Tales of the Abyss 2005

Is it still worth playing?

Namco Tales Studio's action role playing game for the PlayStation 2, the eighth main Tales title, released in 2005 for the series' 10th anniversary. Luke fon Fabre, a pampered young swordsman, becomes the target of the Order of Lorelei, who believe he is the key to an ancient prophecy. Battles are in real time, under the Flex Range Linear Motion Battle System. In them, Free Run lets your character run in any direction, and in co-op battles the camera zooms out as characters move apart so everyone stays on screen. The ground is part of the fight too. Casting an elemental spell draws a circle on the ground, which more techniques of the same element reinforce, and standing in it to perform a matching skill makes that skill stronger. Room to run anywhere, and ground that can be turned into an upgrade, still give its battles more to do than trading blows today.