History YMMV / TalesOfGraces

!!Subpages
* [[AlternativeCharacterInterpretation/TalesSeries Alternative Character Interpretation]]
* [[AndTheFandomRejoiced/TalesSeries And The Fandom Rejoiced]]
* [[AwesomeBosses/TalesSeries Awesome Bosses]]
* [[BrokenBase/TalesSeries Broken Base]]
* [[Monster/TalesSeries Complete Monster]]
* [[DieForOurShip/TalesSeries Die For Our Ship]]
* [[FanPreferredCouple/TalesSeries Fan Preferred Couple]]
* [[GameBreaker/TalesSeries Game Breaker]]
* [[Narm/TalesSeries Narm]]
* [[PlayerPunch/TalesSeries Player Punch]]
* [[RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap/TalesSeries Rescued From The Scrappy Heap]]
* [[ScrappyMechanic/TalesSeries Scrappy Mechanic]]
* [[ThatOneAchievement/TalesSeries That One Achievement]]
* [[ThatOneAttack/TalesSeries That One Attack]]
* [[ThatOneBoss/TalesSeries That One Boss]]
* [[ThatOneLevel/TalesSeries That One Level]]
* [[ThatOneSidequest/TalesSeries That One Sidequest]]
* [[TheScrappy/TalesSeries The Scrappy]]
* [[WhatAnIdiot/TalesSeries What An Idiot]]
* [[Woobie/TalesSeries The Woobie]]

* BestBossEver: The TrueFinalBoss. One fight actually manages to have four 'phases' thanks to the boss having a StanceSystem, who alternates between attack and defence depending on how damaged they are. Not a lot of bosses outside of some [=MMORPGs=] or turn-based games have something like this, so it feels quite novel by the series standards.
* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: [[spoiler:Frederic's Mystic Arte "Butler Bomber"]] makes no sense. Why? [[spoiler:Because the dead Aston Lhant appears out of nowhere and joins in to kick your butt.]]

* BrokenBase:
** The battle system gained quite some hate on one end. Claims were made that it essentially boiled down to only dodge-and-mash tactics, and that players would be doing it over and over again to win. Not only that, but because bosses were able to break free of combos more than VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia, aerial game was off-limits, and that there were artes that left you open for enemy attacks (no thanks to the aforementioned combo breaks), it would be the same tactic with the same useful artes only used on almost every boss. Over and over again to win. This only seems to be a problem during [[SelfImposedChallenge solo runs]], but it also happens with normal runs when given the chance.
*** In short the fact it plays much differently than what most westerners are used to (Vesperia, Abyss, Symphonia), even compared to Xillia (which played closer to the 3 games than Graces)
** The base had another fracture when ''[[UpdatedRerelease Tales Of Graces F]]'' was announced, mostly because owners of the Wii version. essentially purchased a beta version. In all honesty, people didn't know ''what'' to think, since normally, it's the "Beta version" that gets released overseas. Many people were simply happy just that they got the game period, among those are people who cite that the [[ObviousBeta original version]] on the Wii was filled with so many {{Game Breaking Bug}}s that game owners had to mail in their copies to fix them. Combined with the [=PS3=] having more of a presence in the JRPG genre, it was probably for the best that the rest of the world got F instead.

* DieForOurShip: Cheria, for Asbel/Sophie and/or Asbel/Richard.

* GameBreaker:
** A particular set-up for Hubert allows him to one-shot the strongest enemy in the game, netting enough experience for as many as ''thirty'' level-ups. Said enemy respawns. This was toned down in the [=PS3=] release. You can still pull off the OneHitKill combo, but Rockgagong no longer gives you any experience points. (You get a Trophy, but that's it.)
** In the original version of the game, probably as the result of a technical oversight, [[KillItWithFire Hadou]][[SwordBeam meppuu]], was capable of murdering everything on the screen while being cheaper ''and'' stronger than his final arte ''and'', just like said final arte (Kyokkorenge), it destroyed Nova barriers. [[http://s1.zetaboards.com/TeamCepheus/topic/3309931/1/ One fan-translator]] referred (jokingly) to it as "Cheapass Infinite Fiery Rape Range Attack" for a very good reason. It was toned down in the re-release.
** Asbel's Plasma Shock. On your first playthrough, it's amazing because you get it right before World's Eye, after which point '''every''' enemy in the game is weak to it, it deals a lot of damage and even tosses enemies into the air. On subsequent playthroughs, when inheriting titles, you will find that its secondary elements ''still'' mean that 90% of the rest of the game are weak to it. It is, however, balanced by the fact that the epilogue goes out of its way to make sure almost nothing there is weak to it.
** While she [[DifficultButAwesome has a high learning curve]] at the start, Pascal becomes an absolute ''beast'' once the intricacies of her fighting style are gotten used to. She's got many things going for her; ranged combat, incredible spells, an attack for any situation, the fact she learns her mystic artes first, and the fact those mystic artes are just as powerful as all the others is just scratching the surface. What really makes Pascal broken are her stats. Perhaps to make up for the learning curve, Pascal has THE best statistics in the game; her attack power, which, once again, is ''ranged'' is only slightly behind Sophie and [[GlassCannon Hubert]] in terms of strength, her magic is the strongest, no questions asked, and she has, bar none, the best defense in the game. What this means is that Pascal's only real downfall is magic attack, which, since you'll be using her at a range anyway, is moot, because you can easily see the attacks coming and dodge accordingly. She might have a little trouble with getting swarmed...until about two-thirds through the game, where she gets an arte that hits everything around her, breaks nova, and ''heals her and her allies''. And that's not even getting into her summon magic! Remember [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Sheena's]] summons? Rather powerful Artes that were unreliable at best due to the fact you had to wait for a foe to knock you into Overlimit? Well, they return in Graces, and it turns out Pascal is a summoner. A far better one than Sheena, in fact; unlike Sheena, Pascal's summons can be used as more than just her mystic artes. In ''addition'' to being her Mystic Artes, she can use her summons as actual attacks. Picture Sheena's summons, except Sheena doesn't need to go into Overlimit, and you get Pascal's summon spells. All three are downright gamebreaking, as they provide high damage, knockback, stun, and are all unique in how they are used, meaning that there is a summon for any situation. Enemy far away from you? Cast Bloodflamme! Enemy nearby? Cast Grim Sylphie! Best of all is Cyandine; not only is it excellent crowd control that forms in a circle around Pascal, it ''also'' hits ''twice'', and for the most damage of the summons. Oh, and their casting times? Not a problem, since Graces lets you shorten the casting times of spells ''exponentially'' by preforming combos. Note that ''dodging'' counts as part of a combo. Meaning you can dodge twice, cast Cyandine in about two seconds as enemies move in on Pascal, and then cast it a ''second time'' in a single second to end the combo. In conclusion, great spells, great range, the ability to tank and hit back like a truck, in addition to having a move for any situation makes Pascal an unstoppable God once you learn how to use her. And all that doesn't even take into account the fact she has a self-buffing arte that boosts her damage to ''Hubert'' levels ''and'' gives the one part of her combos that doesn't have long range capabilities, her first attack, incredible range! Seems to be somewhat hindsight-based when [[spoiler:she's actually a bit of a frustrating boss to deal with via her cameo in ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfHearts Tales of Hearts R]]''...]]

* TheScrappy: Child Asbel, he's rude, doesn't listen to what others tell him, keeps getting into trouble, treats his father with disdain and willingly ignores all warnings others give him. Makes you want to throttle the brat and he's the main character! A major part of his CharacterDevelopment after the TimeSkip is learning just how wrong his actions were back then.

* ThatOneAchievement: Mixer Maxed, which requires you to max out your Eleth Mixer's capacity at 9999. This one isn't reviled for its difficulty, but just for its sheer length. Eleth grinding is a major slog and even if you religiously use it from the moment you get it AND use the New Game+ perk that makes the job faster, it's not uncommon to have beaten the game multiple times and unlocked every other trophy and still not even be ''halfway'' to completing this one.
* ThatOneBoss:
** [[spoiler: Richard's first fight.]] He's the first encounter with a Nova aura and breaks out of combos and stuns very easily.[[spoiler: His Mystic Arte, Bloody Rose,]] can hit anyone on the battlefield even if they are nowhere near him, and you have a very small party at the time consisting of only Hubert, Asbel, and Sophie. To make matters worse, he targets Sophie any time she tries to heal.
** Any boss who summons mooks, but especially Kurt. Kurt attacks a lot, hits hard, and has a wide range of attack. He also delights in [[ShootTheMedicFirst ignoring the person dealing damage to him and picking on Cheria and Sophie]], while ignoring Hubert unless he starts healing. To make matters worse, he ''summons mooks'' into the battle. If you try to just pick on Kurt to burn him down, the adds will surround and kill you faster than Sophie and Cheria can heal. Stop and beat up the adds so they can't get you? Kurt will run over and pick on Cheria and Sophie.
** And Emeraude. The only way to really fight her is make a full team of ranged attackers, because she has an aura active at almost all times that damages and staggers everyone in melee range every second or so. The only time this is not active is when she is attacking, during which she has Iron Stance active, which means that she can pull NoSell on ALL of your attacks. That, and she has ludicrously powerful attacks that often hit half the battlefield. Killer Field is particularly bad, as it hits the ENTIRE field for massive damage AND pulls your characters towards the center, where they are easy pickings for Emeraude's other area attacks. What makes this attack worse is it ''can'' be simply guarded, [[ArtificialStupidity but your AI partners are too stupid to do so.]]
** The optional DuelBoss against Malik on Fodra is downright insane. He has a completely absurd amount of health for a solo enemy, exhibits PerfectPlayAI and just about all of his spells can OneHitKill you. When he said he would treat this like a real battle, he wasn't kidding. To make things worse, you get ''very'' harshly scolded for failing.
* ThatOneLevel: World's Eye is filled with difficult enemies, is an absolute ''nightmare'' to navigate and ends ends with two back-to-back boss fights, one of them listed above under ThatOneBoss.
* ThatOnePuzzle: The infamous colored eleth lines puzzle in the Sandshroud Ruins BonusDungeon. You have to control the flow of several colored eleth streams (red, blue and yellow) so they all converge on a door and pass through every colored floor panel. Some of the floor panels are purple, green or orange, meaning you need ensure the colors ''mix'' at the right points too. There are over 20 junction points and ''all'' of them have to be set up correctly. But the worst thing is that if any three colors mix at one intersection, '''the entire puzzle resets and you have to start from the beginning!''' Even ''following a guide'' it's possible to hit a reset if you don't do the steps in ''exactly'' the right order, which most guides don't bother to say. And some floor panels summon monsters when triggered, so you'll be coinstsntly interrupted by battles while you're trying to solve the puzzle.

* TheWoobie: Most of the cast has elements of this, really.
** Asbel gets completley broken at the end of the child arc, and just when things start getting better, his brother banishes him from his own home and his best friend turns evil.
** Hubert throughout pretty much the entirity of the child arc, especially when Asbel implies he'd rather have Richard as a brother than him. He gets better in the present after he [[TookALevelInBadass takes a level in badass]] though.
** Cheria was constantly ill as a child, and the guy she liked left home and didn't even keep in contact for ''seven years''.
** Malik doesn't really seem the type at first, until you get to Fendel and learn his backstory. [[spoiler: He used to be a member of a resistance group in Fendel, and was in love with another member, who happened to be the Chancellor's daughter. She was tragically killed in an operation gone wrong, and Malik constantly regrets not being more honest about his feelings.]] And things only get worse, [[spoiler: he ends up having to fight fellow resistance member and friend Kurt, who bears no ill-will towards him at all, simply because the government was about to do something ''monumentally stupid''. Kurt dies in a HeroicSacrifice shortly after.]] In short, he's a HeartbrokenBadass in every sense of the word. Even his [[{{Troll}} trollish]] ShipperOnDeck tendancies towards Asbel and Cheria take on a tragic light once a few skits in Liniages and Legacies imply ''why'' he's like that: [[spoiler: he probably sees a lot of his own former romance in them, and he's desparate not to let it end as badly as his did.]]
** Pascal is probably the only one who doesn't really qualify, being upbeat all the time. Though she ''did'' have some distance issues with her sister at first, but that gets thankfully resolved early on.
** Richard qualifies as a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds completley lost his faith in humanity after so many assassination attempts, most ''by his own family''. [[spoiler: This leads him to ''willingly'' let Lambda posess him, because he's all too willing to help Lambda with his goal of wiping out humanity. He's that broken. Thankfully, unlike many RPG villains like him, he isn't doomed to RedemptionEqualsDeath, he's actually saved from his posession and makes an effort to atone for his actions.]]
** On that note, [[spoiler:Lambda, the BigBad himself]] is another WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, and possibly [[spoiler: the most sympathetic [[OmnicidalManiac Omnicidal]] EldritchAbomination ever. He was an ArtificialHuman who was starting to show emotions, and whos creator loved like a son. Unfortunately Emeraude has to come and ruin all that by subjecting him to horrible torture and claiming he shouldn't be treated like a human. His creator/father ended up killer right in front of him, and he was left on the lower world completley alone. He posesses his human hosts simply because that's the only way he can stay alive. And then Emeraude sends Protos Heis to hunt him down and kill him. Eventually he basically snapped and decided to KillAllHumans just so he wouldn't be hurt again.]] It's probably for this reason that [[spoiler: Asbel gives him the oppertunity to make a HeelFaceTurn rather than destroying him. And awesomely, ''this actually works''.]]
** But of course Sophie is easily one of the biggest in the game. Her amnesia and seemingly dying and coming back to life ealry on ''without knowing why'' is one thing, [[spoiler: but then she gets conflicted since protecting one of her friends (Asbel) involves fighting another friend (Richard). And it only gets worse once she realises her true nature, and her mission to destroy Lambda at any cost, even by self-destructing. Not only is the party ''extremely distraught'' at the idea of her destroying herself, but the one she's programmed to kill is currently posessing one of her closest friends.]] And as if that's not enough, Liniages and Legacies explores the WhoWantsToLiveForever trope for all its worth, with Sophie coming to terms with the prospect of having to watch all her friends die as she remains ageless.

** While she [[DifficultButAwesome has a high learning curve]] at the start, Pascal becomes an absolute ''beast'' once the intricacies of her fighting style are gotten used to. She's got many things going for her; ranged combat, incredible spells, an attack for any situation, the fact she learns her mystic artes first, and the fact those mystic artes are just as powerful as all the others is just scratching the surface. What really makes Pascal broken are her stats. Perhaps to make up for the learning curve, Pascal has THE best states in the game; her attack power, which, once again, is ''ranged'' is only slightly behind Sophie and [[GlassCannon Hubert]] in terms of strength, her magic is the strongest, no questions asked, and she has, bar none, the best defense in the game. What this means is that Pascal's only real downfall is magic attack, which, since you'll be using her at a range anyway, is moot, because you can easily see the attacks coming and dodge accordingly. She might have a little trouble with getting swarmed...until about two-thirds through the game, where she gets an arte that hits everything around her, breaks nova, and ''heals her and her allies''. And that's not even getting into her summon magic! Remember [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Sheena's]] summons? Rather powerful Artes that were unreliable at best due to the fact you had to wait for a foe to knock you into Overlimit? Well, they return in Graces, and it turns out Pascal is a summoner. A far better one than Sheena, in fact; unlike Sheena, Pascal's summons can be used as more than just her mystic artes. In ''addition'' to being her Mystic Artes, she can use her summons as actual attacks. Picture Sheena's summons, except Sheena doesn't need to go into Overlimit, and you get Pascal's summon spells. All three are downright gamebreaking, as they provide high damage, knockback, stun, and are all unique in how they are used, meaning that there is a summon for any situation. Enemy far away from you? Cast Bloodflamme! Enemy nearby? Cast Grim Sylphie! Best of all is Cyandine; not only is it excellent crowd control that forms in a circle around Pascal, it ''also'' hits ''twice'', and for the most damage of the summons. Oh, and their casting times? Not a problem, since Graces lets you shorten the casting times of spells ''exponentially'' by preforming combos. Note that ''dodging'' counts as part of a combo. Meaning you can dodge twice, cast Cyandine in about two seconds as enemies move in on Pascal, and then cast it a ''second time'' in a single second to end the combo. In conclusion, great spells, great range, the ability to tank and hit back like a truck, in addition to having a move for any situation makes Pascal an unstoppable God once you learn how to use her. And all that doesn't even take into account the fact she has a self-buffing arte that boosts her damage to ''Hubert'' levels ''and'' gives the one part of her combos that doesn't have long range capabilities, her first attack, incredible range! Seems to be somewhat hindsight-based when [[spoiler:she's actually a bit of a frustrating boss to deal with via her cameo in ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfHearts Tales of Hearts R]]''...]]

* AuthorsSavingThrow: Some can see Namco Bandai localizing the PS3 re-release as opposed to the Wii version as this since one of the criticisms with Vesperia was the fact that Westerners only got the vanilla 360 version and not the updated PS3 version.

** The base had another fracture when ''[[UpdatedRerelease Tales Of Graces F]]'' was announced, mostly because owners of the Wii version. essentially purchased a beta version. In all honesty, people didn't know ''what'' to think, since normally, it's the "Beta version" that gets released overseas. Many people were simply happy just that they got the game period, among those are people who cite that the [[ObviousBeta original version]] on the Wii was filled with so many {{Game Breaking Bug}}s that game owners had to mail in their copies to fix them. Combined with the PS3 having more of a presence in the JRPG genre, it was probably for the best that the rest of the world got F instead.

** "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXbAjxy-nBg TOMODACHIIIIIIIIIIII"]][[note]]FRIEEEENNNNNNNNDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!![[/note]] (spoilers).

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Sophie was the most despised character before the game was released, because a lot of people disliked her design, dislike [[TokenMiniMoe the loli characters]] in the VideoGame/TalesSeries, or wanted Cheria to be the heroine. After the game was released, she became one of the most popular characters in the game.

* TrappedByMountainLions: The [[DistressedDamsel kidnapping]] subplot. It happens very suddenly when the plot is focused on something else, is very short and the only thing it really contributes to the plot is showing [[spoiler: that the Oswell family is kind of corrupt]], and even ''that'' isn't very relevant in the long run except for one ''totally optional'' scene.

* CharacterTiers: While there's thankfully no hideous imbalance, a lot of players prefer a party of Asbel, Sophie, Hubert, and Cheria for the fact that that particular team is ''very'' diverse. (Plus, Sophie and Cheria are the healers, with Hubert also having a handy healing spell) It's not that the other characters you don't really see much of (Pascal, Malik, and Richard [[spoiler:especially in f where he becomes [[TheSixthRanger the seventh party member]].]]) are ''bad'', just that the higher difficulties are NintendoHard and once you find something that works, ''you WANT to stick with it''. Whenit comes to solo though, Cheria, Sophie, and Hubert outclass everyone, simply because they are the most flexible characters.

** But of course Sophie is easily one of the biggest in the game. Her amnesia and seemingly dying and coming back to life ealry on ''without knowing why'' is one thing, [[spoiler: but then she gets conflicted since protecting one of her friends (Asbel) involves fighting another friend (Richard). And it only gets worse once she realises her true nature, and her mission to destroy Lambda at any cost, even by self-destructing. Not only is the party ''extremely distraught'' at the idea of her destroying herself, but the one she's programmed to kill is currently posessing one of her closest friends.]] And as if that's not enough, Liniages and Legacies explores the WhoWantsToLiveForever trope for all its worth, with Sophie coming to terms with the prospect of having to watch all her friends die as she reamains ageless.

** On that note, [[spoiler: Lamba, the BigBad himself]] is another WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds, and possibly [[spoiler: the most sympathetic [[OmnicidalManiac Omnicidal]] EldritchAbomination ever. He was an ArtificialHuman who was starting to show emotions, and whos creator loved like a son. Unfortunately Emeraude has to come and ruin all that by subjecting him to horrible torture and claiming he shouldn't be treated like a human. His creator/father ended up killer right in front of him, and he was left on the lower world completley alone. He posesses his human hosts simply because that's the only way he can stay alive. And then Emeraude sends Protos Heis to hunt him down and kill him. Eventually he basically snapped and decided to KillAllHumans just so he wouldn't be hurt again.]] It's probably for this reason that [[spoiler: Asbel gives him the oppertunity to make a HeelFaceTurn rather than destroying him. And awesomely, ''this actually works''.]]

** With Asbel, this isn't the first time Creator/TakahiroSakurai voiced a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII JRPG]] [[VideoGame/DotHackGU protagonist]]....and yet in the latter case, one of them even gets alluded to by Asbel himself with a DLC costume in the re-release. In the latter link's case, he even has a character voiced by Creator/HirokiTochi ''and'' Creator/JamiesonPrice as a mentor to him.

** While she [[DifficultButAwesome has a high learning curve]] at the start, Pascal becomes an absolute ''beast'' once the intricacies of her fighting style are gotten used to. She's got many things going for her; ranged combat, incredible spells, an attack for any situation, the fact she learns her mystic artes first, and the fact those mystic artes are just as powerful as all the others is just scratching the surface. What really makes Pascal broken are her stats. Perhaps to make up for the learning curve, Pascal has THE best states in the game; her attack power, which, once again, is ''ranged'' is only slightly behind Sophie and [[GlassCannon Hubert]] in terms of strength, her magic is the strongest, no questions asked, and she has, bar none, the best defense in the game. What this means is that Pascal's only real downfall is magic attack, which, since you'll be using her at a range anyway, is moot, because you can easily see the attacks coming and dodge accordingly. She might have a little trouble with getting swarmed...until about two-thirds through the game, where she gets an arte that hits everything around her, breaks nova, and ''heals her and her allies''. And that's not even getting into her summon magic! Remember [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Sheena's]] summons? Rather powerful Artes that were unreliable at best due to the fact you had to wait for a foe to knock you into Overlimit? Well, they return in Graces, and it turns out Pascal is a summoner. A far better one than Sheena, in fact; unlike Sheena, Pascal's summons can be used as more than just her mystic artes. In ''addition'' to being her Mystic Artes, she can use her summons as actual attacks. Picture Sheena's summons, except Sheena doesn't need to go into Overlimit, and you get Pascal's summon spells. All three are downright gamebreaking, as they provide high damage, knockback, stun, and are all unique in how they are used, meaning that there is a summon for any situation. Enemy far away from you? Cast Bloodflamme! Enemy nearby? Cast Grim Sylphie! Best of all is Cyandine; not only is it excellent crowd control that forms in a circle around Pascal, it ''also'' hits ''twice'', and for the most damage of the summons. Oh, and their casting times? Not a problem, since Graces lets you shorten the casting times of spells ''exponentially'' by preforming combos. Note that ''dodging'' counts as part of a combo. Meaning you can dodge twice, cast Cyandine in about two seconds as enemies move in on Pascal, and then cast it a ''second time'' in a single second to end the combo. In conclusion, great spells, great range, the ability to tank and hit back like a truck, in addition to having a move for any situation makes Pascal an unstoppable God once you learn how to use her. And all that doesn't even take into account the fact she has a self-buffing art that boosts her damage to ''Hubert'' levels ''and'' gives the one part of her combos that doesn't have long range capabilities, her first attack, incredible range! Seems to be somewhat hindsight-based when [[spoiler:she's actually a bit of a frustrating boss to deal with via her cameo in ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfHearts Tales of Hearts R]]''...]]

** While she [[DifficultButAwesome has a high learning curve]] at the start, Pascal becomes an absolute ''beast'' once the intricacies of her fighting style are gotten used to. She's got many things going for her; ranged combat, incredible spells, an attack for any situation, the fact she learns her mystic artes first, and the fact those mystic artes are just as powerful as all the others is just scratching the surface. What really makes Pascal broken are her stats. Perhaps to make up for the learning curve, Pascal has THE best states in the game; her attack power, which, once again, is ''ranged'' is only slightly behind Sophie and [[GlassCannon Hubert]] in terms of strength, her magic is the strongest, no questions asked, and she has, bar none, the best defense in the game. What this means is that Pascal's only real downfall is magic attack, which, since you'll be using her at a range anyway, is moot, because you can easily see the attacks coming and dodge accordingly. She might have a little trouble with getting swarmed...until about two-thirds through the game, where she gets an arte that hits everything around her, breaks nova, and ''heals her and her allies''. And that's not even getting into her summon magic! Remember [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Sheena's]] summons? Rather powerful Artes that were unreliable at best due to the fact you had to wait for a foe to knock you into Overlimit? Well, they return in Graces, and it turns out Pascal is a summoner. A far better one than Sheena, in fact; unlike Sheena, Pascal's summons can be used as more than just her mystic artes. In ''addition'' to being her Mystic Artes, she can use her summons as actual attacks. Picture Sheena's summons, except Sheena doesn't need to go into Overlimit, and you get Pascal's summon spells. All three are downright gamebreaking, as they provide high damage, knockback, stun, and are all unique in how they are used, meaning that there is a summon for any situation. Enemy far away from you? Cast Bloodflamme! Enemy nearby? Cast Grim Sylphie! Best of all is Cyandine; not only is it excellent crowd control that forms in a circle around Pascal, it ''also'' hits ''twice'', and for the most damage of the summons. Oh, and their casting times? Not a problem, since Graces lets you shorten the casting times of spells ''exponentially'' by preforming combos. Note that ''dodging'' counts as part of a combo. Meaning you can dodge twice, cast Cyandine in about two seconds as enemies move in on Pascal, and then cast it a ''second time'' in a single second to end the combo. In conclusion, great spells, great range, the ability to tank and hit back like a truck, in addition to having a move for any situation makes Pascal an unstoppable God once you learn how to use her. Seems to be somewhat hindsight-based when [[spoiler:she's actually a bit of a frustrating boss to deal with via her cameo in ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfHearts Tales of Hearts R]]''...]]

** While she [[DifficultButAwesome has a high learning curve]] at the start, Pascal becomes an absolute ''beast'' once the intricacies of her fighting style are gotten used to. She's got many things going for her; ranged combat, incredible spells, an attack for any situation, the fact she learns her mystic artes first, and the fact those mystic artes are just as powerful as all the others is just scratching the surface. What really makes Pascal broken are her stats. Perhaps to make up for the learning curve, Pascal has THE best states in the game; her attack power, which, once again, is ''ranged'' is only slightly behind Sophie and [[GlassCannon Hubert]] in terms of strength, her magic is the strongest, no questions asked, and she has, bar none, the best defense in the game. What this means is that Pascal's only real downfall is magic attack, which, since you'll be using her at a range anyway, is moot, because you can easily see the attacks coming and dodge accordingly. She might have a little trouble with getting swarmed...until about two-thirds through the game, where she gets an arte that hits everything around her, breaks nova, and ''heals her and her allies''. And that's not even getting into her summon magic! Remember [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphona Sheena's]] summons? Rather powerful Artes that were unreliable at best due to the fact you had to wait for a foe to knock you into Overlimit? Well, they return in Graces, and it turns out Pascal is a summoner. A far better one than Sheena, in fact; unlike Sheena, Pascal's summons can be used as more than just her mystic artes. In ''addition'' to being her Mystic Artes, she can use her summons as actual attacks. Picture Sheena's summons, except Sheena doesn't need to go into Overlimit, and you get Pascal's summon spells. All three are downright gamebreaking, as they provide high damage, knockback, stun, and are all unique in how they are used, meaning that there is a summon for any situation. Enemy far away from you? Cast Bloodflamme! Enemy nearby? Cast Grim Sylphie! Best of all is Cyandine; not only is it excellent crowd control that forms in a circle around Pascal, it ''also'' hits ''twice'', and for the most damage of the summons. Oh, and their casting times? Not a problem, since Graces lets you shorten the casting times of spells ''exponentially'' by preforming combos. Note that ''dodging'' counts as part of a combo. Meaning you can dodge twice, cast Cyandine in about two seconds as enemies move in on Pascal, and then cast it a ''second time'' in a single second to end the combo. In conclusion, great spells, great range, the ability to tank and hit back like a truck, in addition to having a move for any situation makes Pascal an unstoppable God once you learn how to use her. Seems to be somewhat hindsight-based when [[spoiler:she's actually a bit of a frustrating boss to deal with via her cameo in ''[[VideoGame/TalesOfHearts Tales of Hearts R]]''...]]

* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: Sophie was the most despised character before the game was released, because a lot of people disliked her design, dislike [[TokenMiniMoe the loli characters]] in the TalesSeries, or wanted Cheria to be the heroine. After the game was released, she became one of the most popular characters in the game.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: Once [[IllGirl Cheria]] developed superpowers and got more than a little pissed that she had to wait ''seven years'' for her LoveInterest to return before gradually becoming part of a quest to save the world after he did, she had ''loads'' of room to develop as a character.

** With Asbel, this isn't the first time Creator/TakahiroSakurai voiced a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII JRPG]] [[VideoGame/DotHackGU protagonist]]....and yet in the latter case, one of them even gets alluded to by Asbel himself with a DLC costume in the re-release. In the latter link's case, he even has a character voiced by Creator/HirokiTochi as a mentor to him.

*** Double for also being another protagonist alongside [[VideoGame/TalesOfLegendia Senel]] [[Creator/KenichiSuzumura Coolidge]], which respectively makes him Asbel's version of [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII Zack Fair]]

* AwesomeMusic[=/=]EarWorm: The game's theme song, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IMzmooj6xYo "White Wishes"]], is [[JapanesePopMusic J-pop]] at its finest. Listen to it once and it's a sure bet that you'll abuse the replay button.

** With Asbel, this isn't the first time Creator/TakahiroSakurai voiced a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII JRPG]] [[VideoGame/DotHackGU protagonist]]....and yet in the latter case, one of them even gets alluded to by Asbel himself with a DLC costume in the re-release.

** While she [[DifficultButAwesome has a high learning curve]] at the start, Pascal becomes an absolute ''beast'' once the intricacies of her fighting style are gotten used to. She's got many things going for her; ranged combat, incredible spells, an attack for any situation, the fact she learns her mystic artes first, and the fact those mystic artes are just as powerful as all the others is just scratching the surface. What really makes Pascal broken are her stats. Perhaps to make up for the learning curve, Pascal has THE best states in the game; her attack power, which, once again, is ''ranged'' is only slightly behind Sophie and [[GlassCannon Hubert]] in terms of strength, her magic is the strongest, no questions asked, and she has, bar none, the best defense in the game. What this means is that Pascal's only real downfall is magic attack, which, since you'll be using her at a range anyway, is moot, because you can easily see the attacks coming and dodge accordingly. She might have a little trouble with getting swarmed...until about two-thirds through the game, where she gets an arte that hits everything around her, breaks nova, and ''heals her and her allies''. And that's not even getting into her summon magic! Remember [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphona Sheena's]] summons? Rather powerful Artes that were unreliable at best due to the fact you had to wait for a foe to knock you into Overlimit? Well, they return in Graces, and it turns out Pascal is a summoner. A far better one than Sheena, in fact; unlike Sheena, Pascal's summons can be used as more than just her mystic artes. In ''addition'' to being her Mystic Artes, she can use her summons as actual attacks. Picture Sheena's summons, except Sheena doesn't need to go into Overlimit, and you get Pascal's summon spells. All three are downright gamebreaking, as they provide high damage, knockback, stun, and are all unique in how they are used, meaning that there is a summon for any situation. Enemy far away from you? Cast Bloodflamme! Enemy nearby? Cast Grim Sylphie! Best of all is Cyandine; not only is it excellent crowd control that forms in a circle around Pascal, it ''also'' hits ''twice'', and for the most damage of the summons. Oh, and their casting times? Not a problem, since Graces lets you shorten the casting times of spells ''exponentially'' by preforming combos. Note that ''dodging'' counts as part of a combo. Meaning you can dodge twice, cast Cyandine in about two seconds as enemies move in on Pascal, and then cast it a ''second time'' in a single second to end the combo. In conclusion, great spells, great range, the ability to tank and hit back like a truck, in addition to having a move for any situation makes Pascal an unstoppable God once you learn how to use her.

** This isn't the first time Creator/TakahiroSakurai voiced a [[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII JRPG]] [[VideoGame/DotHackGU protagonist]]....

** The game is also bound to suffer a bit of regional wording confusion. Hubert's first Mystic Arte was translated as "Broadside Waltz", which to many Americans would bring to mind the idea of a ship cannon bombardment; which is a pretty {{Badass}} comparison. In England, however, "Broadside" is a popular beer.