The Silent Protagonist – Tales of Graces F

So, if you’ve read any of my previous blogs, you’ll already know I love pretty much any and every Namco Bandai game that comes out, especially if it’s an RPG. If you can remember my first blog way back in November 2011, you’ll know that my favourite game is “Tales of Symphonia” for the Gamecube, made by Namco Bandai.

Regardless, “Tales of Graces F” is set to be released this summer! So Tales fans won’t have long to wait before they can sink their teeth into another Tales game. “Tales of the Abyss” was released for the first time in Europe back in November. Two Tales games in six months is a real treat!

The game is being developed by the Namco Tales Studio and is set to be the first Tales title developed for the PS3 to be released in Europe. Apart from the Tales Series, Namco Bandai has made some truly terrific games. These range from the video game adaptations of the “Naruto” series, “Beautiful Katamari” and “Eternal Sonata”, to the more recent “Dark Souls.”

The story starts when the main protagonist, Asbel, and his brother, Hubert, climb a hill near their home to see the Sopheria flowers bloom in the nearby meadow. However, as they approach the summit of the hill, there is a flash and beam of light, and a mysterious girl with no memory appears before them. Asbel then takes this lass back to their nearby town to see if anybody knows her. They don’t ‒ unsurprisingly! Anyway, Asbel’s father disapproves with his son’s actions and reminds him of his station ‒ when he is older he will become Lord of Lhant, the home town of Asbel and Hubert.

After some other events which include visitors to Lhant, the befriending of the prince from the capital and an assassination attempt, Asbel leaves his home town, forsaking his station to become a knight in the city of Barona, in the hopes he becomes strong enough to protect those he holds dear. The game then bypasses Asbel’s training (thankfully!) and takes us seven years into the game’s future, allowing the progression of the main story.

Luckily for us, the “F” in the name stands for ‘Future’ (supposedly), which includes an epilogue. It’s not a tiny epilogue either ‒ it’s said to be at least ten hours long, so once you’ve completed the game, you’ve got this to go through as well! Sorry, Japan, you got Vesperia for the PS3, we get additional content. I think it evens out! Almost.

I would imagine the battles to be similar to the previous Tales games. You’ve got a team of up to four people per battle, and there are various preset classes per character.  You can chain together combos by tilting the analogue stick in one particular direction and unleashing artes. However, each character has two different fighting styles which can be freely changed during the course of the battle. Mystic artes make a comeback, which is a character’s ultimate attack.

Titles make a comeback but instead of not offering any bonuses (except the occasional outfit change) like in Abyss and Vesperia, they offer status bonuses like in Symphonia. Titles are automatically acquired during the main storyline, by doing side quests, using artes a certain amount, etc.

The game reminds me of every Tales game I’ve ever played. All the good bits at least. With each Tales game that gets released, Namco Bandai builds on the positive feedback and tries to correct the negative criticism to make bigger and better games, and I’m sure that this one is no exception.

Anyway ‒ my next piece will be on “Final Fantasy XIII Versus” but until then… keep reading; keep playing; keep having fun!

To Be Continued…