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I did not enjoy the writing, the dialogue droned on. Every response to a character monologue was another responding with a sympathetic name call "Alphen..., Shionne... etc" I made a drinking game of later on. The combat was fine, but felt like it was made to feel more complicated then it was. I hardly ever paid attention to ag, bg, or other letters and skills mashing my way. Though the CP concept was cool hardly ever worth worrying about running out and losing health until you realize everyone's dead and that's why. The skill tree was a thing I tended to forget about and then dump points in all at once when i remembered.
Story went on too long and I never felt like I was in any area long enough to even remember any of the side characters. Even the final boss felt like an after thought, "Oh yeah that guy".
I mean, you do you; taste is subjective and no one can take that away from you. These just seem like funny complaints to me (and there are legit complaints I could give, it's not a perfect game). It just seems like you should have bumped the difficulty and maybe not listened to every skit.
CP is a cool process as I said, but unless I am playing as Shionne or someone specifically using artes that use CP I tended to forget why I wasn't healed. (I did tend to default to Alphen at the end but each character actually felt fun to play as in this game). This is the best Tales of game with every character being useful and unique to play as. In the other games there was always one or more that was out shined by another but this each had their uses.
I didn't choose to ignore skill trees, I would forget about them until a new one was unlocked and then I would points in. This happened often enough that i never felt like I was falling behind but also felt like an unnecessary addition. I suppose you can do a challenge run of no skill trees?
The story went on too long, should have ended when you get to Rena (entirely my opinion), but the Great Spirit being an addition thrown in the end seemed excessive to me. Very astute of you to know who the final boss would be, I didn't catch on that early but I still was not surprised.
I only ignored the nuances of the combat, as soon as a boost skill was ready I used it regardless of the situation and just mashed the arte of the day that seemed to do the most damage and once I hit overlimit I mashed more until it was ending near then hit the mystic arte.
Tales of the Abyss is one I've heard great things about and planned on looking into that one soon, that and the original Destiny. Hopefully it doesn't annoy me, but maybe i'll get back to you on that.
Some battles I should've bumped up the difficulty, others were a slog but that is a thing for most JRPGs. I agree with the skits as well, they didn't add enough for me, especially once I was at end game.
I am curious of your complaints though, but these are mine that really bothered me by end game.
The skill trees actually add quite alot. This is a game that did them correctly; some games just give you stat increases, which just begs the question why they don't just give you those stat boosts in your character leveling or class leveling or something. Final Fantasy 13 is a good example; for most of the game, the crystal thing just gives you small stat boosts and occasionally a new move, all of which are capped in each chapter, so there's no reason not to just give you those as your character levels, much like the older titles (e.g. Final Fantasy 4) did--all they did was give you the APPEARANCE of making choices. But the trees in Arise, outside of the beginning, really open up what you can do, how you play. Like, you can focus on upgrading Alphen's Blazing Sword if you want to use that mechanics heavily, or ignore it entirely. Of course, I'm not blaming you for forgetting about them, but I also can't blame the game for you forgetting about them. Again, I don't see it as different from any other game that has a power-growth system besides "gain experience to level up". Like, in Vesperia, did you keep forgetting to switch weapons to learn new skills?
The story DID end at Rena? Or do you just mean the last dungeon was a slog? I guess I understand that. But the Great Spirit was the logical enemy; by that point, you've already met the "spirit of Dahna" and then 2 different versions of Ifrit, possibly other elemental spirits if you powered through the optional content early (I at least met them all, but had to come back another time to actually beat them). It foreshadowed that a "darkness" spirit had to exist, had to be on Rena (since only Rena has dark energy and only Renans use dark magic), and would likely be a threat. It's fine if you didn't see that ahead of time, and I had a cheat in that I've played some of the older Tales games (I won't say which ones so as not to spoil them) that used the same idea in different ways, but once you did see it, you can look back and see how the story was building to this.
For the combat, it seems a little contradictory; you ignored the nuances of combat, but also complain that enemies were too spongy. Well, maybe that's because you were ignoring the nuances of combat (and possibly the skill trees as well). Not to say there weren't a handful of times where even I thought, yeah, they added too much health to a certain enemy, but in general, it wasn't that bad. For example, if you had focused on skills that raise the boost gauge, and then correctly timed when to use boost abilities, you'd have an easier time. Most obvious example of this might be with Alphen and Law, as both break guard; use one to break guard, then pound the enemy until he manages to re-establish it, then use the other one's boost and pound him again. If you just spam both of their boosts back-to-back, you only get one guard break, so you're back to either attacking through his guard or trying to get behind him.
If you don't like the skits, that's entirely fine. It's a matter of taste. And I love Abyss, but it does have alot of shouting "LUKE" in it's dialogue.
My problems with Arise are mostly around one core issue; bad pacing. The story pacing is bad late-game and everyone knows it, while gameplay-wise, I feel it's too slow to drip-feed mechanics to you. On the other hand, it's also generally unnecessary to craft accessories, or buy/upgrade equipment, for most of the game. There are a few exceptions, and I bought more gear than I had to because I had nothing else to do with my money, but it just feels silly. On the other hand accessories could be game-breakingly powerful, although tedious to craft, which just felt annoying. Cooking also seems excessive, but that's always been the case with Tales games that use that mechanic; many dishes, if not most of them, are just inferior. There were some balancing issues here and there. I thought the way Zephyr was treated was a bit odd; I guess I appreciate him not being completely forgotten, yet the way they bring him up and worship him so often was also awkward, for how little time he actually spent with the cast. Oh, and there are some silly contrivances and plotholes here and there, or things just not well explained. It's not a perfect game, but the core mechanics are where it's strongest, and that's why I found your posts puzzling.
To suggest what can be improved.. I feel they shouldn't add the kissing in cutscene or wedding photo in credits scene. It somehow brings out a small uneasy feel - like - "oh so thats it? all these just for you 2 to get married?".
What happened to the final boss, what happened to the scientists trapped in the middle world, the worried people in the broken city? The ending could have been better if it were a nice documentary conclusion with voice acting explaining what happened to all of them, before finally showing the couple looking side by side.
I didn't really have any desire to do the "post-game content" and I probably wouldn't play it again, but I felt the game was...fine. Just fine. I personally think Berseria is way better.
The core mechanics were different, and many were approved upon, however others fell flat to me. I'm glad many people liked it, I want to see them take some things and use some old mechanics as well. I actually enjoyed the cooking mechanic and other things. I appreciate the good conversation, sorry a little late to respond.
I'm sure the next games will be similar in combat, but tweaked, as that is how the series always goes; a few games share a basic structure, then it gets revamped, rinse and repeat.
It's no more childish than Trails--tell me Estelle isn't more immature than Alphen, or even Law. Or, you know, Star Wars, or Lord of the Rings, really--being accessible to all ages doesn't make it immature or bad in any way. I thought the handling of some of the themes, of guilt, of running away from responsibility, were done quite well, with nuance that would go over the head of a child. And of all the companies in the land to accuse of paying for fake reviews, I'm rather shocked you chose this one. Like, this series has been around since the SNES and has a dedicated, long-term fanbase; this is not some AAA-blockbuster Sony title where corporate suits will destroy your career for giving it less than a perfect 10.