Tales of Graces f Remastered is a strong statement of intent for the series' 30th anniversary

There's certain games I'd never expect to get an in-person preview event; and Tales of Graces f Remastered would have been one of them if not for the fact that Bandai Namco blindsided us with the chance to get acquainted with the upcoming remaster of the Nintendo Wii and PlayStation 3 classic earlier this month. After several hours with the PlayStation 5 version of the game, and some fascinating insights about the team's continued commitment to bringing prior Tales entries to as many modern platforms as possible, it feels like the team is serious about ensuring that the series legacy can be preserved for fans both new and old.

While Bandai Namco had already revealed many of the technical aspects of the remaster, it was still immediately obvious - and welcome - to see the game running at a very crisp and smooth 4K resolution at 60 FPS on PS5; though it's to be expected considering the game's age, and the platforms that it originally released on, there's a lot to be said for the sharpness of the image when so many modern RPGs have image quality issues on the platform. While not every change is immediately obvious without checking the versions of the game side-by-side, new additions like location markers - including specially-marked ones to denote timed events - are very much welcome. 

Some changes feel so natural that it's hard to imagine that they weren't there in the first place. The ability to speed up dialog and even skip skits entirely are almost baffling to think that they're new, even if I'd never really use them - subtitles for Mystic Artes and post-battle dialog is almost laughable to consider they were absent until this remaster. The same goes for the ability to retry random battles, and the new autosave function in addition to the games 30 manual save slots. Of course, you have most of the standard fare for remasters these days, including the option to turn off standard enemy encounters on the map at your leisure, too.

There's not much else to say specifically about the remaster beyond that; we sunk a little more than 2 hours into the game, and at least from that amount of playtime it was very easy to be pleased by what was shown - and what that might mean for future remaster projects.

While most of our roundtable Q&A focused on Tales of Graces f Remastered specifically, the team made it very clear that this is hopefully the start of a series of remasters the team wishes to tackle; Tales of Graces f was simply picked first because it straddled the line between being a fan-favorite, and relatively easy to bring to modern platforms with an already existing localization. While the team didn't share which titles specifically were most likely to see the remaster treatment next, they did give a few hints; while existing localizations make it easier to justify, the team doesn't want to rule any specific game out, from any specific platform.

As part of the Tales of Graces f Remastered package, players will gain access to some DLC content that was previously never available outside of Japan; with how globalized the RPG market has become in the modern day, the team wants to strive and deliver these games to one global audience - and that does include bringing both DLC and even games to the west that might not have made the jump previously. Even games that had previously released on handhelds are a possibility; though depending on the specific platform, it might make matters more challenging when handling a remaster.

If you're a Tales of fan, I don't have to tell you that the series has had a bit of a rocky history with remasters. While Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition was generally well-received, the less said about Tales of Symphonia's remaster the better. While there's any chance that some more hardcore Tales of fans might discover an issue I overlooked when the game hits shelves, the first impression was very strong - and it's clear that Bandai Namco themselves are very proud of what the team has accomplished, while the team itself is passionate about bringing more of the series to modern platforms. Here's hoping this really can be the start of a beautiful trend when Tales of Graces f Remastered launches for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and PC (Steam) on January 17.