Tales of Graces f

 PlayStation 3
User Score
8.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 386 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 322 out of 386
  2. Mixed: 35 out of 386
  3. Negative: 29 out of 386
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  1. kbaka
    Feb 4, 2013
    7
    I wish Metacritic had an option to give a score of 7.5 bc that would be more accurate to how I truly feel. Tales of Graces f is a solid game that does a lot of things right but also is flawed in ways that you would expect to see from a last gen title. Any fan of JRPGs will be more than thrilled with the experience offered, however I'm not quite sure if this is a game the mainstream canI wish Metacritic had an option to give a score of 7.5 bc that would be more accurate to how I truly feel. Tales of Graces f is a solid game that does a lot of things right but also is flawed in ways that you would expect to see from a last gen title. Any fan of JRPGs will be more than thrilled with the experience offered, however I'm not quite sure if this is a game the mainstream can embrace. Tales of Graces is a story of friendship and sacrifice that borders heavily on the cliche and at times is so cheesy I couldn't take it but then again, it is a JRPG. Where this game truly shines is in its art style, combat, and customization options. The beautifully colorful worlds of Windor, Fendel, and Strahta are an absolute joy to explore. Each countries landscape and citizens have their own, unique feel to them and at times I found myself wondering whether or not these nations are meant to be symbolic of real nations throughout history (possibly WW2 era). Disappointingly though, players are extremely limited in where they can actually explore in the world. Hidden walls are a huge gripe I have with this game, along with the need to backtrack through familiar areas to achieve goals. The developers also created a world that is rather linear in your movement ability. Rarely will you stumble across any open areas when traveling between towns. The traveling paths have an almost corridor feel to them, which is unacceptable for a modern title and is a huge opportunity missed. While aethetically pleasing, the towns and wilderness of the game fall flat in trying to give off the impression that you are in a living breathing world. Citizens rarely have anything interesting to say and aimlessly wander to and fro on whats seems to be a track. Another opportunity the developer missed was the lack of choice in the game. The game is about as linear as it gets and the side-quests available to the player are mediocre at best, feeling like nothing more than cheap busy work. On a more positive note though, Tales more than makes up for these short comings with its masterfully crafted real time battle system which is one of my favorites ever in an RPG title. The sheer amount of attack options for each character is staggering and the way in which moves can be tied together and enhanced is superb. I also loved the way characters skills are developed as well, giving the player the freedom to chose how they want to battle and which skills to improve upon through the selection of "titles" which need to be unlocked through battle accomplishments. Weapon enhancement is another area I thoroughly enjoyed. The ability to "dualize" items was a blast to experiment with, some items altering the stats of an item while others altered the appearance as well. Where Tales lacks in freedom and depth in the non-battle portions, it more than makes up for in the combat aspects which is why I was willing to tolerate the restrictive, yet beautiful, world and play on through what is easily a 50+ hour game. One piece of advice I would offer to any prospective players though is DO NOT AVOID BATTLES WHILE TRAVELLING. This game has tremendous spikes in difficulty in boss battles and you will fail miserably if you don't put in your time with weaker foes. Luckily battle is a blast and you most likely will not mind doing this. I recommend this title to anybody with an appreciation for a more old school style JRPG but no one else.… Expand
  2. unit_one
    Apr 13, 2012
    7
    Tales of graces f doesn't break any new grounds or tell a particular original tale but it's still definitely worth your attention in these times of jrpg drought. The tales series never had a huge fanbase outside of japan so it's of no surprise that not even half of the games get released over here. After petitions and thousands of begging from the fans to namco we finally get a tales gameTales of graces f doesn't break any new grounds or tell a particular original tale but it's still definitely worth your attention in these times of jrpg drought. The tales series never had a huge fanbase outside of japan so it's of no surprise that not even half of the games get released over here. After petitions and thousands of begging from the fans to namco we finally get a tales game released in the west after 4 years since vesperia. Tales of graces was originally a wii exclusive that came out in japan in 2009 right before ff13 jpn release. The game bombed and namco released a improved version for the ps3 to much success in japan. We received the definitive version of the game and i'm happy to report that it was worth the wait.

    Story and characters are a little bland in this game. It's not like it's bad but it just feels like namco has done this formula before but better. The characters don't stand out much and the story is very basic i know they could have done more with it but decided to play it safe. This results in a decent cast of character and a passable story.
    Graphically the game looks good. You can tell it was originally a wii game but the game still holds up it doesn't look incredible but it gets the job done. Character designs are a little weaker in this installment in my opinion but it's still a very nice looking game.

    Sound wise is easily in my opinion the weakest part of the game. Motoi sakuraba is a very talented composer and in my opinion this game is not one of his best work. A lot of the tracks just don't stand out and are very forgettable. A few are ok but for the most part it was very disappointing. The voice actors did a good job none of them felt annoying to me and they all felt appropriate. Gameplay wise is kind of a mix. The battle system is incredible one of the best i've seen in the genre. The tp system most of the tales fans in the west are familiar with is now replaced with the CC system. This adds alot of depht to the combat and prevents dumb button mashing. The battle system takes a while to master but when you do few games battle system will feel comparable. Out of battle the game is your typical jrpg run from point A to point B and then cutscene time pretty much throughout the whole game.

    Tales of graces f doesn't break you grounds but if your a fan of jrpgs then i'd recommend this game solely for the fact that you won't find much better on consoles in the genre for the next while.    … Expand
  3. Richard12
    Apr 6, 2012
    5
    Tales of Graces has a decent battle system, but is really bland in virtually every other area. I can stand the anime cliches and enjoy the game for pretty much every other Tales I've played, but this one was really bland and repetitive with some of the most annoying characters I've ever encountered in a video game. I was honestly expecting better. Worth picking up if you can standTales of Graces has a decent battle system, but is really bland in virtually every other area. I can stand the anime cliches and enjoy the game for pretty much every other Tales I've played, but this one was really bland and repetitive with some of the most annoying characters I've ever encountered in a video game. I was honestly expecting better. Worth picking up if you can stand stereotypical JRPGs and have nothing else to play, though.… Expand
  4. Kenmei
    May 6, 2012
    5
    This is my second review for this game and, to me, this game really let me down after completing the entire thing, Main story and epilogue all the way through. Fans of Vesperia will be vastly disappointed with the TERRIBLE storyline. I swear, if I hear about friendship one more time, I'll go crazy. It's as if they are trying to take a sledgehammer to your head over and over and over andThis is my second review for this game and, to me, this game really let me down after completing the entire thing, Main story and epilogue all the way through. Fans of Vesperia will be vastly disappointed with the TERRIBLE storyline. I swear, if I hear about friendship one more time, I'll go crazy. It's as if they are trying to take a sledgehammer to your head over and over and over and over........and over again with the idea of friendship, as if they hadn't mentioned before what the main point of the story was. It's something that will annoy you as you go along. Just count how many times they say the word 'friend' and you'll see what I mean. Also the characters are barely lackluster, with Hubert and Malik being the main stars of the show. Everyone else is just your stereotypical whimpy guy/love-struck girl/amnesia girl/spunky mage/whatever. There's nothing new here and, even though Vesperia didn't exactly set the bar high for originality, at least the characters were able to carry that story from start to finish. The same cannot be said for this game. It's sad that this game was a giant flop since I don't know if people will buy the game, which would force Namco to release Xillia here in the states, which is the Tales game that we all want and crave. If for nothing else than to tell Namco we want Xillia here in the states, buy this game. You might enjoy it but I doubt it. You might enjoy but the bigger issue here to send a message IMO.… Expand
  5. metatcn
    Mar 19, 2012
    5
    Decent battle system but everything else is very poor presentation. The two main characters are some of the worst in the franchise, weak and rushed job story, hence why there is a epilogue because they tried to jam in last bit of left over plot and character development, but a little too late. That's another thing usually skits are bread and butter of character development but there isDecent battle system but everything else is very poor presentation. The two main characters are some of the worst in the franchise, weak and rushed job story, hence why there is a epilogue because they tried to jam in last bit of left over plot and character development, but a little too late. That's another thing usually skits are bread and butter of character development but there is very little here as lots of characterization was skipped over main game as game was rushed. The graphics are poor, and lack of an overworld. Lots of invisible walls. Plus the music is forgettable, a tales game where music is forgettable, very disappointing. Also the enemies have got to be a new low in the franchise. I mean really a boss is just a bigger version of a random enemy. When an enemy is a bland blob you get an idea how bland and uninspiring the games enemy variety and villains are. This game came out after vesperia and it's a huge disappointment, maybe because graces is a wii port and has to do with that consoles limitation but for an HD tales game very bad presentation. If you played a team destiny game before like eternia or rebirth you know the story is not going to be amazing but those games are 7+ years old and sad to see not much has changed and worst characters have taken a big step back from the fun characters of old. If you don't care about story/characters this can be a decent grindfest but if you are tales fan that expects great presentation like Symphonia team games like symphonia, abyss and Vesperia you are not gonna find any polish here. I think a lot of fan reviews here are blinded by the fact they are just happy that PS3 tales game is finally out, but as someone who played the full game it's very disappointing flagship sequel. I expect this from external studios that do innocence, mythology and Legendia, but even those games had decent presentation a lot better then flagship graces f. Only reason I not giving it below a 5 is because there is a nice battle system, too bad it's so boring to play as there is no cool enemy or music or anything to enhance it experience.… Expand
  6. cipher86
    Mar 25, 2012
    5
    A game with a cool combat mechanic is ruined by terrible allied AI, cheap enemy tactics (you can become OP if you know how the combo system works, to counter this the AI can randombly become immune to combos), poor pacing, immense amounts of backtracking (you spend the first 20 hours running between the same 3 areas, if you thought Dragon Age 2 was bad this is an all new low), mediocreA game with a cool combat mechanic is ruined by terrible allied AI, cheap enemy tactics (you can become OP if you know how the combo system works, to counter this the AI can randombly become immune to combos), poor pacing, immense amounts of backtracking (you spend the first 20 hours running between the same 3 areas, if you thought Dragon Age 2 was bad this is an all new low), mediocre graphics, a terrible story and a cast full of hamfisted cliche characters. Nearly all voiceovers sound like the actors were pulled in off the street, handed a script and told to read. Very disappointing entry in the "Tales of..." series, I couldn't break the 20 hour mark.… Expand
  7. Becial
    Mar 22, 2012
    6
    While the battle system is fun, it could actually use a little more work. Things are almost too chaotic and at least in comparison to other Tales games and it can be difficult to follow combos. The story relies heavily on the characters to make it interesting but the characters don't come off as enjoyable to follow as ones previous games. This is a step down in every department fromWhile the battle system is fun, it could actually use a little more work. Things are almost too chaotic and at least in comparison to other Tales games and it can be difficult to follow combos. The story relies heavily on the characters to make it interesting but the characters don't come off as enjoyable to follow as ones previous games. This is a step down in every department from game play to music from Vesperia and pretty much all other major Tales games. It is still fun if you are a fan though. If you are new to the series and play this, you will be amazed at the level of polish if you go back and play the other ones.… Expand
  8. GrumpyReviewer
    May 30, 2012
    7
    Surprisingly good game. When I picked this up I really had not great expectations. This is a very warmhearted game that all JRPG fans deserve to take a look. It's fun, it's pretty; the dialogue and the gameplay are great and there are even a couple of twists along the way to keep things exciting. Definitely worth a look.
  9. R6ex
    Apr 5, 2021
    5
    Beautiful story and characters with decent gameplay but travelling along platforming style is just too old-school and lame in this day and age. I gave up within 2 hours.
  10. Trepadora
    Feb 13, 2015
    5
    I'm sat here wondering how this game came to be known as one of the better games of the Tales franchise. I would consider myself to be a Tales fan - I've played every game I could get my hands on. But this game just doesn't spark. It feels like they were trying to gut most of what made these games so good.

    One thing I've always enjoyed was the story. But, I'm here thinking, 40 hours    I'm sat here wondering how this game came to be known as one of the better games of the Tales franchise. I would consider myself to be a Tales fan - I've played every game I could get my hands on. But this game just doesn't spark. It feels like they were trying to gut most of what made these games so good.

    One thing I've always enjoyed was the story. But, I'm here thinking, 40 hours into the game, and can barely recall much bar a few vague descriptions of major moments and nothing else. Nothing about the plot is particularly memorable. It feels as though it stumbles from location to location, going through the motions and never really providing anything exciting. Despite being near the end of the game, I don't feel as if I am - I'm not on the edge of my seat as the story reaches it's finale: I'm strolling along with detached disinterest, vainly hoping that perhaps it will surprise me with some well-thought twist that makes it all worth it.

    If you're a Tales fan, you're well aware of the host of memorable characters. Characters such as Kratos or Yuri likely stick out in your mind as interesting, fleshed out characters. However in Graces F, we have 'I want to protect my friends protagonist' and 'cool mentor guy'. If you play this game, this will likely be the extent of the characters you will see. None of them ever become particularly fleshed out beyond the first impression you had of them. Very little attempt is ever made at development, and what little is, falls flat on its face. The voices don't fare much better. While the voices themselves are okay, it is very rare hear the character to genuinely sound like the emotion they are meant to be conveying. Combined with the clumsy writing, it is more than a little awkward to listen to.

    Finally the battle system. It feels completely gutted and replaced by something else entirely. I recognize that a lot of effort went into this system to make it have more depth and complexity. However, it feels unnecessarily overcomplicated. I played most of the game on hard, and it rarely evolved beyond pushing one button a lot and then waiting for my CC to replenish. Certainly, there was also back or sidestepping, but it never felt particularly involving. Reducing it to what is essentially a two button system feels like it took away much more than it gave.

    I feel as if that sums up the majority of my time playing with the game, changes that took more away from my experience that added to it. I had numerous other gripes with the game as well: the titles felt like more grinding, the mixer felt superfluous, the AI was catastrophically stupid, the difficulty was horrendously balanced (tying battle rewards to difficulty level was pretty dumb) and the characters felt unsatisfying as whole to play with. Overall, this does not feel like the game series I fell in love with, and I fear I will never understand the praise it receives.    … Expand
  11. GranteedEV
    Dec 5, 2013
    5
    This game has awesome core gameplay. The combat system is brilliant with tight controls and good difficulty, the item synthesis "dualizing" is brilliant, and everything runs at an amazing 60fps. There are some fun characters too.

    ...Yet I really just dislike this game. It: 1) Does not live up to the standards set by Eternia, Symphonia, Vesperia, and the amazing Abyss 2) it    This game has awesome core gameplay. The combat system is brilliant with tight controls and good difficulty, the item synthesis "dualizing" is brilliant, and everything runs at an amazing 60fps. There are some fun characters too.

    ...Yet I really just dislike this game. It:

    1) Does not live up to the standards set by Eternia, Symphonia, Vesperia, and the amazing Abyss
    2) it has an unbearable dub. You will want to look for cotton any time Asbel, Cheria, or Sophie open their mouths. Richard too, during the main story arc.
    3) Has a weak story. Everything during the main story arc lacks any semblence of compelling you to play. I kept playing because other games in the series just got better as they went along. This one did not.
    4) has no world map. Level design is okay. While there is a "discovery" system ripping off Skies of Arcadia, there isn't anything truly worthwhile about it.

    As for the aesthetics, this is a port of a Wii game and it does show. Coming off of the gorgeous Vesperia, you'll recognize a general lack of modern effects and textures. On the bright side though, everything is rendered at a high resolution similar to HD remakes, and the art style is not bad at all. The music was prettty much forgettable, and as I mentioned earlier, the dub is cringeworthy. There is no dual audio option.    … Expand
  12. Ventrust
    Jun 3, 2015
    7
    Tales of Graces is one of the more differentiating games in the lineup of The Tales of series. It removes a lot of combat elements that have always been present in the series, like the old artes-chains and the complete removal of a mana gauge. That's right, every art in the game is free.
    How does this new battle system compare to the rest of the series? Actually, I think this game has    Tales of Graces is one of the more differentiating games in the lineup of The Tales of series. It removes a lot of combat elements that have always been present in the series, like the old artes-chains and the complete removal of a mana gauge. That's right, every art in the game is free.
    How does this new battle system compare to the rest of the series? Actually, I think this game has some, if not the most fun combat experiences in the series. The removal of mana makes it so the game is much more resistant in throwing new artes in your face, but the artes you do get are flashy and fun, not to mention that you can chain certain artes into each other if you acquire the right skills. You don't have normal attacks in this game: every single move is basically an Arte, and the combat seems the most varied in the series because of this. Due to the nature of how strong these elements make you, some enemies have an obscene amount of health in he late game, and I felt personally no enemy has a fair chance because of all the options the game gives you, so a lot of them also appear to have rather cheap attacks to actually give you a challenge. Having an enemy use their mystic arte more than five times in a battle, if not more is rather hard to deal with. Should not be a problem though, as this is the easiest game I have played in the series, and I have played 6 so far. Still, it's a rather fun game that does a lot of interesting things with the series, and stands on its own in that regard: it's combat is very distinguishing in the series.

    Now, for some negatives: While the fighting and any element/mechanic that is directly connected to the combat is great, I can't say that for the rest of the elements of the game. It's characters, while not boring or even bad, don't stand out compared to other RPG's. I think there was a total of two characters who I had not already seen in other stories, and they are really not that important to the story. Again, they are not bad characters at all, I have just already seen them, and other than in their combat styles,I find no real interest in them. The main character looks and feels great to play as, but nothing about him differentiates him from any other typical RPG hero. And that is generally the cast summed up, they don't stand out. They have rather funny conversations, none of them leave an impact on the story as a whole, and are just a group of friends traveling to save the world, none of them affect the plot :/
    The story and moral are also basically standard JRPG tropes, and they are not unique. Not bad, but other stories have done these stories, and have done them with unique characters or untypical elements. The only part where this game trumps other JRPG's is with it's combat. This might especially get monotonous boring since this is pretty much the longest Tales game f we just look at story events, excluding Tales of the Abyss. And when you take the extra story arc you get after the game with Graces 'F', you have a really, really long RPG with the only stand out element being the combat, which might get to easy when you get used to it. But the game is still worth playing, if only partially, because of those cool and flashy battles. If you enjoy stylish, fluent combat with lots of options, then Tales of Graces is one of the best games you can chose to fill this need.    … Expand
  13. Delinquent_B
    Nov 30, 2015
    7
    I would give this game 7.5 but that is not an option.

    1. The plot/characters I only liked the plot in the beginning and the end. Its very lacking and repeats the same events over and over. For example. Asbel obsesses over protecting his friends all the time. I only liked one character named Hubert. the rest was copy paste form other tales of games. We all know the formula. There is    I would give this game 7.5 but that is not an option.

    1. The plot/characters
    I only liked the plot in the beginning and the end. Its very lacking and repeats the same events over and over. For example.
    Asbel obsesses over protecting his friends all the time. I only liked one character named Hubert. the rest was copy paste form other tales of games. We all know the formula. There is the old "veteran" guy, the emotionless loli, the white knight main character and his childhood friend.

    2. Battle system
    This is were this game shines. I only played 3 tales of games. Abyss, Graces F and Xillia.
    This game got the best battle system by far. Its deep and fast paced. In the Epilogue of the game. It surprisingly gets even better with the introduction of new mechanics.

    3. Dualize
    I always liked gathering different equipment but the game forced me to use the "Dualize system" its an system that lets you fuse "shards" to power up your gear. It can also fuse ingredients to create food. So yeah. There is not much gear overall. You have to fuse those shards in your equipment, then fuse both equipments to create a "gem" a gem is an equipment that boost stats. So if your Shard got an attack property your gem gets attack.
    Its possible to fuse those gems as well to create a better one.

    I got 70 hours in this game because the combat was very addicting. played it on the moderate difficulty. Mobs were easy to beat and the bosses were challenging.

    If you crave a new Tales of game or just a JRPG you should get this one.    … Expand
  14. tomvs123
    Feb 28, 2018
    5
    This game is average and its primary audience, based on the story, is 7-18 year-olds. My 5-year old had a blast watching me play it and even helped me get through many of the 10-minute boss fights.

    I can't do a review of the combat justice since I hated it. I played through it on the easiest difficulty just to endure it and complete the game. To me, it's chaotic, button-mashy, requires    This game is average and its primary audience, based on the story, is 7-18 year-olds. My 5-year old had a blast watching me play it and even helped me get through many of the 10-minute boss fights.

    I can't do a review of the combat justice since I hated it. I played through it on the easiest difficulty just to endure it and complete the game. To me, it's chaotic, button-mashy, requires almost no strategy, and is limiting from an action perspective. Look at other reviews to get a better idea of how it works.

    The English voice acting is below-average, but tolerable, and the game's target audience likely won't have any issue with it. There's no Japanese language option.

    The non-combat game mechanics, maps, and dungeons are relatively standard. I was quite pleased with the over world map and dungeons, which are higher quality than those in Tales of Xillia. The areas in Graces felt real (but small) while those in Xillia felt like giant empty squares that were randomly filled with monsters and items.

    And the dungeon puzzles: At first, they're okay, but they get more annoying the farther you get. For example, there are multi-room puzzles where you'll need to go over five rooms to push a thing that might affect something in a different room. You then need to hunt for the thing it affected and hope that's what you need to progress. You might be okay with this if have a photographic memory, follow a guide, or create your own map.

    The story is average. If you'd played more than five teen-focused JRPGs, then you've already seen everything that this story has to offer. The good points for it is that it's consistent and doesn't really resort to any "power of friendship" mechanics.

    Your primary goal is to stop an evil being that's trying to destroy the world, for no valid/believable reason.

    The story isn't at all mature. You play as a 11-year old boy who turns into an 18-year old, and he's having a hard time coming to terms with adulthood, responsibility, and the decisions of others. He's definitely the innocent and stupid type. One example is that there's another character who want to sacrifice herself for the greater good of humanity, but the main character keeps stopping her through his child-like outbursts. It's funny in stories like this where someone is trying to do a noble and meaningful sacrifice, and the protagonist just stops it because his need to keep that person as a friend outweighs his desire to give that person what she wants. Or maybe they just all assume that the other person doesn't really want to sacrifice herself... Either way, it's a bit silly.

    The story is very predictable at first. For example, the guy with the evil eyes is the evil one. Later in the game, the story changes character allegiances and motivations at a whim with very sketchy background and reasoning. So it goes from being very predictable to completely unpredictable (in a bad way).

    The characters aren't bad, but are a little flat and uninteresting. There's a lot of trope-following here and you'd have a hard time telling the main character apart from a multitude of 14-year old boy JRPG protagonists (Isn't he supposed to be 18?). But if you haven't played a lot of JRPGs, you'll probably find someone to like here.

    I completed the main game and found a new option on the title screen that started up a new story about 6 months after the end of the main game. In this story, you're dealing with the consequences of the main character's decision at the end of the first story, and it isn't very interesting. I gave up part way though when I had to go to the 4th dungeon to get another random thing to progress the story. That was also the point where some more annoying dungeon puzzles popped up and battles started becoming so difficult that level grinding was required (even on easy mode). Play though this part only if you absolutely love the characters or need to know what happens next. That's not me, so I'm here writing my post-game review.

    In closing, I think this is a good game if you're young (under 18) and are prone to like anime or Japanese games. But for everyone else, it might be a bit of a chore to get through, especially if you've been playing JRPGs for 30+ years.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

66
#66 Best PS3 Game of 2012
24
#24 Most Discussed PS3 Game of 2012
13
#13 Most Shared PS3 Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 55 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 37 out of 55
  2. Mixed: 18 out of 55
  3. Negative: 0 out of 55
  1. Eurogamer Portugal
    Nov 6, 2012
    90
    Tales of Graces f is a tale of magic and fantasy with a touch of political and social intrigue easily recommended to anyone who loves this specific genre.
    Read full review
  2. Gamer.no
    Oct 27, 2012
    70
    The characters are dreadful and the story is not much more than passable, but the combat system and character building is the best yet for the series. If you don't mind annoying characters, you'll have a blast.
    Read full review
  3. Hyper Magazine
    Oct 8, 2012
    80
    Putting the mysterious "f" back in "freakin' su-weet." [Nov 2012, p.77]
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