I really don't know why. I've played all the Tales games (officially) released in english so far and Abyss is easily one of the worst. Awful cast and story.
(I'm sure now someone will try to refute my comments with a mention about the battle system, as that always seems to happen when I call out awful RPGs for being awful, but imo if you're playing RPGs solely for the combat you're doing it wrong. And the combat in Abyss definitely doesn't outweigh it's other flaws.)
Wait, why am I doing it wrong if i'm playing RPGs just for the combat? I find jRPGs to be a really relaxing genre. I can just kickback and play. The story is usually standard Hero's Journey stuff and I'm just along for the ride. I just need a compelling (ugh) battle system to keep me entertained after a day of work/school.
Oh, and I disagree strongly about Abyss' cast. Was awesome. Overall, the cast was better than Vesperia's but Yuri is a better character than anyone in Abyss.
Wait, why am I doing it wrong if i'm playing RPGs just for the combat? I find jRPGs to be a really relaxing genre. I can just kickback and play. The story is usually standard Hero's Journey stuff and I'm just along for the ride. I just need a compelling (ugh) battle system to keep me entertained after a day of work/school.
Oh, and I disagree strongly about Abyss' cast. Was awesome. Overall, the cast was better than Vesperia's but Yuri is a better character than anyone in Abyss.
I guess it just seems like an odd choice. I mean if you don't care about the story why not just buy a hack and slash game or play WoW? Honestly I didn't like any of the characters in Abyss, and Luke easily being the worst lead in any game I've ever played ever was kind of the topper for me.
I guess it just seems like an odd choice. I mean if you don't care about the story why not just buy a hack and slash game or play WoW? Honestly I didn't like any of the characters in Abyss, and Luke easily being the worst lead in any game I've ever played ever was kind of the topper for me.
I like working towards and end goal. Feels like I've accomplished something. Hack 'n slashes just get far too repetitive for my likes. No real break in the action. The rhythm just doesn't grab me like a jRPG. Not as relaxing.
Why's that? I've played plenty of RPGs where the cast is actually tolerable. And I can't think of any other RPG where the main character does nothing but whine incessantly.
Did you finish the game? Luke isn't very likable in the beginning but he becomes more tolerable later on. The rest of the cast, especially Jade and Guy, are very well done though.
Why's that? I've played plenty of RPGs where the cast is actually tolerable. And I can't think of any other RPG where the main character does nothing but whine incessantly.
I'm pretty sure that Luke being unlikeable is the entire point of his character for the first half of the game, he gets better later though. I still like Yuri more than Luke, but that's me.
Back in stock so just ordered it. I've never played a Tales game before so I'm looking forward to it. If it's any good I'll probably look up previous entries in the series. The ones that were released in the UK anyway.
I'm a poor college student . Also I was an irrational Nintendo/Dreamcast fanboy when it first came out. But mainly, Tales of the Abyss is the only game I actually want to play on the PS2.
Really? I really like Abyss a lot (I even liked Legendia), one of my favourite PS2 games, but there are just too many great PS2 JRPGs (+ all the PS1 stuff of course). I can't imagine that you wouldn't find at least five or ten more PS2 RPGs worth your time.
I haven't got the game yet, but does that guide cover everything that is missable in the game? Would I have to use a separate guide for the "secret missions" that you guys have mentioned?
I haven't got the game yet, but does that guide cover everything that is missable in the game? Would I have to use a separate guide for the "secret missions" that you guys have mentioned?
That should be complete. The first post has a list of every secret mission if you want that. Secret Missions all happen in boss battles. Each boss battle has a secret mission attached to it.
That should be complete. The first post has a list of every secret mission if you want that. Secret Missions all happen in boss battles. Each boss battle has a secret mission attached to it.
I'm a poor college student . Also I was an irrational Nintendo/Dreamcast fanboy when it first came out. But mainly, Tales of the Abyss is the only game I actually want to play on the PS2.
Either that or wait until they put BC back into the PS3 and buy a slim at $299....
I don't think you're missing out much in Abyss, but the loading times are atrocious. It's probably why time-limited quests are so much more tolerable and relaxing to do in Vesperia for me than Abyss, which I found utterly tedious b/c of the loading times and always forgetful of them. Personally, I like Yuri more than Luke but I do prefer the Abyss cast over Vesperia, and Vesperia improved a lot of the gameplay from Abyss' (I do miss the Fonon fields though).
rainking187 said:
I really don't know why. I've played all the Tales games (officially) released in english so far and Abyss is easily one of the worst. Awful cast and story.
(I'm sure now someone will try to refute my comments with a mention about the battle system, as that always seems to happen when I call out awful RPGs for being awful, but imo if you're playing RPGs solely for the combat you're doing it wrong. And the combat in Abyss definitely doesn't outweigh it's other flaws.)
And what's wrong with looking forward to the gameplay? What I look for in my J-RPGs are 3 main components - story, characters and gameplay. Your statement sounds absurd because it's like asking why bother having a storyline in a FPS if most people would only care for and about playing only the multiplayer aspect of one. We wouldn't have the judgment ring system in Shadow Hearts, Hex system from Wild Arms and etc if all J-RPGs stuck with one generic, standard battle system formula. Quite frankly, I would never have taken an interest or knew of the Tales of games if it weren't for Abyss.
^ You're probably right. I only vaguely remember about the load times. My memory of them was that they were noticeable but never bothersome above what I could take. My only qualms with them were overworld related now that you mention it. It just made questing for titles too unbearable for me.
finally got over myself and bought a 360 to complement my Wii
first game I got for it (apart from the bundled burnout paradise) is ToV - no hard choice since ToS was one of my favorite games last gen. loving it so far (only 3 hours in right now), just one thing annoys me.. Yuri always stands still some seconds after his third hit, which makes battles less fluent than ToS (at least I don't remember such a break playing as Lloyd). Is it something I only remember wrongly? Sorry if it has already been talked about, but this thread is a too big monster to read through, especially when having a new 360 sitting here!
another question from a new owner (sorry if I post it in this thread, don't want to be guy #1000 to open a "I jumped in!"-thread): Is there any possibility I connect to Live without immediately using the 1 month free gold? I'd like to download some demos which should also be possible with silver membership. want to save the gold month for a month where I have some holiday in
Yuri always stands still some seconds after his third hit, which makes battles less fluent than ToS (at least I don't remember such a break playing as Lloyd). Is it something I only remember wrongly?
You don't remember wrongly. They changed it although it's a little worse in Vesperia than Abyss. You'll see as you progress (and if you played Abyss) it gets much better once you start obtaining certain weapon skills to utilize Yuri's combo potential.
another question from a new owner (sorry if I post it in this thread, don't want to be guy #1000 to open a "I jumped in!"-thread): Is there any possibility I connect to Live without immediately using the 1 month free gold? I'd like to download some demos which should also be possible with silver membership. want to save the gold month for a month where I have some holiday in
Grats on the new 360 and no you can't. It automatically activated my 1 month gold even though i didn't want to.
I also just got this game. 20 hours in so far and I'm kinda annoyed that everyone except Yuri has learnt an altered arte since Yuri is pretty much the only character I like to control.
Persona7 said:
I gotta get around and finish this game 100%. I beat the story, but not much else.
I want to finish the game 100% except it takes at least 2 and half playthroughs to get all the achievements. I still have to go through eternal sonata again as well.
finally got over myself and bought a 360 to complement my Wii
first game I got for it (apart from the bundled burnout paradise) is ToV - no hard choice since ToS was one of my favorite games last gen. loving it so far (only 3 hours in right now), just one thing annoys me.. Yuri always stands still some seconds after his third hit, which makes battles less fluent than ToS (at least I don't remember such a break playing as Lloyd). Is it something I only remember wrongly? Sorry if it has already been talked about, but this thread is a too big monster to read through, especially when having a new 360 sitting here!
another question from a new owner (sorry if I post it in this thread, don't want to be guy #1000 to open a "I jumped in!"-thread): Is there any possibility I connect to Live without immediately using the 1 month free gold? I'd like to download some demos which should also be possible with silver membership. want to save the gold month for a month where I have some holiday in
As for Xbox Live, go online and create your tag: if you are lucky, you'll get a free Gold month just for that [but who knows if they still do this]; if you don't, you'll be silver, so you are set and you can use your gold card when you want.
Post your Gamertag here, too
finally got over myself and bought a 360 to complement my Wii
first game I got for it (apart from the bundled burnout paradise) is ToV - no hard choice since ToS was one of my favorite games last gen. loving it so far (only 3 hours in right now), just one thing annoys me.. Yuri always stands still some seconds after his third hit, which makes battles less fluent than ToS (at least I don't remember such a break playing as Lloyd). Is it something I only remember wrongly? Sorry if it has already been talked about, but this thread is a too big monster to read through, especially when having a new 360 sitting here!
another question from a new owner (sorry if I post it in this thread, don't want to be guy #1000 to open a "I jumped in!"-thread): Is there any possibility I connect to Live without immediately using the 1 month free gold? I'd like to download some demos which should also be possible with silver membership. want to save the gold month for a month where I have some holiday in
Yes, the game forces you to stop at the end of a combo. You can still block in that time iirc.
The best thing to do might be to create a second dummy account and use that to download the demos. The first three gamertags you create on your 360 get that free month of gold, so you should be fine. Or you can create the dummy account on a PC and not get it the gold which still leaves 3 accounts on your 360 to be eligible.
Yuri always stands still some seconds after his third hit, which makes battles less fluent than ToS (at least I don't remember such a break playing as Lloyd). Is it something I only remember wrongly?
I think you might just be forgetting it. I'm pretty sure every game to use the three-hit combo system has the characters pause briefly after the combo ends. It's their way of giving the enemy a chance to strike in order to keep you from going gung-ho on enemies at every given opportunity.
Really, the only character I can think of who can fire off a near-continuous string of regular attacks is Tytree from Tales of Rebirth (in case anyone is curious, his up-attack combo has almost no downtime).
as i was expecting, the ending kind of blew, but at least they didn't kill off the semi-good-guy villain like they do in most games, can't wait to see if the PS3 version has a different ending or what not.
i fought the third form of the boss as well, and was pretty bummed out that the game didn't heal me before hand since it's supposed to be a semi-hidden boss fight (right ?, this is my first play through and i did the fel arms quest regardless), and it ended up being a 25 minute battle of using healing items and artes repeatedly.
so i'm kind of torn right now and would like some advice, i have barely 2000+ grade points, and i was wondering what i should buy off it, 2x exp is a must, other than that i'm looking at Items (for the weapons) and Titles (for the costumes), but i also want Skits since i hear it unlocks all of them, even the one's you haven't seen regularly in the skit viewer ..
also on an unrelated note, was there any difference content-wise between the US and EU versions ? or did we just get shafted for this long and didn't get anything out of it at all ?
so i'm kind of torn right now and would like some advice, i have barely 2000+ grade points, and i was wondering what i should buy off it, 2x exp is a must, other than that i'm looking at Items (for the weapons) and Titles (for the costumes), but i also want Skits since i hear it unlocks all of them, even the one's you haven't seen regularly in the skit viewer ..
What difficulty will you be playing on? With Hard, it's totally up to you, but honestly, 2x exp is unnecessary on Hard. Hard on a 1st run in Vesperia is like Abyss, which is entirely beatable without 2x exp while still challenging.
so i'm kind of torn right now and would like some advice, i have barely 2000+ grade points, and i was wondering what i should buy off it, 2x exp is a must, other than that i'm looking at Items (for the weapons) and Titles (for the costumes), but i also want Skits since i hear it unlocks all of them, even the one's you haven't seen regularly in the skit viewer ..
You might want to use the "Rita Grade Farming" method to buy everything. I heard you can get enough grades to buy everything in 20-30 minutes if done right. There are some good videos on youtube showing you what needs to be done.
If you want all the secret missions (and their respective achievements), follow Firestorm's spoiler-free guide. It's somewhere in this thread if I remember correctly.
Created my account (Verve86) and got a gold month now - just won't do too much at the moment for playing only ToV. I want to finish it before buying the next game (most likely Star Ocean), not to build up a backlog on the new console already.
Various thoughts on the game:
I'm in
Heliord
at the moment.. so I already learned
burst artes and fatal strike
but have not used them afterwards... never got the chance for the latter if I didn't just overlook it.
Noticed that my characters die more often than in ToS but on the other hand, I don't grind as much as I did there - I think one's heavly got to do with the other
As a positive result, progressing the story is pretty fast. 8 hours in at the moment (exploring a lot though) and by shortly looking into the content listing of a walkthrough, nearing the end of part 1.
Not used cooking until now, saw no need for it. Wonder Chef is somewhat too easy to find, not so much fun as in ToS.
Chose to not have Repede in my first four.
Somewhat getting on my nerves that
Rita
always lowers my Grade by attacking enemies with their resisting element.
After 7 hours, noticed that I DEactivated abilities after learning them instead of activating them <.< maybe also a reason for dying more often.
I'm missing the "epic" in the story at the moment. That
Estelle is a princess
was really no surprise and apart from that
for hours just hunting a thief
is not too exciting. Hope it get's more interesting the more
So I guess it's not just repairing that aqua blastia (well... that was to be expected) - but will be interesting to see where between that and saving the whole world - or even two or more worlds - it will be placed
LordPhoque said:
Same here, except that I figured that out after 18hours of playtime :lol
. Also I was an irrational Nintendo/Dreamcast fanboy when it first came out. But mainly, Tales of the Abyss is the only game I actually want to play on the PS2.
