I disagree on all 3 accounts, but especially on characters.  The characters in ToS were so much better developed than in previous tales games that it's not even funny.  The plot was a little cliche, but it was much worse in older games and the music was just as good (not better or worse).  

Abyss made the combat system way too easy.  Hack and slash was enough to win the game (though KH fans should like it, as it was almost as dumbed down as KH and KH2 ).

As far as the game itself:  Abyss had ridiculously long load times, massive framerate issues, the music was jarring (completely different styles at different points in the game), the graphics were filled with aliasing, and the animation lacked the fluidity of Symphonia (it was jerky).  Oh and Luke is an obnoxious little brat and I want to strangle and murder him and then destory his remains.

Characters? Roffle! Half of them didn't have any development, and when they did they predictably stepped into the background never to be heard from again. Presea was a mindless bot, when they finally free her...she's still a mindless bot. WTG. Regal was mostly full of self-pity. When he finally got over what happened, he faded into the background and had maybe 2 line for the rest of the game.

Zelos had problems too, but when they're finally addressed in any fashion, you either A) Murder him or B) Get him back in your party where he promptly fades into the background.

And Colette is the worst female lead in a Tales game, ever. PERIOD. If she says "I'm sorry" one more time I'm going to bitchslap her so hard that she won't need the Tower of Salvation to get to Tethe'Alla. I hope Marta completely pwns her in RK and shows her what a real female lead is.

Phantasia's soundtrack blows Symphonia's out of the water.

I hate tearing down games I like, but Symphonia is a far cry from the best of Tales - in any category.

This game looks REALLY bad ...

... for a PS3 game, that is.

Edit: There is a quote war going on below. You have been warned.

Basically I agree here, but I think I have read somewhere that ToI is made by the Tales of the World team or something like this, while ToS:KoR is made by the actual Tales team, what would - if true - mean for me that I will check the scores of Innocence first (Tempest anyone?). But as I said before, ToI is my most anticipated RPG and I think it will be better, just this information about the developers confuses me a little. Then again, I might have misread something.

Roffle again! Okay Soriku, Fighting of the Spirit is FROM Phantasia. Symphonia reused it. That's just how damn good Phantasia's soundtrack is. And the guy that did Symphonia's soundtrack, Motoi Sakuraba (musical genius), did Phantasia's too, but collaborated with Shinji Tamura for ToS, which is part of the reason why I suspect ToS's OST to be weaker.

I just find it hard to believe that you're trying to argue that Symphonia is the best in the series when it seems liek you haven't even played half of the games. You should probably leave the arguing to Naz.

I think Tales of Innocence looks like a better game atm. We can't say for sure because there aren't much info on ToS2 but it is a sequel... I can't wait to play it too but I'm just more exited for ToI right now.

Well that's true about ToI, it is made by Alpha Systems. They usually make the handheld Tales gaidens and this is the first main series they've been given, but keep in mind that this is also the first time theyve also had a main game-size budget for a Tales release too. There's also multiple Tales teams, so it isn't like there's any single one team that works on every main iteration. That exaplains how they get these games out so fast.

That said, I have no idea who's doing the Wii game. Does anyone else?

I have a better idea. Why don't you PLAY Phantasia? Trust me, it's worth your time.

Unless, of course, your access is limited to the GBA version. Actually...you could still give that a try, but keep in mind it's bastardized several times over; the worst of the 4 versiosn available. Maybe Namco will bring Phantasia (SNES) to the VC with an official translation. It would do wonders to get people into the franchise by introducing them to Tales's roots.