Tales of Arise - Beyond the Dawn Ultimate Edition

Tales of Arise is Bandai Namco's most polished entry in the long-running Tales series, and the Ultimate Edition bundles it with the Beyond the Dawn expansion for players who want the complete arc. The core premise drops you into a world where the planet Dahna has been subjugated by the technologically superior Rena for three centuries. You play as Alphen, a Dahnan slave who cannot feel pain and wields the Blazing Sword, a weapon that literally burns through his own body every time he swings it. Alongside him is Shionne, a Renan woman cursed with thorns that cause agony to anyone who touches her. That central dynamic, two people defined by their inability to feel and inability to be touched, is the kind of writing hook that makes you sit up straight. The combat is action-RPG, real-time, and satisfying in the way a well-tuned combo system should be. You control one character at a time while the AI manages the rest of your party, and you chain Artes (special moves) off normal attacks to build toward powerful Boost Strikes. Each of the six party members plays meaningfully differently: Rinwell is a mage who stores enemy spells for reuse, Law is a brawler who charges recklessly forward, and Kisara is a tank who rewards careful timing on guard counters. Build variety is genuine, not cosmetic. Skits, the series' signature short character conversations, return and are easily the warmest writing in the game. They add texture to relationships in ways the main cutscenes sometimes rush past. Where the game stumbles is in its second half. The first three lords of Rena are defeated across varied, visually distinct regions with strong local storylines, then the game pivots into a longer, more abstract conflict that loses some of that grounded momentum. Dungeon design leans on corridor repetition, and there are stretches where you feel the XP grind more than the narrative pull. The main story resolves cleanly enough, but players expecting the structural ambition of something like Xenogears will find the climax serviceable rather than revelatory. Beyond the Dawn, included here, adds a new chapter set after the base game's ending. It introduces Nazamil, a young Renan child caught in the political aftermath of Dahna's liberation, and grounds the expansion in the harder, slower work of actually rebuilding a society after oppression ends. It is quieter and smaller in scope than the base game, but the writing is more focused and the new villain arc has real teeth. For players who bonded with the original cast, spending another fifteen-or-so hours with them in this context feels earned rather than tacked on. New combat systems added in the expansion, including extended combo mechanics and additional party skills, also give returning players fresh tools to experiment with. If you want a JRPG that puts character work front and center, has combat deep enough to stay interesting past the forty-hour mark, and treats its themes of slavery, systemic oppression, and intergenerational trauma with more care than most of its peers, Tales of Arise delivers that. It is not a flawless structure and the mid-game pacing sag is real, but the bones are strong and the cast earns genuine affection by the credits. Monika, Scout Team