Bandai Namco is gearing up for the release of some very good looking action RPGs this year. We loved Scarlet Nexus during its first hours and recently we have been able to see if those same sensations will be maintained with Tales of Arise, the next installment of the franchise that will hit stores in a few months.
Thanks to a trial version that we have had access to, we have been able to enjoy part of the adventure that took place at a somewhat advanced point in history , although it is important to emphasize that it was a version in development, so perhaps some of the elements do not have to be identical with what we end up seeing.
Be that as it may, we leave you below with our first impressions of Tales of Arise .
Touring a fantasy world with exceptional graphics
As we have mentioned, the plot placed us at a time when we already had six different characters. In this sense, we cannot tell you many more details since we do not know everything that has happened previously, but what we can tell you is that the part we saw took place in the Elde Menancia region , the third that we will visit.
Among the cards of the group of heroes we saw those of Alphen and Shionne , the main pair, along with four other companions named Rinwell, Law, Kisara and Dohalim . Although the game invited us to choose one of them that would be the one that we would control during the battles, while we toured the scenarios we had the possibility to alternate between them in case we preferred one in particular to explore the surroundings.
The truth is that this test version was not particularly long, since it only lasted half an hour and only allowed us to go from one place to another in this region, fight against the enemies that were everywhere and carry out a mission main that concluded with a battle against a final boss. For this reason, there are many details of this installment that we cannot delve into yet , but at least we can tell you what we thought about its combat system or the visual section.
In this sense, it is striking how a technique has been used so that the characters have an anime touch with scenarios that seem to have been drawn with watercolors , on which it must be recognized that they look wonderful. Without a doubt, it is the Tales of with the best graphics that we have come to see and without a doubt the Unreal Engine 4 graphics engine is largely responsible for this result.
As usual, here the encounters will not be random , so that we will be able to face all the enemies that will roam the map just by coming into contact with them, which will cause the scenario to instantly transfer us to a field of battle where we will participate in some of the most impressive battles.
Even so, not everything will be fighting without more, because along the way we find objects to collect or camping positions . The latter will help our characters regain their health points and, incidentally, cook food dishes that will give them additional advantages for a certain period of time. On the other hand, the typical conversations of the saga that occur between the heroes will occur at any time automatically without sequences or anything similar.
This is how the characters will spend them during battles
During the half hour that we have played, what we have done the most has been to fight non-stop, mainly due to the fact that this type of encounter has seemed like a past due to how frantic they are and because of the visual spectacle that they constantly present us. In our case, we only took control of the character we chose at the beginning of the test, while another three of them were handled by artificial intelligence.
In other RPGs this could be a problem, but the truth is that our companions knew perfectly what to do at all times , they dodged the blows and the skills they used were most useful. For example, Shionne has healing spells and the possibility of resuscitating a companion, something that you can be sure will be the most useful because the beasts against which we will fight will not go around with little ones.
For this reason, not everything will be hitting without stopping, since it will also be necessary to dodge the blows. In fact, each character will have a series of basic attacks and other more devastating abilities that they will spend as a kind of blue crystals, so this type of movement can only be activated if we have enough or otherwise we will have to wait for recharge, although the latter luckily happens quite quickly, so if we want we will be able to be giving tollinas without stopping a single second.
In any case, if we want our colleagues to take a certain action, we can also give them a quick order with the push of a button. Of course, the best of all is when at a certain point, if the enemy has received too many blows, we break the defense to carry out a combined attack with any of our companions , which will make us witness a sequence of the most impressive that It will unleash a blow that we assure you will even hurt you (much more the enemy) just by seeing it.
I will not deny that with so much effect, slash, explosion, magic and numbers flying across the screen, it is sometimes a bit difficult to become aware of everything that is happening during the battle, but it is so entertaining that in the end that is what less. Of course, if the final version looks as good as this test version, we are clear that we will have a great time from beginning to end.
So, later on we will have to see if the story, the characters or the rest of the mechanics comply adequately and if they are just as brilliant. This will require waiting until September 10 , the day Tales of Arise will go on sale on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X / S and PC.
