Not many games come out of no where and make a huge impact on me. I usually know of every game I want to buy and play before it is even out. However, this game slipped my radar, and I am so glad I went and looked at PlayStation 3 games a couple weeks back, or I would of missed this gem.

Tales of Graces ƒ is a PlayStation 3 exclusive that was released on March 13th, 2012 in North America. The game is a re-release of the original Tales of Graces game for PlayStation 2. The ƒ stands for “future”. This version of the game comes stuffed with hours and hours of new content, to help close the story off even better, and give fans of the series another reason to get the game. The Tales series is the best well kept secret in gaming. It is a huge phenomenon in Japan, and has a cult following in North America. The first dive I ever had into the series was with the games Tales of Vesperia, for the Xbox 360.  Until this game, I could never get into JRPG’s until this game, and now, I am actively searching for every different game in the series so I can try them all. Okay, I think that’s enough backstory for this review. Let’s dive right into it.

The story of Tales of Graces ƒ is very hard to explain without spoilers, so I will leave it at this. You are part of a royal family, and throughout the course of the game, your life changes drastically. The game takes course over the span of over 7 years. You will see your character grow as people, grow different personalitys, and see how they deal with difficult situations. Character development is one of the greatest things this game has to offer. This makes for a game that you will want to play until the finish, and maybe even play through it multiple times. The leveling does not feel “Grindy” and you can play the game at your own pace. There is also great comedy in this game. I usually do not laugh in video games, however, there were some moments in this game where I found myself actually laughing loudly. Gamers of all ages will love the story and cutscenes. From talking about a females butt, to being degraded in the most intelligent way possible, this brings great humor.

Graphically the game is great. Obviously, as this is a remake of a PlayStation 2 game, it will not show off everything the system is capable of. However, with this being said, the game is far from ugly. The cutscenes are amazing. The Anime style cutscenes that appear occasionally during the game are beautiful. The only visual flaw I see is the lip syncing is a bit off, but that is something I barely notice. During fights, visual flairs are bright, vivid, and make you feel like that ability requires magic.

Battles are done extremely well. If you are expecting turn based combat, think again. The battle system is what I truly enjoy in this genre. You can move around at will, and also you can use whatever abilitys you wish to use, by using the face buttons, and left and right analog sticks. This allows for multiple strategy’s to defeat a boss and monsters. You can not do the same exact battle twice. I find this to be a great thing. You cannot just mash buttons either, you need to learn the weakness of your enemy, and learn to use a certain ability to take them out quicker.

Sound wise, the game is excellent. Most animated RPG’s seem to have that local voice acting, that just seems off. Not the case here. One of the few games I can say I thoroughly enjoyed the english voice acting. Voices fit the characters, and even during emotional scenes, they sound sincere. The music is great and helps set the overall mood. If you are in a dark dungeon, the music reflects this. Not many games make me want to get the soundtrack on my iPhone, but this is one such game.

This game will last you hours and hours. It took me over 25 hours to beat the game my first time, and to get almost everything in the game, it took me well over 60 hours! That’s a dollar a hour of gameplay as of this review. That is a great value.

Overall, this game is hard to not recommend. Great story, gameplay, music, and visuals. Also add this game will last you weeks, and this is a easy buy. This one will be staying on my table for a long time. Don’t believe me? Well, that’s the joy of photography.

See? It’s been there for 2 weeks now, and it will stay there at least another 2 months.

Final Score: 9.5/10