The best Japanese RPGs are known for their unique battle systems, whether they’re turn-based or real time. Along with Ys, the Tales series was a pioneer of real-time combat in Japanese video games. As the Tales series ha evolved since its debut in 1995, its battle system has experimented with many mechanics, including traditional HP/MP bars for each character, a communal MP pool for the entire party, and switching between 2D and 3D combat.
Many fans consider 2009’s Tales of Graces F to have one of the best, if not the best, combat in the series. It features the perfect balance between offensive action, defensive momentum, and flashy animations. It’s also considered to have one of the most boring stories in the series; Graces F takes narrative clichés like “the power of friendship” to a whole new level. The combat is so strong that it completely overshadows that fault, however. That’s what makes a seemingly niche RPG a significant improvement worthy of preservation.
Now, Tales of Graces F has gotten the care it deserves. The RPG has been brought to modern consoles and PC with Tales of Graces F Remastered, which brings some quality of life changes and includes all DLC. Now, it’s time for new fans to discover an influential RPG battle system that has earned its flowers.
Humble beginnings
Tales of Graces F follows a red-haired protagonist named Asbel Lhant. The hero meets an amnesiac girl named Sophie as a child. After Sophie seemingly dies defending Asbel and his friends from a monster attack, Asbel runs away from home to join a knight academy. He then returns home seven years later after learning that it was invaded by a foreign country. It’s a strong setup, but as the game progresses, the plot delves into predictable clichés. What really stands out about Graces F is its series-defining combat.
Many early Tales installments — like Tales of Phantasia, Tales of Symphonia, and Tales of Eternia — used your typical HP and MP/TP systems that were popular in RPGs of the time. Special attacks and spells, called Artes, would consume the TP gauge, and couldn’t be used if the gauge was depleted. This would often stifle the flow of combat, as party members would resort to using normal attacks, and as a result, battles would become boring.
In the early 2000s, developer Namco began to experiment with the combat in Tales. Tales of Rebirth used the Rush gauge, which got rid of the restrictive MP/TP system and added support capabilities even when going on the offensive. This made combat much more exciting and dynamic than ever before.
The Tales of Destiny remake on the PlayStation 2 introduced the Chain Capacity (CC) system, which Tales of Graces F expanded on. Each attack uses a certain amount of CC, and no more offensive actions can be taken until enough CC is replenished, which happens almost instantaneously by guarding or standing still for a few seconds. That was a big change from standard TP systems, in which the energy could usually only be refilled using an item.
The near-instantaneous CC recovery makes a world of difference in Graces F, as it let players jump back into the fray with little downtime. I don’t have to worry about holding back during battle or preserving precious TP during normal enemy encounters for any potential surprise boss fights down the line.
Each character starts with a maximum number of CC at the start of battle, but the ceiling can temporarily be increased by filling the Critical Gauge, which itself increases after a successful attack, block, or dodge. This is where Graces F’s defensive maneuvers become important. Dodging an incoming attack at the last minute drastically increases the Critical Gauge, rewarding players with more CC, allowing them to throw out more special attacks. It’s the perfect loop between offensive and defensive play.
One of the biggest additions to the remastered edition is that it allows players access to the Grade Shop at the very start of a fresh playthrough. In the Tales series, the Grade Shop is a list of endgame bonuses that players can buy with a currency called Grade and that carry over to subsequent playthroughs. These bonuses include triple experience, double gold, and quintupled damage output. It’s unprecedented to have the feature unlocked so early. In Graces F specifically, the Grade Shop includes separate bonuses to add 1 and 2 CC to each character’s base CC permanently. Immediate access to the shop on a first playthrough lets you start off even more powerful than in the base version of the game.
Cementing a legacy
Graces F also introduced the Arte Tree, which is a sequence of special attacks that flow when a corresponding button is pressed multiple times. This was a new concept for Tales, as it was a way to force players to cycle through a variety of different Artes rather than sticking with a select few that they’ve grown accustomed to using or spamming like in previous Tales games.
Arte Trees are fixed, meaning that players were unable to change the order in which their attacks were unleashed. However, there are four of them, corresponding to a directional input like how Super Smash Bros. approaches its special attacks. By choosing different directional input in the middle of a combo, players could change up combos on the fly. At first, the fixed Arte Trees feels restrictive, but as you learn more Artes and better understand the battle system, it flows more naturally.
The Arte Tree has appeared in some sort of variation in the most recent Tales games. Tales of Zestiria’s was identical to Graces F’s, but Tales of Berseria and Tales of Arise tookit a step forward and finally allowed players to freely switch the order in which Artes were dished out. It felt like a logical evolution of the Arte Tree, proving how much of an impact the system had on the series as a whole.
If there’s one constant about the combat system of Tales, it’s that the series is always experimenting with it. Right after Graces F, Tales of Xillia and Xillia 2 disappointingly went back to the old TP system. However, Zestiria utilizes its own system called Spirit Chain, which is similar to Rebirth’s Rush Gauge. Graces F’s fingerprints can be felt all over the modern Tales entries, and its remaster will give fans the chance to experience one of the most important games in the series. That’s an opportunity you shouldn’t miss.
Tales of Graces F Remastered will launch for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch on January 16.