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Great Update to the Tales game series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 02, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I am a fan of the Tales series (tales of Symphonia on GC) and this is a great update to the series. The battle system is the first great update. In the GC game you were only able to focus on one player at a time, even though most of the time you play with a team of four and its a 2 player game. In Abyss the camera pans to the players that you are using, not just Player one. The fighting controls are basically the same but elements are added in this game such as Fire and Wind. Abilities are upgradeable also. Beyond the battle system, the storyline is a bit confusing and hard to follow at first, (kind of like the Harry Potter series if you only saw the movies) but the more you learn the easier it gets. The CG animation are worth the effort of getting though the game and the games' characters are complex, fun and interesting.
This is a must have for any RPG fan, young and old. You will enjoy it more with 2 players. Great game.

Tales of the Abyss

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 12, 2008
Author: Amazon User

"Tales of the Abyss" is another game in the series for the PlayStation 2, made by those who made "Tales of Symphonia".

Because of that, it shares many similarites to that in how it plays. The game is all in 3D, and you're able to move in 3D on the battlefield. This adds a lot to the game, but also makes it a little easier as well, as it's not a difficult task to just go around an enemy. The game also introduces things like FOFs that make fighting a very fun experience to just mix and match you attacks and make combos. There are also various difficulty modes that can be switched to make the game either harder for those that want a challenge.

There's a large amount of voice acting in the game, tons of sidequests, and the story is nice as well with interesting characters. The game lasts about 50 hours overall, and when you consider the sideusts the game could easily reach pretty close to 100 hours. Overall this is my favorite of all the games in the series released in North America.

If you like Tales you'll like this

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

With Tales of Legendia being a disappointment to many, this game was a return to form for the Tales of Series. If you liked Tales of Symphonia, everything will be familiar: the art style, music, and gameplay that made many new fans of the series. Interestingly, the games protagonist is the prince of a Kingdom who due to a kidnapping when he was young has been kept inside the palace with only a servant as company. The game really begins when there is a attack on the palace and he and one of the attackers are teleported faraway and are forced to rely on each other to make it back home.

Another great game from Namco Tales Studios!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 20, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Tales of the Abyss came in October 2006. Even though I started with the Japanese version, I was NOT disappointed with the english version. Here's what I thought about it.

First of all, the music in this game is great! The first thing you notice is that the localization team KEPT the opening song for the game, karma. This is the first in the series, as the other Tales games brought to the US have had the opening songs chagned to something not as good. The song karma is remixed several times withing the game. It shows up in several scenes, and it's also a battle theme at one point.

The gameplay is excellent. The battle system used is the Free Run Linear Motion Battle System (FR-LMBS). After playing this game, it's kinda hard going back to other games since you don't have the option of traveling anywhere you want across the battlefield. Of course some people say that this makes the game easy. Well, Free Run is an AD skill, and AD skills can be TURNED OFF! So if you don't like free run, then you can simply turn it off. Spells and techs are good, and we even got a few more Mystic Artes than the Japanese version did. That's a first AND a plus!

The story has a little bit of everything: politics, religion, science, prince and princesses, world destruction. I want to say what doesn't this game have? The story starts of kinda slow, but if you give it time it will pick up and become very exciting.

The characters are so far, one of the best. Luke is a bitchy little aristocrat who doesn't know anything about the world around him, but that changes throughout the progress of the game. Tear, a soldier who wants to kill her brother, but has a soft side to cute things (as do i ^^;). Guy, Luke's servent (hehe) and has a phobia of women. Jade, the best sarcastic colonel ever. Anise, a money loving girl who wants to marry a nobleman. And finally Natalia, a princess who wants to fight. I can't say anymore without spoiling it for you.

Overall, this is an EXCELLENT game! One you should definitley pick up. I give it a 5/5.

Tales of the Abyss: an excellent game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 30, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Tales of the Abyss is exactly what the Tales series needed to boost its brand name popularity in America. A unique, innovative battle system combines with hours of memorable gameplay to create a wonderful experience, enhanced by the New Game Plus features available should the player choose to play the game more than once.

Although the graphics may initially put off gamers who prefer the more smooth, photorealistic look of the Final Fantasy games, the backgrounds are remarkably in-depth and fun to look at, and the characters, while more based in an "anime-style" look in the Tales tradition, are incredibly expressive. It's not the best-looking game out there, but it's pleasing to look at as you wander through the myriad dungeons and towns as the plot unfurls.

And what a plot to unfurl! Tales of the Abyss has a complex, moving plot driven by incredibly human characters who make mistakes and suffer the consequences but are also capable of breathtaking moments of heroism and bravery at the hands of the player.

I'll admit, though, I'm biased towards this game because of the battle system. Once the Free Run battle skill is learned (within the first few battles), it becomes a three-dimensional, real-time battle that's easy to pick up and fun to play in. Plus, with multiple difficulty levels and three AI settings for character control (Manual, Semi-Auto, and Auto), the player can customize the game for their own personal comfort or challenge.

If you're a fan of meaty plots with plenty of comedy and tragedy mixed together expertly and well-localized (or if you're just a fan of real-time battle systems), try Tales of the Abyss. You won't regret it.

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