Tales of Vesperia/Eternal Sonata

What about in terms of other things? Story, side-quests, characters? Is there a mieu-like character that's going to make me want to stab myself in the ear with an icepick? Does it have a world map like Abyss?

I wasn't a big fan of the FoF stuff in Abyss. It was too much of a hassle to lure monsters into circles just so I could do 100 extra damage.

There's no mieu character that makes you want to stab yourself. The storyline's good, there's quite a bit of storyline sidequest too. I really liked it. You get to play as the main character's dog... and he kicks ass It has a world map just like abyss. There's a ton of humor in certain parts. Especially once you get the archer.