I probably should've talk about this a long time ago, but guess what? I didn't have a blog back then. So too bad!!!
Tales of Graces, part of the 'Tales of' game series made by Namco, came out in Japan on Dec 18, 2009... if I remember correctly. At any rate, it was last year! (Sorry, I had to use the joke) Because it was released in Japan, so of course I can't play it. I don't have an imported Wii, or a modded one... sadly. But that's not going to stop a big tales fan like me! I do what everybody would do, I youtube. I still want the element of surprise when I eventually play the game, so I won't look at people's playthrough or anything, but I listened and watched the opening.
I wasn't really impressed....
I mean the opening SONG was good, but the opening animation is just not there, if you know what I mean. It just seems like there's no climax. I understand that in the beginning of the animation they need to introduce the characters slightly, but their animation won't make me want to play the game at all. During the chorus of the song in the opening, there's nothing big that's happening, just a bunch of people looking into each other's eyes and lots of running. I know that's suppose to be some dramatic moments in the game, but do they think people who's watching the animation for the first time would know what the story is about? Are we suppose to understand the 'moment' the characters are having? Maybe it's just me, but the opening is just not my taste. Tales of the Abyss, on the other hand, has one of the BEST opening of ALL time. Abyss' opening even beat a lot of the anime openings; I wouldn't be surprised if BUMP OF CHICKEN(the band who sang the opening for Tales of the Abyss) made that opening their MV for the song. It's THAT good. This blog's about Graces, so I won't go into details about the opening for Abyss. I'll post the links at the end of the blog so you can look at them and compare.
Enough about the opening, but that's not all about Graces that I know. I watched the trailers at least 50 times, one of the trailers. That trailer was better than the opening (sorry, I couldn't resist). I guessed a lot of the plot from that trailer, but I don't know if my assumptions are correct or not. What I found is that it's similar to the plot in Abyss in some ways.
So basically, the hero in Graces is named Asbel, and something happened to his village/town/city/home and killed everyone in the village(I'm guessing). He found this purple haired girl somewhere near the village at the time of the destruction of his home named Sophie. Since Asbel is alone, and she lost her memory, they traveled together and stuff. Years passed Asbel joined the knights because he "doesn't want to lose anyone anymore", so trained under this master-like person(I can't recall the name right now. Goldfish memory span). Time passed, and someone big died in the castle and the culprit was the master-like person. Yes, the master-like person is a bad guy.
If you pause for a second, and recall the background story of Abyss. Luke, the apprentice(are all apprentice's name Luke?? [Professor Layton]) trained under Van whom Luke calls him master, and guess what? He's a bad guy!
Back to Sophie, the purple haired girl for a bit. I'm guessing that she's not a real person. She's probably a machine, or something is implanted into her brain. I'm also guessing she's the one that destroyed Asbel's village, but something happened which caused her to lose her memory. That's basically the summary of plot I got from the trailer(more info than the opening!).
There's this character named Cherrie(I think), and I really really like her design. But I think I'll hate her personality, she seems like the person who is too... feminine. That's not the right word. You know how in games, drama, or TV shows, there is always this character who is always getting captured. The 'weak' one, if you will. Anyways, Cherrie just seems like she's that kind of character. Even her name suggests that. I'm hoping that I am wrong, but I'm pretty good at guessing what people are like just by taking a look at them... real life or fake (life...?).
I can't wait for the day they announce the release date of Tales of Graces in North America. While they're at it, they can also release Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2, Tales of Hearts, Tales of Innocence.. etc. =]
Here are the links to the songs and the opening for Tales of Graces and Tales of the Abyss:
Tales of the Abyss
Opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afp4jgCCzxk
Song: カルマ - BUMP OF CHICKEN (Karma)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pz8A889diyQ
Tales of Graces
Opening:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKW-cHOTWew
Trailer:
http://www.gametrailers.com/video/tgs-09-tales-of/57583
Song: まもりたい~White Wishes~ - BoA (Want to protect)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3dHP3ikuJ_A
~Daniel Chou
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