Sci-Fi fantasy can be hard to nail, but Tales of Arise’s plot and gameplay does so with aplomb. Not only is it the best-reviewed game in the franchise but it has broken the franchise's concurrent player record on Steam. All of that is to say that every little detail came together to make Tales of Arise as good as it is.
Interestingly enough, though, one of the smaller story beats in Tales of Arise is almost 1:1 with Dragon Ball Z. One point in the story sees Alphen return to his past to confront an enemy, and this same story beat can be seen in the early stages of the Namek Saga. NOTE: There are MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD for Tales of Arise.
Goku’s Space Pod vs. Alphen’s Space Ship
In Dragon Ball Z’s Namek Saga, Goku has to go to the titular planet to defeat Vegeta, revive his friends with the Namekian Dragon Balls, and protect his friends. It’s a little more complicated than that, but to do so, the Capsule Corporation uses the Saiyan spaceship Goku arrived on Earth in to make a new spaceship. The long and short of is that Goku uses his childhood space pod to travel to enemy territory (as far as he knows at least) and confront a major villain.
This story beat of having the old spaceship repaired/restored and travel into enemy territory is the same for Tales of Arise. After dealing with the five Renan Lords participating in the Crown Contest on Dahna, Rena/Lenegis and their activity go quiet for a month. But, after a few events, Alphen and the party decide to travel to Lenegis. To do so, they use the ship Alphen returned to Dahna on.
Just like the Capsule Corporation worked on Goku’s ship, Tales of Arise's Dohalim has to run some diagnostics and get the Renan starship ready to fly. Lenegis is enemy territory for Alphen and his fellow Dahnans, and it’s beyond the world of Dahna that the party will confront its biggest threat and most prominent “villain.” For DBZ and JRPG fans, it’s hard not to see the similarities when this happens just because it isn’t the most common trope in gaming.
That, and many fantasy games wouldn’t include the concept of a starship to begin with. If nothing else, this speaks to the strong sci-fi fantasy premise of Tales of Arise, as it all actually fits into the world despite how straight-up “fantastical” it can seem to be at times.
Tales of Arise is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.