The character models are all cleanly crafted and pleasantly designed. There isn't as much detail as you might see in a Square Enix game, but the style doesn't really call for it. Clipping rarely occurs, and character movements are clean and natural, if slightly limited. Facial expressions, both in-game and in the skits (As seen in previous Tales games, skits are optional character dialogue scenes), are also well done.The battle system's controls are responsive and intuitive which is the important thing. Abyss is most certainly a game, not a movie.the real pull of the Tales series is the real-time battle system, and Abyss gives us another fast-paced, fun entry in this regard. It's not the same old hat, though, as this is the first of the series to have the "free roam" ability; that is, your characters can run around the entire battlefield instead of the 2D line they were stuck to in previous outings. Of course, if you want to still play in a line, you can; the ability to run around is an "AD" skill that you can choose to ignore, or even turn off if you like. Characters gradually gain a variety of AD skills through natural leveling up. These range from things like free roam to additional combo strikes, random stat boosts, and the ability to go into Overlimit (more on that in a bit). Your characters' actual sword techniques, magic, and the like are called "Artes" (with a silent "e"). Most of these are gained by leveling and usage, although there are some powerful ones that have to be gained through sidequests. Like previous Tales games, you link a number of them to your control pad buttons, and can short-cut some of the moves of your other characters to the one you're playing as well, to command them on the spot (or just use the command spots to hot-link more moves for the character in use). Eventually in the game you're given access to FSCs, which you can link to skills for random bonus effects like increased damage and lower TP costs. Another new feature in-battle are Fields of Fonons: colored circles that appear on the ground after an elemental spell or technique has been used on a particular spot. If it's powered up enough, and you use the right Arte while standing in one, the Arte changes to a more powerful one. Artes can also lead to Mystic Artes. I mentioned the concept of the Overlimit before; basically, each character has a bar that raises as they inflict damage on foes. When it's full, Overlimit can be activated- giving your character a brief time of increased stats. If you hit the X button after initiating an Arte while in Overlimit mode, your character will do a Mystic Arte, a unique, powerful, flashy attack. Using a Mystic Arte is also a good way to get some extra grade in battle (grade is earned or taken away for various accomplishments or inaptitude in battle; you can use it to carry over various things or create new challenges in a second playthrough when you've completed the game).Recipes are collected through sidequests or just found sitting on tables. They can heal you as well give stat bonuses for your next battle. Capacity Cores can be attached to your characters to change their stat growth. You can't buy them anywhere (at least not in your first playthrough), but late in the game some can be made at a particular store that creates items for a low cost in exchange for resources that can be found primarily at Search Points (beams of light scattered throughout the world).the in-game music is always appropriate for the scene, and matches the art style of the game well. Much of it sticks with you after you're done playing, and in a pleasant way. There's a large quantity of tracks in this game, so there isn't anything that annoys you by being overused. In fact, it's definitely the sort of soundtrack you can enjoy without having played the game. Overall, the voice acting in the game is well done.Once again, none of the skits are voiced in the English version, even though all of them were voiced in the Japanese version. When I first watched the opening movie, I could feel the lack of lyrics in the song, even though I hadn't heard it or anything about it before, and sure enough, it is a lyrical song in the Japanese version. The instrumental version we've gotten instead is very nice in its own right, however.About 70+ hours after my hesitant start into this title, the game was drawing to an end. When I had begun, I was questioning whether I really wanted to play through the whole thing, but as the final battle was set before me, I found myself trying to find ways to draw it out so that it wouldn't be over so soon. Of course, there's quite a few nice treats and challenges that can only be found in the second playthrough, but I still didn't want my first outing to end. After a rocky start, Tales of the Abyss proved to be a truly enjoyable game; possibly the best in the series so far, and a contender in my book for game of the year.
Most fans of the Tales of series consider Symphonia to be the best out of all the entries into Namco's long running RPG series. But that should not deter you from playing the other games. Tales of the Abyss is one of t... Read Full Review
This is one of the best tales game ever! My friend was right about this being a combo (sort of) of Tales of symhponia and tales of legendia! this game has symphonia's superb gameplay and has legendia's excellent charcter... Read Full Review
