Post by Derman on Jan 19, 2020 8:57:40 GMT -5
I've been playing Tales of Graces f for a while, so I figured (grain pressured me) I'd post some random thoughts as they come up when I'm playing. It's also an excuse to use these forums for what they are intended. So this thread is "Random Thoughts - v. Graces" or something like that.
I'll start with my thoughts on one specific event in the game:
There's a point early in the story where Asbel goes back to protecc his hometown (after being obsessed with protecting everyone as a kid and failing miserably, and running away for 7 years) because their neighbors are bullying them. Lhant doesn't have enough men to fight the evil Russian neighbors (does that mean Llhant is Finland? or some of the other small neighbors Russia has been bullying) so Asbel comes up with a plan to go backstab the Russians when they are sleeping. The plan goes south, Russians instead decided to attack the town while Asbel and co. was away, so Hubert appears with an army to defend the town. After that Hubert challenges Asbel to a fight to see which one is strong enough to be the one protecting Lhant.
The fight is just player as Asbel fighting against Hubert, who is about as strong as he would be when you later get him as permanent party member. So the fight is hard, almost unfair, but it's in theory beatable even in Moderate difficulty. Took me a bit over an hour, only to find out that when you get his hp to 0 it turns into and you find out he's literally unkillable, he never gets knocked down.
And I have a problem with that. The game sets it up as Asbel coming from his Knight training, where he's become more "powerful" so he can protect others. And Hubert comes from the sand place with an army. And it is pretty obvious that Asbel alone isn't enough to protect the town, no matter how powerful he is. Meanwhile, Hubert has an army he can use to protect the town effectively. But what the fight between Hubert and Asbel shows (at least what the game wants to show) is that Hubert, as an individual, is more powerful than Asbel, which is why he's more suited to protect.
Except that to me doesn't make much sense (Hubert won't be out there killing every Russian alone, it's the army that guarantees the safety), and the game ended up cheating when it started to look like Asbel would win the fight. That to me just seems like a lazy way to do it. I feel like it would've been a lot better if for example when Hubert gets knocked down, Asbel has to fight endlessly spawning soldiers util the player gives up. With that the game could've shown what really matters when defending a town, and it wouldn't have had to resort to blatant cheating (technically endlessly spawning soldiers would be cheating in a similar sense, but it would be more effective in getting the message across).
I guess another reason for the fight is to show that Hubert isn't the whiny kid anymore, and that Asbel needs to work harder etc. And that probably wouldn't have been as effective if the soldiers came in to help. And for that they could've just made it so the fight is all scripted, so they wouldn't give false hope to player. But a fight where two characters fight each other to see which one has gotten stronger and try to prove something to the other is a trope that's been overused in JRPGs anyway, so I would've appreciated some sort of twist (other than the a**hole being immortal).
Or maybe I'm just salty that I spent an hour trying to beat the fight for nothing...
I could also say something about the way the game tries to tell a story about friendship, war and politics, in a cute and colorful artstyle. But I'll leave it for some another time, I gotta go back to playing.
I'll start with my thoughts on one specific event in the game:
There's a point early in the story where Asbel goes back to protecc his hometown (after being obsessed with protecting everyone as a kid and failing miserably, and running away for 7 years) because their neighbors are bullying them. Lhant doesn't have enough men to fight the evil Russian neighbors (does that mean Llhant is Finland? or some of the other small neighbors Russia has been bullying) so Asbel comes up with a plan to go backstab the Russians when they are sleeping. The plan goes south, Russians instead decided to attack the town while Asbel and co. was away, so Hubert appears with an army to defend the town. After that Hubert challenges Asbel to a fight to see which one is strong enough to be the one protecting Lhant.
The fight is just player as Asbel fighting against Hubert, who is about as strong as he would be when you later get him as permanent party member. So the fight is hard, almost unfair, but it's in theory beatable even in Moderate difficulty. Took me a bit over an hour, only to find out that when you get his hp to 0 it turns into and you find out he's literally unkillable, he never gets knocked down.
And I have a problem with that. The game sets it up as Asbel coming from his Knight training, where he's become more "powerful" so he can protect others. And Hubert comes from the sand place with an army. And it is pretty obvious that Asbel alone isn't enough to protect the town, no matter how powerful he is. Meanwhile, Hubert has an army he can use to protect the town effectively. But what the fight between Hubert and Asbel shows (at least what the game wants to show) is that Hubert, as an individual, is more powerful than Asbel, which is why he's more suited to protect.
Except that to me doesn't make much sense (Hubert won't be out there killing every Russian alone, it's the army that guarantees the safety), and the game ended up cheating when it started to look like Asbel would win the fight. That to me just seems like a lazy way to do it. I feel like it would've been a lot better if for example when Hubert gets knocked down, Asbel has to fight endlessly spawning soldiers util the player gives up. With that the game could've shown what really matters when defending a town, and it wouldn't have had to resort to blatant cheating (technically endlessly spawning soldiers would be cheating in a similar sense, but it would be more effective in getting the message across).
I guess another reason for the fight is to show that Hubert isn't the whiny kid anymore, and that Asbel needs to work harder etc. And that probably wouldn't have been as effective if the soldiers came in to help. And for that they could've just made it so the fight is all scripted, so they wouldn't give false hope to player. But a fight where two characters fight each other to see which one has gotten stronger and try to prove something to the other is a trope that's been overused in JRPGs anyway, so I would've appreciated some sort of twist (other than the a**hole being immortal).
Or maybe I'm just salty that I spent an hour trying to beat the fight for nothing...
I could also say something about the way the game tries to tell a story about friendship, war and politics, in a cute and colorful artstyle. But I'll leave it for some another time, I gotta go back to playing.