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 | | Abyssal Chronicles is owned by a745 and sukotsuto. All games featured here are owned by Namco. All rights reserved. Layout done by a745. No part of this site may be re-hosted anywhere else unless with the permission of the owners. If such an act will be done, we shall unleash our army of Cheagles upon you. You have been warned^^; Copyright 2006. |
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| >> Tales of the Abyss |
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| >> Platforms and Release Dates |
- PlayStation 2 (JP) - August 25, 2005
- PlayStation 2 (US) - February 7, 2006
- PlayStation 3 (JP) Sword of Legendia - Not yet announced
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| >> Character Designer |
| >> Nakazawa Kazuto
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| >> About the Game |
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Tales of Legendia is the next Tales game to come out after the famed Tales of Symphonia. Sad to say though, the game did not actually live up to the legend. For one thing, the battle system came back to being the plain Linear Motion Battle System, like in the 2D days. It has been quite a disappointment for some of the Tales fans.
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| >> StoryLine |
In the world of Auldrant, Fonons are the main composition of all things, giving life to everyone residing on it. Here, everyone relies on the prophecy known as "The Score". The Score dictates everything that is to happen in Auldrant, and not following it is considered as a crime against the Order of Lorelei, its keepers.
Enter Luke fon Fabre, the son of the Duke of the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. When he was just ten years old, he was kidnapped by the enemy empire, Malkuth. This left him with a devastating trauma; he forgot all his memories from before he was kidnapped. Ever since then, he has been forced to remain in the mansion, never knowing what life is on the outside.
Senel Coolidge is a young expert in the skill called "Eres." As he and his sister Shirley was adrift out at sea in a small boat, a massive island suddenly burst out from the deep waters. They soon realize that this was no ordinary island. The place was full of biological life, but despite that, the place was actually a huge ship by the name of the "Legacy." From here on, their journey begins.
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| >> Characters |
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Luke fon Fabre
[Voiced by Tomokazu Seki (JP) and Jim Walker (US)]
>>Senel is a young martial artist and master of iron eres. He is also a talented sailor and swimmer, thanks to his work in the Marines of the Holy Alliance, where he helps maintain the safety of the oceans from the monsters that live there. He has a strong will, and prefers action over words, causing many people to think he is cold and uncaring.
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Shirley Fennes
[Voiced by Hirohashi Ryo (JP) and Carrie Savage (US)]
>>Shirley is Senel's younger sister, two years younger than he. She is constantly trying to protect her brother from the dangers that his job puts him in. She has a unique body chemistry, however, that causes her to fall ill should she come into contact with salty sea wind and water. Normally she is calm and quiet, giving those around her an impression that she is frail. At the same time, though, she can be quite stubborn, and once she has decided upon a course of action, it is almost impossible to change her mind about it.
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Chloe Valens
[Voiced by Asano Masumi (JP) and Heather Halley (US)]
>>Chloe is a young woman who uses iron eres and an unnaturall deft blade. The name of the House of Valens is well known even among kingdoms as once-noble family of proud knights. Perhaps due to her feelings of duty to carry on that tradition, she always forces herself to walk the true path of a knight. Nonetheless, she has an inner side that is cute and feminine, like the young lady that she is.
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Will Raynard
[Voiced by Chiba Susumu (JP) and Cam Clarke (US)]
>>Will is the first person Senel meets when he comes to the Legacy. Will is a user of crystal eres. In his role as the sheriff of Werites Beacon, a town on the Legacy, he has earned the love and respect for many people, but he insists that he is just a natural historian. He has an excellent ability for leadershipand decision making, and as the eldest person in the party he is sometimes strict and sometimes kind, gaining him the trust of the others. Yet it seems he also has a weak spot...
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Norma Beatty
[Voiced by Mizuhashi Kaori (JP) and Tara Strong (US)]
>>Norma is a young treasure hunter that Senel meets during his adventure. She is a user of crystal eres. She is cheerful and loves jokes, and is constantly drawing laughter by making fun of those around her and of herself. At times, however, she makes very insightful comments that show just how clearly she sees events, and that she is a person to be reckoned with. She likes to create nicknames for people that only she uses.
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Moses Sandor
[Voiced by Nakai Kazuya (JP) and Shiloh Strong (US)]
>>Moses uses iron eres and wields a spear in battle. He comes from a tribe of beast tamers, and he himself is the master of a galf (a type of beast) named Giet. On the Legacy he is notorious as the boss of a group of bandits, and his many henchmen make trouble throughout the ship. While his appearance is one of barbarity, he is actually quite humane and responsible. Surprisingly, he is also quickly moved to tears.
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Grune
[Voiced by Ayako Kawasumi (JP) and Lara Jill (US)]
>>Grune is a woman shrouded in mystery. She uses crystal eres. Never swayed by circumstances, she has the amazing ability to bring a feeling of peace and well-being to all those around her. She has lost her memory, recalling only her own name, but she still keeps in high spirits and has a smile on her face at all times. Never distraught, never emotional, she may be the most fearless member of the group.
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Jay
[Voiced by Shiraishi Ryouko (JP) and Steve Staley (US)]
>>Jay is a young man who uses iron eres, and tends to appear and disappear without notice. He is alwayscoolly watching the situation from one step away. He is especailly good at information analysis, and therefore often finds work as a strategic advisor. His tendency to let fly with synical remarks about those around him make for a less-than-socially-acceptable personality. However,it seems that there are some to whom he will show his younger, boyish side.
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| >> Review by sukotsuto |
First I'll have to say that I admit I'm really getting into Namco's "Tales of...". Of course, even though I've played various other RPGs over the decade (namely, Final Fantasy, Xenogears, Valkyrie Profile, etc.) along with the first Tales game released in the US (Tales of Destiny. See my review for feedback on that game) I played enough games to be able to see which is fun and which is a big baloney among all hyped RPG releases. I once loved the Final Fantasy series until I've figured out that not all games from that series are as good as the hype they generate (especially the recent releases). On the other hand, the "Tales of" series has a better record for me when it comes to what games should be: FUN.
With that being said, the tales series are always fun to play with its unique, interactive and exciting battle system, flashy and cool-looking spells and skills, likeable characters, numerous secrets, amusing side quests, etc. The recently released Tales of Legendia is no exception.
There are so many things I really like in this game that I've decided to mention the bad parts first. I'm sure this game won't be liked by everyone, probably due to the lingering (and probably outdated by now) interest on certain big name RPG series we all know and used to love. The battles would pose a problem to those who kept the initial settings (semi-auto), but this can easily be solved by selecting manual mode instead. Those who are used to turn-based RPGs may not be able to adjust immediately to the frantic action Legendia's battles offer. First hours in the game is riddled with cliches, but it won't be much of a problem since it sets you up in anticipation of the major and interesting story a bit later in the game. Some may not like a few characters (which, in turn, makes you like the other characters). It may ba a little easy to most, which can be remdied by the fact that you can change difficulty in-game to seek a btter challenged for skilled players. Tales fans will be a little disappointed on some stuff that didn't make it from the japanese version of this game. That's all the bad things I can think of.
As for the good, I tell you these:
The battles are AWESOME to fight in. The tales series, for me, is the only RPG that makes me look forward to battle enemies, even to the point that I'd use items that raises encounter rate and whack the heck out of every enemy I get to meet. As a total fighting game fan, guarding, pulling off combos, adding in skills (special attacks) and magic attacks, and unique to this tales game: throwing enemies and the time bending Climax mode, it's all heavenly for me. Yes, it's a little easier to pull high-hitting combos this time around, yet it's immensely satisfying.
The music is just as amazing, I tell you. Previous tales composers (one is Motoi Sakuraba) can pull off nice tunes that I dig (especially a few ones that comes up to mind, including battle themes), but Go Shiinai is no pushover! In fact, I love the background tunes in the game so much more than most music in previous installmens of the tales series. Ranging from orchestra-like violins to upbeat jazzy tunes, to vocalized music with a very soothing quality to it, I found myself a new favorite game music composer. Listen to believe.
The voices are surprisingly well done (aside from one character's voice, which is but a lone mismatch compared to the well-voiced overall cast). Many will like the fact that Cam Clarke (voice of the fan popular Kratos from Tales of Symphonia and Liquid Snake from the Metal Gear series) does the voice on one of the characters in the game (Will Reynard). Others fits well too, from the serious but cating hero (Senel), the wild and loud (Moses), to the fun and bubbly (Norma), the high profile voice actors bring character and life to the cast of characters, making the voiceovers on events a sweet treat to hear out.
The graphics are nice, colorful, vibrant, and has a nice flair to it in which can't grasp why (it's probably the "softness" and far blurs that makes the game look refreshing). The character 3D models has good detail with a sleek touch. The character animation is superb, not surprising coming from the makers of Soul Calibur, you got to see it to believe the aesthetic wonder good animation can pull off, especially in a game where such animations play a large part in beauty of battles. MOnster designs are a little similar with the types of monster classification, but each one is modeled with good detail, so it's no mere pallete swap. The spell effects and skills are truly nice view for all, and it never makes a battle look dull (it made me go *ho-hum* on turn based battles ever since playing tales of games).
Anyway, this review is getting longer than expected. I guess it's the fact that I can't deny such awesomeness in front of me (I was making this review with the game right in front of me). A really, REALLY cool bonus for buying this game (and the upcoming Tales of Phantasia, which is great also) is an increased chance of a US release of Tales of the Abyss, the BEST tales of game ever known (Famitsu score: 38/40 - very few games reach that range from the tough reviewers of Famitsu). I am but one among legions who are really excited over this fact.
Be the judge yourself when you try the game out.
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| >> Rating by sukotsuto |
Underappreciated, but still great.
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ToL Official Art | ToL Videos | ToL Audio |
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