"Excellent character development and great gameplay keep Abyss afloat even when the plot tries its hardest to sink it"

The Tales series has always been popular in Japan but America has usually missed out on Tales releases. The series was always known for a bright atmosphere, lots of character dialogue and traditional gameplay, as well as an action-based battle system that plays more like a 2-D fighter than an RPG.

Sounds like great ingredients for an RPG, right? Well, for some reason, Namco screwed up big time with Tales of Symphonia, which found critical acclaim and big success on the Gamecube, but which I simply did not enjoy due to the very outdated cutscene presentation, the tedious and overly-frequent dungeons, the overblown plot that borrowed shamelessly from other RPG's, and the very annoying characters. Its plot did present some interesting ideas, the world was large and the graphics were beautiful, and the combat system was incredibly fun....still, the game completely failed to be engaging.

I was reluctant to continue the series, but I picked up Tales of Legendia, a game hated by most of the Tales fanbase. Although it was too small in scope, featured a dumbed down battle system, and very bad music, it made up for all of this with a very imaginative plot, extremely well-developed characters, and a really cool setting. The 8/10 score I gave Legendia was probably the most generous I've ever been when reviewing a game, but I think I was so surprised at how much I got into the game. And it lacked those horribly annoying dungeons that made Symphonia such a tedious experience.

Well, here comes Tales of the Abyss, a game being developed from Tales Studio, (the people who made Symphonia) rather than the different team that worked on Legendia. What's surprising is that Tales Studio takes the best of both Symphonia and Legendia and combines them to make a game that completely surpasses both of them and is probably the best Tales game of the 3. Although the game unfortunately loses its momentum less than half way through, the first 20 hours are unbelievably excellent.

(Note; keep in mind that I've only played Symphonia, Legendia, and now Abyss, so when in this review I refer to "past Tales games" I'm only referring to Legendia and Symphonia.)

Graphics; Let's start with the bad. Tales of the Abyss is pretty lacking graphically. Although it's better than Legendia, (which featured some N64-like character designs and distant camera angles,) it still lags well behind what the PS2 is capable of and it's a far cry from the beautiful cel shaded worlds of Symphonia. Some areas are lit well and the bright and colorful characters and environments are very easy on the eyes, but objects in Abyss just lack detail. There is almost no texturing to be found on anything, giving everything a rough, basic look. Still, these environments look great when compared to the amazingly horrible world map. The worldmap features large amounts of framerate drops, it takes a full 15 seconds to rotate the camera around your character, the overall look is foggy, the character moves way too slowly.....if there's one game that proves that the concept of a "worldmap" should be abandoned from all new RPG's immediately, this is it.

That's not to say that the graphics are all bad. In-game characters are a gigantic improvement over what they threw together for Legendia, and the camera angles are probably the best in the series, with the limiting top-down view finally being (mostly) abandoned. There are also a lot more in-game cutscenes than past Tales games (which featured many more static text box conversations with still characters) and some of the art direction here is really great. Some towns and locations feature great, anime-influenced style that really makes them a lot cooler than the mostly dull towns from Symphonia and Legendia. The bright and colorful towns sometimes even are reminiscent of Grandia II's, (a decent DC RPG that was unfortunately given a terrible PS2 port,) which is a plus. Frequent load times are a bit jarring at first but they are luckily very short. Also, the battles keep a pretty steady framerate overall, and while there are definitely drops, it's an improvement over Symphonia.

Like typical with the Tales series, there are anime FMV's throughout and it's always a treat when they do show up, even though Abyss's seem to be of less quality than past Tales games. (Way too short and choppy.)

Graphics overall-
Pros;
Very colorful, with very well-done lighting
In-game characters a huge improvement over Legendia's.
Much more in-game cutscenes than past Tales games
Anime-inspired visuals create some stunning towns and environments
Manages to keep a somewhat steady framerate in battle

Cons;
Overall dated look
Embarrassing lack of textures
The worldmap looks unbelievably horrible and plays even worse
Short, too infrequent, and choppy anime FMV's
Disruptive load times take some time to get used to
Facial expressions and mouth movement still need a lot of work

Gameplay; Abyss's gameplay is really an achievement. It takes the best of Symphonia and Legendia and combines it to really create a great game. It returns to the great battle system from Symphonia and refines it more to make battles a nearly perfect experience. It brings back the epic scope of Symphonia; featuring a huge world, many diverse locations, and airship travel, yet takes the Legendia route with the dungeons, making them more combat-oriented than puzzle-oriented. In other words, it's the best of both worlds. Featuring the epic scope that was so admirable in Symphonia as well as the fun, pain-free dungeons that were admirable about Legendia, Tales Studio has created a Tales game that plays nearly perfectly. Battles are unbelievably fun, resembling something more like Super Smash Bros than a traditional RPG. You control the main character, the AI controlls everyone else. The AI remains pretty much the same as in past Tales games, (which is fine, the AI gets the job done,) and the game actually makes use of its locations! No longer do you enter a town to simply stock up on items and then just leave. Now, when you enter a town, it's a chance for lots of events providing plot advancement and character development. The characters often decide to stay at Inn's, where they have many conversations with each other, giving you a lot of time to know and like many of them. The world itself is very interesting, with towns and cities being very atmospheric and things like ports being found on many continents. Many environments and "dungeons" in Abyss are inviting and fun to explore, because not only do they give you more time with the excellent combat system, but they do not throw any annoying puzzles at you, so the game really never stops being fun. In this way, Abyss succedes in something that many RPG's (like the recent Final Fantasy XII) fail in; it manages to deliver unbelievably fun gameplay, but it does not sacrifice plot and character development for this gameplay. To make things even more perfect, Tales of the Abyss does not feature random encounters, with enemies visible while exploring. Gameplay-wise, Abyss is a complete triumph. Get rid of the terrible worldmap and we'd have an RPG that plays perfectly.

Now, I could of course point out things like the extremely easy difficulty, (although the final boss did provide a moderate challenge,) menus that are anything but user-friendly, as well as the fact that worldmap travel (especially when asked to search the world to look for a location) is tedious and feels very outdated.....but really, those things are all minor flaws in what is an extremely fun RPG. Of all 3 Tales games I've played, Abyss is easily the most fun.

Gameplay Overall-
Pros;
Extremely fun, addictive battle system
Lively, large world with well-developed cities and towns
Lots of character interaction while exploring
Extremely few tedious puzzles
Much better camera follows the characters through environments
No random battles

Cons;
(these are all very minor)
Fights almost completely lack challenge
The occasional poorly designed area (Daath cathedral, anyone?)
Worldmap exploration is often boring
Menus remain unnecessarily complicated

Sound; I have to admit, I feel like I owe series composer Motoi Sakuraba an apology. I've always kinda bashed his soundtracks for being catchy but seeming generic and lacking substance. After Tales of Legendia's horrible soundtrack (which featured a different composer) I realized how much I missed Sakuraba's songs. Thankfully he returns here, and this is probably the best soundtrack I've ever heard from him. The music in almost every town and city is very catchy. The music that plays at Luke's manor is nearly perfect, and other standouts include the epic music in the City of Baticul, the eerie, otherworldly music in Yulia City, and the powerful and epic music that plays during the game's very cool ending. But almost all songs are great and very memorable. Sakuraba occasionally tends to borrow from other games he's composed for, but in this case, it was thankfully kept to a minimum. Musically, Abyss has a sound all its own and it really makes the game much better. Towns and locations almost all have their own music, which is a HUGE plus. The only glaring flaw here? There are only 19 event themes in this 47 hour game......19. That means they recycle A LOT over the course of the game's events, which gets old very fast.

There is a lot of spoken dialogue in this game; easily more than in any Tales game to date. The amount of voice acting in this game is really amazing; not just in main events, but in regular optional character conversations too. It's all voiced. Skits (optional aditional dialogue between characters) remain silent, but that's really a minor complaint. For all this voice acting, Namco has assembled a great voice cast that really brings life and personality to almost every single character. I really can't think of any situation where the acting wasn't up to par. The VA in this game is universally excellent. Special praise goes to the voices of Van and Tear, though; both get their characters 100% right. The only weakness is the voice of side character Ion, who makes the character sound like a girl. (There seems to be one of these in every RPG lately...) Other than that, though, I really can't think of a character whose voice didn't fit perfectly. Very well done.

Also great are the atmospheric sound effects; water flowing, birds and crickets chirping, the sound of sea gulls.....really, it's all here as you walk through these environments and towns and this atmosphere really further pulls you into this world.

Sound overall-
Pros;
Excellent music overall
Excellent voice acting
Excellent atmosphere

Cons;
Ion sounds like a girl
Recycled event music

Story/Presentation/Characters; As I mentioned earlier, there are many more in-game cutscenes, complete with facial expressions, close-ups, camera movement, etc. A vast improvement over the usually static cutscenes that make up this series. There could definitely still be more dynamic cutscenes like these, but it's a big step in the right direction.

If there's one area where Abyss succeeds, it's the characters. Taking a page from Legendia's book, Abyss tries to get you as much time with the characters as humanly possible. When you split up in a town, you can usually find characters hanging out, and when you talk to them, you get (voiced!) conversations with them that are actually pretty meaningful. This happens all the time, like when characters are on a ship; you can usually find them and talk to them. In this way, Abyss is nearly on par with a Final Fantasy game as far as character development goes; you really get to watch these characters interact CONSTANTLY and it is such a nice change after the horrible Final Fantasy XII, where the characters were strangers for almost the entire game. In Abyss, when walking through dungeons, the game will often stop to have the characters talk. The cutscenes do not go on for too long and are by no means excessive, but this amount of interaction really succeeds in allowing you to know the characters. It also helps that the characters themselves are all pretty interesting; Luke, the main character, starts out relatively obnoxious but never annoying, and as the game progresses he really developes into a much different character. I don't know if I've ever seen the main character in an RPG undergo such development over the course of the game and I'm very impressed. Tear is another character whose development is really noteworthy; it's more subtle than Luke's but it's definitely there, and the game manages to communicate her feelings to us simply through her dialogue and facial expressions. It really works. The line she finally says during the game's ending is very satisfying; it feels like it was building up to that for the whole game.

Other characters like Jade, Guy, and Natalia are not exactly as well-developed but they are very likable and remain likable throughout the entire game. The only playable character who ends up being annoying is Anise, and I really think the game would have been better without her. As for non-controllable characters, Ion is also unfortunately a bit annoying and unnecessary, and Asch is annoying and selfish throughout the entire game. Asch has a conversation with Luke right before the final dungeon that's probably the weirdest, most ridiculous conversation I've ever witnessed in an RPG.

The good news? The great character of Van makes up for some weaknesses. I just wish he had a bit more presence in the plot, as he does seem to vanish for hours at a time.

It's impossible not to like these characters; not only do they interact frequently....but there are also skits, which are optional but recommended viewing. During the adventure, a sign will appear on the bottom of the screen urging you to press select, to bring up a screen with portraits of the characters, as they have EVEN more conversations with each other. The skits succeed in further getting you to know the characters, although they (like those in Symphonia) unfortunately appear way too frequently and I found myself skipping through them on many occasions. Unlike Symphonia, though, the skits in Abyss do not feel like they were written by different people than the game's main events, which is a huge plus. True to the formulas set in other Tales games, the characters are all completely different and get into arguments on many occasions, but in Abyss's case, it's more "playful" than "mean-spirited" which makes them much more pleasant than Symphonia, where the cast seemed to completely hate each other. The characters and development in Tales of the Abyss is easily on par with (in some cases, better than) that featured in Tales of Legendia, which is really deserving of praise.

Unfortunately, the plot itself leaves a lot to be desired. It gets off to a great start, though. The plot in the first 20 hours, with these excellent characters and really cool scenario, succeeds. It may not do anything particularly new, but it does everything so well. All the things I described in this "Story" section of the review combine with a great plot for the first 20 hours to complete an unbelievable RPG experience that very nearly reaches perfection. There are some situations where the game just pulls you into it....for example, the time first spent in Yulia City (and the circumstances for being there,) is one of the many times in the game where I could not put the controller down; I was 100% absorbed in the plot. There are several times in the first 20 hours that are like that, but even when it's not like that, it's always charming and interesting. Like other Tales games, it seems to pay homage to the Final Fantasy series. There's a scene in this game that's lifted (almost down to the exact camera angles) right from the scene in Final Fantasy IX where Garnet cuts her hair. This intended homage (erm...I hope) really brought back memories for me from that game and it was very effective. This game's plot also features objects called "Sephiroths" that play an important role in the plot, apparently named after FF7's famous villain. The game's ending even seemed to resemble...erm...well, I probably shouldn't give that away.

That said, though, unlike Symphonia, Abyss does not borrow so heavily from the FF series as to become a complete imitator of it. It still can get somewhat predictable, though. It re-uses some of the "tricks" from Symphonia and as a result, some elements of this plot that were meant to be surprising ended up being embarrassingly predictable.

Still, the plot for Abyss's first 20 hours is fine, but it's made EXCELLENT by the perfect character development. Unfortunately, Abyss seems to do all it set out to do and say all it needed to say in its first 20 hours. From there, it just seems to go on auto-pilot. As with Symphonia, Tales Studio unfortunately stretches what should have been a short and charming plot WELL past its breaking point, resulting in a large amount of time in the game's 2nd half when the plot just dies. For hours and hours on end, nothing seems to happen except endlessly returning to locations, talking to people, getting some "clue" then going back to another location, talking to another person, then going to another one, and another one, over and over and over again. The plot during this gets very uninspired and extremely repetitive....and it simply becomes disorganized.

There's even a point where it becomes almost like Symphonia, going from seal to seal to "unlock" them...lasting for several hours, and it all seemed pointless. The characters get sidetracked so many times and they go on so many pointless missions to solve these stupid problems that constantly get in the way....and it's all unnecessary. Did we really need to go and unseal all those seals? Was the "Planet Storm" that we had to stop at all necessary? Then we have to stop the mist from destroying the world, stop the world from falling, etc. etc. etc.... All these problems simply show up almost at random and completely sidetrack the main characters and the game just never ends. It feels like the developers absolutely NEEDED a 50-hour main quest and they decided "oh, let's throw in THIS problem now to add some hours into the gameplay." And all the great character development seemed to peak at the end of the 20-hour mark and we're stuck with characters who have all completed their character arcs....just going on auto-pilot through the rest of this scattered and dull plot. I finished this game at about 48 hours (although I reached the final boss at 47,) and the first 20 hours were great story-wise. The rest of the time, though, we're watching them desperately trying to extend a game to beyond a length that it has any right to be. It's not as bad in this category as Symphonia (55 hours!!!) but it comes very close. The excellent gameplay and characters just manage to keep this game breathing even during the parts where the plot becomes sleep-inducing, which is great, but it's so disappointing that this excellent game is nearly destroyed by the decision to drag it out as long as possible. To top it off, there are numerous "false endings" (You have to defeat almost the entire cast of villains TWICE!) which really doesn't help. It manages to redeem itself with an extremely cool (if a bit predictable) ending, but it doesn't manage to erase the tedium of this dull near 30-hours of aimless plot we're forced to sit through.

Plot overall-
Pros;
Excellent character interaction and development
Very well-written
Some very cool scenes and "page-turning" plot in the first 20 hours
Very nice ending

Cons;
30 hours of aimless, dull, and repetitive storyline
Way too many skits, although they are optional

Verdict; Tales of the Abyss was a very interesting game, to say the least. Some of the best characters and development I've ever seen in an RPG, as well as some of the best gameplay and a very cool storyline, combine to make the first 20 hours of this game nearly perfect. Unfortunately, the plot literally dies after this point, and the story seems to just barely drag itself, tired and gasping for air, for the next 30 hours past the finish line of this near-50 hour game. This huge issue with plot ultimately affects the experience so much that while this is definitely a better game than both Symphonia and Legendia...I can not give this the 8/10 score that I (generously) awarded Legendia. That said, though, there is so much that Abyss does right that it's definitely worth playing, not just for Tales fans, but for anyone else looking for a charming and character-driven RPG on the PS2. Tales Studio really needs to learn a lesson, though; having a quality storyline is BY FAR more important than dragging it out for as long as possible. Sometimes, less is more. And I'd easily take a shorter, but more compact and powerful storyline, over what we ended up with; there's a great storyline hidden here....unfortunately, it's surrounded by endless amounts of filler that threatens to drag the game down.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 03/19/07