After playing Tales of Graces F Remastered I learned that Sophie does have a proper last name, so there was no reason for '100 Waifus' to invent one for her: Lhant. Sophie is one of my 100 waifus, one of the main characters of the whole story. Having her proper last name influences the entire rest of the book, and besides, it's ludicrously disrespectful to someone who's supposed to be Christopher's most important person to not even call her by her proper name. Therefore the book absolutely required an additional edit, even though I said the book was finished. I'd rather get this name right and break my promise than leave such a horrible sin against Sophie in stone and keep my promise.
Still, changing the last name of a character is an almost invisible edit with no change to any of the content of the story, so an edit like this shouldn't impact the reader in any way. I still consider the book complete and my last editing session to have been in 2024.
The reason Sophie's last name is so obscure is she doesn't pick it up until the bonus content after the main Tales of Graces game is already over. It's easy to overlook a detail like that, especially when I played the game decades ago and can't be expected to remember every detail perfectly after such a long time.
Improving '100 Waifus' was the most important benefit to replaying Graces after all this time, but it was also nice in a lot of other ways. I got to reaffirm in my heart, yet again, that Cheria and Sophie really are deserving of the title of 'waifu.' Both of them were exquisitely beautiful and endearing throughout the game. I got to hear their true, Japanese voices, this time, and they were perfect. Especially Kana Hanazawa as Sophie, I could listen to her forever. It was also made clear that Cheria and Sophie love Asbel with all their heart and soul, steadfastly, across endless gulfs of time. Those are the sorts of relationships I wanted Christopher to inherit in the book. It's one thing for a girl to be attractive, it's another for the girl to truly love you, to be trustworthy. Attractive but unattainable girls are worthless. Sophie and Cheria are attractive and attainable. They're the best relationship imaginable.
I feel like the romance was the best part of the game, and everything else hardly mattered. It's a surprisingly small world, with only three zones. The world map is tiny and easily traversed in a few hours of gameplay. Also, not many events actually occur across the plot. Basically Richard is possessed by Lambda, an evil alien, at the start of the game. Richard begins a plot to destroy the world that involves stealing all the 'eleth' from various crystals and eventually the world's core. The party of heroes goes around trying to stop Richard and eventually succeeds at the last moment (after failing to stop him the first three times). That's it. That's really the entire plot. The simplistic plot and setting are all just an excuse to feature cute and funny and heartwarming moments between Asbel, Sophie and Cheria. The stage upon which the character interactions, the dialogue is created.
The game qua game isn't even that good. The combat mechanics are extremely frustrating, with the enemy always having the advantage over you. The AI doesn't dodge enemy attacks at all well, meaning they're always dead, leaving you to have to handle everything yourself. There are entirely too many puzzles that waste way too much time in every dungeon. The loot from dungeons is always underwhelming. It's possible to go great stretches of the game without getting any upgrades. In terms of straight gameplay I far prefer Metaphor Refantasio.
The reason Tales of Graces is so beloved, to the point that they remastered it for the PS5 so people could buy it all over again, is the over 400 skits where beautifully drawn characters banter with each other about anything and everything. It's the various cutscenes and anime movie sequences where people show off how cool they are. It's the beautiful music that captures the environment of each zone perfectly. It's the ability to dress up Cheria and Sophie in a multitude of costumes which show up during all the cutscenes so can be fully appreciated.
Tales of 'X', which includes all the Tales games, is my 4th favorite video game franchise listed in my hall of fame. But I'd say about 1/3 of Tales' total value is to be found in Tales of Graces. Another 1/3 is in Tales of Xillia. And all the other games combined make up the final 1/3. Tales of Graces features some of the most lovable people in all fiction, so that 4th place ranking is deserved.
It's strange, but every time I re-explore an old story with one of the 100 waifus in it, I always come to the conclusion that they really are that great. That they do deserve to be the most revered maidens in history. All the Pretty Cure seasons I rewatched gave me that same feeling, of pure awe. Playing FF7 Remake and Rebirth made me feel that way about Aerith and Tifa too. (I first published the book in 2019, before Remake or Rebirth had been released, based entirely on my feelings for them from the original game.) Rewatching Utawarerumono, Da Capo, Zero no Tsukaima and Shakugan no Shana, it was the same. When I got to play FF8 Remastered I fell in love with Rinoa all over again. (Again, the book was published before the Remaster came out.) When I got to read new books featuring Ai Hinatsuru and Nadeko Sengoku, they continuously became more brilliant and wonderful people just like I imagined them to be. Sakura's love for Syaoran featured in Clear Card-hen, written after my book was published, showed I wasn't wrong about her. My faith in every character is always repaid. It's like a divine hand was guiding my initial decision to feature these exact 100 girls, because the future continuously vindicated them in ways I shouldn't have known were coming. So while I can make small mistakes like Sophie's last name, I've never made a big mistake like not including Sophie. The core concept of '100 Waifus' has always been unshakable.
Two more games have already arrived in the mail, so I'll try out Dynasty Warriors Origins next, and save Phantom Brave Lost Hero for later. One way or another 2025 isn't going to have a dull moment.
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