Tales of the Abyss (2005)
Tales of the Abyss is the eighth main game in the Tales of franchise, telling the story of Luke fon Fabre and his quest to save the world from the sinister Oracle Knights.
First released
Dec 15, 2005
Aliases
TOA
Franchises
Tales
Developed by
Namco Tales Studio Ltd., 8-4, Ltd., Digital Hearts Co., Ltd.
Published by
Bandai Namco Entertainment
Platforms
PlayStation 2, Nintendo 3DS, Nintendo 3DS eShop
Genres
Action, Role-Playing
Themes
Fantasy, Anime
Rating
CERO: All Ages, ESRB: T, PEGI: 12+, OFLC: PG, CERO: A
Releases
- 3DS - Tales of the Abyss Japan
- 3DS - Tales of the Abyss United States
- 3DS - Tales of the Abyss United Kingdom
- 3DS - Tales of the Abyss Australia
- 3DSE - Tales of the Abyss Japan
- PS2 - Tales of the Abyss Japan
- PS2 - Tales of the Abyss United States
Community reviews
Not the best Tales of, but enjoyable
Beaten the game after 43 hours and 15 minutes. Not that long you say?
It's definitely a good game but the first hald of the game really didn't click with me. The beginning of the story is slow as hell, the main character (Luke) is awful and the battles are really easy. After 8-10 hours, the plot finally gets a little better, as does the hero's personality.
The game doesn't get a bit more challenging until the last third of the game. I only had 2 game overs in my entire playthrough, in the same battle.
To summarise everything I think about the game:
- The story gets better after 10 hours, and the main quest would have better pacing if it was 10 hours shorter
- The characters are pretty good and they are well developed. My favorite ones were Tear, Jade and Guy.
- The soundtrack is good but forgettable.
- Playing this game after Tales of Vesperia (which was released before Abyss in Europe) feels like a step backward battle system-wise.
- The graphics are okay
- 3D stereo makes the game more immersive but can barely be feeled outside of some cutscenes and dungeons
- Lots of frame drops in the second half of the game, it's pretty annoying.
- The second half of the game really hooked me, even if we basically have to revisit every single place.
- Fields of Fonons are really a pain to use/activate and you won't probably have any trouble beating the game without them.
- The plot kinda spoils itself, it's no fun at all.
- The final battle was really epic!
- The ending was nice.
Overall this game is good but definitely the weakest Tales games I've played so far.
It's definitely a good game but the first hald of the game really didn't click with me. The beginning of the story is slow as hell, the main character (Luke) is awful and the battles are really easy. After 8-10 hours, the plot finally gets a little better, as does the hero's personality.
The game doesn't get a bit more challenging until the last third of the game. I only had 2 game overs in my entire playthrough, in the same battle.
To summarise everything I think about the game:
- The story gets better after 10 hours, and the main quest would have better pacing if it was 10 hours shorter
- The characters are pretty good and they are well developed. My favorite ones were Tear, Jade and Guy.
- The soundtrack is good but forgettable.
- Playing this game after Tales of Vesperia (which was released before Abyss in Europe) feels like a step backward battle system-wise.
- The graphics are okay
- 3D stereo makes the game more immersive but can barely be feeled outside of some cutscenes and dungeons
- Lots of frame drops in the second half of the game, it's pretty annoying.
- The second half of the game really hooked me, even if we basically have to revisit every single place.
- Fields of Fonons are really a pain to use/activate and you won't probably have any trouble beating the game without them.
- The plot kinda spoils itself, it's no fun at all.
- The final battle was really epic!
- The ending was nice.
Overall this game is good but definitely the weakest Tales games I've played so far.