
Tales of Graces f Remastered Review
The Tales role-playing game series has been around for 30 years, starting in 1995 on the Super Nintendo with Tales of Phantasia. Bandai Namco has released 17 other main titles in the Tales series, though there have been numerous other spin-offs and remasters along the way. Tales of Graces was originally released in 2009 for the Nintendo Wii in Japan, then it was ported to the PlayStation 3 under the name Tales of Graces f in 2012, this new release is a remaster of that title.
Tales of Graces f Remastered is an action RPG that takes place in a fantasy world called Ephinea. This world is divided into three countries: Windor, Strahta, and Fendel. The first characters we meet are Asbel and Hubert Lhant, brothers from the village Lhant located in Windor. While visiting Lhant Hill to view the flowers that are always in bloom, they discover a mysterious girl sleeping amongst the plants. The boys are curious as to why she is there and who she is; upon questioning her, they discover that she can’t remember simple things like her own name or where she is from. Asbel takes it upon himself to protect her and hel recover her lost memories.
You quickly learn how the battle system in Tales of Graces f works. Like in other Tales games, you set your team's strategy and how they fight by, for example, having them target the weakest enemies, the strongest ones, or concentrate more on healing and protecting their teammates. I don’t think I have ever played a role-playing game where the enemy battles end so quickly. Having fights finished in under 10 seconds seemed crazy, but it is a nice change from some other RPGs I have played in the past where you fight a lot of weak foes that feel like a huge waste of time. Being able to set all the four Artes (attacks) you want to have available in battle is great. This allows you to perform crazy combos that inflict tonnes of damage on your enemies. If you have a character that you want to use for health recovery, you can also set these too, though I concentrated more on attacks for my main character than in my strategy, making it so that one character was focused on healing the full team. There is no blood here, so you don’t need to worry about copious amounts of gore.
If you find that you are having a trickier time in the battles, you can change the difficulty in the menu whenever you want. It’s nice to have the option to switch it back and forth as you progress in the game. You can even turn off enemy encounters in the options menu, so, even if you come into contact with enemies, you will not need to battle them. This game is great for allowing you to customise all the settings to make this title accessible, no matter your skill level.
Tales of Graces f Remastered begins with a prologue where you will meet the characters you will interact with for the full game. There are five main characters that we meet, Asbel, his younger brother Hubert, Sophie the mysterious girl they meet, Cheria their childhood friend, and Richard who is a prince. This section lasts for around six hours before there is a time jump to seven years later. This little bit of the game is charming where you see how these children interact with each other and their families. I thought it was adorable to see that one kid was fighting with two sticks that he has named Lefty and Righty. The game dragged a little bit at the start, but I think that was because I was excited to see what was coming next. I heard great things about the original Tales of Graces f from a friend and I couldn’t wait to see how the characters would change as they aged.
The story in Tales of Graces f Remastered is so well done. The writing is great; it’s engaging, interesting, and touches on topics like war, family, and friendship. It wasn’t predictable and didn't follow all the other tropes you commonly see in games, which was surprising since it starts with a girl with amnesia. In a lot of RPGs, it’s obvious what is going to happen, so there is no surprise or suspense. This title takes a lot of turns that I didn’t see coming, which is great.
The controls in Tales of Graces f Remastered felt intuitive to use, especially during battles. You execute your attacks by pressing one of the face buttons and pushing the left thumbstick in a specific direction. Up, left, right, and down will all have a different attack or move assigned to them. This allows you to easily chain attacks together based on the Chain Capacity (CC) of your character. As you perform these skills, the number you have will deplete, but it will recharge as you fight. In battles, you and your enemy each have an Eleth Gauge that, when filled, will give you resistance to stunning and unlimited CC so you won’t have to worry about hitting your maximum.
There are two types of Artes that the characters will use: Assault Artes and Burst Artes. You will learn different attacks as you progress through the stories or by assigning different titles to your character. These titles are given to you by performing specific criteria in a battle, like using a certain attack multiple times or defeating a large number of enemies. Each title has five levels of skills and attacks that you can learn by equipping the corresponding title and by completing battles. If there is an attack listed that you already have, it will be powered up, making it stronger when you use it on enemies in a fight. There are a huge number of titles available for each character, so unlocking them all will surely keep you busy for a long time!
The visuals in Tales of Graces f Remastered have a watercolour look and the characters have an anime-style. The animation and movements are quite smooth; the only time it seemed a little off was the game intro that plays before the menu. It was a little choppy, but it didn't last long and it's fine when you get in the game. The music is grand; it has an orchestral sound and feels very epic, especially when you are being chased. The music was heart-pounding and tense. It did a fantastic job of adding suspense to that moment in the story.
There is so much more I could write about, but instead, I wholeheartedly recommend you try Tales of Graces f Remastered for yourself. Discovering everything this title has to offer is an amazing experience. I know we are early in the year, but I think it's going to be hard to find a title that will beat this game; it's that good!
Tales of Graces f Remastered (Reviewed on PlayStation 5)
Outstanding. Why do you not have this game already?
Tales of Graces f Remastered is a great RPG that does everything right with a compelling story and battle system. It's a must-play!
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