Fortunately, back in February of this year (November, 2011 for Europe and Australia), Western gamers were given a second (or first, for the PAL regions) chance to give it a try, when Namco Bandai Games released Tales of the Abyss 3D for the Nintendo 3DS.
It takes place on a planet known as Auldrant, where daily life is ruled by a series of prophecies known as ‘The Score,’ which tells of everything from major wars, to next week’s weather. Like other games in the series, a standard medieval fantasy setting is eschewed for a mix of fantasy and sci-fi elements. In the case of Tales of the Abyss, the sci-fi elements take the form of fon machines, which run on elemental particles known as fonons. This in-universe science is expanded upon in great detail over the course of the game, which some may appreciate for the amount of fleshing out it does. However, others may find scenes filled with fantasy technobabble tiring.
The story follows Luke fon Fabre, a sheltered young aristocrat with questionable fashion-sense, as he’s thrown into an unforgiving world, and into the midst of earth-shattering events far beyond his control. Poor Luke lost his childhood memories in a kidnapping seven years prior to the start of the story, and, as a result, was forbidden by his family from leaving his manor for his own protection. With such a traumatic childhood, it’s no surprise that Luke would grow up to selfish and ignorant of the outside world, nevertheless, his whining can get annoying.
Now, it wouldn’t be a “Tales” game without a cast of playable characters. There are six playable characters (including Luke), who all play quite differently, and who each have their own separate motivations, storylines, and side-quests. All of the characters have sympathetic attributes, and are portrayed competently by the English voice cast. A sticking point in the cast for some is Mieu. Mieu is a creature with a squeaky voice who fills the role of the game’s ‘Sorcerer’s Ring’ (An item used to solve puzzles in dungeons). Some people seem to hate him (Not me!) for being annoying, but those people are also likely to get a kick out of Luke’s treatment of the poor little guy. Personally, I like all of them, but, this is obviously very subjective. Someone out there might very well hate them all with a burning passion.
The game generally follows the standard JRPG formula; players navigate a large world map, moving between towns and dungeons, fighting monsters in between. Like previous games in the series, “Abyss” foregoes the hated random-encounter mechanic that used to be so common in JRPGs, opting instead to make enemies visible in the environment. When the player touches an enemy, the game transitions to the battle screen. Battles take place in a circular arena; the player’s four-character party facing off against groups of enemies in varying numbers. The battles take place in real-time; the player controls their chosen character, moving and jumping with the circle-pad, chain standard attacks with the “A” button, and use “Artes;” special attacks that can be set to different combinations of the “B” button and circle pad. Meanwhile, the game controls the other three characters (Their behavior can be modified through the party menu).
Supplementing the battle system are ways to increase the characters’ effectiveness during battle. Weapons and armour can be purchased in shops, and foodstuffs can be found or purchased, and used for cooking. Cooking can recover HP, TP (Consumed by artes), and provide temporary stat boosts. C.Cores, which can be found in treasure chests, can be equipped by the characters, providing boosts to different stats upon level up. These stat boosts have the added benefit of unlocking AD Skills when they get high enough. AD Skills provide a wide variety of benefits, including, but not limited to; increasing attack power, randomly healing after taking damage, and randomly dropping a “Pow Hammer” on an attacking enemy’s head.
All in all, the battle system is quite deep, but unfortunately, in many instances it’s possible to win by mashing buttons.
