Originally released in Japan on the Wii, Tales of Graces got a western release on the Playstation 3 as Tales of Graces f. It was also the first of three mainline Tales of games the PS3 would get, the other two being Xillia 1 and Xillia 2. Graces f was also the third main series Tales of game to have DLC content after Vesperia and Hearts R. Some free, some paid. Like Vesperia Defitive Edition, Graces f Remastered includes almost all of the DLC content from Graces f in the game for free and you can access it from the beginning. The notable DLC content left out which Namco Bandai announced a few months back were the Code Geass costumes. Renewing the license for that would’ve been costly so it makes sense for them to be left out. More so given Namco Bandai is imfamous for being cheapskates when it comes to the Tales of games.
In a few days’ time, I quickly caught up to where I left off the last time I played the game on the PS3 almost 12 years ago. I actually didn’t get that far into the game. I got as far as Wallbridge Fortress but I never progressed beyond that since other games I later got pulled my attention away from the game for good. I recently got back there, cleared it and now I’m continuing where I left off 12 years ago. Mind you, I also got Freedom Wars Remastered two weeks ago. I am also planning to get Civilization VII but not until June the earliest so I can better focus on my other recent additions. I still need to get back to The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Romacing Saga 2: Revenge of the Seven among others.
Getting back to Graces f. I would definitely advise people new to the Tales of franchise to play Symphonia or Vesperia before you play it if you haven’t either of those games before. Graces f is definitely not a good intro to the franchise mostly because of the unique battle mechanics which can quickly feel frustrating and very restrictive compared to those two games. Abyss (followed Symphonia) introduced unique battle mechanics but they weren’t intentionally made frustratingly restrictive like they are in Graces f. That doesn’t ruin the game outright though. It also makes sense for Graces f Remastered to add a Navigator which is on by default but can be toggled off. In addition to guiding you in main story objectives, you can hold the L button to see a hint of what to do next.
The Navigation Assist feature does not tell you how to solve dungeon puzzles though. You still need to do that on your own. Fortunately, the puzzles in the Tales of games are either straightforward or you’re shown what you need to do to progress. As you go through the game they just take longer to complete is all. This is a longtime feature of RPGs developers utilize to add additional hours to a game. Of the Tales of games I played, Ymir Forest’s 2-screen puzzle in Symphonia remains at the #1 spot due to the fact it takes almost an hour to fully complete per playthrough. You do get Quick Jump to skip those areas but not until after you complete it per each playthrough though.
Tales of the Abyss has been heavily hinted at as being the next Remasted title. The devs did not want to confirm it ahead of Graces f Remaster’s release but we can expect official confirmation on the next Remastered title sooner than later. More so now that the Switch 2 has been officially announced by Nintendo. One game that did get Remastered before Project Remastered was Symphonia two years ago. That version of the game got mostly negative reviews largely because it was nothing more than a port of the PS3 version. Nothing new was added.
I am hopeful Namco Bandai does what Square Enix did with the Pixel Remaster versions of Final Fantasy I-VI and updates Symphonia via patches. For those who might not know, the console versions of FF I-VI Pixel Remaster got a content update after the PC (Steam) and mobile versions (iOS ans Android) were released two years later so they would have the same quality and features. Graces f Remastered added a new feature and unlocked a series staple from the beginning that if used can make your first playthrough a cakewalk. The new feature which I mentioned earlier is the Navigation Assist feature. Outside of a few specific areas, I don’t see it really being necessary in Symphonia since most of the dungeon areas are largely linear. Same with Vesperia, Hearts R and Abyss. It would be helpful in Phantasia and Zesteria for sure though.
The series staple unlocked from the beginning in Graces f? The Grade Shop. In its entirety. Anyone who’s played most of the main series games knows the most important currency in the game isn’t Gald but GRADE. The higher the difficulty level you play on, the more Grade you get per battle. A variety of things factor how much Grade you get after a battle such as how fast you win, how many times a party member is KO’d and if a Mystic Arte is used. Well, things are different in this version of Graces f as you get access to most of the Grade Shop prior to the start of your first playthough. Normally, you would only be able to access it when starting subsequent playthroughs. This time you get full acces to it from the beginning. It’s not outright game breaking as even with the perks from the Grade Shop, you won’t have a cakewalk. Plus character-specific items and certain other things only relevant to subsequent playthroughs are not included in the Grade Shop from the beginning.
In Vesperia, you do not get ANY Grade after battles on Easy. The problem is certain boss battles including the final boss on your first playthrough are hard enough to force you to switch to Easy just to beat them. What this means is you lose out on a few hundred Grade on average as a result. There is the Tidal Wave loop for farming Grade but the lengthy setup that requires specific items and accessories not easily accessible is a problem. The very first time I played through Vesperia, I was almost done with my first plauthrough when I found out online you don’t get any Grade on Easy. I ended up doing parts of the Tidal Wave loop and grinded about 600 Grade before I cleared the game. That way I could at least start my second playthrough with some Grade Shop bonuses.
If Project Remastered does give you partial access to the Grade Shop in future releases, I do hope they enable that for Vesperia and Symphonia without having to or deciding to rerelease those games. Those games are already complete otherwise. Honestly if the item cap in both games was raised for your first playthrough in both games, that would be a huge help. That should be doable with a content update. It certainly helps with Graces f.
As for what the next game to get Remastered will or should be. Signs point to that game being Abyss but I would not be surprised at all if we get a third game after it by the end of this year. Game #3 should be Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology. All three of them. Tales of the World was a mashup spinoff series featuring the cast several main series games like the later mobile games with an original storyline. Tales of the World started on the Game Boy Advance as Tales of the World: Narakiri Dungeon 1, 2, and 3.
If you were a gamer 23 years ago and never heard of this spinoff series, that’s because all but one of the TotW games never left Japan. The only one that did was Radiant Mythology 1 on the PSP. I still have my UMD for that game and my save files for that game are 20 years old but still work. In the aftermath of the mobile games like Tales of the Rays longtime fans now consider the TotW series to be abandoned. This Project Remastered thing may be the one chance for TotW and many main series games like Innocence R, Destiny 2 and so many others to finally get released outside of Japan. Hopefully.
If TotW: RM 1-3 isn’t Remastered then I’d make game #3 Hearts R. It did get a western release on the Vita. It’s one of the few Vita games I kept when I sold my Vita consoles because I knew that I probably would not be able to find a physical copy later on. Unlike earlier and later games, Namco Bandai didn’t localize the voicework so all the audio is in Japanese. The English text was also lazily done as evidenced by Kor Meteor’s Japanese name Shingen being said by the voie actors. Same with Amber (Koharu) and Jade (Hisui). All the protagonists are named for precious stones on that note. The Vita version was also the first one in which Chalcedony is playable similar to Suzu from Phantasia only being playable in the GBA version.
All that said and in closing. I am pretty sure we will get at least 2, maybe 3 games a year. Namco Bandai vowing to release as many past titles as possible on current platforms is why I say that. The Switch 2 being backwards compatible also means the next two games can simply be released on the Switch but games that require a stronger console would be released on the Switch 2. Arise, Berseria and Zesteria will all likely be on the Switch 2 on that note. The older games should run on the Switch just fine though.
It would be cool if they released some of the games bundled or offered some kind of discount/bonus if you owned certain other games. For example if you own Symphonia Remastered you can buy its sequel Dawn of the New World for 50% off digital. Something like that would be cool. Unlikely I’m sure but cool.