Tales of the Abyss

[Dogysamich]

I had this preordered, and picked it up last week.

Didnt play it today. (I've done worse...... much worse)

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Anyway, i'd like to say that this game is nice.

The story so far is interesting (to me),

And the battle system is pretty good. It's alot of improvement over the system from Tales of Legendia, and is alot more indepth too. Granted, I've never played any other Tales games, so i dunno how to base it overall, I can say it is entertaining.

That's all I really have to say about the game so far. Discuss.

[pho-nam]

after the abomination that was legendia i will pass... plus FFXII next week!!!!! sweettttttttttttttttttttt... Lol I am looking at my games and suikoden V is still in its original wrapping and i got it opening week lol

[rasputin]

I liked ToS, but also thought ToL sucked.

[Dogysamich]

well, what was wrong with ToL? I thought it was aight, granted, after playin just an hour of TotA, im startin to see why people didnt like ToL.

[Magus]

ToS is the best RPG of this generation.

[~A~]

I have Phantasia, Eternia, Legendia, and Symphonia, so yeah I bought Abyss, haven't played it yet though.

[Dogysamich]

ToS is the best RPG of this generation.

by generation, do you really mean this console generation? (gamecube ps2 gba and xbox)

or do you happen to mean of this series?

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and angel, correct me if im wrong, but isnt Eternia a remake of Destiny?

[~A~]

Well Eternia = ToD2 in USA. Which was retarded because then there were ToD sequels.

[Magus]

I mean this console generation. Which of course would also mean this generation of Tales games. But seriously, the game is that good.

[Dogysamich]

I'll argue with you all day against ToS being the best of this generation.

But seriously, I just died in Tales of the Abyss.

..... I havent died in the main game of an rpg since a the one hit party kill fight in Valkyrie Profile.

..... --cracks knuckles-- unless im just horrid, i think ima actually have to try to get through this game. :-D

--edit--

... and i fixed that problem by going and buying a sword. Lame. lol

--double edit--

completely forgot to mention this, but the idea behind back attacks (surprise attacks, sneak attacks, whatever you prefer to call them) is pretty interesting. I've never seen it in an rpg, but i can sarely say this is the first time ever i've actually cared about getting back attacked.

[Fivestar]

completely forgot to mention this, but the idea behind back attacks (surprise attacks, sneak attacks, whatever you prefer to call them) is pretty interesting. I've never seen it in an rpg, but i can sarely say this is the first time ever i've actually cared about getting back attacked.

Earthbound on SNES.

[Dogysamich]

dont you just lose first strike from getting back/surprise attacked in earthbound?

[rasputin]

Chrono Trigger is the best of its generation!

[Dogysamich]

Chrono Trigger is the best of its generation!
--me looks at rasp--

That was 2 generations ago, and 5* and I are talkin about the dis advantages of back/surprise attacks in games

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*mini spoiler*
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Well, for Tales of the Abyss, when you get surprise attacked, not only does it change your formation and starting position, it actually changes your active party

I've never played an rpg before, but i can safely say it's pretty hectic to be going through a dungeon, get back attacked and thing "oh, it's ok, my healer has me covered", only to see your got dropped in the attack.
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*end spoiler*



I like it. It's a fresh idea to keep players on their toes during the game. Makes me wonder what else is gunna happen, too.

[Fivestar]

Man, never buy Halls cough drops at the dollar store. It's like the defected kind.

But yea, the ToA sounds more indepth. If you remember Earthbound, there were 3 screens to start a fight. You had the red (enemy got you from behind), the green (you get the enemy from behind), and the blue (face to face). Then, there were advantages to each.

[Dogysamich]

I've been meaning to come back to this thread, but I wanted to wait till i finished the game.

I havent beaten it yet, but im pretty close, i think i have only one more "dungeon" left. I'm gunna "spit my opinion" about this game, cause it's one of my highly recommended ones.

First and foremost, I like this game. Now I understand why people say Tales of Legendia was not that good of a Tales game, and why everybody says ToL does no justice to the series.

Tales of the Abyss, on the other hand, does a pretty good job. The gameplay is, although not particularly in depth, has some strategy elements by use of the "Field of Fonon (read: area of effect)" changes to attacks, and the use of the overlimit system, along with other textbook actions; blocking, backstepping, free moving (TotA is 3D, mind you).

I also like the story. It's not like a whole new innovative story (but name a rpg, or ANY game that has a brand new story), but it is an interesting one. The characters are good and well-developed too, although I actually like the party from other games alot better than this party (excluding Jade and Anise, they rock pretty hard).

Along with the story, I will say the voice acting is pretty well done. I mention this seperately cause, just like ToL, the voice acting stood (stands) out enough for me to notice, especially with the all-star cast of voice actors/actresses.

The last "big" plus i have on this game, which is pretty trivial, is that the game has a taunt button. Now, i personally think every game should have a taunt button, as long as there's a purpose to it (raises a gauge, recovers a stat, etc), i actually thought it was ironic how taunting actually fits the party's character as a whole throughout half of the game (and then promptly makes no real sense later in the game).

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As for my complaints, I have 2, technically three big complaints.

First off, is that the skits are not voice acted. Characteristic of the Tales series (for anybody who doesnt know) are what are called skits; which are little outtakes between the party throughout the game. Sometimes the skits are relevent to the story, like an aside to another character; sometimes the skits serve no purpose what so ever except for comedic value. However, I think it really sucks how the skits arent voice acted this time around. I personally think this woulda helped a great deal to develop one specific character, if not all of them.

Secondly, there is a lack of fighting in the game. There is a long period in the middle of the game where the only fighting you do is random fighting. And you can actually get through a few of the dungeons in the middle of the game without fighting AND without the penalty of being underleveled later in the game. It just felt kinda stale to go from place-to-place to get this-and-that and not have to fight anybody.
What even makes it worse, is that sometimes, there are actually opprotunities(sp) in the story to have a fight, but the game just gives you a pass like "it'd be too difficult" or something like that. Even if there were a few fights that got interrupted by something would be better than nothing.


**minimal spoilage comes with this last one**
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And my last complaint ties into the second one. On top of not having alot of fights, there arent that many boss fights, and on top of not having many boss fights, so far (and probably will be for the last ones). On top of this, there arent many boss fights where you fight multiple people, which is real fun/challenging in action rpgs. Throughout the whole game, i've only liked 4 boss fights, 3 of which were against multiple God Generals, and the last one cause of the context of the fight. The game isnt really that bad since it's easy to get enemies in stun animations, so you would think there would be more fights with multiple people.
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**end spoiler**
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all in all, I can say before i finish the game that TotA is pretty good, and I would and have recommended it to people, specifically action rpg fans. If you were kinda skeptical about this because of Legendia, i say you give this game a shot, i bet you wont be disappointed (unless you're lookin for another Norma/Chloe combo. ..... i miss those 2 :( )

[~A~]

Symphonia skits were silent too.

[Dogysamich]

Symphonia skits were silent too.
really?

Legendia's werent. I just wish that as long as they have voice acting, the skits are voice acted too. Helps for those "out of character" moments, ya know.

Speaking of Symphonia, i gotta remember to pick that up sometime, now that I know how to play Tales games instead of sitting with a friend and he's like "HERE, YOU'RE THAT CHICK, DONT DIE" and then he runs off and I die. D:

[~A~]

:)

[Dogysamich]

--shutters--

All I remember, is like, we were flyin on some dragons or something, and we went and fought some dragons, and we got raped.


D:

[Dogysamich]

How are they still alive........................ :(

[Dogysamich]

just finished this about 10 minutes ago (made a post in the fav. rpg thread)


that, was a crazy ride.

Dear god, if you lost faith cause of Legendia, or hell, if you were led blindly by Legendia like you were, give this game a shot.

I've got mad respect for the Tales series now.