Exactly how does Tales of Graces f break immersion using its low-altitude flight? Well, simply put, it separates the world and the character. Because the characters decide to glide rather than walk, it's almost as if the characters don't really exist in the world. I mean, if they were part of it, wouldn't the science and physics of the world apply? Clearly that's not the case if they can glide. On the other hand, if they were some deity of a sort then I wouldn't nitpick Graces but it isn't. I just can't feel attached to the character and the world of Graces if the characters aren't even attached to the world, quite literally. Contact with the ground that the characters walk on is absolutely important when trying to keep the world and its mythos consistent. For Tales of Graces f, by having characters that walk on air rather than touching the ground, it's hard to take the game too serious.
I don't want to nag on Tales of Graces f for too long. It's fitting then that I bash on another JRPG, one that has received numerous praise from various websites: Xenoblade Chronicles. Xenoblade's world is phenomenal, full of life and bustling with grace. The contrast between poor movement of characters and the brilliant world crafted in Xenoblade is hilarious as a result. How does Xenoblade's experience suffer as a result? To put simply it shatters the realism of the world.
The world is fabulous and can be described as a vibrant work of art captured in 3-D. The feelings I have for Xenoblade's world is synonymous to Journey. Both games have hauntingly beautiful worlds and I hold them in high regard. Then what's the difference between these two games? While Journey's character movement tied the world and the character together creating an even greater sense of artistic beauty, Xenoblade suffers because of it. Due to the somewhat odd gliding movement, Xenoblade's world feels distant and surreal, not for the better. Think of it as a masterful painting. It's perfect as it is. Then someone adds something to the painting to make it worse rather than making it better. This is exactly what happened in Xenoblade.
Xenoblade and Tales of Graces f are only two examples where the game suffers for its crappy movement. It really stinks due to how amazing these two games are. I hold both games in high esteem due to its entertainment value. Unfortunately, it's hard for me to get over these small details that marr them. Perhaps it's the laziness of the developers or this was intentionally done so the game controls better. Regardless of the reason, I feel that developers shouldn't equip characters with Hover Boots. Just keep it to Zelda please.
Hover boots. Do you guys remember them? I do. For those of you who don't know, Hover Boots were an equipable item that Link can find in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was quite nifty as you could glide across large gaps of open space without fear of falling down. This was most useful in the Shadow Temple. The animation was quite slick and you could distinctly tell if you were gliding or not since the walking animation made it seem like your feet made contact with the ground.
So why did I bring up hover boots? Well, this time on nitpick I would like to discuss games where characters don't really walk but moreso glide, much like the Link who wears Hover Boots. It's an awkward notion if you think about why characters would glide across the ground rather than walking on it. Why would a game developer design the character and the world in a way that clearly segregates the two important aspects of the game? After all, if a player glides rather than walking on the ground, it breaks that sense of immersion giving it a poorly crafted gaming feel. It sounds rather harsh to say it this way but the fact remains it's mostly true.
What games am I talking about where characters hover, glide, etc rather than walking? Well, I'd hate to nag on Tales of Grace f any more than I already have but it's a bag full of examples where gaming finesse is just lacking altogether. I won't go into details why the game acts like so since it might've been the limitations of the hardware it's designed for. Tales of Graces f has gliding characters for both good or bad. By creating characters where they can glide rather than walking, the controls are much more tight. If you want someone to go one direction from another then the game responds immediately. Since movement is simultaneous due to glidy characters, there is no motion needed for characters to turn or have the ground work against them. It's quite nice.
While it's convenient for Tales of Graces f, I believe that these flying characters work to the world's detriment. I spoke earlier of immersion breaking. This is a concept that becomes more and more apparent as games become more complex. Think back a few decades ago where games were just pure entertainment with no concern for consistency. The only thing that mattered were gameplay mechanics. Now they've become so much more such as they include a great set of musical tracks, excellent voice acting, impressive technical graphics, a narrative that dazzles, and more. All of these greatly enhances the entertainment experience that video games have to offer. Because experience is such an important factor when dictating whether a game is good, if anything breaks it, it's hard to let it go.
