I felt, why not make a thread of my first impressions while I play Tales of Graces f for the first time? I've been a Tales Of player since the 90s, when I played the DeJap Super Nintendo version of Tales of Phantasia, but lost interest after Vesperia.

Anything I know about the characters, aside from one or two spoilers that I figured out during the time when the game was still being produced and only a few things got mentioned, I know of their one-dimensional representation in Radiant Mythology 3. We'll see what I think of the English Dub or the characters in general now, although I know Asbel has this thing about protecting people.
A main character hero with a saving-people-thing? What are the odds.

Already my first (bad) surprise of the game. I start it up and get a loading screen of the PS3 called "Loading Trophy Set" and now it is Installing Game Data... so I have to install the game on my PS3 itself to be even able to play it? You know, I'm not a big fan of that. I only installed things like the Sims 3, the 3rd Disc of Final Fantasy XIII or even XIII-2 itself onto my 360's External Harddrive to lower loading times.
It was never forced upon me to do.



Now that the game is done and has got me to the Opening, let me say this. I know the opening was originally sung by BoA and was called "Mamoritai" - I want to protect (you) and I think it's still sung by her, but now in English... I could be wrong, as said, all I knew is the title and the singer. But the lyrics don't seem to fit the images at all, especially not the lyrics. It's talking about love, although the game - and players of this game - tells me that it's all about FRIENDSHIP.
What?

C-A

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Last edited by CatMuto on Mon Dec 23, 2013 1:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Do you really need a whole thread for this? Didn't you already make a Game Impressions thread somewhere else?

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I did?

And why do I have two types of cutscenes that have subtitles? One the AMVs and then the in-game scenes with subtitles rather than "actual" bubbles... this is like FF VII have several versions of FMVs, with some mixing the nice stuff with the crap stuff and looking terrible.

And I have to stand in an exact spot to have a skit appear?

C-A

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Last edited by CatMuto on Mon Dec 23, 2013 1:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Apologies Cat, it wasn't you who set it up.
Though the thread for impressions and playthroughs does exist already

Edit: I was right AND wrong.

That thread is specifically for Dual Destinies.

This thread on the other hand was made by you specifically for opinions and reviews of games. I'm assuming opinions and impressions are interchangeable words.

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Last edited by Pierre on Mon Dec 23, 2013 1:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Yeah those are for the overall review of the game that may involve playing the entire game and then talking about it. Here, I am referring to things I may come up immediately in the game and comment on.

If I had a game capture device already, I'd make a blind LP out of this.

C-A

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Well it says opinions as well, and I think it's bending straws a bit but whatever just seemed odd to make an opinion thread for one person and one game.

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Hey, if somebody wants to tell me "Well this or that feature has been pretty much a staple in the Tales Of games since [Name]" because, as I said, I haven't played any of the newer Tales Of games. And I can quite clearly say, the idea that I have to stand in an exact spot to have a Skit pop up and actually watch it seems pretty silly. Not everybody pays attention to that and could miss them easily.

Also, I don't quite get how the battle system works yet... but I have no idea how long the "childhood" portion is or if I get other skills to stack up to.

C-A

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Well I just met Pascal.... and I will now sound like a total yaoi fangirl but I will say this: Tone down the freaking yuri hints, Graces! I mean, first I have a drenched Cheria touching a drenched Sophie and saying "You're all wet" and rubbing her body. Then Sophie does the same to Cheria.
And now Pascal just wants to toooooooooooooooooouchhhhhhhhhhhhhh Sophie.
By god, woman, I tend to touch in my comicstrips, but I know when to back off!

As for the B Artes, I dunno, it still feels a bit clunky that I can't put them easily after the combo of the A-Artes. No, I have to make an A-Arte combo and then DRAW my sword to activate even the possibility of using B-Artes. What the hell, what the hell.



C-A

PS: As for the voice acting... eh, it's pretty decent up to now. I feel like Richard's grown up voice is too deep, but hey. Once I have met all the party members, I guess I'll go check out the Japanese voices and see if they just tried to match them. (I already know Asbel was voiced by Cloud)

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Okay, I want to thank Pascal for giving me the third and last hint I need to fully ship RichardxAsbel now. The first came during the childhood part, where Asbel is all stammering, "I didn't save you for money or a reward. I, I did it because.... never mind..."
The second came recently, with Richard saying how Asbel is "...special. You're one of the only* people I fully trust." And just now, I got a skit between Pascal and Asbel, talking about how Sophie is acting strange around Richard. And according to Pascal, it's because Richard and Asbel are all - and I quote - "mwa mwa mwa hanky-panky all the time".

Thank you, Pascal, I have found a new ship. At least some yaoi to counter the yuri here.

* Also, when will people learn that there IS no such thing as "one of the ONLY"? Only is a singular thing, it means there IS only one, not that there are multiples of only. Why not just translate it as one of the FEW people he fully trusts?

C-A

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To put the emphasis on the awfully really few he trust? Most likely only Asbel and Sophie.

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Huge problem with the game: Bosses are unfairly balanced towards the party.

I may have thought once that Persona 4's first two bosses were unbalanced, and they were, but that is bullshit next to this! What the fuck!? Does the game expect me to have figured out the fine points of the dualizing system and have created giant super power equipment at this point in the game? Fuck the bosses! Especially this Boar in front of my goal. Fuck that thing, just run fucking past it into the building, you morons!

C-A

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I have now found two dungeons that can go fuck themselves, and whoever designed those should be shot in the kneecaps. Bathus Citadel, I used a guide and I STILL got fucking lost in there.

Also I defeated the first Final Boss, if you will. Lambda-possessed-Richard, yes, they FINALLY figured it out. Like, SECONDS BEFORE FIGHTING HIM. Why do RPG Heroes always have to be such DUMB idiots? Also got betrayed by Emeraude which I could tell was gonna happen miles away.

Goddammit, Graces, stop trying to insult my intelligence or stroke my superiority complex!

And after THAT Richard wanted Lambda again, I guess he prefers having Lambda inside of him rather than Asbel, and we get Sophie freaking out and Asbel yelling at her in frustration about not killing herself and they won't give up and their friendly friendship with the friendship pact of the tree of friendship and FRIIEEENDSHHIIIIIP!
Asbel, shut up before I force you into Yuri's outfit and let you die in battle, permanently.

tl;dr: Graces is incredibly predictable and tried too hard to make me care about any fooling it tried to do.

C-A

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Tales of Graces is Final Fantasy VII!!

C-A

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OmG this is just getting worse! Okay, here's a quick run down of what I think of Tales of Graces - ie the "original" version of it, without the future arc. Granted, I could be sounding much harsher right now cause I'm a bit fed up with the game after seeing the ending, but still.

1. As mentioned above, it feels so much like it's basically the Tales Of version of FF VII.

2. The battle system is nifty, but you require a ton of skills + CC to actually see the real fun in it. (I know people may say XIII's battle system was similar, but I say XIII's battle system was fun once you had 3 or 4 ATBs and not a good TWENTY CC you need for some fun enough combos and combo-keep-ups like in Graces)

3. Too little costume selection + bad costumes to select.

4. Too predictable, and I liked Symphonia, which already was pretty predictable. But Graces just goes overboard with "PRETEND THIS IS A PLOT TWIST ALTHOUGH YOU PROBABLY FIGURED THIS OUT TWENTY HOURS AGO WHEN YOU FIRST STARTED PLAYING THIS GAME!"

5. The characters are so BLAND.

6. Pulled the fucking "You should feel sorry for the Bad Guy" plot, although that's in practically every Tales Of I've played. And even back in the 90s, when I first started playing Tales Of Phantasia, I thought it was silly to do there and annoying.

7. FRIENDS! FRIENDSFRIENDSFRIENDSFRIENDSHIP!! Although I guess I can blame the translation for that, I know some lines sound incredibly cheesy or bad when translated, but are overall decent when left in its original language.

8. Dungeon design is annoying, I can't think of a single dungeon in Graces, where I actually had fun going through. It's not like... the Ancient Cistern in Skyward Sword. Or the Aramis Flooded Caverns in Tales of the Abyss.

9. The ending scene takes too freaking long. Goddammit, why couldn't they have ended it about 10 minutes earlier, by just letting Sophie destroy herself and that fucking goddamn Lambda? No. We need Asbel to go into his mind with Lambda and fight him halfnaked talk him to sleep with the friendly friendship and bla bla bla, SHUT UP, ASBEL!

10. That Ending FMV. Okay, OBVIOUSLY it's an adult Sophie. And the kid is obviously Cheria and Asbel's spawn - well, technically it's a spawn of their spawn's spawn. You know what I mean, main thing, it originates from those two. Which brings me to my next point.

What the FUCK!? Ignoring the F Arc I'm currently starting, where the hell did THAT come from? Okay, Cheria's WHOLE PERSONALITY was built around the fact that she has had a crush on Asbel since childhood, big fucking whoop. And seriously, that was, like, her only personality trait worth remembering. You barely even remember she healed people until that scene you have to watch before sleeping before heading to the Ghardia Shaft. But what about Asbel? He had, like, NOTHING in any form for Cheria the entire time. He never paid much attention to her, he never showed a single HINT of ANYTHING of liking her as more than a friend, including a post-battle conversation where he gives the "I see you as a sister" line. And those two have a child? Where the hell did that come from?
I would like to think that Asbel got into a steady, gay relationship with Richard, they had a fight, Asbel got drunk and slept with Cheria and that's how it came to be. That's the only way I can think of it actually making sense.

As for the F Arc.... I think the developers realized that there was, like, nothing to show that AsbelxCheria was possible, so now they Keep. Hitting. Us. With. A. Hammer. "Oh a marriage proposal from Anise Tatlin? (Btw I found that cute) She acts just like Cheria did at that age. Natalie Fletcher is taking care of orphans? Sounds like something Cheria would do."
Hello, player? Do you realize yet that they love each other? No. Okay, here's another HINT with Asbel blushing like crazy around Cheria. I don't know, fellow developers, do you think we're subtle enough? Do you think they may catch on that Cheria and Asbel are now fully in love? No? Yes? Let's just shove more hints, just in case they didn't get it yet.

I swear, that's probably what the F Arc will be about... next to that Vocaloid-esque person I saw and Sophie's EXISTENTIAL THOUGHTS!

C-A

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CR is not your blog. Stop multi-posting and use the thread Pierre linked to (thanks Pierre!)

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