Tales of Graces F

Some of these usage titles are unrealistically high. Even the ones that master at ~250 are way too high considering how slowly they cast.

Wii version had 100 for Adept and 1000 for Master for any non-casting Arte (i.e. every Assault Arte for every character). They're still pretty stupidly high for Asbel, but any spell caster's is reasonable in my opinion.

Does anyone like playing as Richard? Because I spent the first area playing as him and I just can't stand it.

I always felt he's super squishy. I really like Fiery Beast and Rising Phoenix, which you probably wouldn't get in the first part since they're at like lv30 or something, but Hurricane Thrust/Lightning Blade (i.e. the same thing) could have been a bit more creative. Every spell that isn't Vengeant Fangs is a bit slow. Shooting Stars is amazing though (for special effects, damage and usefulness is questionable).

Like what?

Well, it was mostly technical issues and the final dungeon/ending.
The game was semi-rushed in order to meet the deadline Namco Bandai had set down, since this game was to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Tales series.

There were a lot of reused graphics and models. Jude had a bunch of terrible artes in my opinion. I didn't have any technical issues in the game at all. The very end was a bit rushed, but I enjoyed the ending quite a bit. The final boss fight is pretty good. The bonus dungeon is a bit rehashed of Vesperia's, but the boss there is haaaaaaaaaard. The story is really good in my opinion, and it has good twists in it. Much more mature than Vesperia or Graces (hurr). The world seemed small, and the world map has a lot of dead space on it, but if you consider how expansive each area is, and it's the first time you have an adjustable camera in a full 3D environment, it's acceptable. There's almost no costumes in the game too (1 per char, 2 for Jude & Milla), they're all DLC.

Artes in that game didn't have the same unique feel as others, but I guess that was a direct result of Link Artes. You really have to use them a lot. The Link Gauge charges faaaast, especially when you get higher levels. It had a really cool battle system that sets a good precedent in terms of AI, but I enjoyed Graces' combat and systems a lot more.

The game is more like Vesperia than Graces, even though both team Symphonia and Destiny worked on it from what I recall. I very much prefer Xillia over Vesperia, except the PS3 EX Dungeon in Vesperia was really cool, and I was hoping they would reuse that model for one in Xillia. ='[

I enjoyed Tales of Hearts, but when you really break it down, Shing has 4 artes you get in like the first 20% of the game that he can spam to victory, and using anything else is actually a detriment because of the increased delays. It'd be like Demon Fang, Lightning Strike, Shockwave Slash, and Frost Breaker being the only artes you could use because every other higher tier one cost too much CC and had too much recovery time that you were guaranteed to be hit if you used them because the distances in the game were so small, and the ranges were for a melee character.

Sister and I just finished the main story at 40 hours. Future Arc begins tomorrow!

Just solo'd Veigue on Chaos at level 74. pomegranate was REAL.

[MENTION=535]JoeTang[/MENTION] do you know where the second drill is? I found one in Fourier's room and gave it to the girl up in the mountain but I need another one for a request at Zavhert's Inn.

Just solo'd Veigue on Chaos at level 74. pomegranate was REAL.

[MENTION=535]JoeTang[/MENTION] do you know where the second drill is? I found one in Fourier's room and gave it to the girl up in the mountain but I need another one for a request at Zavhert's Inn.

How the hell did you live through Celsius Calibur? When I attempted him (on Hard) on my regular arc, he hit the entire team with it and we all died. It was bad times. I guess you had mad stats from mastering so many titles?

How do I get Sophie and Mecha-Sophie to salute at the end of Pascal's 4th BC? Does Pascal still have to build Mecha-Sophie at some point?

How the hell did you live through Celsius Calibur? When I attempted him (on Hard) on my regular arc, he hit the entire team with it and we all died. It was bad times. I guess you had mad stats from mastering so many titles?

I am constantly guarding, and yes I have over 100 titles mastered per character so that probably helps a lot too. I'm really good at dodging so he doesn't get a chance to hit me often. During his Eleth burst I keep my distance so he can't use his big moves.

Oh and I use Asbel.

Edit: God damn Cheria's Indignation is the worst spell in the game. WHY IS IT SO SLOW

edit: Finally mastered that pomegranate. 200 USES. SO MUCH BUTTON MASHING

Edit: God damn Cheria's Indignation is the worst spell in the game. WHY IS IT SO SLOW

When hasn't Indignation ever been slow in a "Tales of" game?

Oh and I use Asbel.

Ah yeah, I was gonna ask that next. I'm near the end of the future arc, and I finally resumed playing Asbel after playing Hubert for the last 30 hours or so. Feels weird. Hubert is so much better at crowds, especially now that I have his jump-in-the-air-and-rain-lightning arte. Oh, and Hubert's Excel Mode is the tops. Trying to chain together B-artes with Asbel feels kinda clunky. What are your B-artes of choice?

Just solo'd Veigue on Chaos at level 74. pomegranate was REAL.

[MENTION=535]JoeTang[/MENTION] do you know where the second drill is? I found one in Fourier's room and gave it to the girl up in the mountain but I need another one for a request at Zavhert's Inn.

The second one is in Bathus Citadel at the end I believe. You get it from a subevent, and you get Malik's title for Blazing Hearts.

How the hell did you live through Celsius Calibur? When I attempted him (on Hard) on my regular arc, he hit the entire team with it and we all died. It was bad times. I guess you had mad stats from mastering so many titles?

How do I get Sophie and Mecha-Sophie to salute at the end of Pascal's 4th BC? Does Pascal still have to build Mecha-Sophie at some point?

At the humanoid research facility, there's a side-quest to build Mecha-Sophie. Takes forever. I think you can still get the arte from some other titles, but I think this event is required for the victory pose. Not too familiar with the requirements for these to happen though.

I am constantly guarding, and yes I have over 100 titles mastered per character so that probably helps a lot too. I'm really good at dodging so he doesn't get a chance to hit me often. During his Eleth burst I keep my distance so he can't use his big moves.

Oh and I use Asbel.

Edit: God damn Cheria's Indignation is the worst spell in the game. WHY IS IT SO SLOW

edit: Finally mastered that pomegranate. 200 USES. SO MUCH BUTTON MASHING

The problem with Celsius Caliber is that he doesn't actually need to hit you to use it. He can just immediately activate it from anywhere on the field at any time during his Eleth Break and you just have to be lucky that he doesn't use it if you don't have enough HP or have a title to lower the damage/food to resurrect you/hope that skill that leaves you with some HP instead of dying kicks in. The solo is incredibly easy after you get Incineration Wave. Gale Maw and Demon Fang otherwise.

Sophie's Shotstaff Blast and Dagger Splash.
Hubert's Flare Shot and Scarlet Salvo.
Cheria's Frozen Rain.
Pascal's Pyrogenic Ring/Enflame + long range assault.
Malik, I'm not sure. Never actually soloed this fight with Malik, but I'd imagine Photon Burst and other 2 CC spells are important.

When hasn't Indignation ever been slow in a "Tales of" game?

Xillia. Hearts. You know, games where they didn't exist.

Indignation is a fine spell though. It has crazy critical rate, like Celestial Eight. Divine Saber is better for most uses, but sometimes you just need the damage.

Also, I always disliked Virtuous Radiance. Monsters moving would cause it to miss easily, if they were small, it couldn't get its full hits, and it pushed things to the back. Feels really good to use it on a Dragon though.

[video=youtube;md8sbSjCaNM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=md8sbSjCaNM[/video]
lol'd hard when I saw this.

Ah yeah, I was gonna ask that next. I'm near the end of the future arc, and I finally resumed playing Asbel after playing Hubert for the last 30 hours or so. Feels weird. Hubert is so much better at crowds, especially now that I have his jump-in-the-air-and-rain-lightning arte. Oh, and Hubert's Excel Mode is the tops. Trying to chain together B-artes with Asbel feels kinda clunky. What are your B-artes of choice?

I really only use B-Artes for master titles, so I don't have any "choice ones." I just spam a-artes in serious battles.

Holy pomegranate Amber is crazy. Just beat her and got her card (yaaaaaay) but man that was nuts.

edit: Yeah Joe I ended up getting it a few minutes after asking, lol.

lol'd hard when I saw this.

[video=youtube;zpvfCtjyta4]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpvfCtjyta4[/video]

victoly quotes

The "traveled back in time" one is my favorite. Had me rolling when I first heard it.

EDIT: Woah, just tried one out -- what's up with the imitator titles? Like... lets say Hubert is imitating Asbel. When I use artes, does Asbel's skill usage go up? Does he gain titles? Whose stats do I use? And what about bonuses to skills? This is really weird.

The "traveled back in time" one is my favorite. Had me rolling when I first heard it.

EDIT: Woah, just tried one out -- what's up with the imitator titles? Like... lets say Hubert is imitating Asbel. When I use artes, does Asbel's skill usage go up? Does he gain titles? Whose stats do I use? And what about bonuses to skills? This is really weird.

The character that's being imitated will get any counts towards them i.e. artes counts, kills, items gained, power hits, combos. I'm not sure if they get the bonuses from skills (could probably check by seeing if Asbel's altered artes work as a different character), but they maintain the bonuses and stats they have from their base character. i.e. Pascal should keep her Shield bonus if she imitates another spell caster, Cheria would keep her Share bonus if she imitates Sophie.

Go play 4 Cherias vs one monster with A-Heavy and turn off everything except Frozen Rain. It's amazing to be in constant time freeze and get 100+ combos.

I thought you guys would have found this pretty soon into the Future Arc. It's also the only way to play as Richard outside of the Future Arc.

PSN update is up. Everyone's school costume is there. Then a bunch of random other crap. No free stuff this week.

More stuff! Yay!

Silly people on lolFAQs were assuming no DLC this week.

So why hasn't anyone explained about these imitation titles yet.

So why hasn't anyone explained about these imitation titles yet.

 Spoiler

You know those monster items you get in the future arc? And how you can't Dualize them with anything but each other? And how they make little dolls of all the characters? Well, go to the B1 of Telos Astue and talk to the kid on the left (next to the girl that sold you titles in the regular arc). He asks you who you want to give a transformation title to. Basically, you use one doll to give one title to one character that gives you a "costume" of any other character. If you put on the costume, you actually *are* that character, artes and all. Once you get enough dolls, you can imitate any character with any character. I'm not sure if you can access this kid outside of the future arc.

 Spoiler

You know those monster items you get in the future arc? And how you can't Dualize them with anything but each other? And how they make little dolls of all the characters? Well, go to the B1 of Telos Astue and talk to the kid on the left (next to the girl that sold you titles in the regular arc). He asks you who you want to give a transformation title to. Basically, you use one doll to give one title to one character that gives you a "costume" of any other character. If you put on the costume, you actually *are* that character, artes and all. Once you get enough dolls, you can imitate any character with any character.

Ah damnit, I was wondering what those were for. I made them all and thought there for that sick little girl but she had disappeared in the future arc.