Yelling About A Mid-Tier JRPG For 2 Hours | The Crushing Ambition of Tales of Arise (preview)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 28 чер 2024
- The first two hours of my in-progress review of Tales of Arise. Yes. First two hours. You read that correctly.
MY BOOK:
Amazon: mybook.to/DeCineribus1
Video Summary: • So I Wrote A Book... |...
Support the Channel On Patreon: / unicornofwar
0:00 Intro
12:30 Opening Monologue
21:15 Iron Mask
40:27 The Woman Cloaked In Thorns
51:54 The Mighty Balseph (ew)
1:05:19 The Crimson Crows
1:12:48 Combat Ready!
1:22:58 The Blazing Sword
1:29:08 Out in the World (with no map lol)
1:38:07 Running Errands In Ulzebek
1:45:29 Shionne Wears Prada
1:53:30 Iron Mask’s Resolve
1:57:10 Overthrowing the Government for Funzies!
2:05:37 Fall of the Mighty Balseph (still ew) - Ігри
Ciao all! As the title suggests, this isn't the full review/retrospective of Arise. Instead, this preview covers the first arc of the game (The Calaglia Arc). I figured I'd try something a little different with this, making an intentionally long-form, in-depth video where I explore and dissect the story beat by beat. The full version should hopefully be out by March, and will likely be much, MUCH longer. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy this preview!
Edit: I know the title's said "Obscure" or "Nobody's Played." It's hyperbole given the state of the Tales series pre-Arise, and the fact that despite Arise sold well, in my perception it hasn't really been discussed that much aside from existing Tales fans online. Also UA-cam demands hyperbolic titles. Still working out that balance, lmfao.
While I don't remember ToA beat for beat, something I loved was how Alphen wasn't a stoic loner or a hothead. He was often calm and collected, a rare treat for male leads in shonen stories.
Yea loved Yuri on ToV for that as well. Bro experienced more of the world and made up his mind on what he wanted to do and stuck to it regardless of how people would look at him even if it was unlawful. And seeing repede follow him even knowing is even more amazing to see.
Alphen def has his stoic moments, but I also appreciate how caring and sweet he can be. We love positive masculinity.
Also having just finished Vesperia, can confirm I'm a Yuri stan.
@@UnicornofWar oh god i just realized
Alphen-The dad of the group, has lived the longest, is quite mature
Yuri-The wise cracking older brother
Ruca and Jude were other examples of that archetype in the series, Emil to a lesser extent. They tend to not be as popular as a stoic type, so it tends to be rarer in other games. My favorite is Ruca, who is a passive strategist that fights like a brute
@@fafnirable1 I haven't played too many of the games, so I didn't know that!
I do remember feeling like Shionne was a fresh breath of air as a Tales of Heroine compared to a lot of the older ones when it comes to writing and complexity especially of their relationship with the MC. It's a very nice feeling of having them metaphorically and in gameplay be so dependent on each other just like you said. Definitly looking forward what you think of the rest of the game (and my favourite boi Dohalim)
Oh I love Dohalim, he is my very high-maintenance husband with the most obscure, confusing interests.
What do you mean that Shionne being a fresh breath of air from the other Tales of Heroines?
@@samflood5631 I will try my best to explain.
To me Shionne is a very messy person, her whole act to keep people out due to her powers yet she is a very kind person at heart but comes off asmean initially it's nice.
Alot of Heroine's from the games i played (Symphonia, Symphonia 2, Zesteria, Berseria, Vesperia) I feel are not allowed to often have the complexity and their situation get treated with the seriousness that Shionne's issues get. Berseria's Eleanor (tho you can aruge Laphicet plays the role of 'the Heroine' more but same applies to him) being the best example of it also be done well.
But then I think of Symphonia 2's Martha, The entire messy situation around Zestiria's Alisha and Rose and Vesperia's Estelle and feel like that there they are not allowed to be treated that kind of seirous with their personal issues.
That is in the end of course subjective so you are free to disagree with me on this all^^
Hope this explains it okay.
I don't mean to offend anyone who enjoys Shionne's character here, but I actually sincerely thought that she was one of, if not the worst single part of the game. Which is saying a lot; I hated pretty much every moment of playing this game and can find little good to say about its script. I found her to be torturously inconsistently characterised, coddled by the writers to an extent that was unnecessary, offensive, and frankly debilitating to the quality of the characters around her - which is doubly bad, given that the base writing of the character arcs was already extremely questionable! I constantly felt like the writers were telling me Shionne was one thing while showing her to be another - to me this wasn't authentic "complexity", it was a very transparent attempt at artificial complexity, bc none of Shionne's outward actions in the first half of the game actually properly align with what the writers continually state are her *actual* traits, imo. I also sense an undercurrent of uncomfortable gendered writing in her character throughout the game but particularly throughout the second half, but I'd be here all day if I went into that so I won't lol. At the end of the day Arise as a story, game and overall experience is already so middling but Shionne as a character, her overbearing presence, is probably such a big part of why I feel so seething towards it. The developers clearly created and intended for Shionne to be the heart of the game - which she is, it shows throughout every single second of the experience. Unfortunately that is a massive part of why the game is as (imo) bad as it is lol
I have some problems with the game, mainly two scenes.
First is when Shionne was kidnapped by Vholran. It started when he poked Alphen in the chest, causing him to collapse on the floor. You can say that either Alphen’s armor is too heavy or Vholran is incredibly fast, but it’s so awkward looking, that it left me giggling a bit because it was baffling as well. After that, Vholran wraps his arms around Shionne and what does she do, she just barely tries to escape and is all like, “Oh save me, save me, he’s too strong.” If I were Shionne, I would have summoned my gun and blow Vholran’s brains out. The worst part is the Rinwell, Law, Kisara and Dohalim just stood there and watched while Shionne was screaming for help. They didn’t even lift a finger to save her. Rinwell should have casted a spell and blow Vholran’s head off so Shionne could get away. But now, these four just stood there and watched as Alphen was electrocuted by Shionne’s thorn curse.
The second scene is the ending. Alphen has defeated Vholran and the Renas Alma is within his grasp. The very thing he needs in order to free Shionne from her thorn curse. What does he do, forgives Vholran for all of the horrible things he’s done to him and his friends. Trying to kill them, kidnapping Shionne so he can turn her against and stealing the Renas Alma from him. Vholran spits back at Alphen, calls him a fool and blows himself and the Renas Alma just to spite him. So Alphen is willing to forgive an unhinged psychopathic murderer who has tried to kill him and his friends several times, just because he went through the same crap Alphen went through to become a Sovereign. Now he completely screwed everything up and is left with no choice but to kill Shionne in order to save the world. Don’t worry, the Will of Dahna already fixed that as it not only broke Shionne’s thorn curse, but merged both Dahna and Rena together as one world. Great, but if I were Alphen, I would have chopped off Vholran’s head and took the Renas Alma from his corpse to free Shionne from her thorn curse.
1:36:47 "This is the Miles and Kerry School of Writing Tropes".
Lol, I'd argue that this is where M&K got it from. Anime/JRPGs does this sort of thing a lot, where they give characters or groups a "trait" and don't really thinking more about how that trait fits into the overall world as a whole. In Japanese media, I suspect this comes from a combination of "simplicity methodology" (if something isn't strictly necessary, don't waste time developing it) along with the massive pipeline of media that Japan has to pump out constantly which doesn't give time for filling in rich, "lived-in" details.
However, M&K themselves seem to use it repeatedly in order to make their stories FEEL more "animesque". It's like when a story pays "homage" to a genre or type of media and includes the flaws which were products of their time and now serve no real purpose (if they ever did in the first place).
"Is anyone in the games industry sleeping?"
No
Source: Am in the games industry
2 hours of content?!? And this is only a preview?!? What we have done to deserve this?
Loving the style of the video, you're being informative and dissecting parts of the story while mainting a chill vibe and I'm cracking up at all your jokes, so great job!!
Man, Ray Chase has some range and his recent role as Neuvilette in Genshin Impact really pulls it all out. Figure of authority with a dorky side and a hidden emptional side that is also the father figure of a race of sea slug people and the best friend of a bratty teenage god.
Check him outvas Bucciarati in Jojo part 5
Hard agree on Ray Chase having killer range! Furina isn't a "teenage God" though, she's just 'short' & had an overzealous personality.
Tales Of Berseria was my first tales game back in 2020. It was a amazing experience and gave me some new female characters to put on my list of well written characters. Velvet became one of the top 5 obviously, she's the GOAT!!!
Ive never played another tales game after that tho. I might pick this game up.
A 2+ hour in-depth dissection of a Tales game? And this is only the FIRST part with more to come?? Merry Christmas to me!
This was a delight to listen to and helped to contextualize a lot of the reasons I had trouble getting into this game despite being a huge Tales fan. I can't wait for the next part!
45:14 As an aspec, you're right, we have to take shots at amatonormative
I feel like the confusion of Spirit Core > Spirit Vessel > Master Core could have been clarified by simply saying that the Spirit Vessel is there to refine the Astral Energy it receives. Then, once the Astral Energy is purified, it gets sent to the Master Core for collecting.
I am so excited for more of these! I love the Tales of games and I love that my opinions are reflected in this review. ALSO JUSTICE FOR VELVET YAAAAY!
OMG the 3DS port of Abyss was also MY first Tales game haha. It was a really impressive, content filled game for a handheld title when it came out, and it was one of the 1st 3DS games I got. Always gonna have a unique fondness for it over the others.
posting a comment halfway through, talking about Balseph and how he only had 2 scenes and you have 0 connection to him other than the game telling us "hes a bad guy take him down" when i fought him in my playthrough i was CONVINCED it was gonna be a "he beats us and theres nothing we can do fight and we would fight him much later but no... he is just gone after the first like hour of gameplay....
My favorite part from Tales of Arising Health Sponges was where I gave up and spammed Reigning Slash so I could actually finish literally every little fight within my lifetime.
Jesus Christ.
How is two hours a preview?
HOW LONG IS THE ACTUAL VIDEO???
Dood, this is gonna take me time to watch but I'll watch it all. I love the Tales series and Arise has become one of my faves.
*nervous laughter in an 80k word script that's still only like 3/5 done*
@@UnicornofWar MISS, THAT IS A WHOLE BOOK!
I mean I am an author... so XD
@@UnicornofWar......
Bring it on 😐
I've been playing Tales consistently since Tales of Symphonia. Never skipping any titles, until Xillia 2 (because I despised Xillia), though I would go back and play Zesteria and Berseria. But once I heard the plot of Arise was "there are 2 worlds, one is made of assholes, and our heroes are going to unite the worlds" I immediately thought of Symphonia, figured Bamco would drop the ball, and ignored it. But I picked it up a few months ago on a whim and was...very mixed. I love a lot of Arise. Music, combat, the main cast, world design (as in the way it looks, not how levels are designed...those are incredibly lack luster). But the world building is awful. The world doesn't make any sense in any capacity on a physical level, either. Apparently Dahna is a single continent. It makes it feel so tiny and constrained. And brings up a MASSIVE plot issue in the Beyond the Dawn DLC (which exists to almost exclusively damage what tiny world building the main game did).
The Renans are shockingly underwhelming, and it feels so weird to characterize nearly all of them as immoral psychopaths but then make a couple sympathetic ones and try to make them all seem okay during the section on Lenegis. This game really needed a few more drafts. Also, as you point out in the video, Lord Ballsack was totally unnecessary in the game. Just a speed bump on the road to all of the other equally as shallow villains. The only villain I kinda liked was the giant eldritch cosmic horror of a primary antagonist that is Rena. But they did that awful thing where they try to make the villain sympathetic in the eleventh hour that seems to never work (Kingdom Hearts had the same problem, which I am reminded of from your refences).
Tales of Arise just kinda reminded me of when Tales was really good. And ultimately just made me wish for a well made remaster of Tales of the Abyss. But I'm happy to see so many of the issues I noticed not just being a delusion in my mind. I've seen so much praise for Arise and it made me think I was going insane. I can't wait for the next video.
Can you tell me why you hate xillia 2?
1:14:21 "You can jump - a first for the Tales series" the overexaggerated gasp I made here. Tsk tsk, you can jump in Symphonia, Abyss, Vesperia and probably others as well by pressing up in battle. In Symphonia it was ever a bit of the meta for me playing to avoid enemies or jump over them/their spells. Was fun to jump over earthquake attacks in Vesperia too.
So far a really interesting video! I didn't realize it was just a preview. I feel like it actually would be good to break it up into parts though if this is just the start xD
1:21:49 Gosh I'm so glad someone else feels similarly to the skit problem of newer tales games;; where they look nice and can be fun, but pile them on in droves where they're a few minutes each and I just wanna MOVE like 3 feet or at least fight a guy PLEASE OTL
Jesus, I love insanely long review videos❤
To clear the air. The boost strikes are more inspired by one of the Japan exclusive tales game: tales of rebirth which is their hi-ougi where it just combination of two party members doing a mystic arte/special attack that is just one like in arise. It usually use to finish a boss fight. Not saying xillia didn't inspired Arise's boost strikes but rebirth is more comparable
Hello! when can we expect the full thing? i know you might have no clue or not want to give dates but im a big fan of marking my calendars for these 4+ hours videos!!
Hopefully around March. Thank you!
While I'm definitely looking forward to the full video... Now I really just want the Thomas equivalent of "Fallout New Vegas is Brilliant and Here's Why" for Berseria. Berseria was absolutely my favorite Tales game, though I thibk Vesperia is still my favorite cast. Velvet was wven the inspiration for one of my favorite D&D OCs. Would love a massive gushing video essay about the fun times of the Pope Murder Squad.
I actually really enjoyed the story start to finish. Imo its one of the better Tales stories in the whole series.
I occasionally write essays in the comment sections of good videos. Read this one at your own peril.
*- Intro -*
Tales of Arise was a pretty big disappointment for me. The most recent Tales game I’d played was Symphonia, following my playthroughs of Zestiria, Vesperia, and Berseria (my first). With the exception of Zestiria, all the other titles available on PC were quite good in my eyes. The primary strength of the series - as stated in your video - is generally the main cast of characters, sometimes followed up by the plot. Now, the biggest disappointment for me was the lack of co-op, since I’d been incredibly excited to share the series with a friend who’d never played the other games. We often joked that the writers must’ve been completely isolated from each other with how often relevant points were forgotten or omitted altogether. Don’t get me wrong, we were cheering at the end when those two finally kissed. We’d also cheer every time a special someone miraculously came back to life in the loading screen comments. The whole game just feels like a well of missed opportunities in which they presented interesting concepts, but stopped short of realizing them into anything meaningful. Here are a few thoughts in no particular order.
*- The Mask -*
Their choice to put Alphen’s face behind a mask was an intriguing one which reminded me distinctly of another masked individual. Stick with me here, but I found the Goblin Slayer to be a very interesting character because of the way he hid his face (I wouldn’t recommend the anime. It’s…bad). He wouldn’t take off his helmet as he saw it as an unnecessary lapse in caution. The two times he took it off, the camera would pan down to hide his face. The fact of the matter was that his face didn’t matter. Not to him and not to the story, though certainly to others. The Goblin Slayer chose to be defined by his actions and by his equipment.
Alphen was robbed of such a choice. To this end, I had to wonder: “Does his face matter”? Unlike the goblin slayer, his mask is something that was forced on him (more or less). The mask, a Renan Creation, has robbed him of his identity. From here, my question would be that of what matters most: who he was, or who he chooses to be? The mask is a large facilitator in his capacity to wield the blazing blade and endure the thorns.
The mask, to me, represents the hero that Dahna needs: an unflinching individual who can overcome the worst Rena has to offer. Alphen is not necessarily that hero. He’s kind and far too idealistic to dismantle the structures of power he faces (and might I say, it’s remarkably convenient that they tend to dismantle themselves). In my eyes, Alphen isn't really challenged either in his character or his beliefs. To this end, the choice to wear the mask would say quite a bit about who he believes himself to be and what needs to be done to uphold his ideals. It sure would be a shame if both the choices to don and remove the mask were taken from him. If nothing else, I felt that removing the majority of the mask in the first chapter was a waste. You really hit the nail on the head when you said that they favored action over pacing.
*- Touch Starved -*
Shionne’s primary motive is to suppress, destroy, or otherwise remove the thorns that surround her. The curse of thorns causes her touch to cause unfathomable pain that would drive away even the best of intentions. To this end, she prefers to be seen as a bad person rather than some kind of beast, preemptively driving others away with words before they learn of the thorns. All the same, she expresses a deep desire to feel the touch of others and to enjoy their company. Years of rejection have left her in a state where she is ill equipped to accept it. Alas, she tells us this, though its presentation in practice was half baked.
My friend and I were a bit confused by that notion when she brought it up in more direct terms. I know that I don’t come into direct contact with others on any consistent basis, with instances of physical contact often being months apart. It’s my understanding that this is not necessarily uncommon nor unbearable, though perhaps not ideal. Of course, everyone experiences things differently and it’s not my place to say what is or isn’t acceptable for them. That said, her immediate rejection of others read to me more as a lack of effort and creativity on her part rather than an inevitable result of the thorns. Tell me, how often is it in the game that the characters actually touch each other? You know, throw out high fives or hugs or just bump into one another? As I recall, these instances occur almost exclusively to show off the thorns. In other words, Shionne’s just as capable of holding a rigid A-pose like the rest of the cast. The thorns are a quirk that theoretically limits interaction with her, but doesn’t visibly exclude her from any activities (she’s even invited). Her distance from the rest of the cast is almost exclusively self-imposed so far as I can tell. It just seems off since she genuinely seemed to be a very kind person just waiting to drop that mask, even in the first act.
This is where the post-combat skits could really work their wonders, but, well, that’s another missed opportunity. Whilst the thorns were made to play off Alphen’s inability to feel pain, Shionne makes very little attempt to actually experience physical contact (even as a one-off instance of curiosity). Perhaps she figured that it was out of character, since she is the sort to keep up appearances. Barring that, the thorns are barely explored in their offensive capacities. Namely, the tendency for them to shock on touch and continue doing so to the point of rendering the victim unconscious. Shockingly, she does not mobilize this power as a means to make space between herself and those who would do her harm in close combat. Her curse is a mechanic that remains largely unused, though acknowledged, throughout the entire game. It’s an interesting one too, but it’s hardly explored.
*- Gameplay -*
With you talking so much about revisiting Tales of Berseria, I think I oughta try going back to it on a harder difficulty. That one had the best combat of all the Tales titles I’ve played. Unlike the others, the player was able to access pretty much all of a character’s fifty or so attacks within one to three button presses in what was a very customizable system. This allowed the relevant attacks to be employed situationally and to string together ever longer combos. Further, the defensive options covered both a static block and time sensitive dodge, allowing for a more dynamic amount of risk and reward. Further expanding the move options were the break attacks that could be used to take the initiative from enemies almost regardless of their state, for a price. The game was challenging and satisfyingly deep. Combat wasn’t perfect, but there are few games I’ve played that can compete with it.
Tales of Arise was a step back from Berseria in my eyes. It’s more stylish and certainly a treat to watch, but a lot of the player’s agency is taken away. Enemies don’t generally stagger when hit in neutral, meaning that they have the initiative by default with their massive blocks of hp. Worse, the defensive has been flattened to a high risk dodge. Attacks have been flattened to generally three basics plus one to five artes per combo. Boost attacks are nice. I’d say Berseria did it better with the tag-in moves, but that’s a matter of opinion. The executions were definitely something special, though they added flavor and not depth. Not to mention the truly miserable enemies at times. Looking at you guys (Chimera and Asylum Demons). Regardless, Tales of Arise didn’t allow for much skill expression so much as shallow numbers optimization, despite its spectacle. Now, I’m not going to say that all the other Tales games quite hit that standard either. However, I’m willing to tolerate worse gameplay if it means following a good story. This one was built for appeal, but it lost a lot in the process.
*- Closing Thoughts -*
I’ve played worse, but this game is one of the more disappointing ones I’ve played. It provided a lot of interesting mechanics and genuinely had some good dynamics between the cast, but it largely didn’t use most of these strengths in a meaningful way. It fails to challenge its characters, just as it fails to explore its ideas. The combat was decent, but flattened compared to the previous title… and there was no co-op. It’s a game where things just kind of happen. Sometimes you win, and occasionally the conversations are interesting.
I dunno. Tales of Symphonia explored a very interesting world and the racism both born of and responsible for its conflicts. Tales of Vesperia displayed a remarkably nuanced view on violence. Tales of Berseria showed a way in which humanity can be stripped from and restored to an individual. Zestiria tried a few things, and they didn’t really pan out as I recall. The truth of the matter was that I’ve really enjoyed picking apart the good and bad in Tales of Arise. The other games in the series were all generally able to put forward thought provoking ideas, and most were able to explore them with a good deal of depth. I guess I feel like Tales of Arise could’ve had something really interesting to say if it had the courage to commit to its ideas. I wonder what that would’ve looked like.
I’d say more, but, even with the generous character limit of youtube comments, I’m running out of space. I really oughta try this video essay thing sometime, though it looks hard. To an extent, this sort of stuff writes itself, but all that editing and clean-up really must take a lot of time.
Thanks for the video - it was fun to watch~
I 'm coming to think that Shionne's thorns never came to be part of the gameplay mechanics....missed opportunity for real
Interested to hear your thoughts on this as Arise is actually my favorite Tales game. I like it almost entirely for the combat and the characters though, so that might be why. Subscribed!
hey! actully got recommended this video after my monthly rewatch of majular's symphonia video, so cool to see you ref that in this video! this actually made me redownload arise cause i never finished it, and replaying it def agree with a lot of your points of critique, but one thing that actually gets referenced in like the second npc you can talk too after getting control of alphen is that they are indeed mining fuel, and a lot of it is just burnt to make the place even hotter, but thats what was in those barrels! it is easy to miss if you dont talk to every single person but there is at least a slight story reason behind it, even if it once again ties back to the "make them work just to suffer" part of the story! really enjoyed the video though and cant wait for the 13 hour video!!
Tales of Berseria was my first and only tales game. I only half finished it. I really like Velvet.
So are you going to cover the rest of Tales of Arise’s story? My favorite Tales of games are Berseria and Arise. Both games are beautifully animated, interesting characters and great combat.
1:39:30-Also. Thanks for referencing the Sly Cooper games. Those games were my favorite when I was just a kid.
Si! I'm working on it now, and the final version will likely be much. MUCH longer, and hopefully released in March!
Only just started playing this game myself, as a consequence of watching this video and having my interest piqued. I'd bought the game while it was on sale and then forgot about playing it for months. Just barely ahead of where this video ends off thus far. Will probably finish before I watch the full... video essay, I guess?
My observations thus far:
-The pace of this opening bit is absurd. Like within half an hour of Iron Mask and Shionne getting new threads, they've overthrown a corrupt regime and freed apparently an entire region of labor camps.
-The game placing importance on the Renans having surnames struck me as unintentionally funny, particularly in the scene where Shionne is suddenly called out by four name.
-Iron Mask is probably a Renan. My entire basis for thinking this is that one scene where the inside of his helmet suddenly started glowing the same color as all the Renan characters' eyes. Also despite the narrative not drawing attention to it, it seems like the Renans were giving him preferential treatment even though he's a slave-he never had the weird hand thingy, for example.
-Balseph as a name feels like they were trying to go for "Baalzephon", but were hamstrung by... idk, lip flaps or something. At least it's not Balzack...?
Update: I have reached the Wind Zone and witnessed a terribly, horribly dumb scene.
I mean the game's writing wasn't stellar to begin with, but I was at least enjoying the characters themselves.
But that scene in particular may have just ruined everyone except Shionne and Rinwell for me.
This sounds like exactly the game for me, as I'm playing action games solely for the gameplay.
SO PROUD OF YOU!
Wasnt the mask part of some healing device that spoiler character shoved Iron mask in, but because of how long he had it stuck on, it had the unfortunate side effects of induced amnesia and becoming impervious to pain?
Yeah and it got shoved into a missable data log in the final act, which I hate XD
I've played 3 tales games in my life. First was Zestiria. I enjoyed it for a bit but dropped somewhere in the middle because some other game that I've been waiting for came out. Later, I got berseria and that was the game that I finished in just 2 weeks. I really loved all character interactions in it. I then tried getting back into Zestiria but just couldn't for some reason. About a year later, my friend recommended me to go a bit in the past and try Vesperia. That game did not grab my attention at all. It's honestly sad for me because I really wanted to become a fan of the Tales series. Some people have compared it to Trails and I love each and every game in that series but I personally don't see their point.
Berseria is THAT GURL
Gonna have to comeback to this when I'm done
I actually adored this game and was so surprised it just kept giving and then platinumed it in one swift run which felt amazing and natural.
What I will say is it got *GRATING* having a battle where *everyone* is just screaming out every move they do so it's just a cacophony of headache noise.
As a gamer I'm so happy that you are now talking about video games. I have never played a Tales game, but I realy enjoyed the preview. Looking forward to next videos . Keep up the good work❤
Id lowkey love for you to make a video about Tales of Berseria, just something short like maybe 10-20 minutes long that kind of encourages people to play it without spoiling too much. I've been interested in it for a longtime, but never sure if I want to play it and I'd love to hear your biased opinion. Sure, you love it, but that's why I want to hear your opinion. I want to know why people that love it, love it.
Oh it would be so hard keeping it short lmfao
I was considering a shorter video on the Tales games I've played, so that could work I suppose
I'm so hype to watch this but also... Can you do a video on Tales of Berseria please? It's my absolute favorite tales game and I love the story and lore.
Arise is my favourite Tales and my favourite game of the year, and one of my top 5 ever! They didnt manage to pull off perfection; the end was rushed and a bit messy. But the world was well developed, the characters endearing and the story and resolution was satisfying.
Im also a big fan of the expansion. It was a perfect epilogue to see the world slowly healing after the "big bad" was defeated.
Really excited for this, the tales series is after xenoblade maybe my favourite jrpg franchise. Exspecially considering the cast of characters that i always fall in love with
This video made me realize that it would've been really cool if they showed Alphen's backstory of having the helmet put on him and being put onto the spaceship in the beginning, maybe after the ATLA-esque opening cutscene, because it would have still had the mystery of who the woman was was and provide a bit of dramatic irony when Alphen thinks he's Dahnan when we know he's not
As someone who only had surface level knowledge of Arise before this video, the Dahnans and Renans (not the enslavement, colonization part) reminded me a lot of Terrans and Martians from Ald.Noah Zero. Probably not an anime a lot of people have seen but, it's interesting that this game seems to suffer from a lot of the similar story problems Ald.Noah Zero did. Despite the criticisms toward this game, I'm glad the game sold well!
Tales of the Abyss anime was my hook. I picked up Berseria a while ago, I should get around to playing it.
YOU SHOULD. I love Abyss, it was my first, but Berseria's been my favorite since I've played it.
I enjoyed arise, but am still peeved they killed co op. My bro in law introduced me to the series, and playing symphonia with him and my best friend was one of my favorite gaming memories
Only played Berseria. VELVET BEST GIRL. Gonna get around to Arise soon.
I honestly loved playing tales of arise and its story was fun for me. Berseria was my fav of course. But I felt Arise did well imo. Still need to play the dlc.
Great video so far me and my friends make a joke of referring to Arise as
Stories On a Incline
TWO hours talking about a video game? Sign me up!
I'm so glad someone finally mentions how freaking small game text became over time. I *just* got new glasses and I still often have trouble reading text on my TV screen in HD era games. Xenoblade Chronicles X is borderline unplayable to me because I have to constantly strain my eyes and it's jarring to see it side by side with the Wii version of Xenoblade Chronicles 1, which has huge text and UI. At first I thought it was because UI designers had yet to adapt to the much higher resolution, but no, it just stuck so people could have more visual space for the "important part" - the game's action and visuals. It does annoy me a lot that very few games even have a text size option. It's not just a nitpick imo, I think it's a genuine problem - especially in a time when games are commonly played in varying screen sizes with the advent of the Switch and Steamdeck.
On the game in question though: Tales of games were some of my first JRPGs with Symphonia and Phantasia (Gamecube and Gameboy Advance versions) but I actually fell out of love with the series over time. Vesperia I was already kinda iffy on and Abyss was my breaking point. The main reason I usually bring up is the huge amount of universe-specific terms, rules and technology. It's always super hard to follow in my opinion and it became progressively more difficult with each Tales game. So your take on too little establishing sounds kind of par for the course to me - though maybe it just became even worse than before?
If you're interested in another example of a sniper+healer character, check out the Xenoblade Chronicles series, particularly 1 and 3 which each have a main character that fills that role.
I got the contra reference lmao
Arise is the only game I've ever 100%'ed I just didn't want to stop playing
Good for you, I really wanted to finish it after the drag that the second half of the story was for me.
My last Tales of game was Vesperia so I have no idea what the series even looks like nowadays, but isn't Abyss the "mainstream Tales of"? It's the one I see randomly brought up in discussions about RPGs and I've seen Arise fans unaware of the series long history. Feels a bit weird seeing it called obscure lol.
Arise sold 2.7 million copies, which puts it in like with titles like Tales of Symphonia and Metroid Prime (both pre 2023 release). Funny how despite those numbers I don't know anyone who played it other than myself.
A product being sold or viewed a lot doesn't always represent quality. Franchises with a good reputation tend to do this.
I played berseria I thought it was alright I liked arise a lot more personally
And I started in tales of the abyss on the 3ds too
I've only ever played Tales of Vesperia, and to date it's the only single player JRPG I've ever finished. I'm a long time FFXIV player but never finished a FF title other than that. I enjoy the style, but don't have the time to dive into the whole backlog of Tales Of, so this was a fun way to get my feet wet! Thanks :)
my first Tales of was Symphonia on the Gamecube and since then I try to play every Tales of Game I can
those Games deserves love. Well, of course not every Tales of Game is peak, but they tried.
I don't really care about the Graphics, I'm here for the Characters and Story. Berseria is one of the best Tales of, hands down.
Part 1
First off, huge fan! I love your work, even if I rarely say anything on the actual videos. I appreciate you taking time out of your day to do a deep dive on a less mainstream series, particularly one that I enjoy playing. I love hearing your opinions on things like the Winx Club and RWBY and I feel you present your points well while still being entertaining in your commentary. I hope you keep on making videos because you're a real gem to listen to! That said, I disagree with most of what you've said in this video and your assessment of Arise's story as a whole; bear in mind that I don't want you to stop doing this retrospective or even to change your views to align with mine, I just want to voice my own opinions because I'll be stuck in my head all day if I don't.
Spoiler warnings for people reading this comment who want to either play Arise themselves or experience it via @UnicornofWar 's videos because I will go into detail about later plot elements after this sentence.
I personally think that the world-building in Arise is not only solid but genuinely great, especially given the format as a linear JRPG with a set corridor that players are going down. You misunderstood a lot of the details of Arise's world in a way that can't be blamed on the game. Astral Energy is very well-defined and explained; Astral energy is not life-force, it's matter and all parts of the world are directly composed of it including the inanimate parts. The Dahnans are being exploited for their Astral Energy but they aren't the only source of it, the Lords are directly stripping it from the land and using the Dahnans as labor towards that end. Those carts aren't being arbitrarily moved, they contain "fuel" (presumably oil and coal) that Balseph burns to harvest Fire Energy from in addition to what he gathers from dead Dahnans.
I take umbrage with you saying that the world-building was under-developed in favor of prettier environmental design, that design IS a key part of the world-building in a video game. The environments of Arise are not naturally single element Biomes, their in-game state is a direct result of the Renan occupation and characters regularly comment on how a Realm's particular state reflects the actions and tastes of their Lord. The realms are also shown through cut-scenes, environmental design, and NPC dialogue to be unnatural and sometimes even actively harmful to the people and animals who are native to them, often in a way that incentivizes their submission to Renan authority. Calaglia and Cyslodia in particular are near unlivable without at least some support from the Renan government and only start to become independently survivable after Balseph and Ganabelt fall and their spirit vessels are broken.
Environmental storytelling also factors pretty heavily into another criticism you had that I also disagree with, the idea that Arise's world feels like it was created on the spot. To the contrary, everything is carefully arranged to give the feeling of a world who's history is being actively erased. The Realms and the roads between them are packed down with crumbling ruins and old structures that have very different designs from the ones in the centralized cities, remnants of Old Dahna whose presence is commented on by characters like Rinwell and Dohalim. It looks like a bunch of aliens just slammed their shit down on top of a once-thriving Medieval society because... well, that's exactly what happened. The loss of Dahnan history is a plot point; a huge source of pain for all the Dahnan characters and shame for the sympathetic Renan ones.
Even enemy placement and design plays a role in this, the fauna of Arise are very carefully chosen to drive home the idea of Renan fascism destroying the world of Dahna. Zeugles aren't just rando enemies, they are bio-weapons engineered by the people of Rena for the purpose of harvesting Astral Energy from Dahna and they are framed as having explicitly displaced the local wildlife of Dahna to do so. Wild Zeugles dominate the hills and valleys of the Five Realms; descended from the hunting beasts used by the Renan invaders and now acting as invasive species themselves, to the point of endangering even their old masters via the Gigant Zeugles that have grown beyond anyone's control. The only normal animals we see are in the cities; for all intents and purposes the Renans have truly destroyed Dahna's original Bio-sphere and that loss can never be undone, both peoples can only move forward and adapt to the resulting world.
It's not just a tech demo, all of these pretty pictures and new graphics are an integral part of how the story of Arise is being told to the player. Similar consideration for the space the player occupies is a major part of the "Epic" games like Final Fantasy that the Arise team was inspired by and they did a great using those ideas themselves. I'm not saying the Tales series never utilized environmental storytelling before or that Final Fantasy invented that in games, I'm saying that Arise really does feel like a big step forward for how the Tales games use their 3-D game worlds. Granted, I am biased since this is the first Tales game I've actively played, I viewed Berseria and Zestiria through clips and Lets Plays but from what I can see those game worlds are empty and utilitarian in comparison.
Part 2, Because I really wrote an Essay on this.
Speaking of elements from Final Fantasy, the Sci-Fi elements of the game are not a surprise and are both shown to the audience and acknowledged by the characters from the moment the game starts. The image of Lenegis and Rena bearing down on Iron Mask as he walks to his hovel IS world-building, it is the game LITERALLY SHOWING YOU how Rena's Sci-Fi tech lets them dominate Iron Mask and his people. The soldiers of Rena are looming power-armored giants and one of the first conversations you can have with the NPCs is about how that armor is filled with tech to enhance the physical prowess of their wearers and how that enhancement combined with their Astral Arts makes beating them in single combat near impossible. Incidentally this also part of the appeal behind Iron Mask and Zephyr, they're using Medieval weapons (and not even that, in Zephyr's case) to fight 40K Space Marines and are still managing to come out on top.
Sci-Fi Technology and how it is used is a major part of how the game characterizes the Renans and separates them from the Dahnans because it's the primary thing that does separate them. It's true that it's incongruous both with the world on Dahna and sometimes with itself but these are deliberate choices made by the game devs to drive home a point. I know you and your friend laughed at how out of place the video screens in Cysloden and generators in Elde Menancia are but that's on purpose because both of those things are recent additions that Renans made to existing Dahnan structures. Cysloden in particular is a city stated to pre-date the Renan occupation and those video screens were retro-fitted onto existing architecture. The Sci-Fi tech looks out of place because it IS out of place, it's another example of the Renans forcing their culture onto the Dahnans and everyone in the game repeatedly brings that up.
Iron Mask is wowed by Shionne's disappearing rifle, Rinwell has nightmares about the genetic experiments done on her parents, and Zephyr uses the presence of Renan tech to reason out both that the Renans have ulterior motives for not completely destroying the Dahnan people and that holding territory against them will be near impossible long-term. The advantages of tech are even built into the gameplay mechanics, Shionne is the only gunslinger in the party because only Renans have access to conveniently portable firearms. Shionne, Dohalim, and Kisara are the only Party Members with access to Transferral technology because they're the ones with ties to the Renan government. Iron Mask, Law, and Rinwell always have their weapons on their character models, even outside of battle, because they DON'T have access to that kind of tech and (in Rinwell's case at least) may actually resent it.
The lack of surveillance tech despite the presence of all the Renan's other tech is also a deliberate choice. It's not that that tech doesn't exist, it's that the "Renans" we're initially introduced to don't know how to make it. The actual people of Rena, the Helganquil, utilize surveillance tech all the time but do not give that tech to the Renans in order to keep their shell game hidden. The Renans we interact with for most of the game feel like Medieval nobles who were given advanced technology out of nowhere because that is exactly what they are. It would be like if you gave Tanks and Machine Guns to Charlemagne; he could figure out how to use those weapons and vehicles but it'll be hundreds of years before he can make them himself, and if you keep repairing them for him when he asks he has no incentive to learn to make them and (more importantly) no incentive to try and innovate on them or any other fancy thing you give him. Facial recognition, surveillance drones, and DNA scans aren't being used on the Dahnans because the Dahnans are fuel and their conditions don't matter as long as enough of their corpses eventually make it into a Spirit Vessel. The Helganquil reserve that tech for keeping track of the Renans because the Renans are their tools, genetically engineered from the people of Dahna to harvest astral energy just like the Zeugles, and those tools need to be maintained.
I want to emphasize that the vast majority of stuff I've been talking about is either directly shown to the player in the environment or stated outright by a character during either a cutscene or a skit. The stuff you can infer is even wilder but if I keep going I'll end up making my own two hour video on how Tales of Arise is an ambitious marriage of Science Fantasy and Cosmic Horror. It's not a perfect game or a perfect story despite the essay I just wrote about how awesome I think it is, there are glaring flaws in the narrative (mostly centered around Vholran and how he overstays his welcome). It has serious issues with predatory monetization, particularly with how some ability trees are locked behind a pay-wall. That said I think the game's story gets way too much flak from older Tales fans, especially in the face of what it does manage to do well.
I don't want you to stop making your retrospective and I'll be fine if none of what I have said changes your mind. I have very strong feelings about Tales of Arise and since this is one of the few videos discussing it's story in-depth I felt the need to defend it. Thank you for covering this game at all, I look forward to seeing more of what you have to say about Arise even if I strongly disagree with all of it because it's important to respect differences in opinion on matters that don't harmfully effect the real world. (Incidentally, I also disagree with Iron Mask being a Himbo but that's for another fucking series of essay comments).
I actually played this game and dropped it after 20 hrs bc I wasn’t vibing with it at all. Tales of Beseria was a much better experience for me all around even if the combat kind of sucked
Oooh these 2 hours were so satisfying!!
So my first Tales game was Berseria; I owned the game for years (got it free from a friend) but never played it. During lockdown the official art for Arise came out and I immediately wanted to try it cos Shionne’s dress reminded me of my wedding dress (it was white with black crystals in the corset area like stars and such which her dress sort of looked like) I know it’s a silly reason for wanting to play a game but 😅 then I reminded myself that I had a Tales game already and MAYBE I should play it beforehand to see if I even like the series?
So I played Berseria and it was the best thing I ever done; I loved the game, the cast was amazing with such great chemistry, the plot being SO different to other RPGs I’ve played and the skits being so much fun that I actively explored the map at the end of the game to try and find more! I played it in 2021 and finally got round to playing Arise earlier this year and…I waited the entire game for it to grab me and it just never did.
Like you I liked certain aspects of the characters, and ideas brought up in the plot, but it was clear by the time the last act came along that I realised I was never going to love this game. I didn’t even want to buy the DLC! It’s a shame, but only my 2nd Tales game and really hope to explore more of the series if they ever re-release the older titles.
Can’t wait to see your full video when it comes out!
Okay but a wedding dress that's similar to Shionne's outfit sounds IMMACULATE
still enjoyed arise more then berseria but tales games all have a special place in my heart and great video 😌
Wait hold on before I start watching, this is a review of the first 2 hours of the game ? that seem to encapsulate the first kingdom is that correct ?
I'm part of the group that doesn't think Arise is _that_ good but I like listening to people who have a word about the game it kinda helps me fine tune my opinion at the same time.
I know I'm late on this post. But given you're a fan of Tales of series with the character writing. I suggest the Trails series which takes the character writing and ties it into the world-building/overarching narrative. It's also the series that made me wish Tales of do in world-building.
"Balseph" has to be the worst naming choice of a villain of all time. I just can't take that seriously 🤣
From all the names that exist in the english language that starts with the letter B, they decided to give him one that sounds similar to Balsac.
Tbh Arise was very solid from my perspective, outside of the final dungeon I adored it more than most of the franchise, though i also only cared for yhe plots of berseria and abyss
I'd be MUCH less lenient towards the writing in a falcom game
Alright fine, I'll subscribe so I don't miss the drop of the full episode.
The freaking credit cards like this is an 1980's ad block tho lol.49:30
Lack of Co-op kept me away from Arise.
Always played the series of games with friends.
When playjng a game, the must important thing imo is the gameplay, and imo, its extremely good, but its not perfect. Everything else, i can honestly pass. But, everything else can enhance my experience with a game. Ill just say this. I enjoyed the gameplay of this way more than Vesperia. But for the story, it definitely gets questionable at the 2nd half, but i enjoyed it. And I found the characters to be good overall. So imo, its a good game. But, ofc, i respect ur opinion 👍
Would love for this to be a series I love Beseria and would love to hear your thoughts
Great video
6:50
A fantastic analysis on Tales of Arise is by youtuber DreamlordofGaming, with his video titled "Tales of Arise Critique - When a Great Story Fails" since he analyzes the story to the most minute detail, and I agree with MANY of his criticisms of it. To be clear, Tales of games were NEVER primarily known for it's plot ( Personally, If I was to rate JRPGs in terms of plot, I don't think I'd put any on the ones I'd played in my top ten) , but what Tales IS known for is it's action combat, and character interactions (enhanced by it's skits, though honestly fun banter can only get you so far). That said, Arise's story was particularly stupid IMO.
DreamlordofGaming analysis here for anyone that's curious:
ua-cam.com/video/qW3qz_euG_w/v-deo.html
I played this game to completion. Honestly the cast has my affection more so than some other Tales of teams. Honestly the weakest part in the structure for me might be the messaging simply because it’s a little one note; and a note people should generally understand 😅
Alphen:Slavery and discrimination is bad.
Me:Yeah. I…I don’t think you had to look at camera to say that but yeah. 😅
Don't get caught up in the numbers. Its a new audience. Youve got a nice balance between the favs and new stuff. It will frow over time
Calling this game mid tier is an insult to Mid Tier games lol
I've been saying for YEARS that this game is overrated crap and look where we are now
You are not wrong, it could had been better.
I tried to play this game
but I couldn't feel any form of attachment to the characters
it's not that I hate them or anything
I'm more very indifferent to them
The banters are boring
I felt the characters were kinda inconsistent in their behaviour
also
Alphen should have started the game being in the rebellion
so a member of the resistance for one year
he could have form a stronger connection with Zephyr and then become "brother" with Law (Brother in Law !! HAHA XD)
because everything feels too sudden and fast
the characters are way too quick to change their mind and trust each others
it was like characters were having different archetypes/tropes/stereotypes shoved into them
it felt very artificial
the potential was there
but I didn't find the execution convincing...at all
Sad :(
Can u also talk about Xenoblade chronicles 2 it's my favorite rpg the characters are so good and I like the English version it grows on ya
The DLC explains the masks actually
Thats good to know
i loved tales of graces f combat the best..
James is doing his work in this video xD
Never run across your content before. I skipped around so apologies if you covered this :
Questions:
Favorite Tales game
Favorite Tales character
Favorite Tales cast
Favorite Tales combat system
Finally
Favorite Tales of Story.
Also I heard what you said about Berseria and... I must have missed something as the story was o.k but the way they smeared it across the games world sort of made it start to falter in my eyes. Could be worse, it could be Symphonia 😮
Favorite game: Berseria
Favorite character: Velvet Crowe
Favorite cast: Berseria
Favorite combat: Abyss
Favorite story: Tie between Berseria & Abyss
Abyss and Berseria are those gurls, they just are
@@UnicornofWar cool thanks for the response. One more question :
Which tales game was your first, and which was your second? Just curious and I am trying to debunk a common theory.
here is mine :
Favorite Tales game - Vesperia
Favorite Tales character - Yuri
Favorite Tales cast - Vesperia
Favorite Tales combat system - Graces F by a mile
Finally
Favorite Tales of Story. - Vesperia
My first was Legendia, and honestly I do not remember if I even finished it or not. My second was Symphonia and I really got bored, gave up on it, after nearly a decade, picked up the mediocre PS3 remaster and got a bit farther than on GC but got bored.
All in all, Tales of is likely my favorite JRPG series for the combat. It trumps DQ and FF on the combat.
The ones I have not played are Hearts R ? is that the name? and the Japanese only ones.
the two more recent ones I could not bring myself to finish were XIllia 2 and Zesteria.
First was Abyss on the 3DS. My second I believe was Xillia.
>"The presentation and gameplay have been praised as step-ups from previous entries. Yep. Yep I’m in that camp."
Yeah, I supposed that jingling keys in front of the player would get people to think that. Let’s just ignore the incongruous battle mechanics, the reduction of hit states compared to previous entries, the godawful boss designs, the shallow character writing and theming, and more.
gonna have to rewatch to grab all the video suggestions:
1:32:08 Why Games are Too Big
I have a question Bloom is Britney Spears, Stella Cameron Diaz, Flora Jennifer Lopez, Musa Lucy Liu, Tecna pink, Aisha Beyonce and Roxy?
Part 2??
1:48:50 Omg, he's Wei Wuxian😂
One thing I'm kinda surprised about is the lack of mention with the topics of discrimination and racism. Especially with Shionne. Overall will be seated for the next video.
I'VE BEEN WAITING FOR THIS ONE LET'S GOOOOO
Watching this video only enforces my belief that Berseria is truly special and wasnt given its due respect on release. Imo top 3 in the serues
Unrelated, i just want to talk about my problem and the problem at Disney. Because if Bob Iger didn’t fix Disney in a year he should be fired like Michael Eisner in 2005. Wish is not doing well and i am starting to hate Christmas
Tales of games are largely niche not as nearly as niche as trails of games
Only vesperia and symphonia were rereleased
Im just here to say I checked and it is indeed pronounced Ufotable, not UFO Table
So this thing was a preview the entire time, I was going to tell you that to solve your money problem is that all you need to do sell your materials from enemies was they get full enough from you fighting all the time and you won't have to worry about money being low ever again. But I assume you already beat it before you even know this trick haven't you?
I played bit too of pieces of this game
Like and Sub from me. You are very entertaining to listen to.
Comments on your comments: The Renans are slaves too. They are trained to not ask questions. So they dont think twice about Alphen having a mask or a stone. They probably dont know the purpose of the stones or how energy is extracted. As long as Alphen stays mostly in line, they dont care. Its also probably why you dont see space tech or surveillance or drones, etc. The Renans are not allowed it. Thats the fascination. They think they are calling the shots when they are as much in the dark as the Denans. That's also why they have no culture. They are literally made up.
About the train fight. Tales of Arise fights take place in 'arenas', which are large areas designed to look like the area in which the player is. I dont think they could make this work for the little train top. So they went for super cool choreography instead. I was also bewildered that I wasnt allowed to play for the first hour (and most of the second hour).
I will say that the first 2 hours were hard to connect with. I almost left the game for good, I was only just curious enough to give it one more try after a week of ignoring it. Suffice to say I'm glad I did. Because the game gets rapidly better after the assault on Ball-seph.
About Alphen still being a newb after a whole year, I just assumed his mind was foggy and slowly clearing. Like the brainwashed people you meet later. It takes them a year to begin to function cognitively. So I assume Alphen was somewhat mindless for that year while slowly recovering his wits.
Thomas r u going to rewrite this game
... maybe
ngl they should have sponsored this vid XD
LMAO U-Fotable xD I love this. I love your video and your sense of humor. xD
Another one..
lmao the 2+ million seller tales of arise is a JRPG nobody's played?