As good as Vesperia, Abyss, and Symphonia?

[meow]

I stopped caring about this series shortly after Xillia 2 because every game post-Vesperia was a horrible disappointment.

Is Arise even half as good as Vesperia?

[korytoombs]

No.

I suggest Tales of Berseria if you haven't played it.

[no1schmo]

Originally posted by Honk: Showclown:

I stopped caring about this series shortly after Xillia 2 because every game post-Vesperia was a horrible disappointment.

Is Arise even half as good as Vesperia?

Since the whole series is good, yes, obviously. But since you apparently have a different view, you'll have to actually tell us what it is you do and don't like for us to try and tell you whether this game will satisfy you.

[meow]

Originally posted by korytoombs:

No.

I suggest Tales of Berseria if you haven't played it.

Played it. It still wasn't as good as Vesperia by a long shot.

[Tiasmoon]

Originally posted by Honk: Showclown:

I stopped caring about this series shortly after Xillia 2 because every game post-Vesperia was a horrible disappointment.

Is Arise even half as good as Vesperia?

I havent played those, but I'd rate it much better then Berseria, and Berseria was pretty good in its own right.

[meow]

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

Originally posted by Honk: Showclown:

I stopped caring about this series shortly after Xillia 2 because every game post-Vesperia was a horrible disappointment.

Is Arise even half as good as Vesperia?

I havent played those, but I'd rate it much better then Berseria, and Berseria was pretty good in its own right. :ys_dana:

Berseria was a linear corridor adventure game full of boring one dimensional characters that aren't even vaguely interesting to me

[no1schmo]

Originally posted by Honk: Showclown:

Originally posted by Tiasmoon:

I havent played those, but I'd rate it much better then Berseria, and Berseria was pretty good in its own right. :ys_dana:

Berseria was a linear corridor adventure game full of boring one dimensional characters that aren't even vaguely interesting to me

That's cool. They aren't one-dimensional though; that is objectively false.

[homonovas]

game story closer to Rebirth more, then to vesperia or berseria.

[Good Night Owl]

Gameplay, this game hands down

Characters, though? No, you don't want this one as it consists of typical Anime tropes. Berseria is much better in this area.

[Magus]

Gameplay wise it is an interesting derivative of standard Tales combat so it's fun in that respect. I have two huge issues with it though. One, for some reason they kept the spongy bosses with armor that all Tales games have except it's even worse here because attacking and dodging are way more deliberate which makes things harder in a not fun way. Second, this game's writing does not trust you to figure things out, so they spell EVERYTHING out from plot points to character motivations instead of just showing us things like Vesperia did past the intro hours. This game has a lot of polish, but it's frequently annoying.

[Xengre]

The following can be taken as my personal opinion:

Combat is superior. I think story has more meat/depth to it than Vesperia. Vesperia is a overall higher quality game though in most aspects. Characters in Arise are also giving you a bit more depth, but Vesperia has a better MC and some people love some of its characters like Rita where Arise has several characters that are initially grating until they grow out of their flaws (think Luke, but not as bad).

If I were to compare it to Abyss story, characters, or world building then I would say Arise simply isn't on the same level. Abyss has weaker combat by far, though. Shoinne, however, is arguably the best healer in the franchise along with Tear late game, but in Shionne's case her being good is pretty much the entire game so much so she is easily the best character in combat. Her damage output is also hilariously high, often beating the entire team early on and still competent later while being either AI or even manually controlled.

Arise has touchy darker themes and is more real/raw about it than most other games/shows/movies. This is not just a single theme, either, but quite a few. It could be unpleasant to those who lack empathy (just being honest) or refuse to remove rose tinted glasses. Example: Rinwell is extremely racist and antagonistic at times for a chunk of the game. She has to actually grow beyond it over time step by step and not an instant change as she is influenced by your party and the things they see/experience. This is only a single example, too.

The game features less overall content/length than most Tales of games and I'd consider the skits ranging from extreme fails to good skits with the new art style approach being at times bad and other times good. It does have a post game though that is decent, but obviously no Tri-Ace.

Compared to Symphonia? I'd say it is comparable. Decent game but both have their weaknesses.

[no1schmo]

Originally posted by Magus:

Gameplay wise it is an interesting derivative of standard Tales combat so it's fun in that respect. I have two huge issues with it though. One, for some reason they kept the spongy bosses with armor that all Tales games have except it's even worse here because attacking and dodging are way more deliberate which makes things harder in a not fun way. Second, this game's writing does not trust you to figure things out, so they spell EVERYTHING out from plot points to character motivations instead of just showing us things like Vesperia did past the intro hours. This game has a lot of polish, but it's frequently annoying.

You're the first person I've seen say it was HARDER. I don't really know what "more deliberate" means but no Tales games has an easier dodge mechanic. Not sure what you think wasn't spelled out in Vesperia, as much as I love that game...

Originally posted by Good Night Owl:

Gameplay, this game hands down

Characters, though? No, you don't want this one as it consists of typical Anime tropes. Berseria is much better in this area.

That game also has typical anime tropes. As does every Tales game. There's nothing inherently wrong with tropes; they are practically unavoidable, rather by definition. It's the execution that matters, and both games are quite good.

[Magus]

I mean that they force you to stay in attack animations even for normal attacks so you have to be way more careful about when you attack and dodge so you don't take damage. Basically every other Tales game lets you block or dodge whenever you want so long as you're not in an arte or hitstun. I don't dislike Arise's decision to change things the way they did because I've played other games with similar battle systems, but if you're coming from classic post Symphonia tales like OP, it's prob an adjustment.

[Magus]

and regarding the story spelling things out, aside from explaining the world, characters in Vesperia generally did things first and then reacted to them in dialogue vs Arise characters constantly going "I AM DOING THIS BECAUSE OF MY CHARACTER TRAIT" followed by 4 conversations of "I WONDER IF I DID THE RIGHT THING BY FOLLOWING MY CHARACTER TRAIT" where it's mostly one specific character thinking out loud instead of being challenged by other characters' perspectives.

[Village Idiot]

Overall no.

Battle System is great... against normal enemies.

The boss battles are terrible because bosses have hyper armor. So in a game with a big focus on combos, you can't risk comboing since bosses don't stagger and will just beat your ass in so you'll have to do hit and run attacks while your AI teammates die left and right.

The antagonists have next to no development or story focus. They literally have 1-2 scenes to them and that's it.

There's no TP, but instead you have party shared CP, which drains as you use healing artses. This is normally not an issue in normal battles, but in boss battles you're just spamming Orange Gels left and right to restore CP due to your teammates getting smacked around left and right due to their AI.

It's not like the game is terrible though.

Graphics is great. Music is great. Battle System is great (against normal enemies).

Everything else falls flat though.

[OnlyOffensive]

Originally posted by Village Idiot:

Overall no.

Battle System is great... against normal enemies.

The boss battles are terrible because bosses have hyper armor. So in a game with a big focus on combos, you can't risk comboing since bosses don't stagger and will just beat your ass in so you'll have to do hit and run attacks while your AI teammates die left and right.

AI is pretty good, just configure it, i finished elde menancia plus all boss zeugles without single K.O. on hard. Bosses can be easily comboed, especially since most of them can be broken unless in overlimit. Just dodge.

Keep agro on your main character, learn bosses attacks and face away from your team. Maybe you die because you turn dragon breath into AI? Then its not AI problem. When they ordered to keep away under certain rules, its very hard for them to die.

Most damage types can be reduced by 50+%, so if you feel like AI will die on massive fire aoe, use -50% fire damage stone