[Canis lupus]

I ordered the game through an online store, they were offering a special edition, I hope it is the Day 1 edition:



Will be my first Jrpg on PS3 if you won't count VC/DS.

[jb1234]

gure I just need more levels because I dodged a lot of battles in the future arc. You definitely did! Perhaps you should grind a bit in the last dungeon (but not against the Golems of the last area) using the recipes I told you about. For the fight, I recommend a change of party: Asbel: during her 'flower form', use long range artes like Incineration Wave, Shattersteel Swarm or Aurora Lotus (I am not a fan of the last two, though). Concussive Bolt and Infernal Torrent work too (my most used ones :P). It depends on her current weakness (they change as she changes forms). Malik: B-artes heavy or only, aggressive, never defend and use Accel at 100%. Sophie: to have healing support (your main healer should be Cheria). You could have her to heal only and never attack or just helping you to make combos. B-heavy or only, style balanced and defend often (or always, depends of how much you are being attacked/hurt). Cheria: your main healer. She's practically a must because Graces off putting balance. Set her at B-only, style passive and defend always. Accel Mode for both of them depends on you, although I always have Cheria on near-death or I use her Accel time manually. Set some Cheria's B-artes to a right stick shortcut, so when she's not healing you can command her to attack. I recommend Indignation (that way she stays out of danger), Nurse, Resurrection and Sophie's Rejuvenate. Also, toward the end of the fight, the boss is going to start attacking like crazy, don't be afraid of using items like All-Divide and Arcane Bottles. Another tip: use titles that reduce damage: Striking Paragon, Gorgeous Fashionista and Time Traveler are the best ones for this, but there are other in the same family. And of course, set recipes and books in the mixer that can help you during the battle (don't forget the Book of Satiation) and eat something before starting the fight.

Thanks for the tips! I'll go back to this after I've finished up with Mother 3.

[Sagitario]

Not always (ex: Miso Stew gives you 94-ish XP and it costs something like 127 or something; Double cheeseburger costs 73, but it gives you 5 XP). My setup was: Book of Satiation (lets you to cook twice in battle) Miso Stew (activates after battle if Mixer > 50%) Beef with Red Wine Sauce (activates after battle if Mixer < 50%) Crab Fried Rice (activates after 10 seconds) Book of Growth (add EXP to the pot just by setting it in there) Book of Enthusiasm - Halves your stats but you get 2x the EXP

I just read how much exp. each recipe gives. I found a good, relatively fast setup.
But do you know what I just realized (besides that I can insert and swap slots in the mixer*)? I don't have the freaking Book of Growth. I missed it in Snowshroud Ruins and all this time I thought it was the Book of Potential... FML :\

*Yep, I never put any attention to the bottom menu/buttons. It would have made things so much easier and faster.

I feel like so fucking dumb right now, almost angry! :(

Thanks for the tips! I'll go back to this after I've finished up with Mother 3.

Let us know how it went.

[Sagitario]

Mixer @ 9036! YES!
The Katz Village inn requests are done and the last one, from ???, just appeared! Looks like I will be able to get the platinum before getting back to work this Monday! YAY!



Edit:
I was just reading old pages of this thread (I like to do that sometimes), and this got my attention:

Cheria is probably my most broken character on Chaos. Fight starts -> Indignation -> 70k everywhere -> 8s victory. Her ability to heal is pretty much secondary to how ridiculously strong some of her spells are (or just how much hit-stun some of them have that lead right into combo-until-dead bosses).

Is such thing even possible without THAT title and Accel Mode? Never saw Indignation doing 70K damage.

Also, how the heck people got 30+ seconds long Eleth Bursts?

[Bladenic]

Mixer @ 9036! YES! The Katz Village inn requests are done and the last one, from ???, just appeared! Looks like I will be able to get the platinum before getting back to work this Monday! YAY! Edit: I was just reading old pages of this thread (I like to do that sometimes), and this got my attention: Is such thing even possible without THAT title and Accel Mode? Never saw Indignation doing 70K damage. Also, how the heck people got 30+ seconds long Eleth Bursts?

Each successive Eleth Burst stacks more time, provided the enemy doesn't burst in between. The key is to get a good handle on the dodging system (the dodge where you see a character's shadow of sort) which increases your Eleth Burst meter by a ton. Kind of hard to achieve with the AI honestly.

[Sagitario]

Thanks to scy and Dark Schala for everything!

[kayos90]

Thanks to scy and Dark Schala for everything!

You're winner!

[Dark Schala]

And just in time for Monday!!

Congratulations on the platinum, Sagitario! :D

[Sagitario]

Thanks! I can go outside or read a book or watch a movie now! :P

NEVER AGAIN... until Xillia! :P

I don't really care for achievements/trophies, but I had to do it for Tales.

On the X360 side, I have only done it for Bayonetta and Nier (STUPID EAGLE EGG). I was really close in Vesperia (but life got in the way) and Prince of Persia 08 (but the DLC achievements made it not worth completing).

[Dark Schala]

Haha, I was just gonna say that! Or you could play something else. Finishing off a long platinum feels like a relief (ex: FFXIII).

Don't worry; Xillia's platinum isn't as time-consuming in the way the 9999 mixer is. If you can find a way to rack up a huge combo bonus (and there are certainly ways considering Milla and Rowen's combos can be broken at times), getting everyone to Level 99 is really easy. I did it the hard way and didn't know about that trick until I started my second plat run of that game.

A lot of the trophies are "do this x amount of times", so it's just a grind to get to those. You will have to play the game twice in order to get the platinum since you'll have to get a trophy for completing each character's playthrough. I would encourage people to play through the game twice to get the whole picture, though, starting with Jude's.

I can say that I have not platinumed Vesperia, and I don't care to do it. Some of those trophies... eh... :/

I still haven't gotten Nier's platinum yet, lol. I know I said I made it a goal in this thread a few pages back, but stuff came up and I didn't get back to it. I think I might get Ending C and instead of saving and selecting the point for Ending D, I'll just do another playthrough. Grinding for materials is not fun, even if I set the thing to hard.

Other people in this thread recommended Bayonetta as an easy plat/1000G. Well, it's not really like I care a ton about getting platinums, but as long as I find the game fun, or the platinum is going to be something I'm gonna get by playing the game anyway, I'll go for it.

Sometimes getting all of the trophies in a game might make me enjoy it less. That's why I didn't plat Sonic Unleashed for example. I had lots of fun with it (yes, I'm being completely honest--I liked Unleashed a lot), and I suspect doing all of the missions in that game would make me like it less.

[Sagitario]

Yeah, Vesperia is harder because of the amount of missables and it requires several playthroughs.

I did Nier because I loved the game. I got it as a Xmas gift from a friend. We played it together (meaning at the same time, over voice chat) and we 1000ed it almost at the same time. It was a great (but tiring) experience. Definitely MUCH MUCH harder, tedious and exhausting than Graces' platinum.

Bayonetta (also gift, birthday, I loved it too)... I got it while playing the game almost normally. Plus, it's really fun.

Other people in this thread recommended Bayonetta as an easy plat/1000G. Well, it's not really like I care a ton about getting platinums, but as long as I find the game fun, or the platinum is going to be something I'm gonna get by playing the game anyway, I'll go for it. Sometimes getting all of the trophies in a game might make me enjoy it less. That's why I didn't plat Sonic Unleashed for example. I had lots of fun with it (yes, I'm being completely honest--I liked Unleashed a lot), and I suspect doing all of the missions in that game would make me like it less.

I completely agree. Unless it's for a good and most importantly FUN challenge, achievements can actually make the game less enjoyable (missable quests + missable achievements = the worst).

On the other side, take for example Wii's Wario Land Shake It!. The game has its own achievements and they are fun to do, cause most of them actually test your skills in the game (and not this internet related boasting).

[Relix]

Just passing by to say...

Fuck you Kurt

[SatelliteOfLove]

Just passing by to say... Fuck you Kurt

*clutch heal is at 90% cast*

*ping*

Snuffed heal from Ninja Guard, everyone dies.

[TestMonkey]

Well I'm about to finish off the future arc and I'm posting to ask for tips for New Game plus. I completed the game without help or spoilers but on the second playthrough I'd like some tips. Few quick questions to start off.

What should I buy at the grade shop?
What is a good default team? I've been using Asbel/Sophie/Cheria/X.
Which is the best walkthrough for not missing anything?

[Dark Schala]

Well I'm about to finish off the future arc and I'm posting to ask for tips for New Game plus. I completed the game without help or spoilers but on the second playthrough I'd like some tips. Few quick questions to start off. What should I buy at the grade shop? What is a good default team? I've been using Asbel/Sophie/Cheria/X. Which is the best walkthrough for not missing anything?

Should be a bunch of FAQs showing missable stuff now on GameFAQs. The thing we linked in the OP should be sufficient but its organization isn't suited to a FAQ, and it was based on the Japanese version. Should probably check out GameFAQs.

Your default team is fine. Asbel/Sophie/Cheria/x (Malik/Hubert) seems alright. Though I might be saying that because I'm so used to playing the game now.

With regards to the Grade Shop, don't buy the "keep skills" one because that's like 2500 grade or something. Inherit Eleth Mixer, Inherit Titles, Inherit Stamps, Inherit Books, Inherit Shards, the XP multipliers, damage multipliers, and max eleth should be fine. Everything else is up to you.

Bayonetta (also gift, birthday, I loved it too)... I got it while playing the game almost normally. Plus, it's really fun.

I should really get started on Bayonetta's plat. I heard it's easy.

[RiderKairuu]

I'm sure this question has been asked to death at this point but it applies to me now: do I do the bonus dungeon first or do I go straight to the F arc?

[Dark Schala]

I'm sure this question has been asked to death at this point but it applies to me now: do I do the bonus dungeon first or do I go straight to the F arc?

I personally advise doing future arc first because you'll get accel mode which will help out a lot in the EX Dungeon, but it doesn't really matter.

[RiderKairuu]

I personally advise doing future arc first because you'll get accel mode which will help out a lot in the EX Dungeon, but it doesn't really matter.

Yeah I came across someone mentioning that over at GFaqs when I was looking something up. I think I'll just go ahead and do the F arc first anyway since I was looking forward to it. Thanks for the heads up!

[SatelliteOfLove]

Yeah, Instacast INDEEGUHNASHUN solves alot of potential problems found in there.

[RiderKairuu]

I've gotta say after playing mostly through the import Wii version, and putting 45 hours into f, I have not yet experience fatigue. Combat never gets boring.

[Melhisedek]

I've gotta say after playing mostly through the import Wii version, and putting 45 hours into f, I have not yet experience fatigue. Combat never gets boring.

How is the rest of the game? Or game as a whole?
I don't think I can play a game only relying on combat to keep me entertained but this would be my first Tales game ever so I hope it is at least good

[RiderKairuu]

The game overall is good IMO. The story is passable, the characters are what you'd expect in a JRPG but the overall theme of friendship is interesting. The great combat just tops all that off.

[Dark Schala]

Oh hey, how does ToGf compare to the original Wii version, ie: Is the f arc an improvement over the base narrative? I've only played the JP and English versions of ToGf, so I'm curious. I felt like the f arc improved on it.

How is the rest of the game? Or game as a whole? I don't think I can play a game only relying on combat to keep me entertained but this would be my first Tales game ever so I hope it is at least good

I dunno... If this is your first Tales game, I'd check out Vesperia, Abyss, or Symphonia out first. I usually feel as though those are the better 'break in' games than the Team Destiny games.

[Canis lupus]

A little more then 20 days, so excited. :D

[Sagitario]

I have been watching some Tales combat videos (of all games)... After my time with Graces, I am still craving moooooooar! D:
Xillia can't come soon enough. I would love to do some replays, but my backlog forbids me.

Cheria is probably my most broken character on Chaos. Fight starts -> Indignation -> 70k everywhere -> 8s victory. Her ability to heal is pretty much secondary to how ridiculously strong some of her spells are (or just how much hit-stun some of them have that lead right into combo-until-dead bosses). Is such thing even possible without THAT title and Accel Mode? Never saw Indignation doing 70K damage.

I still would like to know this.

[MartyStu]

The first couple of hours of this game are SOOO frustrating...

[jiggle]

done with the game

+++++ppl weren't kidding when they said this is the funnest Tales game
+++graphics were surprisingly pleasant
+pascal!

-other than sophie and pascal, these were some ugly characters from inomata
-the anime CSs were so badly drawn
-smh when asbel turned into naruto and sasuke's love child
- cheria, what an insufferable character. ugly design, in bad clothes with an annoying personality. colette finally met her match.


gameplay more than makes up for the negatives though (except for the horrible cheria)
and the game felt so robust and content rich, esp after playing the empty FFXIII-2


ending spoiler
ending in F felt like a retcon :/

[Dark Schala]

I still would like to know this.

I almost want to say it might be because of stat enhancements due to weapons, armours and items (including perma-stat enhancers)...

-the anime CSs were so badly drawn ending spoiler ending in F felt like a retcon :/

Xillia's anime cutscenes are sooooo much better, way more fluid, and better-drawn with more cohesion. Seriously. Ufotable should just do everything in my eyes.

As for the ending, it ties into the final cutscene of the regular arc, imo.

[Sagitario]

The first couple of hours of this game are SOOO frustrating...

Why?

ending spoiler ending in F felt like a retcon :/

How so? The ƒ arc redeemed the game the whole ending for me. The main arc ending was boring, dull, weak and left so many unresolved things (the definition of "everything and everyone stays the same").

[jiggle]

i prefer production i.g tbh :X
but their work in graces is just ridiculously bad

cheria just made such a typical love interest for Tales MC.
it was nice to think in the original ending, they went a different route
to see her ending up alone and try to do things for herself

[Sagitario]

Xillia's anime cutscenes are sooooo much better, way more fluid, and better-drawn with more cohesion. Seriously. Ufotable should just do everything in my eyes.

Legendia cutscenes are also beautiful. I don't know what happened to Production I.G after that (Abyss' are ugly, Vesperia's are OK, Graces' are horrible).
In fact, Legendia has my favorite cutscene in the whole series: STEEEEEELLA!

[Labadal]

Just fought a boss (in the glacier) that some people seemed to hate. When I knew the fight was coming up, I lowered the difficulty to normal. Still had to use gels and life bottles to survieve, but overall, it was not as bad as I feared. I controlled Asbel and lured the boss away from the others Pascal, Hubert, Cheria. There was another human boss earlier in the game that made me go nuts.

[FSLink]

i prefer production i.g tbh :X but their work in graces is just ridiculously bad cheria just made such a typical love interest for Tales MC. it was nice to think in the original ending, they went a different route to see her ending up alone and try to do things for herself

But in the original ending it's pretty clear that they end up together eventually anyway. I do agree it was typical though.

[Danj]

Having seen this demoed at a Namco Bandai panel at a convention I just went to, I just preordered it this morning (UK release date is 31 Aug btw since it's not in the OP) and will be buying a PS3 and a new monitor to play it on (current monitor doesn't have enough inputs) after payday at the end of the month. I don't think I've played a Tales game before, but this one looked pretty cool.

[Sagitario]

I don't think I've played a Tales game before, but this one looked pretty cool.

Just so you know, the battle system takes a while to click, but once it does... OH BOY!

Outside of it, this game has really divided opinions between fans, so YMMV. Vesperia is a good Tales game to start with in case Graces doesn't work for you (they are pretty different).

[Labadal]

Just learned about the Aquasphere.



That's even more crazy than Eternia!

Now that I have had the time to play again, I've put in about 10 hours in 3 days and I'm really enjoying it. I've been mixing up who I control this time so I can use the appropriate artes for new titles. Cheria didn't have many artes, but now that I'm using her, it's a much smoother process. Funny thing is that I keep hoping for party members to die so I can use Ressurection, lol. Playing on Moderate/Hard depending on how well I do. Playing on hard has also made it so much easier to level up the Eleth Mixer, and with some of the books I have equipped, I seldom run out of eleth. Highest combo so far is 61. I can't get higher than that because everytime I get a good combo going, Hubert (it's Hubert most of the time) pulls of one of his Mystic Artes.

I've been thinking about something that I think might work well for a future Tales game. We have A and B Artes now, but I wonder if they couldn't just stick with A Artes and let us change wich arte we want to use. Keep the system for A artes, but let us choose wich ones to use, and thus making it easier to combo as you wish. Maybe it's a horrible idea, but it sounds good (to me) on paper.

[[Clark Gable]]

Couple hours in, and this is the worst Tales Of game I have ever played(No it's not Legendia). I'm hoping it gets much better later on, I almost stopped playing when they introduced Pascal, shoehorning your Yurishit in my Tales game is a no no for me(Don't ever do it again). Worst fucking character in the series existence. Much rather hear Luke and his shitty whining than Pashit. Yes, I'm mad as hell.

[SatelliteOfLove]

Couple hours in, and this is the worst Tales Of game I have ever played(No it's not Legendia). I'm hoping it gets much better later on, I almost stopped playing when they introduced Pascal, shoehorning your Yurishit in my Tales game is a no no for me(Don't ever do it again). Worst fucking character in the series existence. Much rather hear Luke and his shitty whining than Pashit. Yes, I'm mad as hell.

She's the hero of the game.

[PKrockin]

Couple hours in, and this is the worst Tales Of game I have ever played(No it's not Legendia). I'm hoping it gets much better later on, I almost stopped playing when they introduced Pascal, shoehorning your Yurishit in my Tales game is a no no for me(Don't ever do it again). Worst fucking character in the series existence. Much rather hear Luke and his shitty whining than Pashit. Yes, I'm mad as hell.

I loathe Pascal too. I disliked her from the outset with that contrived touching nonsense and annoying catchphrases but one Mary-Sue-esque scene late in the game really cemented my hatred. My jaw hit the floor when I saw her win some GameFAQs favorite character poll. Not that the rest of the cast is much better...

[Cardshark950]

I'm about 20 hours into the game. I think story-wise, I'm just past the part where you visit Pascal's hometown in the glacial area . I play on Normal difficulty for the most part, but I've been finding that I have to knock it down to Easy for most of the bosses as they are just too hard for me otherwise. Normal mobs can be quite taxing for me, too. My default team is Asbel, Sophie, Pascal and Malik. Not sure what gear I have, I'll have to check, but I've just been buying new items from stores as they appear. I haven't exactly been avoiding battles, but I haven't gone out of my way to grind either. Did you guys find the game to be difficult in general? I played and completed Vesperia a while back and, aside from some of the secret missions, the game wasn't too difficult. The combat system in Graces is a little different, but I feel like I should've figured it out by this point.

[Sagitario]

I play on Normal difficulty for the most part, but I've been finding that I have to knock it down to Easy for most of the bosses as they are just too hard for me otherwise. Normal mobs can be quite taxing for me, too. My default team is Asbel, Sophie, Pascal and Malik. ... Did you guys find the game to be difficult in general?

The game balance is all over the place. A few areas/enemies are super easy while out of nowhere the game throws you extremely difficult enemies. A lot of people lower the difficulty for the bosses, they can get extremely cheap. Don't worry too much about it.
A few pages back I wrote a strategy for Cheria as a healer, if you're having too much trouble, try it.

The combat system in Graces is a little different, but I feel like I should've figured it out by this point.

The battle system takes a while to click. It's normal.

... I almost stopped playing when they introduced Pascal, shoehorning your Yurishit in my Tales game is a no no for me(Don't ever do it again). Worst fucking character in the series existence. Much rather hear Luke and his shitty whining than Pashit. Yes, I'm mad as hell.

Why u so mad?

I loathe Pascal too. I disliked her from the outset with that contrived touching nonsense and annoying catchphrases but one Mary-Sue-esque scene late in the game really cemented my hatred. My jaw hit the floor when I saw her win some GameFAQs favorite character poll. Not that the rest of the cast is much better...

Well, you should TOTALLY deal with it, little bro!


Also, obligatory:

[-Stranger-]

Got this game preordered, it releases on the 31st here in AUS.
Love the Tales series, currently playing Vesperia and it's so good.

[dragonlife]

Feels nice finally playing this game. I always love exploring towns and talking to NPCs in any RPG, but Tales games are a bit more fun in this regard. I'm only 3 hours in so far.

And OMG, the Turtlez guy's VA is adorable ;_;

[jb1234]

Couple hours in, and this is the worst Tales Of game I have ever played(No it's not Legendia). I'm hoping it gets much better later on, I almost stopped playing when they introduced Pascal, shoehorning your Yurishit in my Tales game is a no no for me(Don't ever do it again). Worst fucking character in the series existence. Much rather hear Luke and his shitty whining than Pashit. Yes, I'm mad as hell.

Pascal is annoying but they do tone her down to a certain extent later on. Or maybe I just got used to her. As far as Tales games go, it's probably middle-of-the-road for me. Better than Phantasia/Destiny/Eternia but worse than Symphonia/Abyss/Vesperia.

[Mikhal]

Gamestop is selling the game for $40.

http://www.gamestop.com/ps3/games/ta...graces-f/92854

[Conan-san]

Prorderd the Day 1 Edition in retaliation for Zen's Bullshit with P4A. I normaly wouldn't double dip (I got to The bit where I can't use Sophie in the Present arc in the US version) but you know what, that's one hell of a package for the normal amount of money one would spend video games on.

Also it's a lot better than the wet fart that Zen/Atlus are giving me.

[Dark Schala]

Man that sucks. Atlus/Index with regards to P4A is pretty darn surprising to me considering I'd originally thought they'd let a lot of stuff like putting videos up and making things region-free fly.

The situation is truly ridiculous.

I've asked for the Day 1 Edition as well. The goodies look too good to pass up. Edit: The Day One Edition Unboxing video has been posted.

[Tizoc]

I recently started the game but I have no idea how the combat works @_@. I just mash the X button and move the stick around hoping for additional attacks. I'd appreciate tips on how to play battles. Oh and I'm playing on Moderate, any advice for playing on this difficulty?

[Dark Schala]

Was it released early in Europe or something? I think I confused the date with the general Japanese release day.

Will see if we can get this moved over to gaming side if people are going to play it in EU/AUS,etc.

As for combat, check what I've quoted out. You can ignore the bit about the google doc because I'm sure there are faqs posted by now on various sites.

Tips for starting the game out, dualizing and attacking. Do note that the prologue childhood arc only allows you to button mash and have less combos. Unless you decide to take control of Sophie. You can cast First Aid with her if you use her manually, but that's about it outside of her normal A-Artes..

If you think something's going to be a discovery, see if it'll prompt you (ex: the apple tree, the picture and the windmill in the childhood arc), and you should get a skit that accompanies the discovery somewhere (in the case of the windmill, you have to climb up and run a little bit in there to get the skit). Talk to NPCs for food in the Childhood Arc. Also, remember to loot people's houses for free stuff. There are some subevents which may or may not be recorded in your sidequest book, so check around for event stars or smiley faces on top of people's heads before you move onto the next objective. Dualize your heart out! Getting used to dualization early will help you out immensely when it's truly time to dualize for the inn requests or something. The links in this post will help you with finding shards to dualize weapons/armour with. Scy has been kind enough to detail how to dualize weapons for profit, and also to outline what to use in the Eleth Mixer to boost its capacity. I used the nearly same items when I played the JP version and it definitely works quickly. Cooking is your friend and it makes healing and getting stuff much easier since you have something automated on a gambit-like system working for you during battle. If you feel like the game's too easy, or you're doing the same combos over and over, maybe try nudging the the difficulty up and see if that makes the difference. Exploiting enemy weaknesses via your A-Artes and/or your B-Artes can make the difference between life or death, CC boosts, and comboing on higher difficulties. And around-step is your friend. Don't forget that you can escape battles by making the character run against the battle arena's boundary (only if it's coloured blue; if red, you cannot escape) to fill up a gauge to escape. I wrote up a small short post about the basics of A-Artes combat here. Not sure if it's helpful, but it's the basics of the basics when it comes down to exploiting enemy weakness on a consistent basis. You might feel like you have to adjust AI during battle if they're not doing what you want. Go ahead and do it, or you may manually take control of them by using the D-pad to quickly switch characters or go into the Artes menu to tell them which spells to cast/abilities to use. The Google Doc we linked in the OP is helpful for checking around for the subevents, including the missable ones, like the Handkerchief event which you must do sometime between the end of Chapter 4 and before you enter the final dungeon (to be safe--I heard it's the final floor, but I just do it asap so I don't have to worry about it) otherwise you'll miss it permanently. There will very likely be FAQs out there for this game now, so you could use those to your advantage as opposed to the doc we linked in the OP. Nothing important like artes or quests are missable outside of that handkerchief quest, so it isn't like Abyss. Feed the cats fish in every town you're in so you don't have to go back and do it all at the end of the game. Edit: Wait. Even though it's in the OP... 200 battles on Hard to unlock Evil difficulty; 300 battles on Evil to unlock Chaos.

As for Moderate Difficulty, that's probably the best difficulty to start Graces on, imo, unless you're used to playing Tales games. Just keep guarding at the right time to get CC+1 bonuses, sidestepping at the right time to get CC+1 bonuses, and using the right weakness attacks to get CC bonuses. That way you can extend and enlarge your combos.

And continue to dualize, dualize, dualize to enhance your stats and CC in order to achieve higher combos.

[PKrockin]

I recently started the game but I have no idea how the combat works @_@. I just mash the X button and move the stick around hoping for additional attacks. I'd appreciate tips on how to play battles. Oh and I'm playing on Moderate, any advice for playing on this difficulty?

Check the User's Guide item. Your artes are grouped by how much CC they cost and you must use them in order: 1CC -> 2CC -> 3CC -> 4CC. As you press the X button use the control stick to choose which attack you use next. So, for example, when playing as Asbel in the childhood arc, after your 1CC arte press forward + X for Bell Ringer, left/right + X for Tornado Blade, or don't touch the stick for Tah-hah! or whatever it's called.

Moderate is fine. If you die to a boss you can change your party, equipment, difficulty, etc. and immediately retry. Don't get lazy about saving though because if you get wiped by a random encounter you will have to reload.