Tales of Graces f Review

One of the most underrated Japanese RPGs in the United States is the Tales series from Namco. While it’s a game that a majority of gamers disregard in this country, those who are fond of the JRPG genre hold the game in a high regard and some even prefer it over Final Fantasy titles. Following the somewhat abysmal reception of Tales of Vesperia on the Xbox 360, Namco didn’t release an enhanced PS3 version, which worried Tales fans. However, they eventually released Tales of Graces f, which is an enhanced version from the Wii adaptation. Has Namco made the right decision in bringing Tales of Graces f here to the United States for the unwavering fans of the series?

Let’s take a look at what’s HOT and what’s NOT in our review of Tales of Graces f.

HOT

Heart Warming Story
The story in Tales games are often not that serious and are, instead, more about capturing the hearts of its players and connecting those players with the characters. Tales of Graces f tells the story of Asbel Lhant, a kid who made a pact with his group of friends and an amnesiac girl he called Sophie as they cherish their friendship. After an unfortunate event leads to the death of Sophie, who was protecting Asbel and her friends, the aforementioned pact is broken. This motivates Asbel to train and become a Knight so that he has the strength to protect others. The main story starts off seven years after these events and Asbel Lhant has become a knight. After obtaining the strength he once longed for, a new twist of events unfolds. He meets another amnesiac girl, who he names Sophie, but with a war about to break out, just how can Asbel and his group of friends handle the situation?

Between Tales of Graces f and Tales of Vesperia, the story of Graces F stands out as it is written better, with perfect balance between the tones of the story. There are some cheesy moments within the story, but that’s what Tales fans have come to expect. Since the game is divided into different arcs, following the journey from childhood to adulthood, you will see a good amount of character development.

Colorful Visuals and Presentation
As with every Tales game that Namco develops, the visuals are vibrant and colorful. With the anime-themed visuals, Graces f looks phenomenal on the PS3. Knowing that the game is the enhanced port of the Wii version, the transition to HD visuals is simply exemplary, yet it’s not as good looking as the ones in Vesperia. Almost every cutscene within Graces f is complimented with full voice-over work. Some of the voices, especially during the childhood arc, are mediocre, but the rest are just fine. Also, aside from having in-game cutscenes, there are also cutscenes that look just like an anime. As for the soundtrack, the soundtrack scenarios are a pleasure to listen to while the dungeons soundtrack can get a little bit dull.

New Battle System
A new battle system is introduced in Tales of Graces f that combines the battle system in Tales of Destiny and Tales of the Abyss. The new battle system is called Style-Shift Linear Motion Battle System. This allows players to switch out characters’ fighting styles between the A-style, which consists of basic attacks, and the changeable B-style where the artes like Demon Fang are set. During battle, each character in the party has an amount of CCs that they can use. Those who are familiar with the Destiny games will somewhat understand the battle system from the beginning, but it’s more about each attack and the artes use of CCs. You can get more CCs by leveling up and equipping items that increase it as you perform more combos and artes during combat. Also, to make the battle system more exciting, the game adapted a free-run style from Abyss. The inclusion of all of these improvements makes the battle system of Graces f require more strategic skill while at the same time remaining challenging.

The Use of ‘Titles’
Titles that give improvements to the stats of the characters have made a comeback in Tales of Graces f. Aside from leveling up and gaining experience points, another way to make Asbel and the others stronger is by equipping them with titles that increase their parameters. With over one hundred titles that each of the characters can use, you must level them up by getting SPs after battle and mastering them for full effectiveness. A bunch of different titles will be unlocked as you progress through the game. The titles that you will get will sometimes contain a B-Style arte or even a costume for your character. Just remember that in order to get the ability from a certain title, you must make the character learn them first.