Proper off the bat, the most important downside with Tales of Come up: Past the Daybreak is making an attempt to recollect how one can truly play Tales of Come up. The (largely implausible, in our opinion) motion RPG launched what seems like an eternity in the past again in September 2021, and now, over two years later, we’re getting a full-on post-game growth.
However the DLC does not draw out of your save knowledge instantly. As an alternative, your progress in the principle sport merely unlocks numerous bonuses, like further character ranges, gear, and ability factors. What’s extra, you entry Past the Daybreak from its personal possibility on the principle menu, which instantly makes the growth really feel like its personal separate entity.
Though that is clearly not the case, as this new journey takes place one 12 months after Tales of Come up, and is actually only one huge reference to the world-saving quest of Alphen and his allies. It actually goes with out saying, however simply to be clear, this growth will make subsequent to no sense if you have not rolled credit within the base launch.
Story-wise, Past the Daybreak is all concerning the affect that our heroes have had on their newly fashioned world. The 2 peoples of Dahna and Rena at the moment are being pressured to coexist, and so contemporary fractures are forming within the peace that Alphen and co. fought so onerous to achieve. The social gathering have taken it upon themselves to ease everybody into their new existence, and thus spend their days travelling from city to city, aiding the folks with their issues.
The gang’s routine is shortly damaged, nonetheless, after they bump into a sometimes mysterious lady throughout the DLC’s opening minutes. Admittedly, first impressions of the younger Nazamil aren’t nice. She comes throughout as a strolling anime trope, letting out brief sighs and refusing to elaborate on her state of affairs, even if she’s clearly on the run from… one thing. Irritating stuff.
Fortunately, Nazamil does open up because the plot progresses, and by the tip, she enhances the present solid fairly properly. That stated, the plot itself does really feel a bit stretched all through the growth’s 20-ish hour runtime. The DLC does not actually have a lot to work with outdoors of Nazamil and the sudden look of monster-filled dungeons referred to as Mausoleums. In consequence, complete chunks of the narrative come throughout as filler, with our protagonists typically getting slowed down in finishing up comparatively mundane duties.
That is to not say the story’s a whole miss, thoughts. Surprisingly, Past the Daybreak manages to offer the gang some first rate character improvement, and truthfully, it is simply pleasing to see Alphen and his buddies participate in what’s a extra laidback journey. When you loved the core solid in Tales of Come up, you will get together with what this growth is making an attempt to do.
However for us, the true draw of the DLC is its dedication to dungeon crawling and massive battles. The aforementioned Mausoleums present loads of alternatives to discover treasure-heavy ruins, and tackle powerful enemies. Once more, you will not be utilizing your pimped-out social gathering from the principle sport, however the six playable heroes all begin at a excessive stage, and are available outfitted with endgame gear. In different phrases, the growth expects you to tear straight into the title’s extra superior fight mechanics, and that is precisely what most gamers will need from post-game content material (at the least, as soon as they’ve wrapped their heads across the controls once more).
Fight stays a blast as soon as you’ve got discovered your rhythm. Chaining particular strikes collectively to stagger your opponents into submission nonetheless feels nice, and popping off a tag assault to deal enormous harm is eternally satisfying. But when there’s one sticking level within the motion, it is that there is nonetheless a extreme lack of enemy selection. Past the Daybreak provides a naked minimal variety of contemporary monsters so that you can clobber. Even bosses from the principle sport are reskinned and reused, which comes as a distinctly disappointing realisation, having simply charged by an all-new dungeon.
The fight system’s inherent strengths shine by general, although, and the growth’s emphasis on back-to-back battles is participating. There are some high quality encounters right here — particularly within the later dungeons — that’ll push your expertise past the problem of the core sport.
Conclusion
Past the Daybreak is not an particularly thrilling growth, however it’s nonetheless a stable post-game expertise for individuals who loved Tales of Come up. It is responsible of treading overly acquainted floor, and the storytelling can really feel a bit tedious, however there’s enjoyable to be present in exploring all-new dungeons and taking over highly effective opponents. The DLC could also be dropping too late for a lot of gamers, however Alphen and the gang’s epilogue is definitely worth the return journey when you’ve bought the time.
