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In the newest issue of JUMP magazine, Namco has announced Tales of the Abyss. The newest addition to the company's flagship series of RPGs will again be a PlayStation 2 title. Following Tales of Destiny 2, a remake of Tales of Symphonia, Tales of Rebirth and the upcoming Tales of Legendia which will be released in Japan on August 25th, this newest installment will already be the fifth Tales game being released for PlayStation 2.

Tales of the Abyss has yet to receive a release date.

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August 1, 2005 - Following last week's leak regarding a new Tales series game being in development for the PS2, Namco has come through with first screens and details on the game, Tales of the Abyss. Check out the media section for the screens of this 10th anniversary Tales title.

Tales of the Abyss takes place 2000 years ago. With the discovery of the Seventh Phoneme, people were able to identify the existence the Planet's Memory, a record of the planet's life from its birth to its death. A great war surrounding this record broke out on the planet of Auldurant and, over time, caused damage to the planet itself, giving birth to a poisonous gas. The people of the planet, following the prophecy of Urea Juei, a sound expert who could read the Planet's Memory, sealed away the poisonous gas deep within the planet in an effort to avoid extinction.

Time passes, and we come to the modern day world which is divided between two great countries, the Kingdom of Kimraska Ranbaldia and the Markuto Empire. A fragile peace exists between these two nations. However, the people of the world are actually not followers of the kings of these lands, but of the prophecies, known as "Scores," of the Rolerai Cult, who preserve the prophecy of Urea.

The main character of Tales of the Abyss is a red-haired seventeen-year-old called Luke Fone Fabre. Luke is the only son in a high ranking family of the Kimraska Ranbaldia Kingdom. Following a kidnapping incident from his youth, he's lived his life locked away in his home. Due to the shock of the kidnapping, he has no memories of his youth, although due to his family's substantial resources, he's lives his life without any other concerns and has become selfish as a result. His only interest is in sword fighting. Luke is 171 centimeters tall and weighs 68 kilograms.

Serving in the heroine role is the white-haired sixteen-year-old Tear. Tear is an officer in the Roleria Cult who has the ability to use the Seventh Phoneme. Her parents died while she was young, and since that time, she was raised to be a soldier. She doesn't speak too much, giving off a cold impression, but she actually likes cute things. Tear is 162 centimeters tall and weights 50 kilograms.

As is to be expected, the story of Tales of the Abyss kicks off when Luke and Tear meet and begin adventuring together. For further details, and details on the game's battle system, we'll have to wait for a later update from Namco.

The developer of Tales of the Abyss is Namco's Tales Studio, a subsidiary that was formed a couple of years back exclusively for the development of Tales series games. They've clearly been doing their job. The producer of the game is Makoto Yoshidumi, who previously produced Tales of Symphonia. Character design work is being handled by Fujishima Kousuke, a well known designer best known for Sakura Taisen and Ah! My Goddess.

Namco lists Tales of the Abyss with a TBA release date, although with the series having debuted with the Super Famicom Tales of Phantasia on December 15th, 1995 and this being a game in celebration of the series' 10th anniversary, there's already some speculation that Japan will see the title in mid December of this year.

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Tales of the Abyss descending on PS2

Namco's popular RPG series celebrates it 10th anniversary with a new game on the PlayStation 2.

Namco's Tales role-playing series is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, and to commemorate the occasion, the company is making a new installment titled Tales of the Abyss for the PlayStation 2. No release date has been announced yet, but if it indeed is supposed to be an anniversary title, the game should be out this year.

Some early details on Tales of the Abyss have been released, courtesy of the latest issue of Shonen Jump. Tales of the Abyss will take place in a fantasy world known as Oldland. Two thousand years ago, civilization discovered something known as the "Seventh Phoneme," which detailed the birth of the planet and also foretold what will happen in its future, including its demise. But the discovery of the Seventh Phoneme didn't lead to peace, and Oldland soon found itself in an all-out war between powers attempting to gain possession over it. The long period of battle turned the land to ruins and brought about a lethal miasma. Fortunately, civilization was able to seal the miasma deep into earth by following the words of Yuria, a prophet that can read the Seventh Phoneme. On its road to recovery, Oldland is now being ruled by the Kimraska kingdom, Lambardia kingdom, and Malchut Empire. However, the people follow the words of the religious order of Lorelei and its prophet Yuria, who continues to send messages throughout the world.

Character designs will once again be done by Kousuke Fujishima, who's been working on the series since its 1995 debut title on the SNES, Tales of Phantasia. Shonen Jump has revealed two characters for Tales of the Abyss so far, named Luke and Tia. Luke is a young man who's a son to a baron in the Kimraska kingdom, and he possesses the ability to use power that's drawn from the Seventh Phoneme. Luke is said to be cocky because of his spoiled upbringing, but he's serious about his sword training. Luke was kidnapped when he was young, and the shock has left him repressed memories of his childhood.

Tia is a grown-up-looking female that fights as a solider for the religious order of Lorelei, and, like Luke, she can use the powers of the Seventh Phoneme. Tia lost her parents when she was young, and has been training to become as soldier since she was orphaned. Tia is said to be cold to others since she's quiet and well self-controlled, but she actually has a soft heart. Luke and Tia have no romantic relationship with each other, but they end up adventuring as a pair after getting involved in an incident.

Tales of the Abyss seems to feature 3D graphics somewhat similar to Tales of Symphonia, but the characters look a bit taller. No details on the game system have been disclosed yet, but considering Namco's timing of the game's announcement, it's likely that we'll learn more about it at the upcoming Tokyo Game Show.

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Namco hasn't quite officially announced the title yet, but early scans from the upcoming issue of Jump magazine revealed a new title in the Tales series, Tales of the Abyss. Currently, the only details known about the game are that it will be available for the PlayStation 2 and will be released some time in 2006. More than likely this will be Namco's final Tales title to be released on the current generation of consoles.

At this time, Namco has yet to unveil any of the characters names, though two of them have been seen from the leaked scan. Those looking to see those two characters may click here. RPGamer will release further information on this title as soon as it is announced.

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The two recently posted Tales of the Abyss magazine scans contained several bits of new information on said title. This update concerns two of the game's characters, Luke and Tear.

The single son of a powerful official in the kingdom of Kimraska, Luke fone Fabre is a spoiled child who loves nothing more than fencing and swordplay. His life, however, has not always been fun and games. When he was younger an incident occurred that almost resulted in his capture, and this traumatic experience has left him with a hole in his memory.

Tear was orphaned as a child and, as such, never knew her parents. Instead of being sent to an orphanage, though, she was transferred to the Lorelai church, where she was trained as a soldier. Her quiet nature and methodical precision give her the appearance of being both uncaring and apathetic, but deep down she has a weakness for anything cute and cuddly.

Tales of the Abyss will see a release in Japan sometime next year. At this time there has been no announcement regarding any localizations, but RPGamer will continue to update on this title in the future.