The trope of forgiving the villains [SPOILERS]

[Aoitenshi]

I've only played up to the desert city, but the theme for this game feels so cheesy.

There's a kidnapper who was this close to feeding you to a monster, and you just forgave him for no reason. Not to mention, since Hubert said that he would report him to the higher-ups as a threat, it implies that the incident was kept under wraps and he received no punishment whatsoever. This on top of him being cared for oh so attentively in the Lhant mansion's guest room with the "Oh my angel~♥" dialogue made me feel so disgusted.

Then there's an assassin who was this close to killing the crown prince. He wasn't given the finishing blow during the childhood arc, but I'll give it a benefit of doubt since they were probably too busy with rescuing Richard. But the fact that he managed to escape while evading capture just baffles me. In addition, everyone just left him alone because he was mentally ill? Can't someone at least detain him for attempted assassination and murder? There were one ex-cadet knight, one ex-knight, and one lieutenant from the foreign nation in that party ffs.

And the elephant in the room, the mad Richard. He already destroyed two of the only three power plants in the world, and the two nations that are already doomed somehow just decided to leave everything in the hands of someone whose first thoughts are: "He must have his reasons. Let's find out why he's doing this." Like, can't you think of how to catch him since he can fly and all, before thinking of how you should forgive him?

I can't believe they somehow managed to write a story that's even worse than Zestiria.

[MESeele]

Yup, it's utter trash.

When Richard makes the cocoon, it says all 3 states attacked with their armies and suffered massive casualties. Richard also sends a monster tide to invade all 3 states. Tons more die. This is never brought up again. Because it doesn't matter and the party does not care.

Then, during the final battle they play the sad music and the party weeps over the genocider. "If we don't kill you, everyone will die, but we won't kill you. It'll just work out...somehow" Then they play the happy triumphant music when every villain is somehow saved. "They saved the genociders! You're supposed to be happy now!" Asbel also never changes. He just goes from one kind of dumbass to another kind.

It's pretty typical Japanese writing to want to empathize with and 'save' villains. Disgaea does this a lot too. One of the villains in the series literally destroys almost every inhabited planet in the universe. In the *universe*. But hey, then they revealed he had a sad backstory kinda. This villain joins the party in the postgame.

Everyone the party likes gets a pass. No matter what. That the author artificially warps everything to make them right is frustrating. I know there are good Japanese writers. But games/anime/manga very often pull this crap.


edit: Noticed that you're not that far. Added spoiler tags. Just know that the nonsense only gets worse. Gameplay is one of the better in the series though.

[Aoitenshi]

Originally posted by MESeele:

Yup, it's utter trash.

It's pretty typical Japanese writing to want to empathize with and 'save' villains. Disgaea does this a lot too. One of the villains in the series literally destroys almost every inhabited planet in the universe. In the *universe*. But hey, then they revealed he had a sad backstory kinda. This villain joins the party in the postgame.

Everyone the party likes gets a pass. No matter what. That the author artificially warps everything to make them right is frustrating. I know there are good Japanese writers. But games/anime/manga very often pull this crap.

edit: Noticed that you're not that far. Added spoiler tags. Just know that the nonsense only gets worse. Gameplay is one of the better in the series though.

I already set my expectations low before I started playing, but somehow I'm still getting myself disappointed.

Usually, villains who already crossed the line would be killed off one way or another even without the heroes' intervention. The most common one I know is something like staying in a burning control room to let the heroes escape. The heroes are rewarded for showing mercy, and the villains still had to pay with their lives.

I guess this franchise has been going downhill after Abyss and Vesperia.

[Yami Houkai]

Originally posted by Aoitenshi:

I guess this franchise has been going downhill after Abyss and Vesperia.

Ah, there we have a double standard. Really, you blamed mad Richard for not being punished? Despite him being manipulated? Yet you bring Abyss and said its better? Luke destroyed the whole town and didn't got punished from it, the victim is not only military either like Richard, its got civilian victim too, its way worse. Luke situation was same like Richard, being manipulated. Also Anise who betrayed the party for being a spy, Ion got killed because of it, not being punished either. Even in Vesperia, Yuri literally forgive Sodia who did murder him and would success if its not because Duke saved him. Never mentioned about it to anyone, even to Flynn.

Its not this franchise has been going downhill. It just people like you being a jerk and have double standard. You won't diss a game you like even if it does the same thing like the one you dislike. And you are not playing for fun anymore, you are just trying to find any "problem" to diss the game with.

[Seisachtheia]

Graces has one of the worst stories and narratives I've played in this franchise, literally the only thing keeping me to the end is the combat, which is exceptionally good. Everything else though struggles to achieve a peak of mediocrity in its best moments. Characters have motivations and interactions that make no sense, there's practically no interesting chemistry between most of these guys, and the world and lore is...completely nonsensical. There is one big moment that could be cool and the party literally has zero reaction to it.

At the end of the day, Graces is a weird game to recommend to people. Recommend it for the combat? 100%. Recommend it for the story? Not even once.

[Aoitenshi]

Originally posted by Yami Houkai:

Ah, there we have a double standard. Really, you blamed mad Richard for not being punished? Despite him being manipulated? Yet you bring Abyss and said its better? Luke destroyed the whole town and didn't got punished from it, the victim is not only military either like Richard, its got civilian victim too, its way worse. Luke situation was same like Richard, being manipulated. Also Anise who betrayed the party for being a spy, Ion got killed because of it, not being punished either. Even in Vesperia, Yuri literally forgive Sodia who did murder him and would success if its not because Duke saved him. Never mentioned about it to anyone, even to Flynn.

I'm not even that far in the game yet. Also, you missed my point by a mile. What I'm having gripes about is the party's stance on Richard's actions. If you see your friend destroying a pillar that supports a whole building, would "Hey, why are you doing this?" be the first thing you do instead of stopping him?

My definition of 'punishment' also seems to slightly differ from yours. Instead of corporal punishment or getting tried on a court, it's more of the presence of guilt. Luke and Anise did what they thought was right, and still they showed extreme guilt when they realized their mistakes. (I don't remember how the scene with Sodia went, but Yuri probably wouldn't have minded if he died from that wound.)

Compare them to Cheria's kidnapper, Bryce, and a new contender: Hubert's father. He staged a coup, the party foiled his plans, and then... nothing. It seems he showed some regret, but he's probably just regretting the fact that he was caught red-handed. I suspect the game won't even address this anymore since that whole scene happened in a missable sidequest.

[Aoitenshi]

Originally posted by Seisachtheia:

At the end of the day, Graces is a weird game to recommend to people. Recommend it for the combat? 100%. Recommend it for the story? Not even once.

Agreed... I wish I can give a neutral review on Steam. If I have to choose, I'm more inclined to pick negative at the moment.