Aside from Pokemon, Takes of Symphonia was the first JRPG I completed. I consider it my introduction to the genre, as Pokemon somehow feels like its own genre and I only played part of Super Mario RPG as a kid. Symphonia introduced me to numerous genre tropes, only they were new to me, so it will always occupy a spot as one of my favorite JRPGs. The Tales series, in turn, has become one of my favorite JRPG series, and I try to play most of the main series games when they’re released (see my JRPG list for which ones I’ve played — Graces f is my favorite), but I never got around to playing Abyss, even though I bought the game a few years after it came out, until now.
So here we go. Tales of the Abyss is my game for May. I would sum this one up as a more focused Symphonia. The action feels faster (I have no clue if it actually is), there’s not as many opportunities for sidequesting, and the main path is quite linear, but LONG. I spent nearly 64 hours with the game in all, and I by no means sought out many sidequests. This isn’t a complaint, however, as I appreciate variety in JRPGs (a quality the Tales series always delivers on), and the lengthy, detailed story of Abyss is worth the extended play time.
The game’s mythology around “fonons” (elementary particles with magical properties, essentially) is one of the more interesting gimmicks to explain all the spells and magic in the game, and it’s woven intricately into every aspect of the story and magic system in a way that I haven’t seen in a Tales game before. I certainly felt like I understood it better than Blastia or Exspheres, at any rate, and it’s essential to the core plot and how it affects the world. Which, by the way, is on a planetary level. Without spoiling too much, it’s fascinating to watch the world map change over the course of the game. Beyond this, however, the locations themselves didn’t stand out much to me. I’m writing this after having finished my game for June, so it’s been a minute, but while the dungeons and interior shrine/temple locations were impressive as always. I did appreciate the relative lack of puzzles compared to Symphonia, and all puzzles that were included weren’t overly long or involved, which has been one of my frequent complaints about the series.
The combat, on the other hand, felt samey for most of the game. While I enjoy experimenting with all the characters, I mostly played as Luke, the protagonist, since the game is primarily focused on telling his story. Unfortunately, he is a typical Tales sword character with little variety — or rather, little reason to switch up your moves once you choose a setup you like. There are many to choose from, but they all get the job done in mostly the same way. Contributing further is the fact that artes (e.g. skills, spells, or abilities for those unfamiliar with the franchise) level up by using them in combat, which only encouraged me to stick with what I had. Granted, this is a common problem with the series and one I don’t mind all that much, as I like easy combat anyway. At least the Mystic artes were fun to use and came frequently enough to feel like a goal instead of an aftersight.
On a more positive note, all of the characters in Abyss are well developed as well as fun to play as (for a few hours, anyway). Luke, especially, shows a rare amount of character development that continues throughout the entire game. He starts out a headstrong asshole, but after showing signs of progress does not change overnight into a strong, caring person but rather into a weaker, meek version of his potential self. Only by the end of the game does he become the man I was rooting for him to be, and it’s a joy to watch.
On the other hand, I don’t have much to say about the other party characters. They’re just.. good. None of them are annoying, they all get development, and a few in addition to Luke are essential to the plot. But they also don’t stand out in any major way. More of a standout this time is the main villain, his history with Luke, and the people he works with and manipulates in his quest. You learn a lot about the villains in this game by spending a lot of time with them, even more so than in other Tales games and in surprising ways that affect gameplay. This ensured the plot and overall feel of the game stayed bit unpredictable for me, which was welcome. You also get the usual roster of mid-tier bosses that like to monologue throughout the game before having at least one fake death. It’s standard Tales fare, but I enjoy it. The same goes for skits, although there are so many this time that the lack of voice acting really drags them down. That’s one aspect of the series I don’t miss.
Now that I’ve finally completed it, Abyss is one of the stronger Tales games for me, but I would also say that about several other titles in the series. In fact, only Zestiria and Dawn of the New World were less than great (though I enjoyed both). The others I’ve played (Symph, Vesperia, Graces f, Xillia) were all fantastic. However, I can only recommend Abyss to existing fans of the series, as it is so very long and doesn’t feature much sidequesting. If you’ve never played a Tales game, start with Symphonia or Vesperia. Otherwise, don’t miss this one, as it is among the best.
Next month I’ll be covering a real behemoth: Final Fantasy VII. That’s right, I’d never played the game until June 2020, I just completed it, and I can’t wait to talk about it. See you then.
