Tales of Graces F

[Kevadu]

Is the voice acting for this game as bad as it seems in all the trailers?  Honestly I'm starting to think I should have just imported it...

[ZeronHitaro]

I'd rate it B+ material. Not some of the industry's best voices but considering Pascal's a 'genki girl' with an English VA that actually sounds like a normal human being; that should speak for itself.

[Cyril]

Is the voice acting for this game as bad as it seems in all the trailers?  Honestly I'm starting to think I should have just imported it...

Kate Higgins (Pascal) did a brilliant job for the role she was given. She really gives life to the character, despite some of the obnoxious lines.  I don't like the character or her writing, but I can fully admit Higgins did beautifully with her. Cheria is played by Laura Bailey, and Laura is always good.

Asbel took me a while to become used to and he's nowhere near Troy Baker (Yuri) level.  Richard's actor is weak at first, but comes off better later in the story after a few events.

On an amusing note, some of the generic guards are played by Wes Johnson (Imperial Male from Morrowind/Oblivion/Skyrim). I was laughing hard; he's a great actor, but I couldn't stop hearing "Stop right there, Criminal Scum!"

[Dice]

I think he voice actors all did a damn good job.  A shame the script they're given is ...pretty bland.

I'd say Sophie sounds bad... but ... well.  Can't help a character.

[Akanbe-]

Anyone else playing it on moderate?  I've toggled between the two and the biggest change I notice is enemies hit harder forcing you to block much more and damage is a bit lower (bit could be an understatement - I'm still early in).  Kinda gives more meaning to dashing, but I'm not sure which I will keep it at.

[ZeronHitaro]

I've been running it middle ground difficulty as well. If I like it enough for another go I'll probably crank it up to max.

[Klyde Chroma]

Anyone else playing it on moderate?  I've toggled between the two and the biggest change I notice is enemies hit harder forcing you to block much more and damage is a bit lower (bit could be an understatement - I'm still early in).  Kinda gives more meaning to dashing, but I'm not sure which I will keep it at.

I've been playing on hard since the start and tried switching to easier difficulties just to try it out.... I honestly think the battles are waaaay more fun on the harder difficulties because it forces you to really utilize all aspects of the battle system. If I decrease the difficulty I can totally get away with mindless button mashing.... Keep me sidestepping, blocking, and counter attacking and well.... you keep me engaged :)

As for the voice acting... I think its very well done.... I wouldn't call it stellar.... but it hasn't curled my toes and made me long for non-english and subs at all yet.

To be honest, my only gripe about this game at all so far is that the camera is fixed when I feel like I should be able to rotate it.... save that petty little complaint, I am truly adoring this.

[ZeronHitaro]

A feeling I had about this game from the get go was finally proved undeniably true today. The 'T' rating is hurting the narrative badly.

This story is all but visibly bulging through the restraint cracks the 'T' places on it. The scene in question which pretty much solidified this in my mind is

Code:

the retaking of Wallbridge Fortress where Richard goes loco
and carves a minion up after an obviously evil resurrection.

This story wants to be dark, it wants to be gritty, but because it's T rated,
a JRPG, and originally for the Wii you can pretty much count the stitches covering the neutering surgery.

Also on the subject of the same scene; my suspension of disbelief, which seems to be higher than most on average around here
is buckling. 'He was bleeding like crazy just a moment ago!' Umm...his clothes aren't even ripped...even PS1 era T-rated games
can show blood and battle damage. Lazy with the character modeling much? It's another thing that hurts the narrative.

[Dice]

A feeling I had about this game from the get go was finally proved undeniably true today. The 'T' rating is hurting the narrative badly.

This story is all but visibly bulging through the restraint cracks the 'T' places on it. The scene in question which pretty much solidified this in my mind is

Code:

the retaking of Wallbridge Fortress where Richard goes loco
and carves a minion up after an obviously evil resurrection.

This story wants to be dark, it wants to be gritty, but because it's T rated,
a JRPG, and originally for the Wii you can pretty much count the stitches covering the neutering surgery.

Also on the subject of the same scene; my suspension of disbelief, which seems to be higher than most on average around here
is buckling. 'He was bleeding like crazy just a moment ago!' Umm...his clothes aren't even ripped...even PS1 era T-rated games
can show blood and battle damage. Lazy with the character modeling much? It's another thing that hurts the narrative.

Dude, it's never been done well....  Obviously, would it kill them to try?

My bigger complaint, since I already expect that out of them in Graces, if why the fuck are the anime sequences so shoddy looking?  Budget reeeaallly must have taken a hit there, the frame rate and consistency is awful, the skit faces look pretty bad too.  I'm glad Bamco went to UFO Table. x(

[Cyril]

A feeling I had about this game from the get go was finally proved undeniably true today. The 'T' rating is hurting the narrative badly.

This story is all but visibly bulging through the restraint cracks the 'T' places on it. The scene in question which pretty much solidified this in my mind is

snip

It's less the T rating, but CERO's rating system.  CERO is not nearly as lenient on certain regards (blood, violence) as the ESRB is, just a small bit of blood can make the rating go higher.  It's cultural, as expected.  Tales usually gets pretty low CERO ratings so they have the wider audience. Bamco likely wanted to avoid it.

Absolutely agreed about that scene in particular though, it really hurt the impact and made it almost comical.  Even just a splash or a few droplets would have fixed it.

And yes, the anime is absolutely horrible.  I'm amazed that with the Tales of budget they can't afford better quality.  Even Gust games have better animation.  Ar tonelico 2's looks lovely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2rTviWliuQ

[mjrpgfan]

Some quick impressions. The combat system is very well designed, nice combo system, responsive, fluid, etc. In fact it's probably better than the upcoming Ninja Gaiden 3 and DmC.. it's a shame to see those formerly great action games turn casual. So hats off to the Destiny dev team for making a decent action combat engine in an RPG, even if it's got the AI co-op I don't like.

[Dice]

And yes, the anime is absolutely horrible.  I'm amazed that with the Tales of budget they can't afford better quality.  Even Gust games have better animation.  Ar tonelico 2's looks lovely.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u2rTviWliuQ

Xillia's is 1000x better at least, actually.

[Lucca]

The lack of blood or grittiness may hurt the game's narrative, but Pascal making Yaoi jokes at Asbel's and Richard's expense never gets old...because it's so TRUE.

Hell, I expected to hate Pascal the genki girl, but I kind of adore her. What is wrong with me?


EDIT: Actually, in terms of the anime, could it be because the game was originally for the wii?

[Bytor]

Lucca, absolutely nothing! Pascal cracks me up too!

[AuraChannelerChris]

Give Pascal a Sophie doll and watch what happens.