#i also think their feelings on akzeriuth changed a lot over time - starting at their deep anger where they probably thought

[mxdotpng]

though i don't think it's right to say the party didn't like luke before he changed. there are a lot of times where its obvious they do have some sort of attachment to him even if its obscured by how annoyed and/or frustrated he makes them. like when luke went back to baticul for the first time and everyone was trying to cheer him up and go sightseeing together, or when they were worried about him during their trip to choral castle. they were rightfully biased, as they saw the forefront of his behavior, but if they hadn't liked him at all they wouldn't have agreed to travel with him again, nor would their feelings after akzeriuth be so personal.

[starlight-phantom]

4 10 17 22 for the video game asks!

4 - Game That Deserves A Remaster/Remake?

There's quite a few games I'd love to remade. Mostly games that were great games but had a few things holding them back. I think I have three big ones, which are:

Sonic Adventure 2, my favourite Sonic game. Yes, part of that is because of nostalgia but it's also because it has my favourite tone of story, favourite level design, favourite gameplay style, multiple playable characters and the Chao garden. The wonderful Chao garden. But the game really has some issues. For one, the camera is awful at times. Number two, the audio mixing is really weird with the voice acting either getting drowned out by the music or characters getting cut off mid line. Third of all, the translation was weird with some lines not being grammatically correct. And some of the levels need a few tweaks to make them more enjoyable. (Looking at you, Mad Space). But all of those things are things that could be easily fixed in a remake. Plus I just desperately want the Chao garden back. Please Sega, I'm begging.

The second game is Resident Evil: Code Veronica. I love this game. It's one of my favourites in the series but it has some small issues that hold it back from being one of the best. For one, there are moments where, if you haven't prepared in advance, you can softlock your game and have to start over because you reached a point of no return and don't have enough ammo and supplies to beat a boss. Two, there's some smaller things like having to press a button to climb stairs that just aren't present in games anymore and for good reason. Three, the weird checkpoint system that sometimes sends you back to really inconvenient points. Four, some of the puzzles need to be tweaked... I'm mostly thinking of that one where you need to put a glass orb under a crushing torture device thing to break it open... The timing of that is too damn precise. Five, the section where you go through the island for a second time as Chris is kinda boring and the elevator stuff gets confusing... Six, voice acting. The voice acting in Code Veronica is weird. Some people love the corniness of it but most people mock it. And last but not least, Steve. Steve is definitely a character with a lot of potential to be great but his writing really held him back from being enjoyable so just give him a little more depth and change a few scenes and he'd probably be good to go.

And third: Tales Of The Abyss. I adore this game but it's so hard to recommend to people because for the beginning section, the protagonist is an insufferable brat and is just infuriating to watch. I almost stopped playing multiple times because of him, my friend had to force me to keep playing. But then a certain event happens. And the game gets really, really, REALLY good. And the insufferable brat? That opening part is crucial to making his character arc one of the absolute best I've ever seen and it's not just point A to point B, no! He has about three different issues he works through and it's beautiful to watch, I cried so much!

So... "If the game's so great, why do you want it remade?" Well, the graphics haven't aged too well, the fixed camera angles can sometimes make it a little hard to judge where you're going, and I don't know if this was just a personal experience or if it happens to everyone but, I had a lot of sound glitches while playing. Plus, I feel like a lot of scenes would hit harder with modern graphics.

Like to anyone who has played ToTA, please imagine:

The aftermath of Akzeriuth with the graphics of Tales Of Arise. The camera behind the character's back instead of a high up shot looking down so it's close to the action, the background noise of the people and surrounding area. Could you imagine how harrowing that would be? It would be amazing.

I'm so sorry for talking so much about this one question, I just have a lot of Thoughts™️ about this topic.

10 - Favourite Ship From A Game?

I mean some that have really stuck with me are: Yu X Yosuke from Persona 4, Ren X Goro from Persona 5, Tatsuya X Jun from Persona 2, Naegi X Kirigiri from Danganronpa (I was obsessed with Kirigiri when I was thirteen, I can't believe it took me two more years to figure out I wasn't straight), Luke X Tear from Tales Of The Abyss, Jude X Milla from Tales Of Xillia, Chrom X Robin from Fire Emblem Awakening. I know there's a hell of a lot more but those are the ones that have stuck with me the most... And that I can think of off the top of my head.

17 - Place From A Game You'd Like To Visit?

Damn, there's so many but whenever I try to name them, my mind goes blank. Soooo... I think all of the places in Genshin Impact are gorgeous. I can't think of any places in particular right now but they're pretty. Also Elysia from Tales Of Zestiria, again, pretty. I just need to roll around in nature, I guess. Those are the kinda places I like.

22 - Games You Want To Play?

There's a lot of games I wanna play but right now the main one is Tales Of Destiny 2. I've been playing through the entire Tales Of Series for the past four/five years now and from the mainline series, I only have Arise and Destiny 2 left. (I can't get Arise right now because I can't afford it but I am saving up) I absolutely adored the first Tales Of Destiny but Destiny 2 never got localised. But a group called Lumina Tales are working on a English Patch so we can finally play the game after twenty years so I am excitedly waiting for the patch to be complete so I can finally play this game.

[ichika27]

Luke and the Fall of Akzeriuth

I’m making a separate post about this due to the sheer length of it. I have so many things to say bottled up all the way from the first time I watched Tales of the Abyss. Rewatching it made me feel things again and I have to release those in words. This should’ve been in my thoughts post for episode 8 but it’ll make that super long and it would end up being not just about the episode if I added all of that there.

Plus, Luke is like one of my favorite characters so I want to make dedicated posts about him. This was originally titled “My Thoughts on Luke” but I retitled it cause this is more about a specific arc than just about Luke. And I may or may not make a post that’s about just Luke in general where I could use the original title later on.

These are mostly my personal opinions, by the way. These are my thoughts based on the stuff on the show and extra info about the original game I read online.

[Warning for spoilers from episode 8 and beyond]

Luke is at fault for the destruction of the Sephiroth as it was his power that did it although he was tricked. I’m not gonna say he did nothing and I can understand why everyone got mad at him for not taking even the least bit of responsibility for his actions that ended in tragedy. It can be quite infuriating to see and hear his reaction after something that horrible had happened. He wasn’t even apologizing and kept pushing everything away.

On the other hand, I could understand why he was in denial as well: it can be pretty hard to accept that you did something wrong and much more so if that “wrong” is the destruction of an entire city which kills thousands of people. That’d weigh on anyone especially someone like Luke who recently was just starting to get used to having to kill people as self-defense.

Thing is, I think it’s not just Luke but also everyone else had some kind of fault as to how it all ended up this way.

Luke’s Personality Change:

First of all, Luke being a jerk through their journey towards Akzeriuth did not help make anyone in and out of universe to sympathize with him. Thing is, rewatching this made me see the difference between how Luke was in the first couple of episodes compared to Luke on their journey to Akzeriuth.

I pointed out before that Luke is kind and understanding when he notices something is wrong. He just doesn’t know how to express how he feels like apologizing to someone or trying to make someone feel better. He’s also defensive of people he likes. The worse about him before was he’s annoying and ignorant due to his very, very sheltered noble upbringing and (now I can finally say it) the fact that he’s a seven year old replica.

Compare that Luke to the one these past few episodes: he’s much more impatient and inconsiderate of others’ feelings. He’s more arrogant and insensitive, too. He was worried about Ion being kidnapped and wanted to save him but before and after that, a lot has happened which I think contributed to why he just became terrible:

-Van telling him things like Luke be used as a weapon, people were lying to him and are gonna keep him “locked up” longer, and that he’d (Van) take Luke away from here after everything is over.

-Luke had always felt like he’s being treated like an idiot because of his “amnesia” with no one explaining things to him and everyone looking down on him. It doesn’t help that it’s happening again on their journey - he’s asking important questions no one wanted to answer.

-Luke seeing Asch’s face. He didn’t know who Asch was but he could feel that there’s something absolutely wrong. This made him more irritable than usual.

All of this combined and I think it made Luke just want everything to be over. He just wants to see his Master Van, fix Akzeriuth, and finally leaving and be somewhere he actually likes. Bonus is that if he did the heroics, people would stop looking at him negatively like they always do. While it’s no excuse for his terrible behavior, it makes it more understandable why there’s like this shift in personality suddenly.

I personally think that if the journey was straightforward (Van hadn’t fed him with lies and manipulation and he hasn’t met Asch), he would’ve happily saved Ion without it ending with complaints and they’d move on and he’d listen to the others. He would’ve not have anything else on his mind to make him impatient and he wouldn’t feel upset cause of Asch.

Anyways, his current attitude made it harder for anyone to listen to him. It ended up being a cycle, cause them not saying and explaining anything made his attitude much worse. In return, the more terrible his attitude is, the more they didn’t take him seriously and hating him.

Luke Knowing Nothing:

Second, on the topic of information withholding. Luke is sheltered and was a blank slate due to being a replica. Everything had to be taught to him and as he said before, it took a while for him to even learn the basics of what his physical appearance could do. He looked ten when he was created and had to be taught what 10yos could already do and as such, he’s kinda behind on a lot of things most people his physical age or older already know as basic knowledge. He doesn’t know anything he wasn’t already informed of and we see that when he asks questions about terminology and lore stuff episodes before.

Luke knowing the least about plot important information helped make it easier for Van to use him. I have said before that Tear isn’t completely right when she said people should make decisions without depending on others. We all need to have at least some information to be able to make decisions. The fact that all of them kept secrets from Luke and were being vague made it easy for Van to feed Luke with lies and bad information. Luke would have nothing to compare them to other than vague warnings from others.

Van had seven years to get Luke to like and trust him so it’s no surprise Luke would take his word easily above everyone else’s. Guy had knowledge about Van but doesn’t know the entire plan and Natalia is also an outsider like Luke was when it came to all of this and those two were the only other people around who have been with Luke just as long as Van was. Tear, Jade, Anise, and Ion were people Luke met just recently and not really in good ways too (plus it’s not like they’re telling him anything either).

Before I expand on my thoughts on that, I wanna say I know why they don’t say anything. It’s more than just Van after all - each of them have their own personal secrets that they’d have to reveal if they decide to give out important info and like Luke, they don’t know the others well enough to give those things away easily.

-Jade is the one with the most info. He’s pretty smart so apart from his knowledge of fomicry that he created (which would explain stuff about Luke and Ion), he’s also perceptive and have deduced some info about the others through their journey. If he revealed stuff about replicas, he’d have to dig up stuff related to his past as well.

-Ion knew about a lot of other important things but because of his position, he wasn’t allowed to just reveal them. He stopped Jade from talking about replicas when they faced Legretta at Deo Pass cause of who he is himself. He’d have to out himself as a replica and explain a crap ton of backstory things if he revealed things he knew.

-Guy knows Van and knows some of Van’s plans. Not all of them as he doesn’t know about the whole “Qliphoth, Outer Lands, and destroying Akzeriuth” thing. He does know Van isn’t who he was trying to appear to be and that Van has some hatred of the fon Fabre family due to their shared backstory of coming from Hod. If Guy had said anything about Van, he’d have to reveal the truth about himself which he couldn’t.

-Tear knows something about Van’s plans as she had called him a traitor and had tried killing him multiple times. She couldn’t reveal what she knows cause she can’t exactly talk about Qliphoth and the truth about their world to everyone else.

It feels like if they had said something, Luke would have second thoughts. He’s protective about those he care about and he thinks of Van as some kind of father-figure. On their journey towards Akzeriuth, Luke is also easily angry and impatient and if you’d notice, he kept talking about how Master Van is the only one he could trust and how he wants to see Master Van soon. What I’m getting at is that, if they tried something, Luke would probably slip and say something Van told him to keep a secret and they would know something is up.

Remember when Tear heard bad things about Grand Maestro Mohs and she was all defensive like “He’s not like that!” and the more others point out otherwise she starts having doubts? I just think it’d have happened with Luke. If they have said something fishy about what’s going on especially about Van, Luke would sooner or later try to debunk them with some stuff he knows.

Like, Tear would have had to start if off with the reason why she wants to kill her brother and then Guy backing some of the things up with what he knows about Van. Then Jade would piece some things together and Ion would also realize some things in the end.

If Luke had important information and second opinions, he would’ve had doubts about what his master would make him do. If everyone else had some inkling of what Luke knows, they would’ve been there with Luke to stop him. The only one there was Ion and somehow it never crossed his mind that Van was planning to destroy the Sephiroth.

Although I wish he would’ve thought things through more since not only were the enemies who kidnapped him making him open the seals like Van was making him do now but doesn’t he think it’d be dangerous to let anyone near the Sephiroth? You know... the pillars literally holding up their entire world from falling down from who knows how high down to where there’s a deadly miasma?

I mean, Ion is still a kid (younger than Luke as Ion is technically only a 2yo replica) but it’s weird he didn’t notice how fishy it was what they were making him do.

Asch and His Failed Attempts:

And then there’s Asch.

He didn’t know about the plan for Akzeriuth earlier and seem to only have realized recently but he knows a lot about how terrible Van is cause he was kidnapped by him as a child and the whole replica thing. He knows more than Luke does.

Anyways, he tries to stop Luke by basically yelling at the guy and insulting him. He was vague about it, too. It was not hard to see why Luke wouldn’t listen to him: they’ve just met and are enemies. Asch had tried to kill him and had Ion kidnapped plus Asch is part of the Six God Generals who Luke’s group had to fight against. Luke also felt uncomfortable after finding out they have the same face since, while Luke knows nothing, he feels that this meant something wrong.

And Asch just kept yelling and insulting him the entire time. Why would Luke listen to Asch who never gave a good reason to why he should be trusted? That versus Van who had been kind and helpful to Luke the entire time?

Also, Asch after the incident goes “Did you not think of what would happen if you used a hyperresonance?” and like, that’s the thing... Luke doesn’t know enough of what would happen if he uses a hyperresonance.

-Luke only learned about what a hyperresonance is after it was explained to him how he and Tear got transported halfway across the world.

-Luke only learned he could do it on his own on the way back to Baticul and Van was the only one there to explain things to him. Van also demonstrated he could help Luke do something about it and even teach him which no one else had done which made Luke believe his Master Van would know what he should do. 

-Asch doesn’t really say anything other than basically “Don’t go any further or you’d doom us all, dreck!” and “He’s tricking you, idiot!”. No context, no explanation, but has insults. He gave Luke no reason to listen to him.

Master Van and His Interactions with Luke:

Luke’s family didn’t know he was a replica and didn’t even know anything about replicas and so they all just think Luke has amnesia. They didn’t know he was a different person and not Asch so they have put on him a lot of expectations they had on Asch.

They expected him to get back memories that he doesn’t have, learn things that would be difficult when he knows none of the basics, and overall, they expect him to be the age he appears to be. And this lead to disappointment which affected how they treated Luke.

-Everyone is disappointed that the smart and responsible Luke is now basically a helpless child that can’t even walk, read, or write. This makes them ask why Luke doesn’t know all of those things already and why can’t he learn faster. This means Luke gets looked down on for not meeting those expectations.

-Everyone wants the old Luke. They kept reminding him of the past and wants him to act the same as he used to. This not only annoys Luke cause he just can’t (as those memories are not his own to begin with) but they’re also making him feel bad cause he’s not the Luke they wanted (which actually gets much worse later when the truth comes out).

-Luke’s kidnapping (and him being the sort of chosen one) also caused those around him to be overprotective enough to not let him out of the manor. They had to make him happy inside which meant they spoiled and babied him which is both a good and a bad thing. This also meant he knows less people and is usually not told of anything happening outside which made Luke ignorant.

Point is, Van isn’t any of this. When Luke knows nothing, Van explains and teaches things to him. Van also scolds him when he does something wrong. Van doesn’t force him to be the old Luke. This makes Luke more comfortable and free when around his Master Van. Van is the father figure Duke Fabre isn’t being to Luke.

Van had seven years to be this to Luke. He showed no indication that he isn’t to be trusted and he gave Luke no reason to not listen to him and believe in him. He was able to manipulate Luke by possibly being one of the more positive interactions he had around him as he grew up.

End Thoughts:

I wish I could say that what happened to Akzeriuth could have been avoided. The sad thing is that there may have been possibilities of them being able to avoid it or stopping it before it got worse. In the end, there’s just so many factors in and out of their control that lead to this ending.

Everyone had their own priorities and they didn’t know each other long enough to trust the others with helping with whatever problems they had (many of which are either close to or are just personal). They also didn’t know and trust each other enough to reveal secrets that would be uncovered if they decided to give out important information that had any connection to them.

It ended up being this really awful scenario for everyone but much more so for Luke. Everyone else also in a way denied their actions (or inactions) that helped caused Akzeriuth’s fall. They all blamed Luke and let him carry all of it and as mentioned before, Luke is still traumatized at having to kill people before and is just at this point having to deal with the fact that he has to continue doing that in order to survive.

It’s why despite how Luke is as a person and his decisions that lead to this moment, I still can’t help but feel bad for him and not completely blame him when to him, it looked like there was no other choice. The only person who gave him any guidance happened to be a manipulative liar and sadly, a person he wholeheartedly trusted for the entire seven years of his life up to this point.

And now after episode 8, he has to deal with more depressing things: the trauma and guilt of what had happened once he finally accepts responsibility, the truth about Guy, the losses he’d experience and the more deaths he would cause, and of course, an existential crisis.

--

Oh my god, this was longer than I expected it would be! I’m so glad I cut this off from my episode 8 thoughts lol. This had more info that was supposed to be revealed in later episodes too so it isn’t just an episode 8 thing anymore.

I do have a bit more thoughts but that’s for later, I guess. I don’t know who would read all of this or if anyone would even want to but if you did, then thank you. I hope this was at least entertaining enough to read and waste time on.

[anichibicore]

I made a playlist for Luke Fon Fabre!

I got bored! so! playlist for one of my favorite JRPG protags! here it is! I’m making this post bc I wanna share why I put each song and just bc I like rambling about my favorite tales game haha. I’ll leave all that under the cut tho to keep this from being super long on dashes and stuff. Well, away we go!

Track 1: Bored to Death by Blink 182 At the beginning of the game, Luke makes it clear he’s bored of being trapped inside his family’s manor and wants nothing more than to leave. I can’t point to any lyrics in particular for this choice, but I feel it fits his situation nonetheless. Track 2: Disturbia by Rihanna Luke's just killed a person for the first time ever, and he's torn up about it. His mind doesn't want to leave that fact alone. So he beats himself up over it. Once again, I can't really point to any specific lyrics for this choice, and I'm honestly starting to rethink my choices. Track 3: Field of Innocence by Evanescence Akzeriuth is destroyed. Luke feels awful. His innocence is gone, and all that's left is guilt. He just wants to go back to how things used to be. But he can't, and he's devastated. This is one of the lowest points in his life, and he doesn't know what to do. He's lost.

Where has my heart gone? An uneven trade for the real world Oh I, I want to go back to Believing in everything and knowing nothing at all

Track 4: Afraid by The Neighbourhood This song is the one that inspired this playlist, partly thanks to this post. Luke’s seeing through Asch’s eyes, he now knows he’s a replica, and he’s scared that the others will want to replace him with Asch. Especially as they make their emotions clear about Luke and his actions. But, Luke doesn’t want to be replaced. He’s hoping to get back the trust he lost. But he doesn’t know how. You're too mean, I don't like you, fuck you anyway You make me wanna scream at the top of my lungs It hurts but I won't fight you You suck anyway You make me wanna die, right when I... When I wake up I'm afraid, somebody else might take my place When I wake up I'm afraid, somebody else might take my place When I wake up I'm afraid, somebody else might take my place When I wake up I'm afraid, somebody else might end up being me Track 5: Ghost Rule by DECO*27 This is kind of a personal choice, and this is also going by Rachie’s English lyrics. I can’t point to any specific moment in Luke’s arc where this goes, but I still felt it fit him. Maybe his feelings about being a replica and feeling like his whole life is a lie. A couple of lyrics could be used to refer to his tendency to hide his feelings. Another line could be used to show his guilt over destroying Akzeriuth. I could pick this one apart for days.

I only know how to lie, I guess I really can’t dodge it this time No law to pardon my crime, no clemency for this evil of mine Things don’t look better today, the mask I wear is crumbling away Lapsing in depravity, I didn’t see what was happening to me Track 6: No One by Aly & AJ Luke’s woken up. He’s starting to think about how he’s been and decides he wants to change. He cuts his hair and promises Tear that he’s changing himself to be a better person. He still feels broken, but he’s working to fix himself. One piece at a time.

I am moving through the crowd Trying to find myself I feel like a guitar that's never played Will someone strum away? And I ask myself Who do I want to be? Do I want to throw away the key And invent a whole new me And I tell myself No one No one Don't want to be no one But me Track 7: Brave by Sara Bareilles Luke meets with Guy. His life long friend tells him that there’s only one Luke in his eyes. I feel like this song’s more Guy to Luke, hoping to motivate him to speak his mind and lift his spirits. He wants Luke to be brave. Innocence, your history of silence Won't do you any good Did you think it would? Let your words be anything but empty Why don't you tell them the truth? Say what you wanna say And let the words fall out Honestly, I wanna see you be brave Track 8: This is Me by Kealla Settle (from The Greatest Showman)

Luke nearly died but he came back, and he feels better than ever. He feels alive. It’s funny how finding out you’re slowly dying makes you appreciate the life you have. Still, Luke feels like he can take on anything. And he’s not going to let any of his emotional baggage slow him down now. When the sharpest words wanna cut me down I'm gonna send a flood, gonna drown them out I am brave, I am bruised I am who I'm meant to be, this is me Look out 'cause here I come And I'm marching on to the beat I drum I'm not scared to be seen I make no apologies, this is me Track 9: Fight Song by Rachel Platten This ties into the previous track a bit, with Luke’s feeling of strength, like he can take on anything. He’s got a lot left in him, and like hell he’ll go down without a fight. This is my fight song Take back my life song Prove I'm alright song My power's turned on Starting right now I'll be strong I'll play my fight song And I don't really care if nobody else believes 'Cause I've still got a lot of fight left in me Track 10: She’s So Gone by Naomi Scott (from Lemonade Mouth) Luke’s facing Asch in Eldrant for the final time, and he’s going to prove to Asch that he’s a different person now. He’s his own person, and the fact he’s a replica won’t change that. This fight likely means more to Luke than to Asch. Luke’s going to prove Asch is wrong about him. One way or another. Insecure In her skin Like a puppet, a girl on a string Broke away Learned to fly If you want her back gotta let her shine So it looks like the joke's on you 'Cause the girl that you thought you knew She's so gone That's so over now She's so gone You won't find her around You can look but you won't see The girl I used to be 'Cause she's She's so gone Track 11: This Life is Mine by Jeff Williams and Casey Lee Williams (from RWBY) This song could be any point after Van betrays Luke, tells him he was using him, discards him, anything really. Luke looks back on how Van controlled him, had him essentially wrapped around his finger, and swears he’s going to make him pay and put an end to all he’s been planning for all these years.

Amazing how you conquered me Chained me in servility And made me see The world the way you told me to But I was young and didn't have a Way to know the truth Born to live your legacy Existing just to fill your needs A casualty of this so-called "family" That you have turned into a travesty But I don't intend to suffer any longer Here's where your dominion falls apart I'm shattering the mirror That kept me split in pieces That stood between my mind and my heart This is where I'll start I'm not your pet Not another thing you own I was not born guilty of your crimes Your riches and your influence Can't hold me anymore I won't be possessed Burdened by your royal test I will not surrender This life is mine! Track 12: Angel With a Shotgun by The Cab The battle against Van has begun. Luke and Tear work together to take down the man they had been so close to for years, and while each second is painful for them, they know there’s no other choice. Luke will free Lorelei once all is said and done and that will be the end of it. Nothing else matters to him right now. I'm an angel with a shotgun Fighting til' the wars won I don't care if heaven won't take me back 

Track 13: Home by Daughtry Luke’s freed Lorelei, he and Asch have joined with Lorelei, and the world is saved. His friends all miss him, and on his coming of age ceremony, Tear is singing alone in Tataroo Valley. The rest of Luke’s friends join her, and as they mourn their lost friend, a figure appears in the distance. A figure that resembles Luke. He’s come home. I'm going home Back to the place where I belong And where your love has always been enough for me I'm not running from No, I think you got me all wrong I don't regret this life I chose for me But these places and these faces are getting old So I'm going home Well, I'm going home

Track 14: Shape My Heart by Eyeshine

I didn’t add this one until after I made this post (I’m editing this post to include it) but this is another general one and not one i added bc the singer of this band was johnny yong bosch i swear. It’s the party to Luke because he unintentionally helped some of them change the way they view the world, even if it was only a little bit. His presence made things just a little bit better.

You take our pain away

You make our world okay

You shape our hearts so we can feel what love is

You take our hate away

[dimensionslip]

Tales of the Stage - Those Who Inherit The Power of Lorelei - EMOTIONAL ACT (August 23, 2018)

What a long day it was!

In a nutshell, today's stage play was a lot more serious as promised (in contrast to how crazy the Yokohama stage　play was). It definitely felt more like Asch's story this time around, and anyone who adores him is very much in for a treat. There were also a lot more scenes with the Six God-Generals and Noir, with the Abyss party members taking more of a backseat this time around. I think this might be the closest we'll ever get to an Asch side for Tales of the Abyss. Aschtalia shippers will also love it a lot.

After the stage play, there was a talk show with Chihiro Suzuki (Luke's voice actor), Kazuki Yao (Dist's voice actor), Yuya Arai (Asch's stage actor), Orito Kasahara (Dist's stage actor), and Shunichi Takahashi (Jade's stage actor). Which, you can probably guess, is the reason why I picked this day to go, besides my already planned Saturday and Sunday viewings.

Anyway, without further ado, here's my personal experience for today, as well as a plot and talk show summary I've drawn up to the best of my abilities and memory!

Before the Stage Play

After hearing that Jade sold out pretty quickly yesterday, I took no chances for the merch line and arrived two hours early before they started selling stuff. It was a long wait under the sun as they had us line up outside the venue before letting us in 30 minutes before 4pm (the start of sales).

As I was the second in line, I managed to get everything I wanted! I lined up again a little later because I was curious about the items that sold out. The Dist bromide (Yokohama Arena version) and acrylic was the first to run out in about 20 minutes. Legretta's bromide (Yokohama Arena version) also sold out at around the same time. Not too long after, Jade's acrylic keychain also sold out. I'm so glad I came in early to get them, but man, they didn't really seem to stock too much of everything except Boy Asch, Luke, and Asch.

The wait for the theater opening itself (6pm) was made bearable by the fact that I managed to make a friend (aka the person who was as early as I was in lining up). Both of us are Jade and Dist fans (with matching Jade dolls too and what not), and it seems we both took the bait regarding the varied talk shows per day (today was Jade and Dist's turn).

Once the theater gates opened, we got the postcard (today was Jade and Dist) that changes for each showing. There were also a good bit of flowers. Jade, Dist, Tear, and Asch have the most.

Stage Play Summary

Note: Apparently some of these scenes were different from Day 1's show. As I have not gone to the said show, I do not know which is different or the same, so I'll be updating this on Saturday again to report on which scenes were unique to Day 2.

Before the stage play, Noir and her lackey Dino (if I'm getting the name right) fooled around a bit onstage. Noir's bromide sold out and Dino was talking excitedly about it. He also opened a blind box can badge in front of Noir, hoping he'd get Noir. He got Ion instead, which Noir pinned to her uhh... chest wrap, or whatever it is you call her clothes. Dino started taking a lot of pictures of her and kind of got skeevy a little later and got bonked by Noir as a result.

Kazuki Yao (as Dist) narrated the story introduction, complete with Dist's trademark laugh. He made it a point to emphasize that Jade was his rival.

The story opens with boy Asch escaping, and Dist running after him. Dist got a clunked on the head for his trouble, Van reassured him that it's not a problem that Asch escaped. Asch got stopped at the gates and was laughed at, and everything more or less proceeds as the Abyss plot did.

The boy Asch actor didn't join in the Karma dance, but he did appear in several of Asch's dream/nightmare sequences/flashbacks. It was sprinkled throughout the play and was a nice touch, and definitely added to the overall Asch-feel of the stage play.

As with the Yokohama stageplay, the Karma dance was montage-y at some parts for the God-Generals. Also since I pay extra attention to Jade, he somersaults into the stage, sights Dist, then walks away when the latter tries to chase him.

They had some pre-game scenes here that were never in the game or anime, aka an opportunity to showcase how stuff in Daath went. Like, Anise being busy with Ion. Dist presenting Tokunaga to her was also included here, as well as a bit of showcasing of how their awkward friendship works. I love it so much. There was also Arietta having some trouble with paperwork and trying to get Sync to help her. Legretta eventually ends up aiding her instead, and she kinda felt motherly here. Van also had a fatherly moment when the God-Generals met up with him and Arietta presented her paperwork to him proudly, but it did come off as a little creepy given what we know of Van.

But yeah, during that meeting, Van also poked fun at Asch's dislike of octopus as a joke. Basically it all felt like they were the dysfunctional family that the anime or game semi-implied but did not quite emphasize.

Luke and Tear end up in what I suspect to be Cheagle Woods, but the area wasn't named. The main party also had their entrances at around this point (including Guy and Natalia, who aren't slated to join until way later, game-wise). Guy's introduction ("Enter the amazing Guy") kept on getting interrupted by Natalia, which was hilarious.

Later on, we get to see a similar scene as the Yokohama Arena showing, where Asch visits Nam Cobanda Isle to make a deal with Noir. Noir's backstory also comes out here. A random kid gives Asch his most treasured possession, which is a doll.

I think this was around this time that Asch had another one of his dreams about the past again. As I've mentioned earlier, this is a recurring thing throughout the stage play. They also got the Natalia actor (I think) to dress up as child Natalia for these flashbacks.

There was a huge skip to what I assume to be Deo Pass (prior to Akzeriuth), where the party battles it out with the Six God-Generals. Natalia sees Asch's face and they end up having a long moment staring at each other, and she seems to realize something, but does not have much time to dwell on it. Guy and Sync get some curse slot action going here as well.

Akzeriuth more or less proceeds as it does, including the Abyss classic "ore wa warukunee". However, at Ortion Cavern, there was an added scene where Jade talks about his past with Dist, and there's an enacted flashback for it. For this adaptation, younger Jade and Dist (in lab coats) were in Hod when it was collapsing, and that's how Jade came to know about Van's real name. Note that in the game, Jade had never actually stepped a foot inside Hod. Even if this wasn't canon compliant, it was still interesting to see because, yay, more Jade and Dist scenes. Action scenes, that is. Though Dist (Saphir then), wasn't really any good with them battles and just kept on trying to dodge things.

It was around this time (or a little earlier), that Mohs was talking to Largo about something interesting that he heard (aka the circumstances of Natalia's birth), and was heavily hinting that he knew something about Largo too. Largo just brushes it off.

Speaking of Largo, earlier he also had a moment with Asch, something like acknowledging that they have the same feelings regarding a certain issue. I think it was Natalia-related, but my memory is a little fuzzy at this point in time.

There was a part where Asch was more apparently in pain, and Dist, like in the Yokohama Arena showing, ends up mocking-slash-word-vomiting at Asch regarding his state (the Big Bang). While Dist was going on his spiel, Noir and Dino were nearby, poorly hiding as they overheard everything. Once Asch chases off Dist, Noir voices some concern over his well-being, but also ends up reporting that Natalia is in trouble (Mohs was going up with his reveal regarding Meryl and Natalia being a "fake" princess). Asch ignores his extreme pain and runs off.

As with the Yokohama Arena show, we got to do the Natalia chant with the penlights along with Noir and the Dark Wings.

Asch and Van also have their battle here, which Asch has the upper hand in until he gets a seizure, which Van takes advantage of by stabbing his arm and literally twisting a knife (err, sword) into it. Same as the Yokohama Arena show, and just as "oww" to watch.

Absorption Gate was also another opportunity to showcase some of the party's talents. I was only expecting somersaults and stunts from Jade (who delivered!), but Tear also had her own cartwheels and it was pretty impressive. Van still had his dance numbers but they were very much shortened. Also Jade featured quite prominently in the Absorption Gate battles, I feel. And there even was a part where he seemed to be dancing it off with Van.

Sync was in the Absorption Gate battle and once his mask broke and he got on this diatribe, he committed suicide with a sword. Later on, he gets revived along with Van.

Luke and Asch receive their parts of the Key of Lorelei. Asch has a scene with Noir at around this time too, where he asks Noir to return the doll he received from the child earlier on in the stage play. But something happened to the doll's face, I think? Dino said something but I wasn't able to catch all of it.

Then there's a huge skip to Eldrant, where the party have their final showdown with the Six God-Generals. Natalia and Asch have a moment too over here. So we have the following:

 Anise vs Arietta: Poor Arietta, she had that scene where she hallucinates her mother and Ion before she dies.

Jade vs Dist: Jade makes quick work of Dist's robots after going "Sayonara, Saphir". Which did not feel as heartfelt as the game or anime, but I'm glad they included that. The battle ends when Jade steals Dist's flowery wheels and Dist chases after him.

Tear vs Legretta: Legretta has more or less the same death scene lines, with Tear being equally devastated.

Natalia vs Largo: Quite similar to the game as well, with Largo being proud of his daughter before dying, and Natalia calling him father

Guy (and later on Anise) vs Sync: Similar to the anime, and Sync has a moment where he impersonates Ion in the heat of battle, which throws off Anise

Luke vs Asch: Similar to how it goes in the game, with a few twists. Luke sees Asch getting turned into a pincushion and was definitely very hesitant to leave him like that.

All of the God-Generals except Dist dies. There is a scene after Asch dies where the Natalia in his dream finally finds him (prior to that, it was always him just chasing after Dream!Natalia), and gets the flower crown, plus a realization of the place he belongs in. We also get to see (briefly) the God-Generals that have died in the said sequence. A good number of people were in tears at this point.

In the final battle against Van, Asch from the beyond gives Luke a pep talk. After which, Luke uses Lost Fon Drive to defeat Van. And I guess it's time for a small random note--everyone in the party (plus Asch) got to use their Mystic Artes throughout the stage play, except for Jade. But that aside, the post-Eldrant scene was cut a little short, with only Tear saying her piece about wanting Luke to come back. But Luke and Jade do share a nod before it cuts to Luke fulfilling his promise to Lorelei.

They tried to recreate the whole Luke-falling-to-the-core scene as faithfully as they can. I think that they could not have the Luke stage actor carry Asch the whole time, so they substituted for a projection. Still was nice.

"The Look of that Day" starts playing, and we get the epilogue scene, which proceeds more or less as it did in the game and the previous stage plays (with the Luke stage actor in the Mr. Ending costume), BUT. Besides using a more Lorelei-ish voice for him (it's the Mr. Ending voice, overlapped with some other voice), we get a silhouette of Asch too (in a similar costume, iirc) after Mr. Ending exits the stage.

When I looked around and the lights went on, it seemed that more people were in tears by the time the after talk show was to start.

After Talk Show Summary

Kazuki Yao was dressed up in a flowery print Hawaiian shirt and shorts combo, with a t-shirt that had a glittery skull on it. It was a highly unexpected turn of events and earned many laughs.

Chi-chan made sure to emphasize we're getting Double Dist today. And kept calling Jade's corkscrew a dragon screw.

Some of the questions and answers I can remember (paraphrased):

(1) What thing did you have to be careful about when portraying your character? Yao: Apparently he thought Dist was an "okama" (roughly "drag queen"), but in the middle of recording, he was told that Dist is not an okama and it was difficult to adjust. Kasahara: He did a lot of research, and tried his best to imitate Yao's voice for Dist. (he's playing through Abyss and I think got Shiro no Ashita and Tsuioku no Jade manga) Takahashi: Jade's spectacularly long hair. (which I imagine got in the way in a lot of stunts... he needed to keep flipping it away lol)

I can't remember what Arai said for Asch, unfortunately.

(2) Since we have Double Dist today, name something good about Dist. Suzuki: Very forward-looking and positive. Arai: He has a beautiful color. (said after facing Dist and looking at him for a long time) Takahashi: Let me just describe what happened when it was the Jade stage actor's turn. > Dist and Jade face each other and are sitting way close. > Jade: (after a long stare) Nothing. > Dist: (looking affronted) Ehh??! There must be something!!

If I recall correctly, Jade reaffirms the no, but definitely, shortly after this, Dist starts playfully grabbing Jade's knees and goes all "JEIDOOOO". Kasahara-san and Takahashi-san were so cute together...

Anyway, the winners for the picture-taking lottery were announced at the end of the talk show. Didn't win, but I did have a lot of nice memories to take home, which I feel was very much precious in itself.

Personal Thoughts

As with the previous stage plays, I feel it's best to watch this while being well aware of TOA's story. They skip around a lot and omit a lot of things, and I feel it's easier to appreciate the additions with that said background in hand.

I really loved the stage play as an Asch side type of deal. It's a refreshing way of looking at the story, and as I've mentioned, they really made good in making this feel like it's Asch's story. The party members taking the sidelines (including Luke) was a consequence of this, but it all felt natural. I liked seeing more of the Six God-Generals too.

Accounting for my Jade bias, I'm satisfied with regard to his level of presence in an Asch-centric story. I think he had even more stunts here than the last one he was in, but that could be my wishful imagination at work. I also feel his character was a lot more interesting with Dist around, rather than a standalone.

Asch was definitely the star of the show, but I still love Kasahara's Dist. He's such a great Dist and I'm glad they got him on board. His research certainly looks like it paid off--he looks the part and acts the part. I think a lot of people are charmed by his performance too, which also may factor in to Dist running out today (besides today being Jade and Dist talk show day), and during the last TalesFes. I also noticed that people in the trade search on Twitter have been searching for his karaoke trading card too (Jade, of course, is still the crowning king of rare).

I still feel that Reo Kawamura's Guy is a bit lacking, but he had a lot more to do this stage play, so it wasn't as bad as the previous stage play in Yokohama Arena. As far as successors to Kou Hosokawa's Guy was, I think he's fine--it's just that Hosokawa's performance feels difficult to top, in my opinion.

I cannot tell which among the stage play scenes were different or added for the day, so I guess I'll discover on Saturday what may have changed. I definitely look forward to that and the talk show, in any case. Will post again on Saturday and Sunday with the said differences, but until then, I hope you enjoyed this report! If you have any questions that I have not addressed, please feel free to drop by my ask box!

[the-cryptographer]

more TotA blabber

- I forgot to mention this and a couple of other things the first time around, but- Wow, this game is kind of in love with pseudo psychology bullshit. Guy’s phobia of women based in this traumatic past event. Arietta being raised by wolves. Or ligers, i guess. Even Luke’s child development stuff is super bullshit, lol. idk, it’s not like I hate it, but you can feel the kind of bizarre pop culture psych things that went into this.

- On the subject of Guy’s phobia... upon replaying I am kind of uncomfortable with a couple aspects of it. First that, like, every rando woman in this household flung themselves on him as human shields to be slaughtered is a bit objectifying in a pretty violent and terrible way from a meta perspective. Not that a woman sacrificing herself for a man can never be done right. But it’s kind of creepy to me in this mass fridging kind of way. And then also the narrative seems really invested in, like, curing Guy. And I understand that from the perspective of it seriously hindering him from doing important things like saving Anise, but it’s also a bit creepy from the perspective of, like, ‘must make myself like woman. must be straight.’ :/   Not that I have a problem with Guy liking woman or shipping him with them just... yeah. Canon itself could chill a bit.

- Also the issues that Luke has killing other people is kind of waved to the side and... wtf? Like, one minute he’s having a mental breakdown over it, and the next time we run into human enemies on the ferry to Baticul it just... never comes up. While I believe pretty unreservedly that killing is bad and shouldn’t be sanctioned for war or other similar purpose, I can understand where Tear and Jade are coming from. It’s hard to predict when leaving someone alive will only cause more suffering in the end. And I realise that Luke has a lot of difficulty at that point in the game taking responsibility for things, including deaths, that are kind of inevitable but... I think the game kind of cuts this plot short by making it about Luke being some form of immature and weak instead of- yeah- killing people is fucking bad, so... wtf???

- It kind of interests me how the relationships in this story go, lol. compared to the really haremy kind of stuff that starts out with a bunch of tsun girls that slowly warm up to you and start wanting your dick, it’s kind of interesting that this game started with a spoiled noble that every girl wants to get with, and then basically weeds Natalia and Anise out through a combination of mistaken identity and misaimed goals and shitty behaviour on Luke’s part. Not that it’s, like, sooo much better or less sexist than other stuff. But it’s an interesting contrast.

- But Asch complaining about ‘Ladies Man’ Luke was so classic. omg. what a jealous nitwit. i love it.

- I keep thinking of Nephry being kind of chilly and unemotive, basically like Jade but with a better sense of morals and empathy for others. But, man, during the first meeting with her she’s so emotional... I mean, I understand why: she’s got a brother she loves but doesn’t trust and thinks he’s dead and then he shows up on her door with no warning at all. And she has all these terrible thoughts and feelings about what’s happened in the past and nobody to talk to about it with, so then she vomits it on Luke. But it was kind of jarring for me combined with some really bad voice acting, omg.

- Also I read in a let’s play that the only canon evidence of Peony -> Nephry in the games is during the Rappig Quest. But, like, I walked into Keterburg and nobody could shut up about how hot Nephry was and how Emperor Peony’s first wuv lives there and then we meet Nephry and, lo and behold, she’s super HOT. So how much evidence do you guys fucking need spoon fed to you for this onesided shitshow to have canon traction, smh. (We all know I just have a hateboner for ppl ignoring Nephry and shipping Jade and Peony, lol)

- Yeah, I was kind of patting this game on the back for not being overly exploitative with the girls’ character designs too early. I guess the tone of the game changes a bit post-Akzeriuth, so that explains suddenly why there’s such an influx of MELON jokes about Tear. MELONS. Poor Tear...

Also just this image for Tear’s Mystic Arte:

That garter belt shot... mmm... fuck. I have no standards.

- Also, got a decent image of the book in the Order of Lorelei library that has everyone’s rank:

Got a mention of that mysterious Cantabile that’s the 7th God General we never hear about. What an interesting lady.

But mostly I’m just in shock that Sync, of all people, is Chief of Staff. lmao, the most nihilistic uncaring bastard ranks above Largo and Dist and Asch, haha. I need to write something about that.

- I guess I forgot how much I was glued to the sidequest FAQ the first time I played this game, smh. I ended up locking myself out of completing the Frings/Cecile sidequest, which really pisses me off, smh. I remember really enjoying this sidequest the first time and Frings untimely DEATH. So I’m disappointed I’m missing it now. Watch me get over-invested into forced and unnecessary and completely optional tragic het ships.

- (Also missed the Collector’s Book aaaaaaaa.)

- Kind of touched on it in that other post but, wow, this game sure does have a lot of angst and death and dying for a game whose general aesthetic is ‘yay! i cooked an apple pie after battle!!!’ Maybe that’s why I’m leaning away from being able to write comedy about it, lol. But I should. Apple pie is... good.

[the-cryptographer]

I’m actually replaying Tales of the Abyss now instead of just thinking about replaying it as I become randomly taken over by Dist-related feelings. So under the cut is my experience with the first third of the game (everything up to the haircut).

- Imma just start with the character stuff and then move onto the gameplay stuff bc nobody cares about gameplay.

- Yeah, I started playing this like - “I wonder if I’ll still like the same shitty ships I liked when I was playing this ten years ago.” And the answer is FUCKING YES - they are apparently permanently ingrained in my psyche.

- On the subject of Luke... I didn’t actually remember how much of a douche he is for the first third of the game, since it’s been a while and I’m more accustomed to seeing portrayals of the better rounded and kinder character he eventually became. I’m going to say, I’m really glad he grew out of it on both a narrative and personal level, but I also really did enjoy and love long-hair douchey Luke. He’s insufferable and I adore him.

- That being said, I think this kind of puts an interesting spin on Luke/Tear. I do genuinely like this ship and am happy with where it ended up, but a lot of what seems to keep their early interactions from going even more poorly than they do is that Luke is... very used to bossing people around. And Tear is very used to being bossed around. Like, she’ll obviously talk back to him, but even so- Tear kind of falling into this servile protective bodyguard role is kind of what ends up endearing her to Luke and it’s kind of bad and good at the same time. Especially combined with things like her thinking the Baticul maid outfit his servants wear is cute... This idea could be taken places... I’m glad the relationship didn’t stay like this in the larger context of things, but I’m also kind of enjoying where it’s at so~

- That being said I feel like the party starts making lovebird jokes way too early. Like, I like this ship a lot, but I also have bad taste, and this isn’t the kind of thing I feel should be encouraged irl/in-universe. Not as their relationship exists during this part of the game, at least. ubb.

- More generally I do like Tear a lot tho. I think having her be a bit more serious and stoic and emotionally withdrawn are things that speak a lot to me, with regards to female characters and heroines especially. I also like that she is genuinely competent as a fighter and protector. And that the more traditional damsel role is occupied by a man, Ion.

- I’m also surprised that Tear’s boobs are as modestly proportioned as they are. Maybe it’s because of doujin content, or a couple of tactless jokes later on in the game(?) but I always thought they were HUGE instead of, well, buxom and hourglassy in the vein that you might find on a real woman. This game in general isn’t super fanservice-y in its character designs (although there’s something to be said about a few of the scenarios). There’s some Zettai Ryouki on the girls, but that’s about it. I guess the fact that this game's age is showing.

- The different iterations of ships involving Anise, Arietta, and the Ions are also something that are still appealing to me a lot. Part of me feels bad for being okay with Anise/Florian, since Florian’s a kind of an obvious replacement character. But then I start thinking about how conflicting and upsetting it would be for Anise and then - whoops - I’m interested again.

- Luke and Ion crush on each other so hard though. This was not a ship from when I first played but, god, it’s so cute how much Ion seems to genuinely like Luke, and how Luke gets so tsun and blushy about protecting him. Excuse me while I try and figure out a way to write this that isn’t heartbreaking, and fail.

- me: I wonder if I’ll like Jade as much as I did the first time. Since I seem to have come to a realisation that he’s an emotionally manipulative asshole with a very limited capacity for empathy on any non-abstract level. Jade’s disembodied voice *hasn’t even shown up on screen yet* : Move out of the way or it’s not my problem if you get run over by this tank I’m driving. me: I was a complete fool. He’s a total asshole and I love him so much.

- Naw, yeah, for real tho: one of the first things Jade does upon meeting Natalia is try and establish that she’ll be easy to emotionally manipulate and control. He rather easily brushes over watching the suffering of others in favour of more goal oriented behavior. That, in addition to what happens when he extracts information from Dist at the Keterburg Hotel... I don’t really think I was off the mark about Jade potentially negging his boyfriend or exacting physical torture on his ex, especially insofar as his ex is a criminal anyhow. Like, obviously Jade has some kind of moral code by the time the game begins. And overall I think it’s admirable that he’s concerned about things like minimising the world’s death toll and human suffering. But he’s certainly not above breaking a few eggs to make and omelette, even if those eggs include visiting long-term physical and psychological damage on others. I would... hope that he could restrain himself from taking that kind of route with things. But I don’t think I’m exactly wrong in thinking he’s not a person I would trust not to, and thus not someone I’d want to invite within a mile of my personal life. Although he’s probably going to continue being a character I really cherish. He might still be my favourite playable character in the game - although Tear and Anise come close.

- Actual favourite character is Dist, of course. I mean, he’s hammy and awful and terribly written, but I love him so much. ‘Everyone is jealous of my intelligence and beauty.’ (Which is even funnier considering the post-battle dialogue where Anise and Jade tell Luke to write about their beauty and intelligence respectively in his diary. Birds of a feather.) idk, it’s just really strange, because I don’t really like when fanon iterations of characters are made more femme and flamboyant than they are in canon. But you have actual femme and flamboyant men in canon (Dist, Wallace from pkmn, etc) and somehow I love them so much, omg. (Dist also has a lot of grief stuff I like tho - v relatable with regards to Nebilim.) idk, I just count my lucky stars every day. Because five of the six God Generals die in this game, so the odds were definitely not in my favour, but somehow my favourite is the one that makes it out alive?! I’m dying at how blessed I am. Dist is basically the opposite of the Bury Your Gays trope, and I love it.

- On that note, when Jade and Dist are snarking and Luke and Guy share the look(tm) and are like ‘they’re off in their own little world’ asdfghjkl;

- me: I wonder if I’ll like Natalia more this time. Since I’m more aware now of the baggage and misogyny that goes into female character creation, and am more likely to blame authors than the characters themselves. Natalia: *to Luke, after taking one look at Tear* Are you fucking the servant girl? me: YIKES(tm)

- Naw, she’s okay. I mean... she’s not less okay than Anise or Tear, really, in terms of poor (stereotypical) writing and poor (catty) behaviour. I certainly think her commitment to being a kind ruler and acting towards the public good with her own hands and own feet is quite touching. But she appeals to me the least out of the three girls on a personal level. And, also, I think there are several issues with her introduction-

- Well... first off, that we hear about Natalia from Luke and Guy earlier in the game - and we’re told she’s high maintenance and clingy before we’ve even met her. And then we meet her and her introduction ends up immediately corroborating what Luke says about her. So... it’s a very bad first impression in a way. In general it’s kind of interesting seeing how the narrative feeds out information, now that I know all the characters and all the twists. Some of it is info-dumpy, and some of it is unintuitive, but it’s interesting to watch how it drops out hints and evidence for you to try and piece together before the reveals come.

- But I digress, the other thing is Natalia is, after her disastrous first impression, set up as a foil for Luke. Her kindness and selfless concern for others, and how seriously she takes her responsibility as a state leader, are both immediately cast against Luke’s self-absorption. Which... is in some ways ineffective for me tbh.

- Idk, just, like- An adult man spends seven years building up trust with a child that’s been isolated and emotionally neglected by design, and then manipulates and uses him as part of a murderous rampage. (two children, if we’re including Ion) And somehow this is Luke’s fault? Yeah, I don’t... buy that.

- I mean, Luke is obviously rude, callous, selfish, and arrogant. And I think all of those things are problems. All of those things are Luke’s fault and responsibility. I do think it’s upsetting that Luke is more concerned with dodging blame regarding Akzeriuth than he is concerned about... everyone who just died. And I’m certainly glad that Luke makes a decision to change. But... none of those things are really related to him feeling he can trust Van, and it’s pretty monstrously unfair to blame him for being manipulated by the only adult he really felt took his interests and concerns seriously as a kid. (I mean, obviously his parents love him, and he them. But there’s also a definite feeling that his concerns are not being prioritised by them. And that he can’t even advocate his concerns with regards to his mother, whose emotional and physical health could be endanger if Luke burdened her with his upsets.) As the player, we don’t really have a reason to trust Luke, and Luke’s loyalty to Van, more than Tear’s (and the rest of the party’s) distrust of her brother. We’ve known Luke and Tear approximately the same amount of time. But... Luke has known Van for seven years. And Luke has known Tear and Jade and Anise for a couple of weeks and has little reason to trust them. Tear spirited him away from the safety of his manor and into a dangerous world. Jade and Anise had him restrained and arrested and made no secret they were using his status for their political goals (good goals, but still...) They’re all openly disparaging of Luke. It seems pretty natural that Luke would trust Van over them, and the fact that Van was counting on that when he betrayed Luke and everyone... I mean... I also don’t blame the rest of the party for blaming Luke in the heat of the moment, but I think the game and narrative itself takes the ‘it’s your fault’ stuff a bit too seriously and uncritically. It’s also super obvious that they ramped up Luke’s unlikable qualities in preparation for what happens at Akzeriuth - pride cometh before the fall. And, even if it’s emotionally effective, it still don’t really go from point A to point B that being selfish and rude and arrogant makes you at fault for being susceptible to emotional manipulation. Which is kind of frustrating.

- Also, yeah, zol was right. You could’ve saved that kid with stalagmite or smthn, Jade.

- There’s a lot of weird bullshit along the lines of gameplay vs plot dissonance. Like trying to light barrels of oil on fire in the Abandoned Factory. I’m surprised none of them blew up in Luke’s face. Did nobody think to bring a candle? Or just have Mieu light up the dark with fire near the switch? That would have been a lot more expedient and a lot less dangerous.

- Ion: The seventh fonon was recently discovered. Jade: And thirty years ago, when I was a young lad, I was upset I couldn’t use the seventh fonon and blew up my teacher by mistake (whoopsie). me: what the flippity fuck, Ion? that’s not recent. I thought you were supposed to be better than Luke about this shit. What could possibly be responsible for this mistake - OH!

- In general, since Ion’s four years old and somehow knows a shitton about the world, it kind of takes some of the wind out of Luke’s sails when he’s had a three year lead on Ion ‘but i had more important stuff to learn, like my parent’s faces’. Luke’s amnesia and subsequent isolation are pretty well integrated into the story for the most part, but parts of it are obviously exaggerated for the sake of having a character that needs the relevant info about the game world infodumped on them.

- Mieu... is a thing. I don’t really like mascot characters as a concept in general. But I think some authors, like CLAMP, have done a good job integrating them into their stories. I can’t really say the same for Mieu though. That he kind of is Luke’s chew toy for the beginning part of the story is interesting. And that he fucked things over for his people and the Ligers due to this random accident (much like Luke) is kind of interesting. But... overall he’s just a very annoying cute thing that’s following you around for no reason. I wonder if his voice is less grating in Japanese, but the PS2 version of this game at least didn’t come with JP audio, which was kind of a bummer. I like the dub for the most part (Anise especially is really good) but I would have liked to hear the JP version this time.

- I think I still prefer platonic Guy/Luke to romantic Guy/Luke. (Although I don’t dislike it, the way I dislike Asch/Luke) but I am super charmed by the drama with Guy having all this resentment towards Asch that then becomes easier to move past once Asch gets switched out for Luke. Like, I think in some ways it’s more about Guy being in a different place looking after this helpless newly replicated Luke at age 14 compared to looking after the better-realised Asch when he was younger, rather than because of a stark difference between Luke and Asch themselves. But I can’t help but love Guy a little for seeing them so differently and feeling certain that Luke is the one that’s his friend. It’s really sweet and cute x’)

- And last thing - the hyperresonance stuff was super poorly explained. Particularly the first one between Luke and Tear. We’re told that this is something that can randomly happen when two seventh fonists interact, and Tear’s like ‘i should have been more careful’ like this is something that happens periodically that you can predict and avoid. but... how? What are the conditions that lead to this? Is this scientifically replicatable at all? Or is it something that can happen completely at random whenever Luke and Tear touch each other? Whenever Natalia and Asch touch each other? they’re just going to be having sex one day and randomly teleport out into an open field or smthn. This is so dumb. Except I know that the teleportation thing was actually 100% convenient plot bullshit, so I shouldn’t even pretend it can be made sense of in any real way, smh.

- New Game Plus! I debated quite a bit, but in the end EXP x10 was the only thing I purchased from the grade shop. I wanted to have the experience of gathering all the items and bonuses myself, since I forgot what happened the first playthrough. But I’m regretting the decision a bit now since I did all the sidequests and ultimate weapons and stuff the first time around and had a very full inventory, and I’ve already missed at least one thing on my current playthrough when a combination of not saving and forgetting how to walk lost me Barrelow X’s Capacity Core. (Not saving also made me not have a save to go back to to win against Asch at Yulia City- boo) But, regardless, even without all the other perks, I figured EXP x10 would basically mean breezing through the story, which was what in theory I wanted. But then I decided to combine this with the Unknown Difficulty Mode (enemy stats x3.5) which effectively made the game even more slow than the first runthrough, EXP x10 be damned. I spent a lot of the first part of the game crowding around Engeve, frantically trying not to die before I gathered 100 gald to stay at the Inn. I was completely outmatched on the Tartarus when it gets overrun with Griffins and Ligers. And I made about a dozen trips between the Fubras River and Engeve before I finally made it to Arietta without my characters dying. After getting my party to level 40, spamming Mystic Cage, and still getting absolutely crushed by Arietta at Coral Castle, I finally gave up. I lowered it down to Very Hard mode instead and defeated her in two minutes. After a quick search, I learned that this is considered one of the hardest battles with the hard mode stat multipliers, and it gets easier from there. So I technically could have kept going to level 50 or smthn but... it also seemed like a lot of these people were doing this challenge with the capacity cores and equipment rollover, and without them I’d most certainly have to grind more (and grind without good capacity core stat bonuses). And the simple truth of the matter is I wasn’t having fun anymore. So... if I do a third playthrough in another ten years, I’ll rollover everything properly to do Unknown properly, but in the meantime I’ll stick to whatever mode lets me farm grade the most easily.

- On that note, it became very clear that the defense stat in this game is very broken. All the characters (including your own characters, pretty much regardless of level) have /lots of HP/ and are meant to take /a lot/ of small hits - this is just the play style. So, as long as you have full TP and a way to heal, taking on characters with multiple times their usual attack and HP stats is doable. On the other hand, characters with high defense, like Arietta, Golems, etc... Even small differences between your attack stats and the opponent’s defense stats can result in your own attacks doing half/quarter/tenth of their usual damage, which means a battle taking two/four/ten times longer than usual (and you’re way more likely to run out of TP and healing items this way). I think this essentially means that high fonic/phys attack (respective of whether the character has a mage vs melee move set) are the most important stats for the player character. It would be cool if you could replicate Arietta’s defense effect with your own characters but... the truth is the bosses in these types of games are built very differently than the player characters (unlike something like pkmn)... so I’m not sure you can(?)

- Pet peeves currently include the Tales Of series’s multi-part cutscenes. It’s started already and I know it will get worse (i distinctly recall latter parts of this game where I had to fly between characters in different cities collecting cutscenes before I could move onto the next dungeon) But, yeah- I’m at a bit of a loss here because, while I like open exploration game worlds where you walk between different locations and vastly prefer this to games that teleport you between battle stages (ie Sonic Adventure 2, Disgaea) there is a lot of retreading old pathways in Abyss (as there was in Legendia) trying to negotiate between different talking heads. Like... I saved my game going up the tower at Coral Castle, intending to walk into a boss fight. And then a cutscene happened, during which I was teleported three loadscreens back in the direction I came from for another cutscene. And then I had to manually walk back the same exact route and save again, before another cutscene and finally the battle. What’s the rationale behind not just making that one big pre-battle cutscene with the travel included/implied? Maybe the fact that they DON’T HAVE A CUTSCENE/SKIT SKIP BUTTON which is another pet peeve, mind you. Another example is when you get to Luke’s home in Baticul and have to run back down to the port to retrieve the scrolls that the maids threw out, and then climb back up to his house again. It’s not like anything exciting happened on the three different elevators I took between those two points. It’s not like I don’t know what the trip between those points looked like - I just came from the port. There’s no reason not to just have it be automatic. Even attempts to reduce this - the wing bottle - are frustrating in their setup. By requiring me to spend money and keep inventory in order to use the teleport function, they are incentivising me to /not/ use the teleport function. They’re requiring me to spend money to /avoid/ doing something boring. And that’s, idk, kind of unnecessary and shitty? Like, usually in a game I want to be spending money in order to unlock new features and content and have more fun. Not to, like, avoid playing parts that I’ve played already. idk, because i do realise that streamlining some of these moments would require alterations to cut down some of the movement in the plot - and ultimately I think flying between cities to talk with different people before acting isn’t bad or unrealistic plot wise. buuuut, even if some of the multi-part cutscenes need to stay for this effect, even if not all of them could have been streamlined into a more direct line of action and travel, even if not any specific moment of this travel is unbearably awful, it still frustrates me that this clearly wasn’t even a priority for the devs.