Funny / Tales of Graces

• The "Abracadabra" skit in the Childhood arc. After witnessing Sophie's acrobatics at Asbel's command, Cheria demands he give her commands as well. The only thing he can think of is...
  Asbel: Abracadabra... go, uh, be quiet over there.
• Also in the Childhood arc, Sophie breaks Asbel out of his room after he gets grounded. If he goes to his mother's room and talks to her...
  Lady Kerri: "Asbel! You left your room, didn't you!"
• The in-game tutorial about speeding through cutscenes is found via talking to a woman early on in Barona's inn who won't stop talking about what she found. The game peppers through the chat that you can hold the circle button to speed her up.
• The entire Rockgagong segment is this. Basically, your party is attacked by a giant Godzilla-sized monster that has been running amok in Strahta, and the screen suddenly goes black. The party regains consciousness to find that they are in its stomach. The party then seriously discusses the possibility that their only escape is through the Rockgagong's butt. Not really. While Cheria's very understandable revulsion at the idea is amusing, it's Asbel's tired acceptance that really steals the show.
  • "It probably takes rocks and ga-gongs people with them!"
  • Hubert and Richard going all nerdy while being inside the Rockagong in the Future Arc, much to Asbel, Cheria, and Malik's dismay.
• A few of the after battle quotes.
  Malik: ...right into next week!
  Sophie: I've traveled back in time from next week. Please stop throwing monsters at us.
  • There's also the Running Gag of Asbel trying to get the group to simultaneously call out "We are... awesome!"/"We won't... lose!". Barring one exception, the rest of the team messes it up every time, occasionally on purpose. The most notable example is when Hubert, Malik, and Richard all decide to list their full names and rather extensive list of titles. At the same time. Asbel is pissed.
    Asbel: Let's do it. We are...
    Hubert: Hubert Oswell, lieutenant of the Republic of Strahta Intelligence Division Three!
    Malik: Malik Caesar, special attache to the chancellor of the Fendel Empire and distinguished instructor!
    Richard: Richard of Windor, ruler of Windor Kingdom and eldest heir of King Ferdinand!
    Asbel: Hey!
  • The Best one is with Asbel, Cheria, and Sophie all doing the chant in perfect unison.... And Hubert desperately looking for his glasses on the ground and yelling at them not to move so they don't step on them.
    Hubert: STOP! STOP! You'll step on them!
  • Another example of the failed "We are..." chant:
    Asbel: We are...
    Cheria: Awesome!
    Pascal: Unbeatable!
    Sophie: Amazing!
    Asbel: (sulking) ...aaaaand unable to coordinate.
    • What's funnier is if they do it with the Idolmaster outfits as they all just pose with dramatic effects eventually posing like the Dearly Stars trio. In other words, they went off and did their own thing.
  • The truth is finally revealed in the future arc if you have Richard, Hubert, Sophie, and Pascal in the active party. With Asbel absent, the group finally admits they could have ALWAYS coordinated, and apparently only the Lhant brothers didn't know this.
    Hubert: Ready? We are...
    Pascal and Sophie: Awesome!
    Hubert: So we can coordinate.
    Pascal: We can always do it. See?
    Sophie: See?
    Richard: (Distantly watching) ...I feel for you, Hubert.
  • Pascal injects much humor into many of the group victory skits. Exhibit A:
    Pascal: Sometimes, I get so lost in serious thought.
    Cheria: About what?
    Pascal: About how I can think more seriously about things.
    Cheria: Oh, brother...
  • Exhibit B:
    Cheria: Pascal looks like she's in deep thought.
    Sophie: She said she's wondering if she should eat 10 banana cakes or 12.
    Cheria: (Looks ready to facepalm) I see.
  • Exhibit C:
    Sophie: Pascal? What's an airhead?
    Pascal: Someone who's so smart, they can control air with their mind!
    Sophie: Wow! You're amazing!
  • Exhibit D:
    Richard: Sometimes I envy you, Pascal.
    Pascal: (shocked) Your Majesty! I had no idea!
    Richard: (Pascal offers him her staff) Uh... I didn't mean I wanted your staff.
  • Exhibit E:
    Hubert: Things seem rough between Asbel and Cheria.
    Pascal: I know! It's like they have sandpaper between them or something!
    Hubert: That's not it at all!
  • Exhbiit F: The variation of the "We are awesome!" post battle quote where Pascal pops up in front of the screen when the others say "Awesome!" all at once, and Pascal just says her name.
  • Pretty much ALL of Sophie's post-battle Literal-Minded moments count, too.
    Hubert: Know your place!
    Sophie: Were they lost?
    Hubert: No... that's... not what I meant.
  • And again:
    Hubert: Over in a flash!
    Sophie: How long is a flash?
    Asbel: It's less than a second.
    Sophie: Why is he [Hubert] lying?
    Hubert: These... insufferable...!
  • One more:
    Sophie: "Hubert, Why do you wear glasses?"
    Hubert: "Because my eyes are bad."
    Sophie: "What, are they dangerous?"
    Hubert: "Somebody save me..."
  • And yet another:
    Sophie: "You're strong, Asbel."
    Asbel: "Not at all!"
    Malik: "You're really coming into your own!"
    Sophie: (To Malik) "He doesn't agree."
    Asbel: "Oooh..."
  • And one depicting Sophie's love for crab omelettes:
    Richard: "I heard you like crab omelettes, Sophie."
    Sophie: "Yes, crablets..."
    Pascal: "I bet that Richard gets to eat special royal crablets!"
    Sophie: "Royal crablets!?"
    Richard: "I'm afraid that there's no such thing..." (Notices Sophie walking towards him, saying "Royal crablets" repetitively) "You wait, Sophie! Let's all calm down..."
• Hubert's strong dislike for Cheria's short skirt. It's so distracting in battle! Strangely enough, he isn't scolded for saying such a thing, considering their close childhood friendship.
  • Speaking of their childhood friendship, a moment between Asbel, Cheria and Hubert whenever they win a battle in Fendel adds up to this:
    Asbel: M-Man it's cold...!
    Hubert: It-it's terrible...!
    Cheria: Yeah.....
    (A fierce wind blows at them from the right side of the screen)
    All three: *Make sounds that clearly show they're freezing their asses off*
• One funny thing to note is Asbel's interactions with Pascal. If one pays attention, he rarely ever tries to talk to Pascal unless the situation calls for it; more often Pascal plays off of Malik, Sophie, Cheria, or Hubert. However, nearly any interaction between Asbel and Pascal gives the impression that Absel just does not like Pascal being there, often being dismissive of her. This crosses into funny given the lengths he goes to avoid talking to her and the fact she seems blind to the idea Asbel might not like her.
• Speaking of Hubert, his attempt to tell Pascal that he's in love with her. He tells her, point blank, that "my every waking thought is consumed by you." Pascal, who is completely oblivious, thinks Hubert means he'll be embarrassed if she doesn't take a bath. His dejected slinking away is equal parts sad and hilarious.
  • Malik constantly trolling Hubert about his forced engagement to the president's daughter is pretty funny, too.
  • Speaking of Hubert and marriage, the event in the future arc that happens in Oswell's manor also features one. While Hubert, Malik, and Richard discuss how Hubert could get out of the aforementioned marriage with the president's daughter, Asbel spends the entire conversation wondering who Hubert likes until he finally gets it at the end.
    Asbel: Holy Crap!
    Malik: I think your brother has finally figured it out.
  • Malik trolling Hubert again:
    Hubert: (as Pascal goes off to fiddle with some levers in a dungeon.) I'm resigned to the fact that Pascal's messing around will bring us to some sort of painful finish.
    Malik: Hubert! You want Pascal's messing around to bring you to a painful finish?
    Hubert: What?! That's...I didn't say that!
    Malik: Hey, maybe she's into that sort of thing. Who am I to judge?
• A skit in the second half of f has Hubert and Malik discussing marriage. Cheria is listening in the background, changing expressions based on what they say. She even imagines her and Asbel getting married, which the other characters snap her out of, forcing her to awkwardly backpedal.
• The Cry Babies skit. That is all.
• Asbel's Epic Fail of following instructions in one skit.
• The play they have to do in particular. Hubert is forced to be the evil queen, Pascal is literally a talking-mirror prop, and Malik didn't have any other choice but to be using a dwarf puppet on his hand and pretend to be the character even if he was holding the dwarf quite high from the floor.
  • Oh, and Asbel and Cheria fake to be kissing in front of the pleased public. While they're holding their positions close to each other, Malik casually looks over his shoulder and kicks Asbel on his butt, pushing him down enough to kiss Cheria by accident.
    • And at the end, it turns out Malik's performance was incredible for being a support character. Of course he pretends about not knowing what was wrong with the lovebirds.
  • Can we just reiterate Hubert as the evil queen? Especially since he starts out as unenthusiastic as you would expect, until someone in the crowd starts to recognize him. At which point he decides "If it's an evil queen they want, then an evil queen they shall have!" and goes full-blown Large Ham complete with squeaky girly voice. The guy decides no Lieutenant of Strahta would ever embarrass himself like that.
  • If you stop and listen to the end of the play, you can hear Sophie in the background narrating. How do they end a play based on Snow White? With a long Exposition Dump about labor unions.
• Pascal's Fever Dream/Dream Strikers. Especially her 2nd version of the attack with Sophie and Mecha-Sophie's salute.
• Malik and Richard discussing what would happen if Malik hit on Cheria.
  • Elaboration: Richard tells Malik to play-act with him as if he's asking Cheria out (in order to get Asbel to just reveal how he feels already). Malik tries to Troll Richard into embarrassment, but Richard goes along with it, defeating Malik's attempt.
    Malik: Hey Cheria... wanna make out?
    Richard: (in uncharacteristic high voice) Oh, Captain!
    Malik: Ugh.
• Richard in general goes whole hog during skits in the f scenario. One in particular is the skit Gentlemanly Behavior, which includes a shout-out to Excalibur.
• The events of the Beach Resort. Long story short, the group convinces Cheria to try practicing her flirting on guys around the beach so that she might wow Asbel. After one rather disastrous attempt, she tries again, and actually does a decent job on some random guy... that turns out to be Asbel. Cheria is mortified.
  • The title Cheria gets from this? Alluring Temptress. And said title contains her Lv 3 Mystic Arte. Yes, Ceria learns her ultimate attack from a Beach Episode.
• Also at the Beach Resort, the skit triggered after making the Discovery of the Sunscreen Rangers toys, in-universe Sentai expies which reveals that Hubert is a closet fanboy to the player but not to the rest of the cast... though Sophie does witness his own private geek-gasm over them, leaving him trying to come up with some sort of excuse.
  • Even more amusingly, Hubert uses Malik's initial appraisal of the toys as part of his excuse (Malik originally thought they were scale models of something from Strahta's military).
• Malik Beam. A Mystic Arte that has Malik shooting a blast of energy out of his back.
  A MAN SPEAKS WITH HIS BACK!
  • Let's not forget his Mystic Arte with the ridiculous long title.
• Pascal thinking she can move Lambda from Asbel into Mecha-Asbel. What does he say?
  Asbel: How about it, Lambda?
  Lambda: Impossible.
  Asbel: He says "No".
• The sidequest involving a masochistic pyromaniac kid reuniting with his Lethal Chef sister with a continuously growing chef's hat and abusive blacksmith brother with an afro. It's like a huge Big-Lipped Alligator Moment when they're involved.
• "I am... the MASK OF BARONA." ...And basically anything related to that phrase. Look it up.
  • "Lambda! Dance with me!"
• There is a downloadable skit in which Sophie mentions that she recently learned all about Christmas from Malik, and then proceeds to tell that gang about Santa Claus... who she has been led to believe is a man who carries an axe and wanders through the night on Christmas Eve, chopping down the chimney's of houses. Cue a cut-in of Malik dressed as Santa, beard, sack, and all, holding an axe and having the expression of some sadistic murderer. Note that Malik regularly tells outlandish tales to the naive Sophie and this seems like his regular behavior, so the skit is made even funnier when Malik claims that he heard the story from Richard.
• As mentioned above, Malik has a long history of telling Sophie absolutely ridiculous things with a totally straight face. As an example, during a trip through the Strahtan desert, Pascal becomes so overheated that she can only mumble and Cheria is forced to interpret for her. Once they reach a cooler area, Pascal is suddenly back to her normal vibrant self. Malik's theory? Pascal is in fact a rare breed of fish. Sophie is intrigued, and Malik decides they will have to search Pascal for gills.
• Whenever Hubert shows his geekiness, including one skit where Sophie catches him acting particularly so.
• Young Asbel vows revenge upon a door. Adult Asbel gets his vengence. Brick Jokes are fun. (And, for once, Sophie didn't have to help!)
• Having the party in their swimsuit costumes in any serious situation, or in the snowy Fendel region.
• Asbel is awarded with the Honorary Knight title, which, after everyone's explanations, Pascal realizes is nothing more than "a royal pat on the head."
• "King Richard fruit snacks"
• "No matter what happens... you must not play I Spy. ... Ha ha! I got you!"
• This might be the first game in history where one of the funniest things is the menu. From the exceptionally weird things you can dualize (The Origin of The Species? The Arc of the Covenant? Where do we even carry twelve fancy desks?) to the extremely curious inn requests (pretty sure there's one where a man who asks for a lace frill... for his wife, of course) to the ongoing saga of a girl meeting a guy, finding out he's cheating, breaking up with him, etcetera, as detailed by the descriptions on Cheria's hair ribbons, to surprisingly handy cooking tips (tap an apple with your finger, and if it sounds hollow, it's ripe!) to simply outright snarky descriptions, like the one for a kind of poisonous fang - "it's so poisonous, it could kill you, bring you back to life, and kill you again." Several fans like to joke that Jade Curtiss wrote the menu.
• Some of the more out-of-the-way skits can be humorous, mostly because the group is likely to lampshade them. For instance, one skit has Sophie and Pascal stopping to brush their teeth, apparently because Cheria complained that they need to do so more often, only for Cheria and Hubert to yell at them for wasting time because, whoops, they're currently being chased by some Fendelian guards!
• The Mask of Barona Returns
• This coupled with a dash of Fridge Brilliance and Mythology Gag for any of the Rank 7 dualizing qualities. They're all basically named after previous Tales characters and provide you with relevant bonuses. For example, the Lukerrific quality will halve all damage to human enemies. The best ones are Guyabulous, which will petrify you if you're attacked by a girl, and Barbatosan, which ensures you will use NOOOOOO. ITEMS. EVERRRRRR!!!!!
• The Mask of Barona Strikes Back. Why? Because after Pascal puts goggles on and pins a clothespin on her nose, Sophie decides she looks like Hubert.
  Pascal: *imitating Hubert's voice, complete with chibi cut-in* Dear Brother, how long must you persist in behaving in such an inappropriate fashion?
  Malik: Riiiiiight...
  Sophie: Riiiiiight.
• "Peaches look like little butts. Especially Cheria's..."
  • "Okay, time out! Sophie, we need to talk. (drags Sophie away)"
• From NPCs after you first meet the Beastmaster:
  Child: Moooom! I want one of those spinning, twirling girls!
  Mother: Oh, don't be silly! ...you'd never take it for walks.
• Skits that poke fun at how the party is one big family.
• Lambda's speech to Cheria before they go to Fodra's Core basically amounts to "He's (Asbel) is an idiot. Make sure he doesn't get himself killed."
• It sure sounds like Hubert is saying "Instant balls" and not "Broadside Waltz" at the end of his Mystic Arte. Another can be heard in his Thunder Bringer move, wherein he sometimes shouts "Shocking Light!" instead...and because of all the sounds going on, one might mishear it as "Fucking Light!"
  • Likewise, Cheria's Frozen Rain arte has her sometimes shout "Pour!" To the battle-distracted ear, it sounds like she is shouting "WHORE!" at their enemies.
  • Then there's Asbel's Burial Blade arte, which has Asbel shout "Your mine!" It's easy to mishear this as Your Mom!
• While the overall tone is serious, there is a scene after Lhant has been attacked by the Nova monsters where Asbel stops to look at the family portrait in the mansion. Hubert, without missing a beat, says "You're thinking. This worries me."
• When Sophie says that Asbel's, Cheria's and Hubert's powers are from her and form their connection, Pascal gives us this...
  Pascal: Wow, okay. Now I'm SUPER jealous.
  Malik: Indeed.
• Getting a skit from the over-competitive Hubert after clearing all of the Shot Cube minigame.
  Asbel: I was just telling Pascal how good you are with puzzles.
  Hubert: They are indeed a specialty of mine. Shall I give you a demonstration with a game of Shot Cube?
  Pascal: I already cleared the whole thing!
  Hubert: Well, perhaps there's a similar puzzle elsewhere in town?
  Pascal: I don't think so.
  Hubert: Maybe in someone's home?
  Pascal: Nope!
  Hubert: Well...then what about a children's toy?!
  Pascal: Bzzzt!
  Hubert: FINE! I'LL GO MAKE ONE MYSELF!
• Pascal's Buffy Speak provides an endless source of amusement.
  Pascal: (while attempting to fix something) Bang screw chunka aaaaand... nope.
• President Paradine's office in Yu Libertine has a blackboard with notes written on it. During the scene in which Hubert joins the party, you can see one of the notes reads "Please pick up some chicken."
• Poor Cheria often takes the role of Only Sane Man and The Comically Serious during skits, with hilarious results. She's fighting an unwinnable battle against Malik to stop him teaching Sophie ridiculous things, not to mention the entire 'Rockgagong Butt Escape' episode. One skit in the Future Arc has Asbel shouting 'brother!' at Richard in varying tones of voice, to general encouragement. With an air of someone long-suffering, Cheria just sighs:
  Cheria: They've lost their minds...
• Cheria's upgraded Mystic Arte image looks a little like she's started flipping tables.◊
• The second Mask of Barona skit has this gem:
  Asbel: Hey, look, it's the uh... Masked Barona!
  Richard: Haha, a city cannot wear a mask! I am the Mask OF Barona!
• This little exchage:
  Asbel: Come on Hubert, don't be like that. You and Pascal are friends now, right?
  Hubert: Hey, I never agreed to that.
  Pascal: Like fun you didn't!
• In one skit Cheria and Asbel attempt to needle Hubert about the gem polishing girl in Yu Liberte after completing her inn request. Hubert effortlessly shuts down their attempt to invoke She Is Not My Girlfriend by invoking He Is Not My Boyfriend on Cheria in return. Hubert has this confident grin at the end of it that really sells it.
• Using enough of Cheria's A-Artes will earn her the title Prolific Stabber.
• If Malik uses his third Mystic Arte to defeat Lambda which he says will be the last victim of that skill and he uses it again in the Future arc a victory quote has Sophie lampshading about it and Malik escapes it by saying she must be talking about his "Eternal Sautee (Eternal Seneryade in Japanese) and Sophie just accepts it.
• In the skit "What Goes Thump in the Night," Pascal complains she wakes up with headaches when she learns from Sophie that she was casting cryas artes in her sleep that actually WORKED and Sophie was smacking her around in attempt to stop her from casting them. Pascal was more amazed she was able to cast artes in her sleep and thanks Sophie for smacking her around to stop her arte casting, leaving Cheria totally baffled.
• During the main story, the game prevents you from exploring the Knight's Academy because there is apparently a very mean looking instructor standing in the hall and none of the party wants to get involved with him. In the Lineage & Legacies arc, the instructor is gone, but apparently he has an equally mean looking dog who is standing in the way now.