I'm really, really enjoying Tales of the Abyss! The main character started out so arrogant and selfish but then (insert spoilers here) and now he's really changed and it just makes him feel really human and relatable how he's working hard to earn everybody's trust back. It's also very fast-paced and you never feel like your current mission is without purpose...I really like it! I just wish the skits were voice acted (they are in Japanese but I'd prefer English) because they're pretty enjoyable too and really help flesh out the relationships between the characters. Overall I'd recommend this game to any fan of JRPGs. It's a rollercoaster ride and a true classic Tales game!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
Improves vastly over symphonia +Combat has been polished to a shine, new additions such as "free run" allow you to move around freely in the combat arena, these new additions are great and allow more options when approaching combat. + story is interesting and has preety good pacing with a pretty good cast to keep you company along the way. -lots of lag and slowdown on the overworld Tales of the abyss is a awesome game that i definitely recommend to arpg and jrpg lovers alike!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
I really enjoyed playing this game. The story line is nice and the character are kind of goofy (which in this case is a plus). Anyway, do not believe that this is simply a button masher. There are complex combo to execute (and it is not simply pressing X and O: certain conditions have to be met before executing major attack). In combat there is an element of strategy involved. There is also a fair amount of puzzle solving(nothing too complicated though) You have 6 characters in your party and 4 may be used in combat. Anyway any one character may be controlled by the player and the others are controlled by the "computer" although the player may set them to perform certain actions. The player controlled character has a free run ability (can move in any direction during combat) which is helpful to avoid enemy attacks. Some of the bosses are easy to defeat while others tough as nail. As a matter of fact the hardest boss battle is not at the end of the game but is unlocked after completing a serie of side quests. Personally I got close to 90 hours of game play on my first round (heaps of side quests: I would say that I completed about 90% of them). The side quests vary in importance: - unlock new abilities - unlock new dungeons - new titles/ costumes for your character (titles impact how some of the character interact with your and/or improves the odds of finding rare items) - new weapons (which may not be obtain anywhere else in the game) - new cooking recipes (some recipe restore HP or TP, some both, other boost abilities in combat, and finally some cures of sickness, poison, petrification) Note that there windows of opportunities for side quests, some may be started/ completed only at specific time during the main story line), while others can be done any time during the game. Defeating the game unlock a second play mode (with additional side quests) and although I have not tackled it yet some of the abilities and items may be imported from the first game. The graphic are OK, they are neither flashy nor antiquated looking. The sound is decent. My biggest problem with this game was that 2/3 of the way through, lots of back tracking had to be done (required for the main story line) and visiting the same dungeon several times can become tedious. Minor irritations: - lots of skits, but they can either be ignored or once triggered skipped by pressing the start button. - a few dungeons are hard because of the surrounding (some of the floor and wall are somehow transparent) which makes it hard to really see where you are - During combat the camera angle can become a little weird: your point of view can be very far or so close that you can not see what the other characters are doing (not that it matters that much since you don not really control them) however it makes it hard to trigger certain attack/spells (you can always do that however standing on specific locations will greatly affect the damage your character can inflict) In a way it made me think of a cross between Dragonquest VIII and Soul Calibur. If you have plenty of time on your hands that is a game worth playing. I paid full retail for it, this was game was worth every penny 10 times over.Read full review
The story is phenomenal, with twists games haven't really touched upon before. The characters are all compelling and well-written to a very human degree, and the nuances in the gameplay make for a really fun and unique RPG experience.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
Game was sealed and in perfect condition as advertized. Thank you for letting me rediscover this game that meant so much to me when I was a teen!
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: New
For gamers that may be skeptical about this rare title, it is definitely a gem worth having on your shelves. The following will not contain *any* spoilers to the plot! If you liked Tales of Symphonia, definitely take a look-see through this review. Story 10/10: This adventure curtails an unprecedented 60+ hours of main story gameplay (not including side quests even!). I don't believe in giving away too much of any story's plot in a review, but it's safe to say that this plot's originality and twists are something that you never see in newer generation RPGs. It's never really clear to you who exactly the "bad guy" is until it's time for a huge twist, and will definitely keep you guessing until the very end. It incorporates humor, sarcasm, and drama masterfully in a seamless blend that will entrance the player(s) to find out what will happen next. Battle system 10/10: A huge improvement over that in Tales of Symphonia, with first and foremost mentioning that the multiplayer has been improved drastically. The camera pans to where players 2,3,4 are finally, and it remembers each button assignment for every character's moves that each player may have been controlling if they desired to change characters multiple times. There are 4 different areas of building your character, through "Capacity Cores" "Fon Slot Chambers" "AD Skills" and changing Character Titles, allowing limitless growth and adds to replay value. You are now allowed to run free over the battlefield now which is a game changing dynamic since Tales of Symphonia. Graphics 7/10: For a PS2 game, the engine could have been more powerful, but it doesn't detract from the game's value at all. It introduces now 3D environment and characters which was something beyond Tales of Symphonia's graphics, but even then I don't think true fans of the series would even care too much. Feel free to look at images of the game on various sites, but if you're reading this, you probably already have. Sound 10/10: The music and sound effects are actually pretty good, clean and crisp, and enthusiastic voice acting that's appropriate to the situation in the game. Cinematics 10/10: There are a lot more anime cut-scenes in Tales of the Abyss now which adds a more dramatic effect to the plot, something that wasn't really done in Tales of Symphonia all that much, all with perfect artistry by Kosuke Fujishima. A HUGE warning though, the opening introduction video with the anime does contain spoilers which I didn't realize until I watched it later on in the game. Characters 10/10: This is an important dimension to mention because I think this is a topic overlooked in most RPG reviews. The characters are definitely more likable in comparison to previous Tales games, with superb character development and less annoying and naive. World Map 7/10: This world map system could have been the best world map I've ever seen, however some things held it back. For one, your character moves faster or slower based on the terrain which I thought was pretty cool. Huge improvements to the "world map vehicles" you typically see in most RPGs. The only thing that detracts values is about 6 second lag coming out of battle sequences, and minor (but noticeable) rotating camera lag. Overall 9/10: I think you will look past the game's minor flaws, especially if you liked previous Tales games. If you're a fan of RPGs in general and never touched a Tales game before, be prepared for a mind blowing experience.Read full review
Glad I could find this game again. Got here quick and was exactly what I ordered.
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
the game has good graphics, a very awesome story & something very surprising at the end of the game let's just say i was completely blown away at the ending of the game the game play wasn't to hard that's most RPG games nowadays back in the 70's - 90's the games were long, hard & enjoyable to play nowadays there's no good RPG games anymore now if you want a game you have to download it :( i'm an old school RPG gamer i love to play them on consoles not on my phone or computer but that's just me & my opinion
Verified purchase: Yes | Condition: Pre-owned
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 scRead full review
Tales of the Abyss really is those games anyone who appreciates a good action RPG and has tolerance for the Japanese origin, it DEFINITELY is something you want on your shelf. I bought this game AFTER playing it just because it was that good. As European, it is even rare to stock up a NTSC game, and also Abyss sadly had no European release, but I have a console to play my copy, and it also was THAT good of a game. The story is for those who appreciate it. To me it was really holding and kept me playing through it, there is some really painful moments from some characters, and even player is forced to feel hatred from some main characters temporarily and see the things they go through. Music is great, though, main theme song was stripped out of it's lyrics in complete because it was Japanese in original, but that is how they felt it is best to be in America, and, I don't blame them. Voice acting in English is good. There is only one annoying voice over, what is by design kinda like that. Only sad thing (yet understandable) is that skits (in-field mini-scenes between characters, conversations on situations etc.) have no voice overs, unlike the original what had. This is understandable since the game has 428 or so conversations like these in total, and not all of them even relate to story. The gameplay is solid. It follows the real time semi 2D RPG combat, with some improvements over previous titles, including ability to "free run" to any direction in field. There is difficulty levels so you can go to harder levels after you play game once, camera, movement and combat system is honed from Symphonia, especially if you have friends. The camera that follows only P1 is now fixed to zoom out and show all player controlled characters. Game supports up to 4 players in combats, though you need semi-rare multitap for PS2 to get third and fourth friend in. Bottomline is: This is one of greatest JRPG games on PS2. If you are not a fan, it would not offer you much (what I could understand well) but for any Tales of- Fan, JRPG player and alike, it is great gameplay value. For European collectors eBay also saves the day since from any other sources, the game is hard (impossible) to come by. In all seriousness: It was a great enough game to European who did not HAVE to get a copy in order to play it, to get one, and REPLAY it!Read full review
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