Tales of Graces f Remastered Review
Graceful Combat, Inelegant Narrative
Tales of Graces f Remastered feels like the end of a long journey. The original Tales of Graces released on the Wii exclusively in Japan, leaving Western RPGamers to wait for it’s eventual release on the PS3 as Tales of Graces f, where the game remained until this remastered release. Aside from a scant few quality-of-life adjustments, the game is largely unchanged from the original release. This has its advantages and disadvantages, but at the heart is an enjoyable, if clunky, entry in the Tales series.
Tales of Graces f Remastered opens with main protagonist Asbel Lhant and his brother Hubert as they sneak off to Lhant Hill. There, they discover a girl who has lost her memories, including her name. As such, they decide to name her Sophie and effectively adopt her into the family, much to their father’s chagrin. The prologue chapter of the game is admittedly slow going, but it does a good job establishing the core cast of characters. Richard, the prince of the neighboring kingdom, and Asbel make for good equal opposites. Sophie is fun as she slowly begins to adopt the traits of other party members. The Tales series has always been quite effective at characterization and character interactions, and Tales of Graces f Remastered is no exception.
Unfortunately, the narrative is held back by questionably developed plot moments and poor character progression. The game’s pacing is all over the place, with some key characters being introduced seemingly at random, game-long mysteries being revealed in dissatisfying ways, and a poorly executed backstory failing to add weight to any of the game’s more emotional moments. Even the events of the prologue, which have consequences that last throughout the whole game, feel undercut by certain reveals later in the narrative. Moreover, the quality of the English dub might hamper one’s enjoyment. Many now-veteran voice actors are here, like Bryce Pappenbrook, Laura Bailey, and David Vincent, just to name a few, so there’s no shortage of talent, and many of them get to shine in specific moments. But the line delivery can be incredibly awkward, especially during the fully animated cutscenes, where it is clear the actors are trying to synchronize their voice to the lip flaps of the characters. Thankfully the game includes the original Japanese dub for those who prefer, but English-speaking players might find this game lacking in this area.
The game wonderfully contrasts the simplicity of childhood with the responsibility of adulthood.
Many of these problems are addressed in the “Lineage and Legacies” campaign, which acts as an extended epilogue to the main game. The antagonist has a clearer history and motivations, and the plot has a much more cohesive throughline. The awkward voice acting is still present, and the quality of this campaign doesn’t make up for the failings of the main story, but “Lineage and Legacies” is definitely the high point.
The overall presentation of Tales of Graces f is somewhat lacking. While the art style and quasi-chibi character models have their charms, the animations outside of the fully animated cutscenes leave a lot to be desired. The remaster does a wonderful job at bringing out the best of the game’s visuals, with most of the important locales looking their best. The music is also solid with many fun themes and a solid variety of battle themes that never fail to get the blood pumping.
The world of Tales of Graces f is unfortunately visually uninteresting, with most locales boiling down to generic biomes like “desert wasteland” or “winding snowfield.” Dungeons are underwhelming as well, with most puzzles being banal and lacking in any depth, making most dungeons chores rather than interesting gameplay objectives. The fixed camera angle also makes some of the puzzles extremely difficult to decipher, because at times the player is unable to see exactly what happens when they activate a device that makes a change on the map. Problems like these persist throughout the game, meaning the core combat must do a lot of heavy lifting to keep players engaged.
Every enemy is an opportunity to showcase new skills.
Thankfully, Tales of Graces f has a combat system that remains engaging throughout the entire game. The series’ staple real-time combat is present, and one of the strongest iterations of said system to date. Characters spend CC (Chain Capacity) to perform actions such as attacking and dodging, making every move a calculated decision. Attacks are split into A and B-Artes, with B-Artes functioning as standard attacks while A-Artes are special attacks with varying effects. Some characters, like Asbel, have unique mechanics that change the way their A-Artes interact with their B-Artes. Pressing the button associated with A-Artes causes Asbel to unsheathe his sword, allowing him to then perform A-Artes. After unsheathing the sword, the player can then use a B-Arte to sheathe it, allowing them to use B-Artes at their leisure provided they have the necessary CC.
These systems are solid enough on their own, but they would be nothing without their execution in battle. The game is buttery smooth, with the combat having a wonderful flow that makes every encounter a joy, even if said encounter only lasts a few seconds. The cherry on top is that every party member is fully playable, meaning if players grow weary of playing as one character, they can experiment with another to add a bit of freshness to their experience.
Enemies and bosses also enhance the combat, albeit in a roundabout way. Most enemies in Tales of Graces f are susceptible to long combos, meaning combat often comes down to exploiting weaknesses or punishing long cooldowns in order to begin a combo and deal large amounts of damage. Then, when later bosses become more difficult to stun or combo against, the player is encouraged to use their defensive options and study the boss’s movements. With few exceptions, enemies also never grow much larger than the player characters, meaning most enemies play by the same rules and have the same mechanics, allowing the monster designs to do most of the heavy lifting in distinguishing enemies from one another.
All of the DLC from the original release is available in the remaster.
The gameplay is further helped by a few of the new quality-of-life features, such as adding the Grade Shop to the beginning of every new game and all the DLC from the original release. The Grade Shop allows players to choose options that can modify their playthrough, such as double or even quintuple experience points and doubling item drop rates from enemies. Titles return as the primary method of learning new abilities, and using them to increase the amount of acquired skill points accelerates the pace of progression. This helps to keep combat engaging, as the player is almost constantly able to access a new attack or ability that can be incorporated into their strategy. The Grade Shop is usually saved for a New Game+ run and, as such, a first playthrough can feel unbalanced by having access to such powerful tools. Thankfully these options can be deactivated in the settings menu, so those looking for a challenge can take advantage of these features without sacrificing their enjoyment.
Ultimately, Tales of Graces f Remastered is a game of peaks and valleys. For some, the combat alone will be enough to carry the experience while they ignore the narrative. For others, the characters will carry an otherwise average and unsatisfying plot. Thankfully, the game gives players as many tools as possible to make their playthrough as accessible as can be, making this an easy starting point for those who haven’t played a Tales game and potentially a fun retread for those who played the PS3 release.
Wonderful Combat
Customization galore
Fun characters
Awkward english dub
Uneven and poorly paced narrative
Visually uninteresting
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