I've not played Tales of the Abyss, but when has a Tales game not been pretty classy?

ZoE is huge amounts of fun. Can't recommend it enough.

Rogue Galaxy is ridiculously good. Sure, the story's cheesy, but there are some great characters (Steve ftw!) and the gameplay itself is some of the most solid I've seen in a long time. There is something of a dependance on items, but that's about the only criticism of note.

Xenosaga, well, I couldn't really get into the first one and never played the second. I doubt it's bad in any way, just not my cup of tea.