We don't know just how the Strike gauge works, but the idea seems similar to Tales of Vesperia's Fatal Strikes. Two characters pair up to finish the enemy with a dynamic Mystic Arte-like assault. Once a gauge (shown over the target marker) fills up, a 'Strike!' indicator activates and the Boost Strike can be used for free. Boost Strikes: Fatal Finalitiesīoost Strikes in Arise are a special finishing move. But depending on how the Boost system develops, it could be a much richer tactical experience for the party leader. This is actually more invasive to multiplayer in some ways. Your options always include the Boosts of not just a partner but all of your allies. This is a more holistic form of party play. An ally's Boost seems to support the leader-when Alphen calls on Shionne's, she teleports behind him before firing her barrage. Instead, you can activate your own Boost Attack or any other characters' at any time, provided their personal Boost charge is ready. However, outside of these systems, a partner can act independently whether human or AI. The Armatus system absorbs them completely.

The Partner Blast power allows a character to summon their partner mid-combo for a special attack. Zestiria pairs its characters, but the effect is a bit different. Kruelle would even shapeshift and get extra benefits from assisting a character this way. The twins or Kruelle could be commanded to use the Chain Partner skill to temporarily synchronize their attacks with the player character. Linking to a character makes them impossible to play by a human, since it completely takes over their behavior.Ī form of linking also goes back to Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon X. They also automatically join your attacks and can follow your actions with a unique Support Skill. Using the Link system on a second character grants you some of their skills. Tapping other characters to supplement your own became a central mechanic in Tales of Xillia and its sequel. Many players simply use the commands on the character they're playing, turning them into additional arte slots and using the menu for the AI. The feature has mixed interactions with multiplayer-in some games, it will take over the commanded character, but in others, the player gets priority.

The ability to set shortcuts to command your allies to do certain moves goes all the way back to Phantasia. This is likely a factor in the decision to make Arise a single-player game, so let's talk about the ups and downs of team tactics and where Arise zags. Boost Attacks: A Brief History of Assistsīoost Attacks are the latest in a long line of mechanics in Tales that allow you to command your party. But when you pick your moment to land a powerful special attack, its AG cost will be an important consideration. You can use them to set up or connect a strike arte however you like. The main difference in Arise is that basic attacks cost no AG. You may want to stun the enemy with a 3-CC Lion's Howl, but if you only have 5 CC, you have to think carefully about what goes before and after it. In Destiny, on the other hand, artes with higher CC costs affected the combo in an immediate way.

More powerful artes only costed more TP, SC, or SG.

In Xillia, Zestiria, and Berseria, a combo could be the same number of artes no matter what those artes were. Shionne's and Rinwell's spells take 2 as well. We see Alphen combining strikes that spend 1 and 2 AG from his pool of 4. More importantly, different artes in Arise take different amounts of AG. The diamonds even fill up from the left, but the partial bar is only to show how fast the points return (a feeling that should be familiar to those who played Graces). This row of diamonds may look like Berseria's Soul Gauge, but it has a lot more in common with Destiny's Chain Capacity, or CC.

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