![]() ![]() ![]() The game casts you in the role of a group of heroes working to liberate communities from a colonial power, and while its not certainly not relativist in its treatment of the subject (liberating an oppressed people from a colonial power is a righteous cause), the game does a remarkable job of highlighting the internal conflict of the characters and some of the things they need to do in chasing the objective, and – most critically – actually asking the question “what’s next?” After you expel the imperialists, life doesn’t immediately revert to a utopic freedom. Arguably as well as I’ve ever seen in popular entertainment. I need not have been, because Tails of Arise handles it magnificently. ![]() That simplistic and naïve understanding of revolution does people no favours, and when I first realised that this would be the dominant theme of Tales of Arise, I was more than a little concerned. It will barely touch on the personal, cultural and political tensions that lead to it, and it rarely deals with the subsequent consequences that come from a successful revolution. In most cases, when popular entertainment deals with revolution as a subject, it simply focuses on the fight for freedom. Revolutions are always motivated by a good cause – the rising up of the oppressed and downtrodden – but what comes after the revolution isn’t always a positive outcome (and whether it is a positive outcome or not depends on your worldview across a whole lot of things). By its very nature it’s politically loaded, inspires people towards polarised thinking, and involves wide-ranging social and cultural change. Revolution isn’t an easy topic to deal with. It’s a game about one of my favourite topics and areas of thought – revolution – and it does it with almost surprising nuance. I enjoy them enough, but even the best of them doesn’t wind up on my list of favourite JRPGs. I’ve not been the world’s biggest fan of Bandai Namco’s Tails series. ![]() “We cannot be sure of having something to live for unless we are willing to die for it.” – Che Guevara. ![]()
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