Video Game / Tales of Graces

aka: Tales Of Graces F

I wish that two hearts could be one.

Tales of Graces is the twelfth mainline entry in the Tales Series. The game was released on December 10th, 2009 on the Nintendo Wii.

The fantasy world of Ephinea is driven by a magical power called Eleth, which can be crystallised and stored in a substance called Cryas. The largest of these Cryas are called Valkines, around which three great nations have been established: the arctic stratocracy of Fendel, the desert republic of Strahta, and the blossoming kingdom of Windor. For generations, the three countries have struggled over the limited supply of Cryas in the world, with their prosperity directly tied to the amount of Eleth they control.

Asbel Lhant is the eldest son of the Lhant family, a prestigious feudal line who control the "Lhant" region of Windor. He used to be a normal kid who spent his days playing around and going on reckless adventures with his friends; that was, until the day one of his friends committed a Heroic Sacrifice to save his life. This tragedy awoke within Asbel the desire to gain enough power to protect everyone around him, including all of the citizens in his future protectorate.

With this goal in mind he leaves home, joining the military and training to become a dedicated and respected knight. However, on the cusp of graduation he receives some devastating news: his father, Lord Aston, has died. Giving up on his dream and quitting the military, Asbel returns home after seven years to take his father's place as the ruler of Lhant. However, he finds not only a heavier burden of responsibility than he ever imagined, but that the past friendships he held so dear have shattered in his absence.

The game received an Updated Re Release on the PlayStation 3, Tales of Graces f, released December 2nd, 2010 in Japan, March 13th, 2012 in North America, and August 31st, 2012 in Europe. The game includes the usual array of upgrades like new skits, scenes, abilities and Mystic Artes. By far the biggest addition is an epilogue story called "Lineage and Legacies", which adds Richard as a fully-playable character. The party also gains an Overlimit-like ability called "Accelerate Mode," which grants unique powers to each character and gives them access to a powerful Finishing Move.

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This game provided examples of:

• Abandoned Laboratory: Humanoid Research Laboratory, and Eleth Research Laboratory in the Lineage and Legacies arc.
• Advanced Tech 2000: The devices in the Zhonecage that generate random effects are named in this style, as Random Effect Generator 3000.
• Aerith and Bob: There are Richard, Kurt and Hubert, then there are Malik^note Arabic, but not implausible, Pascal^note French and Sophie^note which may be slightly Aerith-y, as it's short for 'Sopheria', and then there are Asbel and Cheria.
• After the End: The world of Fodra has been desolate for at least 1000 years at the time of the game.
• Alas, Poor Villain: While Lambda falls into the sympathetic villain category, ƒ has a much more straight example of this trope when you defeat the True Final Boss. Eventually, the Fodra Queen is reduced to just one Little Queen, who fires weak blasts at Sophie, still trying to fulfill her duty even knowing she is defeated.
• Allergic to Love: Invoked by the "Guyabulous" quality. In Graces ƒ, any character wearing a piece of equipment with this quality who takes a hit from a female enemy is instantly petrified. This is a step up from the original version, where such an attack was an instant kill.
• All Your Powers Combined: Blue Earth, a secret Mystic Arte you can use against the final boss of Lineage and Legacies. Hint: check your Tales of Eternia FAQ.
• And Then What?: Occurs right before the final boss fight in the main storyline. Big Bad Lambda is ranting about how humans are evil, and how he's going to kill all of them. Asbel promptly turns this into an Armor-Piercing Question by asking "Okay, then what? If you kill every human, you'll be totally alone, and you and everything in the entire world will die a slow and painful death. Is that really what you want?" Lambda is silent for a Beat, then throws a tantrum and begins the final boss battle proper. After the fight's over, Asbel shows Lambda another way by allowing Lambda to see the world through Asbel's eyes in an effort to convince him that Humans Are Special.
• Argument of Contradictions: Pascal and Hubert have one when he tells her that just because her sister's mad at her doesn't mean that she's to blame, and she thinks that he's consoling her, but he insists that he's not. The skit is titled "Am Not, Are Too."
• Armor-Piercing Question: Just before the final battle, Lambda threatens to Kill All Humans because Humans Are Bastards. Asbel asks him a simple question: "And Then What?" It's clear that Lambda Didn't Think This Through, because he has no other response but calm panic.
• Artificial Brilliance: People have reported this where certain bosses go right for Cheria or Sophie during fights.
• Artificial Stupidity: AI allies don't seem to understand spellcasting, and will rarely use combos to set up their spells and reduce the cast time. They also will not revive characters if anyone alive has any damage, and are generally terrible at dodging while they're casting, even though it shouldn't hinder them.
• As You Know: Invokes the trope name in the Eleth Mixer tutorial.
• Awesome Moment of Crowning: Richard is crowned king after he kills his uncle.
• Babies Ever After: Asbel and Cheria's, specifically. Sophie, who is an existence that will outlive all of her friends, tells Cheria that she doesn't mind this and her dream is to live and enjoy life alongside Asbel and Cheria's descendants for posterity.
• Back from the Dead: It seems that Sophie does this at the beginning of the adult arc. In reality, she just distributed her particles to Asbel, Cheria and Hubert, and then reassembled herself later. It's also implied that Hubert and Cheria were either dead or very nearly dead after Lambda's attack, and that Sophie's particle dispersion brought them both back from the brink of death. Additionally it's all but stated that Richard died and revived twice during his Uncle's attempt to ursurp the throne, first through a lethal dose of poisoning and then later from being stabbed at Wallbridge, only surviving due to Lambda residing in his body.
• Background Music Override: In some battles, the battle theme will continue to play even at the victory screen. In other important battles, instead of the victory fanfare at the victory screen, the music will simply go silent.
• Beach Episode: The Beach Resort town, available only by entering coordinates in the shuttle.
• Beauty, Brains, and Brawn: Team Mom Cheria for Beauty, Ditzy Genius Pascal for Brains and Pintsized Powerhouse Sophie for Brawn.
• Beef Gate: The Uncharted Sandstretch. It's right nearby Oul Raye and the game does give you some warnings, but only if you talk to other characters, and they could be a lot stronger. Basically, going into a battle here when it first becomes available is a guaranteed Game Over. Even at around Level 60 in a New Game Plus, if playing on Chaos Mode, you will lose, though playing around Moderate difficulty can be good to do some level-grinding.
• Bloodless Carnage: Richard's Berserk Button gets pushed early in the game by a Mook, and he proceeds to throw him on the table and slash him about nineteen times or so. He then calmly walks away leaving the poor guy on the table... with no sign of injury. After Richard is fatally wounded, Pascal comments about how much (non-existent) blood there was from the wound.
• Body Surf: Lambda survived multiple attempts by Protos Heis to kill him by jumping to new human hosts.

• Brick Joke: If Malik uses Eternal Serenade to finish off Lambda, he will say that it will be the last time he uses it. Use it again in Graces ƒ's Lineage and Legacies, and Sophie will call him out on it.
  • An earlier occurrence of this is that Asbel swore revenge on a door within a secret passage he couldn't open as a child; cue the seven-year time skip, and sure enough, he opens it with ease after recalling his childhood. He even lampshades on the fact that he wondered if it was always this easy.
• Bring My Brown Pants: During the skit "Sticky Situation", Asbel scares both Hubert and Cheria by pretending that there's something scary behind them. Hubert gets knocked to the ground and it's revealed that he actually wet his pants in fear.

• The Cameo:
  • Veigue, Amber, and Reala appear as bonus bosses.
  • Three in-game costumes are based on Vesperia's character outfits — Asbel gets Yuri, Sophie gets Patty, and Cheria gets Rita.
  • Asbel also gets a Haseo costume, which counts as a Casting Gag, both being voiced by Takahiro Sakurai in Japanese.
  • DLC adds more Tales Series outfits: Leon for Asbel; Anise and Natalia for Sophie and Cheria, respectively; Harold for Pascal; Flynn and Raven for Hubert and Malik, respectively; and Zelos for Richard. There are also DLC costumes from Code Geass, The Idolmaster and Vocaloid, but those have sadly been restricted to Japan.
  • You can see the drums from Taiko no Tatsujin in the Katz' Korner.
  • Examining a bunch of blonde plushies with pointy hats in Katz Korner will make your characters remark that the girl they're modeled after must be a painter. They look exactly like Beryl.
• Comically Missing the Point: In the "Lineage and Legacies" segment, Hubert, who has been perpetually incapable of confessing his feelings for Pascal, finally gathers his courage and confesses to her that, "My every waking thought is consumed by you" when she asks why he's not getting married to the President of Strahta's daughter. Pascal assumes that's because he thought she wouldn't take a bath before the ceremony.

• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: In the Magic Carta minigame, the computer's cursor can suddenly move with near-instant speed and perfect accuracy, whereas you are limited by a much slower cursor. The difficulty levels merely change how long it takes before the CPU player 'decides' on his card; on the 'Hard' difficulty, the computer's reflexes are raised to inhuman levels and success becomes a Luck-Based Mission.
• Contractual Boss Immunity:
  • Averted with the final boss in Lineage and Legacies, whom you can petrify. Of course, it doesn't last forever — the boss is still damn hard.
  • Though it is a very small chance, the Rockgagong can be instantly killed by an arte with the "Chance of One-Hit Kill" property.
• Cosplay:
  • Cheria can get a costume based on one of South Korean pop artist BoA's stage outfits.
  • Sophie can also receive a Hatsune Miku costume.
  • The girls can also receive stage outfits from The Idolmaster, another Bandai Namco Entertainment Cash-Cow Franchise.

• Curtains Match the Window: Common with the most outlandish hair colours, such as Hubert's blue and Sophie's violet.
• Cute Bruiser: Hubert, Richard and to a lesser extent Asbel, as kids. They might be small, but they can hold their own against various monsters, and a royal knight. Also, Sophie throughout the game.

• Cynicism Catalyst: Sophie's death breaks Asbel's overconfidence and shatters his naive worldview for the seven year time skip.
• Dead All Along: Lara, the sickly girl in Zavhert whom Sophie befriends and bonds with by using plushies.
• Death Is a Sad Thing:
  • A sidequest involving Lara.
  • Mentioned when Sophie sees nothing wrong about sacrificing herself to stop Lambda. Asbel stops her by explaining this trope and insisting on another option. This thinking becomes part of Sophie's character arc in Lineage and Legacies.
• Death Is a Slap on the Wrist: In the Zhonecage, one boss explains that "death has no hold" there, as in total defeat doesn't result in a Game Over. Instead, you just lose the item you gambled in exchange for entering the floor. Later floors require items with a value of up to 200,000 Gald. This trope is also invoked in boss battles (albeit mandatory ones), since the Game Over screen allows you to just retry (with access to the menu to adjust party setup, among other things) without losing progress.
• Declaration of Protection: This game's main theme, to be more precisely Sophie's vow to protect Asbel and her other friends.
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise here.
• Difficult, but Awesome: To many people, Pascal's playstyle can seem inside-out; all but her first assault artes are ranged attacks, and all but two of her burst artes are melee ranged, despite being spells she needs to take time to set up. Then you realize Pascal has the best overall stat spread in the game, with two of her stats, Cryas Attack and Defense, being the absolute best in the party, and that her spells being melee range actually makes them amazing if you can master the combo system to cut down on casting time.
• Does This Remind You of Anything?: In a skit, Pascal wants to touch Sophie. In exchange, she will let Sophie touch whatever part of her body that she wants.
• Downloadable Content: As with Vesperia's PS3 port, new costumes are available via download.
• Driven to Madness: There is a Rockgagong related sidequest upon completion, you learn from the scientist researching it that the Rockgagong is growing more feral and violent simply due to old age and brain deterioration. Due to this, he realized that there would come a time when the Rockgagong would eventually become a huge threat to Strata.
• Dynamic Loading: The game loads battles before you actually get into them, so the transition between the overworld/dungeon and a battle is usually less than half a second. This is most noticeable when enemies respawn when using a Dark Bottle. Though the enemies respawn on the map almost instantly, you can't actually fight them until they're completely filled in.
• Easy-Mode Mockery: Playing through the game on Easy lets you progress through the story as normal, but you won't earn any bonus experience for your levels or your titles. There's also no trophy for completing the game on Easy.
• Eek, a Mouse!!: Cheria is freaked out when Sophie finds a mouse in Mecha-Asbel.
• Everybody Lives: The ending. All of the main characters live, as does the Big Bad (who makes a Heel–Face Turn.
• Evil Is Not a Toy: Emeraude absorbs Lambda in order to try and control his power...and does a merry jig on his Berserk Button. This results in Lambda rejecting her body, causing her to explode from inside out.

• Excuse Plot: The Bonus Dungeon. It doesn't even try to take itself seriously.
• Expy:
  • Asbel shares the dark brown hair, white clothing, chivalrous attitude and Takahiro Sakurai's voice with Suzaku Kururugi of Code Geass.
  • His younger brother Hubert is voiced by Takahiro Mizushima, who also voiced Rolo Lamperogue from the same anime. And like Rolo, Hubert also has a complex for his older brother.
  • The parallels don't stop there. Richard is very flamboyant, has heterochromia, is a prince and has a friendship with Asbel with some homoerotic elements, making him the Lelouch to Asbel's Suzaku. It seems Namco sees the resemblance, and gave us all DLC costumes for it: Asbel as Suzaku, Richard as Zero, Cheria as Kallen, and Sophie as C.C.
  • Richard's One-Winged Angel form looks an awful lot like Ulquiorra's second Resureccion form. Both are voiced by Daisuke Namikawa.

• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": The Amarcian Overseer, who is only called Overseer by those who refer to her. She does however have a name, Gauss, which is only used as the requester for an inn request and as the password to a locked chest, which is revealed from hints found around the Amarcian Enclave.
• Face Palm: Cheria double facepalms after her attempt at seducing Asbel at the Beach Resort fails.
• Fake Difficulty: The fight with the Rockgagong. Not only is he one of the toughest Optional Bosses since the Spiral Draco, but the fight disables Mystic Artes and comes with a twenty-minute time limit.
• Fantastic Flora: The Sopheria flower, which Sophie is named after. When it blooms, its seeds glow a bright pink and rise into the air spontaneously.
• Fantasy Counterpart Culture: Fendel is a pretty obvious analogy for Soviet Russia. It's got constant snow, a dearth of natural resources and widespread poverty, and what looks like a sort of steampunk-industrialized capital. There's also at least one active revolutionary group. The Chancellor even appears to wear one of those stereotypical furry hats.
• Fire, Water, Wind: The three types of eleth present on Ephinea, concentrated in the three valkines. Gloandi, the wind valkines located in Windor, Duplemar, the water valkines located in Strahta, and Forbrannir, the fire valkines located in Fendel.
• Flat "What": One of the post-battle skits has this.
  Asbel: Sometimes, I can't help but regret the past.
  Cheria: Asbel...
  Asbel: Why didn't I push hard for a raise in my allowance?!
  Cheria and Hubert: What.
• Forced Transformation: In Graces ƒ, there's an NPC who gives Titles away that allow any playable character to transform into any of the other six, allowing for teams of four Sophies, Cherias, etc., provided you have created the Figures for each character (six of each doll so every character can get the title.) This is the main way of playing as Richard outside Lineage and Legacies. Apparently the developers thought of that too, and give you one of his doll for free in said arc's final dungeon.
• Foreshadowing:
  • When you first see Richard in the adult arc, notice several instances of heterochromia. You can also spot instances where Lambda takes control or drives him over the edge, especially during his infamous slashing rampage - his eye is glowing.
  • During one of the last skits of the childhood arc, Hubert mentions that he won't always be around to correct Asbel. What happens later? He's sent off to Strahta.
  • If you go to the second floor of the inn in Gralesyde, you'll find a map. Look at it with Malik, and he'll note that none of Fendel's towns are on it.
  • Just before you fly back to Ephinea for the final battle against Richard and Emeraude, talk to the humanoid on the far left in the docking bay. one of the things it says is "Emer....Cornell.....rking together...."
• Funny Background Event: The party just finished searching around Bathus Citadel, only to realize that they can't find the material they need. They have a serious discussion about what to do next and — hey, whats Pascal doing running around in the background?
• Game-Breaking Bug: The original version basically implodes on itself on repeat playthroughs. As a result, it was recalled.
• Gameplay and Story Integration: Richard's win quotes can be really creepy and bloodthirsty, but only after he's been in the party for a while in the adult arc. It's because Lambda is gradually exerting more influence on him. Richard sounds pretty sane until Wallbridge - usually his win quotes change around his infamous slashing scene.
  • The AI seems to prefer prioritising the player controlled characters first, while sending the flunkies to harass Cheria or Sophie... which often means that Malik, when left under CPU control, can stay back. This is averted for one boss fight - who seems to just have it out for Malik. Because Kurt is Malik's own rival turned enemy.
  • There are a few skits that trigger related to the picking up certain items on the field, where the party then comments upon them.
• Gameplay and Story Segregation: If when playing the Tales of Graces f port, you give a gem to Marian to polish, beat the game, and then start Lineage and Legacies, she'll still be polishing it six months later.
  • The end-battle quotes tend to be set with the sole requirement of you having the right combination of characters, not caring where you are in the story. Causing characters to act differently towards each other than they do in the plot, or in some instances, knowing things they shouldn't. Pascal for example, can acknowledge that Richard is royalty before getting to the point in the story she would find out (where she seems genuinely surprised).
• Gang Up on the Human: Enemies seem to go after your controlled character more than anyone else.
• Genre Blindness: Why the party doesn't quickly realize that Richard was being possessed. Even if Richard was kinda helping Lambda of his own accord.
• Ghost City: Telos Astue. An appropriate name, since "telos" means "end" in Greek.
• Ghost Planet: Fitting that the Ghost City is on a Ghost Planet: Fodra is dead. No questions asked. Sophie even makes it a point in an optional skit that Emeraude was the last being of intelligence on Fodra, and even then, she was just a humanoid uploaded with Emeraude's memories and personality. Even taking into account the Little Queens, the fact Fodra has one small bit of nature left on the entire planet with living creatures that aren't, for all intents and purposes, zombies, and the fact the core is somewhat running, the planet has been torn asunder by war, then ground into a fine, orange, dusty paste by Lambda's monsters, and, as if the planet hadn't suffered enough, was purged of all humans by the Little Queen. Essentially, Fodra has been through three apocalypses; no wonder Cornell and Emeraude were willing to risk it all to save the planet.
• Ghibli Hills: Windor as well as the Arcadia Forest undoubtly have a storybook-idylic feel to them.

• Guide Dang It!: Try finding some of those titles/sidequests without a guide.
  • To get Sophie's Lv.3 Mystic Arte, you have to give a bunch of plushies to an ill girl in Fendel. However, you have to Dualize three of them using "Cashable" ingredients, items that the game explicitly tells you that you can sell for a nice sum.
  • Good luck finding all the skits; many of them are in places one would never think to go back to, or in random locations you would otherwise never visit again once you get halfway through the final dungeon. Still others are only available by entering an area and then returning to an area that you were just at.
    • Did you forget to sleep at an inn? Yes? Too bad!
• Hates Baths: Fourier thinks this is true of Pascal, but Pascal claims that it's just that A.) She gets caught up in her work and B.) There never seems to be enough hot water around when she needs it. She later claims though that she fantasizes about stopping time, because she could stop time then she would never get any dirtier and she would never have to take a bath.
• Heir Club for Men: The Lhant lordship, which leaves Lhant in a tough spot when Aston dies and Asbel is absent.
• Heroes Prefer Swords: Everyone you know is using guns, gun-sticks, sword-gun-sticks, gloves, glove-guns, magic, magic swords, boomerang swords... but you just have to be the purist, don't you, Asbel?

• Hopeless Boss Fight: The first time you fight Hubert, it is impossible to win because he has to prove his superiority to Asbel. Proof of Hubert's "loss" turning into a win.
• Idea Bulb: Pascal gets one in Lineage and Legacies in the Eleth Research Laboratory following the boss fight when the party realizes something is wrong with Fodra's core and she's asked if she has any ideas.
• Improbable Weapon User: Malik, who use a boomerang-sword; Pascal, who uses a rifle-pole hybrid; Hubert, who uses a twin-blade which can separate into a pair of handguns.
• Item Crafting: With the dualize system, the player is able to craft numerous types of items, from different types of foods to valuable items and even crystals to create unique weapons and armor.

• Jerkass: Asbel's father Aston is an massive dick to him pretty much every time they're ever on screen together, though considering he dies early on, that's not long. He also has a dose of Smug Snake and Professional Butt-Kisser thrown in.
• Jerkass Has a Point: That said, Asbel is a complete brat as a kid and never does what his father says, so his frustration is rather understandable.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: At one point, you pass through a very poor town in Fendel. The houses are in terrible shape and you see two children (one of whom is sick) picking up cryas shards outside in the cold. The party feels bad for them and Sophie gives them some cryas shards. Then you can rummage through their cupboards and steal their food.
• Late-Arrival Spoiler: Collecting all the Magic Carta will spoil at least two minor plot points from Tales of Symphonia: Kratos is a Death Seeker and Presea's father will die.

• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: A few of the victory quotes lean dangerously close:
  • If you take off Malik's armour, the captain will ask Asbel why he did it at the end of the fight. Asbel swears it wasn't his own decision, but can't explain it.
  • Pascal wonders why there are always enemies around, and she suggests they wouldn't keep coming if someone wasn't profitting from them.
  • Not a victory quote, but in the "lineage and legacies arc", dolls can be crafted that allow any party member to turn into another party member for battle purposes if their corresponding doll is equipped. Due to Richard being a Guest-Star Party Member, his doll is highly desirable so he can 'participate in battle' even if he's personally not in the party. In one skit, Richard mentions that in-universe, his kingdom has started producing dolls that look like him.
• Legendary Weapon: The game has the sword of Asbel's father, Aston, which was a legendary eleth sword. When Asbel was in training as a knight, he sold the old, rusted sword for cheap to a traveling merchant called a "Turtlez" (one of many in the game), not realizing its history or potential. Much later in the game, the player can buy it back for hefty premium and take it to the Amarcian Enclave and it turns out to be the extremely powerful Excalibur.
• Lighter and Softer: Compared to most titles in the Tales series, it could possibly be the most family friendly game. It doesn't have much Fanservice (there's one Beach Episode, but no Hot Springs Episode) and carries an overall light hearted tone.

• Lopsided Dichotomy: Sophie is either an acrobat from the circus, or an assassin.
• Loved I Not Honor More: Asbel and Cheria develop this relationship. The former has a duty to his hometown, the latter wants to do humanitarian work around the world. Both of them want to be together, and are willing to wait despite the separation.
• Male Gaze: During one subevent in Lineage and Legacies, Malik and Victoria end up in their swimsuits. Victoria's suit is a very skimpy bikini, and the camera spends quite a bit of time focused on it.
• Mark of the Supernatural: See Foreshadowing. Those with Lambda inside their body will have heterochromia. It's pretty obvious with Asbel in the Lineage to the Future arc, but during Richard, you have to look rather closely.
• Maybe Ever After: Hubert and Pascal. He manages to confess to her, but she doesn't get it. Their final conversation, however, has her calling him Hu instead of Little Bro like she used to.
• A Minor Kidroduction: The first couple hours focuses on the cast as kids, before the Time Skip to the main part of the story. It is shown in one brief scene in the opening demo. New Game Plus gives you the option to skip it.
• Mood Whiplash: The entire game — and the prologue alone is a good start — is littered with moments of severe solemnity immediately followed with some silliness. One notable example is towards the end of the game where you're trying to retrieve something to save a failing humanoid whose only wish is to continue living. You're too late and she dies. Then when you try to exit, you're greeted with a skit where Pascal has Sophie use her powers to snap Cheria's bra strap. Yeah, it's that game.
• Mythology Gag: Shares a page with the rest of the franchise here.
• Named After Somebody Famous: The Amarcians are all named after famous scientists and mathematicians — names such as (Blaise) Pascal, (Siméon Denis) Poisson, (Joseph) Fourier, (Pierre de) Fermat, (Carl Friedrich) Gauss, and so on. Also, Fermat's husband is named after astronomer Carl Sagan.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero:
  • If you kill the Optional Boss, Lambda will become stronger.
  • Aston had hoped to avoid a messy battle for succession between his sons by allowing the Oswells to adopt Hubert, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Asbel was quite content to let the more bookish and organized Hubert have the job while he went off to become a knight. Things don't quite go to plan - Asbel is infuriated by his father's actions and immediately leaves home for knight school, while Hubert is so hurt by the abandonment that he becomes a hypercompetitive soldier unwilling to settle for second place and eventually leads the military expedition to capture his old hometown. So, just to recap, not only did Aston's plan fail, it actually caused the very thing it was supposed to prevent.
• No Full Name Given: Oddly enough, despite ruling over one of the three countries in Ephinea, the last name of the Windor royal family, which includes Richard and Cedric, is never revealed.
• Nothing Is Scarier: The fact that Fodra is a quiet Death World set After the End with no people. Before Lineage and Legacies? It becomes eerie. Then you find out just how scary it was during the lineage and Legacy arc.
• Now, Where Was I Going Again?: Averted. Holding down a button when not in battle will tell you your next objective.

• One-Winged Angel: Lambda usually appears as a black energy blob or in the form you first see him in shortly before the Time Skip. For the final battle, he turns into an Eldritch Abomination.
• Optional Boss:
  • The Zhonecage Bonus Dungeon bosses include Previous Player Character Cameos from other Tales games.
  • Graces ƒ adds more bonus bosses such as Poisson and a buffed Solomus.
• Our Dragons Are Different: There are the three elemental dragons you can fight located in each of the capital cities' Cryas, then there is Solomos, located in the Bonus Dungeon and is the strongest Optional Boss in the game.
• Parental Abandonment: Asbel's father dies after the prologue, Cheria was raised by her grandfather, Richard's father is killed by his uncle after the prologue.
• Perfect Play A.I.: The optional Duel Boss battles against other party members dueing skits exibit this. They block frequently and will get very long combos on you given the chance.

• Power Perversion Potential: In a skit, Pascal has Sophie snap the strap on Cheria's bra with her powers.
• Power-Up Letdown: The Disc-One Final Boss's mystic arte is... him lighting his sword on fire and slashing twice.
• Precision-Guided Boomerang: Malik with his boomerang sword.
• Precursors: The Amarcians. Subverted when it is revealed that not only is Pascal an Amarcian, but her people actually not only live in secret (Sorta) on the continent of Fendel, but help the people of Fendel. Subverted again since Pascal was actually searching for the Ancient Amarcians. The current Amarcians were not originally from Fendel, but emigrated over generations ago, leaving behind their old structures and technology which became lost to the ages. Subverted again when it is finally revealed that the Ancient Amarcians were originally refugees from the world of Fodra, and it was just a name for a particular research group, rather than a actual race/civilization.
• Prolonged Prologue: Nothing that could reasonably be called the main plot starts until roughly the end of chapter 2 and start of chapter 3 — Chapter 1 is more obviously a prologue, being a fairly lengthy sequence featuring several of the main characters as children, but even the bulk of chapter 2 is devoted to setting the scene again after the Time Skip. Most of what you earn in the prologue doesn't carry over to the main story, either. Thankfully, repeat playthroughs give you the option of skipping the prologue entirely for a measly 10 GRADE.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • President Paradine of Strahta has no problem working with foreign agents as long as it's for the good of Strahta. The first time you meet him? Dressed as and acting like a civilian. Another NPC notes he frequently does this just to spend time with his people.
  • It's implied the chancellor of Fendel becomes one.
• Remember the New Guy?: Americans got an odd case of this. Normally, the cameo battles are of characters from previous games. While no different, the cameo characters came from Tales games Americans didn't get; so some were left perplexed when fighting them wondering who exactly they were and why were they so special.
• Right in Front of Me: Asbel breaks into Richard's room before he finds out that Richard is a prince.

• Running Gag: As usual, there's a number of running gags through the victory scenes. The most notable is Asbel attempting to lead a cheer of "We are... awesome!", only to have it ruined every single time.
• Say My Name:
  • "ASBEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
  • "SOPHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
  • And at the end of the game, LAMBDAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
• Sanity Ball: Asbel, Cheria, and Hubert take turns as the groups' Only Sane Man.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The entire world of Ephinea is actually one big seal for Lambda in hopes of preventing him from escaping and finding another world. Subverted when its revealed that Lambda actually sealed himself away, wanting to be left alone. Played true when Lambda contracted Richard and slowly gain controlled of more and more of his psyche.
• Shipper on Deck: A lot of characters of Asbel/Cheria.
  • In the Future Arc, the male party members all ship Hubert/Pascal, though their methods for encouraging Hubert are interesting to say the least.
• Shout-Out: An entire page of these both to earlier Tales games and other Namco Bandai works could be dedicated to these, but for now:
  • Asbel references Goemon Ishikawa XIII from Lupin III in one of his victory quotes. ("Once again, I have cut a worthless object.")
  • One of the people you meet is a guy with a chick in his purple afro.
  • In the arena's upper lobby (where you sign up and run into a Turtlez merchant), you learn that something is a secret to everyone.
  • The Curseproof Title's Flavor Text reads "Because everyday is a terrible day to have a curse".
  • One of Hubert's dualize-only weapons is called Voltekka, which is said to grow stronger the louder you scream.
  • During the hide and seek sidequest at Wallbridge, there are kids dressed as Anise, Presea, Katz, and possibly Patty.
  • It's mentioned in a skit that Hubert got the inspiration for his dualblade weapon style from a comic book series he loved as a kid called Troll Caliber. "Strahtan military secrets" indeed.
  • You can dualize plushies of both Estelle and The Prince.
  • One of Pascal's Trinity Bit incantations is "Red, blue, green, unlock!"
  • One of the skits featuring the Mask of Barona is called "The Mask of Barona Rises". For extra points, it's the third one in the series.
  • One of Sophie's weapons, a pair of claws, has the description, "They weren't stolen, mind you! They were... acquired." This may be a reference to Prince of Persia (2008), wherein the Prince more or less says the same thing about his clawed gauntlet.
  • Veigue fights you with Siegfried's Requiem and the Requiem he wants you to find turns out to be Siegfried's alternate outfit Requiem.
  • There's a sidequest involving a dying humanoid on Fodra. When it dies, it says it will vanish like tears in the rain.
    • The same humanoid gives an error code and an all-clear code of 961 and 765, respectively.
  • There's a sidequest in which Sophie plants flowers in Cheria's garden. When you plant bloody rose seeds, Sophie says they remind her of a gald-hungry thief.
  • One item you can craft is called the Deicide Blade. It looks like a cross between a sword and a chainsaw, and said that it has killed a God. This is a reference to the first Final Fantasy Legend game, where due to a slight programming bug, you could kill the final boss instantly with a chainsaw.
  • Cheria throws knives, and can stop time. Heck, to drive the point home, her Punishing Blossom is reminiscient of DIO using The World.

• Significant Anagram: The name "Sophie" can be found within "Protos Heis."
• Silliness Switch: The bonus dungeon doesn't even try to take itself seriously...and in ƒ, they turn it on with the skits.
• Spiritual Successor: In an aesthetic sense. Artistically and musically, this game has much in common with Tales of the Abyss as opposed to other Tales Series titles. The stories, however, couldn't be more different if they tried. Tales of the Abyss is effectively about Clone Angst and free will while Graces' plot is pretty much "FRIENDSHIP IS AWESOME".

• Stance System: Every playable character switches between two different sets of artes: "A"-type and "B"-type. For example, Hubert uses melee attacks for his A-artes and ranged attacks for his B-artes.
• Standard Female Grab Area: Raymond grabs Cheria by one arm and she suddenly forgets that she can fight. Of course, you have to rescue her.
• Strong Enemies, Low Rewards: In the PlayStation 3 re-release named Tales of Graces f, it's possible to defeat the Rockgagong (a powerful late-game Optional Boss) earlier than intended using a game-breaking setup for Hubert, but doing so will not net you any experience points whatsoever. In fact, back in the original Nintendo Wii version, it was possible to gain experience points from the Rockgagong repeatedly to overlevel your party members, which became so broken that it was understandably patched out in the PS3 release. Subverted in that pulling the same trick on the PS3 version will net you a PlayStation Network Trophy, but that's it.
• Stuck Items: Most equipment can be left bare, but every character must have a weapon equipped.
• Super Team: The Terma Ten are trying really hard to personificate this trope, but then you find out WHO makes up the team. Frederic (Cheria's grandpa), Cedric 2.0, Emeraude 2.0, Dark Turtlez, Peepit?, Amber Hearts, Fourier, Reala, Gentle Eel, and Solomos himself.
• Symbiotic Possession: Lambda and Asbel at the end of the game. Richard thinks that he and Lambda are this, but theirs is a case of More than Mind Control.
• Teleport Spam: A number of opponents do this, making it very difficult to do certain things, such as building up combos.
• This Cannot Be!: Richard declares "This can't be." after his defeat at the Ghardia Shaft. In fact, let's just say that the people who made this game are apparently fond of this line, as a number of the bosses in the game use it, or some form of it.
• Those Two Guys: In Lineage and Legacies, Malik and Richard have taken on a highly conspiratorial bent with each other (at least in the skits).
• Timed Mission: The Rockgagong battle is this. You have 20 minutes to beat him or else you instantly die.
• Time Skip:
  • There's a Time Skip of seven years after the prologue.
  • Also, a six-month Time Skip in F for Lineage and Legacies.
• Trademark Favorite Food: Most characters have one and can earn a title related to it, but Sophie's love of crab omelets and Richard's love of natto deserve special mention.
• Trailers Always Spoil: The TGS Trailer has spoiled that Cornell was killed and betrayed by his own and not to mention even some part of the ending scene.
• True Companions: The party becomes this and is pretty much one big family by the time Asbel adopts Sophie. Asbel and Cheria are the parents, Sophie's the daughter, Hubert's the uncle, Pascal and Richard are the big sister and big brother and Malik is the grandpa. Hilarity Ensues in the skits about this.
• True Final Boss:
  • The Fodra Queen becomes this, making Lambda a Climax Boss.
  • Also, as mentioned above, defeating Solomos gives Lambda Angelus a power boost and renames him to Lambda Theos.
• Try to Fit That on a Business Card: In one of the messed-up "We are..." victory skits, Hubert, Malik, and Richard each declare their full names and titles at the same time, ticking off Asbel.
• Unmanly Secret: A Fetch Quest for one of the Inn Requests involves a "Young Man" who wants an item called the Feather Badge, but says he's embarrassed even saying the name and when you turn in the request, he says to be quiet about it, and that no one must know.
• Un-Confession: Hubert, confessing his love for Pascal. She assumes he wants her to take a bath before he gets married to his actual true love.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Both Asbel and Richard become heterochromatic once possessed by Lambda. Oddly, nobody ever comments on this.

• Vocal Dissonance: Despite this being a game that spares no effort to clobber you over the head with the fact that Asbel is a lord with noble blood who is aristocratic, Asbel's voice actors make no audible effort to sound like it... in either language. When has Asbel ever been one for acting like an aristrocrat?
• Violation of Common Sense:
  • If you want to perform Blue Earth, you have to hold the buttons to get the Maxwell extension artes. Problem? They're done on you, and they all total so much damage if you screw up, you'll have a game over by Aquarius Sphere, the second one. To be fair, this is an easter-egg.
  • Pascal sounds like this on paper. All of her spells are centred on herself, which means her spells (with casting times!) are all melee attacks, while her standard attacks are ranged. The game even lampshades this in a tutorial.
• We Can Rule Together: If you revisit the Oswell Manor in Yu Liberte after viewing the scene at the Fendel Port, then the party discovers Mr. Oswell and some soldiers plotting sedition against the president. The party swiftly takes out the soldiers and afterwards, Mr. Oswell makes this offer to Hubert, but Hubert wants no part of it.
• Welcome to Corneria: There's a shopkeeper at the Beach Resort who doesn't actually offer the services of a shop and says nothing but "Welcome to the Beach Resort!"
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: The major theme of Lineage and Legacies in f. Sophie is an immortal (of the ageless variety), and worries about what will happen when everyone else dies and she keeps on living. She eventually comes to terms with it after swearing to continue Asbel's dream of preserving Lhant, helping Asbel's children, grandchildren, and so on.

• Womb Level: Inside the Rockgagong, complete with moments of Cheria getting squicked out by the mere mention of the word "butt".
• Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Lambda in a nutshell, along with Richard. It only gets worse as the two merge.
• Wrench Wench: Pascal, who despite being a Ditzy Genius who frequently reverts to Buffy Speak, she's a mechanical genius who can fix almost anything.
• Xtreme Kool Letterz: The Turtlez talk like this. There's also the Katz.
• You Have to Believe Me!: Asbel says this to Hubert when he's being accused of wanting to talk peace, yet he has Richard's army attacking his forces. Hubert responds by calling him both a pawn and a fool.

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