Tales Of The Abyss Episode 1 | Atarashii Prelude

4Oct/0820

Tales Of The Abyss 01: Level One All Over Again!

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Having finished the game ages ago, Sunrise had but one simple task of presenting it as though I'm playing through the entire thing from scratch from a spectator's point of view.

Let's start with the obvious. I despised Namco Bandai USA's relutance of implementing a dual track audio in their RPG titles, so listening to Karma(the OP) in its entirety again instantly got me pumped up again. I'm glad that although Sunrise wasn't able to match Production I.G's opening sequence in terms of quality, they retained the song for the fans.

Sure feels RPG around here! Just like how the game kicked off, you have Luke engaging in a rather needless conversation with his gardener. Yes, his. You see, Luke is the sole heir of the fon Fabre house, which has direct links to royalty, and as such, he is twice the bigot when compared to your other RPG leads.

Luke's confidante and best friend, Guy's fear of women translates rather well on screen, even if the reasons for his gynophobia are rather hilarious.

Why hello there, Natalia, whom I didn't bother including in my party! From here on, the anime deviates a little, by introducing Luke's fiancé way ahead of time, though it hardly impacts the anime's storyline, since it only serves to highlight the fact that Luke has no memories of his promise to her as a child ever since he got kidnapped a decade ago.

After a quick introduction to Van, Luke's master, it's time to explain the basic controls of the game through a tutorial battle! Also, it's Jouji Nakata voicing the former, so we have another Code Geass member onboard.

And here she is, Tear, who makes a rather stealthy entrance by knocking out everyone at the mansion with her hymm. With everyone near incapacitated, Tear launches a surprise attack on Van, only to have Luke intervene in the nick of time.

Early signs that the two have some sort of chemistry with one another, their clash triggers a reaction that teleports both Luke and Tear to an undisclosed location.

By undisclosed I really mean the early portion of the game where you have Tear as your party member in some monster ridden forest as you familiarize yourself with gameplay mechanics.

Okay, this may be fanboy nitpicking on my behalf(it is), but that's not what Tear's default weapon is supposed to do, not to mention that she's as efficient in melee combat as Guy is with females. Again, it really isn't much of an issue. and I guess it's better than having her staff shoot bubbly balls.

With a pocketful of Gald and some levels later, the party stumbles upon a lone villager who offers to take Luke and Tear to the next town in exchange for 「Tear's Necklace」 which she seemed very reluctant to part with. Don't worry, crafty players will be able to retrieve it later in game!

As the party make their way to the intended destination, they come in contact with an enormous battleship, dubbed the... Never mind, I'll let you guys discover that for yourself next episode. Let's just say you'll be meeting someone fabulous onboard, and arguably the best character from Tales of the Abyss.

Shin Says

More often than not, I steer clear from an anime's source material which is usually limited to manga or light novels, solely to avoid making comparisons and getting annoyed if things turn out differently, but being an RPG aficionado, this was something unavoidable, though I'm happy to say to say that there's not much for me to get worked up over for the time being. Having never listened to what the original seiyuus, I was looking forward to hearing how Luke would sound like, and sure enough, he's shaping out to be the dickhead which I came to admire. Yukana does a stellar job with Tear and listening to ~Song By Tear~, quite literally brought tears to my eyes. Guy is still gay, and I still can't seem to feel anything towards Natalia, mainly because having her around was frustrating, though that's another story altogether. Definitely, a keeper, if only for nostalgic purposes.

About Shin

120% Genki

Tagged as: Adventure!, First Looks, ghey, Lulz, rabu Leave a comment

Comments (20) Trackbacks (1) ( subscribe to comments on this post )

Grimmjizzle
October 4th, 2008 - 20:26

-yes-

all I can say tot he first episode was that I’m certainly glad they brought an anime around, I never got a chance to play the game, and the animation looks FAHBULOUS

also @ my avatar, wtf i’ve commented loads of times and even chose orange as my avvie. nggggggh!
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double
October 4th, 2008 - 20:41

BUMP OF CHICKEN FOR THE WIN!!!
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Mintie
October 4th, 2008 - 20:43

This image made me lol. Don’t they look like they’re shocked at her chest or something? |:

I’m so looking forward to the next episode. In my opinion, this ‘fabulous’ person IS the best character from ToA.
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manga
October 4th, 2008 - 22:31

Natalia is awesome in battles in game. I leveled my characters somewhat equally.

So this is a show to watch. Good for me :)

And while Tears most often prefered way of dealing with enemies are using magic she is quite a competent knife fighter.

But why am I complaining? I need to watch this show. Atleast that´s what I feel like now.

manga’s last blog post..Changes in progress – sort of
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Hoshi
October 5th, 2008 - 00:36

Talesss~ No subs yet however. And I’m agree with double. Karma’s a dang good song.

Hoshi’s last blog post..The greatest baseball match
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Di Gi Kazune
October 5th, 2008 - 01:41

Luke looks feminine. Could he be the next -hime?
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miken-chan
October 5th, 2008 - 02:07

This FABULOUS person you’re talking about is definitely awesome. I can’t wait until he’s introduced. As fot this episode — it’s a nice intro, staying mostly loyal to the game while inserting enough fresh material so that it isn’t too stale. (Guy, don’t ever ever change)

I’m so happy that this series out of all the other ones this fall season is the one I get to help sub.
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Caitlin
October 5th, 2008 - 08:24

Based on what you and some of the others have said, it looks promising for me but I think I’d like to play the game first. It’s been a while since I’ve had a decent RPG. The art looks really nice though.

Caitlin’s last blog post..First Impressions: Toradora!
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Setsuna-san
October 5th, 2008 - 11:30

Looks interesting but Ill pass. Got too many animes in my watch list as it is.

Setsuna-san’s last blog post..Toradora 01
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Shin
October 5th, 2008 - 13:11

@grimmjizzle

Well I guess being a Sunrise show there’s a fair bit of quality involved; Sorry about the avatar, the database goes nuts every once in a while, I’ll assign Orange manually for you.

@double

Indeed they do.

@Mintie

Now that you mentioned it, I guess at least one of them are, since I know the other isn’t the slightest bit surprised.

@manga

I don’t know, even after customizing her A.I, I didn’t quite get what I want from her. Had a better time with Anise; not because she’s loli and all that.

@Hoshi

Hopefully miken and the team will be able to deliver them soon.

@Di Gi Kazune

Luke does not possess the elegance and grace that is Alto hime.

@miken

Will be looking forward to them!

@Caitlin

Might as well, it’s the last Tales Of game on the PS2, since the developers decided to bring the next installment to another console.

@Setsuna

That’s okay, this show, while good in its own right would probably please the fans more than anything else.
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Di Gi Kazune
October 5th, 2008 - 14:53

@shin

Then we need Bobby to make it so!
The next tales will be on Xbox360! >_>
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Rikimtasu
October 5th, 2008 - 19:39

@Di Gi Kazune
And…you forgot about TOV?
Rikimtasu’s last blog post..俺の妹がこんなに可愛いわけがない(My little sister can’t be this cute) translating it now….
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manga
October 5th, 2008 - 20:00

I had great use of Anise as well. I just found that arrows from a distance is way better than having to be so close to your enemies :p

Why endanger myself when I can let others stand infront of me and take damage while I snipe from behind them?

But that´s just me :) I loved the game. Hope Vesperia will come soon to Europe so I can play it.

manga’s last blog post..Changes in progress – sort of
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Shin
October 5th, 2008 - 23:20

@Di Gi Kazune

There’s actually someone as fabulous as Bobby later on, but he’s into machines. I’m guessing you meant Tales of Vesperia(unless there’s ANOTHER one which I’m not aware of)? If you are, then I don’t own an XBOX 360 so it’s a no go.

@manga

I like Guy too much for him to be relegated to the A.I, so I used him manually, alongside a party that consists of Luke, Tear and Jade. Guess I prefer to get into the heat of things. Yup, Vesperia looks(obviously) and plays better than Abyss, if those long hours of testing it out at a friend’s place is any indication.
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Di Gi Kazune
October 5th, 2008 - 23:35

@Those that know who this is supposed to addressed to.

Actually, I was being the proverbial smartass and spouting random comments about the next game being on the Xbox360 just because of the sony fanbois. Just to piss off PS3 people. Little did I know it was actually right. >_> I actually don’t care much for console games except for stuff that I can run on an emu.

And you still can get an Xbox in Malaysia, modded to play *questionable* copies.
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miken-chan
October 6th, 2008 - 11:25

Ah, Shin — it looks like MBS was trying to get more viewers and they played episode 2 back-to-back with the premier. The raw torrent just came out a little while ago. (I didn’t believe it either, but it’s real all right)

Gah, that means I actually have to time something this week.
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Mini
October 7th, 2008 - 06:04

Hrmmm maby I’ll take a look at it :3

Mini’s last blog post..Hurray for junjo Romantica 2!
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Ryvious
October 8th, 2008 - 01:10

when it come to TOTA… the games is good played it and finished and when the anime comes out it was pretty intersting… Heard tales of vesperia for the xbox is good too…. The tales series just dont get any worst… looking forward to the next one… tales series FTW
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westrim
October 9th, 2008 - 15:45

I’ve never gotten around to playing a Tales game, although I have Symphonia in my library, so I’ll probably pass on this. I’ll just keep an eye on your review and if it sounds really good, or at least FABULOUS in the Code Geass vein, I just might check it out.
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manga
October 11th, 2008 - 03:27

I usually played as Luke. With a party of Tear, Jade and Guy if I remember correctly. Then when I got all might and could kill enemies as I wanted I switched Jade and Guy out for Anise and Natalie and let them fight a while.

Atleast I think that was my favorite team, not sure when I think about it now. I love to go in deep with melee fighters and then kick some butt.

Man, as it is now if I hadn´t so many games already to play I would restart on Tales of the Abyss.

manga’s last blog post..Bayonetta – DMC gone girly?
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