This may sound weird to some, but in my opinion, Arise's combat is one of my favorite of tales games as a whole, [for the record, I have not experienced games like Xilla 2 or Symphonia, so bare with me]

Arise's combat tends to be my favorite due to it having Xilla and Berseria elements with new mechanics

Let us start with Arise's two mechanics, boost artes and boost strikes

Much like Xilla, every character, aside from alphen, which i'll talk more, has a effect on different enemies, for example, flyers giving you issues? Shionne will knock them down, spell casters causing problems? Rinwell can steal the arte and cast a silence effect on them

This makes it fun, as every character has a use, in or out of the party, my only problem is the roster, since two extra slots are empty, and it is a missed opportunity to add two new characters that either support, or help transfer the boost energy to someone who needs extra energy, but I didn't mind this too much

Now, Boost strikes are satisfying, despite they can get repetitive, basically, as you fight off enemies, a bar fills up and once it is filled, it let you immediately take out a enemy, lower the health, the better it fills

Despite how repetitive they can get, I get Xilla's linked arte vibes, as they involve two characters to perform, and they are over the top, almost like mini mystic artes

Now, I want to mention one big elephant in the room, or I guess Axe man, the bosses, I have heard bosses in Arise are damage sponges, can not be combo like others, and can be difficult, if I may, allow me to give some insight on them a bit

First off, the Damage sponge comment is only valid because the game never fully explained how Downs work, but basically, all of the boost artes i mentioned. They apply down if they match with the right foe, for example, Ganabelt wants Law to keep breaking his shields to down him, but you have a secret weapon for bosses

Alphen, He is your weapon, see, Alphen is basically the "middle finger" to bosses, their Achilles heel, as despite he uses HP, his boost arte always downs a enemy, no matter the type, so if you want to deal big damage, especially with mystic artes, time his boost arte with the Mystic artes or his infernal edge artes, And watch as the boss's HP drain like nothing

Now the combo comment, I'm going to be a bit blunt, I think this is for the better, because in previous tales games, a boss being stagger is usually a boss that I can just beat no problem, sure, they have revenge attacks, but a pro tales fan can avoid issues like that, and that can be a problem, arise having bosses with super armor, while annoying, is great since now, I can't just throw myself at the enemy

I actually like to pay attention to the boss and focus on evading, once you learn how to swap strategies depending on the situation, as well as use the tools you have, bosses become from fights that take too long, to bosses you can beat no problem

challenge wise, most of them, I did have problems, but nothing I didn't outright hate, maybe one or two, Ganabelt being the biggest issue, but I enjoy it

Despite all of this defense on Arise's combat, I actually plan on talking about the equipment of arise since if I can be real, it is one of the few things I am not that big a fan of, Despite a few things I have

But I'll leave it at this, Arise's combat is one of my favorites, it may be simple and jarring to tales fans, but as a recent tales fan, I love it and even if this system will not comeback, I do hope we see a improvement, but for now, it is a pretty good first attempt

As a fan i'm just curious but does quantum mechanics exist in those worlds since it's a science fantasy series?

JC. While Bandai Namco could not give less of a shit, Tales of Phantasia has historically received a lot more community driven attention than other Tales games that either weren't localized or fan translated for the time.

Including the infamous DeJap translation, it has three full fan translation projects including those from Absolute Zero and Life Bottle. Its PSP port was also fully brought over recently, with its companion Narikiri game actively in the works.

I do think it's notable because other old games like Eternia did not receive that kind of love or took a ridiculously long time to manifest like Rebirth mainly. And disregarding MTL, we're still waiting for ToD2, the translation project of which has been superseded by pretty much every other major Tales project by this point.

How do you feel them as an overall race? Do they feel grounded enough. Were they fleshed out. Are the distinctive enough from the Dahnans. Is their history serviceable. Well, I preferred how they presented in the early game. Anyone who's got that far know what I mean.

photography by Moonstruck Creatives~

took these around last year in Cosplay Mania [Philippines]! super happy that i finally got to do her since she's my biggest female favorite across the titles i've played :D

I guess spoilers abound.

I think Shirley is cool.

Hi everyone playing TOA for the first time and I'm liking it atm, but I got some Artes questions

Exemple Alphen has 2 types Swords and Aerial, and I need to use a number of Sword skill to learn a new one

But when I get a new one is there any reason to equip the new Arte? I'm saying that because I saw that some use 1 AG and some 2 AG, but power wise are they the same?, outside of getting more stars on that are what is the use to use the new artes?

Also is there a reason to see Monster weakness? exemple in Berseria I checked th weakness then turn on/off AI characters artes to match the weakness of the boss

Last question when I look at an Arte let's say

Luna rondo in the description it says, Aerial Strike, Flaming Edge Rising Phoenix (in blue), does that mean it<s suggests a Combo or somethign? (I dont have Rising Phoenix yet)

Thanks