Tales of the Abyss

Tales of the Abyss is a console role-playing game for the Sony Playstation 2, developed by Namco Tales Studio, published by Namco in Japan and by Namco Bandai in North America.

Tales of the Abyss follows its predecessors gameplay format, while adding some new features.

Characters
Full List of Tales of the Abyss Characters


 * Luke fon Fabre: A amnesic aristocrat who was confined to his family's manor following a kidnap seven years ago. One day, he was suddenly spirited away from his home and to a far valley on the other side of the world due to an accidental hyperresonance when a girl named Tear tried to assassinate his sword trainer. With little experience in regards to life outide the castle and normal human relationships, Luke is suddenly forced to find his way back home, resulting in his selfish attitude towards others


 * Tear Grants: A Seventh Fonist who promised to bring Luke back to his manor after accidentally teleporting him away. Her parents were killed when she was younger and ever since she has been raised as a soldier in the Order of Lorelei. She is Van's sister. Tear's full name is Mystearica.


 * Guy Cecil: Luke fon Fabre's childhood friend who went looking for him after his disappearance. It is later revealed that Guy is really the last remaining member of the House of Gardios. He originally joined as a servant in Duke Fabre's mansion to get revenge on him for slaughtering his family. Guy fights in the Albert style, which is unique to Hod island


 * Jade Curtiss: A colonel in the Malkuth Empire's military who travels the land in a dreadnought called the Tartarus. His skills as a fonist are recognized throughout the land, and many soldiers fear his reputation as "Jade the Necromancer". Jade is also known as the "Father of Fomicry" and, in his childhood, learned from Neblim before he attempted to use the Seventh Fonon. He could not control the power and ended up badly injuring Professor Neblim. Afterwards, he tried to make a replica of her. This failed and the replica was unstable. She went on a rampage before being sealed within the mountain range outside of Keterburg. He, his sister Nephry, Peony, and Dist grew up together in Keterburg.


 * Anise Tatlin: A Fon Master Guardian who's family was struck by poverty. Now, she feels that it is her duty to marry into money and help them out. As such, she is very greedy, and she crushed on Luke due to his father's money.


 * Natalia Luzu Kimlasca-Lanvaldear: The bow-wielding princess of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. She is engaged to Luke fon Fabre and the two of them are to be wed once he reaches the age of 20. Later, though, it is seen that Natalia is not the real princess: the real Princess Natalia was still-born. Natalia is, instead, the daughter of a nurse and Largo given to the royal couple.


 * Mieu: A young Cheagle who was exiled from his tribe after almost bringing destruction to the forest they live in. As his punishment, he is to go along with Luke. Around his stomach, he wears the Sorcerer's Ring; an item given to the Cheagles by Lorelei. The Ring allows him to speak human language, shoot fire from his mouth, break various items such as rocks, and even hover/fly for short periods of time.


 * Fon Master Ion: The young leader of the Order of Lorelei. He can use Daathic fonic artes and suffers a weak constitution because he is, in fact, a replica.


 * Asch the Bloody: A mysterious God-General who looks exactly like Luke. It is later revealed that Asch was the original Luke and that the other Luke is his replica. This invokes mixed feelings within Luke's companions, who feel that they should be loyal to the original Luke. Asch refuses to take the name "Luke," however, saying that he is no longer that person, and all of Luke's friends return to him.


 * Dist the Reaper: One of the six God Generals that serve the Order of Lorelei. An effeminate fon tech expert, Dist uses machines to fight in his stead. He is the one who made Anise's Tokunaga in return for being nice to him once. He also studied with Jade under Professor Neblim. even though Jade's replica failed, Dist still strives to bring back Professor Neblim.


 * Largo the Black Lion: One of the six God Generals that serve the Order of Lorelei. Largo is a massive man with incredible strength who wears heavy armor and wields a scythe.


 * Arietta the Wild: One of the six God Generals that serve the Order of Lorelei. Arietta is a young girl who was orphaned at a young age and adopted by a family of ligers. The party's first boss battle, Liger Queen, is the Liger that adopted her. After the Queen's defeat, Arietta swears vengence on the party. She also has a grudge against Anise for the fact that, when Anise joined as a Fon Master Guardian, she was replaced. Arietta was fired, not because of Anise, but because she had guarded the real Ion and, following his replacment, she would recognize the imposter. She fights with magic and can understand animal languages.


 * Legretta the Quick: One of the six God Generals that serve the Order of Lorelei. Legretta is a sharpshooter who wields two small handguns. When Tear was still in training, she was taught directly by Legretta, whom she admired. Legretta believes that too many people's lives are ruled by the Score, and that each person should have free will.


 * Sync the Tempest: One of the six God Generals that serve the Order of Lorelei. Sync is fast-footed martial artist who wears a distinctive mask to cover his face so that people will not recognize him as a replica of Ion.

Story
Tales of the Abyss takes place on Auldrant, a planet composed of elementary particles called Fonons. For much of Auldrant's history, only six fonons were known to exist, representing the elements of Shadow, Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and Light; but eventually a seventh fonon, controlling Sound, is discovered. Its discovery brings great chaos: using this newest Seventh Fonon allows one to read the future. One such Seventh Fonist, Yulia Jue, puts in place a future for the world for thousands of years to come, with the promise of unlimited prosperity at its end. This prophecy of the future's set path becomes known as the "Score" and is documented on "Fonstones" scattered throughout the world. The nations of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear and Malkuth have fought over the fragments of these tablets for generations, each uncovering them and hoping to discover the future before the other. Meanwhile, a holy order emerges dedicated to the reading of the Score and the keeping of the peace. This "Order of Lorelei" is headed by a Fon Master and maintains both religious/political and military branches. Finally, the Score and its promise of prosperity lead to a dangerous complacency within the general population of Auldrant; the slaughter of an entire people living on the island of Hod and the destruction of that landmass are countenanced because it was predicted in the Score.

Luke Fon Fabre, the young son of Duke Fabre of the Kimlasca Kingdom is the Light of the Sacred Flame, the scion of Lorelei's power, destined to bring prosperity to Kimlasca. Since being kidnapped seven years ago by the Malkuth Empire, he has been kept confined to the Fabre family mansion. The shock of the kidnapping has erased all of Luke's memories prior to the event. One fateful day, a mysterious woman breaks into the mansion and sets off a chain of events that drag Luke into the center of a massive conflict between those who would do anything to see the Score carried out, and those who would see it broken forever.

Theme Song
The game's Japanese theme song is Karma, performed by BUMP OF CHICKEN and played during the game's opening sequence. It's lyrics were removed for the American release however and voices were replaced by electric guitars.

Battle System
The game's "Flex Range Linear Motion Battle System" (FR-LMBS) is real-time. The game controls are very similar to other Tales games, especially Tales of Symphonia, except with increased maneuverability. The player can attack, defend, perform a skill or call up a menu with multiple functions, such as using items or commanding an ally to perform an action. This system offers multiplayer co-op battles, and the camera for this mode is improved over the one found in Tales of Symphonia, zooming out as characters move away from each other so that other players are now always on screen. A new feature, "Free Run," allows the player character to run in any direction, unlike previous Tales games. The game features many skills and spells to unleash upon enemies. Characters can learn "AD Skills," which can be equipped and unequipped at will, to help them in battles. The game features a large number of these skills, acquired through the use of "Capacity Cores" — items that give stat bonuses when a character levels up. Once a certain statistic has a large enough bonus, the AD skill is learned automatically. A new addition to the system is the "Field of Fonons" (often abbreviated as FOF). Whenever a character uses a spell or battle technique that features an elemental alignment, a circle will appear on the ground, corresponding to that element. After being reinforced with more techniques of the same element, the circle will light up in that element's color to signify that an FOF change is available. Finally, if a character stands in the circle and performs a specific skill that corresponds with the FOF circle, the skill will be upgraded into a more powerful version. Enemies can also use and create FOF fields. As with other Tales games, characters can engage in "Over Limit" mode when their green OVL bar is full. This can be filled by completing combos and making critical hits. During Over Limit, characters can use their Mystic Artes (Hi-Ougis), powerful skills that can only be performed when certain conditions are fulfilled. Every character has one standard Mystic Arte, along with an additional hidden one unlockable only on repeat plays. Enemy boss characters have Mystic Artes as well.

Recurring features
Many recurring features in the Tales series return, such as skits, grade, cooking, and titles. Skits are short conversations that may be viewed when prompted. During a skit, anime-style faces of the characters taking part in the skit appear and interact with each other. The characters in skits are animated, sometimes shaking, growing larger, or moving across the screen to accentuate what is happening in the skit. Skits can range from dramatic to comedic, and address a wide range of subjects. Some skits are related to the main plot, and some can only be obtained through optional side events. Unlike the Japanese version, the skits in the English version are not voiced. "Grade" is awarded after each battle, either raising or lowering the player's total number of points depending on how the battle was played. For example, defeating the enemies within a short period or time or getting a large combo will increase the grade awarded; characters being killed or having negative status effects on them will lower the grade acquired. At the end of the game, players can purchase bonuses for the next playthrough. Abyss also features a cooking system. The player collects recipes and ingredients throughout the game, and can use them to cook. Different recipes require different items and have different effects. The player can increase characters' cooking stats for each recipe by having them cook the recipe frequently. Abyss features titles which each character gains through a series of tasks or events. Titles have various effects, some of which are stat-related. In the tradition of newer Tales games, some of these titles also change costumes. Each character has unique costumes; to acquire additional costumes, the player must accomplish certain tasks. Unlike other Tales games, every title in Tales of the Abyss carries a special effect, varying from discounts in shops to recovering small amounts of HP periodically.

Sorcerer's ring
The sorcerer's ring in Tales of the Abyss is a magical item that Mieu wears around his waist, and can be upgraded by the power of concentrated Fonons in certain dungeons to perform different helpful actions. These include Mieu Fire, where Mieu blows a ball of fire straight forward, used to activate switches and solve various puzzles; Mieu Attack, where Mieu is propelled forward to break objects and hit switches; and Mieu Wings, where Mieu flaps his ears and lifts the player characters into the air, useful for reaching high platforms and ladders.

Game economy
Various plot events alter the game's economy, changing prices and item availability in shops; for instance, a shortage in the farming town of Engeve causes food prices to skyrocket, while the outbreak of war leads to a high variety equipment being sold at premium rates—though, conversely, higher profits when selling old gear. Furthermore, the player's actions may alter the prices or even the availability of items available for sale.

North America Exclusives
Most Tales games have been mere localizations, but the North American version of Tales of the Abyss received extra features that are not present in the Japanese version. Guy, Natalia, Van and others gained new Mystic Artes; in addition to receiving a new Mystic Arte herself, Nebilim also gained the use of some of the playable characters' Mystic Artes. Luke and Tear also received new Mystic Arte extensions. There are many minor monster statistic changes

Anime
Tales of the Abyss: The Animation is a 26 episode-long anime inspired by the series. The opening theme is Karma by BUMP OF CHICKEN and its ending theme is Bouken Suisei by Kurumi Enomoto.