Tales of the Abyss (PS2)

Reviewed by Kit

Almost posted this late. The reason, I've spent all day on my new computer. I love my laptop. It's cute, it's convenient, and it's pretty damn powerful for a lappy. However, it's also very cranky. It hates most things I want to run on it now, and if it is able to run the games, then it will overheat quickly. But new compy has been custom built to suit my uber gaming needs :D. And so I've spent the day playing games that lappy has rejected. That stated, let's do this review :D

Story: You take the role of Luke von Fabre, an incredibly spoiled and obnoxious heir to the throne. Seven years ago he was kidnapped and has no memory of the time prior to his recovery. Since being rescued, he's never been allowed to leave his mansion. His only interactions are with his parents, the Princess Natalia, his servant Guy, and his swordsmaster Van. One day while practicing swordsplay (i.e. tutorial) a young woman shows up attempting to kills Master Van. Luke steps in, and something happens. The girl and Luke are both teleported away. The game focuses on musical resonances and harmonies, which explains how this happens, but I don't think I could do it justice. Anyhow, you learn that you are not in your own kingdom, but a neighboring kingdom that is trying to make a peace treaty before war breaks out. There is much much more to the story, of course, but this is the superficial layer that you are presented with, and all I'm willing to tell you about. Sure, the story is somewhat trite, but it's entertaining. And the characters are extremely well developed. Even Luke, who is an obnoxious brat, is somewhat loveable. The story also has some obvious moments where you want to beat the characters and go, how can you not see this. But since it usually happen to Luke, who is a naive twit, it's understandable. Anyway, good story, great characters. 5/5

Audio: The music is pretty good. Like most of the Tales games, they do a great job of suiting the mood. The voices are also well done. The voice actors are just that, professional voice actors. You'd probably even recognize a few offhand. They do a good job of conveying the characters. I think everyone who speaks suits their personality well. 4/5

Graphics: The graphics are very well done. There are occasionally anime cutscenes, that shine well. The regular graphics are also fairly nice. Smooth and well colored. This is a good place to mention the biggest problem I've had with the game, and that would be lag. Primarily it's on any transition to the world map. I think perhaps they over detailed it. It's very annoying because it occurs after every battle. There are some places that are worse than others, but I've fought stuff before and held my breath because I was afraid it had frozen up on me. I haven't had any freezing issues, but the load times are somethign to be wary of. Because of that, we'll lower the graphics score. 3/5

Gameplay: There is a lot to talk about in this. Let's start with travelling. You walk around on a world map going from city to dungeon, etc. Monsters are always visible before an encounter, so you may avoid them as you see fit. In dungeons there is a limited number of monsters per room, and if you kill them all you'll have to leave the room and come back to fight them again. Battles are set on a 3D field, similar to the one in Tales of Symphonia. Attacks use the X button, and you can change what type of attack by hitting the L-stick. Special attacks are linked to the O button. And again, those can be changed by the L-stick. New to the series are the FOF (fields of fonons) which are elemental circles that appear after elemental attacks. Certain special abilities will alter if you are inside these circles when you're using them. Also new is the customization of skills. This is not the combining skills for new ones, thoguh that's still around. When you get certain items, you can equip them to your skills to increase dmg, lower TP cost, raise efficiency, lower casting time, etc. You can only equip one onto a skill at a time, but as you use the skill with it equipped this ability levels. Another customization is the discs which you equip to your characters. They will do extra boosting to at least one of the six main stats are you character levels. All the boosted stats will remain as you switch around discs. Finally, there are the skits which show up and add, if not plot, then at least development to the game. There are 422 of these, and you can watch them by selecting the Select button as they appear. One problem with these is they seem like there should be sound, but there isn't. So you watch them but can not speed them up. If you're a fast reader, then prepare to want to hit the characters to make them talk faster. Overall, the gameplay is well executed, and it's fairly simple to pick up. 5/5

Replay: With different customization you might want to replay things, also there is plus games bonuses. Still, the plot isn't going to alter, so there's no real reason for replay. 3/5

Overall: Overall, this is a great game. I played 5 hours, and instantly loved it. From Luke's annoying attitude to his pet's desperation to please, the game is just something to enjoy. The characters are incredibly well done. I feel like they have personalities, histories, stories. And they are all believable. Even Guy, who has an inexplicable phobia of women (oh the laughing that causes me). I would recommend this game to anyone who likes the Tales games and well as anyone who likes RPGs. 5/5