It's been five years since the release of Tales of Berseria, and so it's safe to say that fans of the franchise are anxious to play the next game in the series. Expectations are high for the upcoming Tales of Arise, with the game meant to breathe new life in the decades-old franchise. This means Tales of Arise is making some big changes to the established formula, and one change in particular may prove to be especially controversial.
Speaking to IGN, Tales of Arise producer Yusuke Tomizawa has confirmed that the new game will not include multiplayer. For the uninitiated, multiplayer co-op has been a prominent feature in the series for most of the Tales of games. In fact, being able to play the games in co-op has long been one of their defining characteristics and how they manage to stand out from other titles in the crowded JRPG space.
Tomizawa explained why the decision was made to remove multiplayer from Tales of Arise. "So this game is really a standalone game where one person really enjoys the drama and the overall story of the game," Tomizawa said. He confirmed that there are not plans to include a multiplayer mode of any kind. But where there is no multiplayer mode, Tales of Arise fans can expect extra effort in the game's combat mechanics.
According to Tomizawa, the development team focused on character interaction in battle. Unfortunately, none of the Tales of Arise trailers shown so far have showed the game's combat or any real gameplay, instead deciding to focus on the setting, characters, and story. Hopefully fans can get a glimpse at Tales of Arise's combat sooner rather than later so they have a better idea of if it was worth losing the multiplayer mode.
Since multiplayer has been a fixture for the series for so many entries, Tales of Arise ditching multiplayer will likely not be well-received by longtime fans. However, it's still too early to pass much judgment on the game. As previously mentioned, very little Tales of Arise footage has been released so far, and so it's hard to say how the final game will be. But with the Tales of Arise release date coming up in September, fans should start seeing a lot more of the game soon.
There will also be a next-gen version of Tales of Arise that will feature some PS5 and Xbox Series X exclusive bells and whistles, so fans have that to look forward to as well.
Tales of Arise launches September 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
Source: IGN
