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The ensemble of characters in Tales of is what makes the series what it is. Although the main plot of each game revolves on a local issue turning into a mission to both save and remake the entire world, each game's cast of characters, their motivations, and their individual tales are always endearing and distinctive... almost always, that is. The fantasy apartheid between Renan and Dahnan in Arise has ended for some time as of the latest Beyond the Dawn DLC, but the people in power aren't thrilled about having to become equals all of a sudden. It sounds like something that Lord Dohalim, a member of the politically influential party, ought to be taking care of, but the group decided to get back together to go monster hunting, and he was seemingly powerless to stop them.

During one of their cheerful camping excursions, they meet Nazamil, a small child. Nazamil is a mixed-race child who has unusual powers. Her narrative is incredibly tragic because she is rejected by both Renan and Dahnan. It seems too harsh and uncalled for, and Nazamil's traumatized outbursts also appear out of nowhere. The "antagonist" in this novel is quite obviously Nazamil, who leads us through a narrative that we have all heard or seen before. It is just terribly tiring and predictable.

However, people really come for those character-driven moments, don't they? Because there is a segment of the fandom that adores their will-they-won't-they dynamic, the dual protagonists have always had one, but Beyond the Dawn intends to go further. It's really lovely and adorable in certain spots, but I'm not attached to either Shionne or Alphen. Alphen is, after all, just a generic hero during the most of the main game.

https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3138514427

To its credit, Beyond the Dawn makes an effort to tackle precisely that. Alphen is starting to reflect after recieving demands from the individuals he encounters early on, all of them requesting assistance from the Blazing Sword of Dahna. In the end, Alphen calls a small town hall assembly and declares that, rather than serving as an errand boy, he will only assist when people genuinely need it. Though it's hardly a character-affirming moment, it was good to see something that finally made Alphen unique among JRPG protagonists.

Then you discover that sidequests make up the majority of Beyond the Dawn's "10+-hour" main content. There are a ton of side missions, and practically all of them need you to gather a little amount of ingredients or kill a few particular Zeugles in the open area. This is weird, especially in light of the fact that Beyond the Dawn doesn't genuinely contain any new locations while being meant to be a "expansion". A couple of dungeons with almost identical passages are the only new locations, and there are a total of 40 side quests, most of which are just mind-numbingly boring.

Arise's last dungeon (main game) was similar to a boss rush of formidable foes, and most of Beyond the Dawn seems like this as well. Combat in Arise has always been fairly satisfying, but that's only because most monster encounters end quickly. If each encounter takes five minutes, or even up to fifteen minutes for the more difficult battles, you will find yourself trying to avoid them as much as possible. Ultimately, there's no need to grind here because even the most difficult combat can be completed with a respectable item stock. Once more, the creatures colors have been altered, but the adversary design remains the same as it did in the main game.

https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3152493222

The duration of the story was just right—long enough for me to enjoy going back to Arise's world to see how things had changed, but not so long that the characters were completely unmemorable. Although their love is adorable, I don't really care for it, and the plot fails to captivate me in any way. Additional drawbacks include the need to learn new skills as you level up and craft everything from scratch, as well as the inability to unlock fast travel points because they are all magically gone. You will also always start the DLC at level 60, regardless of how far you grinded in the main game. All of the enemies from the main game will be there, but there won't be many new ones, and in order to use fast travel, you'll need to unlock every area and bonfire from the main game to be usable again.

The main game is the best Tales game for beginners, and Tales of Arise is still a good JRPG; nonetheless, it's nothing like Tales of from the past. The dungeon gimmicks such as the Tales of Symphonia's Mana Ring are nowhere to be found. Why are dungeons so incredibly dull to explore? Why is the appearance of every hallway the same just with a different color? Why can I solve any problem with minimal cognitive effort and no mental strain by simply using CP? Beyond the Dawn is disappointing, even by the standards set by the main game. If, for some reason, you’ve read this review without playing the main game, rest assured that it’s decent fun. This DLC expansion, however, can be left out of your cart.


The story will be the main focus here, but as was already mentioned, they kind of sidestep anything noteworthy. The story revolves around a young girl who has to be babysat, and there are numerous fetch quests that involve things that players have probably already seen or done. Although it doesn't provide much new, fans of the characters will be happy to see more of their favorites. Although general DLC for games is a great idea, too frequently it feels like a cash grab. It is really expensive and doesn't offer anything novel. Positive responses would result from something similar being made available for free, but asking for it at almost half the price of a new / the main game is just too much.

It's difficult to recommend this because of the weak plot, which has very little need to be told, combined with the lack of new features. Although it may appear to be visually identical to the main game, the soul is absent.

[h1] After two years, Tales of Arise receives the Beyond the Dawn DLC, which is a story expansion. Is it too boring, or is it exactly what we needed? [/h1] Additional Info: [table] [tr] [th]Content & Replay Value[/th] [th]I completed the Beyond the Dawn DLC blind to 100% in nine hours. The expansion is a "one-taker" because it has no replay value[/th] [/tr] [tr] [td]Mode[/td] [td]Single Player Only[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Controller Recommended?[/td] [td]Yes[/td] [/tr] [tr] [td]Is it worth buying?[/td] [td]No, not unless it's really cheap[/td] [/tr] [/table] [h3] My Specs [/h3] [code]CPU: i9 9900k GPU: RTX 2080 Ti RAM: DDR4 32 GB RAM OS: Win10 Resolution: 1440p @144hz (worked flawlessly) [/code] [quote]Follow our Curator page, [url=https://gtm.you1.cn/storesteam/curator/41449676/] Summit Reviews[/url], to see more high-quality reviews regularly.[/quote] [h1] In-Depth [/h1] [h3] Story, Exploration, Fetch-Quests & Setbacks[/h3] The ensemble of characters in Tales of is what makes the series what it is. Although the main plot of each game revolves on a local issue turning into a mission to both save and remake the entire world, each game's cast of characters, their motivations, and their individual tales are always endearing and distinctive... almost always, that is. The fantasy apartheid between Renan and Dahnan in Arise has ended for some time as of the latest Beyond the Dawn DLC, but the people in power aren't thrilled about having to become equals all of a sudden. It sounds like something that Lord Dohalim, a member of the politically influential party, ought to be taking care of, but the group decided to get back together to go monster hunting, and he was seemingly powerless to stop them. During one of their cheerful camping excursions, they meet Nazamil, a small child. Nazamil is a mixed-race child who has unusual powers. Her narrative is incredibly tragic because she is rejected by both Renan and Dahnan. It seems too harsh and uncalled for, and Nazamil's traumatized outbursts also appear out of nowhere. The "antagonist" in this novel is quite obviously Nazamil, who leads us through a narrative that we have all heard or seen before. It is just terribly tiring and predictable. However, people really come for those character-driven moments, don't they? Because there is a segment of the fandom that adores their will-they-won't-they dynamic, the dual protagonists have always had one, but Beyond the Dawn intends to go further. It's really lovely and adorable in certain spots, but I'm not attached to either Shionne or Alphen. Alphen is, after all, just a generic hero during the most of the main game. https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3138514427 To its credit, Beyond the Dawn makes an effort to tackle precisely that. Alphen is starting to reflect after recieving demands from the individuals he encounters early on, all of them requesting assistance from the Blazing Sword of Dahna. In the end, Alphen calls a small town hall assembly and declares that, rather than serving as an errand boy, he will only assist when people genuinely need it. Though it's hardly a character-affirming moment, it was good to see something that finally made Alphen unique among JRPG protagonists. Then you discover that sidequests make up the majority of Beyond the Dawn's "10+-hour" main content. There are a ton of side missions, and practically all of them need you to gather a little amount of ingredients or kill a few particular Zeugles in the open area. This is weird, especially in light of the fact that Beyond the Dawn doesn't genuinely contain any new locations while being meant to be a "expansion". A couple of dungeons with almost identical passages are the only new locations, and there are a total of 40 side quests, most of which are just mind-numbingly boring. Arise's last dungeon (main game) was similar to a boss rush of formidable foes, and most of Beyond the Dawn seems like this as well. Combat in Arise has always been fairly satisfying, but that's only because most monster encounters end quickly. If each encounter takes five minutes, or even up to fifteen minutes for the more difficult battles, you will find yourself trying to avoid them as much as possible. Ultimately, there's no need to grind here because even the most difficult combat can be completed with a respectable item stock. Once more, the creatures colors have been altered, but the adversary design remains the same as it did in the main game. https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3152493222 The duration of the story was just right—long enough for me to enjoy going back to Arise's world to see how things had changed, but not so long that the characters were completely unmemorable. Although their love is adorable, I don't really care for it, and the plot fails to captivate me in any way. Additional drawbacks include the need to learn new skills as you level up and craft everything from scratch, as well as the inability to unlock fast travel points because they are all magically gone. You will also always start the DLC at level 60, regardless of how far you grinded in the main game. All of the enemies from the main game will be there, but there won't be many new ones, and in order to use fast travel, you'll need to unlock every area and bonfire from the main game to be usable again. The main game is the best Tales game for beginners, and Tales of Arise is still a good JRPG; nonetheless, it's nothing like Tales of from the past. The dungeon gimmicks such as the Tales of Symphonia's Mana Ring are nowhere to be found. Why are dungeons so incredibly dull to explore? Why is the appearance of every hallway the same just with a different color? Why can I solve any problem with minimal cognitive effort and no mental strain by simply using CP? Beyond the Dawn is disappointing, even by the standards set by the main game. If, for some reason, you’ve read this review without playing the main game, rest assured that it’s decent fun. This DLC expansion, however, can be left out of your cart. [h3] Conclusion [/h3] The story will be the main focus here, but as was already mentioned, they kind of sidestep anything noteworthy. The story revolves around a young girl who has to be babysat, and there are numerous fetch quests that involve things that players have probably already seen or done. Although it doesn't provide much new, fans of the characters will be happy to see more of their favorites. Although general DLC for games is a great idea, too frequently it feels like a cash grab. It is really expensive and doesn't offer anything novel. Positive responses would result from something similar being made available for free, but asking for it at almost half the price of a new / the main game is just too much. It's difficult to recommend this because of the weak plot, which has very little need to be told, combined with the lack of new features. Although it may appear to be visually identical to the main game, the soul is absent. [h2] Final Verdict: 5/10 - DLC is skippable and doesn't bring anything new 💔 [/h2]