Follow TV Tropes

Following

Heartwarming / Tales of Arise

Go To

As per Wiki policy, all spoilers will be unmarked. Read at your own risk.


Main Story

  • In Glanymede Castle, Shionne is the one who first jumps to protect the boy being harassed by the soldiers. Later, when Alphen is sleeping off his Heroic RRoD, she spends her time healing the wounded despite the rebels telling her that's not necessary.
  • In Cyslodia, you can find two little girls trying to run their father's bread stall on their own after he got carted off to the floodlights. To make it worse, context makes it clear that they have no idea how to make bread, and there's something weird about what they're trying to sell. After the realm is freed, their father is back, and the girls are still helping him—now selling their own unique bread next to his.
  • During the conversation before going to Lenegis where Shionne reveals that she was a Death Seeker for much of the story so far, she also mentions what some of her greatest wishes are. One wish is to hold Rinwell's hand. Rinwell later promises that as soon as the Thorns are gone she's gonna give Shionne a big hug. In the final cutscene both of these finally come true and it's a wonderful moment of sisterly love, especially when one considers the very rough start they had.
  • After the twin worlds are united and the threats of both Vholran and Rena's Great Spirit are gone, much of the credits show the cast moving on to peaceful lives, no longer running around fighting dictators, sentient planets, and killing Zeugles on a daily basis. Alphen and Shionne enjoy a peaceful domestic life just as they discussed in an earlier campfire story, ending with their marriage. Dohalim gets to mend the old wounds between his estranged friends now that he's no longer running from his problems and taking unnecessary burdens, one of the scenes being the three of them playing music together on Dahna. Kisara goes on to make that personal fishing pond she's thought about having, Law goes on to help out kids whenever he can, while Rinwell is studying hard to learn all she can about magic (and presumably, help pass on this knowledge to others).
    • The first colored ending still during the credits is Dohalim officiating a wedding - but it's clear this isn't between Cagari and Nottio, like in the sidequest in the main game. The man has dull eyes, indicating he's Dahnan, and the woman has shining purple eyes, indicating she's Renan. It wasn't just Cagari and Nottio - already, love is blooming between Renans and Dahnans once more after three hundred years of oppression and hate.
    • Rinwell's image includes a few familiar Dahnan owls - namely, the ones that keep Dedyme's mother company. This suggests somewhere along the line Rinwell tried to interact with and possibly even befriend the lonely old woman, who Baephon worried would end up alone after Dedyme's death.
    • Based on her clerk uniform, it's easy to assume that one of the stills focused on Shionne, which shows her cooking with the other women in the party, establishes that was able to open up the restaurant she'd considered managing in several skits.
    • Dohalim didn't just mend bridges with his friends - he's shown putting on a concert for Dahnans, which was something he wanted to do since most Dahnans never had a chance to enjoy music. Kohl, a Calaglian who possibly never heard music in his entire life, is seen attending. Dohalim got his chance to kick-start Dahnan's culture after centuries of suppression.
  • Frankly, after several Tales games in a row with bittersweet endings or even full-on sad endings, Arise ends on a much more happier note with all the main characters surviving and living their lives.
    • The fact that Alphen and Shionne have become the second Tales couple ever to actually kiss onscreen (the other being Asbel and Cheria), and they also end up tying the knot after an undetermined amount of time, in front of all their friends.
    • Even more amazing, there's not a single Love Confession between the two at all; the game is so confident and assured about Alpen and Shionne's relationship that it just lets the characters' interactions speak for themselves.
    • Also worth noting is the proliferation of pink and blue flowers in both the second anime opening and throughout the ending - these are vessels of light and dark astral energy, now appearing on Dahna in all their glory. As the party figured out, the Great Spirit of Rena wasn't evil; it was unable to contain its desire for astral energy and went out of control. The entire planet of Rena and the Great Spirit draw many parallels to the previous Tales Of villains Lambda and the Little Queens from Fodra, and once again, the heroes have a chance to incorporate misunderstood entities that simply didn't know better and felt they had no other options into the brilliant new world.

Sidequests

  • One sidequest involves a Dahnan woman asking for the party to locate her boyfriend, who turns out to be a Renan soldier. Despite the oddity, Dohalim takes it very personally and tracks down the soldier, who is stationed in another province and explains that he loves his girlfriend, but he knows that leaving to see her would risk death (both for her, and for him) since he would be abandoning his job, and requests they tell her he won't be returning. Dohalim insists he go and see her, and when the soldier refuses again, Dohalim invokes his name and tells the man that he is free to see her, and that if anyone dares get in his way, he will see to it they pay for it. In the end, the couple is reunited with some talk of marriage (a later quest has Dohalim officiating the wedding), with Kisara commenting how surprised she was that Dohalim took it so seriously and hinting he may have feelings for a Dahnan himself (i.e. her). It shows that Dohalim is truly committed to his cause, and also shows that some Renans and Dahnans can form bonds without force.
    • Following the wedding, you can find Cagari and Nottio living a peaceful life back in Cagari's home of Thistlym. When spoken to, Nottio will say he's the happiest man in the Twin Worlds... which is doubly heartwarming, because as the note on the term 'Twin Worlds' describes, not many people refer to Dahna and Rena as the Twin Worlds because it eliminates the master and slave relationship between the two peoples. Nottio is the first person in the game to use the term, suggesting that the Renans might be closer to growing past their oppression of Dahna than the party thinks.
  • A sidequest in Niez called "Farewell, Mage" involves helping someone who went up Mount Dhiara return safely. Said person is attacked by Zeugles so the party saves him, only for him to freak out when he realizes Rinwell is a Dahnan Mage and runs away. When completing the quest and reporting it back to Baephon, the man from earlier acts incredibly rude to Rinwell because she is a Mage, causing an already down Rinwell to feel worse. Dohalim then steps in and starts chewing out the man for insulting her, making it clear that Rinwell is a unique person who doesn't deserve to be treated so harshly. Considering how Rinwell started off not liking Dohalim, it shows how much things have changed that she is moved by him defending her.
  • "Her Place" features Dohalim using poetry to express how much Kisara means to him when she is doubting her value to the group. It's one of the only times in the game Kisara gets flustered, and Rinwell notes how happy she is in the next scene, wondering what happened only for Kisara to make up an excuse.
    "Life without you
    Would be no life at all.
    With you by my side,
    Even the bitter times can taste sweet."
  • Two of the three cameo characters in Arise are Edna and Eizen. In Tales of Zestiria, we never see the siblings interact because Eizen has been turned into a dragon. In Tales of Berseria, we never see the siblings interact because Eizen is staying away from Edna to protect her from the Reaper's Curse. The bonus dungeon finally sees the siblings reunited across time. And while they will both have to return to their own times and be separated once more, the two are very happy to see each other, with Edna going so far as to give a rare, sincere smile.

Skits

  • Shortly after Law is recruited into the party and Cyslodia is liberated, Law continues to have lingering regrets about aiding the Renans, turning in innocent people and rebels alike, and especially being directly involved in the death of his father, Zephyr. Alphen proceeds to have a heart-to-heart with him, acting as a Cool Big Bro and giving him comfort, perspective, and words to find a new reason to keep fighting on.

Camp Interactions

  • One generic camp interaction between Rinwell and Alphen consists of him giving her an Affectionate Gesture to the Head as he talks to her. The way Rinwell, long without such paternal treatment, reacts will melt the heart just as her expression seems to melt in happiness.
  • The skit for Shionne's final bonding session eventually has her and Alphen discuss what they're going to do after the adventure is over. Alphen mentions being able to cook in an actual kitchen, at which point both wistfully start describing a house. Their house. The one they'll be living in together.
  • In one of Shionne's bonding sessions after Alphen gets his memories back, he mentions that he brought a doll with him to Lenegis that his friend had made, but he lost it after the Spirit Channeling Ceremony failed. Shionne reveals to Alphen that her only companionship at the lab is an extremely old doll of unknown origins. She admits that it is extremely improbable that it's the same doll, but she still likes the idea that Alphen has been with her longer than she thought.

Beyond The Dawn

  • An early sidequest in Beyond The Dawn establishes that the fusion of Rena and Dahna is so well known, that the blue and pink flowers that represent the two wills have come to be known as the 'Rose of Unity', which is later revealed to be Dohalim's suggested name. Even with all the tensions between the Renans and the Dahnans, most people can at least respect the idea that the two wills finally coexist and are happy with their current arrangement. In fact, Rena and Dahna's own reconciliation is one of the primary rallying points for unity between the two peoples.
    • Further, the blue roses of Rena are still everywhere, and the game isn't shy about having them crop up across the map. Though there wasn't much of Rena left to merge with Dahna, and some of the hollowed seas unfortunately came with it, it's comforting to know that people accept Rena itself enough to preserve its manifestation.
  • As a lovely callback, it turns out that Cagari and Nottio's wedding was so inspirational to the people of the New World, that any civilization that didn't have issues with Dahnan and Renan coexistence immediately began incorporating weddings into their culture in earnest. The two lovers defying racism and joining together set off a powder keg that allowed love to blossom everywhere. Even better, their wedding turns out to be the impetus behind Alphen finally deciding to get serious and start learning, getting ready for when he asks Shionne to marry him.
    • Shionne reveals that Cagari and Nottio are still going strong together, and in fact found a lovely little home for themselves.
  • Little incidental moments of kindness occur throughout the game, especially during sidequests. One sidequest that requires you to hunt down Zareh (the cat from the main game) has two Renans, a mother and son duo, fawning over Zareh. The mother, a Lenegis refugee, admits she's finding it difficult to entirely divorce herself from the mindset that Dahnans are their inferiors, but adamantly continues to try purely because of her love for her son and her own pride in his open-mindedness towards coexistence. Truly, there is no force greater than a mother's love. She even finds some success in overcoming her racist views by befriending Zareh.
  • One sidequest in Messia 224 has the party help a considerate brother, who wants to help his sickly older brother get outside for the first time in his entire life for the chance to see sweeping mountain vistas and forest scenery. With the help of his brother leading their horse and the party keeping zeugles at bay, the sickly brother gets to enjoy the view of a lifetime, and reflects on how the unconditional kindness of the party convinced him that the days of Snake Eyes and Renan rule over Cyslodia is over. As a cherry on top, finishing this sidequest causes a good quarter of Messia's residents to realize how foolish they had been looking for traitors among their neighbors, causing a chain reaction of kindness throughout the village that culminates in the younger brother feeling that next time they want to try, he would be able to have the village help his brother see sights outside the town.
  • The sight of Ulzebek a year after the events of the main game. Not only are there planters filled with Roses of Unity, the end of most mining operations and thus a halt to the constant fires means that the area has actually started to recover, such that savanna grasses, weeds, and bushes are beginning to grow naturally, making the entire area far less inhospitable than it was before.
  • A skit in Pelegion has Law remark on how amazing it is Dohalim never seems to complain about having to be the Renan leader of Ganath Haros, despite the massive headaches the area has over its own issues between the Dahnans and Renans. When Dohalim decides to vent a bit through poetry, Kisara expertly 'translates' each verse for the confused party, showing how easily Kisara and Dohalim understand each other. His final poem instead turns towards how Kisara is more than just his friend - she's very much the muse by which he wakes up every morning to continue his duties.
    "Great courage is needed
    To travel the long road ahead.
    You, as ever, are my courage."
  • The 'terrible drawing of the protagonist' trend returns in the DLC, only this time, there's a drawing for each party member and a group sketch, and the drawings were made by Nazamil, which flatters each party member. They all compliment the works, likely recognizing Nazamil, as a sheltered child, earnestly did the best she could to capture each likeness - even Dohalim, something of an art critic, notes how impressed he is that Nazamil managed to capture his typical habit of tilting his head in art form, something so subtle he's surprised anyone but Kisara picked up on it.
  • In the Jungle Mausoleum, Nazamil's room contains Adan Pepper, which is the main ingredient of the Social Mabo Curry that the party shared with her. In the Flame Palace section of the Keystone, there's a chest that contains additional Adan Pepper. These are small hints that Nazamil really values her first meal with the party, enough that she'd go out of her way to hoard this specific pepper.
  • The final shot of the game is Nazamil happily holding Dahnan and Renan Roses of Unity, symbolically accepting her mixed heritage as a Dahnan and Renan and reminding the player of just how positive the future for the New World is.

Other

  • The blue cloth that Alphen wears as part of the Sincleaver Armor. Why is this heartwarming? Because early on in the game during a camp conversation, Shionne had told Alphen that blue would suit him. After that, Alphen takes her advice and decides to wear blue colors when putting on the armor, and he even confirms this during a later conversation with her. This was something that Shionne stated in passing, but Alphen took it to heart anyway which shows how much he values her opinion.
    • It gets even sweeter. When they get their sovereign and maiden outfits Alphen gets very excited that it's got blue accents in it already, and his outfit for their wedding? Blue waistcoat and bow tie. He wanted to please her so much that it's essentially become part of his love language to wear blue.
  • The descriptions for the "Ceremonial" owl and wolf outfits for Rinwell and Law describe her entrusting him with performing a special ritual of her mage clan, which requires two people and these outfits. It's implied to be a sign of how close the two have become.
  • During the Sword Art Online DLC crossover boss fight with Kirito and Asuna, should Kirito be defeated first, Asuna immediately goes full Creation Goddess Stacia, effectively nuking the entire field and ending the battle in an instant in a One-Hit Total Party Kill. Also doubles as awesome.
  • If you revisit the cities and towns after clearing Forland Mountains, you'll find members of the resistance groups crossing borders in order to help other regions, showing that the party's efforts have created a sense of unity among the Dahnans and Menancian Renans.

Top