Tales of Graces

Tales of Graces F is the twelfth installment of the popular jRPG series. Namco (now Bandai Namco) is responsible for creating the series, which was born in 1995 on the SNES console. It consists of at least a dozen or so main parts and almost as many side productions, which have been published on all the most important hardware platforms. The Tales of franchise is certainly not as popular as Final Fantasy, but it has its own devoted and faithful fanbase, also outside Japan. Tales of Graces F appeared for the first time on the Wii in 2009. The PlayStation 3 port released a year later features numerous gameplay fixes, a completely new chapter that provides a storyline epilogue, as well as improved graphics.

Plot

Tales of Graces F takes players into a world called Ephinea, which is divided between three rival countries - Windor, Stratha and Fendel. The protagonist of the game is Asbel Lhant, son of a Windor lord, who controls the town of Lhant. The hero, together with his adopted brother and the young heir to the throne of Windor, meet a mysterious girl named Sophie, who suffers from amnesia. After a short adventure, the three boys parted with her in unexplained circumstances. Sophie, however, returns unchanged seven years after her first meeting, at a time when Lhant is attacked by Fendel's armed forces. Asbel is forced to embark on a journey to explain the secret of her friend and to stop the bloodshed in her home country.

Mechanics

Tales of Graces F uses the proven formula of the Tales of series. The game is a classic representative of the JRPG genre. The action is presented from the third person perspective, although players can only control the camera during the fightFor the first time in the history of the series, the creators didn't use a world map, where you could freely move around and visit selected places. Instead, the most important cities and landmarks in the world are connected by dozens of locations and underworlds that we have to go through on the way to our destination. During the journey, we will meet both enemies and many friendly NPCs, offering various side missions and challenges. Enemies are visible on the screen and when we interact with them, we are moved to separate and closed arenas, where duels take place.

Tales of Graces F offer a fast and arcade battle system called SS-LMBS (Shift Linear Motion Battle System), which is considered by many fans to be the best in the series. Just like in fighting games, players build a combo using the moves they set, and use various types of attacks and special abilities. Each playable hero has a unique fighting style that requires different strategies.

Technical aspects

Tales of Graces F was made in a characteristic manga style. The audio-visuals are at a fairly high level. In addition to interestingly realized locations and character models, we also see spectacular duels, full of special effects and effective attacks performed by the characters. The title includes full voice acting, which is only available in English.

Last updated on 10 December 2009