Looking forward to everyone's thoughts! I'm actually playing through it right now so perhaps sometime i'll post my thoughts on it! :)

I'm happy you are showing interest in this. :) I was afraid that this not being as popular as Symphonia and Zestria, it would not get that much support, I'm less nervious now. Hoping we can get a couple of people more to play so we can start this soon.

Sure, I'll join, will be playing the 3DS version on normal difficulty.

Experience? well I have played 10 out of the 15 main titles, finished Symphonia 8 times and Xillia 2 twice.

I'll join, just let me know when are we beginning so I buy a PS2 and play this game legally  download the emulator and the game

Ok, I see we have a lot of people interested now. Thanks :)
I know some of you don't have the game yet, so please wait a bit until we are all ready. When you are all ready to play, send me a message and we'll start the run.

Okay, I think now it's a good time to oficially start the Let's Play of Tales of the Abyss. Good luck and have fun!

Of course, If anyone else wants to join now, you can! The more the merrier! :)

Hello everyone, I just wanted to explain something before getting into my Let's play. So this is my first experience with the game and I'm playing it at hard difficulty. I wanted to make this a little different so I'll be telling my playthrough as if I was Luke, the main protagonist, plus I like writing in first person more than third person. I tend to write a lot so I'll make sure to bold the key points of the story. Last thing, my photoshop skill are not the best (practically non existent) so don't judge the official picture of my Let's play .

                                                                                                                 Part 1

I woke up and I said to myself "oh great another boring day" and then this weird voice sounds on my head again, god damn it's so annoying I wish I could stop it! It all started because of my kidnapping 7 years ago, not only did I lose all my childhood memories, but I can't leave the manor since that day. I just want to get out of Kimlasca and meet other places.

I got some great news, Master Van is coming which is weird because today is not our training session, but regardless I'm happy to see him because he and Guy are the only ones worth staying in the manor for.

Master Van was in the drawing room along with my uncle and when I got there I recieved some bad news, Master Van is going to leave for a while because he has to find this dude called "Fon Master Ion" from the "order of lorelei", screw this "Ion" dude, who the hell is going to train me now? He said he would train me one more time before leaving.

Master Van and Guy were talking but they stopped when Pere said my name out loud, they never told me exactly what they were talking about but that's not important now, Maste Van is leaving so I gotta make sure this training session is a good one. Strange, I saw someone in my mind entering the castle along with a voice singing, I lost myself in my mind for a while but Master Van brought me back to reality. 

The training was over, and all of a sudden this song I heard in my mind sounds all over the manor (Master Van called it fonic hymn). A girl came out of nowhere and attacked Master Van, I tried to help him but when I attacked her something weird happened...

I was teleported along with the strange girl to a valley, she woke me up and she told me her name, Tear. She also said that me being a "seventh fonon" as well is most likely the reason why we teleported when our attacks clashed. Now she is being nice to me and I'm like "girl you just tried to kill Master Van, get off me!" She said we were alone so we might as well work together to get out of here and she said she would take me back to the castle, she is pretty so I'll give her the benefit of the doubt.

After beating some monster and walking around for a while, we found this coach driver that to our luck was heading to the capital, he obviously charged us for the ride but Tear paid him with some sort of pendant. I  took a nap while we were on our way to the capital.

A huge noise woke me up, apparently the Malkuth army were chasing some thugs called "the dark wings" in this big ass ship. "Why is the Malkuth army doing around here?" I asked the coach driver thinking we were in Kimlasca, however when the driver said he was heading to the capital, he was talking about Malkuth, not Kimlasca. I looked at Tear thinking "girl for real? you just teleported me out of my castle and then you take me to the wrong capital". She tried to put the blame on me but how was I supposed to know when my ass is in the manor 24/7, I know nothing about the outside world!

We were unable head back because the military destroyed the bridge when chasing those "dark wings" so our only choice was to head to this village called Engeve, I decided to walk there so I could take a look around, and god was that a terrible idea. We got lost and walked for like 30 minutes until somehow we found the village.

Engeve is such an ugly ass place! I swear it can't be called a decent place to live, but whatever it's not my home. I was hungry and I saw this good looking apple, I picked it up, took a bite and all of a sudden this dude starts going nuts! "I'm just eating an apple, why you losing your mind bro?" I thought. Tear then explained that I had to pay for this apple and I told her "why do I have to pay for this, I'm royalty I aint paying for nothing", she said we were not in my manor so I should behave myself like a normal person. Whatever I just gave the dude some money to shut his mouth, damn peasant they are so annoying.

We went to the inn so we could rest for a while but our timing was terrible, some people were discussing this issue with food and thiefs stealing it, I told them "it's just food people, buy some more and stop whining about it" and they they gave me this speech about how they work so hard to get their food and I'm just thinking "please shut the hell up and let me in, I need to rest". Then the same dude that was crying about me taking his apple without paying for it accused me of being a "dark wing" and stealing their food, they didn't gave me a chance to say anything and they just threw me inside the inn where the villager leader Rose was.

She and this guy called Jade from the Malkuth army were talking, he was the commander chasing those dark wings in that huge ship,  we introduced our selfs but Tear told me I shouldn't tell them my full name, because Kimlasca and Malkuth are enemies and they would hurt me if they find out I'm the son of the current Duke of Kimlasca.  Then to my surprise, Fon Master Ion came in, showed everyone this wing or something from a monster called cheagle and he said that the monster must be the food thief. 

They apologized and they let us go, I wanted to ask some questions to this Ion guy because he was supposed to be missing, Tear said we could do that later that we should rest. I was very tired so I decided to listen to her and went to the inn, inside there was this little girl looking for Ion, Tear told her were to find him and she left. Tear said that kid was a Fon Master Guardian, I found it funny that a kid was protecting another one but whatever it's time to rest.

Tagging. Kinda late but I might end up hopping in after this weekend's Pokemon tournament. Played Abyss through about 3 times but haven't really gone through it in about a year and a half.

First session of The Abyss: Getting started.

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So I finally get to start the game. First, the opening. Very stylish, very anime-esque. It presents the characters that will join your party during your journey, and shows the possible dangers the team might face (the protagonist ends up in jail and explodes, he fights an evil doppleganger of himself?...). I suppose I shouldn't think too much about it to avoid spoiling the game to myself.

Anyway, we start with some deep and mysterious narration, a prophecy of sorts. A red-haired boy will be born, will have the power of Lorelei and bring prosperity to the lands. After that, the same narrator tells us that "the one who would seize glory" is going to destroy the land of Hod, and then Kimlaska and Malkuth will wage war against each other for a whole year. A mysterious lady appears, says "the time has come" and dissapears in some sort of teleportation rune. End of the first big cutscene. To be fair, this prophecy is way more specific than other ones in most JRPGs, at least it includes concrete names and dates.

We start the game in Baticul, the capital of the kingdom of Kinlanska. The protagonist is Luke, the prince of Kimlaska, a young red haired guy that seems really bored with his life. Years ago, he was kidnapped, and the event was so shocking that apparently he lost most (if not all) of his childhood memories. After that, the king ordered him to not abandon the castle, and has been recluded ever since. He has friends in a guy named Guy, his fencing teacher Van Grants, and some voices that speak to him. Wait...

Well, he has a mysterious voice that speaks to him. And it seems that it has been happening for a while now. I love that scene, by the way. He has a headache, he hears the voice, his friend Guy asks Luke if he's allright, and Luke says that the voice is "so annoying", like if it was like a mosquito that doesn't let him sleep. Luke, you are hearing voices! It's not annoying, it's terrifying! Go to a doctor or an exorcist! But anyway...

Van Grants is part of the Order of Lorelei, and he has to go find Fon Master Ion, who has gone missing. Luke is annoyed by this, and after the reunion is over, he goes to practise his swordsmanship. Time to learn how to fight. It is way more action oriented than I thought. The battles occur in a 2D plain, you make a physical attack with A, block with Y and make a special move with B. It's refreshing, I like it, I thought it would be more turn-based, but It's been a while since I played an Action RPG, so I enjoy the fight.

After the tutorial, the mysterious lady from the teleportation runes appears, starts singing, and suddenly every guard falls down, either weakened or asleep (jigglypuff lady?). She appears, tries to fight Van Grants and Luke. When Luke fights her, the voice appears again, and they both teleport oustide of the castle. Luke wakes up some time later, with the lady, called Tear, tries to help him because he is a "Seventh Fonist" too. I have no idea what is that, I hope they explain everything later down the line. They seem to be in the coast, and have to fight monsters until they come across a coachman. The coachman says he can take them to the capital, and they accept. But instead of bringing them to the capital of Kimlaska, he goes to the capital of Malkuth. Once they realize that, they stop and try to back on foot. They went through a bridge, now destroyed by the Darkwings, a group of bandits. Without the bridge, they need to find an alternative route.

They arrive to the town of Engeve. Here, Luke eats an apple from the market. He didn't know how a market works (more specifficaly, the part where you have to PAY for the things you take) and creates a ruckus. After that, he gets accused of stealing other things (which is true, I found a way to enter a house and steal a bottle), food in particular. He gets dragged to a house where a militar guy and a lady solve the problem for him. Then, Fon MAster Ion appears! Wasn't he missing? The plot thickens...

And after that, I went to the hostel and I saved the game. More game another time.

Seems like you guys have got cracking now. To the Cheagle Woods now right?