First Impression of Tales of Arise

I have always been a fan of RPG/JRPG games since I was a kid. I play most types of games, but the RPG genre will always be my favorite. I have played most of the Tales of games growing up and my favorite was Tales of Vesperia when it released on the Xbox 360. The other Tales of games that released after that were good, but I didn't think they held my attention like Vesperia did. After playing the Tales of Arise demo, I felt like it may actually be as good or actually better than Vesperia. I didn't want to say that until the full game released though.

The Tales of series as always had really good opening animated videos and theme songs and Tales of Arise was no different. When the animated video started, my excitement just flared up. The singer was so good and the video fit the song so well. After sitting through the opening video, adjusting settings and finally getting into the game it just blew me away. The story was interesting and made me want to understand what was going on in the world. When I finally took control, it felt so smooth and allowing me to jump off ledges, that was actually part of the map where you can explore, saved me from always having to take the long way around. When I finally was able to start a battle, it was so easy for me to pickup and get used to. It took me a bit to start figuring out the combos, but I feel like it was a big step up from Vesperia and previous games.

After we meet Iron Mask, who's name is hidden at the start, we meet Shionne and find out that they both have their own issues they are dealing with. Iron Mask can't feel pain and Shionne can't be touched or the person touching her will be hurt by her "thorns". This comes into play when Iron Mask is the only one that can touch her since he cannot feel pain. Shionne also has a special weapon called the Blazing Sword that only Iron Mask can wield since it's flame burn anyone who wields it. The drawback is that even though Iron Mask cannot feel pain, he can still die from too much damage.. Shionne also has access to healing artes and must heal Iron Mask whenever he uses the sword, both storywise and in battle. Iron Mask uses a regular sword a well, so he can avoid using the Blazing Sword if it isn't necessary. I lie that, since yo can decide if it's worth lowering our own health for big damage or not. For now, the game is very entertaining and I am invested in the story. I am farther in the story now, but I didn't want to spoil anything big. The battle system gets a lot better with the introduction of Boost Strikes and Boost Attacks. Boost Strikes are cooperative moves between party members that instantly defeat regular enemies or do a ton of damage to bosses and mini bosses. Boost Attacks are moves that you can activate if a characters boost gauge is filled. Each characters boost attack does something different. For example, Iron Mask activates the Blazing Sword for high damage without using HP and hits every enemy directly in front of him downing them and Shionne does a blast with her rifle that hits any enemy in its path.

Thank you for reading and I will have more reviews soon. Have a nice day!