Never played a Tales game, should I buy?

[Ruby.exe]

I have never played a tales game but seeing this game being half off it looks really fun, it somewhat reminds me of xenoblade which I really like so what do you guys think? (also should add I am not made of money so this would be a substantial purchase)

[sick duck]

I don't know... I'm asking the same question. I can only recomend tales of berseria... it is a really good one. High fantasy, a crew I liked hanging around with and playing with. It is quite emotional. This one seems to be more colorful and less tragic.

[Kerobe]

You should atleast try the demo, if you don't like the gameplay, the game isn't for you

but if you like action rpg and anime stuff (there are anime tropes, etc...) , yes the game is good (and you don't need to play previous games to enjoy this one)

[Freak4Leeks]

tales of arise was my first one and i loved it so i went back and played the others berseria is probably my favorite it as a darker tone then the others and i am a sucker for dark fantasy.

[spinnerm]

Ive only been playing it for a few hours but it is a very interesting game and well worth it half off!!

[Kain]

I never played one either, and it's pretty much great, even if I don't really like anime games, it's pretty good, the combat is amazing, the story is well told and the characters endearing, more importantly, they aren't annoying, sure, all the tropes are there as expected, but, they don't detract from the experience... plus, people don't scream all the time and there is no high pitched annoying child or mascot, a big win for me.

[Freak4Leeks]

Originally posted by Kain:

all the tropes are there as expected

the main protags are literally walking talking tropes, they never did one thing that broke those tropes

but considering the plot of a man not being able to feel pain and the woman causing pain to whoever touches her you knew EXACTLY how cliche this game was from the very beginning.

Velvet maybe an edgelord but atleast she has a pretty awesome backstory

Although according to tales players the other games are alot less tropy i haven't played them so i can't comment but if it's anything like berseria i am inclined to agree.

[jclosed]

I played a few Tales games, but this game is a little different from them. Do not forget we got a whole new game engine (as far as I know), so that alone makes it different. Yes - it's not like Berseria or Zesteria or so, but I personally have a good time with it.

About tropes. Well yeah, they are there. That's for sure. But I don't see that as a negative thing. Sometimes you don't have to invent the light bulb again to have a good time. Sometimes it can feel comfortable to tread familiar paths, even if it's done many times before. The traditional Japanese garden has a core design that stems from ages of refining. Even if that design is ages and ages old, it still has a stunning beauty. The same goes for game. Sometimes you do not have to reinvent the wheel to have a nice game. And this game is a good example of that.

To the OP I would say - Just play the demo, and do not forget that demo is later in the game, so it can feel a bit overwhelming. Don't fear - When you start the full game from scratch, everything is explained step by step. You will feel comfortable with the controls very fast. Resist the urge to re-assign the button lay-out if you use a controller at the first part of the game. Later on you will notice that this button lay-out maybe takes some time to adjust to, but will feel very natural later on when more and more controls in the game become available.

As said - Personally I have a good time with this game. For your indication - I like JRPG games (I got the complete Falcom Trails series, Ys series and Tokyo Xanadu eX+ all bought on GOG for example), so maybe that will help...

[Edit] I see the OP already bought the game, but maybe this will help others to make a informed choice.

[Ruby.exe]

Originally posted by jclosed:

[Edit] I see the OP already bought the game, but maybe this will help others to make a informed choice.

Yes I have officially bought it and can say after playing about 4ish hours so far I am absolutely loving it and would highly recommend it to any JRPG fan for half off

[KitariKitsuga]

Tales of Berseria, Tales of Zestiria, and Tales of Arise are all great games. I recommend all 3 of them.

[North Korean Backdash]

Never played a Tales game either, I think ToA is easily worth the current price.

[Zeriel00]

Im trying to decide between Berseria and this one. I played a Tales game on Switch but I didn't like it and stopped like one hour in. I want to give the series another try.

[Ruby.exe]

Originally posted by Zeriel00:

Im trying to decide between Berseria and this one. I played a Tales game on Switch but I didn't like it and stopped like one hour in. I want to give the series another try.

well im enjoying it so far, I really prefer real time battle games vs turn based

[Freak4Leeks]

Originally posted by Zeriel00:

Im trying to decide between Berseria and this one. I played a Tales game on Switch but I didn't like it and stopped like one hour in. I want to give the series another try.

this one for combat

berseria for a less generic story and characters.

[Cyrus]

I would say no, I regret buying the game. I figured it was hack and slash like scarlet nexus which steam compares the game to under similar items. The game is nothing like a hack and slash. It uses archaic combos from 70s. From my experience so far, the story pacing is completely off. The fact I had to cheat with wemod tells you that the game is a grinding cluster F. [take my review with salt as I just finished island one.]

Albeit I think it’s fair, as the intro to the game should be the best part. Having such a boring start does not bode well.

[Kyutaru]

You normally never have to grind in Tales games, only explore fully the side content. This comes with the caveat that you develop the skill necessary to succeed at the combat combo system. You could try playing other Tales games as a hack and slash but it goes rather poorly or just passable. Spamming hyper combos in a chain that do absurd damage and potentially even one shot bosses is the way you're meant to do things in this series. It's an RPG game first and foremost and that means applying several different buffs to achieve maximum damage, all of which have pretty narrow windows of opportunity to fit your whole attack chain in and order matters. Genshin Impact is probably the closest example recently and you can definitely see the difference between someone spamming 20,000 damage attacks there and chaining a combo to hit for over 1,000,000 damage.

Grinding is for people who are bad similar to Dark Souls. You can usually beat up the bosses even at low levels if you're good enough. The game features a score screen that rewards you with more stuff if you don't get hit, clear the battle fast, and other stuff that emphasize skill over spam.

https://www.reddit.com/r/tales/comments/ppxdp8/tales_of_arise_is_the_first_jrpg_where_i_dont/