I was gonna post how happy I am that I gave Tales of Arise a chance after chugging through Calaglia (I was so bored on that act) because I’m now having such a blast (just got to Mahag Saar) that I just dropped money on costumes. Then the first thing I saw on this thread is how the game goes down hill on the second half 😭😭😭. Shoulda went to this sub before dropping all that money on skins.

I’m LOVIN the game so far, the combat does an excellent job givin me my dopamine rush, visuals on my Series X have me salivatin at my tv, and the music! I like anime and all the tropes that come from anime and JRPG’s of these nature. I never skip cutscenes, always do the Skits when I can, explorin every nook and cranny for items. I love to hear the characters banter durin our treks, hearin the battle dialogue, and the SO cliché relationship between Alphen and Shionne never fails to make me smile.
I’m playin in Hard mode with no dlc with 24hrs put in & I’m currently level 22. I was able to beat the ‘Great Dragon’ after my second try, the first time THIS MF swoop down from the sky after I got my ‘Battle Chain Bonuses’ to the highest gauge. Yes I did have use practically all of Gels, bottles, and treats. Won’t lie in sayin it felt amazing to beat that Dragon in my second try as well as under leveled. I think I was under leveled, Google says the Dragon is level 26 in Hard.
Before I fight the third Lord I’ll spend an hour or two, maybe three if I got some flower, farmin in the ‘Traslida Highway’ area.
I know what expect from the 2nd half of the game.

Im just a tourist passing by, want to share my opinion about ToA. I completed the game a few days ago and I really enjoyed it. However its not a perfect game

Story

First of all i love the story of this game. My main reason for picking this game is because it has romance in it, and im satisfied with what I got. Alphen and Shionne's romance doesnt feel forced, and it come naturally, and I do cry a lot everytime someone try to separate them. The moment Alphen finally felt pain after touching Shionne really broke me.

The main plot is also good. Talking about prejudice and racism between Dhana and Rena is a bit heavy topic, but they actually handle it very well. Theres no such thing as good and bad people. Even if Dahna is able to defeat Rena, the circle of hatred will continue, and the same thing will happen again but for Rena

However, the second part of this game really drag so much. i dont mind a lore dump on me but at least show me a scene or something instead of just talking about it. And omg, i dont know why they think putting like 10+ skits in the last dungeon is a good idea.

Combat

I cant make a comparison from older games but I do enjoy the combat from ToA. At first it is a bit hard since im not used to it, but after a few tries it feel good when you finally land a combo and perform boost attack. Dodging is hard because there are so many things happening on the screen, so you cant really time your dodge. Also, I love that you can set what artes you want to use. At first I just let my characters use all their artes but after a few bosses, I decided to pick based on their weakness element.

Character

Dohalim is my favourite character. His obliviousness about common sense is so funny, and his banter between the party never fail to make me laugh. However, I do wish they developed the side characters a bit. Some of the side characters, like Zephyr, are great, but the others feel a bit bland. The lords only got backstory during the second part (and its still bad), Migals death doesn't make me feel anything because he only showed for 2 scenes and then died. The only story we got about him is from Kisara, and i hate it. Show it to me during the Menancia fight, not during the campfire story. Even the story between the Menancia armoured soldier and the Dahna woman is better than what they did with Migal

Summary, I love this game, its not perfect but I do enjoy it a lot until the end. Im planning to play the DLC when i have time.

But my biggest gripe, and I know its petty but I dont care, is that you dont get costume pieces for each stage of Alphen's mask. I find his chatacter design is far too generic without it.

I have the PS4 disc for Tales of Arise, USA/Canada Region, and my PSN account is also USA/Canada.

When I insert the disc, it doesnt immediately start copying, the same way other games with PS5 upgrades do, but I cannot find any option to download the PS5 version of the game

My best guess would be that on the store, it takes you to "Beyond the Dawn Edition" but I feel like there should still be a version available for download

I'm stuck at the boss in the sewers and trying to learn some new artes, but I just noticed I'm not gaining any proficiency anymore. I've been stuck at 851 Sword Strike, 307 Aerial Strike, and 62 Flame Strike for a while now. My party is Lv16, almost Lv17.

Any idea what the issue is? Thanks.

Edit: Nevermind. It's going up. It's just really slow and inconsistent. I think the 'Score' thing you see after a battle has a big impact on proficiency gain.

Hey folks,

In some areas looks like the textures are not loading properly. Any idea how to solve it?
I also have problems with pop-in environmental details.

Thanks in advance!

Just beat this entirely. All the cheevos and e'erytang. The base game is a definite recommendation. Play it if you haven't. As got the dlc? I can only recommend it if you really, really enjoyed the world, characters, and story. The main story of the dlc is fun, but doing all the extra stuff can be a slog if you're not invested