Current Events > Tales of the Abyss... good game or nah?

(+) Yeah! (+)

the black sheep of the holy trinity

The best Tales by a wide margin.

My favorite Tales game.

Great game

Its good

it's fun but def play the 3ds version if you can, the load times on ps2 have not aged well

One of the best Tales of games easily. If that is the black sheep, I don't want to know what is with the other games, then.

How is it the black sheep

Good game. Prolly my favorite Tales of game.

I think personally there have only been a few bad Tales games. Tales of the Tempest, Zesteria, and Symphonia 2. The last one some love it, I wasn't really a fan. Every other Tales game was a masterpiece in its own right. Some are better than others, but each other one I enjoyed fully. Including Abyss.

Scintillant posted...

it's fun but def play the 3ds version if you can, the load times on ps2 have not aged well

DS Version supposedly has a game breaking bug that will freeze the game and you will not be able to advance any further in the story.

The black sheep is Hearts R. Random encounters and a somewhat bland cast

A lot depends on your liking Jade.

Nah

Terrible infuriating cast of characters.

It was the first Tales game I played and every other game since has disappointed me, kinda ruined the series for me.

Hearts R was the one I got furthest into besides that though

The black sheep is Hearts R. Random encounters and a somewhat bland cast

I thought Legenda was the black sheep.

PS2 version was better than 3Ds in my opinion.

I would've thought Tales of Legendia would be the black sheep. PS2 Tales game with a 2D-Fighter camera perspective for battles and about the same amount of space to move as one >_>

I_is_smart posted...

I would've thought Tales of Legendia would be the black sheep. PS2 Tales game with a 2D-Fighter camera perspective for battles and about the same amount of space to move as one >_>

Legendia is fantastic. And I'd like to note that the 3D camera perspective didn't start happening until the mid-point of Tales games. It wasn't until Tempest that they started switching to a 3d battle arena.

foxhound101 posted...

Nah

Terrible infuriating cast of characters.

You probably think the Vesperia cast is great, though

Great game! Honestly, it probably would have been my favorite Tales (and thus favorite game of all time) if it had been my introduction to the series instead of Symphonia. It's not without its flaws (I could go on a whole rant about how the party treats Luke after Akzeriuth), but overall, it was definitely a great experience. Actually, I've been kinda thinking about replaying it recently...maybe I should get on that soon~

Umbreon posted...

Great game

Top 3 tales game

Pog game fo sho!

The end repetition is it's biggest issue but I really enjoyed the story and the character growth

CobraGT posted...

A lot depends on your liking Jade.

That may explain things as I did not like Jade. Heck, the only character I ended up liking was Luke because of his character arc.

MajorGamer posted...

That may explain things as I did not like Jade. Heck, the only character I ended up liking was Luke because of his character arc.

Fake

Characters from Symphonia (the game before)and Characters from Abyss are so brazenly different.

https://youtu.be/AVnsd0ir4z4

https://youtu.be/OsD_5CloWRs

Unfortunately this means Abyss's cast can be assholes >_>

Like seriously assholish at times.

Abyss is not my favorite but better than Vesperia at least. Would be nice to replay it sometime.

One of my favourite games.

Calling it a black sheep is harsh. Back in the day it was the least popular of the Symphonia/Abyss/Vesperia trio, but nowadays it might actually be the most popular, or at least the most respected.

Never heard anyone call it a "black sheep" before.

I'd rank the top 3 Abyss > Symphonia > Vesperia

Black sheep of the holy trinity? Maybe. Great game though. I like Vesperia more, but Abyss' narrative doesn't fall apart in the end like Vesperia's is said to do. I really need to get back to playing it.

Abyss is the all around best tales game.

Symphonia, whole being a classic, doesn't hold up gameplay wise imo simply because of free run. (My absolute scorching hot take is DotnW is better but it's also my personal favorite so loads of bias)

Vesperia is just a wannabe Abyss and is the one I kick out of my top 3 for Graces.

Graces has the best combat, serviceable story, serviceable endgame and isn't just a ripoff like vesperia.

I never vibed with it at all. I legitimately got further in Legendia than this game (though I never finished Legendia, either...).

One of the best Tales games (an unfortunately low bar). Your entire party being nothing but complete assholes sets it apart for me.

It's good, but I've never been able to get through it. Tried twice now.

Maybe I just have an issue with handhelds.

I loved Abyss.

Note that the characters all have a maturation arc, so while people complaining that they're annoying or asshats aren't wrong exactly, it's one of those things that works in context of the full work.

Necronmon posted...

I thought Legenda was the black sheep.

Never played it.

Hearts R was a personal black sheep because they went a full step backwards by adding random encounters. It makes even less sense when you realize Hearts (DS) didn't have random encounters.

Honestly...I know its popular now but...I feel Arise is the blacksheep for me because it has just about the most recycled plot in the series with the worst bad guys and a plot that by the second half just fell apart entirely all for the sake of looking " Flashy."

This is the most praise I've heard for Abyss. I remember when it came out it was polarizing.

it had some awful voice acting (especially tear and luke) and the combat felt pretty bad. dropped it after some haunted mansion or something

free run is honestly not a big deal. the series barely tries to balance it in the early titles too

Those Tales games are only good as baby's first JRPG.

Good tales game but not my favorite gameplay wise and was whatever to me.

I personally liked Vesperia, xillia 2 and destiny dc combat more.

anttttt posted...

it had some awful voice acting (especially tear and luke) and the combat felt pretty bad. dropped it after some haunted mansion or something

free run is honestly not a big deal. the series barely tries to balance it in the early titles too

I think that's only two bosses into the game. The early part is admittedly slow (Especially if you started on Hard, said second boss is way too tanky there), but Tales games tend to be like that in general. Don't agree with the voice acting being bad, but to each their own.

it's the only truly great tales game tbh

Alucard188 posted...

I like Vesperia more, but Abyss' narrative doesn't fall apart in the end like Vesperia's is said to do.

I'd say Vesperia and Abyss have a bad Act 3, just for different reasons.

We need a tales of collection one day, and hopefully they can include some of the destiny remakes we never got over here.

Heck I really want to play Graces F again, so even that would be nice to see rereleased imo.

VeggetaX posted...

You probably think the Vesperia cast is great, though

Wrong! Actually I have no idea because I haven't played that one. Of the five games in the series I have played Abyss is the worst purely because of the main characters.

I've played Symphonia, Legendia, Abyss, Xillia, and Zestiria

Zestiria actually suffers from the opposite problem. An awful/boring story but the game still managed to have charming characters. Although that game also suffers from weird gameplay mechanics and a slow pace with the world/dungeons being too big.

The only Tales game I didn't finish.

The characters were just so off putting minus Natalia. I got to thd 3rd act and realized I really don't care about the story and characters. Anise, her whole character and arc was horrendous.

I know my experience isn't what most people felt when playing TotA.