Here’s why:
What To Do With Old Armor
One thing you’ll realize when playing Tales of Arise is that money, or Gald to be exact, is rather difficult to come by. You will not even earn any upon emerging victorious from most of the game’s many monster encounters. They occasionally drop sellable loot, but it is not a steady income. This is further illustrated by the fact that the necessary provisions for your journey aren’t cheap either. Take Orange Gel as an example, as it costs 3000 Gald. 3000 Gald for an item which restores 30% of the party’s shared cure points pool. It’s an essential item the entire way through your adventure as it is based on a percentage, and therefore scales to your party’s stats. Due to these necessities being so expensive, you are going to want to make money however you can. Fortunately, old armor can safely be sold off to merchants for a quick bit of cash. This is because it has no other use once you have found something better to equip. It will not be a part of later crafting recipes and it can’t even be handed down to others in the party, as every character has their own unique armor type.
What To Do With Old Weapons
This is where some more thought is required, as Tales of Arise does have a crafting system, and it does revolve around weapons. Each character in Tales of Arise will have an extensive selection of weapons to choose from over the course of the game. However, unlike many other RPGs, they are almost exclusively obtained through crafting, and are simply not sold by the various shopkeepers you’ll encounter. Additionally, some early weapons will (as you progress through the game) become usable as crafting reagents to create upgraded versions. The first tier of upgrade is usually known as Refined, and then secondly, Supreme. As shown in the image below, the Refined Grouper Flood is an upgrade on the Grouper Flood, a much cheaper and weaker rifle. In the same image, you may note the Supreme Grouper Flood. This is a late game gun that is crafted using the Refined Grouper Flood. As another example, Alphen’s best weapon, the Realm Unifier, relies on the player undertaking a side quest towards the end of the game which retrieves the Iron Pipe. By itself, the Iron Pipe is about as useful as a VCR Player in 2022. However, you cannot obtain one of the most powerful weapons in the game without it. In fact, every character has multiple weapons that, once put aside in favor of something stronger, can later be used to forge something better later. As such, it is highly recommended that you keep any old weapons and leave them unequipped. That way you don’t have to start from scratch, wasting time, gald, and reagents forging the base weapon again just to make its superior version. Note: there are several weapons available for each character which do not rely on having previous, weaker counterparts, and simply require certain crafting materials. However, for much of Tales of Arise, the best weapons available will be ones which are crafted from their earlier forms. Note #2: as well as the weaker version of the weapon, you will also need a number of additional crafting reagents to forge the improved version.
Old Weapons in Crafting (Guide)
Here is a comprehensive list of the weapons that can be upgraded through crafting, and thus the ones that should definitely be held on to.
Alphen:
Shionne:
Rinwell:
Law:
Kisara:
Dohalim:
Final Notes
As a fan of many different RPGs, I’m fully aware of the crisis that each player experiences upon the occasion of their first time playing through a new game. The crisis of not knowing what to do with all of their old gear. In Octopath Traveler or Trials of Mana, you can effectively dump all of your old equipment at the local general store without having to worry about needing to use it or see it ever again. However, in later Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy games it can be more troublesome, as selling the seemingly useless Copper Sword of Tooth Picking early on could potentially lock you out of eventually synthesizing the Ultima Weapon of God Slaying. For Tales of Arise, it falls between these two scenarios, with its heavy focus on weapon crafting. So as a final reminder: Offload your armor for some much needed Gald, but keep your weapons for forging.
