Finally .

The last few Tales games [Yes I am looking at you Zestiria ] were nothing but crap although Velvet is still a great character .

Xillia 2 wasn't good either but at least it was trying new things .
Berseria is also pretty bad as it makes you backtrack dungeons and recycling Enemies in the first few hours , Velvet was the only reason to play the game .


I was hoping they will move onto a new engine and get a bigger budget for the next game .
Glad to see I got my prayers answered .


Rendering the game in unreal engine seems to be bumping up the visual quality by a lot .
The world is filled with far more complexity than last time .

The next best thing - we finally got our exclusive MAGE/Wizard char back instead of mixed bags from previous games where everyone can cast spells , not a huge fan of that .

This post has been edited by Convael: Apr 22 2021, 07:31 AM

A couple of new screenshots from Famitsu showing off the world .


Almost look too dreamy like a pre-production artwork but it is actually in-game rendering .




This post has been edited by Convael: Apr 22 2021, 08:18 AM

It is on Amazon jp and Play-asia .

Interestingly , the PS5 edition has sold out completely .

The quirky part here being , the PS5 version cost almost twice of the price of PS4's limited edition .




This post has been edited by Convael: Apr 23 2021, 07:38 PM

I've spent some times with the game . My thoughts for food :


+ Probably the most expensive tales game Namco has ever made , excluding Vesperia since that one had funding from Microsoft . I keep mentioning budget because it has affected all of the fundamental of a game development from visual designs , game system , writings and such . This is one of the most polished JRPG title from Bandai Namco , beating Scarlet Nexus .


+ Amazing combat system . They have added a jump button and reduce your equippable artes slot to 3 , and 3 more for aerial artes (6 total) . Overall the timing is more lenient , moves have become much easier to execute but at the same time also adding more depth with the addition of Perfect guard / Evasion + Counter attack . If you are craving for the good old Tales controls , the Manual mode is still available.


+ Every companion plays a unique role in the game now . There is no one universal character for everything which made them generic . Their summon companion ability (called boost strike) also give you an edge versus specific type of enemy.
Incredible how much that adds to the dynamic nature of tales combat system .


+ The " victory posing " screen after combat is removed . Sounded strange at first because people want to look at their favorite character posing and talking funny . Eventually it makes sense given how often you are engage in combat in a tales game . The process is smooth and fluid , sleak and clean .


+ Motoi Sakuraba is back , this guy is essential for Tales and Star Ocean games.


+ Game is NOT open world . It is very similar to the one they have implemented in Dragon Age : Inquisition , larger but separated maps with linear pathing . Nothing too special but of the environment looks good under the water-color aesthestic .


+ Spectacular presentation . Some of most explosive cutscene are now rendering within the game engine , looking fantastic. It goes without saying since the game is running on a new engine , all artes and spell animation are made from scratch .
Instead of recycling them like the last 4 last games .

+ They went the Scarlet Nexus route for the Skitz overhaul . The chatty scenes are now replaced with animated mange style of snap shots . Given there are hundreds to thousands of fully voiced skitz , it is beautiful , clever and effective .

+ Character titles finally do something . In the past games they do little more than providing stats , you may now unlock a variety of new artes and passives from each of the newly obtained titles .

+ Charming and memorable characters . Not necessarily the best written but they are quirky enough and you will probably remember them years from now . Pulling out a burning sword from your waifu's 17th dimension breast ? That is something .


- While the game is not predatory by nature , plenty of costumes are still locked behind microtransaction . You can even buy LEVEL-UPs and in game currency with $ . Not new to Tales as the past games have done it but you would expect them to change in 2021 since they are charging full price for the game and planning to " revitalize " the series .

- Preorder costumes are disappointing to say the least , just a palette swap from vanilla armor you obtained in game .

- Didn't exactly care for the side quests , the quest tracking system is welcomed but it is mostly what the other games have been doing since the last decade . Nothing groundbreaking , just grinds .


+- Lack HDR but the watercolor appeals of the game totally carried on its own , just a nitpick at this point .

+- Lengthy game but this can be a + or - for some people .

+- The slavery rebellion narrative has been done a lot of times , it can be a hit or miss depending on the player .

This post has been edited by Convael: Sep 10 2021, 07:06 PM

You can buy them separately .

The game should follow the default language used by your PS5 settings . But the game language maybe bugged if you have downloaded a different region ver of the game demo .

Switch your PS5 language to Japanese , then change it back into English , the game should be switching back to the right language .

Much better IMHO , not that Scarlet Nexus is bad but with limited budget there is only so much they can do .


I am a huge fan of the masterful presentation of skitz via animated manga style .


ToA is currently the best reviewed jRPG this year and also the best reviewed Tales game ever made by Tales Studio according to metacritic .


Depends on how good SMT V is [which I am also a big fan of] , the title of jRPG of the year is going to be a fierce competition between this two.

This post has been edited by Convael: Sep 11 2021, 02:36 PM

ToP is a classic , like the first Star Ocean game . I don't think any games in the series can compare .


Tales of Arise is the right direction towards the TalesOf Series future .

This post has been edited by Convael: Sep 13 2021, 02:09 PM

Never judge a game by watching it .


The actual combat is amazing to play , doesn't mean it is amazing to watch since all the audience see on the screen are tremendous amount of flashy artes . But for the controlling player it is a whole different story .

This post has been edited by Convael: Sep 13 2021, 02:12 PM

I like Kisara , she seems more down to earth and realistic

Shionne has just a little bit too much of the tsundere-stereotype .
Her costumes are really elegant though .

I was really enjoying the game but it is disgusting how much Namco Bandai is forcing you to buy the DLC .



Imagine there are ARTES and abilities in the game LOCKED behind the microtransaction paywall , how greedy can you be Namco Bandai ?
Not to mention the constant notification popping up whenever you are camping , reminding you to buy new DLC .



They have already took one of very few method to recover Health in the game , locked them behind CP which is essentially Mana Points from previous game .

You need CP for all sort of buffing skill , all healing and resurrection skills , field quest , field abilites to unlock doors and chest etc etc .
Clearly CP is extremely precious in the game .


But it cost a whooping 3000 gold in game for an Orange Gel, which was commonly found in past games .
Worst of all , it isn't even available for purchase until later in this game .

Guess what ? You can get permanent Game store discount from buying their Premium dlc package , and 100000g which will probably save you many hours on these fetch and kill side quests .


So much to the point it is actually game breaking , because it has rendered all resurrection and buffing spells worthless since they cost a whooping 50CP to cast , just keep buying life bottles from the merchant instead.


Despicable how they are willing to compromise on the game balance just to promote their DLCs.


Shame on you Namco Bandai . You made a great game but you keep ruining it with your greedy little fingers .
I am not opposed to paying extra for a great game but since you have ruined it all I no longer have the desire to .

This post has been edited by Convael: Sep 14 2021, 09:53 PM

Fairy circle , the most powerful Tales AOE healing is locked behind paywall , an exclusive pay-to-have artes of Dohalim .


It actually gets worse later when your character level up because Consumable item does not scale towards end game .

They only heal for fixed amount of HP instead of a % of your health unlike previous tales .

When you have like 8000 HP and you have only got Apple gels which heals for 400hp ?


I am right in front of the final boss now and found myself quite underleveled despite not ever escaping from combat and I have finished most of the side quests .

This post has been edited by Convael: Sep 15 2021, 01:00 AM

I am assuming you meant the final lord ?

No you are not yet there .


You should probably be at around level 55-60 .
Post game dungeon has a recommendation of level 95 ++ .




This post has been edited by Convael: Sep 15 2021, 10:50 PM

You cannot transfer save atm , but developers have indicated the feature is coming in the future via patches .

PS5 version runs at 2 modes , native 4k uncapped and or 1620p 60 fps .
PS4 and PS4 pro runs ToA at 1080p and 1440p at uncapped frame rate , which can be problematic.

The loading time is also roughly 70% faster on PS5

This post has been edited by Convael: Sep 19 2021, 06:56 PM