Tales of Graces f is now in the US! For those of us that have plunged in, we may like or dislike some aspects of it. So I thought it would be great to post those here.

I'm a little into Chapter 3 and I'm enjoying it so far. I love the cell shaded look as usual, the colors are amazing and pop, and the animations are very well done especially in combat. The story is rather slow at first but is starting to pick up. It took me a while to understand how the combat works because I ended up rushing right in with Vesperia in mind. However once I spent some time relooking through the in-game guides I figured it out. So now, I love it. It's fast paced, addicting, and a blast. Sophie kicks some major butt!

Customization is pretty well done. There's a good bit of setting up combos, arts, titles, and alchemy. The Dualizing (ToGf's alchemy) is pretty interesting and stupidproof. It's fun combining gems with your gear to boost them. However Dualizing for items seemed a bit useless (for now). Seems that unlike getting skills from weapons, you now get them from titles. Which adds a new element of grinding. Overall there's plenty to do, and most I havn't even completely figured out yet.

The characters are hit and miss. It's funny because the characters I thought I'd like before playing it, ended up being the characters I hate. As same, characters like Sophie who I didn't think I'd care for ended up being my favorite (her outfit is still weird). Asbel was annoying at first, but now he's starting to round out. Cheria was cute at first but currently I dislike her. Hubert was and still is annoying. I love Sophie. And I just met Pascal, of which I'm surprised they did decently on her voice work. She's just one of those characters that never translates well. It's a good mix, but some of the characters just make you want to throw your controller at them... there's some real jerks.

So Far..
My Pros: Great Visuals, Fun Character Interactions, Amazing Combat, Great Design, Customization, Plenty of Exploration.
My Cons: Slow Story At First, A Bit of Retracing Steps, Poison Is Painful, Combat Could Have Used Better Tutorials.

So did you get Tales of Graces f? Like it, Dislike it? Can't get it in your region and are angry? Post here!

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I haven't picked it up yet, but I'm hoping to get it next week (I get paid on Monday).

Zeruel, how would you rank it so far in relation to the other Tales games that you have completed?

I've only played Symphonia, Abyss, and Destiny myself. I'm getting really excited about hearing how good the combat in this game supposedly is though. A good combat system always keeps me coming back.

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I think it's a pretty good game so far but I don't really like the whole you can't combo unless you've stocked up CC thing. I'm used to Abyss where you can combo every time you attack and you don't have to wait. Plus I hate how you can't use the circle button for artes (my friend tells me you can when you're older) but I'm only like 2 hours in so I haven't reached that yet. From what I hear, it gets better so I'm looking forward to more. Although the trophies for the game are a bit odd O_o

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June Member of the Month and 10000th poster of the 10000 posts thread

(March 16, 2012 05:51:46 PM)YouLovePatrick Wrote:  Zeruel, how would you rank it so far in relation to the other Tales games that you have completed?

Well, taking into consideration I've only played Abyss, Symphonia, Symphonia 2, Vesperia, and Radiant Mythology.

Story wise, it's probably second under Vesperia so far. It just feels so much more fleshed out than most Tales games for sure. Keep in mind I am just finished with chapter 3. It definitely has a more political and war based story as well as tragic friendships and sibling rivalry.

Gameplay feels much improved. Areas look very unique and well designed. However, there is no more world map, you travel down roads without ever changing scale (if that make sense). I'm still iffy on if I'm okay with that, because technically the new design makes the world seem more realistic and huge.

Customization, fuzing, forging, titles, and all other manners of building your characters are on a level all it's own compared to the other titles. While it takes a bit to learn it, once you get that "ah ha!" moment, you should be able to tweak your characters to perfection.

Combat is just sweet. Rather than button mashing, it is now built around combos and points. It takes quite a bit to learn it, but once you do, It's much more fun than mindless slicing of other titles (which... were fun too don't get me wrong).

Music is pretty terrible in some places and sounds uninspired. Some dungeons even have music with only 3 cords over and over. Definitely not my favorite music. But I can't remember the other title's music to compare.

So overall, much better than any of the titles I've played. Only having it's story toppled by Vesperia (for now). Although the constant retracing the same areas knocks it down a peg compared to the flow of other titles. Hoping eventually it breaks from that. I've had to traverse most areas 2-3 times... Oh well, still love it.

(March 16, 2012 05:51:46 PM)YouLovePatrick Wrote:  I've only played Symphonia, Abyss, and Destiny myself. I'm getting really excited about hearing how good the combat in this game supposedly is though. A good combat system always keeps me coming back.

Can't speak for Destiny but with the other two, I'm sure you'll be very impressed! Combat system here is epic!

(March 16, 2012 06:19:12 PM)Abe Wrote:  I think it's a pretty good game so far but I don't really like the whole you can't combo unless you've stocked up CC thing. I'm used to Abyss where you can combo every time you attack and you don't have to wait. Plus I hate how you can't use the circle button for artes (my friend tells me you can when you're older) but I'm only like 2 hours in so I haven't reached that yet. From what I hear, it gets better so I'm looking forward to more. Although the trophies for the game are a bit odd O_o

I struggled a lot starting out, but once I learn to use block, I've been tearing stuff up. I mainly use Sophie who seems to be strictly melee combos and only uses arts (circle) for casting heal. I throw up block (square) for a second which refills combo points to max (usually long enough to see the blue aura surround the character), then rush in and mash attack with up and down on analog stick. This unleashes damage. Then once the combo is over, hit block (square) again for a quick second to refill combo points, then repeat. Of course remembering to take those block periods to position yourself and dodge. Hitting left or right or back as needed to avoid damage.

Sophie is a great starter character to learn combos. I think once you're comfortable, then move on to someone like Asbel who uses that strategy while also unleashing attacks from arts (circle) as well. Being careful because hitting X puts his blade away and leaves him open for attacks. It's usually best to dash away before putting his sword away.

I think Sophie can use arts (circle) for heal during the child arc, but Asbel can't until he's older.

Hope this helps, please let me know if have questions.

Also, as a note, Try To Avoid Checking Trophies Online, Hidden Trophies Contain Spoilers.

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(March 17, 2012 02:00:59 AM)Zeruel Wrote:  I struggled a lot starting out, but once I learn to use block, I've been tearing stuff up. I mainly use Sophie who seems to be strictly melee combos and only uses arts (circle) for casting heal. I throw up block (square) for a second which refills combo points to max (usually long enough to see the blue aura surround the character), then rush in and mash attack with up and down on analog stick. This unleashes damage. Then once the combo is over, hit block (square) again for a quick second to refill combo points, then repeat. Of course remembering to take those block periods to position yourself and dodge. Hitting left or right or back as needed to avoid damage.

Sophie is a great starter character to learn combos. I think once you're comfortable, then move on to someone like Asbel who uses that strategy while also unleashing attacks from arts (circle) as well. Being careful because hitting X puts his blade away and leaves him open for attacks. It's usually best to dash away before putting his sword away.

I think Sophie can use arts (circle) for heal during the child arc, but Asbel can't until he's older.

Hope this helps, please let me know if have questions.

Also, as a note, Try To Avoid Checking Trophies Online, Hidden Trophies Contain Spoilers.

haha I see your point man, but idk, I never really liked fist characters in Tales like Sophie or Anise. I always was the sword guy like Luke or... well, Guy . And yeah, I play on super hard mode on Abyss normally so I know how to block, make combos with artes, dodge stuff, etc. but I'm just not used to the whole CC thing. haha and usually I don't really need healing circles unless I'm fighting bosses cause I just whole out bash the monsters and block and repeat rather than focusing solely on defense or dodging.
and haha I didn't check them online. I just saw the trophies on my ps3 and it's like get 50 titles for a character then it goes to like 100. I just saw those ones and I"m like O_o I only got like 2 for Asbel and 1 for everyone else!

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June Member of the Month and 10000th poster of the 10000 posts thread

(March 17, 2012 11:51:01 AM)Abe Wrote:  haha I see your point man, but idk, I never really liked fist characters in Tales like Sophie or Anise. I always was the sword guy like Luke or... well, Guy . And yeah, I play on super hard mode on Abyss normally so I know how to block, make combos with artes, dodge stuff, etc. but I'm just not used to the whole CC thing. haha and usually I don't really need healing circles unless I'm fighting bosses cause I just whole out bash the monsters and block and repeat rather than focusing solely on defense or dodging.
and haha I didn't check them online. I just saw the trophies on my ps3 and it's like get 50 titles for a character then it goes to like 100. I just saw those ones and I"m like O_o I only got like 2 for Asbel and 1 for everyone else!

Gotcha. The trophies comment was actually more meant for everyone in general. You just reminded me. I'm the same way with healing too. Some bosses will have you healing like mad to keep your less.... defensive characters alive. Fighting the archduke had me juggling corpses of terrible allies left and right lol.

Once you pass the childhood arc, the titles start pouring in. You'll get them for getting poisoned, getting stunned, it's ridiculous how many I have now.

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It is too bad about the music... but other than that I couldn't be more excited! Thanks!

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(March 18, 2012 03:37:27 PM)YouLovePatrick Wrote:  It is too bad about the music... but other than that I couldn't be more excited! Thanks!

Did you manage to get ahold of ToGf? What do you think so far?

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I'm 8 hours in right now. The prologue part (when they are all children) was pretty boring for me, but now I love it. All of the characters are getting more and more endearing the farther I go. Pascal is my favorite character so far. An archaeologist after my own heart... haha.

All in all, I agree with most of your points so far Zeruel. The battle system is GREAT, but the music really is just ho-hum.

Minus the music, I'd say this is my favorite Tales game thus far... we will see if that changes or not the farther along I get.

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(March 27, 2012 01:52:56 PM)YouLovePatrick Wrote:  I'm 8 hours in right now. The prologue part (when they are all children) was pretty boring for me, but now I love it. All of the characters are getting more and more endearing the farther I go. Pascal is my favorite character so far. An archaeologist after my own heart... haha.

All in all, I agree with most of your points so far Zeruel. The battle system is GREAT, but the music really is just ho-hum.

Minus the music, I'd say this is my favorite Tales game thus far... we will see if that changes or not the farther along I get.

The children arc was indeed very boring, except for the very end. Was a pretty cool closing.

Pascal is epic, she's hilarious and I love how she breaks up the more... overly serious moments. She's really the only reason why I havn't thrown the controller at Hubert and his annoying attitude. I'm really sick of him.

Speaking of which, what is it with the annoying characters lately? Luke pretty much killed my drive to finishing Tales of Abyss 3DS, and now Hubert is killing Tales of Graces f. >_< I honestly hate playing games where I'm constantly having to be around annoying characters. It's like real life, who stays around people that are mean/rude?

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