Tales of Graces f review

Name: Tales of Graces f
Platform: PS3
Release date: 3/13/2012 
Current price: $39.99 
Genre: RPG
Publisher: Namco Bandai Games 
Developer: Namco Tales Studio
Rating: T
Number of local players: 1-4 (Co-op)
(No online multiplayer)
(resolution) wire compatibility VGA, Component, HDMI
Game is in full HD (HDMI, Component) but can be played through AV.

First, some background:
Tales of Graces f is the first Tales game to be released outside of Japan since Tales of Vesperia back in 2008. The original Tales of Graces was released for the Wii in Japan back in 2009, 3 years later, we finally got to play the game for ourselves on the PS3. 

After Tales of Vesperia, the series fell into obscurity in the United States for a little bit. But because Tales of Graces and Tales of Graces f were such huge successes in Japan, they finally decided to localize it for the rest of the world, to see if the rest of us still like the series. Namco Bandai sure seemed hesitant, but Tales of Graces f was enough of a success in the United States for them to announce that they will also localize Tales of Xillia in 2013! Huzzah!

On to the review. Let's get the story out of way:
I'll start by saying the story of Tales of Graces f is sub-par. But this doesn't really come as a surprise after seeing all of the trailers about "the power of friendship" and such. While I can appreciate the message they're trying to send, I hate the way they send it. It's very predictable and it's got its fair share of cliches. On average, the voice acting is decent. There are some TERRIBLE, over-dramatic and cheesy scenes that are painful to watch. But there are also some entertaining and intense scenes. This game won't win any awards for it's story though.

(Yeah! Friendship tree! -_-)

But I always say it's a good thing for a game to focus on the story. The story is what keeps you interested and motivated to keep going. Even if the plot sucks, that doesn't mean the game can't have memorable and likeable characters. What this game does well in regards to story is the fact that by the end of it, you feel some sort of connection to the characters in the game because you went on an epic adventure with them. That's because the game focuses on the story a lot, there are lengthy cutscenes and some good character development over the 50-60 hours it takes to complete the game.

Graphics/Presentation:

For the style they were going for, the graphics are excellent. The game looks just like an anime. Because the graphics are cell-shaded, they don't need to be very realistic, but the textures are detailed enough to look impressive. Everything about this game's presentation is very fluid and smooth. The character models are very smooth and the animations all flow together nicely.

The gameplay!:

The Tales series is known for its fun, real time battle system. Up until Graces, the battle system stayed the same in most of the Tales games, with some tweaks here and there to make each game feel unique. (Such as the addition of fields of fonons in Tales of the Abyss, or the addition of burst artes in Tales of Vesperia.)

But this time around, the battle system has been revamped almost completely. Instead of TP in this Tales game, there's something called CC. The way this works is that you need CC to do any kind of attack. Even a melee basic attack. Different attacks use up different amounts of CC. You have two modes of attack, A-artes and B-artes. A-artes are weaker but require less CC so their more easily chained together into combos. B-artes are more powerful but require more CC. So they're good for burst damage. CC regenerates very quickly. So once you finish a combo and run out of CC, you won't be able to attack for a few seconds while your CC regenerates. You can continue attacking as soon as you have any amount of CC. It's up to you to decide if you want to react quickly and attack for a little burst damage with low CC, or wait a little bit longer so you can create a long combo with more CC.

Essentially, CC acts as a representation of how many hits you can chain together in your next combo. I like this system a lot more than the TP system of previous Tales games. TP was regenerated by hitting enemies with the same melee basic combo over and over and over again. There's no more mindless button mashing because CC regenerates by itself very quickly. The new CC system makes the battle system a lot more intense.

The addition of side-stepping is also a really great improvement. Before you could only leap backwards while blocking to avoid attacks, but now you can also slide left or right while holding block. It seems like a minor addition, but it drastically changes the dynamics of the game. When side-stepping, your character stays fixed on the current enemy you're targeting so that you circle around them. But while side-stepping, you leave yourself open, but it's a great way to quickly avoid vertical attacks, or attacks that have limited range.

CC and side-stepping both make the battle system so much more dynamic.

The battle system has been vastly improved this time around.

The verdict:
Despite the mediocre story, this is most fun I've had playing a video game for a while. Without a doubt, Tales of Graces f is the best Tales game yet. 
The battle system is what makes this game great.
With multiple fighting styles to choose from, and endless combos to experiment with for each fighting style, the game never gets old.
The game takes about 50-60 hours to complete, so you know that you're really getting your money's worth for $40.
And then there's also an epilogue that's unlocked once you beat the game that offers even MORE hours a gameplay.
It's a must own for anyone who owns a PS3 and likes RPGs.

10/10