Tales of Graces f (PS3)

After completing my first Tales game, 'Tales of Vesperia', I wanted to play the others and when I saw Tales of Graces available for pre-order, I didn't waste a second!

The special one-day edition includes extras, which would otherwise be unavailable elsewhere. These extras include a soundtrack, an 100 page artbook, a DLC card for three costumes, and a behind-the-scenes DVD, all included with the game and presented in a neat box. I was most interested in the artbook, and it did not disappoint. The artbook includes character sketches, as well as coloured pictures, coloured banners (which appear in-game) and concept art. The art itself was printed on normal paper and not the thick glossy stuff you find in larger artbooks, but that didn't affect its quality much. The soundtrack I haven't listened to yet, but the music in-game was very similar to Vesperia's, and was very pleasant to listen to. Some may even be good for relaxation! I have not yet watched the behind-the-scenes either as I am less interested in interviews and the like, but I have watched similar videos online and they were quite interesting.

The story involves Asbel, a young Lord of a manor in Lhant and his childhood friends, Sophie, Richard and Cheria, as well as his brother Hubert and other characters who they will meet a the story progresses. I don't want to give any spoilers, so basically, Asbel and Hubert find a girl called Sophie at the top of Lhant hill (which they weren't supposed to climb), who has amnesia and they try to help her regain her memories. They meet Richard sometime after and save him. Richard then leaves Lhant and Asbel gets scolded and he runs away to find Richard at the capital. He meets up with Cheria and Hubert at the capital and is able to see Richard. That night something happens to Richard and Sophie, which makes Asbel run away (again) to become a knight. After that, it's about wars and the story revolving around the other characters.

As for the game, the graphics is similar to those in Vesperia, but as sharper and is closer to Xillia's kind of graphics if I'm honest. The landscape and backgrounds are done beautifully with a more realistic feel (as vesperia's was more vector-like). Towns are larger than in previous Tales games and there are more things to do in towns. The art is good, with anime-like scenes throughout the game. These are always a treat to watch and in addition, skits are shown when you reach specific areas of the game. These skits are short conversations between the characters and are always enjoyable to watch. This time, they fill the entire screen with at least four characters, making them more easily seen, and small banners appear occasionally to mark a funny scene.

Now onto gameplay, I think everyone is interested in the battle system, otherwise known as Style Shift Linear Motion Battle System. This is similar to the battle system for Tales of the Abyss and Tales of Vesperia, where the controlled character can move around in the field and by pressing specific buttons can perform artes, or normal attacks. However, instead of usig TP to perform artes, Namco have decided to use what is called 'chain capacity' or CC. Each character has a specific number of CC which they can use to perform artes and attacks and these deplete according to how many moves you make. It is more complicated than the battle systems of the previous games and I have to admit that I haven't fully grasp it yet. The strategy menu, however, is much more fluent and enables you to command other characters easily without having to control them. So there is no more 'save tp', or 'moderate' and instead each individual characters can be set their own commands (kind of like the gambit system of Final Fantasy XII). You can also easily character characters during battle by using the dialogue stick, although, it can be annoying when you change to the wrong character.

Skills in this game are learned by equipping titles. Each title is unlocked when you complete a specific task and the SP are used to learn the skills equipped with the title. I had a problem with my equipped title always changing, so I could never master it without having to switch back to it after every battle.

The sound, as with all the newer Tales of games, are top notch and are relevant to the scene they play on. You have a mixture of battle, tranquil, sad and happy music, and as I have mentioned, is very similar to the music from Vesperia. I enjoyed the music, especially the battle music, which does stick in your mind after a while.

The characters were probably what made me want to buy Graces in the first place. The designs are excellent and the character development so far is good. As the story progresses, you do start to wonder about some of the characters motives and what would happen to them. Some are more predictable than others. Each character has their own story, which is what makes the Tales games good, but I havent completed the game yet so I can't really explain them all.

Overall, this game is enjoyable. Personally, I wouldn't put it on the same level as Vesperia, but it has some points to it which I think are a major improvement. The only aspect of this game I didn't like was the battle system involving the CC. It is more complicated than it needs to be and I personally like my battles short and snappy. It slows the flow of the battle and not everything is explained in detail in the in-gameuser manual. So, I rate this game a 4 out of 5.

I bought an import copy of this game as i simply could not wait for it to be released over here to play this gem.. And yes it may not be up there with the all time greats of the genre but this really is a brilliant game that i have put a silly amount of time into and enjoyed every second of it. (and you should too)
There are an umpteen number of things to do. Even when you think you have finally finished, you find something else to sink your teeth into, whether it be the bonus chapter 'lineage and legacies' the bonus dungeons, side quests, numerous optional bosses to defeat or if you just have a competitive streak: 'the trials of graces' where you complete battles for points to score ever higher on the leaderboard. The game doesn't force you into any of these things, so if your just after a story to get engrossed into and thats all then this caters for you also, speaking of which, there a number of difficulty options available so again caters for all gamers whether hardcore or you just want to dip in. (easy, normal, moderate, hard, evil and chaos. The harder difficulties you need to unlock by completing a certain amount of battles on the previous difficulties) Chaos difficulty really does have you on your toes so to speak;)

The game really comes into its own by chapter 2. The first chapter you play as children which i wasn't overly keen on i have to admit. The game is colourful, which i adore. The characters are likeable, Hubert imparticular. Even the stereotypical Zany female character that you see in pretty much every jrpg grew on me by the end. The storyline (no spoilers) can be a little cheesy at times, but then arnt most rpgs of this type? The game doesn't try and do anything new, but thats not a bad thing. Why change something that isn't broke afterall.
The fighting is in real time rather than turn based, although i would recommend picking up the book to unlock manual battles which can be found early on in the first town, which makes the fighting feel abit more natural rather than having the battles on semi/auto. It feels like you have abit more freedom. There is plenty of skills to learn, i infact did not learn all of them and they each differ from character to character. You have the usual suspects (swordsman, gunner, healer, mage etc) and so every base is covered depending on how you like to play and ultimately want to control.

As you can see there is alot of things to talk about and i will not bore you by going through everything. Hopefully you have got a small glimpse of what a truly great game this is to play and you can discover the rest for yourself.

One tip i will give tho is to feed all the cats that you see, it will come in handy.

Enjoy!

As a long-time Tales fan, I was excited at the prospect of finally being able to play Graces, as I only recently acquired a PS3.
I was not disappointed.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10
To be honest, this would have been a 10 were it not for the battle system. Replacing the TP point system with the new "CC" one was, in my view, a mistake. The amount of actions you can take at one time are limited by the amount of CC you have, with each action eating a certain number. While this sounds simple, it is actually very nuanced and difficult to master - it took me until mid-game to get used to the system, and I still don't like it now. Having to take breaks out every few seconds to restore your CC just breaks up the flow of battles.
The fact that free-running was nerfed massively (it takes CC to do, and you go painfully slow if you don't have any) is also a big negative.

That said, the rest of the gameplay is, as always, brilliant. Plenty of sidequests, the updated title system is great, as it allows you to earn skills as early or late as you like. The puzzles in dungeons were a bit simple, but in a way that could be considered a plus point as you don't spend ages stuck in the same room trying to figure it out!
The added "F Arc/Lineage&Legacies" section is fun, though a bit grindy as the story itself is quite short while at the same time packing in a lot of extra things to do. Also, the skits in this section in particular were amazing - kudos to the writers, they did a really good job!

Graphics: 9/10
I love the cel-shaded/anime style of Tales games. Graces manages to mix it up a little, showing the contrast between areas by making prosperous Windor bright and colourful, and downtrodden Fendel bleak and drained of colour.
There was the odd problem with clipping, particularly if a character was wearing a costume (and Sophie's hair) but they were few and far between.

Sound: 9/10
The music was a little reminiscent of Vesperia here and there, but rather than detract, it made me feel more comfortable. I even found myself humming along a few times, particularly in towns.
The voice acting, as it always is with JRPGs, was so-so. Sophie started to grate after a little while, but everyone else managed to keep their voice in tone with their character.

Story: 9/10
Tales games have always been known for following tropes and cliches, and while it tries to mix it up a little, Graces is exactly the same. But that's not a bad thing - to an extent, the "save the world!" story itself is secondary to character interactions and relationships, which was actually quite refreshing.
Speaking of which, the characters themselves are pretty cookie-cutter; the mad scientist (well, engineer), the mysterious older man, the healer who mothers everyone etc. However within those tropes, the creators have found ways to wriggle around and look at them in a new light, particularly in the ways they interact with each other.

Overall, I would reccommend this game to anyone. As long as you can see past the slightly cliche story, you'll find a game that sparkles with life.