damn, tales of the abyss is awesome!

[ananus]

there isn't anything really unique about it, but it does everything really well imo.

i kind of suck at it tho. there's this stupid sword at a castle 5 hours in that's an optional boss, and according to the faqs you should be lvl 10 to fight it. i'm lvl 15 and i got my ass kicked.

the one other thing that bothers me is WHY DOES ION SOUND, ACT AND LOOK LIKE A GIRL BUT ISNT ONE!? argh.

[demi]

I've been meaning to pick this up down the line. I hear Legendia is really awful so I'll probably listen this time and avoid that, whereas people have been saying Abyss is way better.

[TakingBackSunday]

I hear Abyss is like the better version of Symphonia.  I liked Symphonia a lot, so I'm going to pick this up sometime.

[ananus]

i've never played another tales game, so i wouldn't really know about the others. all i know is that this one rocks.

[TakingBackSunday]

i've never played another tales game, so i wouldn't really know about the others. all i know is that this one rocks.

Just stear clear of shit like Legendia and, in my opinion, the early SNES stuff.  Symphonia and apparently Abyss are the best.

[The Sceneman]

Symphonia is dogshit

[Madrun Badrun]

It's been my favorite rpg since digital devil saga.

[Van Cruncheon]

symphonia is just okay. great battle system, terrible everything else. abyss has an improved battle system and a better but still painfully animu plot, and a few weird graphic hitches.

[Madrun Badrun]

symphonia is just okay. great battle system, terrible everything else. abyss has an improved battle system and a better but still painfully animu plot, and a few weird graphic hitches.

Thats kind of what I liked about it, it's over the top animu style. 

[Himu]

symphonia is just okay. great battle system, terrible everything else. abyss has an improved battle system and a better but still painfully animu plot, and a few weird graphic hitches.

Thats kind of what I liked about it, it's over the top animu style. 

I thought it was horrible from the 30 or so minutes I played before I took it back to the game store.

I'VE BEEN LIVING IN THIS HOUSE FOR 7 YEARS. PEOPLE USE A THING CALLED MONEY? WHAT IS THIS "MONEY"?

Christ, when the game gave me a goddamn mini tutorial on how to buy things, I decided it was time to take it back.

I enjoyed Symphonia quite a bit back when it came out. Oh, how my tastes have changed.

[ananus]

overreaction total. there isn't a tutorial about buying things, he's supposed to be taught about it but it isn't even shown. most tutorials have a skipping option too.

besides, at least he has personality, even if it isn't original or deep or whatever, it's interesting. you also saw pretty much nothing with 30 minutes of gameplay, but whatever. your loss.

[MrAngryFace]

Tales game out for PSP in july

[Himu]

overreaction total. there isn't a tutorial about buying things, he's supposed to be taught about it but it isn't even shown. most tutorials have a skipping option too.

besides, at least he has personality, even if it isn't original or deep or whatever, it's interesting. you also saw pretty much nothing with 30 minutes of gameplay, but whatever. your loss.

The fact that a 17 year old should be taught about buying things when he lives with a rich civilized family is fucking stupid. Fuck this horrible writing. That shit is embarassing. He isn't interesting at all, he needs a swift bullet to the face.

[Van Cruncheon]

luke? dude, it would be a huge spoiler to explain the way he acts, but the plot actually DOES explain why he's such a clueless fucknut -- and it's not "'cuz he's rich".

if you're gonna blame tota for anything, blame it for abusing gnosticism so badly when world-building.

[demi]

NO SPOILERS OMG I want to play it first.

[Himu]

What is this spoiler?

[Van Cruncheon]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

he's not the real luke; he's a magickal clone and literally has ZERO knowledge of the real world until a year before the game starts. he's one year old and has never left the estate, so of course he'd be utterly clueless. you meet the real luke later.

[close]

i liked the characters in abyss, by and large. symphonia's entire cast were hateful cliches, but abyss bucks animu standard a bit. i particularly liked jade, the slightly sadistic military mage with a cruel sense of humor and a past as a mad scientist (not a spoiler, he cheerfully admits this in the early game) -- he treads the line between decent fellow and utterly amoral jagoff pretty well for an animu rpg. tear wasn't bad for a heroine, either, although the fact that she wasn't blonde, a self-sacrificing "angel of mana", and/or a dedicated healer type probably made me think more favorably of her. she was more mature and dignified, and the scenario writer(s) did a good job developing her inner conflict across the game.

[Himu]

spoiler (click to show/hide)

he's not the real luke; he's a magickal clone and literally has ZERO knowledge of the real world until a year before the game starts. he's one year old and has never left the estate, so of course he'd be utterly clueless. you meet the real luke later.

[close]

 

[Van Cruncheon]

note: relatively speaking, of course. my "literary" standards for jrpgs are very, very low.

[ananus]

i'm up to the point where my airship lost its ability to fly. how far into the game am i?

also, there seems to be some weird bug with the airship while it can fly. sometimes you can hear a piiiiing sound, other times there are people talking/laughing or even a cat meowing while you ride. doesn't happen always, but it's annoying when it does. reentering the airship can fix it, tho i usually don't bother.

[Ichirou]

Tales of the Abyss has horrible loading, that's why I stopped playing it.  It ruins the experience.  That, and the constant backtracking. 

[ananus]

load times are only a issue for battles on the world map. since you can see the enemies you can dodge them, or if you're lazy there are items that avoid battles for a while. or just use hdloader like me to fix the load times.

i didn't think there was that much backtracking, and most of the time you can pass through the old parts fast since the enemies are weak and the dungeon has already had most of its paths open.

[Ichirou]

I don't have hdloader.