The Abyssal Campaign

Aw, not even the spambots are read my blog any more...

Anyway, I've been busy with Tales of the Abyss.  It's a bit different from what I expected, mostly since I picked the black sheep of the series to begin with.  But we still have plenty of old-school JRPG goodness going on in here.

My first impressions thus far have been fairly favorable thus far.  The main characters are memorable in one way or another.  I especially like Jade.  It's been a while since I bumped into a good Neutral Snarky aligned character, and making him the kickass mad scientist black mage of doom is also awesome.  They also made this guy a colonel which warms my nerdy little heart for reasons I refuse to explain to anyone that has eyes.  Luke, the protagonist, is a spoiled little wretch, but is slowly getting better, and for once being spoiled doesn't affect the ability to ship things you don't like Priority Mail to Stabbytown!  There are plenty of others, some are kinda cliche but not actually bad.  I'm not too fond of the obligatory Rebellious Princess Natalia thus far.  Civic minded or not, she could use some time in a dragon's clutches right now.

The Also Obligatory Cute Thing is...well...sometimes I can't stand him, but other times he's hilarious.  When you use his map abilities, he turns into some sort of pyromaniac hooligan, a lot like what would happen if somebody cooked up Viking Care Bears.  Cutesy voices screaming about fire and attacks, smoke and doom and craters everywhere, why the hell hasn't anybody wrote that fanfic yet.  Viking Care Bears needs to be a thing now.  He also is on the receiving end of a great line:  "Shut up and drown!"

The world-building magi-babble is actually fairly well thought out for once, though granted it's mostly your standard mana/alchemy/elements system with some sound-related concepts substitutes in for material science concepts.  I'm also still on the fence on the way the loot is handled, and probably will not render judgment for a good while.  The trading/ordering system that replaced traditional crafting still hasn't sold itself too well thus far, especially since it seems to be weighted toward repeat playthroughs.  You can get access to higher-end equipment early on with some serious farming, but intelligence gleaned from elsewhere suggests that the real goodies aren't much use until late into the game (there are very powerful moves to be unlocked here) or in New Game Plus (arguably game-breaking moves unlocked then).  The loot/baddie curve is still fairly low right now, which should start accelerating later.

In any case, I must be off.  Another bit of uncertainty is whether there will be a Wreckonomics post made for this game.  Legendia didn't merit one, since you get showered with cash and items, and the crafting system is kind of a joke.  We'll see.