The new Tales of Arise is finally available. Before you embark on the long journey that awaits you, we invite you to discover some tips and tricks that can help you familiarize yourself with certain game mechanics and give you some advantages to progress well in the adventure. You will see that there is a lot to learn from this new installment in the Tales of franchise.
Tip 1 – You can change characters during fights:
The game does not explain it to you clearly, yet you have the possibility of changing fighters in the middle of a fight and taking control of any member of the team. To do this, you must do as if you were going to target another enemy (L1 on PlayStation or LB on Xbox). The action will pause and at that moment, while holding down the button, take a look at the character portraits at the bottom left of the screen.
You will see that the leader of the group (the one you are currently controlling) has a small red flag… You just have to use the D-Pad (the directional pad) on your controller to move this flag to the character you want to control. While exploring, you can also change the character you control from the menu. Press the square key (PlayStation) or X (Xbox) to change the party leader.
☆ Note – If you can control any character in the group, unfortunately it is not possible to play in local co-op on new “Tales of” like the old games of the license… More info here : Tales Of Arise There is no co-op mode to play with two or more players.
Tip 2 – Look for the Astral Flowers, they are very important!
In Tales of Arise, the Artes system has been somewhat revised, especially in terms of the healing system and support spells. Indeed, the members of your group who are able to heal or send buffs (bonus effects) all draw from the same HP gauge otherwise called "healing points". You can run out of HP in the middle of a dungeon which can be quite problematic. Luckily, you have several methods to regain HP points, including resting at a campfire or an inn.
You can also use an orange jelly or better, a pineapple jelly to regain points, but they are rather rare and expensive. The best thing is to find the Astral Flowers to increase the total points of your HP gauge. Each flower will give you 10 extra points!
These flowers can be found in several ways… By eliminating “Giant Zeugles” elite enemies, for example, which are marked with a red icon on the map you are exploring. Note that some blocked paths in the areas you are exploring require you to perform land actions at the cost of SP.
Tip 3 – Exploit the elemental weaknesses of your opponents:
If you win your fights hands down in the early hours of Tales of Arise, the game will kick the difficulty up a notch as you progress with increasingly difficult enemies to take down. By holding down L1/LB, you can pause the action as we explained in our first tip. Use this pause as a tactical action. Indeed, you can scroll through the enemies on the battlefield and see in the upper left corner of your screen, the dominant element of your opponent.
There are six elements in Tales of Arise where each type of element will deal double damage to its opposite. Remember that the element of fire beats water (and vice versa). The earth defeats the wind (and vice versa) and light defeats darkness (and vice versa). With this information in mind, go even further during a boss fight to fully exploit its weakness. To keep the entire team constantly exploiting a boss's weaknesses, you can open their Arte page mid-combat to disable all arts that aren't the opposite element of your opponent's weakness.
Tip 4 – Rinwell has the ability to cancel enemy spells:
Rinwell is an important member of your team for the simple reason that she can in one action stop a whole group of enemies who are preparing a spell at the same time. Sometimes when fighting, you may see a purple circle appear above one or more enemies. This is the indicator that these enemies are preparing a powerful spell that you will take the full force of in the following seconds.
You can undo these spells with one action! Save Rinwell's bonus move for this occasion. In addition to interrupting the spell of all enemies, it will steal from them to relaunch them in stride.
Tip 5 – Aim for the weak point of bosses and giant Zeugles:
Some of the biggest enemies you'll fight in Tales of Arise will have weak spots that you can target directly to deal big damage. If you see a bright orange Spirit Core on your opponent, consider targeting it first via the targeting button to destroy it. If you succeed, you can take advantage of a few seconds or your opponent will collapse to the ground without having the opportunity to perform any action. The perfect time for you to give it your all!
Tip 6 – Restore your JA points in an instant for a longer combo:
By playing Tales of Arise, you will understand the need to make good use of the bonus attack system of the different characters that join your party. Some bonus attacks are useful for blocking magic as we explained above in the case of Rinwell. Others allow you to stagger your enemies, or break shells.
But generally, it's a good idea to use bonus attacks to instantly recover your JA points (they appear above your character's life gauge) which are used to launch Artes. By correctly alternating normal attacks, followed by Artes and bonus attacks, you will be able to achieve long combos without interruption.
Tip 7 – Do not sell your old weapons to recover Galds:
As you progress through the story of Tales of Arise, you are going to find many types of materials on the monsters you fight along the way. These materials will allow you to craft new weapons for your characters. Obviously, some of this equipment will become obsolete when you make new parts... You will then be tempted to sell your old weapons to recover Galds. Do not do it !
When you get to a certain stage in the adventure, the weapons you craft from the blacksmith or merchant will require your old low-grade parts as base material. If you sold them, you will have to make them again which will cause you to lose materials and galds. Keep all the weapons you craft, even if you don't use them anymore... You'll find a use for them at some point or another.
Tip 8 – Battle Chain and Rare Monster Variants:
If you're looking to earn a lot of CP points to learn new skills and you've already progressed quite a bit through the regions, keep an eye out for the rare monster variants that now spawn and are recognizable by the subtle golden glow around them. . In addition to dropping rarer materials, Shiny enemies in Tales of Arise instantly increase your combat chain bonus to its maximum.
As a general rule, when the diamond-shaped symbol under the radar appears, continue to eliminate other enemies to take advantage of the bonus. By exploiting this, you will get XP and CP multipliers. With a maximized battle chain bonus, you can easily amass hundreds or even thousands of CP points, which will allow you to unlock your title skills faster.
