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Of course, it's a mechanic that's more of a suggestion than a necessity, but regardless of your interests in the system, you'll undoubtedly pull off a good amount of FoF changes with all the Fonim circles lying on the battlefield.
Hi-ougi attacks also make a return. A more recent staple element to the series, hi-ougis are like the Limit Breaks found in Final Fantasy games. Each character has at least one or two, as do some bosses, and are all visually impressive. Hi-Ougi attacks can be triggered when a character's Overlimit gauge is full and once executed depletes the bar entirely. For trickier bosses on the harder difficulties like Mania or even Unknown, these moves become a necessity to survive. Though the game is easy enough on Normal to go by without using them.
If it's your first playthrough, Abyss should be over by the 60 hour mark. It'll take even longer if you consider doing some of the enormous optional quests left your way. Surprisingly, some quests are extremely linear and fun, rewarding party members with tons of new costumes, spells and tech moves. This makes the trouble of optional quests all the worth it, unlike most RPGs which are too drawn to the point that they outscale the actual reward and work by a long shot. Thankfully, this is not the case in Abyss. The fan favorite Grade Shop also returns with a bevy of fun little rewards to purchase once the main quest is over.
Of course, no game is perfect, and Abyss proves just that with ridiculous load times. Loading between rooms or dungeons takes at least a 4 to 6 second waiting period to load the next area and even longer when there's a cutscene to trigger. This isn't a huge complaint, but consider the ramifications of storming through 10 small rooms in a short period of time. Of course, since the game is visually impressive, its hiccups are understandable and eventually, forgivable. Another strange occurrence would be the odd slowdown when exploring the overworld map. At times, the framerate can drop to 15 frames a second. It's almost revolting, since you get the feeling no one played this before shipping it out. Yet somehow, you almost get used to it by the 2nd quarter of the game and ignore it.
Problems aside, this is a title bursting with charm out of every corner. It looks great, it plays even better and when all is said and done, it leaves very little else to be desired. While it may not be technically sound on one or two points, they're very minor complaints and are overshadowed by the high production values and sheer amount of fun. And with the Japanese version currently in the process of being localized, Westerners who enjoyed Symphonia, RPGs or just good games in general will definitely get a kick out of this Tale.
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