Namco Bandai has been a strong contender in the RPG genre for some time now. Between the Xenosaga series and the Tales series, Namco Bandai has sold millions of RPG titles throughout the current generation. While Xenosaga may currently have the limelight for top Namco Bandai RPG, many fans would argue that they prefer the Tales series. After the big splash that Tales of Symphonia made on the GameCube, there are many gamers looking forward to Namco Bandai's upcoming PS2 title, Tales of the Abyss.

While Namco isn't saying much about Tales of the Abyss right now, we did get a chance to spend some hands-on time with the game and get a feel for some of the new features Namco will be implementing. We also discussed the storyline a bit to get a general idea of what's going on in the latest Tales adventure. If you've played any of the previous titles in the Tales series, you should already have a general idea of how Tales of the Abyss will play. Abyss falls in line with the other Tales titles by offering a solid Action RPG experience with a good balance between action and RPG elements.

In Tales of the Abyss, Luke fon Fabre, the main character, has been kidnapped, and lost his memory. Much of the storyline deals with this mysterious lead character learning of his past and of course, dealing with bad guys. Along the way he'll encounter several friendly adventurers that will join his party and assist him throughout the journey.

Like the other recent Tales games, Abyss will feature full 3D environments and battlefields. In addition, all of the characters will have a full range of motion throughout the battle areas. A new addition to Tales of the Abyss is an ability of the support characters in your party. Your support characters will be able to cast field effects during battle. When cast a circle will appear on the ground. You'll need to get your character over to the circle and perform an attack to trigger the effect. With the proper setup these field effects can greatly enhance your attacks.

Namco Bandai is currently scheduled to ship Tales of the Abyss for the PlayStation 2 this holiday season. Stay with us as we'll have more coverage on Tales of the Abyss in the near future as we get through summer and swiftly approach the shopping season.