How Tales of Arise Changes the Standard JRPG Magic Formula
Magic is a core part of the fantasy genre. It's not at the core of every story, but it's often a major element of what makes a setting fantastical. Magic fuels spell-casting, magical items, and sometimes even monsters and the ecosystem of a given world. Video games, often being fantastical themselves, have come up with many novel uses for magic. Just about any gamer can recall moments where they used magic for some purpose, and magic was used against them. In some game genres, magic feels like a near-ubiquitous element.
Nowhere is this feeling stronger than in role-playing games. Having roots in the same tabletop games that spawned Dungeons & Dragons, many RPGs work magic into their settings and mechanics. Governed by some sort of resource, magic can be used to do anything from dealing damage, to healing wounds, altering the abilities of different characters, and even changing the surrounding area. The volume of magic is again intensified when considering JRPGs, which often include high fantasy or outright cosmic elements in their stories. Tales of Arise and its astral energy take many cues from the usual use of magic in JRPGs but also do some extra work to stand out from the pack.
Tales of Arise Blends Genres Better Than Most Sci-Fi/Fantasy Games
As previously mentioned, magic is an incredibly common sight in JRPGs. Sometimes, magic is simply a part of life in a games' universe. Sometimes, it's something that only a special few have access to or something that anyone can learn with great effort. In Pokemon and Digimon, non-magical characters are given means to command the magic of others. There are a lot of ways to go about building magic into a setting, but it's usually just there as an accepted presence in the world.
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