When Tales of Graces f came out on PlayStation 3 in 2012, the franchise was almost 18 years old. Since the series began, it saw nearly a yearly release, and while not every entry made it to the West, the games gradually gained a dedicated following. There is a lot to like about the franchise; from the colorful anime visuals, action-packed combat, and bouts of humor, it’s a surprise that it resonated with gamers.
Yet, after 18 years of sequels, ports, and spin-offs, stagnation began to wear on fans. There have been five mainline sequels since Tales of Graces f and apart from obvious visual enhancements, and more intense action, the core has remained the same. Many fans believe Tales of Graces f is where the series began to stagnate, but is it true?
Originally released on the Nintendo Wii in Japan only, Tales of Graces was eventually released in the West as Tales of Graces f for PlayStation 3. Japanese RPGs were a rarity during the seventh console gen, making fans elated to get something that was as reliable as a Tales of game. How does it hold up now that it has been updated for the ninth console gen? Find out in our Tales of Graces f Remastered review!
Tales of Graces f Remastered
Developer: Tose, Namco Tales Studio Limited
Publisher: BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment, Namco Bandai Games America Inc.
Platforms: Windows PC, Nintendo Wii (as Tales of Graces), Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 3 (as Tales of Graces f), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S (reviewed)
Release Date: January 16, 2025
Price: $39.99
The Tales franchise has been set in its ways for a long time, way before Tales of Graces f came out. Some gamers think that these games became stale when Graces came around, but the hard truth is that the franchise peaked in 2003 when it jumped into 3D with Tales of Symphonia. Every entry since has used Symphonia as a model with modest changes.
This isn’t to say that Tales of Graces f is a poor game. If you never played the franchise before and started with Graces, chances are you would have a great time… but you would also have seen most of what the franchise has to offer. You can always count on a big sweeping adventure steeped with shonen fantasy, swordplay, and rolling verdant, grassy hills, and for some, that is enough.
Asbel’s story begins during his childhood when he meets Sophie, a mysterious monotone amnesiac girl who has a knack for violence. After a traumatic prologue, Asbel grows up and becomes a no-nonsense knight and overcompensates for his childish behavior as a kid.
The prologue’s events become a load for him to bear that guide the story forward. Like prior Tales games, the protagonist makes friends with a colorful cast of characters, but Tales of Graces f sticks out for some sloppy writing.
Several party members will have no reason to stick with Asbel after their arc is complete and go along with his dangerous quest to battle an immortal entity made of pure energy.
The story unfolds at a brisk pace, packing over 50 hours of varied scenarios and some admittedly sweet moments between characters. Graces may not be one of the best Tales games, but it isn’t a bad place to start either.
Even when the story isn’t that engaging, the scene direction is well-done. The camera is rarely static and tries to keep the visuals interesting. Apart from Asbel and Sophie, most of the cast have sloppily written motivations.
The aforementioned party members aimlessly joining Asbel’s suicide mission is one thing, but the main antagonist is especially perplexing. Asbel himself calls out the final boss’ goals, only for it to effectively shrug in confusion. It’s as if the writers knew how flimsy the plot was and were amused by it.
At times, it seems as if Tales of Graces f is less interested in its overarching story and prefers players to take in the cheesy emotions of “the power of friendship”. It isn’t a cynical game, it’s sincere, but to a point that it’s sickening and juvenile like an afterschool special.
Thankfully, this version comes with Lineage and Legacies, a bonus epilogue chapter that further fleshes out the aftermath. This scenario adds about another 10 hours of story and challenges, making it feel like the true end of the story with a more satisfying conclusion.
Anyone unable to connect with the story will still find that Tales of Graces f is a tremendously beefy JRPG with righteous action-based combat. Encounters shift to a separate arena from the field like in turn-based JPRGs, but battles unfold with a frantic, real-time brawl.
Attacks unload from a player-assigned tree of options. It’s a flexible system where gamers can tailor their combos any way they see fit.
The action is fluid and responsive, feeling almost like something out of a polished fighting game. Gamers will throttle between two styles, which keeps them on their toes and risky play is encouraged for anyone who leans toward parrying while playing defensively.
Combat is intensely satisfying and the “titles” for the character-building system give players leeway to customize and specialize growth. The only drawback is Tales of Graces f Remastered gives access to the Grade shop at the start and a massive cache of Grade points to spend.
The Grade shop is typically reserved for the post-game/new game plus experience. Gamers earn points based on their performance which are spent on XP multipliers, money multipliers, critical damage multipliers, etc. The problem is that this remaster also gives enough points to buy up pretty much everything at the start and can be used during hard mode, trivializing the entire game.
To make matters worse, there are options in the settings to apply AI gambits to all party members, including Asbel. After picking all the Grade bonuses, the party will be unstoppable at the beginning… even on hard. Hard mode shouldn’t have access to the grade shop until new game plus. Having the Grade shop a few button pushes away makes the great battle system pointless.
Another QOL feature is the quest marker that shows drooling players where to go. As if the over-powered grade shop wasn’t enough, now the remastered port becomes more boring as players walk from cutscene to cutscene with every threat being a pushover regardless of difficulty.
The franchise was never a technical marvel, none of them were ever ugly games, even when it first lept to the third dimension. Tales of Graces was originally a Wii game and you can tell by its simple character models and painterly textures. It’s not an ugly game; it relies on artistry to realize its world and characters.
The fixed camera angles that track the player ensure a controlled level of detail that doesn’t compromise a picturesque shot. Despite its age and being specced on a fairly weak console, Tales of Graces f Remastered looks good. Everything is readable and smooth, and the animation is lively. Cutscenes especially hold up nicely and are shot with thoughtful staging.
Every trick from forced perspective to facades and skyboxes is used to make Graces‘ world feel big. It comes off a bit cold and sterile at times, but it looks as good as it possibly can. The remaster boosts the frame rate to a perfect 60fps, load times are expectedly short, and the illustrative textures are razor sharp.
Tales of Graces f Remastered is a solid JRPG for young gamers who think turn-based gameplay is boring. The saccharine friendship themes will bore most older gamers and make their skin crawl, but it does have some genuinely heartfelt moments. Some of the writing is sloppy and the motivations are weak. If you’re a little kid, it may resonate with you.
Tales of Graces f Remastered‘s greatest asset is its combat system. It’s too bad that the remaster undermines its best feature with overly aggressive QOL features that make most of the challenge redundant. Opting to ignore the Grade shop is akin to fighting one-handed. At this point, the game isn’t challenging me, I’m challenging myself.
Tales of Graces f Remastered was reviewed on an Xbox Series X using a code purchased by Niche Gamer. You can find additional information about Niche Gamer’s review/ethics policy here. Tales of Graces f Remastered is now available for PC (via Steam), PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.
