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It must be hard developing a game that commemorates the 10th year of a series. Or any 5 to 10 increment for that matter. You have to manage to create something entirely new and interesting, while tying the game to very nostalgia based and signature elements from past franchise titles. Ironically enough, Tales of the Abyss was released December 10th, 2005, exactly 10 years after the Super Famicom's Tales of Phantasia. Namco had to pull all the stops to impress Tales veterans as well as garner the interests of newcomers all at the same time. From the look of things, they seem to have pulled it off quite well.
Visually, the game is a masterpiece. Locations are colorful and visually breathtaking. All locations hold a certain personality of their own, making them all stand out far between each other. So you never feel as if the game is just pitting you into the same locations multiple times. The game's architecture is some of the most remarkable structures in a game for the longest while now. Aside from Final Fantasy XII, it's hard to think of a game with more breathtaking monuments and ruins than Abyss. Character designs are also spectacular, with the main party members as well as NPCs dressed to kill. The last time characters looked this good was in the Magna Carta series, yet unfortunately, lacking the desired depth avid RPG fans treasure. Speaking of which, character development is well executed and progresses just fine. Most of the script is fairly hilarious and thus, very enjoyable, making the game zoom by pretty quickly. So pretty much, the game is aesthetically genius.
 The score itself is pretty solid. Motoi Sakuraba returns to the scene to offer some fairly interesting themes. Thankfully, none of the several battle themes ever feel old, a minor complaint some fans have had with prior games. Abyss' main theme, titled Karma and performed by popular J-rock group Bump of Chicken is another main attraction to the game. Lead singer, Motoo Fujiwara also recomposed Karma into several different iterations that are implemented at key moments during the game.
Tales of Symphonia created quite the stir when it was released for the Nintendo GameCube back in the summer of 2003. It's still pretty popular today, mainly because of its art style which was focused heavily on anime, as well as the ridiculously addictive battle system. Well, fans of Symphonia might want to pop a bottle of Veuve Clicquot, because Abyss' battle mechanics are pretty much an expanded version of the former.
Battles are essentially the same principal as they were in Symphonia, save the new fabricated scientific aspect of "Fonimar". Fonimar (or Fonim, for short) is another term for an element. Each of the several main elements that govern the world (i.e. Water, fire, wind, earth) are represented under a certain Fonim. Certain spells or techs create a colorless ring of said element on the ground. If a second attack of the same Fonim frequency is performed in the circle's radius, the ring then glows with color and can be used to execute a Field of Fonim change. Each character's tech moves can be altered by using a specific (and only one) Fonim circle. When used properly, the tech will turn into an entirely different move, causing more damage if offensive or increasing stats if passive. This leaves battles to become increasingly fun, hopping from one Fonim circle to another, killing a foe as quickly as possible.
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