The Tales Of franchise has seen its biggest shake-up in years thanks to Tales of Arise. Shifting to a revamped art style, a modified approach to combat, and wider areas than the series has seen in years, it appears that a new era of Tales Of games has arrived. Fans are eagerly waiting to tear into the latest entry of the mythic action RPG franchise, and explore what will easily be its grandest adventure yet. All of this sudden change, however, does bring a certain other celebrated RPG franchise to mind. It feels almost like Tales of Arise is emulating Final Fantasy's evolution over the years.
Final Fantasy is an interesting franchise, as no two numbered entries are alike. Ever since the second game on the NES, mainline Final Fantasy has taken an anthology approach to both its worlds and gameplay. Experimentation with mechanics and the job system gave way to active-time battles, jobs emphasized and de-emphasized, individual class customization became more prominent in the PS1 era, even shifting towards MMO gameplay for a time. Final Fantasy 15 marks the jump to outright action gameplay, and Final Fantasy 16 looks to push it as far as it can go. On top of sharing a genre, there's plenty of similarities between Tales of Arise and Final Fantasy.
Tales of Arise has Final Fantasy's Scope
One of the most notable similarities Tales of Arise has to the average Final Fantasy is its ambition. Tales of Arise wants to be grander than any Tales game before it, and to accomplish that, it's changed a lot about itself. Right from the get-go, Arise's story encompasses two planets. The technologically-advanced world of Rena is oppressing the world of Dahna, and the two main characters are disgruntled inhabitants of each. While Tales' often linear nature means that it will take a while for players to reach the second planet and even longer to unlock free travel between the two, it will still be an epic adventure the likes of which Tales has not yet seen — but Final Fantasy has.
A "two worlds'' mechanic has been present in Final Fantasy ever since Final Fantasy 3 surprised players with a second world map. The series has long been in the realm of hopping between worlds, exploring the deep sea, and flying through the sky. Tales of Arise is also working to emulate this feeling through its larger, more open maps. For a long time, Tales Of areas were flat and simply made, with the most recent games using wide open areas to allow combat to take place in the field. Now that that's been done away with and hardware has improved, gorgeous areas with lots of open spaces, details and verticality are possible.
Tales of Arise and Final Fantasy are Refining Action Combat
Another interesting similarity is what Tales of Arise and recent Final Fantasy games are doing to each's combat. Tales Of has always been an action RPG series, and Final Fantasy has often had a real-time bend since Final Fantasy 4. However, Tales of Arise and the main Final Fantasy games from 15 onwards have shifted the focus over to action in a big way. Arise is now allowing players to run, dodge, and jump around the field like a Devil May Cry game, and combat has become more dynamic and aerial. Meanwhile, aerial combat has become a focus in Final Fantasy 15 and 16, while Final Fantasy 7 Remake has taken a grounded combat approach similar to Tales games.
Tales of Arise and Final Fantasy 16 are a particularly amusing duo, as it seems they are both taking specific inspiration from Devil May Cry. Final Fantasy 16 even had a Devil May Cry 5 combat designer join the staff during development. This latest Final Fantasy title is focusing on action combat more than ever before. It seems that Bandai Namco and Square Enix are both interested in getting into the largely-Capcom and Tecmo Koei-led hack-and-slash genre, and it just so happens that each is showing the most serious attempts to do so in close proximity. It's a time of change for both franchises, and it's going to be very interesting seeing how each ends up.
Tales of Arise launches September 10, 2021 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.