Backlog CAG Playthrough #1- Tales of the Abyss- Week 2

chibamm

chibamm

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Alright, this thread begin over in the General Gaming, RPG thread, and now has it's own home! So, for anyone interested this is a community playthrough to try and motivate and keep each other on track to knock a bit off of our backlog.

The objective is to play around 4-5 hours a week. Each week everyone attempts to reach the same point in the game, whether it is a town, dungeon, or boss. If you don't make the point in the week, don't freak out and of course it's no big deal if you go past the point. If for some reason you absolutely hate the game, then by all means up and leave.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PARTICIPATING SEND ME A MESSAGE.
I'd like to keep a tally on this post as to who is going to playing and what "level" we are at.

I'm hoping that we can accomplish several things.

1) Chip away at each of ours ever increasing backlog of games.
2) In some creepy internet way, motivate each other to keep playing the game.
3) To share insight and opinion about the game with others. This will probably generate the most activity in this thread.

PLAYERS
kidicarus23
icebeast
Criscokidd
 StarKnightX
Asgardian
depascal22
Krymner

THE SCHEDULE


April 30th-May 8th: Beat the Liger Queen and get to Tartarus.
May 8th-May 15th: Arrive at Chesedonia
 
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Eh, what the hell. I'll try and keep pace, but I'm sure I'll probably fall behind at some time.

I've had TotA in my own backlog for awhile now. I'll try and start it up tonight or tomorrow afternoon.
 
[quote name='Rodimus']Problem is I'm already more than halfway through my game of Abyss.[/QUOTE]

The game is like 60 hours long, so you still have a long way to go.

Good game, but I think it was a bit too long for what it was.
 
I got around the 2/3 mark around abyss before I stopped playing, same with Vesperia. The only one I managed to finish was Tales of Hearts. I might just start Tales of Destiny 2 PS2 instead
 
Great idea, but I'm currently on Tales of Legendia and likely won't start TotA for a long while...
 
So what are the rules for spoilers? Personally I would rather not have to put spoiler tags on everything. At least can we freely discuss events up to the stopping point without putting it in spoiler tags?
 
Also like other Tales games Abyss have tons of "talk to this person before finishing this dungeon or miss really important item 30 hours later" Might be a good idea to include some information.
 
As far as spoilers are concerned as long as it is after that weeks play to allow everyone to play the part and then discuss.
 
Great idea OP, 4-5 hours a week seems doable, I have so much backlog I have problem deciding which to play first...

Thanks OP!
 
Starting TotA now. Ah, so its another spiky-haired child of destiny standard JRPG from what I can tell so far. Music is nice. Graphic-wise it seems to me to be a step-down from the wonderful cel-shaded character models and backgrounds from Symphonia. I mean, its not bad or anything, but to me Symphonia just looked better.

The only other Tales game I've played is ToS on the Cube, and it is one of my all-time favorite RPGs, and my absolute favorite on the Gamecube. If Abyss is half as good as it was, I'm sure I'll have a good time playing it.

I only advanced up to the first save point in Tataroo Valley (about 30 minutes in) so I didn't get very far at all. Right now the story is a little confusing with the Seventh Fonehome or whatever, but I'm sure it will all be explained eventually. Luke seems kind of like an annoying little selfish brat, but I guess I would be too if I was as sheltered as he has been. I just hope he grows up eventually, cause an attitude like that can get old after awhile. I'm sure Guy is more than he appears. Not sure what Tear's motivations are yet, but she seems like she might be a good mentor for Luke.
 
[quote name='Krymner']Luke seems kind of like an annoying little selfish brat, but I guess I would be too if I was as sheltered as he has been. I just hope he grows up eventually, cause an attitude like that can get old after awhile.[/QUOTE]

Ya I found him a bit annoying at the start of the game, but where I made it in the game last time I felt like he had underwent a fairly good transition which made him more tolerable.
 
[quote name='icebeast']Ya I found him a bit annoying at the start of the game, but where I made it in the game last time I felt like he had underwent a fairly good transition which made him more tolerable.[/QUOTE]

That's really good to know.


I'm about 2 hours in now. Got to the Cheagle forest.
 
Guess I'll jump in too. Just for fun.

I whooped the Liger Queen already.

I'm playing this on my new slim and the loading times aren't nearly as bad as the first time I slogged through it on my fatty.
 
I'm right at about 2 hours in and these loading times are already getting to me. I counted the load time after battle....it's about 7-8 seconds of black screen after each battle. Am I crazy, or there is no voiceover during the skits?

EDIT

And just got to the Tartarus. Luke IS a little shit but at least it keeps me interested with all his stupid dumb ass comments. If he was just like, "Yeah, I wanna save you." I'd get bored quick. I was laughing pretty hard when he was pounding that cheagle's head in the ground then booted it off into the distance.
 
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[quote name='CriscoKidd']Guess I'll jump in too. Just for fun.

I whooped the Liger Queen already.

I'm playing this on my new slim and the loading times aren't nearly as bad as the first time I slogged through it on my fatty.[/QUOTE]

I kind of want one of those newer PS2 slims with the redesigned cabinet. I have a 39001 (mostly functional after laser adjustment), a 50001 (very rare disc read error on PS1 games) and a sealed 50001 online bundle. I think I'm too afraid to crack open the 50001 though.
 
oooooo -- good idea; have had this game sitting around for such a long time.

problem is i'm bound to fall behind :whistle2:( i can't devote 4-5 hours a week (sad, i know).

best of luck to everyone. i find myself mostly relegated to playing fighters now (low commitment, heh).
 
I wish I still had this in my backlog, but it is too full to replay a game right now. Hope you all enjoy the game as much as I did!
 
Whooped up the Liger Queen this morning, a little under 3 hours of gameplay so far.

So, "Arrive at Chesadonia" is our next stopping point? I'll try and put a couple more hours into it this weekend and at least get halfway there.

The sidebar "scenes" do annoy me because the music gets muted. Grrrr. Its bad enough that they don't have voice-overs, but muting the background music or even failing to have new "scene" music is just a bad call. So far, this is my biggest gripe with the game. Everything else is fine, but I guess I'll just have to get used to no music in the "scenes".
 
^ I was pretty annoyed at that as well. I noticed during some parts, depending on where you were, that the background music wouldn't drop completely. The music would only fade slightly.

Also, I made the second week a tad bit longer. My play time was around 3 hours or so as well. I tried to keep it relatively light for the first week, so we'll see how everyone does in this second one.
 
At the 3:30 mark now and just left the Tartarus. Ugh, there were block puzzles. Extremely easy ones too.

I think I'm gonna grind a little before going to the next town, just so I'll have some monies to spend at the shops.
 
Put another hour in. Most of it grinding for some spending money.

Character observations:

Luke: Insecure about his mullet hair-do
Tear: Probably extremely annoying and chatty if she ever got drunk.
Jade: When he adjusts his glasses, he does it with his middle finger, thus flipping the bird to Luke.
Guy: Obviously gay.
Meiu: Everytime Luke smacks him, I smile.

The mention of "Sephiroth" is interesting. Not just the Final Fantasy VII reference, but them being the "10 most powerful fon slots" because in the Jewish kabbalah, "Sephirot" is the 10 attributes/emanations thru which God reveals himself. Seems more than just coincidental.
 
Just started it up. Feels like the other Tales games I've played. Graphics aren't as good as I was expecting. Persona 4 kinda spoiled me.
 
I haven't even started my Week 2 play yet. I'm trying desperately to beat Vesperia this week plus RL stuff is getting hectic. Hopefully Thursday night I can get to it.
 
Man the newer Tales game are a lot longer. I finished about a third of Tales of Destiny 2 (Japanese PS2) in 10 hours, and thats talking to every town person, watching every skit, doing all aside quest, and getting lost in a maze. I think it will take around 20 hours to hit the 1/3 mark in Abyss
 
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[quote name='Krymner']

The sidebar "scenes" do annoy me because the music gets muted. Grrrr. Its bad enough that they don't have voice-overs, but muting the background music or even failing to have new "scene" music is just a bad call. So far, this is my biggest gripe with the game. Everything else is fine, but I guess I'll just have to get used to no music in the "scenes".[/QUOTE]

In the Japanese version most of those do have voice acting. Namco just didnt have enough budget to voice every line in this game. It is still better than Legendia having no voice acting at all in the second half of the game.
 
Well I've hit quite a snag.

As soon as I enter Choral Castle, my game freezes up. I've tried it half a dozen times and always the same thing. I'm not sure if it is my disc (its a brand new game, I opened the shrink wrap when I started this playthru) or if it is a PS3 backwards compat. issue.

Anyway, if I can't get a work-around, I'll have to drop it. This is kinda pissing me off.
 
I'm still playing if others are. Last week was finals and graduation week so I didn't have much time for anything. I'll be juggling this with ff13 too, as I landed that during the KMart sale.
 
I would join in the Abyss playthrough but 5 hours a week just isn't enough. I finish school this week so 5 hours a day would probably be more my pace. Anyway have fun guys!
 
[quote name='Krymner']Well I've hit quite a snag.

As soon as I enter Choral Castle, my game freezes up. I've tried it half a dozen times and always the same thing. I'm not sure if it is my disc (its a brand new game, I opened the shrink wrap when I started this playthru) or if it is a PS3 backwards compat. issue.

Anyway, if I can't get a work-around, I'll have to drop it. This is kinda pissing me off.[/QUOTE]

This is a problem with the PS3 actually. You need to run through this part on a PS2.
 
Alright, I'm extending "Week 2" until this Friday. It seems everyone has gotten a little busy in real life and hopefully we can keep on track.

@Videogamesizfun- 5 hours a day? Really?
 
[quote name='chibamm']Alright, I'm extending "Week 2" until this Friday. It seems everyone has gotten a little busy in real life and hopefully we can keep on track.

@Videogamesizfun- 5 hours a day? Really?[/QUOTE]

No school or job = 5 hours a day is a little low

I miss those days.
 
[quote name='chibamm']Alright, I'm extending "Week 2" until this Friday. It seems everyone has gotten a little busy in real life and hopefully we can keep on track.

@Videogamesizfun- 5 hours a day? Really?[/QUOTE]

Give or take.. I'm kind of a night owl. Also I do have a job. Most the time I won't even play video games unless I can play for at least an hour. 5 hours a day is probably an exaggeration. Just 5 hours a week is too slow for me. By the time I got to the end of the game 2 weeks later I would forget the beginning. Maybe if I get a second job 5 hours a week would be great.
 
[quote name='Krymner']Put another hour in. Most of it grinding for some spending money.

Character observations:

Luke: Insecure about his mullet hair-do
Tear: Probably extremely annoying and chatty if she ever got drunk.
Jade: When he adjusts his glasses, he does it with his middle finger, thus flipping the bird to Luke.
Guy: Obviously gay.
Meiu: Everytime Luke smacks him, I smile.

The mention of "Sephiroth" is interesting. Not just the Final Fantasy VII reference, but them being the "10 most powerful fon slots" because in the Jewish kabbalah, "Sephirot" is the 10 attributes/emanations thru which God reveals himself. Seems more than just coincidental.[/QUOTE]

You can find some pretty messed up references to Sephiroth in old books. I once has this massive Webster's dictionary from my grandmother's attic which had Sephiroth in there, defined and all O_O Something like the eleven manifestations of God (hence the one gamefaqs hypothesis that it's not Sephiroth following your party around, but it's his expressed self through the clones).

I've also seen some mentions of Sephirot in New Age magic books, along with diagrams showing different aspects of the body. I think the only hobby worse than this is trying to connect the Tarot aspects of the Persona series or Ogre Battle with actual Tarot XD
 
[quote name='VideoGamesIzFun']I would join in the Abyss playthrough but 5 hours a week just isn't enough. I finish school this week so 5 hours a day would probably be more my pace. Anyway have fun guys![/QUOTE]

I miss those days, haha. Now 5 hours a week on one game is a feat for me, especially since I sitill try to play more than one at once. And on that note I'm starting to fall a ways behind haha, haven't finished the Liger Queen yet, but I'm getting close. Basically Monster Hunter 3 is still soaking up lots of time and then I also started Nier, and then I'm trying to do this on the side... we will see hopefully I will not have to drop out.
 
[quote name='VideoGamesIzFun']This is a problem with the PS3 actually. You need to run through this part on a PS2.[/QUOTE]

Dammit I thought so. I ain't got no PS2. But at least I know its not the disc itself that has the problem.

In that case, I'll have to drop the game for a week or so until I can get over to my brother's house and jump past this section.
 
[quote name='VideoGamesIzFun']This is a problem with the PS3 actually. You need to run through this part on a PS2.[/QUOTE]

What?

That sucks. Guess I'll keep my copy sealed until if/when I ever get a PS2. So much for BC. LOL!
 
[quote name='DrNo888']What?

That sucks. Guess I'll keep my copy sealed until if/when I ever get a PS2. So much for BC. LOL![/QUOTE]

Keep your copy sealed and pick up a used copy
 
[quote name='timesplitt']i wish the characters would talk in those conversations

how do i move about the battlefield?[/QUOTE]

You have to gain the ability, I think it's called Free-Roam. Once you do, you have to hold R1 I think.

[quote name='depascal22']I'm not very happy with this game. The characters aren't very likeable at all.[/QUOTE]

I think the characters are great, but everyone is different.
 
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