Description
Tales of Arise for PC is a Japanese role-playing game (JRPG), the seventeenth in the Tales series, and is touted both as something of a comeback and a reinvention for the long running series. The well-loved battle system – known rather clunkily as the Linear Motion Battle System – remains untouched though, to the delight of enduring fans of the franchise.
About the Game
One of the previous games, Tales of the Graces is thought to be a major inspiration and this has infused this game with an emphasis on evasion and countering, which means that finesse has priority over brute force in combat.
In the game, two neighbouring planets are locked into a centuries-long period of uneven exploitation. The one planet: Dahna, is medieval and simple, with little in the way of technology and an emphasis on the rural and natural.
But the thorn in Dahna’s side is Rena, which is bursting with technological superiority, which the people of Rena have wasted no time in using to their own advantage. Some 300 years before the beginning of the game, Rena has enslaved the people of Dahna and also begin to freely help itself to the region’s resources. The game begins in the slower paced Dahna, but moves to Rena, providing you with plenty of chances to explore the worlds.
The Nitty Gritty
In this iteration of the game, there is no multiplayer. The developers did this on purpose, as they wanted to concentrate on the AI characters and their interactions with the players. Their aim is to create a more seamless and real-feeling AI team who will actively help you without dumbing down the game in any way – a careful balance that has largely been achieved.
There are hugely improved graphics in this game compared to the others in the franchise, with an immersive cinematic look to the game play. This is thanks to the dramatic improvements in character models and movement which has been achieved by painstaking mocap (motion capture) work with the voice actors.
In the game, chests conceal weapons, and you can help yourself to tomatoes, meat and other foodstuffs. It is a calm and relatively undemanding game, which will not let you stab things that are not your enemies – for example, you won’t be able to break the fence or poke your sword into the farmed creatures (sort of rabbit-eared pigs!) that are found widely throughout the game.
However, this changes when you come across some enemies: at this point the violence that you can wreak, and general excitement level of the game ramps up nicely! You play in a team, in which you have control over one of the party, while the others operate on AI autopilot. You can choose which character you will play as before each battle, but you cannot swap during combat, so choose wisely before you commit!
Three of the AI team-mates will fight alongside you, while the other two wait on the side-lines to unleash their special moves – and there are a lot of these! As well as the Mystic Artes, previously seen in other games, good battle moves beget more powers and superpowers so you can enjoy the mayhem.
Make sure you feast on the power-boosting blue crystals before unleashing your turbo-powered self on the unwitting enemy using the new Booster powers. When moving around, you can jump and swim as well as the more usual walk and run.
Who’s Who
The six protagonists team up to achieve their mutual aims and travel in a band working together. You can choose to play as any one of them:
Alphen, is a slave from Dahna who’s lost his memory, and is a young man with a flaming sword (called Sincleaver) and an eye-patch. He cannot feel pain
Shionne, is a young woman (a gunslinger with attitude) from Rena, who has ‘thorns’ (a condition that causes pain to anyone who touches her – which makes Alphen pretty unique in her life)
Rinwell a happy-go-lucky mage
Law, a young boy and martial arts enthusiast
Kisara: a soldier and shield bearer
Dohalim il Qaras: best described as a posh fella with lance, until you get to know him better
Tales of Arise for PC is available for purchase on Instant Gaming for a fraction of its retail price. You will receive an official key and be able to play the game in seconds. Play smart. Pay less.
