I found it at Gamestop for like $35… apparently it’s up on Amazon for as much as 90…
It’s a Tales game, sure enough. Not much more to say about it so far. Luke’s a dick, but as per his character type, I’m sure he’ll loosen up. I didn’t expect Tear to take on the Estellese/Collette role (She has Pow Hammer, anyway), since her character is more abrasive.
What’s your thoughts on this one? How does Legendia compare? I always got the two mixed up since they came out at basically the same time.
I haven’t played Abyss, but Legendia was pretty good for a Tales game. Not perfect, there were a few things that bothered me, but overall a enjoyable story/gameplay experience.
I quite liked Abyss, the story and characters were great and surprisingly deep. The only thing that bugged me was revisiting the same cities over and over again. I also didn’t really get all the aspects of the battle system, there are some parts that are really hard to make use of and, in the end, don’t really matter.
Yeah, the pacing is tight as hell and at only three hours in, the story already has me hooked.
I tried continuing on with Persona 3 before starting this, but decided to put it off some more so I thought it was kind of amusing that I’m still in Tartarus, heh.
TOL is one of the weakest tales games in my opinion while I loved TOA. Granted, I played TOL after playing Tales of Symphonia, my second favorite rpg, so my hopes were too high. What I really disliked about TOL was the story. I didn’t care for the romance between the 2 main characters and that was the whole story for the first 30 hours. The other characters’ stories aren’t mentioned until after the main story is over. Also, I found the battle system to be a step back from TOS, which came out before TOL.
TOA on the other hand revived my interest in the tales series. After playing TOL, I thought that TOS was the only good tales game, but I really enjoyed TOA. While TOL’s gameplay was a step back from earlier tales games, TOA added new features like free run. I also really liked Jade and his witty humor. Luke is a jerk though, but I liked his character growth. Tales of the Abyss is one of those rare tales games that really tries to improve the battle system and create interesting characters.
TOA also has a lot of side quests so you might want to look at a guide.
Abyss is pretty good. Can’t really comment on Legendia, as I’ve never played it.
I forgot that it was Abyss that introduced the whole Free Run stuff. And Jade is full of awesome.
Oh yeah, definitely try to find a sidequest guide. A lot of stuff can only be done within certain timeframes, which is kinda annoying. And there’s quite a bit of annoying backtracking later on…so prepare for that. Other than all that mess, it’s a really great game, so enjoy!
ToL o god I hate that game,I really like the tales series but that game is atrocious for me,all of the characters but Moses and maybe Chloe(maybe) where likable, you have like 13 dungeons in the game that story wise you have to revisit 2-3 times,and is not like the same dungeon but it looks totally different,the exact same dungeon and story wise for me it was a mess,oh and a very dissapointing final boss.
As for ToA now that is an excellent game,the story was great and I really liked the characters especially Jade the master of trolling is hard to go wrong with this one.
Jade Curtis is one of the greatest RPG characters of all time. Enough said.
Think of Luke’s character development as if it were a sort of anti-Squall. In FFVIII, Squall acts like an emo dick for the whole game, but through the incessant, tireless and borderline messianic goodwill of all his friends and a chick that just arbitrarily latched on to him, he eventually cracks open his shell and becomes a good guy. Luke’s more of a case of how things would ACTUALLY go if someone acted like a huge cock for an extended period of time among people who are only slightly obligated to put up with his shit. Yes, he gets better, but there’ll be significant less friendship speeches and hugs involved. On his defence, it’s not like the rest of the cast was completely fair with him (I’m looking at you, Jade).
The way the game deals with most of the characters, particularly Luke, Guy and Jade, is one of the things I liked the most. Especially Jade. The game develops his character very subtly through side-dialogues and skits, but MAN is the guy flawed.
Keep hyping up Jade, and I’ll be really disappointed…
Haven’t made it much farther yet (just got Guy) but I still like where this is going.
You will not be disappointed. Every single line out of Jade’s mouth is awesome. Seriously.
And yes, the way Luke and character interaction in general was handled was great. Really smart dialogue, and lots of interaction to give us a real feel for the dynamic. The only real shame is that the skits weren’t voiced.
They WERE voiced, but Namco hates the west and has never done a complete localization for any of their games save Legendia, so they didn’t dub them during translation. 
Same reason we aren’t getting Destiny Director’s Cut or PS3 Vesperia.
I’m in Chesadonia for the first time now. If Jade’s supposed to be the ultimate god of RPG protagonists with his rapier wit and brillliant statements, he hasn’t started yet…
If you don’t like Jade by now, then, I don’t think you’ll ever like him. I found him to be witty from the time he joined my party. Do you really not find Jade funny or do you find him not as funny as you thought he would be?
No. He’s got some amusing one liners, but nothing that makes me think OH MY GOD THAT’S EVEN MORE BRILLIANT THAN THE LAST THING HE SAID! HOW DOES HE DO IT?!
Sorry.
Edit: I like his character. I like how he’s so calm and non-chalant and pretty much brushes everything off with a casual remark. He’s still not the be all end all of the Tales franchise.
I’m about a 3rd of the way through. Luke’s no longer an asshole, though now he’s like the complete opposite of how he was before. I like that he has more of a personality, and that he’s trying to get along with the characters, ask questions, trying to get a grasp on the world around him. Jade went from being a non-chalant type to just being a dick to him. Even if it was justified, now that Luke is giving an honest effort to be a team player it just seems uncalled for.
As for the overall game experience, maybe it’s just cos I blitzed through FFXIII and Suikoden V in like 3 weeks, but I’m having a hard time really getting into this. There’s absolutely nothing about this game I don’t like. By all rights I should consider it to be one of the best RPGs on the PS2. I just feel like I’ve been spinning my wheels with it.
Yeah, the story is more driven by the characters than the plot, so if you go in expecting that you’ll have a better time.
And yes, Jade is indeed being a dick. Just because he’s in your party doesn’t mean he’s a nice guy. And he has his reasons.
Jade is pretty far from being perfect, especially when it comes to relating to people. Nephry should give you some hints regarding why, and his character gets developed subtly through side-dialogues and skits.
It’s not the game so much as just RPG burnout, I guess. Like I said, I did plow through two lengthy ones in less than a month. Plot’s great, cast is great, it’s bright, colorful, the script is great and well voiced. I’m just sort of burned out.
I get Jade’s reasons too. But there’s still nothing about him (so far) that doesn’t make me think he’s overrated.
That’s why I never play more than one game at a time. And (if possible) I go for a thematically different one afterwards. For example, playing a more humorous game (like Disgaea) after a more serious one (like Wild Arms 4).