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Tales of Graces ƒ |OT| Gracing the PS3 with the Best RPG Combat

CrazyDude

Member
looking forward to playing this game, I liked Vesperia

also... wow amazon is amazing.
im no longer a member of amazon prime, but i guess my tales of graces f order still qualifies for free release day shipping since it was placed before my membership expired, wasnt expecting that

... not that free release day shipping is a big deal, only like 2 dollars.. but still... just wasn't expecting that to happen, almost seems like a glitch. oh well. shouldn't worry about it

It's not free, it cost 99 cents. :p It's practically free. Also, what do you mean by 2 dollars? One day shipping costs like 9 dollars.
 

Goli

Member
What happened to that DS mini-game that the Wii version included? Is it still on the PS3 version in some way or did they scrap it?
 
Cool Malik is Cool.

someone stop me from going to gamestop tomorrow to pre-order this

*monotone mumble* No, don't. Stop. Come back. Don't do it.

wj4ma.png


Claiming this :) Can't wait for this to be out.

Also why is he a Major at 17 years old.....?

Familial connections and merit once he's in?
JRPG!
:p
 

zulux21

Member
It's not free, it cost 99 cents. :p It's practically free. Also, what do you mean by 2 dollars? One day shipping costs like 9 dollars.

I am so glad you guys are talking about the release date shipping, when I ordered it amazon didn't offer it on the game and they never auto upgraded it for me.

Anyways I can't wait for this game to show up, easily my most anticipated game of the first half of this year.
 

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Confirmed my pre order and paid it off a Gamestop today. Now I have Ridge Racer and this come next week. This week is Motorstorm RC, Unit 13, Journey, and I got Chrono Trigger. I need to spend 3 more dollars to add this PSN 20 card I have laying around too ><
 

Luigiv

Member
I can assure you that the narrative/characters/character interactions didn't irritate me like TotA's did.

Also, there is no Mieu-like character!

Yeah so I've been hearing but I'll be the judge of that. I don't mind if the plot and writing is bad, cliche and predictable just as long as it doesn't try to pretend that it isn't. That's what ultimately killed Abyss for me.
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
Everytime I hear about this game I only hear about the combat. What about characters/plot/world in general? I loved Vesperia.
 

ULTROS!

People seem to like me because I am polite and I am rarely late. I like to eat ice cream and I really enjoy a nice pair of slacks.
Everytime I hear about this game I only hear about the combat. What about characters/plot/world in general? I loved Vesperia.

It's generic but not cringeworthy. Game Informer reviewer enjoyed the story but didn't like how long it took for things to get interesting.
 

Luigiv

Member
Everytime I hear about this game I only hear about the combat. What about characters/plot/world in general? I loved Vesperia.

I'm personally curious about the dungeon design. If there's one thing Abyss got really right it was dungeon design. How does Graces compare?
 

ShadiWulf

Member
It's not free, it cost 99 cents. :p It's practically free. Also, what do you mean by 2 dollars? One day shipping costs like 9 dollars.

yeah, 1 day shipping is way expensive. I was talking about release date shipping, I thought it was normally 2 dollars. But yeah, it's not a big deal, I just thought it was odd amazon wasn't charging me for release date shipping since my prime membership expired earlier this month. I guess it's because I made the pre-order last year.
 

Bladenic

Member
Anyone wanna be DLC share buddies? Preferably someone with the Gamestop pre-order costumes, then I'll buy the first set of costumes or whatnot.

And for that matter, anyone feel free to add me on PSN. I need more PSN friends and it'll be cool to talk about the game with people, track our progress, etc.

XxVpunxX
 

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
Yeah so I've been hearing but I'll be the judge of that. I don't mind if the plot and writing is bad, cliche and predictable just as long as it doesn't try to pretend that it isn't. That's what ultimately killed Abyss for me.
I didn't really get the impression that Graces was trying to force itself to be serious (well, you know what I mean, right?). But yeah, I'll be interested to see how people who look for narrative in RPGs receive it.

I generally play Tales games for the combat as opposed to the narrative so my take on it might be different than everyone else's.

i share tear opinion. Mieu is cute and there is nothing wrong with him.. especially when he get kicked for talking too much
I keep forgetting that you don't like Tipo. The only good bit of Mieu's existence is Luke's constant abuse of him. I dunno what's worse: "DESU NO" or "MIEU MIEU".

Tenebrae is probably my favourite Tales mascot. Mormo and Mieu are probably my least favourite.
 

Relix

he's Virgin Tight™
I am playing through TOA3DS. Playing a 2nd one would just burn me out but I will buy as support of Namco... and for them to bring Xillia goddammit.
 

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
I'm personally curious about the dungeon design. If there's one thing Abyss got really right it was dungeon design. How does Graces compare?
Um. Oh wait, I wrote a post about this...

I don't mind Team Symphonia's games, and they all have their pros: better dungeon design and somewhat better and longer narratives. But the battle systems feel easier and clunkier in comparison to Team Destiny's.

Team Destiny's systems are spectacular. The battle systems are different in each game, and they're faster. More features in games, great hi-ougis and less recycled moves from game to game. Tales of Graces F's style-shift battle system is probably one of the best battle systems I've ever experienced. Better than Rebirth's, imo. And Rebirth's was really good. But Team Destiny can be lacking too: so-so dungeon design (some of the dungeons in ToG are a little boring), and the narratives are shorter compared to the Symphonia games.
To expand, the dungeon design can leave a lot to desired sometimes, but it's better than lotsa block puzzles or Sorcerer's Ring puzzles at times. Graces doesn't have the Sorcerer's Ring.

There were a few dungeons in Graces F that I just got tired of (Wallbridge Underground, Baronia Underground despite how short it was but the dungeon music was really bad, etc), and the extremely lacklustre dungeon music really didn't help things. Who knows, some people might like them more than I did. Edit: I was quite disappointed with one dungeon because they could have done so much with it, but oh well. For the most part, I found Graces' dungeons rather short.
 
There were a few dungeons in Graces F that I just got tired of (Wallbridge Underground, Baronia Underground despite how short it was but the dungeon music was really bad, etc), and the extremely lacklustre dungeon music really didn't help things. Who knows, some people might like them more than I did. Edit: I was quite disappointed with one dungeon because they could have done so much with it, but oh well. For the most part, I found Graces' dungeons rather short.

I think the only dungeon I didn't like was Wallbridge Underground and Wallbridge itself. Though, both were mostly to how confusing everything is and how at least those two ended up having everything look a like. The other dungeons were fine, but nothing really stands out to me so it's also more like they aren't outstanding.
 
I keep forgetting that you don't like Tipo. The only good bit of Mieu's existence is Luke's constant abuse of him. I dunno what's worse: "DESU NO" or "MIEU MIEU".

Tenebrae is probably my favourite Tales mascot. Mormo and Mieu are probably my least favourite.

As i said in the xillia thread , i disliked tipo at first AND THEN it didn't matter he trully became a comic relief in late chapter 2 and the rest of the game...
i'll never forget Tipo comments while fighting the golden swordman ..that was top class stuff.
Tipo became better when Elise FINALLY started to stand for herself ... Before that point Tipo is more than a nuisance than anything.

I love Tipo now.. " TIPO ON" -

As for mormo , Well that's not even a contest since he talks For the main character 99.9% of the time ..Without him every Skit would be stale. For that point alone i can't trully dislike him.

BUt yeah tenebrae is awesome. ( no contest ) He was the highlight of Dotnw
 

Zabuza

Banned
Anyone wanna be DLC share buddies? Preferably someone with the Gamestop pre-order costumes, then I'll buy the first set of costumes or whatnot.

And for that matter, anyone feel free to add me on PSN. I need more PSN friends and it'll be cool to talk about the game with people, track our progress, etc.

XxVpunxX
I'm getting the Gamestop costumes and I'm more than willing to share. You don't even have to give anything in return. I'll add you when I get the chance.

PSN ID: Im-Braveheart
 
Anyone wanna be DLC share buddies? Preferably someone with the Gamestop pre-order costumes, then I'll buy the first set of costumes or whatnot.

And for that matter, anyone feel free to add me on PSN. I need more PSN friends and it'll be cool to talk about the game with people, track our progress, etc.

XxVpunxX

I'm getting the Gamestop costumes and I'm more than willing to share. You don't even have to give anything in return. I'll add you when I get the chance.

PSN ID: Im-Braveheart

Added you both! Anyone else in the thread is welcome to add me as well, as I'm in desperate need of filling out my PSN friends list: JimmyStav
 
the extremely lacklustre dungeon music really didn't help things. Who knows, some people might like them more than I did. Edit: I was quite disappointed with one dungeon because they could have done so much with it, but oh well. For the most part, I found Graces' dungeons rather short.

Oh no! BAD NEWS bad news!

Hopefully my opinion will be different. If any of the songs are from Sakuraba, I doubt it will bother me too much as even his dry songs/remixes don't annoy me too much. I doubt it will be anything atrocious like some of what I've heard from Mario Power Tennis --I didn't like the synth he used for this game and Mario Golf Toadstool Tour. But he should be using his Vesperia/SO4/Trusty Bell/Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga gear for this game. I did like that piano song that played in on the title screen in the JP demo. Gave me emotional joy. :)

The songs from the other composer, if it's anything like Vesperia/Abyss, I anticipate to have repetitive percussion that plays from start to end of the song with little variety and use of poor quality keyboard/computer software instruments.

Yeah, I'm a huge fan of Motoi Sakuraba. I don't expect awesomeness like this for Tales of Graces dungeon music:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3aTBNse4f0&feature=related --The Wavering of Another Age

But I hope it's decent stuff that's not annoying while I explore. Doh, forget that, I want great stuff. C'mon Motoi!
 

rataven

Member
I'm in! Preordered from Amazon. This will be my first Tales game. I'm quite excited!

And oh, I'd love to join the chat too. Especially since I may not know what I'm doing or might have questions. Feel free to add me. PSN is the same as my GAF name.
 

Bladenic

Member
I'm getting the Gamestop costumes and I'm more than willing to share. You don't even have to give anything in return. I'll add you when I get the chance.

PSN ID: Im-Braveheart

Sweet, thanks! Added you.

And also added everyone else! Race to see who can beat it first? Or better yet, who can platinum first! :p
 

Ties

Banned
I loved Marta's design and playstyle. She was so adorable. I'm a bit peeved that Team Symphonia didn't save her design for another game, she deserves much better. The way she played was really fun, I loved abusing Swallow Dance (is this the arte?) in that game.

The skits were hilarious, it definitely helped that they were all voiced acted as well. The funniest skits for me is sill Legendia though. Norma and Grune as the Laugh Brigade had me bursting out in laughter on numerous occasions.
 

Luigiv

Member
Um. Oh wait, I wrote a post about this...


To expand, the dungeon design can leave a lot to desired sometimes, but it's better than lotsa block puzzles or Sorcerer's Ring puzzles at times. Graces doesn't have the Sorcerer's Ring.

There were a few dungeons in Graces F that I just got tired of (Wallbridge Underground, Baronia Underground despite how short it was but the dungeon music was really bad, etc), and the extremely lacklustre dungeon music really didn't help things. Who knows, some people might like them more than I did. Edit: I was quite disappointed with one dungeon because they could have done so much with it, but oh well. For the most part, I found Graces' dungeons rather short.
Thanks for the responce though that does sound like a shame. Hopefully there aren't too many duds.

What I liked about Abyss's dungeons was that they were short and their layouts were simple enough to not get confusing without a map but also branching and varied enough not to be boring. I'll admit the dungeon in the Graces demo did not live up to that but it was not offensively bad. I could live with that quality but hopefully the game has a some better dungeons too.
 

Rarutos

Member
I'm so excited for this game. I'll probably spend all my time with it when it comes out. It's so hard to believe a new English Tales game is actually coming out...! <3
 
I'm so excited for this game. I'll probably spend all my time with it when it comes out. It's so hard to believe a new English Tales game is actually coming out...! <3

Have you read the Graces wikipedia?

I wonder if we'll be hearing Totori's english voice from Sophie.
 

Dark Schala

Eloquent Princess
I think the only dungeon I didn't like was Wallbridge Underground and Wallbridge itself. Though, both were mostly to how confusing everything is and how at least those two ended up having everything look a like. The other dungeons were fine, but nothing really stands out to me so it's also more like they aren't outstanding.
Oh my gosh, I forgot how much I disliked Wallbridge. Especially for that hide and seek quest for one of Cheria's titles. So bad. -_-

As i said in the xillia thread , i disliked tipo at first AND THEN it didn't matter he trully became a comic relief in late chapter 2 and the rest of the game...
i'll never forget Tipo comments while fighting the golden swordman ..that was top class stuff.
Tipo became better when Elise FINALLY started to stand for herself ... Before that point Tipo is more than a nuisance than anything.

I love Tipo now.. " TIPO ON" -
Man, I like Tipo throughout Xillia. But yeah, I can see how people don't like Tipo. I wonder if that game were ever localized here how he'd be handled.

Hopefully my opinion will be different. If any of the songs are from Sakuraba, I doubt it will bother me too much as even his dry songs/remixes don't annoy me too much. I doubt it will be anything atrocious like some of what I've heard from Mario Power Tennis --I didn't like the synth he used for this game and Mario Golf Toadstool Tour. But he should be using his Vesperia/SO4/Trusty Bell/Valhalla Knights: Eldar Saga gear for this game. I did like that piano song that played in on the title screen in the JP demo. Gave me emotional joy. :)

The songs from the other composer, if it's anything like Vesperia/Abyss, I anticipate to have repetitive percussion that plays from start to end of the song with little variety and use of poor quality keyboard/computer software instruments.
IMO, Graces has one of the lacklustre soundtracks of the series. It's very... 'safe' (this refers to the Sakuraba compositions on the soundtrack), but there are some stinkers on there (not necessarily courtesy of Sakuraba, mind you). One of the dungeon themes is basically three notes long, and I ended up not getting too attached to many of the dungeon themes except for a few. Sakuraba's stuff isn't bad, but just not... it isn't the calibre of VP or Eternal Sonata. Tamura's stuff is usually not... good... It's hard to believe the same guy composed Fighting of the Spirit, lol.

Graces' soundtrack does its job, but it doesn't necessarily excel or stand head-and-shoulders above other soundtracks for me. Of course, other people may not come to the same conclusion.

For the record, I like Sakuraba's stuff. Valkyrie Profile, Resonance of Fate, Beyond the Labyrinth, Trusty Bell, Tales of Symphonia, etc. Xillia's soundtrack was a major improvement after Graces with a more mature and varied sound, and Xillia was a solo venture.

english trophies are up, beware spoilers :p http://www.yourgamercards.net/game/1209
Edit: Do NOT read that list if you don't want some plot stuff spoiled.

Did they rename Kohak to Amber? *ponders* Well... that's what Kohak means in Japanese.

It makes sense considering all the characters in Hearts except Shing (though Meteoryte is debatable) were named after precious jewels. *shrug* If the theoretical Hearts R were ever localized for here I'd expect them to be rather blunt with the naming then. Ex: Hisui = Jade, Beryl, Kunzite, etc.

Thanks for the responce though that does sound like a shame. Hopefully there aren't too many duds.

What I liked about Abyss's dungeons was that they were short and their layouts were simple enough to not get confusing without a map but also branching and varied enough not to be boring. I'll admit the dungeon in the Graces demo did not live up to that but it was not offensively bad. I could live with that quality but hopefully the game has a some better dungeons too.
Graces' dungeons are quite short and usually don't overstay their welcome. But there were some dungeons in Graces where I didn't really like the layouts or some of the mechanics involved.

Again, I'll be interested in seeing how other players think of them.

now how do you defeat a boss in less than 60 seconds wtf
It's way way way easier than it sounds. If I can do it (twice in some cases since I was replaying Graces f to try to get the plat over on my English PSN account), anyone else can. The plat for this game isn't difficult outside of Gentleman Defeated. Just do all the Inn Requests and do the events (timed or otherwise) to get the Gentleman trophy.
 
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