If you have about $75 to spare you can get a used PS2 and even a new copy of Tales of the Abyss. It's cheaper than buying a 3DS at least. From what I've read there's actually no 3DS extras - just a straight conversion - so unless you want other 3DS games, this is definitely the cheaper option. The PS2 is also an awesome system with tons of RPGs, so I would go this choice - I still play PS2 games (maybe because I own none of the current generation games).

If you have a strong enough PC, you could just buy the game and run PCSX2 which is a PS2 emulator. I won't get into much detail, but you need a powerful PC to run it smoothly - but alas, it is another route you could go.

I've played Symphonia, Abyss, Eternia, and Graces (not the biggest sample size) and out of them all I liked Abyss the best!