As the latest in a long running franchise, Tales of Arise takes some big departures from its forebearers. Fans have decried the loss of the series staple co-op, but have been positive about the changes to the combat system.
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One of the biggest combat changes is the introduction of CP, or Cure Points. In previous Tales games, all artes used the same special resource, such as Tales of Vesparia’s Technical Points or Tales of Berseria’s Soul Gague. In Tales of Arise, the Soul Gague returns, but only for offensive artes. Support artes use a seperate resource: Cure Points.
How Tales of Arise’s Cure Points Work
In the heat of battle, the act of casting healing and support artes hasn’t changed much. A character activates the arte, chooses an ally, and spends the Cure Points to heal. The biggest change is how Cure Points are distributed. Instead of individual gauges, the party has a shared pool of Cure Points, which goes down when anyone uses a healing arte. This is despite the fact that only some of Arise’s characters can heal.
Cure Points do have a couple of interesting uses outside of battle, however. If the party is defeated, they spawn back in the overworld map partially healed. The amount healed is dependent on the amount of Cure Points the party had on death.
Cure Points can also be used in the overworld to change the environment and open up pathways. This can turn standard exploration into a risk-reward gamble. This gamble is doubly weighty because CP won’t refill with time. It can only be refilled with special items, resting at an inn, or cooking. These limitations can be mitigated, however, by increasing the party’s CP pool.
How to Increase Max CP in Arise.
There are two ways to increase the max CP amount. The first is fairly fairly straightforward. Like most other stats, the CP pool will slowly increase as the party levels up.
The second method is more difficult. Players can quickly increase CP by fighting Gigants, dangerous minibosses the roam the overworld. These tend to be difficulty spikes, so players should make sure they have proper gear and know how to do Tales of Arise’s powerful mystic artes.
Tales of Arise releases September 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
MORE: Tales of Arise Review
