Tales Of Graces F Remastered Review: A Timeless JRPG Masterpiece Reimagined (2025)

I’ve been pretty nervous about the state of the Tales of series in recent years. Following the success of Tales of Arise, there wasn’t much capitalization — a story expansion came and went, Tales of the Rays shut down, and Tales of Symphonia received a mismanaged remaster. Plus, the vast majority of the franchise remains locked on older hardware.

The 30th Anniversary Tales of Series Remastered Project

So, the announcement of the Tales of Series 30th Anniversary Remastered Project, a plan to revive older titles in the franchise to make them playable on modern platforms, excited me to no end. And the debut of this project has arrived in the form of Tales of Graces f Remastered. Initially a Wii-exclusive in Japan in 2009, an enhanced PlayStation 3 port was made, which has now made its way to modern platforms. I grew up with Tales of Graces f in my early teenage years, and I’ve been thrilled to rediscover its charm as being one of the best entries in the franchise.

Story and Characters: The Journey of Asbel Lhant

Tales of Graces f Remastered follows protagonist Asbel Lhant, first in his childhood and then during his young adult years. Following a tragedy in his boyhood days that caused him to flee his home and undergo training to become a knight, seven years pass, and his relationships with his childhood friend Cheria and brother Hubert have been marred. And a peculiar darkness surrounding his ally and ruler, Richard, impacts the world drastically, initiating a journey to find oneself and discover previously veiled truths.

The first half of Tales of Graces is primarily spent on Asbel aiming to mend the scars the years have wrought and finding his place in the world. There’s an inevitable loneliness and isolation depicted here that works remarkably well, illustrating how you can’t evade the passage of time. As a result, Asbel‘s plight is approached splendidly and realistically, making him one of the best protagonists in the series. Further, the rest of the cast is also handled strongly, with each party member having their own set of conflicts that puts them at odds with previous convictions, memories, or beliefs. It’s rare for the entire playable cast in a Tales game to be home runs in the writing department, but Graces reaches those lofty heights.

A Remarkably Written Cast and Skits

Tales of Graces has, without exaggeration, one of the best groups of main characters in the franchise, especially as a collective. This boon is accentuated by skits, an omnipresent facet present throughout the rest of the Tales of games that provides character banter about various topics, from main story developments to tangentially related topics. The humor of these conversations is usually on point, making them always worthwhile to seek out. And, despite being nearly 15 years old, the English voice direction has aged well, with plenty of personality shining through each line delivery, at least in the core cast.

The Tales of series tends to have a hit-and-miss relationship with its narratives, but I don’t necessarily find that to be the case here. Despite the character relationships and skits definitely taking centerstage, the plot consistently has tense stakes and well-integrated objectives that don’t simply fade into the background for hours on end. While the number of major locations is minuscule, every new region has plenty of significant developments that contribute to the party’s overall goals.

The two major strengths that complement the progression of Tales of Graces are the childhood prologue and the extensive epilogue, Lineage and Legacies. The former is a multi-hour vehicle that does a stellar job of setting the stage, both with most of the cast and the basics of combat. Similarly, the Lineage and Legacies campaign is lengthy in its own right, except it grants excellent closure to several relationships and residual story threads.

A Masterful Action RPG Experience

What also helps matters is that Tales of Graces f Remastered is a masterful action RPG experience, arguably being near the cream of the crop for the franchise at large. To elaborate, every character has two types of special attacks during combat: A-Artes and B-Artes; the meaning of these divisions depends on the character. For example, Asbel‘s A-Artes keep his sword sheathed, while B-Artes use his blade actively. These maneuvers all require the numeric Chain Capacity (CC) gauge that refills over time and through general actions, such as dodging attacks at opportune times.

Even when considering the CC gauge, each encounter is fast-paced, with even the mages requiring decently executed reflexes to optimize casting speed. Plus, the full 360-degree movement, which is not always a constant in this franchise, adds layers to the battles, allowing you to direct enemies’ AI behavior to your advantage. Besides boss fights, typical encounters can last less than a minute, and the rapid loading times ensure the pacing is kept afloat.

It’s rare for me to enjoy playing as all of the characters in a Tales of game, but Graces is one of the few where that manages to be the case. Admittedly, I mostly avoid playing as the central healer, Cheria, due to the pressure that role embodies. Still, the variety in everyone’s toolkits clicks intuitively, making everyone easy to pick up and understand on a conceptual level. Yet, the challenge in the Evil and Chaos difficulties, alongside individual character quirks, make the title a time-consuming one to master. Additionally, the presence of Arte shortcuts with the joysticks and the option to alter each party member’s AI strategies make your approaches relatively simple to personalize.

Dualizing: Crafting, Cooking, and More

My love for the gameplay extends to the in-depth customization, too, spread out across multiple avenues. For instance, Dualizing is this entry’s crafting system, comprised of combining two items to form a better one, with countless intricacies embedded in their outputs. Weapons and armor can be improved constantly, bolstered by droppable enemy shards that enhance select attributes. It’s an addictive practice that lets many possible builds flourish.

Entirely new equipment can be made through Dualizing, and the system also doubles how cooking functions. If that isn’t enough, you can Dualize materials into sellable items to make substantial financial profits. Simply put, Dualizing is everything, especially when playing on higher difficulties, and it works out because of how easy it is to grasp the foundations. Then, dedicated players can spend hours farming and practicing Dualizing to get the most out of their materials; it complements all manner of players.

Embracing Multiple Playstyles with the Eleth Mixer

Another standout mechanic in Tales of Graces is the Eleth Mixer, a malleable function that can embrace several playstyles. The Mixer has slots that can be inputted with practically anything; items can be slotted in to be duplicated at certain percentages, dishes can be made at no ingredient cost, and special books can be utilized to induce special effects, like enhancing movement speed or combat stats. Further, the Eleth Mixer‘s slots and numeric capacity grow the more you use it, always incentivizing its applications. When coupled with Dualizing, Tales of Graces f has countless layers to explore for in-depth player individuality.

Titles, Exploration, and Puzzles

The sense of growth throughout Tales of Graces f is exemplary, with yet another system that excels its strengths being Titles, essentially character labels acquired through combat, sidequests, and other activities. This Tales of staple is particularly integral in this entry because each Title contains five learnable traits. These bonuses can grant increased stats, new costumes, or even Artes altogether, making them a passive area of continuous improvement.

Regarding exploration, Graces is comprised of several linear field screens and many dungeons full of puzzles. These environments, typical of older Tales of titles, require genuine thought and contrast my major shortcoming with Tales of Arise in its overtly mindless linearity. Thankfully, the destination icons are not cure-alls for these scenarios, and they up in complexity in the late hours.

Modern Optimizations and QOL Features

Tales of Graces f Remastered has various optimizations and new features for modern crowds, such as destination icons for the main story and a dash to save time when on foot. There are also now subtitles for post-battle dialogue, which I greatly appreciate so as not to miss these typically humorous exchanges. However, a few areas have been neglected and feel somewhat archaic.

Notably, Graces has a strange design decision where some skits and optional events can only be reached via non-transparent backtracking. The usual execution of this process is how several skits can only be seen by traveling back to a previous save point or specific location. Because of this design, you can easily miss dozens of skits and even a handful of side events. Making matters mildly worse is that you don’t unlock the capability to freely fast travel anywhere you like until the late stages of the narrative, making accomplishing side tasks leading up to that duration somewhat of a chore. On the other hand, backtracking across fields and dungeons is mandatory in a handful of instances. Still, it’s usually relatively harmless and never long-lasting enough to feel like an impediment.

Like most Tales of games, Graces is packed to the brim with sidequests, and the rewards are usually well worth your while since they have a tendency to impart brand-new Titles. These optional endeavors grow in scale, too, thanks to a coliseum and a post-game dungeon known as the Zhonecage, which demands the best of the best in terms of combat and customization. There’s New Game Plus, too, so there’s no shortage of content here, doubly so for achievement seekers who need to beat story bosses in under a minute.

Added Bonuses and Performance on Modern Platforms

From the beginning, Tales of Graces f Remastered includes a variety of redeemable bonuses in the pause menu that I highly advise avoiding since they offer far too many boons. A welcome add-on, though, is the selection of newly dubbed English skits not in the previous Western release on PlayStation 3. The voices behind the playable cast reunited for these skits, sans Laura Bailey as Cheria, whose role was supplied by Alexis Tipton. Still, she does a marvelous job of emulating Laura Bailey’s time as Cheria, fitting in well with the rest of the performances in a way that is nowhere near as jarring as the Yuri Lowell situation with Troy Baker and Grant George in Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition.

On PlayStation 5, Tales of Graces f Remastered runs flawlessly, with no perceptible issues I could detect. I sincerely hope the Switch version runs well so as not to repeat what happened with Tales of Symphonia.

Final Thoughts: A Must-Play JRPG

The original Tales of Graces was already a must-play action RPG and Tales of Graces f Remastered has reaffirmed my love for it as one of my favorite games of all time tenfold. Between masterful gameplay systems rooted in skillful play and meaningful character growth to a heartfelt core story with a remarkably written cast, this is one of the best-aged RPGs from the previous decade. Sprinkle in some new touch-ups to aid progression, and you have brilliance now available on more platforms than ever.

Regardless of your history with the Tales of series, Tales of Graces f Remastered is something special; if you consider yourself a fan of JRPGs, this is an undeniable must-play and a wonderful way to begin the new year.

Tales of Graces f Remastered (PS5)

9.5Must-Play

Tales of Graces f Remastered delivers an exemplary action RPG experience, blending heartfelt storytelling, a masterfully crafted combat system, and deep customization mechanics. With its timeless characters, meaningful progression, and modernized quality-of-life updates, this is a must-play for fans of the Tales of series and JRPG enthusiasts alike.

The Good
  1. Heartfelt Story and Characters: The narrative is emotionally resonant, featuring one of the best-written casts in the franchise with strong character development and relationships.
  2. Exceptional Combat System: The A-Artes and B-Artes mechanics paired with the Chain Capacity gauge offer fast-paced, skillful battles that remain engaging throughout.
  3. Deep Customization Options: Systems like Dualizing and the Eleth Mixer provide countless layers of player individuality and strategic depth.
  4. Strong Prologue and Epilogue: The childhood prologue and Lineage and Legacies campaign offer a well-rounded experience with meaningful closure and rich storytelling.
The Bad
  1. Backtracking: Some skits and events are locked behind non-transparent backtracking, which can be tedious without a clear fast travel system early on.
    Tales Of Graces F Remastered Review: A Timeless JRPG Masterpiece Reimagined (2025)

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