll try to do more sub-events about her to learn more about her past and well, just learn more about her overall. leia snuck her way into joining the party and although at first i didn't really care for her, she is also super helpful in battle and her bubbly personality is what was missing from the party before she joins. i just didn't like (and understand?) why she kept saying/thinking that she was getting in the way or holding the party back because...excuse me queen when does that ever happen lol you are nothing but helpful. she right away agrees to help jude and milla look for what they need to get milla to walk again and puts her life at risk for it, how is that holding them back? maybe there's something i missed but yeah, pure love for elize and leia.

the fighting system in this game is so damn good and fun omg, probably my favorite after berseria. linking arts is so satisfying and reminded me of those final attacks you could pull off in arise, except with like...you could execute them any time you filled up the linking bar and not just waiting for an enemy to almost die. i played as jude most of the time but in my next playthrough i will definitely play as milla since her attacks looked so fun as well.

that plot twist about milla having been built by maxwell to bait out exodus was totally unexpected for me and i was just in shock watching all those cutscenes play out. from clapping of joy that milla finally gets The Four back to having my mouth agape at leia and alvin fighting. like...damn, the storytelling and pacing of this story might not be the best but that portion of the game was really good. again, can't wait to see what the hell is going on with milla in that time that jude is all down and depressed!

so many animated cutscenes, and of course all of them are a joy to watch! i'm not entirely sure but i think out of all the tales games i've played, i felt like this one really had the most? either way, would always love whenever we'd get one since i love how they animate milla!

the ending. wow. i really thought they were going to go down the usual route of "male protag and female protag fall in love and stay together" because well, jude fell head over heels for milla but i never really got the impression that milla felt the same way for jude (again, need to play milla's side). i thought for sure that milla was going to find a way to live as a human, kind of what happens with ratatosk and emil in symphonia 2, but to my pleasant surprise, that doesn't happen! milla doesn't even HESITATE to say no to maxwell to his idea of her living as a human using the schism's mana--she right away knows that she will live on as maxwell and continue her duty to protect spirits and humans alike. GOD that just made me adore her character even more! i mean SURE it sucks for her because she herself says something along the lines of being sad that she will have to leave her found family behind, but (after looking it up in the youtubes cus i just couldn't wait) she says in the post-credit scene that she is proud of the path she has chosen! she has no regrets!! what a fucking queen!!!!!!!!!!

and honestly i much prefer this ending in regards to jude and milla's relationship: a relationship based on admiration and respect for each other because SHEESH it's such a breath of fresh air and i'm so so so glad that namco went this route for them because i was seriously dreading the cliched ending lol. not that i'm against the usual female protag + male protag ending up together--as long as the proper development is there (see marta and emil, luke and tear etc), but again i just felt like the feelings were very one-sided from jude so hurray for this ending!

ok and the part where elize puts teepo away? i literally screamed "NOOOOO" and was so sad but at the same time proud of elize because she no longer has to depend on teepo to express herself! and she has friends now! but still it was a depressing scene to see just because of how much i loved teepo :(

alright, now for the dislikes:

the music. this one is no surprise because honestly, ever since symphonia 2, i feel like tales games just have not done well in the music department. i think there's like one or two songs that i might have to download for my collection, but other than that, yet another disappointment in the series.

the overworlds. sorry but they were so boring and predictable to explore after like...the third or so area! they all pretty much have the same layout except with different colors. just really nothing interesting about them and the same music for almost all of the areas wasn't helpful either. if xillia 2 has the same layouts to its overworld i will seriously scream lol.

the voice acting. i think this game has the worst (english) voice acting in all of the tales games i've played, and it was especially jarring after coming from symphonia 2, which i thought did such an excellent job with its voice acting. it didn't have a japanese option otherwise i would have chosen it. those character pop-in voices that would occur during battles where your characters would say something just wouldn't match with the intensity of the character portraits, plus half the time i wouldn't even be able to hear what the hell they were saying. also, as much as i love elize, her voice just didn't sound like a 12 or 13 year old (or however old she's supposed to be). i felt like jude's and leia's voice acting was also pretty meh, like the skits would sometimes really have no oomph to them or were pretty monotone. milla's had the same issue to her but with her you can kinda brush it off due to her personality. i initially didn't really like milla's voice acting at all but overtime it ended up becoming my favorite out of the main gang lol.

alvin... oh boy. i'm sorry to alvin fans, i know he's supposed to be like the complex character of the gang, kind of like how zelos was, but unlike zelos whom i eventually learned to SOMEWHAT like despite his many flaws, alvin never really grew on me and i had no interest in learning more about his character. maybe my mind will change once i get another playthrough of the game, but his constant betrayals and running away just got old after the second time and honestly it was annoying. yeah he was part of exodus since he was a kid and did what he needed to survive, but eugh i never really felt he clicked well with the rest of the party, even when he was moping around before the final battle and elize went and cheered him up. good thing that milla and jude never gave up on him since it's thanks to his cousin that we learned about how spyrites worked, but other than that........next!!!

the antagonists. so weak. i already talked a bit about this, but nachtigal? lame af. also he was alvin's uncle? whatever, the game never really gave me a reason to want to feel sympathy for him, so i brushed over this "revelation" as fast as the game did. plus his presence throughout the game was barely felt? presa, agria, and wingul, eh, also whatever. i thought it was cool how you got to work "with them" for a bit, which was a nice surprise, but other than that, just like alvin, don't really care for them. not sure if there are sub-events where you can learn more about their past (like presa's parents abandoning her or whatever), so i'll try to be more on the lookout for them in my next playthrough, but honestly...not really impressed. i would say that this is probably the weakest thing about the game, i didn't really ever felt threatened by any of the antagonists throughout it.

the pacing after the maxwell twist. ok, one thing that really bothered me was that...jude decides that he wants to save elympios and reiza maxia, because obviously that's what a protagonist does: they want to sacrifice no one and save everyone. but my problem with this was that, before this, the game never really gives you, the player, a reason to care for elympios? at this point you know two people that are from there: nachtigal, who we barely know anything about and is just plain evil, and alvin, who...has betrayed the party countless of times and is heavily disliked by the most innocent person in the party (i forget if leia also actively hates him like elize?). he isn't exactly someone that the game managed to get me to have sympathy for, unlike sheena from symphonia or shionne from arise, both who are from a different world which you are also trying to save. so like, why should i also share the same mission as jude? but ok, whatever, it's the obvious noble thing to do even though i don't understand it, fine. but even THEN! the whole elympios bit felt severely rushed. tethe'alla is laughing. like i think only 8 hours pass from when jude says he wants to save elympios to the end of the game. so in this time you go to elympios, learn how spyrites can help its people (and somehow this is credited to jude because...why again? lol), explore two small areas of this brand new alien planet, volt makes an appearance, gaius and muzet are out trying to destroy spyrixes everywhere (although this was more of a tell rather than show bit cus i never got this impression from the game), the gang has a crisis of whether to stick with milla and jude or...go back to reize maxia (why was this an issue in the first place? why would they back down now? they tried to make it seem like it was this big crisis that they would have to fight gaius, but why would they feel conflicted with this??), and just...what? right after the plot twist i said this was contending to be in my top three favorite tales games, but this last portion of the game was just...not it, lol. i loved gaius and how much he loves his people and how far he is willing to protect them (similar to milla...), but at the end it seriously felt like "how many times do we have to teach you this lesson, old man?" with how many times you fight him. the "final" level was also rather lame but i'd take that over arise's dreadful last level design.

so don't get me wrong, despite the rather weak antagonists (minus gaius and muzet, especially the latter lol her going insane was awesome) and that last portion of the game being...rather strange and honestly feeling kind of rushed, this tales game is such a pleasure and milla is one of the best tales protagonists. jude growing from being super dependent on milla and just following her around like a lost puppy to making his own decisions and saying he will be alright without milla (and changing the world helping with the spyrites research!) was also really great to watch unfold. great characters, great protagonists, great relationships within the cast, amazing gameplay, a refreshing ending...will definitely play this again!

with that i think i can confidently say that my ranking for the tales games is now as follows: symphonia, berseria, abyss, xillia, symphonia 2, zestiria, arise, vesperia.

alright, enough rambling. time to browse the xillia tag and reblog all that sweet content i've missed out on all these years!!

[bangpuddingmuffin]

Tales of Arise

Worst Tales game I've played? Almost certainly. Definitely doesn't hold a candle to Vesperia.

The characters weren't very interesting, and the focus on forgiveness got played up to such a ludicrous level that the whole plot felt ridiculous. Conversations were endlessly repetitive, and absolutely nothing good happened once it got to that one terrible scene with Law, Rinwell, and Almeidrea.

The combat didn't evolve past the halfway point, and the whole thing just started feeling like an endless chore. The worst was on Lenegis, where it was just one tedious cutscene after another, with absolutely no action and the smallest of plot developments.

I have to believe that the critics did not finish the game because the high scores are inexplicable otherwise.

Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMOeTsMoezKYTArhJNLjwxHc5ykcjhQ8s

[francostrider]

Tales of Arise: Padding and Minimal Localization

So, from a technical stand point, Tales of Arise certainly plays better than Vesperia. The combat is much easier to come to grips with, while still maintaining the challenge. There’s a lot of weight to the finishing moves and the big limit breaks are flashy without taking five years to get through. The environments are pretty and the character models are great. No one dresses like a stripper maid and the monsters look and animate well.

But let’s address the elephant in the room that is the title of this passage.

On a broad, surface level, I like the high concepts of each character. Again, they have a lot of appeal and the broad storyline (I’m near the end, not at the end) is compelling. But everytime I hear someone say how great the voice acting and writing is, I’m sitting there wondering “Well, where is it?” Especially after Tales of Vesperia, the writing in Arise is a complete let down. It’s padded, heavy handed and repeating to the point of a broken record sometimes.

Character A: I, uh... Character B: Something wrong? A: It’s... It’s nothing. B: Well, remember, we’re all in this together! C: No matter what happens, we’ll get through this!

That is literally 60% of the dialogue. You could have cut most of that out and lost nothing. Every other scene tries to swell with emotion, but you need troughs alongside your peaks. You need light moments of levity, small moments.

And when this game tries to have levity, that falls flat, too. See a good written character has the various traits interweave with each other. Take Sain from Fire Emblem [The One With Eliwood]. He’s an arrogant pretty boy who loves the legends of knights, and wants to reach all the glory and women that it comes with. His womanizing, glory seeking and combativeness all naturally gell with each other. His fellow knight, Kent, wants to be a knight for the sake of duty and altruistic reasons. My point is these are two characters who function in combat in very similar ways, but stem from very different reasons and motivations, which make sense.

Then we have, in the same game, Florina. She’s supposed to be meek and nervous around men. In her opening cutscene, she could not defend herself to save her life. But then during her opening mission, she is stabbing the living hell out of bandits without a second thought. But then, THEN, she tries to apologize to the bandit leader (who wanted to enslave her, I might add), before stabbing him again. This characterization makes no sense at all. This is what I mean by character traits being slapped together with very little thought. That isn’t a character; that’s a pile of tropes.

Law seems to be good place to start. So, at first, he is part of a secret police, basically forced into the position by the authorities and that forms a bit of a wedge between him and his dad. And his story is one of the more compelling ones. And then you recruit him. Suddenly, he’s a meat obsessed jock and his moments of levity always feel jarring. His old character comes out here and there, stopping Rimwell from being a suicidal nutcase, but he is otherwise rendered to dumb jock, not the trouble teen he was portrayed as earlier. And being an idiot doesn’t make a whole lot of sense either, being a bit of a survivalist under an oppessive regime. It’s like the writers just decided “You meat head now”, rather than a former villain.

Now, you could have former gestapo/meathead/carnivore/jock work. But the characters have a way of switching modes rather than flow seamlessly from one trait to another. Kisara goes from suspicious guard mode to team mom mode. Alphen goes from angry revolutionary mode, to saintly mode, to obsessed with spicy food mode. Shionne’s big-eater trait, something she is embarassed about, probably could have been removed entirely because it has nothing to do with her growth as a character.

Actually, lets be fair and point out the highlights. Rimwell is moreorless fine, and Dohalim actually has some insight. And I will be fair in that the characters have little to talk about due to culture (in universe) being basically erased. 

A big part of it is a mix of minimum quality localization and weird voice direction. Again, Vesperia is a stark contrast. They did a lot of work for that game. They clearly sat down and figured out how to translate it for a western audience. But I’ve noticed characters in Arise taking a offense out of the blue and sudden outbursts by Alphen, shouting at fellow protagonist Shionne of how “NO! YOU DO CARE! ADMIT YOU CARE DAMN IT!” And the reaction between me and my wife was less “Oh, no, he’s dangerous” and more “That was a bizarre take.” It’s become a regular phrase while playing the game that a character is “having an anime.” It starts to become obnoxiously stereotypical. This really could have used another pass.

“Well you just don’t get anime/jrpg tropes,” I’ve seen people say. “It’s a game about star ships and flaming swords, what do you want?”

What kind of excuse is that? Tales of Vesperia, Dragon Quest 8, Ys 8, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 7 (original), and most Fire Emblem games just do not succumb to that. They are well written to the point of transcending cultural differences. No anime/sci-fi/fantasy trope should get in the way of people sounding like people. And in the little dialogue moments, the cast of Arise doesn’t. This doesn’t have to be revolutionary, it just has to sound natural. When you use the excuse of “You just don’t get anime”, you might as well excuse a bad comedy that uses more references than jokes. I shouldn’t have to have read libraries full of fantasy novels before enjoying Codex Alera and I shouldn’t have to read the entire Shonenjump catalogue to enjoy an anime game. The above catalogue of games I mentioned stood on their own.

Sidenote: If a work is a specific deconstruction on a genre, then, yes, indulging on said genre would help. Tales of Arise, however, is not an apparent deconstruction on anime, so my point still stands.

Where does the narrative shine in Arise? More or less at the bigger moments and cutscenes. The visuals do a lot of heavy lifting to keep me engaged. Again, you can skip the optional “Press R1 for cutscenes” and lose nothing. But that’s not exactly a compliment. I looked forward to the shenanigans from the cast of Vesperia. They were funny, charming and had strong voice work. There are just no shenanigans to be had with Arise. Most of the optional dialogue either just repeats what had been said, state what could have been extrapolated, or tries in vain to have humor.

I’m coming to the end of the game (probably) and some big reveals just dropped. While I’m enjoying the gameplay just fine, I don’t feel all that invested in the characters. And that is a real shame because I wanted to be. But the constant barrage of repeating character beats and awkward deliveries have just worn me down. And when the characters do not reach you, it can suck the energy out of even the most swelling anime speech.

Edit: Still not nearly as demoralizing as Fire Emblem Fates.

[bumblepuppy]

Memorable shitty tales of arise moments: -One of the main protagonists is a mage, whose family has been killed by the oppressive regime because mages are strong enough to fight back. -When she encounters the woman who has killed her family and even though said woman has just turned a bunch of people into goop, the party discourages her from attacking said woman, saying she’ll be just as bad as her. -Upon defeating the antagonist who has enacted genocide against mages and has essentially slaughtered a group of 30+ people in front of the main party, the above mentioned protagonist decides that letting a court enact judgement on the woman is the right thing to do. Even though the world has basically been torn apart by slavery and oppression so there is hardly a legal system in place to accomplish this. -None of this matters anyway because the character is killed by the ultimate antagonist five seconds later anyway. -When you get to the moon that the oppressive race lives on, there’s a part of the main quest where you have to ask the people who live there why their slavery enforcer is sympathetic. Basically ‘He might force people to live in an unstable canyon where resources are scarce and farms their mana, but he had a rough childhood!’. -In order to avoid giving the audience the idea that the six main characters aren’t in three neat heterosexual pairings, the party members only get to talk to the opposite gender member in their age range for the last part of the game. -The big reveal of the game is that the oppressors and the oppressed are the same race of people that aliens have been playing a blue eyes-brown eyes game with secretly from the shadows because a planet is taking over their minds. This is explained in a 20 minute long cutscene about 90% through the game. -There are just... no npcs. There are characters you’ll do quests for that have no names, and the named characters who help you on your journey are few and far between. And maybe this isn’t a big deal, but it makes the game feel so small. -The combat sucks and is supposed to suck so you buy DLC. This includes orange gels and other mana-healing items being priced exorbitantly compared to previous games (which would let you recover mana through regular battle) and an inability to end a fight unless you use a combo move.

[1eos]

LOOK I played the Tales of Arise demo and saw that tall ass, pretty ass, dark skin man and said I don't wanna play as anybody else in this game lmao.

im obsessed w his designnnnnnnnnnn when i saw him on the opening video i was like 'ok....' but didnt get my hopes up bc u know how video games are. but when he showed up in the cutscene looking melanated and GORJUS i wanted to leap to my feet and giving a standing ovation cuz helloooooooooo! and im excited to see his gameplay bc its been fun playing every character so far. i also love the main character too even tho he has blue eyes im like omg hiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii 🥰ironically i found a doujin of the main guy getting pegged a year ago and i get it now. i really do

[todayimgonnaplay]

Today I'm Gonna Play: Granblue Fantasy -Relink-

I've never played or watched anything from this franchise other than seeing random clips and artwork of it. It looked pretty art wise, and I've heard great things about this game.

Right off the bat, I think this one of the most visually impressive anime games I've seen so far, on par or even better than games like Hoyoverse's Honkai Star Rail and Zenless Zone Zero. Animations don't feel stiff at all compared to many anime games I've played. Even dialogue cutscenes have some movement to them with different angles, which is very appreciated.

A lot of the character designs are also very appealing, featuring different races the series provides. There's not a lot of diversity, but I don't feel bothered by it as the characters look good enough for me. The only exception is that I feel that the female protagonist's base design looks a lot more bland compared to the male protagonist. Fortunately, she does get a glow up later on.

Speaking of protagonists, I really like the optional feature of being able to change gender at any time. I'm not sure if there are any dialogue differences as I ended up choosing male for the design the entire game, but this is a feature I don't see any downsides to if someone feels like changing from time to time. But weirdly enough, you cannot change party members during a quest. I find this to be an odd decision that limits the player's strategy especially when the combat system is designed around exploiting weaknesses.

Although as much as the designs are very colourful, their personalities aren't. Everyone's in their cookie cutter tropes which is fine, but they feel more or less the same with their goody goody personalities that have one fixation such as talking about being old, or liking machines. I couldn't connect with them as a result, even with the extra side episodes for each character detailing their backstory. However, that is a welcome decision for those who would be interested, and I also did enjoy the banter that plays in the field.

Another aspect I really like is the combat. It feels like a mix between Tales of Arise and Final Fantasy 16. There's a mix of combos, skills with a 4 party team that allows for duo and full party attacks. It's flashy yet functional at the same time. Every boss battle felt exciting to go through as if they were all treated with the same level of care (for the most part), which is a rare occasion for me. There are also some neat QoL features in terms of UX, such as summaries to provide for people wanting to skip cutscenes or view side episodes, optional auto skips for loading screens, and ease of navigation with skill trees. This feels refreshing to see after playing Dragon Age: Inquisition. Although I am confused by the purpose of adding in choice dialogues when they more or less lead to the same outcome, other than providing players an illusion of choice to insert themselves into the story.

Overall, this game shines in terms of its presentation and combat, as well as its music! I can't say much else for the rest, but sometimes having a simplistic heartfelt story (even if it's a direct sequel) is all one needs to wind down and have fun.

[lyerra]

I'm in my tales of games era rn so I was like hey I actually don't know much about the latest game so I went and looked at the cutscenes

and then I ran away screaming NOOO WHY IS IT SO HETERONORMATIVE

fr the latest tales of games such as berseria, zestiria, xillia were so not heteronormative

berseria had a female lead with no love interest, zestiria had... whatever the fuck sorey had going on with mikleo, xillia had Jude and Milla take on the classic girlboss x malewife couple, xillia 2 had a purely single protag, same for Vesperia (while I'd say Yuri/Estelle or Yuri/Flynn are not so farfetched as headcanons I wouldn't say we were meant to interpret them that way,, the fluri devotion in canon does get me all the time but it doesn't have to be romantic) and Symphonia had the extremely bisexual soulmate system

and then there's arise. arise scares the shit outta me