Tales of the Abyss receiving 3DS port

by Andrew Yoon on Sep 29th 2010 4:20PM

2005's PS2 RPG Tales of the Abyss is getting a second life on the 3DS. Namco Bandai has announced a port for Nintendo's new handheld, though other than a 2011 release date, no other details have been revealed. The first batch of screens look (predictably) like the PS2 original.

Tales of the Abyss (3DS)

Source: Andriasang

Tags: 3ds, ds, namco-bandai, nintendo, tales, tales-of-the-abyss

Reader Comments (42)

How was this one? The only Tales game I played was Vesperia; which I found fairly pleasant.

@Jerk Face

I didn't like it all that much. It felt like the weakest point in the Tales series in the past 10 years.

@Jerk Face

I really enjoyed it. Was one of my top two favorites for the series. Never played Vesperia though, cause PS3 never saw US release

You haven't played Symphonia or Destiny?!?!?!??!? WHAT!

Seriously they should have remade Symphonia instead of Abyss if anything.

@Jerk Face

Like all games in the series, the fanbase is divided on it, but personally I liked it just as much as Vesperia. Two of my favorite RPGs.

Might be jarring going from Vesperia back to Abyss, though! If it even ever comes out in America...

@Jerk Face
Hey! all of you shut up and buy it if you want the good, unreleased state-side tales games to ever make it here!

@Anticrawl

I think part of the reason is that I took a JRPG break for a few years there - years when many of the Tales titles came out. Vesperia looked so polished and well-done that I took a gamble and found myself enjoying the game a lot (despite my recent lack of interest in the pacing and feel of the genre). What I liked about Vesperia was the excellent narrative and character design, superb voice acting, and that it was just streamlined enough to not have that bogged-down Japanese-ass Japanese RPG feel to it. (Not hating, just stating!) I had been bored to death by that type of game, and Vesperia just hit a good nostalgic note with me.

So what do we think about the others in the series, given my opinion. Any of the others worth going back to?

@Anticrawl
Gotta agree with you there. ToS seems like it would be a more logical choice for a port, and it's arguably the best game in the series.

@Jerk Face

You should atleast go back and play Symphonia. The Tales of series is known for being palpable to gamers who don't enjoy JRPG's

@Anticrawl

NOT THE Wii ONE! Oh my god, I didn't even realize the released a spin-off of Symphonia on the Wii - an abomination no less.

@Jerk Face
I'd look to any game with the Shin Megami Tensei title - Atlus has a consistent record of quality. I've also heard fantastic things about Dragon Quest IX, and I can personally attest to the quality of VIII. If you liked Tales of Vesperia, Tales of Symphonia for the GameCube might also be worth tracking down, as it was the game that really popularized the Tales series in the West. The Baten Kaitos games (also for GameCube) were among my favorite titles of last gen, though they seem to be something of a love-it-or-hate-it proposition for a lot of gamers.

@gatotsu911

Did he mean just "Tales of" games or JRPG's in general to catch up on? Cause if it is the later we are gonna be here all night.

@Jerk Face It was fraking amazing, like all tales games!....cept the spinoffs lol

@Jerk Face

Abyss had some decent themes that tried to go a bit deeper than some of the other Tales games. Unfortunately the main character is a total dweeb for about 70% of the game and then he's somewhat cool but also tends to be annoying with his guilt at being said stupid dweeb. The supporting characters were interesting and concept was fairly cool.

Not the best Tales game to be sure but good none the less.

@Jerk Face

I've played all the localized Tales of Games with the exception of Vesperia, and while Eternia my favorite I'd definitely rate Abyss as being one of, if not the best of the game they have brought over here.

As said earlier the fanbase is pretty split on it so you're best bet for a Tales game that won't let you down would be Symphonia. Just don't touch the Wii sequel.

Hopefully they improve the framerate on the overworld map.

It better come to America

@SteveoftheGods

Of course it won't, Namco's useless localization and pointless vicegrip on control of the series keeping anyone -else- from the job has kept every single portable Tales game but a mediocre crossover from coming stateside. And even then we aren't even getting the sequel. Why in god's name would we have any hope of picking this up, even IF the script is already done from the PS2 version?

@(Unverified)

Pure luck?

this will surely be my third nintendo handheld ds, dsixl, and soon 3ds,love news of dsi swap ability and classic nes and snes games coming to dsi shop and ports of ps2 games.

@MICHAEL ATKINSON

No Gameboy/Gameboy Advance? Oh well, now you'll get to enjoy them on the 3DS' VC. I strongly recommend Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening(DX version is the definitive one I believe), easily the best Legend of Zelda title in my mind, and the Golden Sun titles, though I'd try to find those used so you can be set up and ready to go for Golden Sun: Dark Dawn when it release on November 29th.

Tales of the Abyss was fun, I don't think I'd buy a remake though, especially not to play on a handheld.

I really hope the 3DS is going to have great games on the console outside of remakes/ports.

What? It ate my comment. It was there like 5 mins ago.

I LOVED TotA. But what the hell Bamco?! I want a US version of Vesperia on PS3!

Outside of flashy graphics, it's the frame rate and load times that make it hard to go back to Abyss from Vesperia. Fix those two and I could go back and play through Abyss again quite easily. Also, Yuri is MUCH MUCH cooler than Luke. (But Jade Curtiss' sheer awesomeness makes up for this.)

NOOOOOOOOoooooo

Now I'm going to have to lob $300 for the 3DS.

Curses, Namco! CURSES!

@cowboyhugbees

Don't worry, this won't actually come to the US.

@Kevadu I don't find that very comforting.

Weren't there supposed to be some DS Tales games already in Japan?

@cowboyhugbees

Yep. 3, actually. Tales of the Tempest, Tales of Innocence, and Tales of Hearts.

Would you like to guess how many actually left Japan? (hint: the answer is less than one)

Awesome. Now all we have to do is keep Namco from continuing to be the worst goddamn company on the planet and I can get my hopes up. ...Oh.

I think I played a little bit of Abyss awhile back. It was... interesting. Not nearly as engaging as Symphonia was. I'm not veteran to the series, but from what I've played, Symphonia was the standout of the series. It was epically long, had some great voice actors (even if it didn't have some of the best quality of voice acting overall), had a story that was actually kind of neat, and had a fun combat system.

Vesperia had an amazing engine, but I wasn't particularly interested in many of the characters or changes to the combat system.

I would also rather them have chosen Symphonia for their remake, but at least this way I might be able to get an improved version of a game I haven't finished before.

@KupoCheer

Same boat as you. Loved Symphonia. Couldn't get into Abyss at all though at the time. Maybe being portable and removing load times and putting it in 3D will sexify it for me.

Would love a port of Symphonia like crazy. God, why is the 3DS now the most exciting release of a system I can remember? If it's just a fancy portable emulator in 3D, why am I getting so ansy for it's release? do want.

it's got bump of chicken in it so it's win.

I am sad it's not a upgraded Tales of Symphonia :(

I sure do love me some Symphonia, and would have loved to have the game remade with the Wii sequel graphics.

I'm happy that we're getting this on 3DS but... why do I feel like i'm moving backwards?

I want Legendia. It was amazing.

But I'll take all the other tales as well. And maybe a new Saga too.

But damn..they aren't making it easy for me to pick my new portable, are they?

what kind of RPG is this game? i've only played Tales of the World Radiant Mythology for the PSP, and for the 10+ hours i put into it, everything was getting a chore/task from somebody, then going through a dungeon.

it never seemed to go anywhere! are all Tales like that?

Cool, I'll definitely have fun with this.

When I learn Japanese since that'll be the only way to get it.

Sounds good to me. My brother hoards the PS2 in his room, so I can't play the original. Whenever I ask him to let me use it he says "Why don't you just BUY your own?"

I also have a quick question about Tales of Symphonia. When Raine and Genis are arrested in Tethe'alla, they say they're half-elves. I thought they were pure-bloods?

If this a spoiler, just tell me, and I won't ask anymore.

@Smash Genesis
It's a spoiler. And by saying that, you may already guess the answer and be spoiled anyway.
It's really an excellent game and was worth 4 playthroughs if only just to level up the broken cursed weapons.
*equipment spoiler*
Cursed weapons gain strength from every enemy you defeat and you can record the number of enemies you beat across playthroughs. The result is ridiculously powerful weapons.

I love the tales series!

Now if only they would show North America some love...

Is it just me, or does 90% of the 3rd party support of the 3DS appear to be "This game you played 5 years ago... BUT IN 3D?" I'm starting to get incredibly irritated by all these ports being announced.