Tales of Arise: Beyond the Dawn | Was it Worth the Wait?

[@MrWanton16]

From a character interaction and worldbuilding perspective I am pleased. But for the price they requested, I do wish they were more ambitious in regard to the content and to a lesser extent gameplay systems. There's a lot of reused assets and a majority of the campaign is fetch quests. And the only new areas are 3 dungeons with the first 2 being very similar while the third is an admittedly pretty final area. Even as someone who loves this series, I'd say wait for a price drop if ever recommending it. I think what further hurts it is that Monolith-soft is so overtly ambitious with what they do with their dlc practices, esp for Xenoblade 2 and 3 that this feels a bit eh by comparison. Granted it's not the fairest comparison I will admit.

[@Svoorhout85]

Thanks. For the price im expecting a full games worth of expansion. So i'll wait for a discount. I'll have to play from the start again too since I pretty much forgot all about the plot.

[@HoroJoga]

It took so long for this DLC to be released that I forgot 99% of the story and the characters, and did 100% on it when it was first released.

[@previllion5355]

Luckily I just bought it like a month ago and haven’t played it yet 😅

[@Brandilio]

I'll remind you of the story. The main guy has amnesia and wants to bang the main girl. The mage girl is abrasive and wants to bang the dumb punchy guy. The rich king guy doesn't understand social norms and wants to bang shield mommy. You're all caught up.

[@clentomonster5900]

The side quests are such a chore that I barely even do it

[@TaliesinMyrddin]

Man, I wish I could forget plot details in games I love that easily

[@Svoorhout85]

Same. All I remember is going from kingdom to kingdom each one having a different flavor of oppression.

[@JarylGaren]

so I got Tales of Arise about a month or so after they announced the Beyond the Dawn DLC in September (and only via happenstance, since it was on sale bundled with Scarlet Nexus at the time), and while I'm not finished with the base game yet, I'm *VERY* close, and I already got the DLC because I'm enjoying my time with Arise a lot!

[@sonofwotan]

I’m in the same position, got Arise bundled with Scarlet Nexus and just finished Arise. Would you say the DLC was worth it?

[@moominsean]

I've been playing through it, it's entertaining enough if a bit easy since I started out at level 80 and have pretty consistantly been about seven to 10 levels over everything I fight after a few hours. Some fights I'm kind of on autopilot just mashing buttons and not really paying attention. There was only one fight (father/son fight) that kicked my ass multiple times. Lots of side quests, most of which aren't particularly interesting but are easy to get through. The overarching theme of "why doesn't everyone just get along and accept each other" is a bit heavy and cliche. And same issue wih the original game, eventually you fill out your skill tree but it keeps giving you skill points that you can't use anymore. There should have been additional skills available after maxing everything out. One of the new characters is certifiably insane which is probably the best part of the story.

[@Bexarbear9]

Spoliers: There's a part early on where Alphen is frustrated because everyone keeps asking him for help. He proclaims in front of a whole town that they need to stop relying on him and decides to set out on a world tour, going from city to city telling people the same. I thought, finally, a game where you get to tell people to find their lost son themselves! Turns out the game adds about 30 side quests to your map, including character sub quests almost immediately after... Whether you like the side quests or not is up to you, but I just thought that contradiction was funny.

[@z-trainproductions9526]

I found this game last Thursday and haven’t stopped playing it since then. I just finished the story and I’m going thru and making sure I 100% complete it while trying to come up with the money for the DLC

[@sollato0293]

While I did enjoy quite a lot of Arise in spite of it not being my favorite (Berseria is still top Tales game for me), I’ll wait for later with that DLC, plus the game is still pretty fresh in my head.

[@indigofawkes8736]

I tend to not bother with dlc that is released a while after I play the game, since it usually makes me feel like I also need to replay the whole game to be in the right mindset, and with a longer game like a jrpg, that's not really a great use of my time when so many other games that catch my eye also come out. It actually been making me wait a year plus to even pick up games with expectation of dlc to be out later so I can enjoy the whole package, and while the tales series hasnt done it before, its making me consider just holding off on the next game just in case now.

[@tountoes1677]

I feel like Daniels's videos are half an excuse for him to flex his amazing editing and design skills on us, lol. Great content, as always.

[@CoolPlum]

Im very mixed on this dlc... it's clear that the side quests were the real meat of this expansion, but unfortunately they were not all created equal. Most of them simply required you to warp all around the world map to talk to many different people, which just got tedious after a while. The few standout sidequests (like Alphen and Law's character quests) were very cool and made me wish all of the content had that much effort put into it. I was not invested in Nazamil's story at all so the main quest fell a bit flat for me, but MAN that final dungeon into the finale was incredibly hype. I just wish we had more big moments like that throughout the 20 hours of playtime. Regardless, it was nice to revisit Tales of Arise after 2 years as it is still one of my favorite games of all time.

[@WiiDude83]

I personally really enjoyed this DLC. I've seen a lot of complaints that it didn't really change much. Honestly from the trailers and such, it always felt like the dlc was going to be that way, just a bit more content added without radically shaking things up. I will admit I do find the main scenario of it a bit lacking but all the sidequests and extra story development stuff more than made for it, how the world is still not quite there yet and how there still those trying hold onto the past while others not really sure where to start. Add in the new quests focusing on each character in the party and that stuff I was honestly way more interested in from the start than Nazamil. This is very much a DLC that if you weren't a fan of the base game, this isn't going to change your mind. But if you liked the game and want an excuse to come back to it, I think the dlc accomplishes that job.

[@WiiDude83]

Also as for Xenoblade 3 comparison. I do agree Xenoblades was far more ambitious. But I think a key difference. Arise I felt didn't really need to do a major overhaul to its systems or game so I was content with just more. Xeno3, personally speaking, need A LOT more work. From the pathetic difficulty and battles going on too long, The main scenario really lacking, how armor and such 90% of it was basically worthless, the class system really not meaning much in the end. So Future Redeemed had to go and fix a lot of those issues at the base and then build a new campaign around that so it makes sense why it feels like theres a lot more work in that cause it needed a lot more work done under the hood. (Though I also wished it fixed stuff like being able to level down before completion or add a new difficulty to the base game rebalancing it.) It is interesting looking at the two back to back but I don't think it's personally a black and white comparison.

[@AzureRoxe]

@@WiiDude83 Xenoblade 3's difficulty goes to both extremes. The non-hardest difficulties are almost soul-crushingly easy and despite it being easy, many enemies are damage sponges. The hardest is almost soul-crushingly hard, not only because it's clearly overtuned on purpose, but you MUST do all the sidequests you can [which would outlevel you hard if you're on an easier difficulty] because otherwise you'll either get stomped or the fight will take so long that the main "mechanic" is trying to focus on such repetitive battles for a long time.

[@MrWanton16]

@@AzureRoxe Xenoblade has always sorta had the issue of doing too many sidequests that are offered will make you overpowered and I think 2 is the only one that managed that well with the custom difficulty thing but that was a good bit after release

[@AzureRoxe]

@@MrWanton16 True, but the difference is that Xenoblade 1, 2 and X don't have any enemies that get even remotely close to how damage spongy they get in 3.

[@MrWanton16]

@@AzureRoxeAgreed in 1's case but I do think 2 and X suffer from major gameplay annoyances that sorta make spongy enemies the least of concerns. 2 is heavily reliant on rng for blade pulls and as a result, exploration with field skill checks and X makes it a major pain in the butt to use any of the cast outside of Lin and Elma. Luckily a lot of the good content in X is sidequests

[@maxergamer360_7]

I just finished the dlc today and 100% the achievements and i can say for certain that i loved it and had a blast playing it, despite all the negative criticism that tale of arise gets (maybe its cuz this is the only dlc ive ever bought and played). I for sure thought it was worth my $20 (i waited until sale) and thought the story and character interactions were just as good as i remembered. But were the side quests in the original game just as lazy/"fetchy" like in this dlc cuz alot of these side quests were underwhelming and felt cheap. Though i really liked the character sub quests, the EX quests, and that final side quest with the juice competition. Anyways I had alot of fun. Also it took me 41 hours to beat this dlc

[@AngelofAmbrosia]

Tales of Berseria was actually darker than Arise.

[@jonnyfendi2003]

it was nuts, youre basically playing the villians. I loved Velvet and her ruthlessness.

[@StaceyUK]

A new video from Daniel. Excellent. Your videos are a joy.

[@LazyTallGuy]

I got rid of the game after I platinumed it and I don’t regret it as it was a great game and this DLC doesn’t seem to be adding much. Everyone should’ve gotten an updated costume to reflect a year passing but oh well they would’ve charged for it anyway.

[@WaterDog1502]

Ill have to watch this later when i finally finish it. Im at the final dungeon but i feel like the dlc isnt completely worth $30 maybe $20. That being said i have enjoyed seeing the rest of the party reunited. Kinda wish nazamil was with the party a little bit longer to make the connection feel stronger

[@deadbird808]

i just hope how ever they go about this franchise in the future, they will always include kisara. she instantly became one of my most favorite baddies in armor with a shield in all of gaming and anime combined.

[@statesminds]

We could have either got this or got no more content with these characters so while I don’t think it’s the best expansion ever I liked it. I get some complaints but it’s more of the base game basically which isn’t really bad. Should have been $15-20 usd tho. I think the final dungeon in dlc is good for the game

[@josesingh3857]

I’m glad it got a dlc but I was also hopeful for another collaboration with another anime like they did with sword art online & scarlet nexus. Like maybe the bleach anime cause I would have like to see the flaming sword of the head captain in this game

[@thekingofcookies4877]

I like how you see the world in the state it's in after the main game's ending, cuz it goes back to the point of no return once you beat the game so you normally wouldn't be able to see the outcome of that.

[@JL-nb1yc]

I loved it, but also barely remember the story. I'm tempted take this as an excuse to replay the game.

[@Falco.exe93]

Please, more videos of Daniel talking about Tales of games and Fire Emblem. Maybe about some of the japan only games that have fan translations?? 👀

[@RichardMeikle]

If it ever becomes 10 - 15 bucks I will pick it up. Still sitting at 20 when on sale.

[@OnizenArt]

Maybe it's just me but Arise was pretty meh for me unfortunately. Love the tales series but this one felt kinda weak. Also the lack of building money and that heal limit mechanic set in place was weird as hell. So I'm very I'm on the fence about getting this dlc 😅😅

[@MrWanton16]

Money building in the base game is primarily restricted to selling tags you get off of knights and the heal limit mechanic honestly didnt bother me as much as I expected going in. Other than the last dungeon for being a slog I was fine

[@OnizenArt]

@@MrWanton16 I just ran into way to many boss fights where they are doing so much that my healer are just burning through that heal limit then by phase 2 of the fight I have no healing left and everyone is just dying and I'm surviving on potions and rez items of which I'm burning my money to stay stocked up on lol

[@MrWanton16]

@@OnizenArt For me it was more of a problem extremely early game that became a non-issue later on.

[@MyNameisRevenant]

I live your divergent take on the matter, i always felt that phantasia had more mileage than most upcoming tales in the series. I guess that statement of mine prevails stronger here. This game feels, inefficient, on his story pacing and direction. Tales of Arise could had been a better game, and it shows that they havent learned their lesson just yet.

[@Buglin_Burger7878]

@@OnizenArt Were you not fighting the Zeugles that drop the upgrade to the points? I personally never ran into issues save for a few times, and the few times I did I had 10+ Gels that restore 30% of it.

[@LegendofJess1]

Love that new graphic design for dlc!

[@OrdonaVill]

I’ll most likely play this at some point down the road. I’m a little disappointed to here it offers very little that’s new. I enjoyed Arise back when I first played it, though not as much as other tales games since it was single player only. Me, my wife and a couple friends have regular “Tales nights” where we get together and play through the games in 4 player mode. I really hope whatever Tales game ends up being next brings the multiplayer back.

[@BenjiBearPup]

As much as I love Arise and easily in my top 5. I'm going to wait a little bit on this DLC as there's plenty on my plate already for now. This DLC does look a little bloated but still fun. Honestly though I'd rather have recieved Tales hd ports or localisations of older Tales. Arise is imo a complete story without DLC. I'm still going to buy this but this is more of a "oh that's neat!" instead of an "OMG this is happening" From one Tales diehard to another, thanks for showing this off Daniel! 😊

[@iamnumber4ization]

Shame we didn’t get two new characters to fill up the missing spots in the reserve party imo

[@Darthtux132]

It’s enjoyable to revisit the cast and love some of the skits The new music is good Main problem it’s asking so much for nothing new except for nazamil who I think needed way more time with the gang; $40 CAD here Ya, the legacy costumes behind paid DLC is BS I don’t wanna see Tales in this direction man

[@Gamer1288]

13:27 It would have been better if yes the option to buy them early was there for those people who are impatient but there was a way to Unlock Them In-Game.

[@epicgamerm9528]

hi i have a question i did bought the tales of aries ultimate edition and i saw there's another different tales of arise ultimate edition do i have to buy another ultimate edition to get extra stuff or i just buy the DLC

[@jabbawabs]

This DLC hinges a lot on you liking Nazamil as a character. Unfortunately, I did not.

[@happyfuzzykitty1830]

Not enough time was spent developing her character in the story

[@joshuyaraidon]

Got this pre-ordered thinking they could do no wrong with this DLC since I felt they put in the effort needed to make me love the main game. Turns out I was wrong based on the reviews. Got my refund and may consider getting it when it's on sale.

[@oOPrettywinxOo]

So i was gonna wait on the DLC but now that you mentioned there is a major twist Bamco went out of their way to ask people not to talk about i might have to speed this up before i get spoiled 😂😅

[@Mystra]

Small little correction :) Tales isn't indie as they are backed by Bandai a huge company.

[@Jay6x]

I'm getting a Tales of Graces F (future arc) vibe.

[@matth1641]

Nawh man, future Arc had new combat mechanics, bosses, dungeons, you had Richard, etc. Arise DLC is pretty bad in comparison.

[@Shu_Utsugi1999]

​@@matth1641hablando de graces F para cuando lo irán a sacar en español? Ya que la verdad se ve que merece la pena jugarlo

[@GamerFunOriginallyAarush]

Pretty cool experience!

[@Pyro_LAMBDA]

I haven't played the DLC, let alone finish the main game but I share the same sentiments. While I enjoyed the game as an RPG and some of the new changes it brought to the series, it felt underwhelming to me as a Tales game. Alongside that, I disliked how costumes and extra skills were blocked behind a paywall unlike previous games. If anything, the release of the DLC reminded me to finish the game and depending on how I feel, I may purchase the DLC. Besides Arise's quality as a game, I am somewhat concerned with the future of the series a little. Anyways, great to hear other fans talking about this!

[@TheLegend27211]

Anyone know the source of that Lucina picture on Daniel's door?

[@Old_Gil_Gunderson]

If this had came out like 6 months later I would of played this but two year later? nah thanks I already forgot what happened in the game 😅

[@Gamer1288]

I wonder if when the Switch 2 releases then they will make a Port of this game to that Console.Hopefully if they do then they make it so that your actual Main Game Progress carries over if you have actually completed the Game Prior.

[@isseihyoudou1547]

let's hope not. It'll be a downgrade overall if so. You'll be playing a downgraded version at full price

[@Gamer1288]

Considering that it is rumored to be as powerful as a PS4 Pro then not much of a downgrade in exchange for portability. @@isseihyoudou1547

[@jamesbond3w]

I just finsihed the DLC and im left feeling.. unsatisfied? Like the base story completes everything. All the characters have their cute ending and their futures are hinted at. But now with this new story we are left with a lot of information about the two races, and the special Sovergin powers and what even happens to Nazamil cause after her mental breakdown (during that specific) moment) and then shes just sidelined for the rest of the story so you cant even get more of an attachment to her or even get to fight moderate enemies with her cause her powers are really cool.

[@AzureRoxe]

A game that was kinda split getting DLC 2 years later. Yeah no, it wasn't really worth the wait. It's VERY clearly just a cash grab, especially with those outfits.

[@harro5541]

I did enjoy this revisit to the world seeing the changes and hanging with the characters again and the story they were telling was good and like there ideas , But I do feel like comparing to say Tales of Graces F and it extra post game story it we handle better then Arise extra story here , and just a side note I wish they stop with the DLC outfits or tune down the prices because some of the DLC stuff specially if it other IP find but stuff that could be collected in game just put it in the game,

[@Jerler91]

I was kind of hoping the dlc would have the new character as a party member to change things up. I enjoyed the base game, but im probably gonna pass

[@MyNameisRevenant]

I definitively ignore this dlc.

[@animeturnMMD]

2:34 wHAT? The tales series always have had dark tematics in fact tales of arise is one of the less dark of the bunch..

[@duggyfresh8899]

I know I really want a remake of tales of berseria with this style of combat but better exploration and maps. Probably won't ever happen but I want it so bad it's my favorite cast and imagining those characters with this style of combat.

[@animeturnMMD]

@@duggyfresh8899 My biggest problem with the Tales series, specially with Berseria, Zesteria and Arise, is that you need to grind toooooo much is insane, I was barely able to finish Berseria because I was really invested in the story, Zesteria I don't even want to play it because is an inferior Berseria in all sense (story, gameplay, graphics) and Arise I dropped it mid way because I feel like the grind would never stop, despite the great graphics and decent story. I would pick Berseria everytime over Arise, at least in Berseria mid game you get powerful and knowledgeable enough to be able to tackle all the game launchs at you after that, so I could focus on enjoying the story and don't get back to farm crap, but in Arise I was not able to reach that sweet spot never, always more and more grind, I mean it doens't matter that everything looks gorgeus if you have to kill the same mobs 1000 times until you get enough levels and resources to finally take on the boss of certain area, is too annoying.

[@flamehiro]

I heard pretty short and 30 bucks which basically half a game. If it was 10, yes

[@jac_238]

Figured this was gonna be a Daniel video before I clicked on it

[@MrValgard]

Well tales team was busy with blue protocol mmo, so no wonder they made only side project dlc with low effort. Now they can strart next tales

[@Sonic171K]

Me just casually checking my psn trophies then going wtf is this. They made dlc for this game now. 😂

[@ShallBePurified]

So what I got out of this is, it's no Xenoblade DLC.

[@Dizz-vd8df]

This game is like like a 6⭐ to me. More for the much younger audience and annoying for the older ones. Wish it had some certain audio disabling. I would of love the DLCs if it had the character's ability like Cosmos Cannon or that spread laser. Would of love to have a colour palette for clothing. How about in Chaos mode. All enemies can block and dodge your attacks. Now that's more challenging. The carry over, "New Game+", 1 for 1 (tic for tac) is stupid. Just don't use it.

[@KeithElliott-zd8cx]

"two years later,they still didn't learn their lesson" Hell, bethesda doubled down after a decade...

[@adonicetrig8908]

It’s good, just not worth the full price, a 30% cut to its current price would match the content it provides, only real complain really imo.

[@intermil5]

After just finishing the game i will say this felt like cash grab. $30 is not worth it plus the outfits behind another play wall. I enjoyed the new music and some side quests, but it just felt like tedious fetch quest constantly, especially the main story. Alphen and shionne seemed more awkward together even though a year past. Ending boss was just a beef boss with too much health to prolongue fight. The story was interesting but i would have loved to have Vholran as cameo appearance, instead we got little tid bits but whatevs. The game makes it feel forced for you to like nazumil as character but i did not really care for her, she kinda was problem why everything happened. They could have made a great DLC out of this which made me hyped, but after finishing it i was bit sad and felt nothing. THE TEASE AT THE END WITH ALPHEN AND SHIONNE! BRUH. At least give us a moment to enjoy watching the characters. Mid asf DLC. Not worth $30. Hope they can build and get set for next title of series and move away from whatever this was.

[@LmtMj]

They should take notes from the other tales games more content is always better

[@rjproduction486]

As much I like Tales of Arise, not gonna lie the dlc is mid! They should add another mystic arte for each character and then it would be good not mid!

[@Rivershield]

I would forgive every mistake if I was given more Alphen x Shionne moments. Although the DLC has quite a few, it was not really satisfactory. It's such a waste. Even so, this is still the best Tales games since Abyss imo

[@Cugowsky]

I finished ToA about half year ago and have no interest of this DLC.

[@Brandilio]

I gotta say, I played this game as my first Tales of game... I absolutely hated it. It felt entirely too grindy, every room towards the end became so similar that I often got lost trying to get from spot to spot, and the economy was so broken that basic health items were difficult to afford. Oh but don't worry, you can spend real life money to fix the problem they intentionally created - just like Ubisoft did with Assassin's Creed - a blatant money grab. Then there was all the repetitive dialog. Kisara quickly went from the character I wanted to have around the most to the character I most wanted to strangle - she complains at EVERY. SINGLE. PURCHASE. It's the same voice line every time as well. "Did we really need to spend so much?". Wouldn't have to if two health items didn't bankrupt us. I'm not done yet either. I also had a massive issue with the "passive" storytelling. I understand skits are a part of the Tales brand. I get that. I've seen other games like Octopath do it and do it well. Arise would layer like 5 skits in a row on top of each other. And by the time I finished all of them, I completely forgot which direction I was supposed to be going, wasting more time. This became especially annoying at the end game, where every room is basically the same in appearance. Anyway, all this to say that Tales of Arise was my first and probably last Tales of game that I'll ever play. It completely turned me off from the series and I found very few redeeming qualities in it beyond the art style and music. Hibana is a bop. Edit: I beat the game. This isn't a journalist playing Cuphead scenario - I beat it. I did quit initially around some point in Act 2 because I got really frustrated with how blatantly grindy it was, but my roommate gave me crap about "not playing enough JRPGs" so I completed it out of spite and now it's one of my least favorite games ever.

[@jac_238]

No offense but it sounds like you just weren’t a fan of JRPGs to begin with based on that last paragraph. That’s fine but why force yourself to play something you probably weren’t gonna like in the first place

[@Brandilio]

@@jac_238 that's the thing - I love JRPGs. My roommate is an elitist when it comes to JRPGs. He plays pretty much exclusively JRPGs, whereas I mostly play the mainstream ones - your Final Fantasies, Octopaths, and the like. He was upset that I didn't like the game (for valid reasons) and tried to turn it into a "you're the problem" thing. But I've seen people who enjoy ToA complain about the same issues - they may give it a pass despite those issues (no clue why) but they still acknowledge them.

[@jac_238]

I’m not gonna defend the micro transactions, that is really scummy but I never felt too under leveled during my play though. As long as your not skipping every enemy you come across, you should be probably be alright for money and XP. I also agree with you and Daniel to some extent about the dungeons in this game, but you have a map so getting lost shouldn’t be an issue. As for the skits, you can watch them again at campfires so if you don’t have the patience for them at the moment, you can skip them and watch them later. They’re not really important to the story but they’re nice little character building moments. Arise isn’t my favorite game in the series (that honor goes to Vesperia) but the fact you played the game out of spite shows you went in with a chip on your shoulder to begin with. If you want a more typical Tales of experience and see why people love this series, I would recommend Symphonia (try to play the original GameCube version if you can, the ports aren’t great), Abyss (emulate the PS2 version, 3DS version is fine too but can be somewhat pricey nowadays) or Vesperia (Definitive edition is the way to go for that one). All three are some of the best JRPGs of all time and you might like them more than Arise

[@oOPrettywinxOo]

I mean the game has its issues and I agree with most of the criticism you listed. However, if those were enough to make this one of your most hated game ever, you must generally only play masterpieces. 😅 Also Octopath really is not a mainstream JRPG. I'm glad you played it but it's just not. Tales of is more mainstream than Octopath by a mile and then some, based on legacy alone. More casual gamers will tell you they know or have played a Tales of game than have played or even heard of Octopath. Not a slight against Octopath and you preferring it, just a heads up.

[@Brandilio]

@@jac_238 So first of all, I didn't have a chip on my shoulder to begin with. I actually enjoyed the first quarter or so of the game. It was about the time of dealing with Dohalim that my opinion began to shift. I disliked the game after act 2. I REALLY disliked it after being told I'm shit at JRPGs and being told that the end would somehow make up for the terrible experience. I can accept your opinion on being okay with skits and the grind, but I take massive exception to that map comment. If your map REQUIRES players to look at the mini map, your map is not well-made. Full stop.

[@crunchyblend8809]

Tales of Arise is mid so it makes sense the dlc sucks

[@raf686]

Glad many would disagree on the game.

[@happyfuzzykitty1830]

This DLC feels rushed, they should have never made it. They should have just focused on a new game

[@jogymogy3691]

The game itself isn't worth it