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The Tales series is one of those JRPGs that sometimes flies under the radar. It doesn’t typically get the same hype as Final Fantasy or Persona, but Bandai Namco has been consistently putting out solid Tales games for 40 years. Tales of Graces f Remaster continues that tradition, bringing one of the best entries in this franchise to modern consoles.
As the name might imply, Tales of Graces f Remaster is a port of a port of a game that first appeared on the Wii in 2009. That version only got a release in Japan, so those of us in the West had to wait until the PS3 English-language release in 2012 (which added the ‘f’). Now, more than a decade later, the remaster of that port is a game that, for good and ill, looks and feels like it is from generations ago.
Like most Tales games, this is a largely standalone story that features a few references to other entries in the series. It follows a group of friends as they are driven apart by tragedy and then brought together years later. Most of the characters fit into one cliché or another, though there is always just enough of a twist to keep them from being forgettable.
One of the most interesting aspects is how the characters change over time. The first three hours or so take place when they are all children and is followed by a seven-year time skip. Asbel goes from the headstrong leader of his pack of friends to a sullen, serious knight-in-training who takes the weight of the world on his shoulders. His brother starts out as timid and deferential, only to become angry and bitter when we next see him. There is a real sense of growth and change in these characters that you don’t always get in a JRPG.
When you aren’t watching cutscenes or the short vignettes that pop up as you explore the map, you’ll either be exploring that map or battling monsters or enemy soldiers. Exploring is a bit of a strong word, though, since the maps are definitely a product of their time. Most are just long corridors that you’ll have to revisit multiple times throughout the game, which gets repetitive and frustrating after a while.
Fortunately, the combat is generally fun. The ‘Style Shift Linear Motion Battle System,’ as it is called here, is similar to other Tales games. You control one of up to four characters and move around a battlefield. Each attack consumes your Chain Capacity points, which recharge as you move around, and unleashes a set of Artes. New Artes are learned through the Title system, with characters unlocking new Titles as the story progresses or when you perform certain actions.
There is depth here if you want to get really involved in the game’s systems, but you don’t have to micromanage everything if you just want to fly through and unleash your powers on unsuspecting baddies.
You can switch between characters on a whim or you can have a friend control one of them for you. Multiplayer is a bit limited here — other players can only control the characters in combat so they will be sat doing nothing most of the time — but it is still a nice touch. Anytime we have the opportunity for couch co-op, we’ll take it.
Of course, if you’re just here for the story, there is also the Grade Shop, which has features like Double Damage or 3x Experience Points. These are purely optional but can really change your play experience. Turning all your Experience Points into money will make you very rich but leave you under-levelled and relying on your mastery of the combat system. We definitely recommend turning on the ‘double movement speed outside combat’ feature, though, just to cut back on the aforementioned backtracking. Everything else is just about customising the game to your preferred experience.
Visually, Tales of Graces F Remastered feels somewhere between nostalgic and modern. The characters are well designed and memorable and the upgraded graphics do the best they can with a game that is well over a decade old. However, the animations are clearly from a bygone era and feel stilted and stiff compared to what you might see in a modern JRPG. Not enough to put us off or detract from our enjoyment but enough to remind us how far we’ve come.
We didn’t encounter any bugs or glitches during our time with the game, but it should be noted that you will encounter a lot of load screens as you spend the couple dozen hours needed to beat it. They tended to be short enough that they didn’t slow us down too much but, added together, they took up a big chunk of our time.
More than 15 years after it was first released, the strength of Tales of Graces is still its characters. They are fun and change enough over time to give life to an otherwise standard fantasy setting. While the world won’t do much for you if you’re after an open-world adventure, the combat still feels fresh and challenging all these years later. For JRPG fans, Tales of Graces F Remaster is a solid port of one of the best games in the Tales series.
Conclusion
Tales of Graces F Remaster occasionally feels dated thanks to its visuals and limited map, but the unique structure of the plot and fun combat make it a worthwhile addition to the library of any JRPG fan. The characters remain the stars of the show, with more growth and change over the course of the game than we expected. If the frequent but short load times don’t get in your way, it is easy to sink dozens of hours into this adventure.