This is my first review of a video game in a long time. So, bear with me for a few paragraphs for this game...

 

 

Tales of Graces was originally released on the wii in Japan on December 10, 2009. The game was later remaster and re-titled as "Tales of Graces F" on the PS3 and released in Japan on December 2, 2010; North America on March 13, 2013 and Europe on August 31, 2012. Popular demand was what brought the game to North America and Europe but was the game really worth all the wait and hype?

 

It was no surprise to me that Namco Tales Studios once again screwed up a port game graphic-wise. Granted the anime cut-scenes were beautifully done but the rest of the game graphics felt a bit washy at times. In fact it becomes noticeable when characters talk and the background feels a bit blur and distracting.

 

Now, with every tales game its either a hit or a miss with the music. This time however, it was a miss for me. Most of the music was orchestra; therefore it felt a bit bland and generic. There was maybe one or two songs from the game that was memorable. Although both of the songs don't become available until about 37 hours into the game. Which makes it a great pain in the ass to just want to hear those two particular songs. One of the links for the songs is this Battle Song On Fodra and another is Research Facility.

 

Moving along, the voice acting in this game isn't all that bad. There is just one problem I have with the voice acting. The quality of the anime cut-scenes for voice acting is a whole lot better than the regular cut-scenes in game. This astounded me to no end just having to listen to bad quality for 90% of the time while hoping for an anime cut-scene to appear to save the day. On a positive note, all the skits (side conversations) are English voiced. 

 

Tales of Graces F story is very Jrpgish in such a way that makes it bad. The game is also very cliche with the elements of amnesia, demon possessive, friendships, and hardships. Furthermore, the story is very predictable at various points in the game. It didn't help that you spend about 5-6 hours as a child and then as an adult in story. Nor does it help that the main character Asbel is the typical naive stereotypical main character that becomes emo for about 6-7 hours of the game. By the way, for some reason the story very much reminded me of Naruto... (Asbel and Richard Forever!) 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, the best part of the entire game has got to be the game-play. More specifically, the battles in this game are simply awesome and can't be compared to previous tales games. They got rid of TP (basically MP) and instead use CC(Chain Capacity) which is gain by dodging or blocking enemy attacks. It dynamically made the game better by not having the player be forced to constantly have to watch TP and waste items on generating TP for characters. Also, they added Eleth break that allows players to use ultimate moves when their Eleth levels peak. Moreover, for the extra chapter they added the skill Accel which grant the player the ability to damage monsters in fun unique ways. Brief Video for battles. Tittles plus battle video.

 

They added quite a number of neat features. They added titles to the game that you learn from npcs or story events. These titles allow the players to learn new skills, boost character stats, and obtain costumes. Also, there is a mixer in the menu which allows you to cook items during battle or produce resources to use. One last feature that was cool was that you could dualize (craft) items to sell to the shops, enhance equipments, make gems, or cook food.

 

Now there was few bad things about the game-play. First off they added stamp cards that allow each shop to sell something good to the player such as a food item or book but it felt too much of pain to have to buy and sell things to get the stamp cards. Also, the world map was very ugly and there is no minimap at all for dungeon or town areas. Lastly, the mini-card game and cube puzzle game felt very dull and limited in fun for the players.

 

• Graphics     6/10
• Music         5/10
• Voice         6/10
• Story          6/10
• Gameplay   9/10