Tales of the Abyss

Tales of the Abyss is an action role-playing game developed by Namco Tales Studio as the eighth main title in their Tales series in celebration of the series’ 10th anniversary. Originally released for the PlayStation 2, the game was published by Namco in Japan in December 2005, and Bandai Namco Games in North America in October 2006. Its development team included director Yoshito Higuchi, producer Makoto Yoshizumi, and character artist Kōsuke Fujishima.

The game features music by series composers Motoi Sakuraba and Shinji Tamura, and includes the opening theme song “Karma” by Bump of Chicken, which is replaced with the instrumental version in the western release. Namco has given Tales of the Abyss the characteristic genre name To Know the Meaning of One’s Birth RPG. A port for the Nintendo 3DS handheld was released in Japan in June 2011, followed by an Australian and European release in November 2011 and a North American release in February 2012.

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, an important religious figure in the game, 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.  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.