"Tales of the Abyss" (PS2)

Game: Tales of the Abyss

Our Rating: 10 of 10


This week, we finally completed the game "Tales of the Abyss" for the Play Station 2.
It was a thoroughly enjoyable role-playing game.

The story line was extremely complex, and long.
It took us over 70 hours to beat it! (The game keeps track.)
However, every second of those 70 hours were thoroughly enjoyable.

The basic plot: Luke, a heir to the Kimlascan throne,
has a special power called Hyper-resonance.
His power interacts with another person, Tear,
and they are teleported to a valley in Malkuth.
Malkuth and Kimlasca are on the verge of war.
Luke, who has been locked in his manor the 7 years since his kidnapping,
had no idea, so when they finally reach Baticul, the capital of Malkuth,
he attempts to stop the ridiculousness.
Well, a third faction, the theocratic nation of Daath, also gets involved.
You see, many centuries ago, the psychic Yulia wrote something called the Score,
which dictated exactly what would happen in the world.
The Order of Loreli, the religion of the land, controls the score.
Daath also has influence over both Kimlasca and Malkuth.
On their way home, they came across some other people,
including the Fon Master, Ion, who is technically in charge of the Order.
However, Grand Maestro Mohs is the one who seems to be running it,
behind the scenes, since Ion is still really a kid.
So, Ion, who doesn't want a war, protests Mohs.
Mohs desires the war because the Score predicts it,
but Ion argues that that is no reason to start a war.
So, the war is put off, and Luke is returned to the manor.
However, a month or so later, they request Luke at the palace.
He is needed to go on a peace mission to the Malkuth miner's city of Akzeriuth.
Well, Van, a commander of the Daathic military, intervenes.
He is Luke's mentor and sword instructor.
Luke's mission is to help evacuate the people of Akzeriuth.
There is a miasma that has consumed the city.
Van tells Luke that there is a way to use his special power to destroy the miasma.
Luke believes Van, and they set off to do it.
But Van was a big fat liar.
Instead of freeing the people of the Miasma,
the city blows up, and the surrounding area begins to fall into the planet!
Tear manages to use her powers to save their little group,
and they end up in a place called the Qlippoth.
This is the place underneath the "Outer Lands",
full of miasma and lava-like liquid,
except for an ancient place called "Yulia City".
The people here, called "watchers", protect the land (and Score).
We find out that the outer lands are held up by places called "Sephirophs,"
large and ancient towers from the Dawn Age,
which was the time before the lands were raised.
Much technology is left from that time,
but today's people have no idea how to use it.
Yulia City is built using that old technology.
The fall of Akzeriuth was not in the Score, and that frightens the watchers.
Well, we don't want to reveal too much of the plot,
but basically, you have to save the land from falling.
Van is attempting to destroy the entire world, and replace it with replica people.
Luke discovers that he is a replica,
which is why he cannot recall anything from before his kidnapping.
The idea that he is not the real Luke is very painful to him.
Luke was replicated because of his power of hyper-resonance.
You see, he was the only person in the world with it.
Well, except for his original, who now goes by the name of "Asch".

But we're revealing way too much- and too little- of the plot.
To understand and experience it fully, please play the game!
It really is worthwhile.
The plot and characters are simply amazing,
as well as the battle system and strategies.
We honestly could write an entire book about it!

Okay, onto other things about Tales of the Abyss:

The battle system is fabulous.
You fight in a party consisted of 4 people (out of a possible six.)
You and your enemies both have an HP gauge.
When attacked, the gauge goes down.
If it runs out, your character dies.
If all your characters die, you get a game over,
and must continue from the last place you saved the game.
As well as basic attacks, each person has their own set of Artes,
which they gain as they level up.
(You level up by gaining set amounts of experience after each battle).
Artes can hurt the enemy, heal you/teammates, or both.
However, the cost TP, or Technical Points.
During a battle, there are also items you may use.
(You can purchase items with gald, which you also earn after each battle,
or find them in chests in towns and dungeons.)
As well as consumable items, which have many affects,
there are also equipable items.
To each character, you may equip a weapon (one must be equipped at all times),
a piece of body armor, a set of armor for their arms, and one accessory.
The body and arm armor can increase your physical defense or fonic defense.
(Physical means basic attacks, fonic means Arte attacks.)
The weapon can increase physical or phonic attacks.
Other attributes are agility and luck.
Accessories do a myriad of things.
Depending on what accessory it is, any stat can increase.
They also can attribute your attacks to a certain element,
protect against physical and magical conditions, or do other things.
As a character levels up, their base stats, or stats with no equipment,
also increase. The stats of the equipment are added to these base stats.
While fighting, you may notice circles of light on the ground.
These are fonic fields, each color representing an element.
Red is fire, brown is earth, blue is water, green is wind.
White is light, which attributes also to wind and fire,
and black is Dark, which also attributes to earth and water.
Most artes are tied to a specific field.
When you use that arte in the field, it becomes more powerful.
They can only be tied to wind, earth, fire, and water for the change.
Light and Dark field both support two of these.
For example, artes tied to water and earth will both get more powerful in a dark field.
Another thing in battle is called "over-limit."
Once the over-limit gauge is at max, you can activate it.
It lasts for a little bit of time, and increased your stats.
After, the gauge will be all gone, and start to charge again.
It charges when you attack, or when you are attacked.
There are also special skills the characters learn as they level up.
These skills can be turned on or off, and affect the battle.
They have a whole range of effects, unique to each skill.
One particular skill is called "special."
This allows you to use a mystic arte while in over-limit.
These artes are extremely powerful,
dealing massive amounts of damage to enemies.
Each character has their own mystic arte.
Oh, and you can equip c-cores to each character.
These raise specific stats more than normal when the character levels up.
There are also FSCs, which can be equipped to different artes.
They have different effects for each arte.
In battle, one can also obtain a status condition.
These can be many things, including poison, which drand hp,
paralysis, which prevents most your attacks,
and sealed artes, which prevent arte usage.
Hmm... It seems we have covered all the basics of battle, now.

Aside from battles, you explore various towns and dungeons.
Dungeons have monsters and other enemies to fight, towns don't.
You'll see the monsters wandering around,
and battle them if you run into them (or they run into you!)
The only battles not determined in this way are boss battles,
since you have to fight the bosses.
If the enemies run into you from behind,
then your formation gets messed up.
That is, the characters in the battle are random, except for your own.
So you'll get the two characters you don't like to battle with,
and maybe the two healers will not be in the battle!
Therefore, you must watch the location of the enemies,
especially if you don't want to fight them.
However, we really recommend fighting as much as possible.
It's the only way to level up,
and you need to be high levels to beat some of the bosses.

Aside from the main story, there are also side-quests that you can do.
These are activated when certain conditions are satisfied,
and when you go to specific places, different for each quest.
They are fun to take part in, and also can reveal extras about each character,
or can just be fun extra stories.
Some even come with exclusive items!
An easy side-quest takes place with the main story.
Just stay at an inn in each city the story takes you too,
and and certain points there you'll see special scenes.

Oh, and don't forget cooking!
After battles and in the field, you can cook.
Mostly, they just heal your hp, tp or status conditions.
Recipes can be found anywhere, or obtained from side-quests.

So, search every town and dungeon thoroughly!
If you don't, you may miss side-quests, items, or recipes.

It seems we have covered the bases, here.
Hopefully, you have a basic understanding of how the game works.
Any questions, just post a comment here, and we shall address it!
Basically, we're trying to say that this is an excellent game,
and we highly recommend it to any rpg fan!