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Fantastic Addition to the Tales Series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 47 / 47
Date: October 11, 2006
Author: Amazon User

While the Tales series isn't nearly as big as other series (namely Final Fantasy), it's still a particularly fun and satisfying game to play. For one, the Tales series has always been able to bring about fantastic gameplay and expansive worlds. While the stories sometimes seem generic they're brilliantly told with fantastic characters. Tales of the Abyss is the latest in the series and needless to say, if you liked Tales of Legendia or even the far superior (and arguably best) Tales of Symphonia, you'll more than likely enjoy this game.

Tales of the Abyss follows Luke Von Fabre. A spoiled rich kid who is busy trying to regain his memories. He was kidnapped seven years ago and can't remember a thing from before then. He's cooped up in a manor, though, and is restricted from leaving. During a training session with his master Van, someone breaks into the manor and attempts to kill him. When Luke steps up to defend his master, the two are suddenly teleported to a different location. It would be pretty basic... if you didn't meet such entertaining characters along the way. Just the same, the dialog is really clever, witty and full of humor. Simply put, you'll have a ball with these characters as they go off and save the world. It overall makes what would've been a generic story very interesting. Not only that, but there are several plot twists. Many of which you won't see coming.

Needless to say it's pretty standard stuff that you'd find yourself getting into some battles. It is, after all, an RPG. Tales of the Abyss has the best battle system in the entire series. It's far more expansive and free.

Battles are pretty much free roam. It's much faster and more intense than turn based combat. At first it's pretty simple stuff. You control one character while the AI controls the other three. Usually in a game when the AI controls the characters it's not a good thing. In the Tales of the Abyss, it's not only a good thing, but easy to tweak with as well. You can change the settings if need be to the point where characters won't waste their tech points so fast, or maybe you want them to focus primarily on attacking all together. Either way, the AI works rather well for this game.

While in battle you can use artes. These are your characters special attacks and techs. You can also string them together all you want as you get further in the game. Characters have their own unique artes, and they have quite a bit of them. This makes battling rather fun. Another great aspect of Tales of the Abyss is that up to four people can play by using a multi-tap.

The game is not an easy game, however. Many boss battles are a pain and even some normal battles can throw you for a loop. Even if you feel you're not being challenged enough, you can change the difficulty level whenever you want. Upon completing the game once even more difficulty levels are unlocked.

Everything about the battle system is pretty simple stuff. There is first the field of fonons. Fonons are the elemental factors at work. When a character cast a spell of a certain fonon a field will appear where the spell struck. Characters can then use these field of fonons for certain artes to perform a much more devastating attack.

There are also Capacity Cores for your characters. You can equip them to certain artes and abilities go to work. For example, you can power up an arte, or make it cost less MP. Some will even allow you to steal or make the effects of certain status artes last longer.

Perhaps the best part about Tales of the Abyss is that it's overall a huge game. Almost everywhere you go is filled with secrets. The main quest alone will keep you busy for hours. Even when it comes to secrets, you'll have to play through the game a second time to unearth them all. This easily makes the game over 100 hours long in and of itself. Tales of the Abyss is filled with as many secrets as any Final Fantasy game.

The voice acting is fantastic. It's lively, full of heart. Even the moments where it's not to the best of it's abilities, the voice acting is good. A lot of the music in Tales of the Abyss is forgettable. Battle themes are really good and catchy, but on the field there's nothing you'll be humming any time soon.

I wish I could tell you the graphics were absolutely fantastic. They're not, unfortunately. Many of the environments are vague. When playing on an HD television the games rougher edges really come out. For a late generation PS2 RPG, Tales of the Abyss is just not pretty to look at. The load times between battles are also very annoying.

At the very least, however, Tales of the Abyss is an exciting RPG filled with secrets, side quests, and tons of likeable characters. Any RPGer would be proud to have it.

The Good

+The characters really bring the story to life. The story itself is basic, but with these characters it become interesting
+The battle system is fast and addictive with lots of interesting aspects
+Great voice acting
+Great dialog and sense of humor

The Bad

-Horrendous Load times
-Some of the graphics could use a touch up
-Battle themes are good, but the rest of the soundtrack is forgettable

A brilliant (and fun!) role-playing adventure...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 26 / 30
Date: October 19, 2006
Author: Amazon User

First, let me say that I bought this game without being very familiar with the TALES series. While I had read good things about the series, it was really by chance that I stumbled across it on GameSpot, read the review there, took a look at the screenshots, and decided that I wanted to give this game a spin.

And boy, I'm glad I did! The first thing I noticed about TALES OF THE ABYSS was that its graphics, while not comprised of fancy 3D renders or polygonal-cell shaded-whatchamacallits, are really attractive. From the opening cutscene through countless hours of the game so far, I have been impressed by the way the game, as a whole, looks. Each area you visit is carefully drawn and portayed, making each location bear its own ambience and flair. While none of it is "cutting edge" per se, it works very well with the characters and overall feel of this game.

Having said that, to appreciate how well the graphics work with the rest of the game, you have to get to know the characters. Indeed, it's Luke, Tear, Jade, and the rest of the gang that make TALES OF THE ABYSS the smashing success that it is. From the first scenes with in Baticul, it becomes clear that Luke's attitude is as harsh as it is humorous. The protagonist's interactions with other characters, especially the mysterious Tear and the witty Jade, are simply fantastic. I've chuckled many times after hearing and reading some of the very clever dialogue between characters.

The story itself may occasionally leave something to be desired, but can (overall) be overlooked because of the game's high points. Save a few semi-confusing moments, nothing is "bad" about the story -- it's just not particularly inventive or distinctive. Still, the uniqueness that each character brings to the story and their mutual interactions more than makes up for any faults that the plot may have.

Aside from the main story, I was very happy to find that many optional sidequests have been included in the game. I must admit, one would be hard-pressed to complete all of them on the first playthrough, and that adds *significant* replay value where there was already plenty. Some of the sidequests require more prior knowledge than others (e.g., buying items at a specific time in anticipation of handing them over before a certain later event happens), and you'll find yourself doing some of the extras without even being aware of it (e.g., talk to a certain person somewhere and you might start a sidequest you didn't expect).

Lastly, the sound quality is excellent and the voice acting is terrific. Given the game's very witty dialogue, full of quips, jabs, and clever phrasing, demands great voice acting, and the developers have delivered on that. More than many other games on the market, you'll find yourself actually caring about what these characters are saying and anticipating the next laugh as one character pokes fun of another.

As a side note, I was really happy and surprised to see the story advanced with both voice acting in regular scenes and in text-only "face chats" as well. These "face chats" are optional, and can be viewed by pressing the Select button when prompted. All told, they do a great job of helping to advance the story while showing the gamer some of the characters' feelings and interactions with one another. Combined with the voice acting in regular scenes, this text-only venue is a good change of pace, as you get to read the text and see characters' expressions in their manga-like portraits at the same time.

Overall, TALES OF THE ABYSS may be in a world of its own when compared to blockbusters like the upcoming FFXII, but it deserves a world of credit for what it accomplishes. Truly outstanding voice acting, a refreshingly well-written script, very long playtime, and high replay value are just a few of the benefits that this game has to offer. Very highly recommended.

Summary:

Wonderful voice acting, great script, and appropriately-designed graphics make this game a true hit. They more than make up for the story, which is (for the most part) interesting but not really novel or original. Story is advanced both through regular scenes and optional "face chats" that display character portraits and dialogue in the form of text. Tons of sidequests and an innately long playtime will keep you busy for 40 hours or more, and chances are you'll be itching to play again to see what you might have missed the first time around.

An OK game, though mediocre in many aspects

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 7 / 13
Date: January 07, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Having bought "Tales of the Abyss" before my trip to Europe, and then played in earnest after my return, I have to say that while the game has some interesting twists and turns, it's really justa mediocre game.

Let's start with the good. The selling point of the "Tales" series has always been the battle element, and this game is no different. Eliminating the random encounter aspect found in "Legendia" (which was incredibly frustrating, with the high rate of encounter), in "Abyss", you can see your attackers at all times, and avoid battle if desired. Should an enemy hit you from behind, you will be surprised, although it is hardly devastating (basically, you simply start with the other members in your party fighting, but there are few other penalties). Battle itself remains the same . you move your character into position to attack, and can guard attacks or set up combos, etc. I have to disagree with the other reviewers here - I found the "field of fonons" aspect incredibly tiresome (manoeuvering characters into the circles, half of which need to be energized, to get a special attack that does scant more than your regular attack would have done), and hardly worth the effort. However, the "Mystic Arts" were a nice touch, and pretty easy to pull off in general.

Unfortunately, this is where the good ends. That's not necessarily a bad thing - RPG's are chock full of battles, so it's nice that they are an attraction rather than a side event (or more probably, a drag). However, the story is blah (I'm pretty sure this same story has been the base for every "Tales" game I've played, since "ToD 2" for the playstation. The grapics are really bad (surprising, since this is one of the advertised features on the back of the game). I'm not much for disqualifying a game based on graphics, and I don't here, but we're in 2006 - let's get out of 2001. The backgrounds are horrible, there is no depth (that silly "mist" feature, so prevalent in the Dynasty Warriors games, rears its ugly head here), and the character designs are uninspired. The skits are more annoying than ever - it is incredible that the characters move their mouths, yet still no sound comes out. Moreover, you can't simply skip through individual speaking (you can skip an entire skit, but you can't hurry them along, basically), and they take an inordinate amount of time. The gameplay is incredibly linear, and a few sidequests can't change this fact. And all of it drives toward an ending which is ho-hum, at best.

So, there you have it. The battle sequences remain fun, but as always, if an RPG is depending on battles to give it meaning, it has problems...

Any RPG fan will enjoy

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: November 09, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Tales of the Abyss expands on Symphonia's solid gameplay system and brings back the multiplayer aspect Legendia was missing. While there isn't much original about the overall plot, the characters (as usual) are what make the story so compelling. Between wanting to find out more about the members of your party and enjoying every moment of the real-time battles, TotA keeps you coming back for more.

Absolutely recommended for anyone who's played part of the Tales series before, as well as RPG fans and action game fans, thanks to the fast and furious combat. Abyss will give you hours and hours of enjoyment.

RPG Game for Non-Gamers

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: July 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm not normally a person who plays videogames, and hardly one who likes RPGs. I usually start them and leave them halfway because I lose interest. I picked this game up on a whim, since I had heard a lot of good things about it. I wasn't expecting much, but Tales of the Abyss consistently kept me interested and on the edge of my seat. The battle system is extremely fun, the story is very engaging and heartfelt, and the cast is full of colorful and complex characters. Even for someone who gets tired of games quickly, I never got tired of this one. I recommend it highly, even if you aren't someone who likes games that much like myself.

Good game, mirred by flaws. Isn't that always the case?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I bought a PS3 as a Christmas present for myself a few months back, and I've been on a mad dash to buy all of the RPGs I missed (I had sold my PS2 way back in 2004 and never bought it back). I picked this up since it appeared to be a good game.

I'll be honest...at first I wasn't happy with what I saw. I found the game dry and bereft of fun factor. So I stopped playing it for a while. Plus there were other games that caught my interest.

I went back and for some reason I stuck it out. I'm glad I did. This is a very well put together game. It's not a legendary great by any means, but it's well deserving of a play through.

The good:

- Graphics are smooth at parts, great anime scenes.
- Character development is top notch. This is probably the best feature of the game. Every character has a very deep story behind them, and as you go through the game you'll be exposed to more and more.
- Story starts out very slow and bland, but as you progress you'll see that there's a very deep story behind the game. This is consistent with Tales games in particular.
- Ultimate weapons can be bought from stores very early in the game. Nice touch.
- Apparently there is New Game +. I haven't gotten that far yet but that's what I've heard.

Now, the bad:
- Not all graphics are great, and on an LCD this has never been more true. Some scenes have jaggies galore.
- The music isn't memorable whatsoever. Unfortunate since everything else in the game is.
- Loading. The game does a small load every time you advance text. It's not bad or anything, just curious since this is well into the PS2's development lifecycle, you would think they would have learned to slipstream or preload properly to avoid this. It's just irritating (to me) to hear my PS3 load every time I advance game text. Minor annoyance.
- Some boss fights are ridiculous. Like one fight I was doing fine, doing major damage, and then all of a sudden the boss released some attack that killed Luke. One hit. And I was OVERleveled with an ultimate weapon.
- Ion, one of the key characters in the game, is not subject to the same great character development as the others. Ion feels like a doll compared to the rest; his voice actor is terrible, the character is boring and it's a shame considering he is such an important character in the game.

Do I recommend it? Yes. But don't go in expecting some legendary experience. You have to be "open to its charm".

avoid this game if you go to college!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 12
Date: November 02, 2006
Author: Amazon User

it's a great rpg game

it's a see it to believe it type of thing so if you like rpg games BUY IT DAMNIT

but if you go to college... stay away from it or you might lose focus in your school work.

Best yet in the series.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: April 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is terrific, perhaps some of the most significant upgrades in the mechanics system (as opposed to Tales of Symphonia)are the free run skill (which allows your character to traverse the battlefield in 3D as opposed to back and forth), and the change in the learning of other skills.

In Tales of Symphonia, skills were based on equipping specific little gems, but because so many skills were better than the other sets for a given character, many skills went unused. The Capacity Core system makes it so that in getting the big skills, you get all the little ones too, making for better combat overall. Also, equipping costumes won't kill your stat growth in this iteration of the "Tales of" series.

Lastly, it is very important to either have a walkthrough from online, or buy a guide, and to play with one or more friends. The "Tales of" series can be kind of boring alone, but with one or two friends, the games are just plain terrific. I'd give this game an A+

What's the story on the story?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: July 07, 2008
Author: Amazon User

After quitting this game in disgust, I later picked up it to become entirely engrossed. What happened?
I started this game off with high hopes, as my first foray into the Tales of series, and found myself dumping the game about a third of the way into it. I'm very sensitive to poor acting, and the voice actors are utterly intolerable in this game. There really is no reason for Saturday morning cartoon-level acting like this. It cheapens the emotion impact of the dialogue and is offensive to players with matured taste in drama and narrative.
As the story progressed, I had no issue with the system or combat engine, it's nothing shockingly new, but I found it solid and enjoyable. The auto feature is fairly nice for money and EXP farming purposes. However, I was extremely disappointed with the main character--he seems intolerable. I also found the written dialogue slightly more than "kiddy fare" and was extremely tempted to buy the import to see if it was any less inane in Japanese than English. I frequently will give a game a break if I find it suffers from shabby translation, but in this case I didn't feel like spending the cash, and set the game aside where it sat on my shelf. I was extremely disappointed after having been so fascinated by the character designs and the game play.

However, I picked it up an honest year later and simply just fell in love. After a while, the character developement speeds along and you end up with a drastically different person on your hands than you started with. The rest of the cast fleshes out equally well and eventually become amusing and endearing. The world may not be as deep or complex as some more infamous RPG titles, but it's a fun ride most of the way through. The dialouge gets a mite less 4th-grade-reading-level, but I would qualify my recommendation by saying it never fully approaches an adult or mature level of sophistication. But for the range it aims at, it's awfully fun. You just have to tough it out for a good half of the way before you realize you've got a little gem on your hands.

Most folks, even RPG nuts, aren't going to want to do that, though.

And for the record, the Japanese spoken dialogue is a little corny, too. I'm playing through in Japanese and enjoying myself immensely. Luke sounds a little too fruity for his own good... go have a listen on YouTube.

A little old but very good!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: August 08, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I picked up this game for 30 bucks at a Gamestop in the mall. At first I had my doubts but I was surprised. Let's get started.

I'll start by looking at different factors of the game and grading them.

Gameplay: 8/10

The gameplay for Tales of the Abyss is exceptionally fun and pretty easy to learn. You are not stuck with using any characters as long as you have them in your party, with only a couple of story-triggered exceptions.

I was not used to the new battle system but even so, it didn't take long to master. You can control your allies in battle, what they should do, and if you're worried, you can just make them do whatever you want them to, regardless. You can also change the battle formation of your characters. It's easy to assign Strike Artes as Luke for the controls and easy to actually execute them.

Story: 10/10

This story is full of excitement, a little romance, drama and mysteries, not to mention interesting characters. There was not a moment that I can remember being bored while playing this game. A lot is resolved during the game's plot and if not, replaying the game and doing a sidequest might answer any unsolved questions the player might have.

Graphics: 7/10

For a 2005 game, this game is not bad. The graphics are not horrible but they are not formidable with say Tales of Vesperia. The graphics are more realistic than Tales of Symphonia's graphics, which is something that I liked. I often saw blurry blades of grass and textures of trees while playing the game that disappointed me but as I said, this is a game published in the year 2005 and developed even earlier than that. The graphics are decent and allow you to enjoy the game.

Music: 8/10
Well, I love a couple of the epic instrumentals this game has and I love "Karma" by Bump of Chicken and its many versions. Other than that, though, there is nothing too exceptional about Tales of the Abyss's sound track.

Voice Acting: 9/10
The English voiceacting was very well done, in my opinion. I give it a 9/10 because there is always room for improvement but everyone had a remarkably good voice that suited their roles. I found myself searching for voice acted cutscenes on purpose. I usually don't like English voices but even Mieu won me over.

Replay Value: 9/10
There are many sidequests, I have heard, for this game. I have also seen people play this game as many as 5 times. That speaks for itself.

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