Tales of Graces f (2010)

Man, I remembered Graces having a really solid soundtrack (like, more than other games in the series), especially with changing up the music for each of the countries and their different environments...but since I last played it in 2013, I had forgotten how absolutely killer some of the battle themes were. I just got to a major new area and this is the new battle theme:

So I'm doing some sidequests in Graces and this little guy's brother has a big afro with a Chirpee in it. Made me think of Sazh from FF XIII, and I got curious as to which came out first, because I didn't know the years off-hand.

Both initially released in December of 2009, but Graces was like a week earlier. Huh. I really doubt it's anything more than coincidence, but it made me laugh a bit.

I've been wanting to replay a Tales game for a while--namely Berseria and Xillia since those are my faves and I've only played through them completely one time each. (Have just been trying to play new things in the past two years.) But I've also had Graces f floating around in my head, and decided to start it up today.

My clear save file was actually from July of 2013, so it's been a good, long time.

Definitely did not remember Asbel wanting to name Sophie fuckin' TIGER FESTIVAL. I'm dyingggg.

I was debating not doing a NG+ because of all the collectibles, dualization, eleth mixer and stuff, and not remembering any of it. Was kinda worried I'd have it all transfer and then be lost. So far that's fine, but the game didn't give me any battle tutorials. Since this one is a lot different from most other Tales, I spent a bit of time reading through the Battle Book because I sure did not remember these mechanics.

All these years, and I still hate Cheria. (I kept thinking about her when playing Scarlet Nexus, because Hanabi is "childhood friend who loves protag" down right, and Cheria is the worst, and how much she sucks has stuck with me for almost a decade.) Sophie is still one of my favorite Tales girls, tho. <3

at first i didn't want to be so mean as to give this game one star, but then i realized that i would actually prefer to be playing Dawn of the New World than this.

it's really hard to point at anything specific that made me dislike this game, but it's a mix of the new combat (i've never been one to play tales games for their combat, but this one made the combat unfun for me in a way i couldn't easily brush off), the graphics that look... not-great even for a wii game, and with even worse stilted animations to match. the characters are pretty flat, and maybe they would've gotten better had i kept playing longer, but even some 20 hours in i couldn't bring myself to care about any of them.

none of those things are Lethally bad or anything, but they do add up to a game where i'd be hard-pressed to actually think of anything i personally found enjoyable :( and in a series where there's a lot of other games i like, i can't really justify playing more of this one when i could just pop in another.

I put this game off so long due to the mixed reviews, and I kinda regret it. I'm having an absolute blast. I'm 15 or so hours in, and if the game stays as interesting as it's been up until now, then it's gonna end up being one of my favorite Tales games, no rpgs, ever. The combat is just so much fun.. and I actually love the characters and plot. Oh yeah, I just wanted to share one of the highlights, so far!