Five Beginner Tips for Tales of Arise

Tales of Arise is a vast JRPG housing numerous gameplay systems that can be overwhelming. For beginners to Tales and JRPGs in general, this piece aims to provide lite tips on what you should and shouldn’t do to get the most out of your overall experience.

Prioritize Quests

Quests in Arise are usually transparently depicted on the map with envelope icons and characters straight-up alluding to them nearby. Even if you aren’t a completionist, I highly advise pursuing as many side quests as possible because their rewards go beyond the typical equipment or consumable item. Rather, in addition to other expected rewards like gold and SP, some side quests grant full-on skill trees for the Skill Panel.

Considering how a single skill tree contains several passive upgrades and even Artes, quests are absolutely worth completing. However, it is worth noting that there are a few quests given at inopportune times where your level and general set-up won’t be enough to succeed with at the moment. Still, you can always shelve these quests for later for when you are better prepared.

Cook Every Dish at Least Once

Cooking is a simple mechanic unlocked very early in the game where, once at camps, you can choose which dish to cook among the myriad you learn on your adventure. These provide passive buffs to the cast, with some dishes having choosable cooks granting their own versions of the food with unique buffs. Alongside these boons is the added chance of triggering special skits with select dishes and earning whole new skill trees for the Skill Panel. As mentioned in the prior tip, skill trees are vital for combative growth, and cooking is a painless endeavor worth pursuing to gain these lofty benefits.

Here’s How Fishing Works

As loathe as I am to admit, the fishing in Tales of Arise took me painfully long to comprehend fully, and in case you have trouble as well, this tip is here to provide guidance. Fishing is unlocked a good way into the title, but a whole new minigame world is opened up once it is. There are fishing rods players use, and these don’t require any thought at all, as they are just inherent upgrades. You don’t have to ever switch back to an old rod when you get a new rod.

Lures, though, require a bit of reading. On the right-hand side of their description, you’ll see a list of ‘Easy Catches,’ which is exactly what it sounds like. Using these lures is recommended to catch these specified fish. Additionally, if at a fishing spot and in the menu where you equip lures, the bottom right side of the screen showcases a list of the catchable fish in the area with 3 potential buttons. These buttons are representative of the types of shakes of the lure in the water to attract fish. Each fish reacts differently depending on the chosen lure and how it’s moved around in the water.

While this may sound a bit confusing, I promise you it isn’t. That list I just mentioned, the one that depicts the catchable fish in the vicinity, blatantly shows the button combination used to attract them best—those Lure descriptions listing ‘Easy Catches’ play a part here too. So, for instance, let’s say you want to catch a bass, and there’s this lure that lists it as an Easy Catch; you would obviously equip that lure, and then, you would look at the list of the catchable fish in the bottom right to view the button combination to best ‘lure’ the fish to your rod. Following this intended method makes catching fish a breeze and far less of a chore than an uninformed party would face.

To make this entire process even nicer, the guy that initially gives you your fishing gear can be interacted with to tell you which fishing spots you are still missing new catches at.

The tutorials in the main menu ultimately taught me this as I spent way too long thinking I had to pay attention to the silhouettes of the fishes or something to that effect. I am not bright. The tutorial given at the beginning was a bit overwhelming, I must admit.

Search For the Owls

This is a rather uncomplicated side activity, but it still warrants mention. Fairly early into the experience, the ability to spot Owls will become available, and they all go to a hub area you can visit. Most outdoor maps contain an Owl hiding somewhere, and thankfully, Hootle, Rinwell’s animal companion, alerts you of their presence as soon as you step into an area. Additionally, Hootle flies in the air when you are especially close to an Owl.

You can gain weapons and cosmetics for finding these Owls. Still, the truly worthwhile rewards come at the end of the game when you have found a significant amount of them. I don’t want to spoil why but trust me, finding the Owls should be an absolute priority.

Explore Prior Areas You’ve Been to

Tales of Arise hides clever secrets in its areas that you won’t be able to find until you make headway in the story. While not super common, there are noteworthy rewards to be found when going back to maps that played a role in the plot and not much else. Quests can give you access to secretive areas too, albeit vaguely, so simply keep the layouts of the world’s various fields and towns ingrained since a few suspicious spots that might not be fully interactable at the time can be dealt with later on when either completing certain quests or growing the party.

And, those were some beginner tips that I hope positively affect players’ journeys should they take heed. Tales of Arise is an exceptional gem of a modern JRPG, and I sincerely hope you give it the scrutinized attention it deserves.

If you missed it, check out our favorable review of the game’s PlayStation 5 version.