Forum - View topicTales of the Abyss (TV).
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Xanas
Posts: 2058 |
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Tales of the Abyss
I didn't find a thread about this on a search so I'm assuming there isn't one, even though this show is 14 episodes in. I'm still at 13 at this point, but I thought this show is pretty deserving of some notice. Sure, it's based on a game, and a fantasy game and most of the conversions of those have been mediocre or only made sense to fans of the game, so I can understand some reluctance to dive into these. In fact, I didn't check this out until more recently myself for that reason. This being said, I never played the original game and the flow of the series seems to be pretty good. I haven't once felt like the events were a pure conversion of a quest based game. The plot flow seems to be pretty good and I think there is a fair amount of interesting developments in the show. spoiler[ The main character being a replica of another person who was kidnapped several years prior for one. ] I think the premise involving "the score" is also pretty interesting. Character designs are quite nice and the animation/art are also pretty good. Character development also thus far hasn't been completely lacking, I've been pretty impressed with it albeit most of the development goes into a couple of the primary characters thus far (mainly Jade & Luke at this point). Is anyone else watching this? Any other opinions on it on the positive or negative side? If you haven't seen it and don't outright hate fantasy series I'd highly recommend checking out the first couple of episodes at least. |
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Unit 03.5-ish
Posts: 1540 Location: This space for rent |
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I'm going to bypass my rhetoric about a certain...touchy subject in regards to this.
Instead I'll just say this -- I played the game, and this show apparently retells the exact same story with very few differences...video game anime runs into a dilemma like this all the time. It either strays too far from the source material, or is too slavish to the source. Plus, translating an interactive medium to a passive one rarely works well, so...I dunno how well this show pulls it off, though. |
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Xanas
Posts: 2058 |
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Lets be realistic though Unit, how "interactive" are these games really?
I could see if you were talking about RPGs such as Baldur's Gate or NWN where there are a few choices that actually make a difference and let you define the main character, but for the most part console JRPGs are pretty consistent in providing a complete set of pre-defined characters. They aren't really "RPGs" in any kind of real sense, since the player decides very little except combat options. In fact, I'd argue that from appearances the visual novel genre provides far more choices in gameplay than the JRPG, and yet there are some very excellent visual novel adaptations that have been made (particularly those done by KyoAni, though there are also some other decent/good ones by Shaft and others). Strangely though, while it should be straightforward enough (I think anyway) the developers of the anime based on JRPGs tend to try to cut out way too much and end up making a very mediocre sequence of cutscenes from the original game. Sometimes, such as in the recent Tales of Symphonia OVA, the animation/art will make up for a somewhat rushed execution of the plot, but in many cases it just ends up falling flat because they don't provide nearly enough detail. It certainly doesn't have to be that way though, and I think Tales of the Abyss seemingly does this rather well, at least for me. I haven't played the game like you have, but I don't "feel" like I've been missing any of the story at this point without having played it. Which is good, because in all honesty I've never really thought the gameplay of JRPGs was ever that great, the stories have always been what I liked about them. In terms of gameplay I generally prefer PC rpgs which tend to have more depth in terms of combat options and a more streamlined interface. I did enjoy the Tales of Symphonia game and the sequel on the Wii, but there was a lot of repetitive fighting to gain levels in both. |
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Haterater
 Posts: 1727 |
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I wish they had kept more of the skits, as that would have helped more character development and add more story, IMO. Especially when the characters "magically" go from one place to the next. A little on screen travel showing the skits would be a welcome thing.
This is why I prefer the game, but for those who haven't play the game, the anime is the best substitute, especially if you like to play RPGs. |
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ryokoalways
Posts: 562 |
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All things considered, they are doing a fine job. Consider the amount of material due to skits, they are actually showing decent pacing in the anime.
In the end though, this is for people that played the game and are nostalgic to the story only in my opinion. As a stand-alone anime, this series is on the weaker side. |
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