Tales of the Abyss for PlayStation 2 Reviews by Gamers

I played this game for an hour and a half and it was so slow I was literally falling asleep. I realize some good games have a slow start up, but this game was ridiculous.

I'd like to start this review with the negative because overall that's how i see this game, but I'll try to include the bright points at the end, to be fair.
An RPG lives and dies on the battle system and this one is unlike any I've played before. You can actually set EVERY CHARACTER TO A.I. and just watch the battles! I know, you're probably thinking that's great for the random fights, but surely to beat the bosses you have to control at least one character. NOPE! As long as you heal and revive from time to time, there is no reason at all to even bother learning how to fight. In fact, since you are limited when in control to how many attacks you can set at once and can only control one character per controller anyway, you are BETTER OFF letting the computer do the work.
Even worse than the laissez-faire fighting is the rediculous amount of dialogue. Not just the spoken dialogue which itself sometimes drags on, but the 400 or more optional unspoken "skits" which cannot be sped through if you choose to watch one and NEVER add to the story. Many times the skits merely repeat the information from the spoken dialogue heard moments before. And for as much dialogue as you have to sit through, you'd think you'd be treated to some great anime seqences like in the opening movie. You'd be wrong. There was probably more anime in that opening than the whole remainder of the game combined, possibly even including the ending sequence.
OK, on the plus side, my favorite part of the game was the characters. Not that they were particularly unique for the genre (arrogant young hero, musically magical heroine, beautiful princess who happens to be an skilled archer, you get the idea), but almost every character, including the bad guys turns out to be something different than they appear, and kudos to the writers for finding so many ways to make that happen without it getting dull.
Also good work dungeon designers for not getting repetitive.