Tales of Arise Review: Rise And Fall
Story:
Arise takes place in a setting divided between the medieval world of Dahna and the technologically advanced world of Rena. Three centuries ago the Renans invaded and conquered Dahna, enslaving the population and dividing the land into five isolated realms. Each realm is ruled over by a Renan Lord. Periodically, the "Crown Contest" - a competition between Lords - is held to determine which of the five Lords will become the next Renan sovereign. A masked Dahnan slave with no memories of his past, nicknamed "Iron Mask" (real name Alphen), gets himself involved with a rebel group called the "Crimson Crows" when they rescue a Renan girl called Shionne. Shionne is afflicted with a curse that hurts anyone who touches her. Unable to feel pain, Iron Mask is the only one who can touch Shionne and use a special blazing sword in her possession. Together they form an alliance to take down the five Lords.
The premise is simple but strong. You start out with a clear goal and two protagonists with mysterious backgrounds to unravel. Things take a nosedive in the second half however, when the whole slave uprising narrative gets sidelined for unrelated and poorly explained science-fiction elements. The conclusion is basically a checklist of recurring elements and narrative beats from the Tales series, so I knew exactly where the ending was headed long before it got there and none it felt like the natural conclusion to things.
For better context, here is a complete plot summary (highlight to reveal):"Astral Energy" is a mana-like substance that exists in all living things as one of the six element types: Fire, Wind, Water and Earth are found on the planets of Dahna and Rena, while Light only exists on Dahna and Darkness exists only on Rena. Astral energy is regularly siphoned from Dahnan slaves and stored in one of five Master Cores (essentially batteries) possessed by the five Renan Lords. The Master Cores are used by the Renan Slave Lords to compete in an event called "The Crown Contest" which determines their next Sovereign.
In truth, the real native race of the planet Rena are metallic alien-like beings called "Helganquil". The astral energy of their planet gained sentience and gluttonously devoured all the energy present, nearly driving all life on Rena into extinction. To combat this, the Helganquil abducted Dahnan Mages and experimented on them on the space colony of Lenegis, turning them into the "Rena" seen throughout most of the game. The Crown Contest was a ruse to get the fake-Renans on Lenegis to harvest large quantities of energy from the Dahnan slaves.
When all six Master Cores are combined they form the "Renas Alma" which is used in a spirit channeling ceremony to transfer energy from the planet Dahna to the planet Rena. The ceremony is performed by a "Sovereign" who is always a Dahnan with equal affinity for every astral element (rare and usually only achieved through unnatural means) and a "Maiden" who is always a Renan that can supplement the dark astral energy Dahna lack in order to maintain stability. Why the first ceremony from 300 years ago failed is never properly explained, but Naomi (a Maiden) likley sensed that something bad (the extinction of Dahna) would happen and so tried to stop it. This resulted in Alphen losing control, causing destruction to Lenegis, and Naori internalizing part of Rena's astral-spirit as the "thorns" (curse).
The planets Dahna and Rena were always meant to be one - at least according to Rena - but somehow ended up as separate entities (how or why is never explained). Both planets are eventually merged into one through magical means and the practice of slavery presumably ends.
There are so many little inconsistencies in the story that add up over time and make subsequent play-throughs difficult. This 11 hour deep dive covers them all.
By the time the credits rolled it was clear that the overarching message the writers were trying to convey was that slavery, racism, and bigotry are not limited to any one race or location. Alphen straight up mentions that the Dahnans were enslaving other Dahnans long before the Renans arrived. The Renans were unknowingly enslaved by the Helganquil (aliens), who were themselves enslaved to the will of a sentient planet. You also have characters like Rinwell who are mistreated by the Dahnans for having magic like a Renan. And Rinwell hates the Renans for a good chunk of the story, unaware that the Renans are descended from Dahnan mages like herself. But as the player, you hop from one liberated location to another without ever delving into the ramifications of slavery and what life is like afterwards. Instead everyone is made out to be a victim, so no one is ever held accountable. The main cast even advocates for forgiving the slavers because they were only human and hating them won't solve anything (or something along those lines), which just completely sidesteps all moral questions Arise raises up to that point. I could understand making an argument for moving on if this was something that happened long ago, to where the victims and perpetrators are all long dead and none of the current generation was involved with what occurred. But that isn't the case.
The Renan slave masters don't even react at all to the protagonist staging a successful rebellion and setting the slaves free for the first time in 300 years. After the first two kingdoms were liberated the other three Lords would have surely tried to recapture the other two realms, either separately or through an alliance. More slaves would have given each of them an advantage in the Crown Contest. Instead they wait patiently for the protagonist to challenge their respective realms. Nobody in the player's party ever asks how the Crown Contest works, who the current sovereign is or was supposed to be, or why every single Renan is from Lenegis rather than Rena itself. It all feels detached.
There are sections that seem to be unfinished as well, such as the large empty spaces of Lenegis, which are designed like the other towns and dungeons but without any of the content. There were numerous times when it felt as if remnants of an earlier story draft had been left in, such as when Almeidrea (fourth Lord) calls Vholran (fifth Lord) her "Lord" and seems to regard him as a superior despite both of them being competitors. She also displays an interest in the Dahnan mages in her secret forest laboratory, which implies that she may have been more aware of the true history/lore of Dahna than the other Lords, but this is never expanded upon.
The character party contains a variety of personalities that are all compelling and likable enough, although none of them truly stand out as remarkable. In the past, skits (field conversations) were used to convey comedy, information, and friendships or rivalries forming in the group. In Arise the skits don't add to the party dynamic, they instead rehash the same redundant questions that have already been covered by the main storyline. The antagonists aren't given much screen-time either and are pretty weak writing-wise as a result. They hardly acknowledge each other's existence and the NPCs likewise don't get much development. Any that could be memorable die early. There are a handful of side quests that are all the standard 'kill X monster' or 'fetch X item' type fair. At least one odd quest at the start of the game requires the player to wait for an NPC to decide what he wants to wear. It takes until the end of the game for him to finally pick something, but by that point the rewards are hardly worth it; perhaps this was intended as some kind of joke.
Gameplay:
None of the dungeons were too complicated or overstayed their welcome, aside from the final one. Enemies were spread out well, so they never felt like a chore to get through, although the same ones are re-colored and recycled a lot. During combat you can freely move around an arena. Using Artes (attack moves) and dodging will build up an overdrive meter that will prevent attacks from using energy and grant the use of a Mystic Arte (finishing move). The combat system is fast, flashy, and Boost Strikes are powerful looking special attacks. It is easy to learn and gets the job done.
The soundtrack is the same way. It mostly plays in the background without any recurring melodies or character themes. The water-color aesthetics are where Arise truly shines. A lot of work was put into updating the visuals, so every area looks fresh and unique from the one that came before it while sporting quite the lovely color palette. It's honestly a shame that there isn't a photo mode.
Conclusion:
Arise has an interesting premise with a lackluster ending. Plothooks are resolved in the least satisfying ways possible. The villains have virtually no presence and very weak motivations. Every subject Tales of Arise covers is something that another Tales game has already done and done better: slavery / racism (Symphonia), two worlds at odds (Xillia), amnesia / engineered humanoids (Graces), justice / killing (Vesperia).
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