Tales of the Abyss

"Probably the best Tales game you can get now"

Tales of the Abyss is the latest installment in Namco's Tales series, a niche series here in America, but a popular one back in Japan. After a rather disappointing game in Tales of Legendia (well, it wasn't bad but wasn't all that great...), Abyss has steered the series back in the right direction.

Story
The story revolves around teenaged, red-headed Luke fon Fabre, son of a Duke and nephew to the King of the kingdom Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. Luke's very existence is central to the ancient prophecy known as the Score, and as the story unfolds, we see a very Legacy-of-Kain style fight of Fatalism vs Free will. In typical RPG fashion, Luke remembers nothing of his past before age 7, due to the mental trauma of his kidnapping at that age. His parents and uncle (the King) have thus kept him "trapt" inside his manor for following ten years of his life to "keep him safe." In a somewhat refreshing twist, Luke doesn't start off as the "I want to go save everyone!" kind of lead. He is a teenager, he does have a six-pack, but he's far from the goody-good heroes that some players have gotten used to; in fact, at the beginning of the game, Luke acts opposite of how a typical RPG hero would. Instead of wanting to save everyone, he wants to go home and whines quite a bit. Anywho, as the story kicks off, Luke and his martial arts teacher, Van, begin a sparing match where the player is taught the basics of combat, when a mysterious intruder interrupts the sparring. She and Luke clash weapons and are immediately teleported away from the manor into a distant location.

One thing I have to say about the story is that it starts off rather slow. The plot develops slowly up until about a quarter of the way through the game. However, after that, the story picks up pace and becomes very interesting, thanks in part to the strong cast of characters. I'd say that the story here is just about the best story you can find in an English Tales game. It's got its fair share of twists, laughs (lots of laughs...courtesy of one of the most awesome characters ever created), and enough intrigue to keep you playing.

Now, one last thing I have to say about the story is Jade. Best video game character ever.

Graphics (9/10)

This game looks good, suffice it to say. The attention to detail in each town and dungeon is amazing. Each town literally pops out of the ground on the world map, like a picture in a pop up book. The buildings these towns look great, and the dungeon environments look equally as good. Everything is so detailed and colorful (when appropriate). Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the world map. I'd say ~50% of the world map is devoid of anything. Just open fields. Sure there are some mountains and forests, but for the most part, the world map is bland and, well, slow. One of the series detriments to this game are the load times on the world map. Whereas things load nigh instantly in towns and dungeons, it takes a good 5 seconds to get into a battle and then another 5 seconds to return back to the world map after the battle. Same goes for entering and exiting towns and dungeons.

The character models look very good, and (thank God) move around with a great deal of fluidity...something that was completely missing from Tales of Symphonia. Animation in this game is carried out quite well, and, once again, is just a step up from the clunky (and chunky) ToS characters.

As for battle graphics, as usual, everything looks real good. Spells and techs look great, from low level tech/artes to the hidden Mystic Artes, everything in this game is flashy and looks gorgeous. Unfortunately, that also leads to some slowdowns in battle, especially when you've got multiple spells being cast.

Gameplay(10/10)

The meat of any game, and Abyss delivers in spades. The battling is done in real time on a 3D field, with the flexible linear motion battling system. Essentially, Abyss's battle system is Symphonia's with improvements and added features. The AI could stand an improvement (mainly enemy AI), however. As it is now, there's just so many ways to exploit bad enemy AI, namely with the Free Run skill.

As I said, a lot of new features were added to Abyss's battling system. Capacity Cores (C. Cores), Field of Fonons (FoF), Fonslot Chambers (FSC), and AD Skills are the big ones.

Capacity Cores are essentially stones that, when equipped to a character, give said character a permanant boost to certain attributes (there are six attributes in total) on level ups, depending on the type of C. Core equipped. Some C. Cores may boost Physical Attack and Fonic Attack by 2 points on level up. Some may boost P. Defense and F. Defense by 2 points on level up. The more powerful C. Cores may boost ALL of one's six attributes on a level up. As stated before, these boosts are permenant. If one switches from a C. Core that gives +2 P. Attack/Def to a C. Core that gives +2 F. Attack/Def, they'll still retain their previous bonuses. These boosts in turn are then used to aquire new AD Skills. When a character attains a specific boost for a stat (say, +70 for P. Attack), they gain a new AD skill (in that case, it would be Combo Plus). Good C. Core managing is essential for easier times on harder difficulties.

AD Skills are essentially passive skills your characters learn, sometimes by level, sometimes by C. Core growth. These skills range from Combo Plus (adds 1 hit to standard 3 hit combo) to EXP Growth (gain more EXP at the end of battles). Some AD Skills are always active, some may be activated by the player in battle (for example, pressing --> + block would allow for Critical Block, which further reduces damage taken while blocking).

The last of the big additions to the battling are FoFs and FSCs. First, Field of Fonons (FoF). As a background, Fonons are the imaginatory (is that even a word?) building blocks in Abyss's story (the idea is actually very well fleshed out in the story). There are 7 types, six of which govern an element. Now, when a character, enemy or ally, uses a Fonic Arte (such as, say Thunder Blade) or attack with an elemental attribute (Luke's Devil's Inferno, for example), they'll leave behind a "residue" of Fonons, marked by either a small medium or large circle. Low or Mid level Fonic Artes leave behind smaller and incomplete fields. Incomplete FoFs are colored white and still cannot be used (unless you have the appropriate FSC equipped, of course). However, when another attack of the same attribute is used ontop of that white field, a complete FoF will form, taking a color based on the element type (brown for ground, green for wind, etc). High level Fonic Artes, however, will leave big, complete FoFs on a single casting. Complete FoFs can then be used by both ally or enemy to elementally augment skills or spells. For example, Luke's Fang Blade will change to Lightning Tiger Blade (Wind elemental) when used in a complete wind FoF. All of the characters have skills that will change on specific FoFs; it's up to you to find out which spells change to what in which elemental field (alternatively, you could just look that up in a FAQ, but whatever). So long as the FoF is complete ( that is, it has a distinctive non-white color), it can be used, no matter the size. FoFs, however, are not for ally-only use. Enemies can make use of them, as well.

FSC are simply augments for a character's skills or spells. There are 4 types of FSCs: Carmine (red), Cobalt (blue), Grass (green), and Sunlight (yellow). Each has a specific effect when equipped to a skill/spell. Carmine Chambers, for example, generally boost the power of the skill they're equipped to. When a chamber is first equipped to a skill/spell, it is automatically a level 1 FSC; that is, it's effect will only activate sometimes. However, as you use that skill/spell more in battle, the FSC effect will activate more often.

Whew, that was exhausting! However, all these new additions make for a much more intensive combat experience. On a side note, the camera was fixed for this game when it comes to multiplayer. No longer will it just focus on player 1, it'll give a complete overview of the field. As for the controls, they're simple and very easy to get used to; no complaints.

Sound (8/10)

I really enjoyed the VA in this game. All story characters have great, distinct voices. Each characters' personality is really augmented by their voice; I've really no complaints. As for the sound track, it wasn't bad. Nothing particularly memorable, but nothing that makes you want to mute the game, either.

Overall

After all is said and done, there's still plent of reason to play through this game more than once. The reintroduction of the GRADE shop allows for one to purchase upgrades for another runthrough. Additionally, on the second playthrough, most of the 2nd hidden Mysic Artes are unlocked for each character. Completing the game once also unlocks a bonus dungeon at the end of the game. The difficulties Very Hard and Unknown are added, as well, which increase the difficulty of this game exponentially. A runthrough on Very Hard/Unknown is like playing a completely different game, as you're gonna have to adjust yourself in battle constanlty (or abuse Free Run...abuse it a lot). In addition to all of this, there's the plethora of sidequests available each playthrough, such as Catalyst weapons, extra costumes, and others.

Abyss is a great game, probably the best Tales game released in America (and with those sales figures, maybe the last =X). The story is good, having enough strength to make the player want to play, the characters are great (one is even godly), and the gameplay is a real treat. If you enjoyed Symphonia, there is absolutely NO reason why you wouldn't enjoy Abyss.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 11/13/06