So, one of the reason's I enjoyed this so much is the story and how real the effects and stakes felt, despite it's very clearly fantastical setting. The dynamic between the Dahnan slaves lost in hopelessness under their Renan overseers and how each region had their tactics of instilling fear made each area feel real and worth liberating. You can tell they intentionally covered certain topics as a bit of "social commentary", but it's not in the way that crams certain ideals down your throat. It just feels more inspired by, rather than something meant to mirror. It's handled quite tastefully in my opinion and makes for an effective story. Plus, the story does a pretty good job of pacing you with mysteries--as soon as one question gets solved one or two more take its place, all the way up to the end. Areas don't really feel like you just "complete the level and be done with the zone"--each world has its own significance, especially to the characters that come from there. Older areas are still mentioned a lot by them. Speaking of the characters...

A good story can easily be dragged down by boring characters, and I'm glad to say that pretty much all of the main characters have tons of depth to them. Alphen, as the main character, is a bit of a "heroic" figure and is the most "do-good"er of the group. However, that's not to say that he doesn't have his own internal struggles to overcome. As someone who's lost not only his memory but also his feeling, he struggles with finding who he is and why he's different than everyone else. Shionne's internal battle is half an external one. Physically unable to touch anyone without causing them immense pain, she has walled off her heart of basically all warm feelings and interactions, and struggles with opening up to others. Law is the son of a well-respected man in the eyes of many, but the two have had a falling out for almost Law's entire life. Now, too late to make amends, Law chases the legacy of his father and lives with the regrets of how he acted to his father in the past. Rinwell comes from a family that was nearly all exterminated by Renans and she's lived with immense hatred for them ever since. Now, traveling with Renan's together, she has to learn how to let go of the hate in her heart. The other's struggles are linked more tightly to a certain arc, so I will refrain from describing them in detail. Explaining vaguely, Dohalim, for all his regal presentation and status, struggles immensely with projected inferiority and massive self doubt. If I had to make one complaint in the area of characters, I'd say maybe Kisara's personal struggles felt a bit weaker in comparison to the other members. Again, it's hard to explain without getting into spoilers, so I'll just have to ask you to take my word for it. Even still, I enjoyed her character and it meshes very well with the others in the cast. Everyone's different backgrounds helps each other find the answers to each of their problems, and they each have fantastic chemistry. It's always fun to see how different combinations of characters interact in the skits. As far as the villains go, they're alright. A lot of them feel like they're evil for the sake of being evil, but they do get some fleshing out late game. It did feel like their main purpose was to provide a specific obstacle for a certain party member to overcome, physically and mentally.

One of the biggest selling points about this game is its beautifully striking art style. Taking inspiration from watercolor, each area has a sort of painted look to the textures. Coupled with bold color composition, visually interesting terrain, and amazing lighting to match it makes nearly every scene pop and feel distinct. From the spotlights guiding your eyes to the high tower of Cyslodia, the terraformed earthy plains of Elde Menancia, or the hauntingly perfect architecture of Ganath Haros, each location is beautifully rendered and tells the story of the land and its inhabitants. So many times I had to just stop and stare at the world because of how beautiful it was, and wonder what exactly happened to make this world the way it looks; and as you progressed in that area you would find that out. There's not a single area I would say felt subpar, each area was masterfully crafted. VFX for things like abilities, sword slashes, and other things are great as well. I'd say fire ends up looking the best, which makes sense given that it's the one you'll see the most of in the game, but that's not to downplay the effects of the other elements. While VFX may seem like a minor point to cover in a general review, it does a fantastic job of selling you on the world and is one of the great elements that immerses you. It combines well with the great cinematography, making special ability cinematics feels quite powerful. To round this off section, as per usual with tales games there are occasional 2D cutscenes that were animated by ufotable. Usually I'd say these are the highlight of the tales cutscenes for me, but surprisingly in this case I think the regular 3D cutscenes are so good this time around that they outshine the ufotable ones and I would catch myself sometimes wishing a certain moment was in 3D instead.

This section will probably be shorter than the rest, but I would say the music lives up to the quality of the rest of the game. The Main Theme starts with a slow lull then builds into an epic crescendo; the general battle theme, Flame of Hope, is probably the most iconic of the soundtrack and I still enjoy it even after it playing hundreds of times; Night & Light may be my favorite from the game just because of how incredibly epic it is; and there are plenty more I'm not listing here that were good in their own right. When I first played the game, I did pause the first or second fight just so I could listen to the song. Most overworlds have similar-ish "calm orchestra" songs, although Menancia has my favorite just because of how peaceful it is, and they usually ramp up the intensity when you get to the dungeons. A lot of the soundtrack kinda follows the same beats (heh), but it's still what I'd consider a good soundtrack and it fits the vibe of the area, fight, or cutscene pretty well.

And finally the crux, the gameplay. So far I haven't played a whole lot of Tales games, but this is easily the best Tales game to me gameplay-wise. Coming from Zesteria, it was relieving to see a change to more focused, linear levels. It made each area feel like it had purpose rather than just empty expanse. Combat is so free in this game and it's a lot of fun to take full advantage of all the combat mechanics. Using Law to break armor, Kisara to halt a charge, or Rinwell to steal an enemy's arte is a fun submechanic of combat that rewards you for good reactions and saving resources for when you really need them. This pairs well with the action gauge that lets you use artes, special abilities, because calling in a party member for one of these actions restores a portion of your action gauge. There are so many layers that combat has and you'll always feel like you're learning and improving all the way up to the end. I will say, however, that the general gameplay does house the most of my few complaints with this game. Firstly, while there are a lot of enemy types, a lot of them get reused constantly with new skins. You will quite often see the same enemies you fought in the previous zone but with a new element and skin. Another being that weapons and armor are a linear upgrade path, providing you no reason not to equip the newest piece you got. Lastly, the last area was slightly underwhelming in a game design sense, without getting into spoilers.

Despite my couple of complaints, this is easily one of my favorite JRPG games now. Possibly favorite, but I'll have to see how that thought stews in my brain over time. Would highly recommend.