Tales of the Abyss confirmed for U.S.

[Seiken_Densetsu]

I have played Tales of the Abyss, and the difficulty level for normal mode is kinda pathetic.  To me, difficulty is a huge thing.  If the game were more challenging, then I could find myself enjoying it a lot more, as button mashing difficulties are not my thing (one of the reasons why I absolutely hated Tales of Legendia, Tales of Symphonia, and the battle system of Radiata Stories (sorry Tria)).

Maybe you're just really good at these kinds of games?

Hmmm...Maybe.  I grew up with Real-Time RPGs, so I guess that is why I find games like the Star Ocean series, Seiken Densetsu series, and Tales series pretty easy.  I am okay at Turn-Based RPGs.  I completely suck at Strategy RPGs. XD  My favorite sub-genre of RPG is Real-Time, so I suppose that is why I am better at it than I am with Turn-Based, Strategy, etc.

[MonCapitan2002]

See?  I find the Tales to be somewhere in the middle in terms of difficulty.  I like the actiony gameplay and the fact that it isn't too difficult.  I think for the most part, the real time combat in such RPG's should not be racheted too high.

[SabreWulf11887]

Most Tales games are normally easy.

[Dice]

Imagine if Breath of Fire V had a difficulty setting.  Normal, Merciless, and Impossible.

Most RPGs are easy, fortunately they've been attaching difficulty settings lately. There is usually this heirarchy of games (IMO):
Turnbased-  Easy
Realtime
Strategy- Hard

[Spoony Mage]

Wow, so I'll finally get to see what all the hype over Tales of the Abyss is about?  Yay!

Well okay, it's mostly about the hype.  From what few screenshots and character designs I've seen, this does look very interesting.

*starts planning preorder campaign again*

[Bogatyr]

So, where this "Ash review" can be found anyway?

[John]

Ashton writes for GamesAreFun.com.

I dunno, I wasn't grabbed when I played the Japanese version of Tales of the Abyss.  Maybe when I play it in English.

-John

[Ashtrot]

You can see my review here.

[Bogatyr]

Thanks, but just so I can measure the value of the maximum grade you gave to Tales of the Abyss, how much do you enjoy the rest of the series?

[Ashtrot]

Do you want me to give a general statement or on each game? If the latter I'll give some thoughts on each entry I've played and a cliff's notes score.

Tales of Phantasia SNES - I enjoyed it but only because I was new to the Tales series. 5/10
Tales of Phantasia GBA - Hated it
Tales of Phantasia PSX - Wish they had translated it. 7/10
Tales of Destiny - Liked it enough to play all the way through. 7/10
Tales of Eternia - This was where I really started liking the series. 8/10
Tales of Destiny 2 - The battle system was a little broken, and the story was complete shit, but it was a fun diversion. 7/10
Tales of Symphonia - I still say it's the best game on GameCube
Tales of Rebirth - An acquired taste, the battle system is kinda weird at the beginning but I loved the game. 9/10
Tales of Legendia - They went and took a step back, but it was still okay.
Tales of the Abyss - I used to consider Symphonia the pinnacle of the series, but you can see my review above.

As a general sense, I think you could consider me a fan of the series even though my scores for each game probably don't reflect that - I tend to ignore problems in the games if they're small, but I do have my limits (Phantasia GBA sucked all around and Legendia's battle mechanics and graphics were atrocious). I can say without exaggeration that Abyss is probably the pinnacle of the series; there's no downgrade from previous entries, and the battle system isn't some weird funky thing you have to get used to like Rebirth. Think of the battle system as similar to Symphonia's except much more refined.

[Bogatyr]

Ok, thanks a lot. It seems like a great game, even more so because I love challenging RPGs.