Interview | Tales Studio on Tales of the Abyss (Nintendo 3DS)

Adam Riley, Senior Editor at Cubed3: Bandai Namco has ported lots of Tales games to the PSP. However, what made you decide to bring Tales of the Abyss to the Nintendo 3DS instead of PSP?

Makoto Yoshizumi-san, Executive Producer at Namco Tales Studio: Abyss is one of the more important games in the Tales series. We have been trying to port it to a portable console for years, but we decided the DS and PSP didn’t have the necessary elements to play it. Now that we have a new piece of hardware, the 3DS, we found that using the glasses-less 3D and new input methods would add to the experience enough to make it a worthy port.

AR: Can you please explain the battle system used in TotA 3D?

Yoshizumi-san: Using the “Linear Motion Battle” system present in all Tales games as a base, we added the ability to “free run” in a 3D field. By attacking your targeted enemy from the side or behind, you can gain an advantage in the battle. Using the touch-screen of the 3DS you can select shortcuts to special moves.

AR: The graphics in the original PS2 version of TotA were extremely impressive. Have you been able to transfer everything to the Nintendo 3DS successfully, or have compromises been made?

Yoshizumi-san: The 3DS paints a world that is in no way inferior to the PS2 version of the game. This is one of the key points we as staff strongly believed in achieving.

Yoshizumi-san: We would like fans to actually play it and tell us their opinions (*laughs*), but we believe that problem has been completely solved.

AR: Will all of the original voice acting be in this 3DS version, and will any of the skits be voiced?

Yoshizumi-san: The voice acting will be almost identical to the PS2 version. Any events that used voices in the PS2 version have been included in the 3DS version.

AR: TotA on the PS2 worked with just the one TV screen, but now you have two screens to use. How have you used the extra screen? Also, will the touch-screen be used for moving characters around?

Yoshizumi-san: As explained above, during fights the touch-screen will be used for shortcut keys. Other than that, it will be used to display town information or the world map. When moving around, the screen is used as a sub-display, showing additional valuable information. Character movement will be controlled via the analogue stick.

AR: Tales of the Abyss has sold more than 500,000 copies in Japan and the budget version still sells extremely well today. Do you think Tales of the Abyss 3D can be as successful as the PS2 version?

Yoshizumi-san: The 3DS is a new piece of hardware, so instead of selling a large amount of software in a short time, we hope this can be a major catalogue title whose sales grow with the hardware’s sales. Abyss has an “evergreen” appeal and is based around universal themes that everyone can easily relate to, so we hope it will be a memorable title for a person of any age or generation.

AR: What are your thoughts about the Nintendo 3DS hardware in general? Is it an easy system to develop for, or have you already faced any problems?

Yoshizumi-san: Developing on new hardware has never been easy (*laughter*) Developing this game was a battle against the countless troubles we had. I again want to congratulate all the staff who worked on this. They did a great job!