Tales of Graces F Remastered Review (Kaito)
After 10 year, the PC version is finally here and it's pretty much everything I've ever wanted from a Remaster/port release.
The game just runs perfectly and the ability to finally run this at 1080p 60fps native is truly amazing, the little QOL additions only really slightly make it better, but overall I truly enjoy just finally being able to play through this game on the PC as is.
Now about the game itself.
Truly it's amazing, Everything I love about the Tales of series at the front and centre.
The combat is just simply amazing, This might be my favorite combat systems of all time next to Tales of Destiny DC. It's smooth and simple and yet has so many ways you can go and reach into it's complexity, Arte chaining is amazing you can loop through everything if it combos and you have so many ways to approach every encounter from just your playstyle alone. Your party members offer a big variety in the ways they can play off what you're doing. It's truly amazing. This is all very common and just plain for a game in the Tales of Series, the combat is always the main focus, but this is truly the next level of enjoyment i seek when i'm playing an action RPG like this.
The style is immaculate, the Artes and Mystic Artes are amazing and Unique and truly great. The art style is just a fun thing to look at visually, even for it's actual release date I like that this is more stylistic and anime-like and not just some version of "This is about as good and realistic we can make it" style which just only ages to me, it's got personality to me which will always stick around and lets me replay this any time in the future without thinking it's dated or old visually.
not just visually, Asbel's Voice Actor, Takahiro Sakurai, did an amazing job at selling me a someone that i'd otherwise pass off as generic RPG character if I was only looking at him from a writing perspective, The way he delivers lines with the emotion and the energy is truly pronominal. I'm really in love with his lines in the more emotional sections his line reads are great and his combat voice lines just deliver so much energy and power to me especially in his Mystic Artes.
Writing wise I gotta say it's quite good.
The characters are very likable and the story is quite enjoyable through the entire thing, nothing really feels forced and it just flows well together. The Skits are funny, the side quests are quite comedic a lot of times, it's got a lot of personality in them and a lot of care in it. The character interactions are very cute and just wholesome a lot of times, and other times just quite cool and enjoyable.
The music is solid, in the classic Tales of style it's a lot of tracks that were remixed and reused and a couple new ones as well, they're pretty good, but I wouldn't say it was amazing or great.
Overall, Absolutely great game. One of my favorites for sure and Easily my third favorite Tales of Game, I am very glad it's finally been ported out of PS3 hell.
and shoutout torinokol