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Tales of Arise - Public Demo live in NZ now (PS5 Gameplay)

SkylineRKR

Member
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I wouldn't bother with 2160p, 1620p is fine and 60fps. Series bros and PS5 are the only way to play this at 60fps on console.
 
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I must be missing something. I'm getting much higher framerates than what's being discussed here on my Xbox Series X.

In Graphics mode. I get around 100fps
qOh4b9y.jpg


And then in Performance Mode, I get 120 FPS locked:
OBMHUo7.jpg



What's going on here?
 
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Isa

Member


Code Vein 2 is looking good

Man I hope so, I really enjoyed my time with it.

I played the demo to completion, kind of intended to rush it since I already have it preordered but I was having to much fun exploring and trying out the characters. Kisara was my #1. The others are cool too. I liked the art style and gfx, the skits new style don't bother me too much but they still throw me for a loop, I'm so used to seeing 2D art that even though I was championing the change, I miss the old art. But I still like 'em.

I played on Graphics mode on Series X, I didn't notice any problems apart from Unreal/cross-gen stuff. I really like that first town's design, looks lovely and a place I wouldn't mind living.
 

Isa

Member
I must be missing something. I'm getting much higher framerates than what's being discussed here on my Xbox Series X.

In Graphics mode. I get around 100fps
qOh4b9y.jpg


And then in Performance Mode, I get 120 FPS locked:
OBMHUo7.jpg



What's going on here?
I know Series consoles have that smart delivery feature, but when I went to DL the game it started 2 downloads, for each gen respectively. Maybe you started the Xbox One version? Or perhaps it really is a beast on the Series X version...
 
I know Series consoles have that smart delivery feature, but when I went to DL the game it started 2 downloads, for each gen respectively. Maybe you started the Xbox One version? Or perhaps it really is a beast on the Series X version...
Just confirmed I'm playing the Series X version.
 
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Sleepwalker

Member
Just finished the demo, performance mode on XSX. I think this is day 1.

It's been so long since I played a tales game fully (symphonia on GCN, which I loved) but by now you'd think every dialogue would be voiced. It's a little jarring to have the characters do these weird sounds or maybe say a couple words while im reading paragraph upon paragraph of dialogue.

I'm not against reading either, I wish I could just make it either fully voiced or fully silent, but that's just me.


Might grab it on PC because regional pricing makes it about 50% off on steam in comparison to the $60 on consoles.
 
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Celcius

°Temp. member
I'm really hyped but after seeing all the good impressions I think I'll just wait and go into the full game blind. Almost time!
 

iorek21

Member
I really like the design of this game, but I don't fully understand the combat. Is it correct to just button smash?
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Beat the demo again with the shield girl. She plays fine, she can tank about everything but can also put up a decent fight. Dunno the possibilities yet and when to activate team mate specials etc, there must be a way to efficiently fill the break gauge. I also beat the Boar this time, he's easier than the Mantis though. That boss is tough, I had found and made quite some weapons and equipment but still had to use life bottles. At first I thought it was kind of shallow but I think with the right artes, combos and timing you can dominate. There is also Just Guard after all. I didn't really manage CP either.

Have yet to encounter the secret boss
 

KàIRóS

Member
I really like the design of this game, but I don't fully understand the combat. Is it correct to just button smash?

Yeah, unfortunately the demo doesn't fully explain most of what the combat has to offer, you really have to read through the field guide in the menu to really explore the cool stuff and how to do it, like Rinwell's charged spells and combined spells, or how to recharge AG (the blue diamonds above the HP)

I guess in a way it's good that it doesn't fill the screen with tutorials but most players also won't fully explore combat in this demo.
 

R6Rider

Gold Member
Just played the demo.

I like the art style, music seems okay, but there's so many outdated elements that I've already spotted. Each characters seems unique enough in combat style to offer reason to play them. Here's with a handful of things I didn't like.

  • The combat transition is completely unnecessary and there's too many monsters in the zones. They're also oddly clumped and just stand around doing nothing.
  • The first boss the giant red boar thing, is simply a terrible fight. Way too much health, lacked variety in moves. It was a long boring fight of flashy effects and all the characters constantly yelling their lines over and over and over.
  • The mini map was revealing the "hidden" enemies well before I was close to them so there was no surprise fight.
  • Instead of letting the player go down a path and fight a boss, they are forcing you to go talk to another NPC first. Just let the playing roam around without such outdated limitations. There's no "oh we already defeated that".
  • The zones feel like pointless sections that are there just to make the player run around gathering boring materials.
  • They should have used the voice acting for actual plot dialogue instead of the random chitchat at the camp for example.
  • There's so much flashy shit going on onscreen that it's hard to get the dodge/evade right. I often didn't know I even got hit until I looked at the health bar.
I enjoyed Scarlet Nexus combat much more from playing it's demo. This seems a little better than Beseria, but still highly flawed. Maybe it's simply because I don't like JRPGs that much overall, but I feel they constantly make the same mistakes and get boring extremely fast.
 
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mrabott

Member
My problem is mainly the dialogue. So they changed up the visual style finally (and indeed, it looks great), but the script and acting is straight out of a kiddie cartoon. Why not evolve that too a little? Try to make the voices fit the character just a little bit?

I don't know if this is the fault of the devs, or the localization team that doesn't seem to understand what game they're localizing, but it has me worried.

I am so done with sqeaky bullshit voices. God damn.
It's a mannerism of American dubbing. All games that have an anime look are dubbed with the same tropes. Whoever hires the dubbing studio does not take the game seriously, and follows the same formula that has always been used.
 

Shouta

Member
Played the demo on PS4. Great stuff especially if you enjoy Tales games. I'm a little sad that the game doesn't run a bit better on PS4. It works well enough most of the time but there's some noticeable drops in spots and during the co-op attacks. The bosses were also a bit spongy on Normal and it didn't feel like the break stuff didn't really provide as much to speed up the fights nor could I tell if I was close enough to breaking them.

After seeing the performance mode on PS5, I'm honestly really tempted to get one now just for this. It also helps that I can play my upcoming PS4 games too. It might be time to see if I can procure one.

I really like the design of this game, but I don't fully understand the combat. Is it correct to just button smash?

You can button mash if you want, especially on the lower difficulty settings but it might make bosses a bit more frustrating if you don't have resources.

Learning to dodge or defend as well as how to best chain your artes attacks for effective combos are really nice in these games. For example, the main character, Alphen, has a couple of different moves that lift off in the ground so you can use the one that matches the element your enemy is weak to to start a combo. From there, you can use the various mid-air Artes to zip to combo before ending with attack that slams into the enemy and brings you both to the ground. If you run out of AG from here, you can actually instantly restore 3 by calling in an ally to attack with the D-Pad. You can then continue the combo from there for some stylish looking sequences. There's a lot of little differences between the characters so you can learn how they play and figure out which one works best for you or maybe use different tactics with them.

I'd definitely recommend going into the menu and changing the arte input window to short instead of long. If you mash a lot with the Long window, it'll perform attacks in succession automatically. That makes the combat feel really weird as a result.
 

Zathalus

Member
I must be missing something. I'm getting much higher framerates than what's being discussed here on my Xbox Series X.

In Graphics mode. I get around 100fps
qOh4b9y.jpg


And then in Performance Mode, I get 120 FPS locked:
OBMHUo7.jpg



What's going on here?
Freesync LFC feature, basically displaying the same frame twice on 120Hz displays. Divide the FPS by two to get the real number.
 

Kimahri

Banned
It's a mannerism of American dubbing. All games that have an anime look are dubbed with the same tropes. Whoever hires the dubbing studio does not take the game seriously, and follows the same formula that has always been used.
I hope it gets butchered in reviews, not the game, the dub. Then maybe the studios take note and ensure things are done differently.
 
Played on Hard, boy that Enraged Boar was both thrilling and frustrating! I liked that they took some lessons from Berseria's battle system but i'm not sure about how i feel about the limit put on arts, hopefully like every other tales they'll be arts expansions by the mid game.

Skit are....Interesting, i'm sure it saved them some budget and they used it to maintain homogeneity in the art style, time will tell how i feel about the characters and their interactions/arcs.

Day 1 though i don't think i'll be playing it on release, still going through a lot of my backlog.
 
It's a mannerism of American dubbing. All games that have an anime look are dubbed with the same tropes. Whoever hires the dubbing studio does not take the game seriously, and follows the same formula that has always been used.
The only Tales that had a truly good English dub was Symphonia on the GC, and that's because it was made internally by Nintendo and not by some random Namco subcontractors who obviously never even played the game. I'm still laughing whenever I see a "reverse doll" in one of the games.
And don't even get me started on the people who "localized" Tales of Hearts R, who admitted to changing the characters' entire personalities because they "thought it'd suit them more". Shame of the profession.
 
My first Tales game and I agree with most of what is being said here…but one question, should I expect romance between main characters, Alphen and that chick in white dress for example? End of the demo trailer kinda hinted at it. I’m asking because I really like game romances but they’re not in style these days.
 

Kev Kev

Member
*sigh*

these games always look kinda good in the trailers and videos. but every tales game ive played just... sucked. i think the rpg elements and battle are great, typically, but the story, characters, anime cringyness, they way they treat dialogue exchange, and just the general vibe of the game is so off putting. i wish there would be more developers making RPGs. there are enough people like me that hate the jrpg/anime vibe and would love a more western take.

this tales game looks a little bit more appealing so far, until they start talking at least. ill have to try it out if i get a chance. hopefully its good!
 

RoboFu

One of the green rats
The character select at the beginning is a little weird as that can be changed at anytime. You can even select your field character and battle character separately if you want. The story and cutscenes are the same no matter who you set as leader.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
Yeah you can switch playable character at any time. Dunno if it counts for in the field.

I think the gameplay makes more sense when you start fresh. I guess you can stagger enemies quickly if you exploit weaknesses and use the right skills and team attacks. You are filled with artes here, and I've read you can set another 6 via L2 modifier which is good news. You need every button, also D-pad for specials.

Skits are kinda annoying honestly. There seems to be a truckload and sometimes I press the button on accident.
 

Bartski

Gold Member
I have to say I really like the graphics and the subtle "pencil filter" that works really nice with the very detailed cell shading going on.

The game is totally not my thing but makes me excited how such art style may evolve with the power of this gen.
 

IKSTUGA

Member
Yeah based on the demo, I think I'm gonna skip this one. I'm so bored of the Tales formula and outside of obvious visual upgrades, Arise doesn't really seem to do anything new.
 
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Punished Miku

Gold Member
I wasn't into it personally. The only real time battle system like this I ever got into was Star Ocean 4.

The game looks nice though, and I bet it's going to be fun for fans of the series.
 

DonkeyPunchJr

World’s Biggest Weeb
Yeah you can switch playable character at any time. Dunno if it counts for in the field.

I think the gameplay makes more sense when you start fresh. I guess you can stagger enemies quickly if you exploit weaknesses and use the right skills and team attacks. You are filled with artes here, and I've read you can set another 6 via L2 modifier which is good news. You need every button, also D-pad for specials.

Skits are kinda annoying honestly. There seems to be a truckload and sometimes I press the button on accident.
Yeah the skits are too much sometimes. Like some plot point will happen, lots of dialog occurs, then when you think you’re free, multiple skits pop up where it’s just the characters reacting to the thing you just experienced.

And since these games are so trope-y and cookie cutter, most of the time you already know how the characters are going to react. Every single line of dialog is intended to reinforce whatever trope the speaker is constrained to. Plus they go on for like twice as long as they need to be.

Kind of like watching a movie with an annoying friend who constantly pauses the movie to explain their feelings after every story beat.

… and now I’m remembering why I haven’t finished a Tales game since Vesperia.
 
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Croga

Member
Been on media blackout for this pretty much as it's one of my favorite JRPG series.

Played about 5 minutes of this demo on PS5 to see the performance (was considering getting it on PC), was happy enough with 60 FPS and how it looked / ran to turn it off and wait for the release.

One of the most fun parts of Tales games for me is the combat system opening up over time and new battle mechanics being introduced gradually, didn't want to spoil that in advance.

Roll on release day!
 

Shouta

Member
The character select at the beginning is a little weird as that can be changed at anytime. You can even select your field character and battle character separately if you want. The story and cutscenes are the same no matter who you set as leader.

The only thing that changes is that it gives you a little bit of a story trailer at the end of the demo for that character/pair of characters.
 

Arthimura

Member
I played the game yesterday, honestly I expected more.

I'm not a Tales of fan, I'm usually more into Xenoblade Chronicles, Shin Megami Tensei & Persona, Final Fantasy, etc.

It really feels low budget compared to those games and the battles are too messy, hard to have a clear understanding of what is going on.

Graphics are nice, though.
 
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Those who played the demo, how are the character interactions, dialogues, and characterization? Does the party seem like it’s on par with the parties in previous Tales games?
 

sublimit

Banned
Finally played the demo (on PS4) and holy crap this is a huge step up for the series in terms of production values.Gameplay is pretty solid too. I was planning to wait until i get a PS5 (and an OLED 4k tv) but i might give in and play it first on PS4. Congrats to Namco for finally investing some serious time and money to this title.
 

Northeastmonk

Gold Member
Just played the demo.

I like the art style, music seems okay, but there's so many outdated elements that I've already spotted. Each characters seems unique enough in combat style to offer reason to play them. Here's with a handful of things I didn't like.

  • The combat transition is completely unnecessary and there's too many monsters in the zones. They're also oddly clumped and just stand around doing nothing.
  • The first boss the giant red boar thing, is simply a terrible fight. Way too much health, lacked variety in moves. It was a long boring fight of flashy effects and all the characters constantly yelling their lines over and over and over.
  • The mini map was revealing the "hidden" enemies well before I was close to them so there was no surprise fight.
  • Instead of letting the player go down a path and fight a boss, they are forcing you to go talk to another NPC first. Just let the playing roam around without such outdated limitations. There's no "oh we already defeated that".
  • The zones feel like pointless sections that are there just to make the player run around gathering boring materials.
  • They should have used the voice acting for actual plot dialogue instead of the random chitchat at the camp for example.
  • There's so much flashy shit going on onscreen that it's hard to get the dodge/evade right. I often didn't know I even got hit until I looked at the health bar.
I enjoyed Scarlet Nexus combat much more from playing it's demo. This seems a little better than Beseria, but still highly flawed. Maybe it's simply because I don't like JRPGs that much overall, but I feel they constantly make the same mistakes and get boring extremely fast.
I have to agree about the health at the end of the demo. Even when I perfect dodged and did an obscene amount of damage. The boss was given much more time to inflict damage than it really should have given how much damage I was inflicting on it. Then when I actually got KOd for standing around too long? Getting KO’d didn’t feel like I was bad at the game. I just needed to be raised.

Danjin44 Danjin44 I played the demo just now. Beautiful world and it’s just nice to look at at times. The cooking reminded me of FFXV too much. I never utilized cooking in XV just because it was easier to progress than spend a bunch of time pondering what did what.

I wish they would have made combat a little more seemless. Having to transition like an older JRPG and go into a fighting zone really breaks the flow. The combat was fun like you said. I bet it will be an interesting game. I’m probably going to get it and play it. A couple things hold it back from being a truly amazing experience. Some parts annoyed me, but it still felt like the game had something to it. It just does what other JRPGs have done for ages now. Thank God I don’t have to bend over and pick up an item while running around the field.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Danjin44 Danjin44 I played the demo just now. Beautiful world and it’s just nice to look at at times. The cooking reminded me of FFXV too much. I never utilized cooking in XV just because it was easier to progress than spend a bunch of time pondering what did what.
If there is a demo for a game you always better off trying it yourself instead of relying on opinions from other people.
 
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TLZ

Banned
Tried and deleted. I really can't enjoy such games where it feels so crowded with everyone jumping and slashing and I've no idea what's going on. Feels mindless. I like to know what's going on and be in control.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I really can't enjoy such games where it feels so crowded with everyone jumping and slashing
That’s pretty much true with most action RPGs with party members, you are not going have same control as turn based combat.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
True. That's why I prefer games like Dragon Quest with many party members.
Trust me when is say turn based combat like in SMT, DQ and Bravely Default are my favourite combat systems in any RPGs, but I personally don’t mind playing action RPGs time to time.

I will soon get turn based combat fix with. SMT5, my most hype game this year and even this generation.
 
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TLZ

Banned
Trust me when is say turn based combat like in SMT, DQ and Bravely Default are my favourite combat systems in any RPGs, but I personally don’t mind playing action RPGs time to time.

I will soon get turn based combat fix with. SMT5, my most hype game this year and even this generation.
I've never tried a SMT game before. I've played P4 Golden and enjoyed it. I'll defo try SMT5 as it looks my type as well.

Also I have P5 but haven't played it yet.
 
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Amiga

Member
I really like the design of this game, but I don't fully understand the combat. Is it correct to just button smash?

you can for a while in Tales games, but need to mix things up as you get deeper into the game.

big part of combat growth in tales games is designing combos. applying them in battle is actually easy because you can assign a combo set to a button. it's not like DMC where you have to time and press the button for each action.

the more you grow the more complex combos you can make. adding attributes to sets that target specific enemies.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
I've never tried a SMT game before. I've played P4 Golden and enjoyed it. I'll defo try SMT5 as it looks my type as well.

Also I have P5 but haven't played it yet.
If you enjoyed press turn system in Persona then you gonna enjoy SMT.

There are several difference between SMT and Persona, one big one is Demons/Persona are not your powers but instead they are your party members and another one is you have more control of how build your MC, like you want focus being more magic user or physical attacker.
 
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DragoonKain

Neighbours from Hell
I burned through it fast because I didn't want spoilers, so I skipped all dialogue. One thing I didn't get was the item usage. My main died a few times on the demo boss and I was still able to use items without changing characters. Unless it did it automatically. I wasn't paying full attention.

Also, is there a downside to spamming the artes when you hold X. I forgot what they're called, the flame artes or whatever? I didn't pay attention to my CP much during the demo, but it didn't appear I even ran out of CP.

But overall I loved what I played. Gorgeous graphics, it feels like Tales finally modernized. Can't wait to play it, didn't want to spoil much though.

And figure out how exactly characters out of party participate in battle other than those co-op attacks.
 
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