Tales of Graces - Development and Release

Development and Release

On July 7, 2008, Namco Bandai Games announced the next core product of the Tales series is developed for the Wii. A trailer for the game was shown in October 2008 during the Nintendo Autumn 2008 Conference. During Jump Festa 2009, the game was given the code name Tales of 10 (テイルズ オブ 10, Teiruzu obu 10?) and is revealed to have been in development for the past two years. In the first week of April's Weekly Shōnen Jump, the game's name was revealed to be Tales of Graces; the name was trademarked by Namco Bandai Games a month prior. That same week, the developers were revealed to the same developers from Tales of Destiny. In the same month, the game's theme was revealed to be Mamoru Tsuyosa wo Shiru RPG (守る強さを知るRPG?, lit. "RPG to Know the Strength to Protect"). During the September Tokyo Game Show, the game's theme song was revealed to be Mamoritai (White Wishes) by BoA. The game was released on December 10, 2009 and was also available as a bundle with a new Wii system. The game included Kamenin Merchant! (かめにんマーチャント!?, lit. "Turtle Merchant!"), a minigame for the Nintendo DS. Kamenin Merchant! was released for the Nintendo DSi on December 2, 2009. To promote the game, Namco Bandai Games and House Foods collaborated on packaged mabo curry. In March 2010, Namco Bandai Games began to recall Tales of Graces due to software bugs. Namco allowed customers to exchange their game with an updated version until July 2011.

The PlayStation 3 port, Tales of Graces f, was first revealed in July 28, 2010's Weekly Shonen Jump and officially announced by Namco on August 2, 2010. The producer, Hideo Baba, explained the port was decided in February 2010 due to fan demand. The port adds an "Accelerate Mode" to the gameplay and an after-story entitled Lineage & Legacies. Preorderers received a DVD which contains a video of the game's protagonists meeting with characters from Tales of Destiny 2. A demo was released on October 7, 2010 and the game was released on December 2, 2010. A limited edition of the game included a letter set. Namco and House Foods restarted the packaged mabo curry to promote the game. Tales of Graces f was later re-released with a 15th anniversary cover art edition on August 4, 2011 and with PlayStation 3 The Best label in August 2, 2012.

A North American localization was hinted on Namco Bandai Games' facebook page by a puzzle on January 24, 2011. When solved, the puzzle reveals a URL to a distorted image which was restored on February 2, 2011 and reveals Tales of Graces f's localization for North America. On May 11, 2011, Namco officially announced the North American, EMEA and Asia-Pacific localization of Tales of Graces f. The text was translated by 8-4 while Cup of Tea Productions produced the dubbing. The North American localization was released on March 13, 2012. The EMEA and Asia-Pacific localization released on August 31, 2012 along with a day one special edition. The game was made available on the North American and European PlayStation Network in March 2013.