Tales of Graces

Tales of Graces is set to be the 12th "Mothership" title in the Tales series, exclusively for the Nintendo Wii. The first information was revealed in a leaked scan of the Weekly Shounen Jump magazine in Japan on April 2, 2009. The character designer for this game is Mutsumi Inomata, despite early rumors that a new artist may be involved in this game. The main character is Asbel Lhant, the "son and successor of a Frontier Lord". This game is confirmed to have a release during Winter 2009. No western release has been announced as of yet, although a trademark has been filed in Europe.

Tales of Graces was codenamed officially as Tales of Ten during development, referring to this as the 10th main game produced by Namco Tales Studio. This excludes the mothership titles Tales of Legendia and Tales of Innocence from the count, since these games were developed internally by Namco (Project MelFes) and externally by Alfa System, respectively.

Plot
Tales of Graces takes place in a planet known as Efinea. The people of Efinea use a substance called Arles which is composed of another substance called Cryas which has allowed civilizations on the planet to flourish. On Efinea there are three kingdoms--Windol, Strata, and Fendel--who are competing for dominance of the planet.

In the remote region of Windol lies the city of Lhant. The eldest son of the feudal lord Aston, Asbel, is a bright and cheerful boy who spent his childhood like any other carefree boy does: enjoy everyday together with his irreplaceable friends. After an unknown incident occurs, a strong determination awoke within him which led him to enlist himself in a knight's academy in the capital.

Graces takes place seven years after the incident. In his eighth year, Asbel has grown up and established himself as a fine knight. However, at the death of his father, Aston, he gives up his dream to become a knight and takes over his father's position of a feudal lord.

Protagonists

 * Asbel Lhant - An 18-year-old knight from the Lhant Territory in the country of Windol who takes over the role of Frontier Lord after his deceased father.


 * Sophie - A mysterious girl without memories. She was named by Asbel, after the flower "kurosophie" (クロソフィ) with which she had taken a liking to. She values her friendship with Asbel, wanting to protect him from any dangers that arise.


 * Hubert Ozwell - Asbel's younger brother by a year. Though he was quiet and obedient in his childhood, he has been disciplining his own nature to have persevering strength. He currently holds the rank of Major in Strata's military.


 * Cheria Barnes - The granddaughter of the butler (Frederick) working for the Lhant house. Once sickly at a young age, she grew up to become a fine young woman, skilled in healing artes. She has strong feelings for Asbel, though is too shy to acknowledge it.


 * Pascal - A genius technician Asbel meets along the course of his journey. She often uses onomatopoeia to describe things, leaving many confused at her energetic words.


 * Malik Caesars - Asbel's instructor from the knights' school. The eldest of the group, he is frank and composed at all times, being a veteran soldier. Asbel looks up to Malik as his "ideal self".


 * Richard - The Prince of the Frontier Kingdom of Windol, a man who has the respect of the citizens of Windol, he enjoys peace. Asbel and Richard share a very strong bond. He wields a rapier.

Antagonists

 * Lambda

Presentation
Tales of Graces features a seamlessly traversable overworld, similar to Tales of Hearts. Each dungeon, town and other locale is connected with detailed location geometry instead of a traditional world map. The battles shift from the world/dungeon map to the fight arena almost instantly without resorting to the screen-breaking loading screen. The enemies have distinct shapes, like in Tales of Vesperia and Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the World, not shadowy figures.

Battle System
The battle system used for Tales of Graces is the "Style Shift Linear Motion Battle System" (SS-LMBS). In this system, characters have two different fighting styles to choose from. The skills of either style can be set to both the A and B buttons, and the player is able to freely switch between the styles in battle. The battle system is currently rated one of the best systems in the entire Tales history.

Characters are also able to sidestep in a 360 degree circle around the enemy. "Blast Calibers", as used in the Tales of Destiny (PS2) remake, make a return in Tales of Graces in addition to the normal Mystic Artes.

In battle, players attack using the Chain Capacity point system used in the Tales of Destiny (PS2) remake. The free run maneuver which originated in Tales of the Abyss is renewed in this game, but it is limited by Chain Capacity points.

Groovy Chats
The advanced chat system in Tales of Graces is known as Groovy Chats in Tales of Graces. These chats are similar to the chat style introduced in Tales of Destiny 2, with the characters full bodied portraits being shown, with more movements and emotion poses. Unlike most skits and chats, Groovy Chats have a tendency to only appear when the player is in the close vicinity of a save point. The Groovy Chat system includes various pop-up "cut-in" images at set points during the chat, which can be anything from super-deformed mini faces to mystic arte-quality images.

Controller Modes
The game supports the Wii Classic Controller as well as the Wii-mote/Nunchuk combo, although the pointer control seen in Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of The New World is not used.

Development
At the Tales of 2008 Press Conference it was announced that a mothership title was in development for the Wii, though at the time no other details were given. At the Nintendo Autumn 2008 Conference, a trailer for the game was shown, but not to the public. The pre-order DVD for Tales of Hearts would contain the trailer for the game that was shown earlier that year. At Jump Festa 2009, the game was referred to by the codename "Tales of Ten", and was announced to have been in development for nearly two years. The voice work was almost complete, it would have a world similar to medieval Europe and that it would be formally revealed in spring, though no other details were given. In early April it was first unveiled in Jump with the title Tales of Graces. In the April 10th issue of gaming magazine Famitsu, it was reported that the game was 30% complete. On December 10th, 2009, the game was released in Japan.