‘Tales of Graces F Remastered’ is a Wii Japanese role-playing game turned PlayStation 3 title and now made available on all modern platforms by developer TOSE and publisher Bandai Namco Entertainment. Being part of the publisher’s long-running ‘Tales of’ RPG series, its gameplay features a number of similarities to past 3D titles while boasting some of the best combat from those entries up to its release and beyond. No, I haven’t played ‘Tales of Arise’ yet, but I’ll get to it at some point—it’s not every day I get the urge to replay an RPG let alone one that was stuck on the PS3 and Wii for the longest time.
A deep combat system and fun characters await in this timely old JRPG classic, which is worth your time for the former alone.
Hearts of Gold
Tales of Graces F follows the story of Asbel Lahnt, his little brother Hubert, and the countless friends he makes along the way. We get a glimpse into the childhood of the protagonist in the early chapters where it’s revealed that Asbel is a rebellious little twirp that won’t listen to a single bit of instruction by any of the adults in the room. While locking the kid up in his room likely wouldn’t have advanced the story much, being the son of a Lord, you’d think his dad would have at least tried to keep him from running off every other second. He drags Hubert off into the forbidden Lahnt Hill, a pleasant and secluded cliff with a large tree running right off the edge—here they meet an amnesiac young girl who they later name “Sophie” after the sopheria plant she picks up and becomes fond of. Sophie joins the gang alongside Asbel’s background sweetheart Cheria and later Richard, the only son of the King of Windsor, helping the gang push further and further into dangerous territory just because they can. Hijinks ensues, bad things happen, and now everyone has childhood trauma.
Shortly after that, Asbel runs off again on a boat ride to the capital of Windsor (seriously, this kid’s got guts) where he believes he’ll get the strength he needs to protect everyone by becoming a knight. Seven years pass and now we play an emboldened but a little more restrained Asbel, now better with a sword but no better dealing with the laundry list of emotions and mistakes that have silently built up when he ran off from his hometown. Tales of Graces’ narrative theming primarily deals with owning up to the idea that the path you thought was the right choice likely wasn’t all that you dreamed of. And with potential warring on the verge of breaking out across the three Kingdoms over “cryas” energy sources, sometimes the path that you’ll take might crossroads with a friend who desperately needs a kick to the junk. Oh, and the occasional bout of sibling rivalry.
Tales of Graces has a fun cast of characters who get along with one-another just nicely while helping each other out over whatever personal obstacles they faceplant into. During overworld exploration, you’ll run into the series’ traditional “skit” system where players can hear out additional banter and other miscellaneous conversations that come up near points of interest. These conversations have some of the best interactions in the game, but they can easily be missed if you’re running from Point A to B, so keep an eye on the bottom left corner at all times.
A sore point in Tales of Graces’ narrative is that too often it repeats narrative beats without really delving beyond retreads of what characters just learned and developed from. It also takes an excruciatingly long time for anyone to realise that certain things aren’t what they seem—like one of their friends they keep fighting might not actually be themselves right this moment. Couple that with tedious fetch quests, bland dungeon and world design (Sea Cavern 1, Dystopian Building 2, etcetera), and oftentimes you’ll probably find yourself less-than-enamoured with the world of Graces. For what it’s worth, considering the game’s Wii roots, it looks really nice with its internal resolution boosted up and cleaned up shadows. The game’s 2D animated cutscenes look great, although in this remaster it seems they have some odd overscanning issue—once you notice it (along the borders) it becomes a bit of a challenge to ignore. The game’s music follows the series tradition of being no more than milquetoast, or as I like to call it, “multiple soundtrack discs of buffer data”.
Fast travelling doesn’t exist until way late into the game. Up to that point, you’ll be relying on a cult of weirdos that are called “Turtlez” to warp you across zones. These Zed-loving creeps ride on the backs of turtles alongside selling you useful healing items and teaching you about crafting and enhancing, which is all combined under the term “Dualizing”. Dualizing is really important as is the Eleth Mixer you get early on, which provides multiple boosts during combat and in the overworld. But I digress, these Turtlez will only warp you so far and in some cases, they won’t have any warping available at all. Fulfilling requests later in the game become a bit of a nuisance as you retread uninteresting world zones (especially in late game story stuff), though thankfully the treks are generally short.
Thankfully, these don’t get in the way of the game’s best gameplay system: its combat.
Heart of Swordplay
If I could best describe to you the combat system in the ‘Tales of’ series of games, I’d use “fighting games” and “really simple” in the same sentence. Particularly the older titles that didn’t offer full 3D movement until, I want to say, Tales of Abyss on the PlayStation 2. Graces F is all the good things from the old games combined into a fast-paced action game like few others, one that rewards you incredibly for mastering its combat and is equally hellbent on punishing you for taking damage or not understanding fundamentals. All your attacks, whether they’re A-artes or B-artes, are linked to the CC meter by your playable character’s portrait. Attacks are dished out with A or B-button presses and can be alternated into different combos by combining direction inputs with your next attack.
As you lay the smackdown on baddies, your CC bar will deplete and leave you vulnerable to retaliation if you’re not keeping an eye out. This is where you’ll either block and wait for the meter to fill back up, perfect dodge attacks for quick CC refills, or fulfil specific criteria related to the character (such as sheathing Asbel’s sword after a succession of combos). Keep up the pressure and you’ll earn Eleth Bursts which allow you to freely use attacks as you so please until the timer runs out. It’s an incredibly rewarding combat system and, like many of the older Tales of games, also includes local cooperative play.
But just because you can lay the smackdown doesn’t mean you won’t be on the receiving end of it either. Enemy attacks can leave you stunned for several seconds at a time, leaving you open to severe retaliation by baddies that can lead to your death if no healers are present on field. And just like how you can enter Eleth Burst, so too can the enemy and that leaves you open to insane damage potential if you’re not careful. Their meter can fill just as fast as yours even if you’re the one successfully landing combos, so it’s in your best interest to maintain stuns by inflicting damage types they’re weak to.
New skills are earned by collecting “Titles” and completing battles with them equipped. As the titles level up, so too will you get new passives, attacks, and the like. I like this system as Titles aren’t just earned by running through the story but by also engaging with the world at large. Dualizing, sightseeing, collecting, and more will grant characters titles which in turn encourages you to try out everything Tales of Graces has to offer. Your Eleth Mixer can also give you an advantage in combat by simply inserting foods you’ve crafted into it—by triggering a food’s requirements, you’ll get various bonuses including healing and stat boosts, so it’s in your best interests to keep crafting and shoving everything you can into the Mixer.
You can also take your save file into “Trials of Graces”, which is a challenge-focused mode that pits you against seriously tough opponents.
Playing Tales of Graces f again gives me a chance to reflect on the game’s story, which I enjoyed more so in my last playthrough some eight years ago. But I enjoyed running through the game’s campaign way more than Vesperia’s (which is nothing but a blur to me) thanks to fun cast members with a great English dub and an incredibly fun combat system. Don’t go into Tales of Graces f Remastered expecting deep worldbuilding and level design and I think you’ll have a lot of fun that way. ∎
PROS
- Great combat system.
- Fun characters and related banter.
- Solid visuals and pleasant art style.
CONS
- Dungeon & world design leaves a lot to be desired.
- Narrative retreads.
