It's a shame. The New World makes me want the Old World back.
It's two years after Lloyd and the gang saved the world from destruction and joined the two world into one. However, not all is peachy in the world. Tyranny and chaos runs rampant, people are oppressed, and monsters run wild. You are put in the shoes of the self-conscious coward that is Emil, whose parents were murdered in the Blood Purge of Palmacosta; which was lead by....Lloyd?! Emil is moved to the town of Luin to live with his Aunt and Uncle, who abuse him and treat him like leftover trash. Emil meets a young girl named Marta, who is on the run from a rebel organization, and he gets caught up in a mess to save the chaotic new world.
Really, the story of the original Symphonia is told quite well before you really begin, so new players won't feel confused. But this also means the first hour or so of the game is rather boring and very text heavy. The two new main characters in Emil and Marta, aren't really all that likable and will make you want to know when Lloyd and the others will show up so you can get these two to stop talking all the time. Emil comes off as a weak boy who can't fend for himself -- if you've seen Neon Genesis: Evangelion, he's basically a Shinji clone -- and is hiding behind a wall of apologies, and Marta is a pushy little girl who never shuts up. Overall, the story seems to be stretched out a bit to connect to the story of the original and isn't all that interesting. Players will just want to see the old Symphonia gang and play as them again.
The combat doesn't feel as smooth and refined as in the previous entries into the series either. The combat in Tales of the Abyss is probably the closest the series will get to outrageously fun combat. The "Free Run" ability was added at the start, but the rest of the combat doesn't feel as rewarding as in the other games. It's harder to pull of combos with your allies to deal more damage and your allies can't really take care of themselves either. You're probably going to be using a lot of Life Bottles to bring back your fallen comrades, because the AI doesn't seem as smart as before.
The Unison Attack almost feels useless as not everybody can attack all the time when you initiate it. There is a Element Grid in the lower left hand corner of the screen that displays what element is dominant on the battlefield at the moment. Depending on what monsters you have in your party, and what element is dominant on the battlefield, it may just be you doing a Unison Attack, which is pretty stupid considering it is a "Unison" attack. The Element Grid changes as different magic is used. The more a particular element is cast, the more likely it'll become the dominant element on the field. It just adds more work to pull off a powerful Unison Attack, where as before you just had to set them in the menu and press a certain button.
The Monster Recruiting system also feels like a rather big waste of time. You can get through most of the game by only using a couple of monsters, as they level up faster than you do, but they're not all that effective in combat compared to when you have some of the original cast of Symphonia in your party. And honestly, if you're a fan of Symphonia, you're going to use the original Symphonia characters anyway. Though there are points where you have to use your monsters in combat, so if you don't have a few leveled up a bit, you're going to be in trouble. This felt like a cheap way of forcing the player to use their monsters over the superior Symphonia characters. You can feed the monsters to increase their stats and allow them to change class, but then they start out at level 1 again -- like in Disgaea -- so it's not really worth it.
The graphics have had a slight upgrade, but not to the level of other RPGs out on the market. The areas have about as much detail as they did in the original Symphonia -- which wasn't all that much, pretty bland and texture-less -- , but the characters do have a bit more detail and realism. The graphics in the battles aren't all that impressive either. The detail on the spells is rather lacking and basic compared to even the original which is almost 5 years old now.
The world map was reduced to a point and click, compared to the original which had a world you could run around in and explore new areas. This limits the depth of the world and makes the journey feel less epic and interesting. Discovering new areas and crossing a continent on the journey was part of what made the original Symphonia so charming, but this just makes the game go by faster and doesn't allow the player to get immersed in the world.
The voice acting for this game also feels rather bleh at times. The cast of the original Symphonia isn't here -- except for Cam Clarke, Kratos, who does the introduction -- and it feels weird hearing different voices come out of those familiar faces. The new cast didn't do a horrible job, but the soul of the characters just felt missing at times. The soundtrack is nostalgic and makes you feel like you're back in the Symphonia world at times. In other words, the soundtrack is enjoyable to listen to.
It was nice to see Tales Studio create a sequel to a Tales of game. I just wish their attempt had been a little better, especially for the most popular Tales of game in series. If you're a fan of the original, this isn't a bad buy, but isn't completely worth it. You could probably rent the game and beat it in a few days, as it's about half as long as the original, around 20 hours or so. If you're not a fan of the series, or Symphonia, then this is an RPG you can afford to pass up.