Topic: Tales of The Abyss 3DS Impressions

I agree, with much of what Mickeymac said about Tales of the Abyss, I've seen masses of praise for that game and the story doesn't hold up well on its own but the fantastic cast of characters (both the main characters and villains) make up for this.

I strongly disagree with this though. as I loved both the story and characters and as for the pace, I actually thought the characters became likable quicker than the story became interesting and for me the characters helped carry the story earlier in the game and I found the game world and back story far more interesting than that of Abyss.

Honestly I hated everyone in the first third of Tales of Symphonia. Everyone. It wasn't until later in the game that they all managed to become likeable in my eyes.

While Abyss isnt my favorite its number 4 in my list. 1st being Symphonia and Graces and 3rd being Vesperia. I heard somewhere that Tales of the Abyss is just to see if the 3DS can even run a Tales game. And that eventually Namco is going to create a new Tales game for the 3DS. I know I've read it somewhere just dont remember where.

MickeyMac's complaints about Symphonia are completely spot-on. I really like the game, but I prefer the apparently inferior GBA port of Phantasia, which was better. Also there's a lot of the 2nd disk that annoyed me and it's one of the best examples of a major problem I have with voice acting in games. It completely takes me out of the experience when it is pratically random when you'll get voice acting. Every cutscene should have voice acting or none of them should.

also symphonia's themes: IT'S ABOUT RACISM! GET IT?! GET IT?! HUH? DO YOU GET?!?! DO YOU?!?!!??!? RACISM THEMES!1!!!1!

I was hoping that they would port Symphonia over to the 3DS, since I haven't played it (Abyss 3DS being my first Tales game), but I'd much rather have a completely new title for the system, if that's a possibility (if just to see what they can pull off on the 3DS's hardware). I know you said you don't remember where you read it, but do you have the slightest idea of where you might have?

My guys were in the 50s when I took him down..it did take a fair amount of tries though, and I was only in normal mode..

Correction: Tales of Symphonia has themes of racism, utopianism, the value of one's life and existentialism. Racism is one of the most prominent themes in ToS (and I personally think it was represented well in ToS and was not overdone) but its not the only Tales of game that features this theme as many others do and there are two that feature it more prominently than ToS which are Tales of Rebirth and Tales of the Tempest (I've heard that TotT overdoes this though). Tales of the Abyss also features this with the replicas but its not featured in much of the game as this theme doesn't show up until the final third of the game. Also, I've heard that Tales of Phantasia is one of the many Tales of games that features this so I would be interested in what you thought of it in that game.

Not really I was looking for some upcoming Tales games or to see when and if Tales of Xillia would come stateside. I clicked on one of the site and then clicked on some other tag leading to what I read. sorry i couldnt be of more help.

a 3ds tales game be awsome you know what there should be a tales fan thread ok tales of xillia better come to usa cause ima be playin with jude and alvin both alot in the game

My biggest complaint with the game isn't its graphics, even with the 3D turned on. It's that the whole damn thing's far more cliched than I would have liked. Like as in, hero with a destiny, getting easily tricked by who would turn out to be the villain, then there's a clone of that same hero (like FFVII's plot but roles switched around only slightly).

It's still a good game though, just that Luke whines and complains too much and honestly, I think XB's Shulk turned out far better as a JRPG hero than anyone else.

Dude a Tales fan thread would be cool. And Jude seem awesome. I think fist fighters are badass

Just FYI, the whole series is like that. (and arguably most of the genre)

The series is known for using lots of cliches early on and then subverting all of them in a way that turns the story into the excellent stories that the series is known for but I guess the story wasn't subverted enough for him.

Subverting? Anyways, these games are incredibly cliche, there's no denying that. Sure, they use the cliches well, but they're still generally unoriginal. I actually think its part of their charm, since it gives this incredible feeling of familiarity, but I'm not surprised that it can get on some other peoples nerves. Honestly, outside of Phantasia and the Abyss, I wouldn't give much praise to a Tales story, nor have I heard any praise for them before. Usually they're used as examples of how great gameplay and characters can outway a typical and sometimes even poorly written story.

The following is listed as a recurring plot element of the series on TVtropes:
'Plots that start as Cliche Storms but later go on to subvert and deconstruct the very tropes they employ, often by drastically highlighting the nasty downsides of them. This is one of the main reasons why the games have a fanbase'.
Also, an upload of a vgm from the series on youtube had a top comment where someone said that that was one of the things they loved about the series (I would post a link but the video was taken down) so there is quite a number of people who believe this but I do agree that the characters seem to be better than the story itself a lot of the time.

Well, after a long while, I've decided to start on a second playthrough! (I had enough grade built up to do some cool things, too)

I'm not too far in yet, but it's still just as enjoyable (if not moreso) than the first time, so far.

Also, I've almost logged in a total of 100 hours with this game! It'll be the first 3DS game to hit that benchmark for me!

136. Posted: Thu 19th Apr 2012 09:15

137. Posted: Sun 20th Oct 2013 02:44

@_@

Well, where else would I discuss a second playthrough?

I was just being silly, no disrespect intended

I really gotta get around to completing my first playthrough. Had it back in the day for PS2 and finished it there, but the 3DS port unfortunately got lost in my backlog Think I got about 15 hours into it.