Players take over the role of Luke fon Fabre, a young royal from the kingdom of Kimlasca who is confined to his castle for his safety. While that may seem like an extreme action by his family, the reason is understandable: when Luke was a child, he was kidnapped by the Malkuth Empire, a rival country to his own, and the act was so violent that he completely lost his memory. One day, his safe and boring world is turned upside down when a mysterious woman invades his Kimlascan palace and attacks his teacher while Luke is practicing his sword fighting. As he confronts the assassin with his sword, a strange warp known as a hyper-resonance is created. Unbeknownst to the duo, they aren't teleported to another section of Kimlasca, but instead materialize somewhere deep in the heart of the Malkuth Empire. Struggling to understand where they are and how they got there, Luke (and his would be combatant turned party member Tear) try to find a way to return to Kimlascan soil. In the process, he also finds out what his connection is to an ancient prophecy.
Luke and Tear appear to be radical opposites as far as the characters are concerned. Luke is a spoiled and sheltered child that doesn't have any idea of how the world works or even what proper manners are. Not only does he insult people without understanding what the problem would be, but he also does things with the assumption that he has a perfect right to (such as taking apples from a merchant without paying for them.) Tear, on the other hand, seems to be an extremely disciplined woman who's determined to accomplish her goals with planned, executed steps. Often in control of her surroundings and her situation, she takes the lead when Luke panics, or doesn't understand why things don't work the way he thinks they should.
While many of these distinctions come out between the two characters thanks to the cutscenes and voiced dialogue present in the game, a large amount of information is released thanks to the various "skits" that pop up every now and then. Often relating to an incident that the player has just witnessed or a character point that is important, these skits reveal much more of the emotional personas of the duo. Skits aren't the only returning feature that Tales veterans will pick up on either, as using a character's cooking skills makes a comeback as an alternate way to heal your party's damage from battles. Governed by both the available ingredients that your party has as well as knowledge of specific recipes, each character may even develop specialties as well that might make a meal even better for your party.
Battle has also been redesigned for Tales of the Abyss as well. While we haven't gained full access to all of the skills, attacks and special abilities for the characters, there does seem to be loads of room for growth and development. In fact, there are easily more than 40 separate AD Skills that can be used during a fight, including the ability to freely run around the battle field, reduce the damage from incoming physical attacks, and even leap out of the way of danger. That will help during the real-time battles that will break out as you collide with any monsters that cross your path; unlike some traditional RPGS where battles occur randomly, you have an immediate idea of what kind of monster you'll be going up against. Fortunately, if you're quick with your button and analog stick combos, you can interrupt incoming monster strikes, incapacitating them in the process. This is actually important because at the end of every fight, you're graded on a number of stats, such as how quickly you beat a monster and how much damage you took, which appears to influence the amount of experience that you receive. We're looking forward to jumping farther into the game before it hits shelves in the next few weeks, so check back soon for a full review.
