This game needs a map...badly. Once you get vehicles that let you go off continent it gets really confusing trying to figure out where to go next. People say "go to the southern area of X continent" yet there's nothing anywhere that says the names of the continents Better yet, the map doesn't even indicate where you left your vehicle so if you come back from a save a few days later you might have no clue where your transportation is >_<
Anyone with the promo disc wanna make an ISO of it for me?
(this is a freebie, like it was mentioned earlier, so i am also considering this fair game)
AIM me at gendo4567
Grrr...30+ hours in and the game is nosediving pretty badly. WTF is wrong with Tales games not being consistent EVER.
For some reason it seems they ran out of budget. How the F!$@! they could run out of budget when these games sell a half million+ is beyond me. I've just done two OVERWORLD DUNGEONS. Where they basically were too lazy to make a dungeon so they just make a long labrinthy path on the overworld map (which let me remind you runs at about 5-10fps) and call it a dungeon. Also worth noting is that on the overworld loading out of battles is like 6-8 secounds vs. 2-3 seconds in a dungeon. So suddenly all the encounters become really annoying. Oh and there are no puzzles since its just an overworld. No nice visuals either or unique music since its the crappy overworld as well.
Add to that a lack of new places to visit and a story that, while not turning bad has become, "lets run to place A to inform person A! Then lets run to place B! Then go to place A again!" instead of "lets explore new worlds!". All this adds up to the game going from exciting and fun to ...ok and kinda boring at times. Battles are still great but in the last 10 hours there's been maybe 2 actual dungeons. The rest of the time is running around with tons of talking while the story is basically at a standstill. Heck the game isn't even following the dungeon->boss progression as some dungeons don't even have bosses and sometimes there are boss fights between all the story blabbering. At this point the battle system is damn good on tough bosses, possibly the best Tales battle system yet (Rebirth might be better, but the 3d movement really adds some strategy here).
The games still not bad at all. If it never really picks up again I'd say it'll probably be a little below Symphonia (assuming Symphonia is the best all around Tales this gen). If it really picks up and gets good like the first 20 hours for the last 10-15 hours (seems like a 40-50 hour game like Symphonia at this point) then it could still be better than Symphonia, just with some issues.
It's just wierd because about 60-70% in it feels like they ran out of budget and suddenly there isn't much of new dungeons, towns, bosses, enemies. But maybe there will be soon again. It could just be that they wanted a 50 hour game so they padded the middle 10-15 hours with lack of effort to just get it longer. Dunno. I'll see in a few days. I am disappointed a bit though.
On a happier note, there are some optional box puzzles in the game that are AWESOME AWESOME AWESOME. Funny stories behind them, really smart puzzles that are totally enjoyable to solve, and AWESOME box-pushing music. The puzzles in general for all the dungeons are really good...it'd just be nice if I could get some more dungeons at this point...
Wait, so you never change your opinion while playing games?
I dunno, I'm human. While the game is enjoyable I'll praise it for its good parts and when it becomes annoying I'll critisize it for its bad parts. Even great games have the annoying level or dungeon or etc...
Just because something starts off good doesn't mean I become a fanboy of the game and magically ignore everything wrong with it. If a game doesn't keep its standard and starts to go downhill, I have no problem going from loving something to damning it
That's why I'd really like all reviews to be done AFTER a game is completed. But because of the reality of time and deadlines, that's really tough for most reviewers and so even if a game completely falls apart 50% through, it often won't get caught on it.
At the endgame (before sidequests) around the 45-50 hour mark. Huge game, after endgame and sidequests I could definitely see it being the longest Tales title ever. Good stuff too.
btw, do you think this will be the last console Tales for the generation? Assuming the DS one is mid-2006, if there is I December 2006 Tales...I wonder if it'll be the X360 one?
If the DestinyII/Rebirth team is doing Tempest (which they very well might not be. Could be a new team or the Legendia group)...who is doing the X360 one? Seems to early for the Eternia/Symphonia/Abyss team.
My guess is
DS tales mid-2006 (team ?)
X360 tales xmas 2006 (team ?)
PS3 tales either mid 2007 or xmas 2007 (Team Symphonia)
Then again they could always be lazy and profit hungery and release a Tales game on PS2 in 2006 and then port it to X360.
Its not confirmed though. Namco just said something like 'New original RPG from Tales Studio' for Xbox360. No more info yet, even though the other 3 projects are already shown (RR, Love Football, Frame City Killer). I wonder if they dropped it...
I thought PSP would see a new one soon, but now I don't think so. PS2 won't have its Fandom Vol2 either...
Well, they better slow releasing new games...its hurting sales. TotA should be over 500k by now anyway...
Still haven't finished it. Game is longer than I thought ^^; But now I'm finally at the real endgame where all the optional stuff opens up and I'm reading through the Japanese FAQ sites to see what kind of stuff there is to do. There is A LOT
Seriously, this game is basically ToS2. The main quest is a good 50-60 hours if you're a complete "get every chest", "fight every enemy" person like me. The on top of that there's easily 10 hours worth of optional stuff at the end with a lot of things from Symphonia making comebacks (
Cursed weapons that you have to gather and fight a super hard boss that's tougher than the final boss. But after you beat it all the cursed weapons do X damage with X being # of enemies killed I was doing insane damage after beating Albicion in ToS so I look forward to doing just as much damage on the final boss this time around as well
). So total is around 60-70 hours for doing everything which is about 5-10 hours longer than ToS.
Basically take ToS and make the story quite a bit better, also a little more mature/darker (though sadly a little less funny as well), then mix all the good elements of the ToDIIj battle system (which was an extremely awesome battle system), and you have Abyss. The game feels very close to Symphonia.
btw, do you think this will be the last console Tales for the generation? Assuming the DS one is mid-2006, if there is I December 2006 Tales...I wonder if it'll be the X360 one?
If the DestinyII/Rebirth team is doing Tempest (which they very well might not be. Could be a new team or the Legendia group)...who is doing the X360 one? Seems to early for the Eternia/Symphonia/Abyss team.
My guess is
DS tales mid-2006 (team ?)
X360 tales xmas 2006 (team ?)
PS3 tales either mid 2007 or xmas 2007 (Team Symphonia)
Then again they could always be lazy and profit hungery and release a Tales game on PS2 in 2006 and then port it to X360.
I've got a hunch 360 Tales is being done by Team Symphonia and it'll probably get a PS3 port. Tempest is pretty obviously being done by Team Destiny, I think they'll move to a new PS3 Tales after that. I still think there's a chance Abyss might see an upgraded Revolution port next year too, I just don't think Namco can ignore Symphonia's western sales. I could also see another PSP port, maybe a Destiny 1+2 double pack even. Narikiri Dungeon DS seems likely too.
I don't think Namco's Legendia team is still around anymore, in fact looking at it's low sales I'd guess Namco's probably going to leave original console Tales releases to Tales Studio themselves from here on out.
I've got a hunch 360 Tales is being done by Team Symphonia and it'll probably get a PS3 port. Tempest is pretty obviously being done by Team Destiny, I think they'll move to a new PS3 Tales after that. I still think there's a chance Abyss might see an upgraded Revolution port next year too, I just don't think Namco can ignore Symphonia's western sales. I could also see another PSP port, maybe a Destiny 1+2 double pack even. Narikiri Dungeon DS seems likely too.
I don't think Namco's Legendia team is still around anymore, in fact looking at it's low sales I'd guess Namco's probably going to leave original console Tales releases to Tales Studio themselves from here on out.
If Team Symphonia is doing the X360 title, it won't come out for a few years (maybe xmas 2007, more likely 2008). I think they want to get the X360 Tales out before the system completely dies in Japan and at least announce it (With pics/trailers) before the PS3 comes out so that they don't get drowned out in the PS3 hype.
Still haven't finished it. Game is longer than I thought ^^; But now I'm finally at the real endgame where all the optional stuff opens up and I'm reading through the Japanese FAQ sites to see what kind of stuff there is to do. There is A LOT
Seriously, this game is basically ToS2. The main quest is a good 50-60 hours if you're a complete "get every chest", "fight every enemy" person like me. The on top of that there's easily 10 hours worth of optional stuff at the end with a lot of things from Symphonia making comebacks (
Cursed weapons that you have to gather and fight a super hard boss that's tougher than the final boss. But after you beat it all the cursed weapons do X damage with X being # of enemies killed I was doing insane damage after beating Albicion in ToS so I look forward to doing just as much damage on the final boss this time around as well
). So total is around 60-70 hours for doing everything which is about 5-10 hours longer than ToS.
Basically take ToS and make the story quite a bit better, also a little more mature/darker (though sadly a little less funny as well), then mix all the good elements of the ToDIIj battle system (which was an extremely awesome battle system), and you have Abyss. The game feels very close to Symphonia.
Urgh, calling Abyss Symphonia 2 is an insult.(It's way better than that) I'll ring in with my own thoughts in a week or so. I'm around 40 hours (i think around 4-5 dead hours tho) and current just found out that
Natalia's a fake princess.
I can somewhat understand what you mean by the sudden budget dive. I was rather surprised that all the events during the portion when the party was split between Engape and Kaitzul were not voiced. Also, I didn't think that first overworld dungeon was too bad at all. The fact that you were timed made it a brief visit.
Urgh, calling Abyss Symphonia 2 is an insult.(It's way better than that) I'll ring in with my own thoughts in a week or so. I'm around 40 hours (i think around 4-5 dead hours tho) and current just found out that
Natalia's a fake princess.
I can somewhat understand what you mean by the sudden budget dive. I was rather surprised that all the events during the portion when the party was split between Engape and Kaitzul were not voiced. Also, I didn't think that first overworld dungeon was too bad at all. The fact that you were timed made it a brief visit.
I can't stand the load times on the overworld and horrible camera perspective that doesn't let you see ahead of you. Luckily holy bottles solved these problems. When I'm on the world map I always have a holy bottle being used and restock in towns. I stick to fighting in the dungeons where the load times are brief.
I agree. I enjoyed ToS, but it never really went anywhere and the whole world felt "the same". The story, characters, music, world design, and gameplay are all much better here. Absolutely awesome. Easily my favorite Tales game.
The technical issues are the ONLY issues. It's a shame they weren't able to create a better engine OR release a GC version.
Well I think calling it ToS2 is praise but that's just where I come from Besides the battle system, I thought ToS completely destroyed every other Tales game in terms of dungeons, world map exploration, sidequests, length. The only things weak were the battle system wasn't as strong as ToD2j or Rebirth, and the main 4 characters sucked (the other 4 were awesome and better than most of the Abyss cast). Sure I enjoyed fighting more in ToD2j/ToR, but I had a better overall experience with ToS.
Abyss still has a decent amount of problems:
--Overworld is so choppy it seems like you're playing a beta. PS1 games were better than this.
--Loading isn't so hot
--Cast is fine, but there have been better Tales casts.
--Overworld dungeons are crap.
--There's like 10-15 hours in the middle of the game where you're running around doing errands and the story really goes nowhere. The parts are still enjoyable, but it did seem to drag and lose focus for a bit.
--Music is still really weak. It was enjoyable for the first 20 hours, but by 60 hours in you're sick of every song. Hell I wanted to mute the TV for a certain optional quest's music. Maybe the music is a little better than ToS. But it's still painfully average Sakuraba Tales music.
Still, I think all those problems fall into the 'minor issues' side and the overwhelming amount of excellence in the title makes up for all that. Objectively Abyss will probably score around low 8s in reviews, but for the intended group its aimed at the game pretty damn A quality.
It isn't his best by any means, but I DO think it is FAR better than any of the previous games in the series (that he's done). There are far fewer throw-away songs in the game and the good songs are actually really good. The second battle and world map themes, for example, are really kickass. There is also atmospheric music for a change, such as that within Yuria City (IIRC).
Symphonia's soundtrack was one of the worst, though. It was so bad that I played 70% of the game with external music + the sound effects/voices. It totally took me out of the experience.
--Overworld is so choppy it seems like you're playing a beta. PS1 games were better than this.
Yes, it's choppy as hell, but for some reason I can't explain, I actually find it to be visually attractive. It's not complex by any means, but the colors and lighting chosen are quite appealing. It LOOKS much nicer than any previous Tales world map...but simply runs like shit (seems to be loading related). There is NO excuse for it.
Despite it's lack of stuff to explore, I found Grandia III's flight based world map to be quite a stunner. Absolutely beautiful looking. That's perhaps the most beautiful world map I've seen to date. My FAVORITE would be that of Eternal Arcadia/Skies of Arcadia. Totally loved it.
Also, the costumes in Abyss are my favorite in any rpg. Soooo fun and there's no negative effects (like lowered stats or something as you get in most games). I hear there's about 5-8 costumes per character!! Though a few are only on 2nd playthrough. Here's some pics of my current team if you don't mind costume spoilers:
Finished it with all the major side stuff done at around 76 hours (definitely a few hours dead time in there, so probably closer to 70ish realtime).
To say it's the best Tales game ever is an understatement. It's miles above every other Tales game to date. The story is actually pretty damn good. It still has the anime feel and so its kinda like a 52 or 70~ep anime series but up there with the good FF stories. Gameplay is excellent and oh man is the battle system great. The boss fights towards the end are so intense and just plain awesome because of both the battle system and the challenging difficulty level.
The difficulty level of the game is just right. Even at the end if you've done all the sidequests and have the best stuff it's no cakewalk. Battles are still pretty intense and you win by just a hair.
What an awesome game. Definitely going to be one of my top5 or so rpgs of all time. It's gonna be hard getting excited about the DS one and even the next console one if its not Team Symphonia because the difference between their stuff and the other teams is huge.
Phantasia (I think) -> Eternia -> Symphonia -> Abyss. The team just keeps improving on everything they've learned and continues to make completely awesome games. All they need to do for their next title is kick Motoi out and get Go Shiina or someone good. That's probably the only thing Abyss was lacking was any kind of strong emotional music (the ED song was really a letdown, just midi blah). Fix the music, improve even more on the gameplay and the next Tales will have a shot to be the best rpg next-gen.
Good to hear the positive impressions. I must confess I've stopped really following the Tales series, because all these games are just so difficult to keep track of , but maybe I'll give this one a try should it come Stateside
What an awesome game. Definitely going to be one of my top5 or so rpgs of all time. It's gonna be hard getting excited about the DS one and even the next console one if its not Team Symphonia because the difference between their stuff and the other teams is huge.
? It's not that surprising. I mean I'd probably put ToS somewhere around 9 or 10 on a top10. I'm not a huge nostalgic person so most of my top list is from PS1 and current-gen. Only 16-bit stuff I'd have on there would be FFVI and maybe Chrono Trigger.
All they need to do for their next title is kick Motoi out and get Go Shiina or someone good. That's probably the only thing Abyss was lacking was any kind of strong emotional music (the ED song was really a letdown, just midi blah). Fix the music, improve even more on the gameplay and the next Tales will have a shot to be the best rpg next-gen.
Yes, I'm interested... but I don't have mIRC or any other program alike (a lot of years have passed since the last time I used mIRC, I think I forgot how to use it too... *walks away in shame *)...
Better yet, the map doesn't even indicate where you left your vehicle so if you come back from a save a few days later you might have no clue where your transportation is >_<
3 cheers for Team Symphonia on pulling it off though. I look forward to finishing it as well