PC Slayers

Azer Kriemhild · Thu Nov 30, 2006 7:17 pm Tales of the Abyss

It's old by comparison to a lot of other games, but it's currently vying with SO3 for my favorite RPG of all time. The voice acting is just as good in both games, and both have some famous voice actors too. I haven't finished TotA yet, but so far it's very good - the two main characters are the two in my Avatar. Take a look at the intro video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3gaMKbv-xHU

If you're like me and think the song is ridiculously badass, it's the instrumental version of a song called Karma, by the band Bump of Chicken.

Edit: actually did some looking up on Wiki, and as it turns out, I was on to something about the voice acting - SO3 and TotA share at least FIVE voice actors in common, including Beau Billingslea and Wendee Lee (Jet and Faye respectively of Cowboy Bebop). Just thought that was kind of interesting...

Azer Kriemhild · Mon Apr 30, 2007 12:45 pm

Finally got around to beating this game. I still stand by SO3 as my favorite RPG of all time, but this is only because of the multiple endings and the fact that the endings go into what everyone is doing with their lives now that they've "saved the world." On the other hand, TotA is the first RPG I've ever played that actually used the dreaded "L" word (not that one, the four-letter one), so mad props for that. The ending by itself gets maybe a 7/10, but I should qualify that by saying I've never seen an ending over I'd give more than an 8/10. Overall, I'd give TotA an 8.5~9.0. Like most RPGs, it's an emotional rollercoaster, but what puts it over the competition is that this game will make you laugh. And not just groan laugh - there are some seriously funny moments, aided greatly by a top-notch selection of voice actors (especially Johnny Yong Bosch [Guy] and Kirk Thornton [Jade], better known as Vash the Stampede of Trigun and Jin of Samurai Champloo, respectively, who have each have some of the funniest lines in the game). 70+ hours of gameplay (double if you're obsessive-compulsive want to see everything in the game [requires a second playthrough]), so it's not for the weak-of-heart. Nevertheless, Tales of the Abyss fits snugly between Star Ocean 3 and Final Fantasy VII for my #2 slot. Now, off to somehow play Tales of Symphonia (Gamecube, which I don't have), which is supposedly better than TotA. I dunno about that, as I REALLY liked this game, but I'm always up for an epic story, so it'll be worth it regardless. As for Tales of the Abyss - as I suffer from the above affliction, I'll be getting started on my second playthrough any time now. In the meantime, I strongly, STRONGLY suggest you get started on your first. Oh, and Chad - fuckin finish (frankly, really, start) Star Ocean 3. I'm sick of all this "I have too much homework! I need to pass this class to graduate!" bullshit. :D

Also: look forward to (if you feel like it) my reviews of Suikoden IV (I've been at the final boss for about a year now and just haven't picked it up), Rogue Galaxy (which shows promise but thusfar hasn't done much to really make me care about the characters [though to be fair I haven't even met all of them yet]), Magna Carta (which has beautiful artwork-like graphics but I haven't gotten much farther than the "tutorial" chapter of the game, so no comments as of yet), and eventually maybe Radiata Stories (which I beat once but has been sitting around for years now waiting for me to take the other branch to see its second ending, which is supposedly "meh" anyway, so I'm not exactly motivated to bother). There'll be more as soon as some good RPGs start coming out for PS3.

Also also: off topic from RPGs, but played & beat S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl a while back. Short as hell, and easy if you're really good at headshots. Incidentally, if you aren't, this game will make you good because as early as halfway through even the grunts are so heavily armored it would take multiple machine-gun clips to the chest to down them, and even five or six shots to the head won't kill the helmeted ones. Good game though, with a decent (albeit very confusing) storyline for a shooter, with something around 7-8 endings, depending on play style and choices made, with two of those endings being "true" endings. I only saw four myself, and am too lazy to go back for more. For those w/o a lot of time, I should say the two true endings are only separated from the others by a couple of sidequests and a choice of direction in the last level, and separated from each other literally by what you say to the person you meet at the end, so a couple of separate saves is all you need to see at least three of them.

Dabomberman · Tue May 01, 2007 8:22 pm

Note: read later, after finals.

Azer Kriemhild · Thu May 03, 2007 11:09 am

Note of interest: Square-Enix will reveal the next Star Ocean title on May 12th. Here's hoping it's a PS3 exclusive :P

Azer Kriemhild · Thu May 03, 2007 1:52 pm

Dammit, I hate being wrong, but at least I'm the one correcting myself. Tales of the Abyss is getting the bump up to #1. I still can't get it out of my head and just listening to certain songs on the soundtrack is getting me all misty and heavy-hearted. I don't recall any game sticking with me this long (not to mention vividly) after beating it.