Tales of Arise Review (Alsha)
8.8/10 (base game) ; 2.0/10 (DLC - Beyond The Dawn)
IF YOU LIKE BASE GAME, DON'T BUY THE DLC.
I played the base game and DLC on my old steam account, and compared to previous Tales of series, Tales of Arise has a deluxe voice cast and excellent graphics made in the Unreal Engine.
As a JRPG, the base game has a lot to offer. Although its themes are still the same as those often used in Japanese works (e.g., mutual understanding, racism, etc.) and the plot setting is not very original, it portrays the characters very well, and each of them is distinctive and has its own characteristics.
The story has a good sense of camaraderie between the main group of characters, and the character interactions and dialogue are very humorous and fun, often making the player smile.
On a macro level, it is a serious and heavy adventure in which each character grows and transforms; on a detailed level, the character relationships between the characters improve as the plot progresses.
Above all, LOVE is always one of the timeless themes of JRPG, and in Tales of Arise, the singable love between Alphen and Shionne touches the player.
To sum up, base game is a great JRPG, and I love it very much. If you like similar works and themes, trust me, definitely buy it.
Let's talk a little bit about the DLC (beyond the dawn), in all honesty it sucks, it really sucks to the bone. It initially gave the impression that the production company wasn't even going to be serious about it, but rather perfunctory. On top of that, the content of the DLC even destroys your good impression of the base game, destroys the excellent characterization of the base game, and destroys the emotional theme of the whole thing, which is why I said at the beginning that you shouldn't buy the DLC if you really like the base game.
DLC doesn't inherit base game's archives and the content is not at all what most players want to see. Bandai Namco, do you know what we players want to see? We want to see Alphen and Shionne's sweet wedding, we want to see the friendships between the characters, we want to see how the game shapes the world for the better. And yet, none of that was there, none of that at all. And Alphen and Shionne's relationship even became strange, they were very close in the base game and kissed at the end of the base game, making the players feel like it wasn't weird that they got married the next day; but 1 year later in the DLC as if they were strangers?
The DLC is boring, empty, pointless, and even destroys the good reputation of base game, it doesn't help the plot progress and characterization in any way, but rather it has a negative effect, and it's just a waste of player's time.
On top of that, 2 years passed from base game to DLC release, and we waited 2 years for this! How dare they sell it at such a high price!
And, the DLC had little to no plot content, and the main storyline was probably over in a couple hours, yet I was playing for almost 30 hours. Why? Because it's all about repetitive and boring "side quests" and long-winded text dialog.
Well, Bandai Namco, you have lost the respect of many of us players. All in all, base game is still worth buying, but as for the DLC, I personally strongly recommend not to buy it, especially if you like base game very much and love the characters very much.