Tales of Graces f Remastered Review — Tales From The Past

I have been heavily invested in the Tales series ever since I was a kid. Back then, on the SNES, it was impossible to get the first game in the series, Tales of Phantasia. It was released only in Japan; one had to get quite creative to play this game in Australia. Luckily, I had friends who knew what to do, and the next thing I knew, I spent the summer of 96’ playing a trio of JRPGs that I had always wanted to play. Tales being one of them.

It was one of those instantaneous moments of admiration. It ticked all the right boxes that I love in my JRPGs. The sprites were glorious, the music was impressive, and the battles were fun and ferocious. The characters propelled the story wonderfully as I explored everything the game had to offer. I was sold by the Tales experience. Fast forward almost 30 years on, and now I am here playing Tales of Graces F, the 12th game in the series. A confused history lesson, it is the remaster of an enhanced port of the Wii version released on the PlayStation 3. Make that make sense.

So, how does it hold up in today’s gaming landscape? Is it a remaster worth investing your precious time, one that ticks all the right boxes? Or is it a lazy port that does not bring anything exciting to the Tales series?

Tales of Graces F Remastered tells the story of Asbel Lhant, following his time as a child and trailing up to adulthood. If there is a bigger compliment I can give Tales, it is that it takes its storytelling seriously. Character exposition and progression are the core of its story. These characters are the heart of the game, and without any spoilers, it’s these relationships that further build and strengthen its story. There are also some cool anime cut scenes during important moments in the game that help tell the story as it ebbs and flows through its narrative journey.

I did feel the story to be a little dry at times, at times it felt sluggish and slightly generic. However, it works. I think about this point a bit much; it is just that the story is a snapshot of how stories were structured in their original release.  Back in 2010, the style at the time was closer to an anime in how the story is presented, as well as the usual character archetypes, aka the brooding main character that pretends things don’t hurt them, but actually, they have big feelings. Let’s save the world from a bigger, worse presence that comes from some otherworldly plane of existence, etc. I think we have experienced these before.

There are moments that genuinely captivated me. These moments occurred when the characters were allowed to be themselves. These happened often throughout the story in cut scenes, but a huge chunk of them are through skits, which are a Tales series staple. The skits are optional 2D animated conversational shorts that further develop the bonds between the main cast. Even if they were at times cringey, funny, or downright ridiculous, I look at it simply: If I didn’t have the exposition from Asbel’s earlier years and his developing relationships, I wouldn’t understand who he is and his intentions as he grows up. These moments of exposition allow a great deal of character growth. Everything else in the story felt as I said earlier, just okay. The characters are the main reason you want to play these games, and this is a highlight for me.

Tales has always prided itself as an action RPG. From the beginning of the franchise, it pioneered the breakaway from traditional turn-based combat. Tales of Graces F Remastered introduces a modern style of combat named the Style Shift Linear Motion Battle System. It is a ridiculous name. The battles, however, are far from ridiculous. You still see enemies in the overworld map, and once you touch them, the game converts to a small 3D area so you can complete your battles. You take control of your characters while AI controls the other team members, but you can switch on the fly if you’d like. Your party’s playstyle can be adjusted in the settings before and after battles. It’s a very simple system with limited and easy-to-understand options.  I don’t think you would need something as detailed as, let’s say, the gambit system from Final Fantasy XII. Consider this gambit lite.

In battles, you use a chain capacity (CC), which outlines how many skills and actions one can take to control the ebb and flow of the battles. The biggest surprise of this system is the importance of blocking and dodging. Successful defensive manoeuvres add more points to your chain, increasing the CC amount, then allowing you to use more actions and turn the tide of the battle. I played this game on hard, and it was extremely hard. I had mad regret. The difficulty spikes when it came to boss battles was downright unfair. At one point, I stayed on the one boss for almost 2 hours. You can change the difficulty or try and git gud.

The thing about the battle system is that you can also have battles over within seconds. The AI is controlled well to your predetermined set action plans. So, by being strategic and focusing on the wide range of abilities on offer, it never made the experience repetitive. It was short, sharp bouts of fun infused with hair-pulling, frustrating bosses. I had to earn a lot of victories, and I love that I had to work for it.

Levelling up also took a bit of a back seat. While it’s important to level up, the bigger part of the process is to earn titles. Through titles, you gain points to upgrade these titles, which you earn through the story, either in side quests or the main. Upgrading your titles unlocks new abilities and perks that can complement your playstyle. They have an extensive crafting system, upgrade systems for weapons, and cooking all the great JRPG add-ons. There are many different gameplay options that allow you to really make the most of everything the game has to offer. I was taken by surprise with how many options there were, which reminds me, let’s talk about the remastered ones.

While graphically, Tales of Graces f Remastered looks like an older game from the PS3 era (because it is), visually, I thought the game was great. Clear, crisp and plays smooth. Unless they decided to do a huge overhaul of the graphics, these are perfectly suitable for the remaster. It still plays incredibly well. Any of the modern graphical shortcomings, of which there are many in the art design and direction, are easily dismissed as you travel through this beautiful world. For its time, this is a solid-looking game.

Sound is where it can be a bit hit-and-miss. Voice acting is typically an anime fan’s dream, with melodramatic being the priority. The music was also a bit underwhelming, but nothing too horrible and nothing too notable either. On both design aspects of sound it was fine, nothing offensive or creative, I just really hoped that the music would be memorable.  

What can’t be dismissed is the integration of modern gameplay and quality-of-life updates that remove some of the older barriers of entry. In fact, some of these changes are so dramatic that they break the game completely. At the beginning and throughout the game, you can add different options to your playthrough, such as adding half a million gold to your wallet, adding a multiplier effect to gain exp at 5 times the speed or something as simple as increasing movement speed x 2. I chose the movement speed in my playthrough, and I am glad I did, it does not seem like a lot, but it matters when you play these old JRPG titles. It certainly helps the grind, but then so does adding a x5 boost to experience points.

As a package, I can’t help but be overwhelmingly impressed by what Tales of Graces f has on offer. The gameplay and various options it gives players are the strongest parts of the game. The depth of the battle system and the need to think critically about how you go about your battles set it apart from its contemporaries. Blocking and dodging matters a lot! I thought I’d never say that outside of a Dark Souls game.

The options for additional content and game-changing preferences are a great added incentive to those who want to revisit this game or to try it out fresh like I have. I strongly believe remastered games should have these options available. We should be in a position of choice, so the fact that they are there if you want to add more to your playthrough is highly appreciated. I hope to see more options like this in future remaster releases.