Tales of Graces is one of those games that has a bit of a long history – and a notable one because its original Wii version never made it to overseas audiences, and a later PlayStation 3 port was localized two years after its original launch in Japan.
While Bandai Namco has made a commendable effort since then, what with getting out the more recent Tales of Arise worldwide on multiple platforms, there’s still a lot of room for those older games to come back around and reach a newer audience.
That’s where Tales of Graces f Remastered comes in. Nearly 13 years after its release on PS3 in the West, a new redux is making its way to modern platforms in a big way as a remaster that isn’t just a basic port. With that in mind, I was keen to check out just how well Tales of Graces f holds up – not just from its original state as a Tales of series game, but how it’s been adapted to contemporary sensibilities.

Tales of Graces f is framed by a straightforward story that delves into the life of Asbel Lhant, a young man who values his friends and their protection following the events of a tragedy during his childhood.
Graces f wastes no time introducing Asbel, his brother Hubert, a prince named Richard, and a mysterious girl named Sophie – the latter of whom seemingly sacrifices herself in the opening hours and pushes Asbel to leave home and train to be a knight.
All of this culminates in a seven-year time skip that sees Asbel properly trained, but returns to his homeland following yet more tragedy. There are plenty of political motivations to be had, and although Asbel eventually reunites with Richard, things aren’t as righteous as they seem.
While the story in Graces f starts slow, it does ease into itself as it goes along. A lot of the characters and beats are somewhat cliché – such as Asbel himself and his quest to protect his loved ones, however, the mystery behind the antagonist and other characters, as well as dealing with the theme of loss remain strong throughout.

The usual Tales of series skits and side quests are here too, and do well enough to show more of the characters and their growing relationships with each other.
Where Tales of Graces f really shines, however, is with its battle system and gameplay elements. While Asbel and friends spend a lot of time running around a 3D world map, the actual battles take place on a transition screen and play out with up to four characters at once.
Graces f makes use of what is known as Chain Capacity or CC, and it sets up the number of actions that can be performed before needing to recharge. Asbel can be directly controlled, or left to the game’s AI like the other party members – although they can be given set strategy parameters such as focusing on attacking, defending, or somewhere in-between.
The depth of the battle system comes down to skill systems – Assault Artes, or combos, and Burst Artes that can be swapped around to preferred control styles. Additionally, an element, known as the Eleth Gauge, fills up during combat and gives Asbel a sort of “powered up” state for a limited time where he can use unlimited CC to deal out some big damage. Of course, the enemy can use theirs too so it's a matter of being careful.

All of this is very intuitive and offers up a fun, but often challenging bit of gameplay. I was especially surprised by the boss battles – many of which require critical thinking and can’t be button mashed to death. It makes up a bit for the sometimes flat dungeon and map design, which is clearly stretching the limitations of the original hardware it was created for.
This is further wrapped up and amplified by a number of quality-of-life features introduced for Tales of Graces f’s remaster. From the jump, the series’ famed Grade Shop is available, which lets players customize their experience similar to features found in a typical New Game+ run.
This is handy because it allows for things like increased speed on the field, bonus experience, and more for those who may have played Graces f in the past, or just want a more comfortable time playing the game on the whole.
The development team has also added a map locator, so it’s easy to see where to go next in addition to tapping a button to check the current objectives. There’s also an autosave feature, the ability to turn off encounters, and other accessibility features such as in-combat subtitles that bring Graces f Remastered up to modern sensibilities.

It wouldn’t be a remaster without some improvements in visual quality, and Graces f has that in spades. The visual fidelity and color grading have been cleaned up, offering a brighter, cleaner image than the PS3 version had. Menus, text, and animated cutscenes also look sharper, and everything ran at a solid clip during my play time on PlayStation 5 Pro.
Tales of Graces f Remaster is ultimately a solid effort to bring the game to modern platforms. The addition of quality-of-life updates, along with cleaned-up visuals, breathe some life into what is truly one of the most enjoyable combat systems in the series.
While the story and characters might be a bit too on the nose and not for everyone, the themes of the narrative have plenty of impact on their own and make Tales of Graces f a worthy adventure.
TechRaptor reviewed Tales of Graces f Remastered on PlayStation 5 with a code provided by the publisher over roughly 42 hours of gameplay - all screenshots were taken during the course of review.
Review Summary
Pros
- One of the best battle systems in the series
- Clean, colorful visuals
- Customization options and modern accessibility
Cons
- The story and characters are maybe a little too cliche at times
- Uninspired dungeons and flat location design