Tales of Graces f Remastered heralds the return of the 10th mainline or “mothership” Tales of title to modern platforms. Originally released all the way back in 2009 as an exclusive title for the Nintendo Wii in Japan, Graces eventually saw release in other territories, with the release of Tales of Graces f on the PlayStation 3 in 2012.
Tales of Graces f Remastered, then, is a port of a 15-year-old game, which, thankfully, due to its distinct art direction by the late Mutsumi Inomata, still looks and plays great today. In fact, Tales of Graces f Remastered is still my favourite combat system out of any Tales of titles.
Like other popular Tales games, Tales of Graces f Remastered features an anime-inspired narrative that places the player into a world divided by war through the lens of a child and his friends who, despite the passage of time, preserve and see things through after disaster strikes and splinters their sense of tranquility.
“Tales of Graces f Remastered is still my favourite combat system out of any Tales of titles.”
Truth be told, some of the story beats in Tales of Graces f Remastered may come off as sappy or melodramatic by 2025 standards, but if you’re a fan of classic JRPGs or Tales of, in general, the game is more than worth sticking with. Easily the best part of Tales of Graces f Remastered, however, is its combat and item synthesis systems.
Tales of Graces f Remastered features frenetic and fast-paced 3D arena-style battles, which is nothing new for the series. But the balancing act between your artes, or powerful offensive and defensive moves, a quick filling chain capacity, or CC gauge (in favour of MP) and roughly 100 titles for each of the seven playable characters to earn, which unlock new moves and abilities, on top of slick animations and combos, makes playing Tales of Graces f Remastered a joy.
Outside of combat, Tales of Graces f Remastered features a fairly in-depth item and weapon synthesis system known as dualizing on top of item generation through the use of the Eleth Mixer. Essentially, early on in the game, the player is given access to the Eleth Mixer, which allows the player to feed it items, which have a certain percentage of spawning as you play the game, with rarer or more potent items having a lower spawn rate.
Combined with the dualizing system, which allows item fusion, cooking and weapon synthesis, there is a lot to do in Tales of Graces f Remastered for those looking to sink their teeth into the game. New for the remastered release, Tales of Graces f now gives immediate access to the Grade Shop, which was originally reserved for new games and playthroughs.
“…there is a lot to do in Tales of Graces f Remastered for those looking to sink their teeth into the game.”
The Grade Shop allows players to modify how the game behaves, granting powerful boons such as experience and damage modifiers, something trophy hunters should appreciate, as it makes getting some of the time-sensitive battles done in a single playthrough.
Other new additions include the ability to skip cutscenes, better-defined objective markers, including one for time-sensitive quests, the ability to retry non-boss encounters without losing progress, a toggle to run, and newly translated skits, among other minor QoL improvements that help polish the remastered release.
Graphically, Tales of Graces f Remastered is largely the same as its initial HD re-release on the PlayStation 3. Still, on PlayStation 5, there is a nice resolution bump to 4k, making the game look ultra-crisp despite its clearly Wii-era graphics being on display. The title also runs at a solid 60fps, both in combat and in the overworld, which is an upgrade from the PS3 release, which only ran at 60fps during battles.
Bonus content such as DLC is also included in the remaster, making Tales of Graces f Remastered the definitive version of the classic JRPG. Finally, the main game is roughly 50 hours long.
Still, for completionists, this can easily be doubled thanks to engaging side content, such as the Warrior’s Roost battle tower, a laundry list of Inn requests, the Zhonecage bonus dungeon, the Trials of Graces battle arena, and, of course, the Lineage and Legacies epilogue episode.
Ultimately, if you’ve never experienced the original, Tales of Graces f Remastered is a must-play for Tales of or JRPG enthusiasts looking for a rewarding and fun game with a solid battle system.
