After braving the fires of Berg Volcano and discovering the location of Alphen's spaceship, Tales of Arise players will eventually find themselves in Lenegis. There, Dahna's liberators must explore the depths of the city's Forbidden Zone to find out more about Alphen's mysterious past and put a stop to the Red Woman's sinister plans.
Scattered between the many cutscenes found in the area are several challenging boss fights, as well as some useful equipment that will come in handy during the final stages of Tales of Arise. Though fairly linear, the sheer amount of narrative content makes it one of the game's longest, so players should set aside at least an hour if they want to play through all of it in a single sitting.
Updated November 7, 2021 by Tom Bowen: The Forbidden Zone and the areas that follow provide a lot of background information; not just on the game's hero, Alphen, but also the historical relationship between Rena and Dahna. As a result, these areas combine to form what is ultimately one of the most interesting sections of Tales of Arise, though that's not at all to say that it isn't difficult at times as well. This guide will explain how to beat the Red Woman in the Forbidden Zone and also help players to figure out what to do before completing Tales of Arise.
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Maintenance Passageway
The Maintenence Passageway is full of new enemy types, but none that should cause a well-leveled party too much trouble. Upon defeating the soldiers near the entrance, players will find themselves with two paths to choose from. The one to their left leads towards the Forbidden Zone, while the other will take them to a dead-end and a room containing a chest with some Grape Gel inside.
After collecting the gel, players should take the other route, which will eventually bring them to a larger room with multiple exits. If players take a left here, they'll find a blue chest with a Shortcake Cooking Recipe inside. There's also some Pineapple Gel at another dead-end a little further along the main path.
Shortly after passing the Pineapple Gel, players will come to a T-junction. Taking a right here will lead to a room with three mining points and some Red Sage growing near the far wall. The opposite path will take them closer to the entrance to the Forbidden Zone. Before leaving the area though, players should check out the room just beneath the exit on the map, as there's another blue chest here with 21,600 Gald inside.
Forbidden Zone Entry Area
Upon arriving in the next area, there'll be several cutscenes and conversations to sit through. Afterward, taking a step towards the quest marker will trigger a battle with the Tormented Limbs mini-boss (level 45). Its six limbs make attacking the boss head-on incredibly difficult, though this is somewhat essential for breaking its core and triggering an extended break. Thankfully, Alphen's Boost Strike is fairly effective in this regard.
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Boss Tip: Players can repeatedly use Alphen's mid-air Hurricane Thrust Arte to break the Tormented Limbs' core without getting hit. |
Though powerful, the Zeugle is weak to light elemental attacks, so Rinwell can be incredibly useful in this battle. If players don't plan on controlling her themselves, it may be worth jumping into the options menu and disabling all of her non-light elemental Artes just to make sure that she's always attacking the enemy's weakness.
Forbidden Zone Research Area
Once they've defeated the mini-boss and watched a few more cutscenes, players will need to use the blue teleporter to reach the Research Area. Following some more flashbacks, players can find some Life Bottles and Grape Gel in the two side rooms before the next teleporter. Entering the chamber at the end of the corridor will trigger another cutscene, after which players can head to the next area.
Forbidden Zone Classified Area
Before heading through the door in front of them, players should first check out the room on their left to find a blue chest with a Heavy Treat inside. There's nothing in the room opposite, so, after emptying the chest, it's time to head through the big red door to the Altar Room. There'll then be some more cutscenes, and Alphen and Shionne will get new titles, weapons, armor, and outfits.
The equipment gained here – particularly Alphen's Sodeil Arthalys weapon – is some of the very best in the game, so players should equip it now before moving on to the next room. Once there, players will find another blue teleporter which will take them down to the deepest depths of the Forbidden Zone and ever closer to the area's main boss.
Following another cutscene, players will find themselves in the Forbidden Zone's Top Secret Area. There's a Healing Light not too far away from where they enter, which players should definitely utilize before making their way towards the next quest marker. This is also a great time to equip everyone with Alexandrite accessories, as they'll be facing some pretty powerful dark Astral Energy attacks very very soon.
Red Woman Boss Fight
After watching yet another cutscene, players will find themselves face to face with the Red Woman, though she's now taken on a brand new form. To be precise, she's actually taken on three, though they all share the same HP bar. As with the Tormented Limbs mini-boss from earlier, they're weak to light elemental attacks, so players should make sure to put Rinwell in the main party if she isn't already.
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Boss Tip: Due to the attack patterns of the enemies, it's possible to stand behind one of them and hack away at it using Alphen's Reigning Slash Arte; moving only when the enemy uses its spinning disk attack. |
The enemies will occasionally fire beams of dark Astral Energy towards each other, so standing in between two of them really isn't a good idea. Their spinning disks can also dish out a fair amount of damage if they make contact, but nowhere near enough to take a party member out with a single hit. Providing players don't run out of CP, this should therefore be a fairly straightforward battle.
When the Red Woman's health bar has been depleted, there'll be a few more cutscenes, after which players will need to make their way back over towards the ship. Sadly, fast travel has been disabled, so they'll need to backtrack through each area of the Forbidden Zone on foot, as well as the maintenance passageway. Though frustrating, this does at least provide players with a second chance to pick up anything that they missed the first time around.
Daeq Faezol
After the party has returned to the ship, there'll be a few more cutscenes and conversations for players to sit through. When they next gain control of Alphen, players will find themselves onboard the Daeq Faezol space station. There are no enemies to defeat here, with the whole section dedicated to further fleshing out the main story.
Once players have finished taking everything in and have spoken with everybody that needs to be spoken to, they'll return to their newly repaired ship and set out for Rena. At this point, players can turn around and fly back to Dahna if they choose. Otherwise, they should head over to the teleporter to their left, which will take them to the final section of the main story.
Things to Do Before Completing Tales of Arise
Before diving headfirst into the game's final dungeon, players may want to consider tackling some of the many side activities that are on offer in Tales of Arise. This includes the game's seventy sub-quests, all but three of which can be completed now that the party has touched down on Rena.
Assuming that players didn't miss any of the first 32 owls, landing on Rena will also lead to six Special Owls appearing back on Dahna. Finding these will reward players with special artifacts, some of which can make the final section of the main story a little easier thanks to the unique effects that each of them provides.
Other players may want to unlock some of the game's Trophies/Achievements, with all but a handful of them able to be unlocked prior to completing the game. It's worth noting though that all of these things can be done after players have completed the game, so those who'd rather wrap up the story first can do so without the fear of missing out on anything good.