WiiOverview
Tales of Graces is the 12th title in Namco Bandai's Tales of series to receive the "mothership" label. It features character designs by Mutsumi Inomata and a new "Style Shift" battle system.
Mechanics
Graces' "Style Shift Linear Motion Battle System" (SS-LMBS) presents 2 styles of combat for the player to use. It also features a new concept dubbed "Around Step" which allows the character to sidestep in a circle around the enemy. This battle system uses the Chain Capacity (CC) gauge introduced in the PS2 remake of Tales of Destiny instead of the Technical Point (TP) gauge, it will be the very first 3D Tales of game to do so. The Free Run system from the previous games also returns, however in Graces it relies on the Chain Capacity a character has available.
Story
Tales of Graces takes place seven years after the protagonist, Asbel Lhant, goes through an ordeal as a child and started training to become a knight. However, instead of becoming a knight, he decides to take over the role of feudal lord of the village of Lhant when his father, Aston, is murdered.
Characters
Along with the protagonist Asbel, playable characters include the amnesiac girl that Asbel has named Sophie, Asbel's childhood friend Cheria Barnes, his younger brother Hubert Ozwell, his instructor Malik Ceasars, a technician named Pascal, and Prince Richard.
Tales of Graces f
An enhanced PlayStation 3 port, Tales of Graces f, was formally announced by Namco Bandai Games Inc. on August 2nd, 2010, during a 15th Anniversary Tales press conference. It was released in Japan on December 2nd, 2010, and was released in the US on March 13th, 2012 and later in Europe.
Changes and additions in this version include:
- Enhanced high-definition graphics.
- New story scenes in the main story.
- A new epilogue entitled Lineage & Legacies, with a new dungeon and a script 3/4 as long as that of the main story.
- Richard is a playable character.
- Accelerate Mode, a new combat feature.
- New Blast Caliber special attacks.
- New costumes.
