Nanaten here. I spent the whole week playing Tales of Arise, which explains why I'm so late writing this post. When the game was announced last year, I was skeptical because of how different it was compared to previous games. But I must say I am having a blast playing it. The combat feels so smooth and fluid compared to Berseria. And the graphics is so beautiful, for the lack of a better term. The game felt difficult at first, but once all of the characters and features are introduced, the game is a breeze to play.
The story definitely feels more fast paced compared to the previous entry Previous entries would start slowly, getting us familiarized with the settings, but not this game. It immediately introduces the characters and the central conflict right away. Most of the conflicts gets resolved immediately. I did read a couple of spoilers on TV tropes while I play, but I was still surprised when they revealed the major plot twists nonetheless.
As for the characters, while they're not on the level of Vesperia, I was started to warmed up to them before the first half of the game. Each had they're own distinct playstyle (I mostly stick with Law because I like the speedy type). However, I must say, some characters almost have little involvement or character arc after their introduction. I mean sure, the story mostly centers around Alphen and Shionne, but the lack of character arc of some characters is noticeable.
All-in-all, Tales of Arise definitely succeeded in taking the franchise to a new direction. While it kinda suck that there is a lack of anime portrait skits, pre-emptive strike, and multi-player, I had a wonderful time playing this game. If you're a fan of Tales series or JRPG in general, I can't recommend this series enough. I'm currently at (what I assumed to be) the final dungeon and I'm planning of playing again once I finished writing this post.
About these chapters: these chapters were an attempt at a Sub-a-thon stream I did last week. You can watch the VOD over at my patreon. I was joined by a couple of friends, Morugaki and Roach BC, who kept me company while I typeset the chapters. Special shout-out to ANONYMOUS for the donation, hence the extra chapter. I may do more of these kinda stream in the future. But for the mean time, I'm kinda busy preparing for an exam, and a livestreaming gig, so the next Sub-A-Thon stream might have to wait.
Anyway, I want to play Tales of Arise, so here're the chapters. Next week will be a Corseltel update (and my thoughts on the new Corseltel series).
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Ake no Tobari Chapter 214:
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Ake no Tobari Chapter 215:
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Ake no Tobari Chapter 216:
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Shout-out to this month's patrons:
Tracy Umeda
MrIncognito
TWil
Vivant