[Dresden]

Sophie was the only character I didn't hate by the time I stopped playing, mainly because she doesn't say much most of the time.

[barrin87]

Well I am slowly making way on the trophies in Graces. I just beat the Zhonecage and got the trophy at Warrior's Roost. I had to go back to my previous save though so I could fight the final boss on Chaos. I was at level 118 and it was still pretty damn chaotic! I was using my elixers since they heal completely and went through 13 of them.

[Sagitario]

Book of Striking get! FUCK YEAH

There is no point of upgrading Turtlez beyond that, right?

Before proceeding with the final boss I would like to upgrade the other stores (and get to level 80, currently at 74), it shouldn't take as long as Turtlez... well, at least I really hope so >_<

2,400,000 gald for the last Eleth Mod title is killer, I don't want to worry about gald ever again but I guess I will purchase it after the final boss.

[Yuripaw]

So I finally got through the game and to the future arc. Everyone kept telling me it was worth it even though the game is mediocre to me and I already finished the Wii version. I completely disagree about its worth. I went from thinking the cast and story were "okay" to now thinking the story is stupid and Asbel is one of the worst characters in the franchise. He went from being "just there" to being someone I actively dislike. And the rest of the cast (except Malik) went down a few notches too. I wish I never played this extra content. It puts this game quite a few places further back in my list. I think I can actually say I do not like Graces anymore. I honestly do not think I've had the urge to slap someone as much as I do Asbel.

man, I still haven't dived into the future arc much, but now I'm afraid to =/

[barrin87]

So I have finished all the inn requests finally and pretty much done everything I can do on my first play through. I am still worried about maxing out my eleth mixer though since I am only around 5,500. Should I try grinding the rest out on this play through or move onto a new game + to finish it? I am not completing a second play through since I got the 60 second fight for the final boss and the future arc boss already.

[Dark Schala]

Sheesh! You guys weren't kidding when you said the Assassin's Creed II plat was easy. The only frustrating thing was the feathers. Finding Glyphs wasn't bad. Overall, I liked it. I don't know if I want to play Brotherhood or Revelations right away, but I liked what I played. Hunting the Glyphs just made me more interested in the character featured during the preamble to solving the Glyphs' puzzles.

Book of Striking get! FUCK YEAH There is no point of upgrading Turtlez beyond that, right?

Not really, unless you want a weapon that'll easily give you an attribute of another character in the Tales series (ex: Guyabulous on a weapon/armour will make one of your characters Petrified if they're attacked by a female enemy).

So I have finished all the inn requests finally and pretty much done everything I can do on my first play through. I am still worried about maxing out my eleth mixer though since I am only around 5,500. Should I try grinding the rest out on this play through or move onto a new game + to finish it? I am not completing a second play through since I got the 60 second fight for the final boss and the future arc boss already.

I think you should just move onto a NG+ since you'll retain your recipes and other things if you select them in the Grade Shop menu, and you can just start levelling up your pot right at the beginning. You're still going through the entire game if you're getting the 60 seconds trophies, so it doesn't hurt to level up the pot during the NG+ anyway since it won't really feel like a chore since you aren't really grinding the pot, and will probably feel more natural.

But I do think grinding for it until 9400 or so in an area like Orlen Woods or Lhant Hill would be a good idea because then you can pick the +500 bonus in the Grade Shop and you'll start NG+ with a 9900 mixer and just level up to 9999 relatively easy when you're fighting naturally.

It's really up to you. Levelling up from between 400-9000 is easy. The last bit from 9001-9999 is very hard since it takes 50 EXP for a single point instead of the 20 EXP it took from between 2001-9999.

[Sagitario]

All inn requests done!
At least I think so because new requests stopped appearing.

Does something trigger when completing them?

Edit: No, they aren't done! Now that I recall, nobody asked for the Dreamer's Flange :O

But I am at the end of the game... unless they appear or are requested after finishing it.

[ZealousD]

Just finished the main arc today.

Rather than typing up my thoughts and having everybody ignore the wall of text, I think I'm just going to rank what I've played of the series up to this point, by category. Bitches love rankings.

Gameplay
Graces > All Team Symphonia games = DotNW > Legendia

Subsystems
Graces > Everything Else

Pacing
Vesperia = Graces > Symphonia > DotNW > Legendia > Abyss

Story
Abyss > Vesperia > Symphonia > Graces > Legendia > DotNW

Characters
Vesperia > Abyss > Symphonia > DotNW = Graces > Legendia

Voice Acting
Vesperia > Abyss > Symphonia > DotNW > Graces = Legendia

OVERALL
Vesperia > Abyss = Symphonia > Graces > DotNW > Legendia


Essentially, while Graces really does have the best gameplay and subsystems that I've played thus far, the story and characters do significantly drag it down for me. The story is pretty much nonsense. The characters are serviceable at their best, stupidly hammy and cheesy at their worst, and boring at their usual.

[Sagitario]

If there are two or three things where Legendia actually beats other Tales games [besides music], story/characters and voice acting would be a few of them.

[ZealousD]

If there are two or three things where Legendia actually beats other Tales games [besides music], story/characters and voice acting would be a few of them.

I can only remember the names of three characters off the top of my head. Senel, Norma, and Chloe. I really don't remember a thing about the story. The only reason I ranked it about DotNW is because forgetful is better than bad.

Although, admittedly, I didn't partake in any of the post-game content. I think the lack of voice acting played a big factor in that.

[Sagitario]

Although, admittedly, I didn't partake in any of the post-game content. I think the lack of voice acting played a big factor in that.

Well, there lies the problem. The character quests add so much. Norma, Chloe and Will quests in particular. The main story is also better than some Tales games (it isn't bad, stupid nor offensive).

I really wish more games adopted that structure of Main Quest -> Characters Quests.

[ZealousD]

The main story is also better than some Tales games (it isn't bad, stupid nor offensive).

Yeah, well like I said I was only ranking them based on what I played. For instance, I haven't played Rebirth.

When Veigue shows up on Warrior's Roost, I was totally waiting for him to mention Claire. It never happened :(

[barrin87]

All inn requests done! At least I think so because new requests stopped appearing. Does something trigger when completing them? Edit: No, they aren't done! Now that I recall, nobody asked for the Dreamer's Flange :O But I am at the end of the game... unless they appear or are requested after finishing it.

Have you made sure to check every location for inn requests? Katz Korner is an easily missed location for inn requests since you can't travel directly to it and you need to actually go there to see the requests.

You also can't finish all the inn requests until you complete the Future Arc and the Zhonecage up until level 9.

[barrin87]

In case anyone else is going for the platinum trophy, I wasn't aware that I had to kill the final boss so many times. Unlike other games where completing the game on a higher difficultly nets you all the lower difficulty settings, Tales of Graces f does not stack. You have to fight him on Moderate, Hard, Evil, AND Chaos to get all the trophies.

Sorry for the duplicate post!

[IntelliHeath]

In case anyone else is going for the platinum trophy, I wasn't aware that I had to kill the final boss so many times. Unlike other games where completing the game on a higher difficultly nets you all the lower difficulty settings, Tales of Graces f does not stack. You have to fight him on Moderate, Hard, Evil, AND Chaos to get all the trophies. Sorry for the duplicate post!

Last time, I heard that it can be stacked. Apparently, it was not true.

[barrin87]

Last time, I heard that it can be stacked. Apparently, it was not true.

Well it didn't work for me so unless you have to go about it a certain way. I beat the final boss on Moderate at first and didn't try the higher difficulties until I had finished through the future arc and the Zhonecage. I played through Chaos at first but it didn't give me Hard or Evil so I had to play through it twice more to get those trophies.

It might just be that I didn't try Chaos at first but I am not sure.

[kewlmyc]

I'm just fucking around and mastering all of my titles in the area with all of the golems just before the final boss of F arc. It's taken me this long to realize it, but goddamn, the strategy options are pretty shit compared to previous tales games. That and the AI are retarded. Have them all set to "Leader's Target" yet they go and attack whatever they feel like. Shit is getting annoying.

[Sagitario]

Have you made sure to check every location for inn requests? Katz Korner is an easily missed location for inn requests since you can't travel directly to it and you need to actually go there to see the requests. You also can't finish all the inn requests until you complete the Future Arc and the Zhonecage up until level 9.

Yeah. Out of nowhere and seemingly random, more quests appeared.

[Dark Schala]

Last time, I heard that it can be stacked. Apparently, it was not true.

They cannot be stacked at all. It's like that in both the JP and ENG versions. You have to beat the boss four times to get the difficulty trophies. And beat the boss once again on any difficulty after you beat the Zone Cage.

Yeah. Out of nowhere and seemingly random, more quests appeared.

More quests open up after 8-10 minutes. You'll know you've reached the last inn request of the town when someone named "???" gives you a request.

I'm just fucking around and mastering all of my titles in the area with all of the golems just before the final boss of F arc. It's taken me this long to realize it, but goddamn, the strategy options are pretty shit compared to previous tales games. That and the AI are retarded. Have them all set to "Leader's Target" yet they go and attack whatever they feel like. Shit is getting annoying.

I agree. If I have a criticism of Graces' gameplay, it's this. As I've expanded upon in another post, it's ridiculous that other games allow you to set more and position characters (Rebirth actually did something clever with character positioning à la Genso Suikoden V), and Graces doesn't let you do that or make more specifications to strategy--especially given the nature of its battle system.

At least Xillia, as I've said before, lets you do more. But I feel like it isn't always needed because Xillia is not a hard game at all when facing normal encounters. It's one of the easier Tales games I've played outside of the bosses breaking out of combos because it takes after Tales of Hearts in that manner.

I'll repost the pics from Xillia in case people are curious:

Xillia allows the player to set their player characters on a grid, regardless of who they're linked with (so, I have Jude and Elise linked together and she's pretty far away from him). I can't remember if you swap someone in battle with someone who's currently on the bench during the battle if he/she will go to his/her set position or if he/she will take the previous character's place. Oh well, doesn't matter.

Oh yeah, in Xillia, you can swap characters in and out of battle, if you didn't know that. You need to get at least 5 people to join your group to do that, though.

Positioning Grid

I've outlined the Strategy Menu translations in this post, but as you can see, yeah, there are definitely more of them than there are in Graces. That's partially due to a few of the options being tied to the Link system. Other than that, Strategy is sorta on-par with Vesperia's.

Tales of Xillia's Strategy Board

And this is the Item Strategy menu. If you tell characters that they can use items within battle, they'll follow this strategy menu accordingly. So I have Life Bottles set as a priority. Column 4 is how much of an item you want to keep in reserve. Column 5 is how much of the item you have left in your inventory. Column 3 is item conditions (HP/TP remaining when you'd like the AI to use it, or during some sort of status effect; for life bottle it's: use when 1 ally is dead, use when 2 allies are dead, use when 3 allies are dead.)

Item Strategy Board

And for kicks, I threw in the Lillial Orb system. This is what you use to get extra skills and stuff. Basically, you need to make a complete trapezoid in order for the skill in the middle of the trapezoid to be activated. If you light up the three greyed bulbs in the corner under Jude's name (beside his character portrait), you'll expand the web a little bit, granting you access to more skills. You get at least 3 points to level up the Lillial Orbs every time you level up. So think of it as the Crystarium or Sphere Grid or something. There are several levels of the Lillial Orb grids to complete so you won't max out the Orbs until you get everyone to Level 99, which isn't very hard. (There are trophies to get everyone to level 99, and believe me, it isn't hard since Milla and Rowen are cheap characters to use to get the EXP bonuses with, and I wish I'd known that when I went for the plat the first time).

If you look closely, I'm on Lillial Orb Grid Level 2 for Jude (and everyone else). This is early-game (not even beaten the first quarter of the game yet), so it's... actually, it's kind of unreasonable, given that I grinded in a difficult but accessible area and I'm probably at a higher level than I should be.

Lillial Orb System

And these are how skills are handled in Xillia. If you've played Abyss or Vesperia, you'll know what you're looking at here. Just like AD Skills. The ones you see here just increase stats. If I scroll down a little more, you get the ones that help out in battle. As I said before, you get skills from the Lillial Orb system.

Skills

[kewlmyc]

They cannot be stacked at all. It's like that in both the JP and ENG versions. You have to beat the boss four times to get the difficulty trophies. And beat the boss once again on any difficulty after you beat the Zone Cage. More quests open up after 8-10 minutes. You'll know you've reached the last inn request of the town when someone named "???" gives you a request. I agree. If I have a criticism of Graces' gameplay, it's this. As I've expanded upon in another post, it's ridiculous that other games allow you to set more and position characters (Rebirth actually did something clever with character positioning à la Genso Suikoden V), and Graces doesn't let you do that or make more specifications to strategy--especially given the nature of its battle system. At least Xillia, as I've said before, lets you do more. But I feel like it isn't always needed because Xillia is not a hard game at all when facing normal encounters. It's one of the easier Tales games I've played outside of the bosses breaking out of combos because it takes after Tales of Hearts in that manner. I'll repost the pics from Xillia in case people are curious: Xillia allows the player to set their player characters on a grid, regardless of who they're linked with (so, I have Jude and Elise linked together and she's pretty far away from him). I can't remember if you swap someone in battle with someone who's currently on the bench during the battle if he/she will go to his/her set position or if he/she will take the previous character's place. Oh well, doesn't matter. Oh yeah, in Xillia, you can swap characters in and out of battle, if you didn't know that. You need to get at least 5 people to join your group to do that, though. I've outlined the Strategy Menu translations in this post, but as you can see, yeah, there are definitely more of them than there are in Graces. That's partially due to a few of the options being tied to the Link system. Other than that, Strategy is sorta on-par with Vesperia's. And this is the Item Strategy menu. If you tell characters that they can use items within battle, they'll follow this strategy menu accordingly. So I have Life Bottles set as a priority. Column 4 is how much of an item you want to keep in reserve. Column 5 is how much of the item you have left in your inventory. Column 3 is item conditions (HP/TP remaining when you'd like the AI to use it, or during some sort of status effect; for life bottle it's: use when 1 ally is dead, use when 2 allies are dead, use when 3 allies are dead.) And for kicks, I threw in the Lillial Orb system. This is what you use to get extra skills and stuff. Basically, you need to make a complete trapezoid in order for the skill in the middle of the trapezoid to be activated. If you light up the three greyed bulbs in the corner under Jude's name (beside his character portrait), you'll expand the web a little bit, granting you access to more skills. You get at least 3 points to level up the Lillial Orbs every time you level up. So think of it as the Crystarium or Sphere Grid or something. There are several levels of the Lillial Orb grids to complete so you won't max out the Orbs until you get everyone to Level 99, which isn't very hard. (There are trophies to get everyone to level 99, and believe me, it isn't hard since Milla and Rowen are cheap characters to use to get the EXP bonuses with, and I wish I'd known that when I went for the plat the first time). If you look closely, I'm on Lillial Orb Grid Level 2 for Jude (and everyone else). This is early-game (not even beaten the first quarter of the game yet), so it's... actually, it's kind of unreasonable, given that I grinded in a difficult but accessible area and I'm probably at a higher level than I should be. And these are how skills are handled in Xillia. If you've played Abyss or Vesperia, you'll know what you're looking at here. Just like AD Skills. The ones you see here just increase stats. If I scroll down a little more, you get the ones that help out in battle. As I said before, you get skills from the Lillial Orb system.

Nice post. Makes me really want English Xillia now. Hopefully something is announced at Tales Festival.

I never knew about the switching of characters during battle. Took them long enough.

[charlequin]

I agree. If I have a criticism of Graces' gameplay, it's this.

Yeah, this game really does have an amazing combat system, but the awful strategy options and the atrocious boss design really conspire to make it less enjoyable than it could be.

[Sagitario]

Yeah, this game really does have an amazing combat system, but the awful strategy options and the atrocious boss design really conspire to make it less enjoyable than it could be.

Which ones in particular?

I do agree the bosses in Graces are really weak, though. No one stands out.

[Seda]

In the middle of Zhonecage at the moment, but I have to put it on hold as I study for finals. :/

[charlequin]

Which ones in particular?

I found Emeraude particularly galling just in its interminable tediousness, but they're all awful. Start with balancing-via-excessive-hitpoints, add obnoxious movement powers, continue with arbitrary ignoring of other basic battle system rules, season with endless waves of adds to taste.

The combat system of, say, Vesperia is mashier and especially has far less interesting defense mechanics, but at least the bosses are actually fun to fight.

[barrin87]

Ugh, this grinding for the eleth mixer is such a pain. I don't think I will get it in a new game + since I am just going to run through as fast as possible to get the 60 second trophies so I am trying to do the majority of it before. I am currently sitting at 6,400.

I am getting 10 points towards my eleth mixer a battle currently. I am grinding in Orlen Woods by guarding in battle until Crab Fried Rice and Fried Manju activate at 10 and 20 seconds respectively. Miso Stew is my after battle with Beef with Red Wine Sauce as my backup when I hit below 50%. I run to the Turtelz when that happens though since I get 1 point less with Beef with Red Wine Sauce.

[BassForever]

Stuck on my chaos run at 10 Little Queen round 2 at the bottom of the dungeon, I can never stun lock them long enough to keep them from casting magic, and their magic decimates me.

[MechaX]

The way the bosses have been balanced so far has been... wow. I'll admit, I'm playing the game on higher difficulties at this point. But in the other Tales games (with the exception of Abyss on Unknown), it still felt at least possible to kill a boss on a higher difficulty with some patience and skill. In Graces, it just blows my mind how a boss can jump from doing 200 damage per hit to almost 2000 damage per hit just between a single difficulty level sometimes. This wouldn't be all bad if the AI still were not complete morons most of the time (well... Sophie, oddly enough, is the only AI who has sense in my experience; everyone else just either doesn't follow clear strategy orders or just eat boss aoe's/instant kills).

[Dark Schala]

Nice post. Makes me really want English Xillia now. Hopefully something is announced at Tales Festival. I never knew about the switching of characters during battle. Took them long enough.

Xillia Director's Cut! :lol (I dunno, but it seems like natural progression based on nearly every mothership title getting a DX or expanded edition the year after now.)

I found Emeraude particularly galling just in its interminable tediousness, but they're all awful. Start with balancing-via-excessive-hitpoints, add obnoxious movement powers, continue with arbitrary ignoring of other basic battle system rules, season with endless waves of adds to taste. The combat system of, say, Vesperia is mashier and especially has far less interesting defense mechanics, but at least the bosses are actually fun to fight.

I'd say that the Champion Boar is also a good example. I've fought that boss on Chaos during three playthroughs, and I've hated it all three times because of its unpredictability and maddening rushing around/calling other enemies to join in. It was frustrating. It had excessive HP, chaotic movement (so chaotic that sometimes you couldn't find the time to dodge correctly, and your teammates' issues in terms of constantly getting in the way and dying didn't help much), and it constantly summoned enemies that you ended up having to take care of to stop your party members from getting killed due to their obnoxiousness or because the enemies seemed to target spellcasters/healers.

I tried that boss on easy once, and it wasn't as frustrating, but it still used the same tricks that I'm sure people playing on lower difficulties would despise.

Graces needed better AI settings in order to make its battle system truly shine, or to enhance how good it was. The odd boss design here and there sometimes makes the battle system design crumble a little.

Xillia's bosses don't feel that much better, though. The bosses are certainly more memorable because they're generally plot-based, but they obey the Tales of Hearts philosophy of breaking out of combos after 7 hits, which is absolutely counterproductive in a combo-based battle system.

Ugh, this grinding for the eleth mixer is such a pain. I don't think I will get it in a new game + since I am just going to run through as fast as possible to get the 60 second trophies so I am trying to do the majority of it before. I am currently sitting at 6,400. I am getting 10 points towards my eleth mixer a battle currently. I am grinding in Orlen Woods by guarding in battle until Crab Fried Rice and Fried Manju activate at 10 and 20 seconds respectively. Miso Stew is my after battle with Beef with Red Wine Sauce as my backup when I hit below 50%. I run to the Turtelz when that happens though since I get 1 point less with Beef with Red Wine Sauce.

I usually just used Crab Fried Rice and Miso Stew, and then Beef with Red Wine Sauce to signal when I hit below 50%. I found it a little time-consuming to make the 20 second activation. I also tried to use other characters who didn't have their Master or Adept titles for some skills as party leaders, and set everyone else to passive so it felt like I was actually doing something during the battles as opposed to just grinding out the mixer. So... I just have the character use the skill I'm levelling up to get rid of all the enemies but one, and then I wait for Crab Fried Rice to activate, and then I get rid of the last enemy with the same skill.

But I agree, the mixer grinding is pretty boring. Really tedious, especially if you haven't been concentrating on it during the game. :/

Also, Man of Means Trophy Get! in Nier because of your fishing strategy, so thank you for the advice earlier. :)

I ended up using the custom soundtrack feature, set this up as the primary fishing theme, and fished away for a while. Also listened to a few podcasts, so it wasn't so bad. I ended up saving, selling a bunch of fish and materials, getting the trophy, and reloading. All that's left now are the weapons' trophies and the final two endings + that last boss fight trophy.

Stuck on my chaos run at 10 Little Queen round 2 at the bottom of the dungeon, I can never stun lock them long enough to keep them from casting magic, and their magic decimates me.

Assuming that you haven't gotten past it yet, I usually set Hubert or Sophie to cancel spells, but it takes them a while into their combos to make them quit with their magic. I generally try to get rid of the spellcasters first as a result (especially since once they get below 50% HP they like to cast a spell that I don't like them casting). The projectile/magic ones are truly the worst though because they like to interrupt combos. In cases like that, I just spam Aurora Lotus because it reduces the likelihood of getting hit mid-combo. If they do have the chance to cast a spell, I usually try to evade it completely. And once they're in Arles Break, their hi-ougis are annoying, so it's best to get away from them/set people to passive.

Those ones are the worst. The melee and the other style ones aren't as bad in comparison. Just keep trying, and if you really need to, hit and run, or use ranged attacks like Infernal Torrent or Hubert's B-style attacks.

[barrin87]

I usually just used Crab Fried Rice and Miso Stew, and then Beef with Red Wine Sauce to signal when I hit below 50%. I found it a little time-consuming to make the 20 second activation. I also tried to use other characters who didn't have their Master or Adept titles for some skills as party leaders, and set everyone else to passive so it felt like I was actually doing something during the battles as opposed to just grinding out the mixer. So... I just have the character use the skill I'm levelling up to get rid of all the enemies but one, and then I wait for Crab Fried Rice to activate, and then I get rid of the last enemy with the same skill. But I agree, the mixer grinding is pretty boring. Really tedious, especially if you haven't been concentrating on it during the game. :/ Also, Man of Means Trophy Get! in Nier because of your fishing strategy, so thank you for the advice earlier. :) I ended up using the custom soundtrack feature, set this up as the primary fishing theme, and fished away for a while. Also listened to a few podcasts, so it wasn't so bad. I ended up saving, selling a bunch of fish and materials, getting the trophy, and reloading. All that's left now are the weapons' trophies and the final two endings + that last boss fight trophy.

I'll have to try just using Crab Fried Rice and Miso Stew. I did that a couple of times on accident but I never checked to see how much I got in my eleth mixer just from that. I will take a look tonight since I was going to grind a bit again.

Nice job on getting the Man Of Means trophy! I am glad my advise worked. I wasn't sure since it's been a while. The weapon trophies are a bit annoying as well. There was an item that was only obtainable in the desert but it takes forever to grind for it since you have to get it from those flying enemies and there are only three of them in the area.

[Sagitario]

I usually just used Crab Fried Rice and Miso Stew, and then Beef with Red Wine Sauce to signal when I hit below 50%. I found it a little time-consuming to make the 20 second activation. I also tried to use other characters who didn't have their Master or Adept titles for some skills as party leaders, and set everyone else to passive so it felt like I was actually doing something during the battles as opposed to just grinding out the mixer. So... I just have the character use the skill I'm levelling up to get rid of all the enemies but one, and then I wait for Crab Fried Rice to activate, and then I get rid of the last enemy with the same skill. But I agree, the mixer grinding is pretty boring. Really tedious, especially if you haven't been concentrating on it during the game. :/

This sound like a plan!

[charlequin]

I'd say that the Champion Boar is also a good example.

YES THANK YOU

that is exactly the example I was looking for

they obey the Tales of Hearts philosophy of breaking out of combos after 7 hits, which is absolutely counterproductive in a combo-based battle system.

Do you mean they have a tendency to break combos for no reason (which would be bad) or they always literally break them after exactly 7 hits (which would be much worse)?

[kewlmyc]

Well, I think I'm done with the game now. Was going to platinum it and do a New Game +, but my backlog of games is huge so I changed my mind.

Pros:
+ The gameplay is phenomenal. Most fun combat I've ever played in any RPG. It started off slow when you only had a few artes, but once you got to the halfway point, it was godly.
+Cast interactions. Sure the actual cast is lacking in terms of originality, but they did blend well together. Especially in the future arc.

Cons:
- Story was pretty mediocre
- Music was pretty mediocre
- ASBEL. I don't even need to state my reasoning. Hell, Asbel even managed to make Lambda into a dull character after they combined. It's like Asbel's dullness and idiocy is contagious
- Character personalities were lacking, mostly with Asbel and Cheria.
- The world not opening up until right before the final boss is just plain stupid.
- Retarded AI and a very lacking strategy menu options.

All and all, I like the game, but goddamn does it have flaws. I would recommend it to a friend, but I would perfectly understand if they didn't like it.

Now, on to the Mass Effect Trilogy.

[Sagitario]

Dammit! By mistake I clicked the black covered text (it's pretty cool how it works) and I just got spoiled D:

Kind of suspected something like that because of Asbel's Mystic Arte artwork, but still... :(



Edit:
Completely off-topic, but right now I am listening to the Battle Arrange Tracks 2 from Sakuraba. So good!

[witchedwiz]

Gaf should i wait for eu and boost eu sales (pushed to end of june iirc but my backlog is huge) or get it now to boost for xillia

[Labadal]

Gaf should i wait for eu and boost eu sales (pushed to end of june iirc but my backlog is huge) or get it now to boost for xillia

If you're really itching for a Tales game and don't have much else to play, pick it up.

[Dark Schala]

EU gets the better yellow cover. :P

I wonder if we're going to use the same thread for the EU version? It wouldn't be a bad thing, but this thread is in the community section, some of the resources like shards locations, shards combinations, eleth mixer grinding, etc. are buried... and it's somewhat spoiler-laden. Though I think people would find their own resources anyway since there are probably multiple FAQs out now.

Anyway, Namco has a Twitter account for the European version of the game, if anyone's interested: https://twitter.com/#!/TalesofU

Do you mean they have a tendency to break combos for no reason (which would be bad) or they always literally break them after exactly 7 hits (which would be much worse)?

I do remember 3-4 instances of them breaking out after 7 hits so it was a slight exaggeration on my part, but it's about 7-12 hits, thereabouts, usually 10. Seems to happen for no reason or automatically, so I guess it was a means of increasing difficulty artificially. Depending on the boss, they can enter overlimit too often (sometimes it seems like it happens whenever they feel like it) and spam their hi-ougi. Using multi-hit attacks can sometimes be useless or dangerous depending on how quickly the boss can recover out of a block.

I know I read that some people liked this mechanic, and to their credit, yes, it might be a good thing that bosses are no longer infinite hit sponges. But at the same time, I don't think many people try to beat bosses via an infinite combo string, but instead try to rack up as many hits in a combo as possible.

Though once you get a certain skill for Milla, you can probably spam it on them because they can't block it. Bosses aren't really hard, but they can feel cheap. Essentially, you're using the fun battle mechanics like Link Artes, Link Mode, higher combos, etc. during normal battles as opposed to the boss battles when these mechanics sometimes feel stripped away.

Normal battles in Xillia are fun. Boss fights can be tedious.

I'll have to try just using Crab Fried Rice and Miso Stew. I did that a couple of times on accident but I never checked to see how much I got in my eleth mixer just from that. I will take a look tonight since I was going to grind a bit again. Nice job on getting the Man Of Means trophy! I am glad my advise worked. I wasn't sure since it's been a while. The weapon trophies are a bit annoying as well. There was an item that was only obtainable in the desert but it takes forever to grind for it since you have to get it from those flying enemies and there are only three of them in the area.

I don't think you'd get as much, but battles feel like they go a little faster since you're not waiting for a 20 second activation, imo, and if you're doubling it up with getting extra titles for people who you don't use often. Generally, Mixer grinding takes a few hours, though.

The fishing wasn't as much of a chore as going into the DLC repeatedly and running through the gauntlet ad nauseam (especially since I don't think you get experience for it?). And I thought the Man of Means trophy was bad? The weapons trophies are even worse! I'd been grinding items nearly all day yesterday and I barely got a thing I wanted. Giant Eggs? LOL, I only got 1 in the multiple times I passed through the village. Forlorn Necklace/Subdued Bracelet? Even with the word that increases item drops and playing the game on Hard, I didn't get any of those. I did manage to get a ton of Broken Wristwatches, though. That's good. Commanding Kaine and Emil to not attack helps, since enemies they kill don't seem to count or drop anything cool.

I don't know if I have the patience to get the weapon trophies at all. I think I might try for the 15 weapons trophy, and the Ending C trophy at least. :lol

I'm juggling it with Neptunia mk2 now, which isn't a terrible game like the first one was, surprisingly. It kind of reminds me of Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits in terms of its battle system, but you have more restrictions. It also doesn't have the asinine heal mechanic that the first game did. Shares are much easier to manage this time around too. The only thing I find somewhat off-putting is the constant fanservice (but I'm not in the primary audience for that sort of thing).

All and all, I like the game, but goddamn does it have flaws. I would recommend it to a friend, but I would perfectly understand if they didn't like it.

This is exactly why I didn't have a problem with the critic reviews for this game, in particular, the GameTrailers one. Their criticisms made a lot of sense.

And, ah, I've been holding it back for a while, but if you guys really don't like Asbel, I don't think you'll like Jude in Xillia either. Not necessarily for the same reasons, but he had his moments where I didn't like him much.

Dammit! By mistake I clicked the black covered text (it's pretty cool how it works) and I just got spoiled D: Kind of suspected something like that because of Asbel's Mystic Arte artwork, but still... :( Edit: Completely off-topic, but right now I am listening to the Battle Arrange Tracks 2 from Sakuraba. So good!

Aw... I'm sorry. :/ I usually feel like I'm being paranoid whenever I preface spoilers with something like "ending spoilers" or something like that, but I guess it might be a good thing.

I still haven't heard that arranged album yet (my bf has it, but I didn't borrow it yet; I did happen to borrow his Beyond the Labyrinth soundtrack, which was pretty good). I suspected that the second arranged album would be like the first one.

[Datschge]

I suspected that the second arranged album would be like the first one.

The first one was like a varied progressive album, the second one is pretty much straight rock all the way.

[BassForever]

Got past that stupid battle on Chaos 10 Fodra Queen in the Lastalia Shaft it came down to getting super lucky that when the boss got off her MA, Cheria wasn't stoned (even with the stone charm she got stoned 95% of the time she got hit -.-) so I was able to nurse -> accel time stop for full health to make a final push to victory. Now all I have left is the final boss in 1 min trophy and beating Poisson at the end of the master cup to be 100% complete with F arc.

[Sagitario]

I don't know if I have the patience to get the weapon trophies at all. I think I might try for the 15 weapons trophy, and the Ending C trophy at least. :lol

Do it! ;D

The first one was like a varied progressive album, the second one is pretty much straight rock all the way.

Mad Dance is pretty damn awesome!
Irony of Fate, The Wilderness of Sadness and When Determination Strikes are also great.

Edit: Now I want the RM sequels :(

[kewlmyc]

Dammit! By mistake I clicked the black covered text (it's pretty cool how it works) and I just got spoiled D:

Was it my post, because if it was, I'm sorry. ;_;

[Sagitario]

Yeah, but it was my fault :P

[barrin87]

The fishing wasn't as much of a chore as going into the DLC repeatedly and running through the gauntlet ad nauseam (especially since I don't think you get experience for it?). And I thought the Man of Means trophy was bad? The weapons trophies are even worse! I'd been grinding items nearly all day yesterday and I barely got a thing I wanted. Giant Eggs? LOL, I only got 1 in the multiple times I passed through the village. Forlorn Necklace/Subdued Bracelet? Even with the word that increases item drops and playing the game on Hard, I didn't get any of those. I did manage to get a ton of Broken Wristwatches, though. That's good. Commanding Kaine and Emil to not attack helps, since enemies they kill don't seem to count or drop anything cool. I don't know if I have the patience to get the weapon trophies at all. I think I might try for the 15 weapons trophy, and the Ending C trophy at least. :lol

Come on, you can get the platinum! I found the Nier trophy to be much easier than the Tales of Graces f platinum. I think I spent 55 hours doing everything in Nier plus a speed run which took about 11 hours.

[charlequin]

Though once you get a certain skill for Milla, you can probably spam it on them because they can't block it. Bosses aren't really hard, but they can feel cheap. Essentially, you're using the fun battle mechanics like Link Artes, Link Mode, higher combos, etc. during normal battles as opposed to the boss battles when these mechanics sometimes feel stripped away. Normal battles in Xillia are fun. Boss fights can be tedious.

This is sort of how I felt about Graces (regular encounters were fun, and could be challenging by cranking up the difficulty level, while bosses were tedious) although not to the level you describe here, so that makes me sad about Xillia. :(

[Sagitario]

Now that I think about it, I kind of enjoyed fighting Emeraude. Yes, she's annoying (specially towards the end of the fight) and the AI didn't help much (Cheria, I am looking at you! ¬¬) but the music was so good and I liked her a lot (I think this was caused by her voice).

[Esura]

I do remember 3-4 instances of them breaking out after 7 hits so it was a slight exaggeration on my part, but it's about 7-12 hits, thereabouts, usually 10. Seems to happen for no reason or automatically, so I guess it was a means of increasing difficulty artificially. Depending on the boss, they can enter overlimit too often (sometimes it seems like it happens whenever they feel like it) and spam their hi-ougi. Using multi-hit attacks can sometimes be useless or dangerous depending on how quickly the boss can recover out of a block. I know I read that some people liked this mechanic, and to their credit, yes, it might be a good thing that bosses are no longer infinite hit sponges. But at the same time, I don't think many people try to beat bosses via an infinite combo string, but instead try to rack up as many hits in a combo as possible.

This happened to me on Vesperia quite a few times before I finished it yesterday. It seems like every Tales of game I played but Graces f is chock full of bosses that breaks combos for seemingly no reason.

[Teppic]

Got the game. Wonder if I should get a PS3 too...

[Koroviev]

Got the game. Wonder if I should get a PS3 too...

Would probably help :)

[Datschge]

This happened to me on Vesperia quite a few times before I finished it yesterday. It seems like every Tales of game I played but Graces f is chock full of bosses that breaks combos for seemingly no reason.

They really should turn that into a regular reliable battle subsystem: Have a meter show how repetitive your current fighting style is, then depending on the used attacks (pattern), difficulty level, elements, defense and power of the targeted enemy have the meter fill and make him break out of your combo and counter attack you once it's full. As is it feels so random and opaque.

[Mauricio_Magus]

Got the game. Wonder if I should get a PS3 too...

I bought Vesperia without having a 360 and a friend gave me his 360 for a week :)

[WickedLaharl]

I'm almost at the end I think and I can't say that graces is better than vesperia.

- The characters outside of pascal are so bland and boring.
- There's no sense of adventure.
- The bosses are mostly awful.
- No rivals
- Story is shit

I could probably list more but those are my main issues. I like the battle system and titles are way better then acquiring skills through weapons.

Oh and dualizing is pretty fun. Umm I want to come up with some more positives but honestly I can't think of anything else atm. Maybe that will change once I beat it.