That eye roll above, that didn’t stop once I’d started playing. I will comment on what I’ve seen and played so far and my opinion of Tales of Arise as a lapsed anime and JRPG fan. I won’t be giving the game a score, that wouldn’t be fair. So while I’ve played a decent chunk of Tales of Arise, I know I’m quite far from the end at this point. That pesky job and child I mentioned earlier, those are the kinds of things that prevent a person from burning through a game like this before embargo. It’s a JRPG, with a capital ‘J’, so it undoubtedly takes dozens of hours to finish.
Not A Tales of Arise ReviewĪs the title says, this isn’t a review, not in the proper sense, as I’ve yet to finish Tales of Arise. Lucky I did too because so far, Tales of Arise is winning me over. However, being the consummate professional I am, I pushed on. So, when Tales of Arise arrived this was my reaction.
In 2021, I’m 36, work full time (from home during the pandemic), raise a 3-year old son, manage this website and try to squeeze in gaming for fun at some point. Back then, I had infinite time to sink into a Tales of or a Final Fantasy. As a 16/17 year old who’d quit highschool and spent my days living on Centrelink, drinking Red Bears and Woodstocks and playing Gamecube. It might be that I simply don’t have the time anymore. I can’t pinpoint when it started or why but these days, I have less than zero interest in any anime or JRPGs.
However, the older I’ve gotten, the less interested in anime and JRPGs I’ve become. Anything coming out of Japan was something I had to have. When I was a younger lad, in my mid to late teens, I was something of what the kids call a weeb.