Tales of Arise dev says there are no plans for a direct sequel

From Games Radar: "The producer of Tales of Arise has explained why the studio has no plans for a direct sequel or narrative expansion.

Speaking to Edge magazine, producer Yusuke Tomiwaza said that despite the game's success - Tales of Arise shipped 1.5 million copies in its first month to become the series' fastest-selling title ever - a sequel wasn't on the cards. Instead, the team hoped that the story would be complete "with a good aftertaste" that would eliminate the need for expansion.

Instead of building on that story, Tomizawa says that his studio wants "to continue to take on the challenge of [...] acquiring new fans for further expansion of JRPGs." To do that, "we need to come up with a cutting-edge flagship title that builds on the success of Arise, while also providing an opportunity to rediscover the history of the series."

[RavenWolfx]

I 100% the game, really enjoyed it. It doesn't exactly lend itself well to a sequel.

[babadivad]

While sequels are exceedingly rare in the Tales series, there's an entire planet left completely unexplored at the end of the game.

[RavenWolfx]

True, but would it be a direct sequel with the same characters? Would we keep our levels (I was level 100) or is there going to be a contrived reason that everyone is back to level 1? Would it be brand new characters? If so, what happened to the original group of people?

Yeah, I suppose you could make a sequel but if they didn't have that in mind when making the game originally, it just feels tacked on.

[babadivad]

@Raven

The excuse could be that since the spirit of the planet is different, their old artes won't work here and thus have to learn new ones. That is if they used the same characters.

If they used new characters in the same world then there's no problem. The old characters can just make cameos here or there if at all.

Still, contrived or not, there's a lot of room for a sequel if they wanted. That being said, I personally don't want a direct sequel. I like that they tell new stories every game.

[GoodGuy09]

The game is fine by itself. Go for a new story and world in the next installment instead please.

[TheColbertinator]

A new game would be fine. Both Arise and Berseria were strong releases and I hope to see more quality later to challenge the crown of the JRPG.

[babadivad]

I have beaten every tales game besides Zestiria and Berseria. Really hoping for a palate cleans after trudging through Zestiria.

[Lightning Mr Bubbles]

It kind of sucked anyway, really emotionless and boring story. No need for a sequel.

[Knightofelemia]

I like the game but I am curious as to how they could even pull off a sequel its pretty much a complete story from beginning to end. Sometimes sequels in the Tales franchise will either be good or it's crap. Berseria is a great prequel/sequel to Zestiria, Tales of Xillia 2 was great I enjoyed it, Tales of Symphonia 2 honestly was just crap.

[MehmetAlperTR]

Liked it.. But still thinking Berseria was better than that...

[pietro1212]

Berseria is a better game

[jznrpg]

It had a good story and was fleshed out and complete imo. You can always add a sequel in some way but it doesn’t need it .

[PCgamer98]

Does is need to? The game ended like how a disney movie would have ended and they didn't really gave it reason for a sequel.

[Imortus_san]

Waiting for a price drop.