[UncleSporky]

Yeah, how many awfully-compressed non-3D videos like the carriage ride are in the game? That was gross.

[Emitan]

The FMVs need subtitles. Can't understand anything.

[WeaponKnight]

Another little trick is you can chain the same Strike Arte twice in a row if the second time activates a FoF Change. For example, say it's early in the game and Guy doesn't have any Arcane Artes yet, but Jade has Splash. Do a three-hit combo with Guy and link it to Crescent Strike, timing it so that Crescent Strike hits just before the Water FoF from Splash appears. You can link that Crescent Strike right into Frigid Moon.

That's known as the FoF Cancel Glitch.
When you use an arte that would activate a FoF change just before the circle appears, the game doesn't register that you used that arte and allows you to continue linking. If you can time the attacks of every member, you can do an infnite combo. Many combo vids on youtube use that.

The simplest one is, with Luke having Super Chain and a Sunlight Chamber on Havoc Strike, use Devil's Inferno and right after the attack quickly use Havoc Strike before the circle appears. If it works, the FoF change won't occur and you have a free arte afterwards.

[mclem]

Can anyone recommend a sidequest guide that lists the sidequest *stages* in the order you need to be concerned about them?

http://talesof.cyllya.com/toa/mhm/sidequest.html seems excellent except it groups all stages of a sidequest together, when I'd far rather know about a stage when it *matters*, and avoid spoilers prior to that point. It's a pain if I have to keep flicking back to check the multi-stage quests to verify that the next part of those isn't up yet.

[Relix]

Btw I fear of inflicting myself cuts.

Those jaggiez babeh!

[chickdigger802]

hmmm is there a way to switch party members during combat?

Also how do you change your world avatar?

[Gunloc]

Enthusiasm registered, got my copy today. :)

[PKrockin]

hmmm is there a way to switch party members during combat? Also how do you change your world avatar?

1. Soon you'll get an item called the Moon Selector which lets you do that. Bring up the menu in battle and press Start or Select to switch.

2. There's an item in the Cheagle Woods (the east part, IIRC) which lets you do that. The first Cheagle you see after leaving the big tree with Mieu tells you about it. If you left the Engeve/Rugnica Plains area already you'll be able to come back fairly soon.

[Yuterald]

Picked this up last week, been playing it off and on. About 5 hours in, still very early in the game. I own the PS2 version still, but I never finished it. I have a problem finishing these Team Symphonia Tales titles. Vesperia was the only one I could get myself to complete. I still prefer Team Destiny titles, but I'm enjoying this version a bit more today because of the improved load times. I'm trying to AT LEAST clear it once before Graces comes out, but I doubt that's going to happen at the pace I'm going at. =/

[Coxswain]

Yeah, I think I'm done. Beating down Arietta's 4500 HP, at 1 damage per strike thanks to the ridiculous scaling on physical defense, was aggravating enough. I'm not doing the same thing with Kaiser Dist R at 28500 HP, and I'm not wasting my time grinding out the money you'd need to buy enough Orange Gels for Anise and Jade to chew through all that.

[ZombiePlatypus]

LOLWTF. And it begins!

[Thoraxes]

Yeah, how many awfully-compressed non-3D videos like the carriage ride are in the game? That was gross.

Out of what i've seen so far, the carriage ride is shit, but the two others i've seen thus far have been much better.

[mclem]

Out of what i've seen so far, the carriage ride is shit, but the two others i've seen thus far have been much better.

While that's true, I'm struggling somewhat to work out why they have to be videos rather than in-game footage (and therefore keeping the 3D consistent)

[IrishNinja]

just bought my copy off of gamefly for $31, no complaints here...i'm prolly the 2nd person to play it, hopefully not though!

The FMVs need subtitles. Can't understand anything.

aw, really? that bad?

LOLWTF. And it begins!

bro i only need one person to buy it though

[Frank_Wheeler]

Picked up the European version around Christmas. Nearly finishing the game and really loving it so far. Only other Tales game I played was Symphonia, I think I'm liking Abyss more.

Great cast and battle system.

[Anasui Kishibe]

48 hours into it and I MIGHT be approaching the end, game's damn long, but also beautiful

didnt have any problems with bosses besides Legretta. That bitch reminded me of Gattuso from Vesperia

[CrazyDude]

Anybody willing to buy the game for 5,000 dollars?

[BassForever]

48 hours into it and I MIGHT be approaching the end, game's damn long, but also beautiful didnt have any problems with bosses besides Legretta. That bitch reminded me of Gattuso from Vesperia

Wait till you try fighting the secret boss, nothing in Vesperia really compared to how difficult she is.

[UncleSporky]

I'm not very far into the game but I have to admit, I'm not really impressed by it in comparison to Symphonia. Symphonia had a much better first 5 hours. I don't even mind the crap about "regenerating the world," it felt like a nice classic JRPG introduction. Abyss feels...rushed, maybe, and not well explained at all. Suddenly I've got all these people in my party who I know very little about. I don't find the personalities abrasive, it just doesn't feel right the way Symphonia did. But I plan on finishing the game, I'm sure it will get better.

One of the things I liked best about Symphonia was its music. It's so memorable, and as I play this game I keep getting Symphonia music stuck in my head again. Is there anything as good in Abyss? Any examples?

Stuff like this and this just sticks in my brain in a great way. :)

[Persona7]

They probably screwed up the pricing for $49.99

It happens often on amazon.

[Boney]

Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu

[chickdigger802]

I recall being super disappointed that they went from the pseudo celshaded chibi artstyle to the bland low res 'realistic' style for abyss. Launching it against the really great looking FF12 didn't do it much favors =/

[Luigiv]

Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu

I hate you.

[chickdigger802]

I hate you.

why did you hit me master~?

[Anasui Kishibe]

poor Mieu, Luke sure is an arse at the beginning

Wait till you try fighting the secret boss, nothing in Vesperia really compared to how difficult she is.

gah, I don't look forward to beat her!

[StuBurns]

Anybody willing to buy the game for 5,000 dollars? [IMG]http://i.imgur.com/RzQaO.jpg[IMG]

Five grand, and they don't even include shipping, that's a little harsh.

[twisteddeeds]

Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu

poor Mieu, Luke sure is an arse at the beginning !

As much as Luke is a prick, i find the scenes between him and mieu humorous

[massoluk]

why did you hit me master~?

shut up and drown

/best line ever.

[Relix]

Loving the game so far, nearly 3 hours in. Miueu thing is just... funny. Really. I thought it would annoy me to death but it works quite fine. Luke is an asshole but I am sure he'll come through.

Really enjoying this so far

[Anasui Kishibe]

yeah thankfully he changes his attitude later in the game. Mieu abuse kind of kills my heart

[Mr. Bubble]

Can anyone recommend a sidequest guide that lists the sidequest *stages* in the order you need to be concerned about them? http://talesof.cyllya.com/toa/mhm/sidequest.html seems excellent except it groups all stages of a sidequest together, when I'd far rather know about a stage when it *matters*, and avoid spoilers prior to that point. It's a pain if I have to keep flicking back to check the multi-stage quests to verify that the next part of those isn't up yet.

I've been following this walkthough: http://tales.namco.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=1610762

Don't know if you want this kind of guide though. It's easier to read and search through than any of the guides on Gamefaqs and makes it very clear what sidequests you can do at a point. It's mostly spoiler-free, but it will tell you about upcoming bosses if that is a problem for you. It does leave out the important story info.

Don't completely trust the maps that guide provides though. Some of them have missing treasure box locations.

[massoluk]

Ok, 25+ hours into the game and what the hell just happen.
I was enjoying the tight pacing, the new locations to explore, then all the sudden the game turned into a big backtracking fetch quest.

Revisit this city, find this guy, go back to that town, go back here, go back there.

[Sadist]

Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu Mieu

Shut up thing

[Emitan]

What's wrong with Mieu?!

D:

[Ricker]

LOLWTF. And it begins!

The EBGames(Gamestop here in Canada) had very few copies initial week but when I went back this week,they received a new shipment and he had about 15 copies...grabbed one.

I really like the 3D in this game so far,first time I play a JRPG with it so maybe that's why but outside the battles,like in villages and the in game cut scenes,I really like it(just 1 hour in though).

[Boney]

What's wrong with Mieu?! D:

[Zulithe]

Was out and about today and passed our local gamestop. Can never resist. They had one copy of Tales of the Abyss 3DS left... the shelf copy. I had to buy it.

I'm struggling trying to balance playing all the games I have on my plate right now, but I did give it 30 minutes on the train and it looks beautiful. Excited to dig further into it. I hope I can get some good progress before Kid Icarus comes out... because once that happens, I might have a hard time making time for it. I mean, unless Kid Icarus sucks... that can't happen, right?

*edit*

I also just noticed that amazon.com has changed the listing for this game from 'out of stock' to 'Usually ships within 1 to 3 weeks.' if anyone else is in the market for one, better safe than sorry.

[Mechanized]

I really like Luke, he's such a huge douche. Such a big departure from most jrpg protagonists. But it leads to some funny moments. I can figure he will warm up to the group, but I just hope he retains some of his attitude throughout.

[MaxwellGT2000]

yeah thankfully he changes his attitude later in the game. Mieu abuse kind of kills my heart

I knoooooow! Man I usually HATE mascot characters like Mieu, but hearing the MIEU! when I make him shoot fire just makes me crack a smile, I think they made Luke such a douche that I HAVE to love whatever he hates, which is just good writing I'd say :P

@Zulithe
Love your avatar, two amazing things rolled into one.

[Anasui Kishibe]

so i just beat Van.....man, his arcane artes when he drops below 65k are insta-killing. I had to drop out of the dungeon, got to Daath, made the vendor rich buying lemon gels and life bottles, and re-navigate the dungeon. Bitch down, game over...

..no way! i hope to finish it someday

[UncleSporky]

Ha! I just discovered this little screw up.

Namco, be more careful when you port a non-widescreen game to widescreen...



Intersecting walls and such, honestly! :P

[Zee-Row]

I'm surprised this game had a Club Nintendo code , I thought only first party games had them.

[Relix]

Game is so good. Just came off my first boss battle... two monsters and one caster. Good job Namco :P. Was an intense battle, used 2 Life Bottles and some gels. Otherwise not hard so far, but good enough challenge. Basically 5 hours in!

[IrishNinja]

man, i got this one for a good price off of gamefly, but...my vision is admittedly not the best, but is anyone else having a hard time with the choice of font/its size? i'm not going to be able to play for long stretches at night, especially with 3D on.

really kinda wish they'dve had text on the bottom screen where nothing's really going on. i'm gonna try again but part of me thinks i might sit on this until the eventual XL model.

[StickSoldier]

Don't want to see spoilers on accident, but is this game pretty good? I've only played one other Tales game, but it was the one on the Wii which I heard was kinda dookie(I liked it for the most part). When I went to pick up RE:R, to my surprise, I noticed that this game was on sale but I had no idea it already came out. I was on the verge of buying it but I've decided to hold out until I beat Zelda and RE:R, and because I want to make sure the game is worth the money. I could use a good RPG for my 3DS.

[Negator]

Tales of the Abyss is generally considered to be in the upper echelon of Tales games. I don't think you can really go wrong.

[GSR]

Question: what sort of sidequests are there to get things that actually change the game mechanics? Like how I found that one flag that lets you change the displayed character, and the ring that lets you go to manual control (though that might have been given to me as an event, don't quite remember where I picked it up.)

[Emitan]

How do I get money? It takes like 50 battles to buy one piece of equipment and I have 5 party members x 4 pieces of equipment each...

[Thoraxes]

How do I get money? It takes like 50 battles to buy one piece of equipment and I have 5 party members x 4 pieces of equipment each...

It's best to alternate characters to gear between dungeons and don't focus too much on grinding. Usually switching off every two main party members works nicely, and then always give the extras to your lower guys. When you battle enough, you'll be able to tell which people need what kind of defenses, or who attacks most and such, so there are characters you prioritize in specific areas. Also, in every dungeon there's usually a couple pieces of gear too.

The best way though honestly, is to just progress through the story, and search all the nooks and crannies for chests that have some money in them as well.

[Emitan]

But I need everyone to have the best gear at all times.