Tales of Arise - Preview, one of the most loved JRPG series is back in a big way

The saga of the Tales of it is, without a shadow of a doubt, one of the longest-lived in the videogame panorama. However, the purely Japanese mold of the various chapters has led the West not to be particularly interested in the various works, which nevertheless found an excellent response. Although the last chapters turned out to be very good in many respects, the series necessarily needed to a rejuvenation, above all to finally propose a more varied play formula and a technical level suitable for our times. Given these two requests, which by now had become almost utopian, imagine our surprise to see Tales of Arise in all its beauty on the stage of E3 in Los Angeles. We were immediately hooked and got the feeling that the development house - that is Bandai Namco - wants to do things really big, as well as westernizing the title and abandoning a heavy oriental component.

Tales of Arise, the new year zero

For the first time in Tales of, Arise it will have an unprecedented story compared to the other episodes, representing a sort of year zero. The director Tomizawa explained that the meaning of the word “Arise” in the title means to rise up, and it fully reflects the protagonist's task of freeing the people of Dahna from deep bondage. Furthermore, Arise can also mean birth, which represents in effect the ambitious evolution of the brand, through the use of a plot without any reference to the mythology of the basic universe of the game. The two main characters of this new chapter will be Alphen of the planet Dahna e Shionne of the planet Rema. Tuttavia, the second will be fought by a deep sense of inferiority towards the first, which will have repercussions in the relationship between the two.

The common thread that will bind the whole story will be racism which, although it has already been dealt with in previous episodes, this time will have a completely new flavor. This choice, even if not very original, was dictated by several factors, the main one being the desire to render Tales of Arise accessible to all for the first time, as this will be only the first step that Tales of will take a totally new brand. As for the plot, therefore, we have no further information, but we are sure that interesting news will be disclosed later.

What to expect 

Tales of Arise surprised us from many points of view, Tomizawa himself stated that the advancement within the work will work as in the more classic ones JRPG. Players will explore cities of different sizes, from small villages to more advanced metropolises, up to dungeons of different nature and populated by formidable enemies. The title will not be a real open world, but it will still offer several open and freely explorable areas, in the full style of the saga so to speak. Already from this we could deduce that the premises of a new era for Tales Of have been betrayed, but this is not exactly the case. For more precise considerations, however, we will have to wait to try the game firsthand. However, another element inherited from the past seems to be precisely the fights: apparently, it seems that the fights take place as in the past, but in a more fluid and continuous way with the progress of the story. In fact, in a very short sequence, we see a monster emerge directly from the ground, all this while the protagonist is engaged in exploration. So even the clashes seemed to us in line with what has been done in the past, even if still more devoted to the western style. An interesting novelty is the dodge command, which has now become a real, freely directional somersault.

Among the many innovations it seems obvious to us to name the new graphics engine used for this title, that is the Unreal Engine 4. The goal behind this decision is to achieve rich lighting and atmosphere accompanied by unique watercolor-style graphics. Thanks to this technical style, the experience will be even more immersive than the previous ones. Tomizawa did not reveal particular details regarding the purely technological examination, but he stated that the composer of the soundtrack is still secret and will be a nice surprise for fans. Mouth also sewn for the release date, now referring to a more generic 2020.

In conclusion we can say that Tales of Arise it will be a title to be rediscovered, which will lay new foundations for the future of the brand. The success achieved in the past by strength and certainty, and this first glance does nothing but fuel our expectations. The game therefore presents itself as a solid and convincing product, we hope that when we try it firsthand, the initial sensations will not be betrayed.