[PS2] Tales of The Abyss

Originally Posted by Zeta26

Well, the game goes beyond that. Namco Bandai went also far as to give us features that the japanese version didn't have. Such features include

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- Getting Anise's extension, Dying Moon. Which in the japanese version you'd get it in your 2nd play through

- Getting Natalia and Guy's 2nd Mystic Arte. Natalia had Noble Roar (via giving a special request to the bow in Din's shop)

- Guy had Brilliant Overlord

- You can pull of Jade's Indignation, 1st playthrough

- Tear's Fortune's Ark can be pulled off during 1st playthrough

- Replica Laboratory; The Abyss, can be accessed during your first game

- Luke can perform his Radiant Howl with his long hair. In addition, he has an extension with Ion. Hold X during his first Mystic attack

- Arena Cameo team has new cut-ins and new attacks. Definitely not present in the japanese version

- Nebilim has new cut ins
- Nebilim also has the same Mystic Artes as Tear & Jade

- Van also has a new full-body cut in, his Celestial Elegy

What. Are you serious? All the guides I've been reading say that you can only get it after your second run, and I've tried triggering the scene they say supposedly kicks this off.

Oh, this game is fantastic, easily one of the best RPGs I've played in a good bit. IMO, this tops ToS in quite a few places, though not in the technical aspects of the game (glitches as mentioned before).

At the moment I'm trying to get the AD Skills I missed as well as Grade farming so when I finally do decide to finish, I can take the cores, grade, titles and experience into the second pass.

Heck, I may go for the 10x and 2x Grade as well.

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P.S. - Anyone beat Nebilim yet? Now that was a fun battle, though I couldn't shake the feeling that I was fighting an Evil Raine. Voice was similar, as was her general appearance (bizarre outfit/wings aside).

She was only able to squeeze off one "Hi-Ougi" and that was Big Bang, and even this one rather tame.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Originally Posted by Iris

Yeah, I beat her. On normal mode I think she only uses Big Bang. I couldn't handle her on Very Hard mode so I switched to just Hard. She managed to use Big Bang twice, Rending Saber, Innocent Shine, Mystic Cage, and Fragmented End.

I just had her stunned often enough while my magic folks did their thing. I don't touch normal in the Tales games, since it feels too easy. It seems like if you pump enough levels into your characters along with the right AD Skills, you can keep them (bosses) off their feet.

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Trust me, she's not the most fun boss. The Cameo team is, especially on Very Hard mode where they start reviving like crazy and spamming mystic artes. I earned like 60 grade from that battle.

I heard the same thing from others, so I'll make sure to try that in this game (6000+ Grade, so I have all the important stuff). Sounds like the exhibition match in ToS. Loads of fun with the auto-revive all over.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Iris

They revived like, 12 times total and all used their Mystic Artes. I was only level 7x so I couldn't finish them off instantly, which actually made things more enjoyable. Having a ton of AD-skills and overleveling can easily take the fun out of a lot of boss battles.

It's much different from the cameo team in Symphonia. They didn't heal themselves. Mint can cast first aid and heal, replenishing a pretty big chunk of HP, and I remember one of them using revitalize, which means 60% healing for all of their party members. Also, they use life bottles, ressurecting spells, and hourglasses/time stops a lot. Very long battle.

Unknown says hi. I flicked it on and tried Sword Dancer 1 for fun, and it was something else. Definitely a thrill, and that was with my AD Skills/Artes/Etc transferred over from the previous game. I can't wait till I go up against the cameo team and Ms. Black and White later on. From what I've heard, even at maxed levels she's wild.

Some of the AD-Skills border on cheap, though with Unknown as a difficulty option they don't seem as bad. Glory, for example, makes you impervious to staggers. High Reqs but nothing a little sharing of Grandioz won't fix, same with Rebirth, Angel's Tear and Auto Aid. The first two I've seen in action so often that some would call them broken.

Moving along my 2nd game at a decent click. Here's a link to the various costumes available for the characters. Beware though there's a spoiler or two in there:

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ToA Costume Titles:
http://img86.imageshack.us/my.php?image=abyssmj8.jpg

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

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Oh!!! Is there any formal costumes in this game like in ToS? I loved those!

Yup, there's tons of costumes, actually. IIRC, there's more of them here than in ToS and they're much better too. This game just seems better in nearly every aspect except for maybe the silent skits (and that can't be helped due to the low popularity of the series on this side of the pond the costs it'd incur). Some of the costumes can only be had on your second playthrough along with several areas.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by Iris

There's not really formal costumes. Many alternate ones, but not all of them are particularly fancy, except maybe Luke's Viscount costume and Natalia's princess costume. Still, there's tons of costumes.

http://n.ethz.ch/student/wmartin/pic...20Costumes.jpg
All of those costumes are available too. Namco's localization has been much more giving. In fact, TOA had a lot of features added on, as well as glitches, so I'm really pleased with it compared to Tales of Symphonia.

What I'm surprised at is how "large" the world was, or at least seemed, in Tales of the Abyss. ToS had T'ethealla and Sylvarant but neither felt as populated as Auldrant.

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The voice acting hasn't been completely satisfactory. There's a lot of typoes, some sentences that don't make sense, and lack of emphasis. Though the voices can gros on you, I wouldn't go so far as to call it better than ToS. There's still a ton of cliche RPG character dialogue.

I would, mainly because ToS was terrible in that regard. The voice actors and characters fall well short of what we see and hear in ToA. While there were definitely awkward moments and dry deliveries (Tear's VA is the biggest offender here), again, it trumps ToS's best. Cliche dialogue? Yeah, this game isn't perfect.

Let's put it this way: By the end of Abyss, I wound up liking most of the main characters. Symphonia? Raine was the only one I didn't want killed, and it's not surprising that she has a similar (though milder) version of Jade's personality.

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The cutscenes are on YouTube and you can also view them in Namcobanda Isle. There's a ton of them, although only 8 of them are actually anime.

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Too bad the Albiore debris dodging is made out of sex and awesome, even if it is 3D, heh.

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I personally prefer Luke before he cuts his hair. He may have been obnoxious but at least he wasn't a pussy.

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Silence before I put up the long haired She-Luke I found on 4chan. The hideous personality only made him even worse with his hair long. Though I agree he got kind of bland after that, needed more fire.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by Iris

That's because there was obviously more than 4 houses in each city.

There's also more people in the towns as well, though I'm sure some of it has to do with the art and overall look of the game.

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There wasn't a lot of voiced dialogue in ToS, but the voices were very easy on the ears. Besides Colette, you didn't have to worry about going deaf during the dialogue. You could always recognize the emotion in ToS too, where as characters, Tear especially, often had bland or almost sarcastic deliveries to their lines.
I won't argue about Raine though. She had a great VA and character.

Except that Tear and Jade are supposed cold/sarcastic/detached given their backgrounds (especially the latter, as they go further into his character later on in the game). What I was pointing out was that during some of the supposed "heartfelt" moments or emotional scenes, the VA's didn't so much as budge from the standard "Tear" voice. That and she had some awkward lines too.

For all the strengths of Symphonia's conversations, the weaknesses were far too many to ignore. The characters often didn't seem to relate to one another well and the banter wasn't any near as fluid and natural as in the latest game. We'll just have to agree to disagree, then.

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Oh, yeah, the other animated cutscenes were great too, they just didn't have any characters or dialogue.

Not like it would've been appropriate, hearing the Albiore talk or something. Plus, yammering on during said events would detract from it. They talk enough as it is.

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Not so much bland as suicidal and emo. The arrogance was a great character trait compared to him responding to every insult with "you're right." Short-haired Luke looked like a dyke too. The only personality problems with the long-haired one was him whining all the time, which was pretty understandable for his character, and a lot easier to put up with.

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That's not the only flaw he had, though it's possible it's the only one you consider to be a flaw. Luke was literally an amalgam of the worst in a person, so much so that it almost became comical. I agree that Luke before was a much more realistic/rounded character since his good points really shown but he wasn't some completely unbalanced "bearer of light". If post-Akzeriuth Luke had kept a few more of those flaws and the good points about his early self, it would've made a world of difference. Now, to ruin your New Year's Eve:



Post-Luke is a dyke? Well that must make pre-Luke femme.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

It could be just me, but I'm not overly fond of most of the cities/towns/villages/hovels I've encountered so far. They don't impress me as much as ToS's cities, such as Flanoir, Meltokio, Sybak and Palmacosta. The only ones I like so far are Ketersberg(sp?) and Grand Chokma(sp?).

You can't be kidding, but Flanoir is the only one approaching "alive" of the ones you mentioned. Meltokio is a perfect example of a largely vacant town, while Baticul actually seems like it's bustling. Keterburg is another great example of this.

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Right now I'm in the Zao Ruins for the second time.

There's a scene in the game that's bugging me, and it's probably just an oversight, but when I went to Ketersberg...

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Nephry(sp?) asked Luke to talk to her alone. Mieu apparently tags along in the back and I can only asssume he eavesdropped on the conversation. Then later, in one of the skits, Luke asks Mieu about his thoughts on that conversation as if Mieu was there all along when there was no indication as such. Hmmmmm...am I missing something here?

My sister went to the FAQs and stuff and found out that we missed a ton of sidequests/items. Dammit. We even missed the Sword Dancer. Bah!

Spoiler:

Yeah, there's a ton of stuff to miss in this game. Luckily, like previous Tales Of games the GRADE system makes your 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc... playthroughs customizable. In other words, don't sweat it. BTW, Mieu did tag along after his awkward break away from the group. There's a scene right after you return from said conversation with Nephry, where Jade confronts Luke. Either there or in a skit just after, Jade overhears Mieu telling Luke that he was there.

FELIPE NO

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

I'm mainly talking architecture-wise in regards to the towns. Abyss is full of boring-looking, browny type towns (to me anyway).

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I saw the scene where Jade confronts Luke, but there is no indication (that I saw) that Luke knew Mieu was following him. So when he talks to Mieu about it in the skit after that, I was just going, "huh?" Oh well, it's not that important anyway. Maybe he knew but just never said anything about it.

Wow, looks like we're polar opposites on the towns. ToS had rather a rather stale-looking world, probably because they had to split their attention between Sylvarant and T'ethealla. Simply the number of residents, animated buildings and various things you can do with them really makes ToA shine in this area.

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Luke didn't know, that's the point. The one that starts off the skit, IIRC, is Mieu mentioning the conversation he had with Nephry. This gets Luke into chatting it up with him, and it's only when Jade comes in that he says he didn't know Mieu was followed. This prompts ole creepy Jade to threaten them both with a "punishment".

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Yeah, not to mention that there's several AD-Skills that let you increase your mobility so much that when you start playing through again (if you didn't transfer over your skills with the Grade Shop) you feel like a brick.

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Yes, it's a much bigger reason than simple amnesia. Of course, some people find the reason hokey, while others like it.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by heero_yud

If you cheated, then there wouldn't be a problem. But if you didn't cheat, you would realize that it was tough time when you fight boss

Cheating? You mean leveling in dungeons, and maps and not the "I'm going to glitch any moment now" world map?

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Freelance Wolf

Gonna go to bed quick, so maybe you guys can help me.

What is the name of the track that plays during the Luke vs.

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Asche

fight? I got a torrent of the OST, and DLed some tracks from the sections the scene should be in, but haven't had much luck. Don't tell me it's not even on the OST : /

The name of the track is "The Meaning of Birth". I've got it here if you want it, and if anyone has a higher quality one, please let me know.

Oh, and yes, a good portion of the music in this game is forgettable, just like ToS.

How ya doing, buddy?

Originally Posted by jb1234

Ha! Fourth disk! I totally called it!

I actually thought ToS's music was more effective in the game. I'm not saying it was brilliant music by any means but it held slightly more weight. I haven't found a Tales score that I've liked yet.

My feelings on ToS's music are much the same as those I have for the locales: boring, sometimes irritating and ultimately forgettable. In ToA's case, the areas are much more interesting than Symphonia's (though that really isn't all that great of an accomplishment) and the music as well. Still the same thing as the previous game, mostly throwaway tracks with some interesting things present.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Originally Posted by jb1234

A lot of the music for ToS and ToA felt like something cranked out of an RPG soundtrack generator. It's difficult to blame the composers because for the most part, they're writing music to archetypes.

You, my friend, are a fucking genius. That's essentially what the vast majority of the music in both titles sounds like. But why not blame them? Are they not like Sakimoto over at SE, or Uematsu in previous years? Unless the environment over at Namco discourages creativity or is rather strict about what kind of music is needed, it essentially falls of them.

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"Here! Write music for a generic desert town! And then write music for a generic snow town! And don't forget the music for the generic peaceful village where you just KNOW things are gonna go to hell!"

Jesus, just bringing down that hammer tonight. For each of those there wasn't a single memorable note in the music that played in both games, and they had locations that matched your descriptions to boot.

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Fortunately for ToA, it had a world more interesting than what they were able to muster for ToS.

I think that's the large part of the reason why more of the music caught my attention than if it been little more than ToS 2. Again, Symphonia may have fared better if they didn't have to focus on two worlds.

I was speaking idiomatically.