Tales of the Abyss
On the recommendation of a friend, who turns out he doesn’t even remember anything about it, I moved Tales of the Abyss up the backlog list. I decided to play the 3DS port for its accessibility and portability. Allie is using the TV to play Kingdom Hearts II so I didn’t want to be in another room. Also, I no longer even own a PS2 or backwards compatible PS3.
This marks my fifth complete Tales game, and it’s a great entry into this long running franchise. I really enjoyed the cast in this one, they have excellent synergy. You’ve got the older (in his 30s) genius, who is extremely serious but somehow still a huge source of comic relief. The rest of the crew is teenagers, just to follow the typical trope, but most of them are pretty mature. The main character, Luke, is an annoying little brat with memories of only the last 7 years, as he suffers from amnesia post being kidnapped. He’s a duke’s son and nephew to the King, next in line for the rite of succession. Over the course of the game he went from me hating him, to me tolerating him. The rest of the crew, however, I loved from the get go.
The battle system here is standard Tales fare. Fun, full of action and fast paced. Difficulty level is very fair. I only died once and it was during the last phase of the final boss. I did zero grinding. I do feel I missed a ton of content, as I was missing lots of “titles.” Titles are things acquired through the story or doing side content, that are character specific that do various things such as changing stats. I did try sniffing out side content, but if you’re a completionist, you definitely need a guide here!
The graphics were pretty good, considering this was a PS2 port. A little downscaled but on the 3DS it worked great. I did not like using 3D mode, it just didn’t look right. Music was good, with a few tracks that stood out, but overall just average.
Where Abyss falls short is the amount of backtracking needed. I probably spent half the game just traveling to and fro to places I had been 100 times already. The story also would get very convoluted at times where it would just throw a ton of information at you at once, and you had to try to absorb it as best as you could. Besides that the story and lore was very interesting and unique. Music is actually the source of all life and music. All of history and the future is also written in a “score” that can only be read by practitioners of “fonic artes.” There are even solid, tangible objects called “fon stones” made of music particles. The planet is also surrounded by “fonic” particles, and your body can even absorb those particles in “fon slots” to cast magic. It’s all very cool. You can hear your main healer actually singing in battle to cast magic. The story has lots of high points, concluding with a very good and emotional climax. It’s not your typical human kills god to save the world story, and I liked that.
Whether you’re a veteran of the Tales series and haven’t checked this one out yet, or a fan of JRPGs, don’t miss out on this one! Currently the only accessible and affordable option is the 3DS store, but even that’s closing soon, so you may have to go to Ebay, Amazon, Gamestop or a local game store to find a physical copy!
