You know why I referenced an old song from so long ago in the headline there? Because this review's timing is equally old, but like that song, it's a fun and ceilin' rump-shaking romp of a read. And if I still haven't caught your attention, then I'll just say that there's so much to Tales of Arise that it took a bit longer to produce, in the best way possible.

Here's a snippet from our belated review:

We’re a bit late on this review because, well, Tales of games aren’t small. And Tales of Arise might very well be one of the longest in the series yet. I made a joke in requesting code early for review that the series’ tutorials tend to be in the 10+ hour play-time camp, and in games past, that’s not an exaggerated number. Tales of Arise, however, shortens (and loosens) the learning shackles quite a bit and has you playing the game proper, after its clunky narrative and systems introduction, inside the first few hours. You’ll continue to learn more as you progress and level up, as is the nature of most JRPGs, but where Tales of instantly stands tallest over its many previous incarnations is in its early game accessibility and in setting things up for you as simply as it can. This is done so movement through the game-world quickly becomes a natural reflex, and not a constant fight with restriction (as is the case in many JRPGs) -- a welcome and somewhat new shift in delivery of proceedings.

The lite-on story setup in Arise has you playing as “Iron Mask” -- a Dahnan slave who inexplicably wears an iron mask he can somehow navigate food through and is, naturally, an amnesiac. Iron Mask also can’t feel pain and is *painfully* naive and caring; a truly tropeable piece of Japanese main lead writing when it comes to stories of this nature, yet he and the game are all the more endearing for it.

Click here for our Tales of Arise review.