Just finished Abyss, final battle was probably one of the most underwhelming thus far, probably on the same level as Vesperia. Especially compared to the final bosses in Graces and Xillia this guy was a total pushover. Still gratifying to beat him into the dirt. Ended with over 2500 Grade, not bad on a first playthrough.
Took a look at a few guides to see the sidequests and stuff that I missed; didn't miss too much overall to my surprise. I found all the Devil's Arms but got smoked by the secret boss so didn't bother trying to grind to beat her, figured I'd do that on another playthrough. Didn't beat the singles coliseum but did defeat the special group coliseum battle. Found all the secret fonstones for Jade's secret Artes.
Surprised just how much is supposedly exclusive to Din's Shop in Chesedonia. I figured there would be a secret item or two, was not expecting nearly 20 exclusive items to her shop, which is kind of a bummer. Also, I couldn't really figure out how the AD skills were unlocking, turns out they're connecting to your stats via the Capacity Cores. Be interesting to actually do that if I play through it again.
Also kinda surprised how much is exclusive to a second playthrough. Not surprised that there is stuff, standard Tales shenanigans, but there is quite a bit more than I was expecting.
Overall I think Abyss was one of the better Tales games, especially story- and character-wise I think it beats out all the others save for Symphonia. Battle-wise, I've grown too accustomed/spoiled to Graces and Xillia, but it was pretty good considering it was all on the 3DS; was a little disappointed about the fonic circle arte-change mechanic, but glad it wasn't any more complicated than that.
Ended up playing mostly as Natalia since it seemed like the party AI was a bit slower/dumber than in the other Tales games. With Natalia I could stand back and watch the whole battlefield, do significant damage from afar and blast out my Mystic Artes, and heal when necessary. AI-wise Jade and Tear were mostly on top of their shit, but Guy, Luke, Anise, and Natalia would all kinda attack and then have a pretty significant break where they'd back away and just stand there doing nothing, and then go back in and attack a bit. Tear's healing AI was also a bit off, especially compared to like Raine's and Estelle's. Also, her not having Nurse SUCKED, fuck Healing Circle/Revitalize. Was kinda disappointed in the Magic in this one overall, since it would be casted, appear, and then damage which would allow the enemy to run out of the spell before getting hit, instead of being casted then immediately damaging as in the other Tales games. Also, the large field-effect artes were limited to Judgment and Meteor Storm, both of which miss the outer reaches of the stage and usually only hit the opponents once or twice.