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55 of 55 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fantastic Addition to the Tales Series, October 10, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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
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31 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A brilliant (and fun!) role-playing adventure..., October 18, 2006
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
RPG Game for Non-Gamers, July 12, 2007
Fun:5.0 out of 5 stars
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.
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