It's often said you shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but in the case of Tales of the Abyss, the cover is pretty accurate. With main character Luke fon Fabre in center stage and the six other major supporting characters grouped around him, you've got a good idea of the main cast. The anime-styled cover, designed around the works of Kosuke Fujishima, also provides a good indication of the game's bright and anime-esque art direction. And if one were feeling especially cynical, you could probably hazard a few stereotypical guesses about the story and its major plot point just based off the cover's art style and the description on the back of the box.

Those guesses probably wouldn't be far off from the truth, either. The story that Tales sets out, revolving around a spoiled brat with a lost memory, isn't exactly original. As things unfold, numerous cliches and overused plot devices pop up along the way, including the requisite cute little sidekick.

While the story may not win any awards, the characters themselves are what keep things interesting. Yes, at first they can be classified away as stereotypes, but the frequent dialogs rich with character development soon begin to blur that line. The spoiled Luke begins to mature and grow up. Tear's harsh treatment of Luke softens as she begins to understand his plight. Exchanges between Luke and Mieu, the standard cute creature, provide for some of the game's most amusing moments, especially when Mieu's gender comes under scrutiny. In short, the characters soon begin to behave less like stereotypes and more like actual people.

Most of this development is thanks to the game's many skits. As the party enters a new area or encounters a new situation, a little icon will appear in the lower left-hand corner of the screen indicating the availability of one of these skits. The player can then, if they so choose, press a button to activate the skit, in which the characters will express their thoughts and opinions on recent events, generally offering greater insight into the world of Abyss.

Undoubtedly informative, these skits also represent one of the biggest annoyances with the game itself. Outside of the skits, the next bit of dialog won't appear until the player has tapped a button on the controller, but within the skits, there's no way to control the speed of dialog. The fact that the skits are optional means this isn't as frustrating as it could have been if they were forced, but it's still something that will irk both slow and fast readers alike.

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