Tales of Arise is out to do something difficult. Striking the balance between appeal to new players and retaining veterans is a difficult endeavor for a franchise that's struggled to gain the same amount of traction as other games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest in the west, but Tales of Arise has enough promise in its early hours that it both lives up to expectations as a reboot and ramps up anticipation for the full offering.
Tales of Arise begins strong, with a no-nonsense plot setup that quickly establishes its world-building and hierarchy of power. As it's a JRPG, Tales of Arise puts players in the position of an underdog, a hero with amnesia and the plight of an oppressed people as his driving motive for existence. His world view is quickly challenged by the addition of Shionne, a Renan (the aristocratic society) with an incredible amount of power stored within her.
While this sounds like a quick riff on hours of plot, this all gets established within the first 20-odd minutes of Tales of Arise. To say the game navigates the early pitfalls of JRPG titles - namely, plodding introductory sequences and too-obvious mysteries stretched for a few hours too long - would be an understatement. Tales of Arise really is refreshing in its early pacing, trusting veterans to enjoy its development and engage with its systems at their own pace while making it easier on newcomers.
Tales of Arise combat is another element of the game that brings the series forward just a little, preserving a lot of the core identity of the Tales series while placing some more focus on dynamic input-to-input gameplay. There's a heavy emphasis on dodging and attack timing in Tales of Arise that makes even early battles at least somewhat interesting, with more difficult fights requiring patience and a plan. Luckily, players can swap between party members and find the right fit for their playstyle. Even in the early hours of our playthrough, there's enough difference between the initial few characters to help get a feel for healing, skill chains, combo min-maxing, and dodging.
Aesthetically, Tales of Arise leans pretty heavily into the anime side of JRPG representation. That's more pronounced in Arise because it has more power behind it, with the world rendering smoothly and with great amounts of detail. Character designs are intriguing and the world itself is beautiful, though overall the graphics won't be challenging anyone's conventions of what's possible in this generation of gaming. Running on PC, which is what the preview was offered on, Tales of Arise had no hiccups and continued to present memorable scenes and engaging dialog.
Even in the first few hours, Tales of Arise is eager to demonstrate another returning Tales mechanic in party conversations and mid-journey character building. The first campfire alone offers multiple conversation possibilities among the party of three travelers, and the scenes are done in a manner reminiscent to developing manga panels. It's a great presentation and helps let another element of the game - incredibly strong, emotive voice acting - shine through.
All of this is to say that Tales of Arise has a genuinely great first three-to-four hours, with a world that's compelling, characters worth following, and combat that's equal parts challenging and flashy. It's pace is one of it's best selling points, and if the plot continues to move along as thoughtfully as its early moments, Tales of Arise looks primed to reinvigorate a series that's always felt on the cusp of more mainstream appeal.
Tales of Arise releases on September 10, 2021 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Screen Rant was given access to a preview build on PC for the purpose of this article.