Tales of the Abyss – PS2 – Review

How is a franchise not a franchise?
The “Tales” series is another long-running franchise that has been around for
years that some of you probably never knew existed. It’s not so much as
continuing the story of the same character(s) in each game as it is building a
brand name for gamers to connect with. In Japan this has worked but in America
the Tales series is still relatively new to U.S. gamers. But this hasn’t stopped
Bandai Namco Games (that’s still weird to say/print) from releasing the newest
edition in the series, Tales of the Abyss.  

For hardcore RPG fans you can stop
reading now and just go ahead with the purchase, you will enjoy it. Tales of the
Abyss (TOA) hits all of the right notes when it comes to a Japanese-style RPG.
You have the standard big eyed/spiky hair characters, animation style visuals
and campy/unusual storyline usually only found in anime. But for gamers not huge
fans of anime or haven’t played a Japanese-style RPG in some time this game has
some issues holding it back. I should even mention that I personally felt the
storyline and main character in the game were terrible. But that’s just a
personal opinion that you shouldn’t let interfere with your gaming decision.

 

The plot of the game centers on the
main character in the game, Luke Fon Fabre. Luke is a 17-year old swordsman and
a son of the Duke of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear Kingdom. Since losing all of his
childhood memory after being kidnapped as a young child Luke has been kept
within the confines of the castle. Luke’s only release has been training with
his friend Guy Cecil, a son of a servant in the Fabre house, and his teacher.
One day, during a training session with his master, intruders invade the castle
and soon Luke finds himself miles away from the castle for the first time in
years.  

Now, don’t let that short summary
fool you into thinking that’s it. Not at all, in fact the plot is a convoluted
mix of moral questions, teen-age obnoxious behavior and ancient magical spells.
The game tells the stories in two different ways; one is during the regular game
with the standard cutscenes popping up before and after battles. The other way
the plot unfolds is through a function called the Skit mode. You will see a
phrase appearing in the left hand corner of your screen and you can hit the
select button to bring up a conversation between the characters. The skits can
range from talking about a previous cutscene to developing side stories about
the various characters you encounter in the game.

 

The storyline just reeks of an anime
that you’ve probably seen before with a plot that is so crazy with twist and
turns that you start to question what’s happening. I thought to myself “If the
storyline is this crazy, why should I even bother watching the skits.”  I gave
up on the skits after a while because I spent more time reading the story than I
did playing the game. In my opinion you appreciation for the plot all depends on
how much you’re willing to tolerate. If you love Japanese RPG’s with absurd
plots and crazy twists than you won’t have any issues with TOA. If you
appreciate a more logical and laid out plot development than you will probably
starting cringing like I did after a few minutes. Now don’t get me wrong there
are several developments in the plot that are very entertaining and engaging. I
just had to put up with what I thought was a ridiculous story for 60% of the
game to get to the 40% of the story that made sense. Even Luke made fun about
how confusing the story was when another character was explaining certain parts
of the story.

The combat system in the game is
rather unique by presenting a mixture of real-time combat and strategy elements.
You can see the enemies when you’re out in the field and you can run away to
avoid the combat if you like. Once you’re in combat all of the battles are
performed in real time with you hacking and slashing away at the enemies by
controlling Luke. During combat you can also use artes moves, which will unleash
a more powerful attack. You will learn additional artes moves as you level up in
the game. The game even allows you to set battle positions for your various
party members to promote stronger characters to the front and weaker characters
to the back.

 

Most of the combat has you target
locked into one specific enemy during a battle. Once that enemy is destroyed
then you target the closest enemy near you to attack. You can select a different
enemy by pressing the R1 button. The Free Run option allows you to run anywhere
on the battle screen by holding down the L2 button. Most of the combat has you
controlling Luke but the game offers you the ability to control other party
members during combat by selecting different party member in the Battle Menu.
There are a ton of options available for changing in the Battle Menu that should
give picky games plenty to adjust.

 

One mode available in the game, seen
in other Tales game, is the cooking mode. The cooking mode allows you to
purchase groceries and make meals to raise certain stats for your characters.
You first have to find the recipe for the item you want to cook and then find
the necessary ingredients. Once you have all of the ingredients you can then
select a character to cook the dish. As your characters cook more dishes their
cooking level increases. The higher their cooking level the better quality and
variety of dishes they can prepare. The cooking option is even available
immediately after combat in case you need a quick boost of hit points or magic
points (called Technical Points). Besides the multiple options available for
combat and cooking the game has a plethora of options to choose to modify your
characters, create shortcuts or change other aspects of the game.

The graphics in the game seem to
have an identity crisis. During certain segments the game looks breathtaking
with incredible details in the locations and with the characters. But during
other locations the game presents a plain-looking environment with single colors
and hardly any detail in the buildings and items. The same is true when it comes
to the character graphics. During the majority of the game all of the characters
look great by making it appear you’re watching a cartoon instead of a game. But
when the camera zooms in up close to the characters you get to see way too much
of the characters with choppy lines and bland textures. This usually only
happens when the camera angle is zoomed too close but it happens more than it
should. The camera angle is another issue since you only have control over the
camera while in the field, such as moving from town to town. When you’re inside
a town or dungeon the camera angle is locked to whatever angle (usually an
over-the-top third-person viewpoint) that will be presented for the room. An
adjustable camera would have been a welcomed addition for the entire game.

For me TOA was a game that I really
wanted to enjoy but couldn’t find satisfaction with the entire game. I guess
I’ve grown too weary of the classic Japanese-style RPG formula after playing
Morrowind and other American style RPGs. This isn’t an indication that TOA isn’t
a good game, because it is a game that will please a certain segment of the
gaming population. If you have to own and play all of the RPG’s similar to TOA,
than you won’t find anything that will turn you away. As I mentioned earlier TOA
has all of the necessary ingredients but some of those ingredients will taste
sour to certain gamers.


Review Scoring Details
for
Tales
of the Abyss

Gameplay: 8.0
The combat in the game feels rushed at times especially when you have a full
party fighting a group of monsters. The plot is really a matter of opinion, some
will loath it while others will ravish it with flowers.

Graphics: 7.9
At times this looks like an anime you would buy at your local retailer but then
during other occasions it looks like a badly made anime you bought.

Sound: 7.8
The voice acting in the game is admirable with hardly any major flaws showing
up. Reportedly the Japanese version had voice acting in the Skit mode but no
voices in our version. The music and sound effects are a combination of hard
rock and orchestral arrangements.

Difficulty: Easy/Medium
The game always moved along at a steady, consistent pace regardless of the
number of levels I went up. Most of my experience points and level rising was
done without hardly any combat outside of the normal plot.

Concept: 7.5
The premise of the game is one that we’ve seen a thousand times. Angst stricken
teenager tells everyone around him to shut up but slowly develops into the hero
he’s supposed to be. This isn’t the exact plot but it follows some similar
branching found in countless other RPGs.

Overall: 7.8
Tales of the Abyss is a game that will find its audience regardless of the
score. Heck the score I gave it proves that TOA is a good game, just not the
latest RPG masterpiece. If can tolerate the plot then you won’t have any issues
with the rest of the game. Tales of the Abyss is another solid entry in the ever
growing list of RPG titles available for the PS2.