Available on Switch, PS4|5, XBox Series S|X, PC
Thoughts on the Story & Gameplay
This is one of my favorite games in the Tales of series from Bandai Namco. The story revolves around Asbel Lhant and his friends as they try to save their world and their friend from an impending crisis. That's the very short version. The story begins with Asbel and his friends as children. The opening is about a couple hours and serves as a decent tutorial. The game really gets going once the time skip happens and everyone meets up again. I found this story to be one of the more emotional entries in the Tales series. The themes of duty, loss, and friendship are heavy in this one.
As for the gameplay, it is very well done. Combat is broken up into A Artes and B Artes. The best way for me to describe it is A Artes are your combo starters and B Artes are your special moves. The way your character gains new moves and buffs are via Titles. Every Tales game has titles in them but this game made the title system have an actual use. Their are a lot of titles in this game so its a good idea to play around with them to see which ones fit your gameplay style best. One thing I love about this game is that they made the Mystic Artes/Hi-Ougis easier to do, once you unlock them just hold L in the middle of a combo and voila. The combat is very intuitive and easy to master. That doesn't mean that the game is easy, there are some fights that will be challenging if you aren't prepared for them.
Thoughts on the Good
What do I like about this game? The combat in this game is my jam. Its still one of my favorite Tales combat systems. I enjoy it way more than Abyss or even Symphonia. I also think that they improved upon some of the issues with Vesperia's combat system just by using the Titles for movesets and making Mystic Artes easier to pull off. The voice acting is well done and the soundtrack is great as well. The game comes with all the DLC so its the complete package. Also, the quality of life improvements they made are great. For example, having the destination marker is a huge help as there is a lot of backtracking in this game. Another improvement is giving a run mechanic in the open world areas which helps cut down on time.
Thoughts on the Bad
The main thing I didn't like was what I didn't like when it originally released and that is all the backtracking. There comes a point in the game where I wish there was just a fast travel option. Also, some of the anime cutscenes in my opinion, could have used a little bit of a touch up. Its not the best in that department I still think the best anime cutscenes in the Tales series belong to Vesperia and Breseria.
For Parents
This game is rated T for Teen. Its your basic Japanese RPG but like most Tales series games leans heavy on the anime style and themes. This game does have some heavy themes in it but its nothing to adult in my opinion. Its a good sized game length wise between 40 - 60 hours and there are a lot of side quests and things to find as well as getting all the titles for every character. There is a lot to do and there is couch co-op so the kids can play together.
Overall Thoughts/Is the Game FUN?
Yes this game is FUN. I highly recommend it. I have the Switch version but the game is available everywhere and I have had no issues with this game at all. Unlike the Symphonia release this game is running well. Have you played Tales of Graces f Remastered? What's your favorite Tales of game? Leave a comment and let's talk about it.
Trailer/GamePlay
Gameplay
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