I've been a patron of the Tales of series (and its less commercially successful sister series, Star Ocean) since its inception. Tales of Phantasia, for its time, had some of the most innovative gameplay elements and a story that blended science fiction with high fantasy - and, surprisingly, it worked. It worked well, even.
Fast-forward nearly thirty years (!!!) and you have Tales of Arise, which has combined several of the series' greatest conventions to mostly great effect. Since I'm a fan of organization, I'm going to categorize a few elements that the series is known for and compare them on a sliding scale to previous entries with a numbered rating.
Combat - 8.5
The combat of Arise is smooth and slightly unconventional when compared to previous titles. You have a "CP" gauge that controls how much healing can be done in a battle. This pairs well with items, which can close the gap if your CP runs out, and the cooking mechanic which helps to mitigate some of CP usage with enhancement bonuses and campsites which recover the gauge entirely. The overall speed of battle seems slower than Tales of Berseria, which I felt was a near perfect culmination of other battle system iterations in the series. Tales of Graces F was the best battle system of the franchise, and Tales of Arise doesn't quite match up to that level of fast-paced, nail-biting action. And it doesn't have Malik throwing out one-liners in a speedo, which is a decisive strike against.
Graphics - 9.0
Where the graphics are nowhere near as impressive as, say, other current-gen releases, for the Tales series this is a huge step forward. Everything looks crisp, clean and the environmental designers did an awesome job creating thematic, non-repetitive environments for the player to explore. Without getting too deep into those themes, each one is based off an element, and the design team utilized this to great effect. Character models do sometimes seem a little robotic and lifeless in the skits, but otherwise look good.
Gameplay - 9.0
The gameplay and overworld element are where Tales of Arise really shines. The voice acting cast has really knocked every role out of the park, and the pithy, quick retorts of Shionne and other characters feel real. This entry is much more serious than the series predecessors. Comedy was a strong suit of Tales of Graces F (Out the butt?) and Tales of Symphonia (Tell me your name and I shall tell you mine.), but Tales of Arise has put that metaphorical baby in the corner.
Other series tropes have returned, specifically the existence of treasures/animals/items that reward the player with optional costumes/accoutrements, however, one series trope that notably hasn't returned is four-player local coop during battles. Where this doesn't affect the game overall and I'm not scoring the game much lower because of this exclusion, I dislike this omission. Tales games were the naissance of an event that my friends and I lazily nicknamed "Tales of Broplans", where we would all take a week off work/school/life to do nothing but eat garbage food and play through the most recent title in the series with me at the helm. Suffice to say I'm not pleased, but I'm mopping up my tears with cheddar rice crisps and Cool Ranch Doritos.
Story - 8.5
Fans of the Tales series, let's be real with each other. Story has never been a strength of the titles. Where you'll have a lot of different opinions, the strongest story entries are probably Tales of Phantasia, Tales of the Abyss, Tales of Symphonia and Tales of Vesperia. Other entries were all about the gameplay, so we didn't mind a few rehashed story elements here and there. Tales of Arise hits the ground running, much in the same way Tales of Graces F does on the Playstation 3/Wii. While reintroducing themes of slavery and a "crystal core" to the series, this game places you in the precarious position of beinga slave as well, with a few caveats. One, you don't feel pain. Like, at all. Two, you have acquired some serious moves in the -what? Year? - that you've been a slave. Three, you're Leo DiCaprio's estranged twin from Man in the Iron Mask. Oh, and within thirty minutes, you've rebelled against the Renans, joined a faction of Dahnan insurgents called the Crimson Crows, found a girl who has some super secret "Master Core" in her chest. And you've become a major player in the resistances' efforts to succeed in true super-powered anime protagonist fashion.
Feels like a big commitment in 30 minutes' time, but I'll play along.
Where normally hyper-pacing would be a threat to the overarching pace of the game, somehow it works. One of Kurt Vonnegut's famously quoted (in my case, paraphrased) lines to writers is to tell the reader everything they need to know as soon as possible. Well, this game does that. No one wants to trudge through hours of dialogue and world building before getting to the meat, right?
Minor Gripes
As with most things, there are a few minor gripes I have with the game. One, no local co-op. Two, DLC in menus. This isn't something I'd score against the game for and since it's pretty benign, I don't really care that it's there. However, when you're playing a game all elements of the outside world should be non-existent. Immersion is not served when you're scrolling through menus and see the parent company's sorry attempt to scrounge as many pennies off of extra costumes as possible. I'm fine with it being at the title screen and even in the game menu, but leave off the shameless money-grubbing at, for instance, the campsites.
Overall - 9.0
Here's the thing: Tales of Arise might seem like a small step forward, development-wise, for the series compared to other games in the genre, but for the Tales' development team, this was a risky entry. They removed some historically favored elements, embraced some current-gen design and did so while keeping true to the series most beloved tropes. Characterization has never been as good as it is in Arise, and the voice acting performances only serve to underscore that fact. The story might not be anything wildly different, but it does use some of the previous entries' strongest themes to great effect (slavery, oppression, sympathetic antagonists). Where a new-comer to the series may not be as impressed as a storied veteran, this game is an easy 9 for me and, I suspect, for most of the fans.
That being said, I think a fair score range, if accounting for bias, would be anywhere from an 8-9. As they say, everyone's a critic, so take this with a grain of salt and be sure to experience the game for yourself for a score more attuned to your personal experience.