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Tales of Graces |OT| Gracing the PS3 with the Best RPG Combat
- Thread starter kayos90
- Start date
Dedication Through Light
Member
I think I may just do Hard for everything non boss then if I lose against a boss lower then raise it back up.
Though if one truly has to beat bosses in under a minute, I guess I will do that normal or something in the second playthrough.
Impeccable
Member
Unlocked Evil, not making much difference on normal battles and haven't hit a boss yet.
Just about to ...
Pascal already growing on me and I'm starting to work the Mixer more effectively without a guide or anything.
Just about to ...
Breaking into the Wall Fortress and infiltrate from there.
I honestly cannot beat a boss in under 5 minutes. Part of that stems from me not wanting to get hit, so I dodge alot, and part of that also stem from me not wanting to use gels or Life bottles. I'm...weird like that, since I find using them to be a waste.
Plus, even if I ask my team mates to heal, they mostly just stand around not attacking for most of the battle, and occasionly, if I'm lucky, pull out a heal. It's infuriating. Changing up strategies doesn't really even help there.
Edit: I'm also playing on Hard.
The world map boat scenes are really unnecessary, at least from Lhant to Barona. The little transition screens are really funny to me. The boat kind of spins in place, hah!
I haven't hit a real dungeon yet either, I'm kind of disappointed. I'm 7 hours in, taking my time, grinding out enemies for soul orbs before moving on. I already unlocked Evil and have been playing on that difficulty and I'm only in Chapter 1, I guess? Still in and around the beginnings of adulthood.
I really want to see all the potential baby dungeon ideas in this game. The forest outside of the ruined town at the start of this chapter provided one mini wrap-around bolder pushing event. I am always fascinated with dungeons in RPGs, especially in ones where they don't specialize in dungeon creativity.
Still enjoying it for the battle system alone. My god though, between this game and The Last Story what is up with these "cursed" marks on main characters hands lately? Probably just a coincidence on my part for playing the two games simultaneously, but still. Oh, and I'm glad at least that I've seen characters talking about different paths on cliffs already. Totally what I expected from this game so at least they are delivering that angle. In general though, the story is REALLY boring town, lol!
I haven't hit a real dungeon yet either, I'm kind of disappointed. I'm 7 hours in, taking my time, grinding out enemies for soul orbs before moving on. I already unlocked Evil and have been playing on that difficulty and I'm only in Chapter 1, I guess? Still in and around the beginnings of adulthood.
I really want to see all the potential baby dungeon ideas in this game. The forest outside of the ruined town at the start of this chapter provided one mini wrap-around bolder pushing event. I am always fascinated with dungeons in RPGs, especially in ones where they don't specialize in dungeon creativity.
Still enjoying it for the battle system alone. My god though, between this game and The Last Story what is up with these "cursed" marks on main characters hands lately? Probably just a coincidence on my part for playing the two games simultaneously, but still. Oh, and I'm glad at least that I've seen characters talking about different paths on cliffs already. Totally what I expected from this game so at least they are delivering that angle. In general though, the story is REALLY boring town, lol!
ShockingAlberto
Member
I haven't been pausing, but maybe that's the problem?
It just happened a third time.
I don't think that's the problem. I tried several different things to see if I could cause it to freeze up on me, but I can't duplicate your issue. I have no clue why it would be happening. Which model PS3 do you have? Mine is the 320GB Slim, about a year old.
I know my launch 60GB model handled XMB functions while playing a game very poorly. Especially chat and messaging.
The only other thing I can think of is if you're going into the XMB while the game is saving, or if it's loading an area. I've experienced lockups with other games if I did that.
dakkumauji
Member
Just got Pascal and really like how they localized her. And, then she learned the Hipster title and this makes the localization one of the best ever.
Sigh, running into having money problems now, since I want the new equipment and also I want to dualize them as well.
Sigh, running into having money problems now, since I want the new equipment and also I want to dualize them as well.
grandjedi6
Master of the Google Search
I'm actually liking this story so far. Its not so much generic as its just simple/classic. The characters so far are likable and i enjoy how realistically they respond to events at times. I especially like how decisive Asbel is (and how impulsively decisive kid Asbel was lol).
That said, Pascal has just joined up and I'm not liking what I see of her so far. Is she this game's annoying character?
That said, Pascal has just joined up and I'm not liking what I see of her so far. Is she this game's annoying character?
Not at all. I thought so at first, too, but she really grew on me. She can be annoying, but she's not the average, young annoying Tales female. Anise and Colette, for example, have her beat hard in annoyance. Pascal may be hyperactive, but her lines are at least clever, and funny. She's made even better through her interactions with the other characters. Their responses to her are priceless.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
So many questions in the last few pages. I'll assume that they're all answered. 'Sides. I was getting some work done and studying. 
Ultros probably knows how slow I'm going with the English version, lol.
Chaos certainly doesn't fuck around later on, trust me on that one.
Anise really sucks, and it doesn't help that the rest of the Abyss cast save for Tear, Jade and Asshole Luke aren't that great either.
You can always set Cheria to passive (ex: Never attack enemies ever; so she can stay the hell away from everything), and then set her to heal when HP less than 100%).
For Pascal users, you'll get used to her eventually, especially when she levels up. She's really fun to use when you stagger enemies, run up, and then cast something to get stuff done.
Ultros probably knows how slow I'm going with the English version, lol.
Both games are fantastic, imo. I hope you're happy with both of them. A choice between both games is quite difficult for me since I enjoyed both a lot.Well, this thread convinced me to bite the bullet. Hope it's as great as everyone says because this is it for a while <_<
Also, I'm not playing with your heart anymore, Schala
No. Run in the battle, use Asbel/Sophie's CC2 artes (hold up) to try to steal from it and escape from the battle when you have it. You'll still retain it. That's exactly what I did during Chapter 5.
Chaos will essentially force you to either grind titles or dualize equipment. Dualization is a lot better and more convenient.
Chaos certainly doesn't fuck around later on, trust me on that one.
Awesome! I figured they weren't missable. Thanks for figuring that out.
Those two characters aren't my favourites either. A lot of Tales games have that one character whom I really dislike.
Anise really sucks, and it doesn't help that the rest of the Abyss cast save for Tear, Jade and Asshole Luke aren't that great either.
They get Cast Speed Reduction skills from some titles. During Arles Ris... Eleth... Burst? They take a beating while not being staggered.
You can always set Cheria to passive (ex: Never attack enemies ever; so she can stay the hell away from everything), and then set her to heal when HP less than 100%).
For Pascal users, you'll get used to her eventually, especially when she levels up. She's really fun to use when you stagger enemies, run up, and then cast something to get stuff done.
That's the thing about Graces. While it may not have a single character who stands out in a major way (though Pascal may seem like she does, but she definitely works best with others), the entire cast works so well together. Every one of them are very likeable, and that brings the quality of the entire game way up in regards to the cast.
As you said with Abyss, the majority of the cast was pretty sub-par. Jade was the major standout, and a fantastic character, but that doesn't help the rest of the cast.
I loved Tear, so great to see such an awesome female lead. Lagretta was pretty great, too.
Symphonia, well, they were... decent characters. Passable, I'd say. Kratos stood out, sure, but comparing him to other Tales series standouts, he pales in comparison.
Koroviev
Member
I feel the same way. It probably helps that I largely missed out on the PS2 JRPG glut, including the Tales games. I think Joystiq nailed it: Graces is comfort food.
So many questions in the last few pages. I'll assume that they're all answered. 'Sides. I was getting some work done and studying.
Both games are fantastic, imo. I hope you're happy with both of them. A choice between both games is quite difficult for me since I enjoyed both a lot.
Haven't received RH yet, but I'm having a great time with Graces. Meant to work/study before bed last night, ended up playing until 4 AM instead. I was baffled when
Asbel and friends fell off the cliff. It took them quite a while to marvel at the fact that they'd just survived falling from a damn cliff!
Dedication Through Light
Member
The inn requests scenes for some stuff ought to have been voiced seems odd considering every other scene in the game is voiced.
Knux-Future
Banned
Just got this for my birthday...aww yeaaah
Hopefully this takes all of my time like TOS and TOA did.
I need a good rpg, too.
Hopefully this takes all of my time like TOS and TOA did.
I need a good rpg, too.
cpp_is_king
Member
I keep getting those after-combat popups about enemy weak points and stuff like that. For example, how if you hit every single one of an enemy's weak points it becomes staggered. Or if you attack a weak point and then attack another weak point in quick succession it creates a combo. Is any of this stuff worth bothering with? It seems like a lot of effort to figure out what an enemy's weak points are then configure your Arte trees to have the correct combination of artes to take advantage of all of them, and then mess around with timing them correctly if there is no tangible reward.
Just wondering if it's worth bothering with this.
Just wondering if it's worth bothering with this.
RPGCrazied
Member
How do you defeat the robot at the crash site? It always one shots the whole group as it gets close to dying.
In higher difficulty levels it is.
dakkumauji
Member
You have to equip a title that reduces the damage you obtain if it's over a certain amount. I think, but can't remember, Hubert might have one that reduces the damage if it's over 1000 damage, which would allow you to survive the final blast. Haven't gotten that far to actually tell you which title that is though.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
This. It's too bad we don't know the localized names of those titles, otherwise we'd tell you. But they have to be damage-reduction titles once equipped (and preferably mastered). They're the 'stylist' titles or the titles that require you to learn skills before acquiring them. I imagine that they're called fashionista (for the girls; the guy have their share of it too) and that the description reads "awarded to the person who has learned a lot of skills" or something in English.
Hit it until the HP becomes unknown. Set everyone to passive and guard at all times (and you do this too). He'll try to self-destruct. Event should be cleared if you survive.
I had quite an attachment to Kratos when I first finished it. I have a bit of a nostalgic attachment to that game, so I can't dislike it (and it's still a good game in its own right). Abyss, though... mmm... It really is too bad that the cast dragged down that game for me. The character relationships and interactions weren't very good most of the time. My bf and I butt heads over it sometimes because he really likes it but I don't like Abyss as an overall package as much.
Given that the core themes of this game are friendship and protection, I suppose they had to construct a cast good enough to carry the theme throughout. This practice seemed to carry on through to Xillia because I didn't dislike anyone in that game either.
It really is. I started my second playthrough while I was doing the plat for FFXIII (so basically I was finishing the endgame and starting on postgame). Graces was quite a refreshing game to come back to when I wanted to take a break from grinding in FFXIII, so I was happy to have Graces to complement the other game.
And
they survived because JRPG, lol. I had the same thought when I first played it.
@Pascal: I find her greatest point to be the fact that she really livens up the post-fight commentary. "Royal crablettes" may in fact endear Sophie to me and I have Pascal to thank for that.
I'm basically grinding dualize right now to see if that'll help me out with a 60 second kill on
. I'm not exactly hopeful. I really should've done more with it but I got most my equipment to +3 or so and was smug satisfied with that. Damn. Shouldn't have been so lazy! Could've been to +20 or something!
Seriously though, middle Chapter 3 Chaos? 9000 HP + 2x 8000 HP lackeys. Next boss? 35k HP. Well played, game. Well played.
I'm so relieved since I had completely forgotten about it (sort of) and went on my way grinding when it was convenient and hunting down all the Carta spawns from the shinies. Oh man, that would've been awful lol.
Asbel's is Paragon, Sophie and Cheria have Fashionista, Pascal's is Hipster, andI either don't have Malik's or it's going to be the Time Spender line Malik's is Duke; all of these list the damage reduction stuff. Of those, though, only Asbel's Paragon is a huge damage reduction (Over 1500 / 1200 for the two I have); the rest seem to be anti-stagger mechanisms.
Edit: That's at ~40+ Titles for everyone (60+ for Asbel) with all at 5*. I'll update when I get Hubert to see what his is called and some approximation for the skill count.
I'm basically grinding dualize right now to see if that'll help me out with a 60 second kill on
Richard
Seriously though, middle Chapter 3 Chaos? 9000 HP + 2x 8000 HP lackeys. Next boss? 35k HP. Well played, game. Well played.
Awesome! I figured they weren't missable. Thanks for figuring that out.
I'm so relieved since I had completely forgotten about it (sort of) and went on my way grinding when it was convenient and hunting down all the Carta spawns from the shinies. Oh man, that would've been awful lol.
Asbel's is Paragon, Sophie and Cheria have Fashionista, Pascal's is Hipster, and
Edit: That's at ~40+ Titles for everyone (60+ for Asbel) with all at 5*. I'll update when I get Hubert to see what his is called and some approximation for the skill count.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
People'll get used to Pascal towards the end. Her dialogue generally spiced up a lot of stuff.
That boss is really hard to finish off on Chaos at that point if you haven't been dualizing. Especially since you've just learned of
dispelling the Dark Aura prior to attacking him and then you have to dodge his attacks
I loved how the enemies respawned so much in the middle of Chapter 3 Chaos. That's when I realized that they were pretty much bullet sponges, but dualizing better equipment and using appropriate skills to get rid of them faster helps out a lot.
Amazing.
The final damage reduction title for Asbel will reduce damage over 1000 HP. Cheria and Sophie's damage reduction title was called Gorgeous Dresser, which reduced damage over 800. Hubert's was originally called "Baron". Malik's final damage reduction title is called Gorgeous Duke, which reduces damage over 1000. Pascal's... well, her final title reduced damage over 1000 (I'd love to see the localized title for that).
You usually learn them at 30 - 150 - 350 skills.
Speaking of the localization, I like the names for some of the trophies in the English version. Some of them are better and more creative than the original JP list.
I was playing for three hours and realized that sound wasn't coming from my rear or center speakers when playing. Curious, I wanted to make sure that my PS3 or speakers weren't borked. They weren't. It was just Namco being Namco and not bothering to make a 5.1 channel mix (Tales of Vesperia had a surround sound option at least). Game is still a blast to play though.
I actually didn't notice anything like that. I had to Dark Bottle to force any respawns in
the Castle
Then again, I've apparently 5*'d all my titles. Just Gald/battle grinding to dualize stuff. Didn't notice the cost on that until just recently. 40k to nothing so fast. Though, I may have been shop rank grinding too.
Good to know they finally bump up, though. The first two in their lines are pretty useless (to me); 90% reduction on sub-30 (60 Mastered) Damage and Staggerproof on sub-20 (40 Mastered) damage. Thanks, I guess? In the event I'm ever fighting Childhood arc enemies again, I suppose :| Oh Chaos difficulty and your trash enemies hitting for hundreds.
Though, Asbel's came in handy to make him not die to Mystic Artes catching him.
Flame Lord
Member
What's with the damage indicators in this game? I'll do an attack on someone and it says that they took 1000 points worth of damage, but when I check their health they clearly lost less than that. What's the deal?
That's the total damage you've done during a combo or whatever (I think...). The damage your attacks do shows up still but it's very brief. The total number stays up longer and I think has a bigger font size.
Flame Lord
Member
Hold L1 during a combo.
Synless
Member
That easy? Nice! Thanks!
Seven Force
Banned
I believe you have to talk to someone on Grelsyde Road to get her Lv. 1.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
I unlocked Chaos by then, so the respawn rate seemed to be bumped up from Evil at that point. It was better to grind battles there than other places because the SP bonuses there are much better than the ones from other places at that point in the game.I actually didn't notice anything like that. I had to Dark Bottle to force any respawns in. But it was such a great grinding spot ... I kind of wish I was back there again ...the Castle
Then again, I've apparently 5*'d all my titles. Just Gald/battle grinding to dualize stuff. Didn't notice the cost on that until just recently. 40k to nothing so fast. Though, I may have been shop rank grinding too.
Good to know they finally bump up, though. The first two in their lines are pretty useless (to me); 90% reduction on sub-30 (60 Mastered) Damage and Staggerproof on sub-20 (40 Mastered) damage. Thanks, I guess? In the event I'm ever fighting Childhood arc enemies again, I suppose :| Oh Chaos difficulty and your trash enemies hitting for hundreds.
Though, Asbel's came in handy to make him not die to Mystic Artes catching him.
During Arles Break, I generally backstepped away from enemies to get away from them if I knew they had a Blast Caliber to kill certain characters. But when you get used to using other characters, it isn't so bad since you can just instaswitch with the D-pad and use them instead.
There's a demo up on JPSN, but Namco hasn't said a thing about an NA demo. The thing about the JP demo is that... well... much of the stuff that is in that demo happens during postgame (ex: Accel Mode, etc), so they can't easily localize that and put it out there for people.
Did you go out the western exit in Grelside (or whatever they're calling it in English)?
You'll be on a road and will encounter bandits, and Pascal will get her first Blast Caliber
I don't think I've upgraded my armor once and this just obliterated me. Do I need to go back and buy some stuff to beat this boss because it's hard as anything.
Leave Grelsyde by the West exit (and/or Eastern Lhant Road and take the southern exit); the
Bandit in the middle of the path needs to be spoken to three times and then you'll get Pascal's first Mystic Arte after the fight
600+ SP! So much SP! It was so good.
Generally, that's what I did but I guess
Cedric's
I saw mentioned that there was a glitch with inheriting titles and book data in the Japanese release of Graces F. Anyone know what specific glitch they're talking about, and if it was fixed for the English release?
I'm coming up on the end of the game, and I was debating about inheriting titles for my second play but I don't want to do that if it makes me miss out on stuff I might have missed my first time through.
I'm coming up on the end of the game, and I was debating about inheriting titles for my second play but I don't want to do that if it makes me miss out on stuff I might have missed my first time through.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
iirc, that was in the Wii version, I think? A lot of the Wii version's bugs got fixed in the PS3 version except the dualization duplication sell/gain money like crazy glitch. That duplication glitch has been fixed in the English version.
The bug you're referring to is
if you get the Anmarcia Key (i dunno what they named those guys in English) on your first playthrough and carry over the book data, you can't get it on your second playthrough and you can't get into the Ruins Buried Under the Sand dungeon, and get all the sweet stuff from there + get the Eiyuu no Tsue/fight the cameo battle. If you carry over the Book data without stamp data, you miss a skit, and you aren't able to see how many stamps you got in shops. The titles... umm, I think it was completing the carta card minigame on Hard difficulty will net you a skit and a title, and the carta card subquest being marked as clear. If you already have the title thanks to carrying it over, then none of this will happen, so you can't view that one skit or complete the subquest in that playthrough.
And so easy to rack up bonuses and get new titles too since the enemies take a lot of hits! I love that dungeon a lot.
I usually let Asbel die/get hit if I knew something was coming or I let Sophie/Hubert run into the enemy to get attacked instead. If the character I'm controlling gets hit, I just switch to Cheria or someone who's further away before the BC hits the controlled character.
darkressurection
Banned
Quick question, how many chapters are in the game? Just trying to get a sense of how far in I am.
Dark Schala
Eloquent Princess
Including the Future Arc,
====9====
darkressurection
Banned
Ahh, so I am about a third through. Thanks!
Loving this game so far, so many cool systems to dig into and I am actually really liking the story and setting.
So any nifty combinations for Shards? Or is it basically just Rise/Exceed and Reinforce (+Min/Max CC and +CC Recovery Speed)?
Yeah, I quite liked the way it wrapped up there. Ironically, what I expected to happen to cause the
. Couldn't have been more wrong if I tried, lol.
Yeah, I quite liked the way it wrapped up there. Ironically, what I expected to happen to cause the
separation of all parties involved is actually what brings them back together :x
ShockingAlberto
Member
Mine's 80GB non-BC.
I haven't noticed a pattern with it but I know better than to hit the home screen when it's saving. Though loading might be a different issue.
Do the music and sound all stop for you when you hit the PS Button? They do for me and I thought it was odd but not exceptionally so.