Tales of the Abyss Playthrough #4

[heliokleptic]

Yulia City

-As much as Tear is like I REJECT YOU LUKE she is still the one paying the most constant attention to him. No one else notices Luke is staying behind to sulk.

-Asch is going to kick my ass, but I’m okay with that.

-When Luke is talking in Asch's head, Asch is a LOT more mellowed down than he was while swearing at and trying to kill Luke. I guess having his identity back chilled him out?

-Skit: Luke and Asch – Part 1

-Luke tries and fails miserably to connect to Asch/control his body. So THEORICALLY, their psychic connection is two way.

-Asch doesn't kill Luke in his sleep because "he won't resort to those kinds of underhanded tactics on trash". He would use them on non-trash tho.

-Skit: Asch’s Miscalculation

-When Guy shows some faith that Luke will realize what he needs to do, Asch thinks "He's as naive a fool as he always was..." In what ways was Guy naive during their childhood, Asch?

-Guy is also pretty rough on Asch. I don’t trust you. I’m going with you to make sure you don’t do anything suspicious.

-I do love how tsundere Asch gets any time someone says he is a nice guy.

-Ion doesn't like Yulia City because they have different opinions on the score.

-The reason they take the Tartarus back up on the vestiges of the Sephiroth is because Asch insists they need it.

-"The Sephiroth are places where the planet's fonons are concentrated and memory particles spout forth. The pillars -- Sephiroth Trees -- are the result of artificially strengthening those memory particle spouts."

-We never really see where everyone finds out that Asch is Luke's original. I suppose they had the information to figure it out from when Legretta mentioned fomicry, since Luke was probably the only person present who didn't know what it was. But still, I wish we’d seen that conversation. MAYBE ASCH MANGA WILL COVER IT =X?


World Map, Tartarus

-Skit: Back to the Outer Lands

-Natalia is SUPER READY to go back to calling Asch Luke. I always find it a little bizarre. But I don’t think it’s that she thinks of Asch as the ‘real Luke’, but maybe the ‘Luke from before who didn’t disappoint me’. And if replica!Luke is no LESS Luke, neither is Asch. But also Nat always has a hard time deciding what she really wants.

-Skit: Thinking of Luke

-lol, despite what Natalia says, I think Guy has zero interest in supporting Asch >D


Port Belkend

-Asch comes off pretty cold toward Natalia. But I really think he doesn't know what the fuck to do.

-Skit: Searching for Van’s Tracks


Field, West Aberrian Plains

-Skit: An issue of probability

-I once again triggered the skit where Guy and Jade talk about not wanting to get poisoned by the 'royal pair' when Luke isn't here ^^; And Asch actually CAN COOK.

-Skit: Cooked with Love

-Asch's equip: Maestro Sword ... o, Asch is Maestro rank, THAT'S WHY HE KNOWS ABOUT THE QLIPHOTH. Anyway. Maestro Sword, 230 p atk. Maestro Robe, 35 p def, 35 Luck. Maestro Stone "A crest made from fonstone carved with a portion of the Score" does nothing!

-I always think looking at people’s innate luck scores in games is hilarious. Asch’s is 78, Jade’s is 25, Guy’s is 71, Nat’s is 34, Anise’s is 95. IDK what Luke’s is until he’s back in my party.


Belkend

-Skit: A promise fulfilled

-Ahaha. Natalia made Asch pinkyswear that they would return to Belkend one day. But Asch had said it didn't matter, because his father never kept his promises. >D God, Asch. I get the feeling that Asch was the same abusively honest little kid that he is now.

-The reason parts of Belkend are taped off is because it’s being used for experiments!

-Spinoza was involved in Asch's kidnapping and Asch knows about it. I'm guessing he was the one there at Choral Castle. “So the traitor to Kimlasca still lives here in this city. What a joke.”

-Applying fomicry to living creatures if forbidden.

-Dr. Jade Balfour, the Father of Fomicry, made dozens of replicas.

-On Jade being a hypocrite: "Then you have no right to criticize me!"
"I'm sorry, I have no desire to engaging in mutual wound-licking. I have no intention of covering for someone just because they've committed the same sin as I."

-So begins the Spinoza Is Really Good At Running Away arc.

-Skit: Forbidden Technology

-Oh wow. When they have the father of fomicry discussion, and Anise asks "Doe111111s that make Jade Luke's father?" (Father? If I had a son I'd want him to be much smarter and more lovable) Jade answers that since Van used fomicry on Asch, that made Van Luke's father. And Luke says "Van...? My father? But..." and Asch says nothing but gets this really bittersweet, self deprecating smile because lol, guess who thought of Van as his father too.

-Conversation overheard in research lab 1: "This is no good. We're out of fonimin. We can't make replicas without it." "Already? the next trip to the Ortion Cavern to collect more is still a ways off. That cave itself is convenient, but having to go all the way to Radessia to get it sure isn't..."

-Skit: They all went with Asch…

-Jade thinks Dist went to the Ortion cavern because he is used to be with Malkuth. Since Ortion cavern in Kimlascan territory, Malkuth can't get to him there.

-Jade is the only person not surprised when Guy says he's leaving to go back to Luke.

-Guy: “I’m getting off here.”
Asch: “Why?”
Guy: "I'm worried about Luke, I have to go back for him."
Anise: "I don't believe you! Who cares about that idiot?"
Guy: "I do, because he's an idiot. I don't know what he'd do alone. And... I have faith that he can get past this."
Natalia: "Guy! You're Luke’s attendant, and his friend! The real Luke is right here!"
Guy: "This may be the real Luke. But my friend is that idiot."
Luke: (Thanks, Guy...)
Jade: "It's up to you if you want to go back for him, but how do you intend to return to Yulia City?"
Asch: "...Aramis Spring. It's a cave northwest of Daath. If the replica comes back to the Outer Lands, he'll pass through there."
Guy: "Thanks, Asch."
Asch: "...Humph. I knew you'd choose him."
Guy: "Did Van tell you? Well... that's not the only reason."
Natalia: "What are you talking about?"
Guy: "...Nothing. See you."
Guy runs off.
Natalia: "Luke! Aren't you going to stop him?!?
Asch: "Don’t call me by that name. It's no longer mine."

-Okay, I take that back. “The real Luke is right here!” Nat may still care about Luke but she’s still pretty quick to abandon his identity for him.

-Skit: Guy Leaves

-Skit: Memories

-It's really interesting to watch Asch, even THIS Asch, be the Luke that Natalia was so inspired by. I know part of Natalia's problem is not acknowledging that Asch has changed. But part of Asch's problem is not admitting how much he hasn't changed. Natalia is right, in a lot of ways, I think he's still the same.

-I love Ion. He even makes Anise feel guilty about not having some faith in Luke. Kya Ion <3

-Explosion is like the perfect fonic arte for Asch. "Bring all to ash and ruin - Explosion!" Which makes me realize that people use personalized fonic verses, because when JADE casts explosion he says "Grant my enemies a final rest! Explosion!"

-All of them:
“Bring all to ash and ruin! Explosion!”
“Frigged blades pour forth! Icicle Rain!”
“Oh darkened storm cloud let loose they blade and run my enemies through! Thunder Blade!”
“Oh maddening gale of the spirits of the earth! Stalagmite!”


Port Sheridan

-Asch can refuse Natalia nothing >D

-Natalia learns her shiny new artes from Master Nick. Then they go to Daath!


Ortion Cavern

-Skit: A mysterious facility

-Skit: Watch your mouth!

-THREE TIMES NOW someone has said to effect "Wow, Asch! You're actually really nice!"

-Skit: Luke’s worries

-Asch is such a dick. He basically threatens to hurt the party if Luke doesn't shut up EVEN THOUGH WE KNOW ASCH IS INCAPABLE OF IT. Luke buys it though. GOD ASCH, SUCH A TROLL

-The fomicry equipment in Ortion Cavern appears to have been abandoned for 'some time'.

-They find research on, basically, how big a replica can you make?

-Thirty million square kilometers is more than a tenth of Auldrant.

-The fomicry data also contains data from the destroyed island of Hod, which was smuggled out by Dist. Jade says he was the one that had the data taken. GUY WOULD'VE LIKED TO HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR THIS. Tear would have too.

-Anise: Hey, are these cheagles?
Natalia: Oh! How can they eat if they’re trapped in a place like this?
Asch: Someone must be taking care of them. These two are probably a replica and it’s original.
Jade: Yes, they both have a star shaped mark in the same place.
Anise: I wonder if these little guys breathe fire, like Mieu.
[Anise taps on the bars and it lets out a big fireball]
Anise: Whoa!
Natalia: I wonder if this one’s the name.
[Natalia taps on the bars and it lets out a piddling fireball]
Natalia: Hmmm, this one doesn’t seem as energetic.
Jade: It must be the replica, it’s common for them to have reduced abilities.
Anise: But Colonel, the identification plate says this weak one is the original.
Jade: I see. Replica data extraction can have a negative effect on the original in some cases…
Natalia: Oh my. What sort of negative effect.
Jade: In the worst case, the original dies. Though with perfect isofons, a different effect occurs…
Luke: (N-no way… So did making me mean that Asch is..?)
Jade: Natalia, Asch. There’s no need to worry. Symptoms will always present themselves within ten days for inorganic matter. It’s even faster for living things. Seven years later, Asch is doing fine. There’s no need to worry.
Natalia: Thank goodness.
Luke: (Oh, good…)
Asch: (It’s pretty sad when I’ve got dreck like you worrying about me…)
Luke: (…What? You want to start something?!)
Asch: (Enough! Shut up!)
Anise: *sigh* Replica stuff is complicated. You came up with this technology, right?
Jade: ….Yes. Though it’s a part of my past I wish I could erase.
Asch: We’ve been here long enough. Let’s go.

-Asch: "Weaklings, out of my way!"
Jade: "You say 'weaklings' as much as the weaklings do."
Asch: "S-shut up!"

-I get the feeling that Asch and Natalia have a lot of "So I snuck out of the castle" stories >D I can SO see Guy getting dragged along to make sure they're alright.

-The earthquake that occurs while they are at Ortion Cavern is southern Rugnica falling, courtesy of the fall of Akzeriuth.

-The passage rings are protected with Yulian Seals

-Asch shuts off the connection with Luke. He allowed Luke to come along in the first place because he is a troll.


Yulia City

-WELL ON HIS WAY TO BECOMING THE AWESOME LUKE WE KNOW AND LOVE. The first two things Luke does on waking up!
"Mieu...."
and "Oh yeah! St. Binah's in danger!" Welcome back honey |D I love your whiney bitch self but mostly I love your awesome squishy self.

-Okay, and this whole scene is covered in Memory 12

-It used to really annoy me that Tear jumps on Luke’s character flaws for the ‘wrong’ reasons (Calling him a puppet for wanting things explained to him, telling him running off to save St. Binah without a plan is no different than what happened at Akzeriuth). BUT I think it’s more that she is in tune to basic character flaw that is causing Luke so much trouble (not thinking for himself), but only actually yells at him about it when it’s a fairly minor issue.

-Sometimes, I'm not sure the people doing the animation scenes and the people writing the game are the same people >D FROM THE MOOD TEAR WAS IN I wouldn't expect her to give Luke that soft, fond look just cause he chopped off his hair.

-Tear is HARSH. And I love her. "I'll watch you, but don't ever take it for granted. I can give up on you at any time."

-Skit: Thinking for myself

-Ahaha. When Luke has a skit with Tear he basically says that she'll probably need to explain a lot of stuff to him. I am REPEATIBLY STRUCK but how much Luke must Not Know, that he takes it as a given part of his everyday life that he won't know what people are talking about. It probably didn't happen as much in the restricted manor, but as soon as he was tossed out into the world, I bet it was basically something that happened constantly. He really DOES learn fast in some ways. When he puts an effort into it, people generally don't have to repeat themselves with him. ...except certain stupid Luke things. Like DON'T KILL YOURSELF LUKE and other such hard to learn lessons.

-Skit: Lost technology

-Yulia City was around since the Dawn Age and the technology it's made of is what protects it from the miasma.

-The first and second Sephiroth maintain the planet storm. And the fifth and eight maintain the Albertesue seal.

-The first layer of the defense of the Sephiroth are the Daathic seals that prevent people from entering the Sephiroth. Then the Albertesque seal which prevents the Sephiroth as a whole from being tampered with, and finally the Yulian seals, which I imagine is the ‘only a descendent of Yulia’ thing.

-Van was made fun of when he came to the Qliphoth for being an ignorant child of the Outer Lands. After that he caught flak for rising through the ranks in the Order so quickly, so he grew a beard to look as old as he could.

-Hod was the eighth Sephiroth, and Akzeriuth was the fifth, making the Albertesque seal broken.

-Tear knows all of the symbols for Yulia's Hymns but the third and the fifth, but she only understands the first and the second. Mental note to keep an eye out for when she learns the others.

-The Grand Fonic Hymn (all seven of Yulia's Hymn strung together) is the symbol of the covenant between Lorelei and Yulia Jue.

-It's said that the Grand Fonic Hymn, and the Key of Lorelei together can summon Lorelei.

-Tear doesn't know the Seventh Hymn.

-Is Theodoro Tear's grandfather biologically or just because she was a child when she fell into the Qliphoth?

-Teodoro knew about Akzeriuth's fall, assures Luke he has no need to apologize for it. Tear and Luke look, understandably, VERY SHOCKED.

-Tear says "That makes it the same as Hod!" so she knew why Hod was destroyed.

-Akzeriuth's fall was part of the Closed Score, meaning only those of Maestro rank or higher know about it. (and apparently not all of them, since Asch didn't know... I don't think?)

-"A calm, orderly life in accordance with the Score is the way of the Order of Lorelei." Luke's response to this is "W-well, yeah, but..." like a scolded child. It really IS just That Much of a given, if even Luke understands it.

-I think the 'prosperity' people want from the score is the like the promise of heaven, or a rebirth, in other religions. I didn't think of it that way before, because it's so material, but if it's the only undefined promise of hope they have to look forward to, of course that's what people cling to.

-The Order of Lorelei is literally a tool to manipulate the world into following the score to prosperity.

-Van somehow convinced Teodoro that he doesn't hate the score. lol

-"Admirable? Letting everyone in Akzeriuth die was 'admirable'? You're crazy! There's something wrong with all of you!"

-The End of the Sixth fonstone reads: "The land of Rugnica will be enveloped in war, and the Malkuth shall lose territory. Kimlasca-Lanvaldear shall thrive, and this shall lead to unprecedented prosperity."

-It is not written in the score that St. Binah will fall. But I think it WAS written on the seventh fonstone? As I recall, the game follows the score completely until the very end.

-Skit: Starting a New Journey

-Van would say to Tear that he could never forgive a world that let Hod die.

-Hod was destroyed sixteen years ago. Tear and Van were on the isle when it fell, and Van used a fonic hymn to save Tear's mother and himself.

-Van calls Asch 'dainty' >D

-Van and Legretta have a conversation about how Asch will cause trouble if he learns that the people of the Outer Lands will be annihilated. My guess he didn't know about Akzeriuth at all, even if he had the rank. They decide to have Sync watch over him.

-Tear picks up a book on fonology for Luke, so he can learn to control the seventh fonon.

-Skit: Why did you stay?

-Skit: Cheagles Never Forget

-Daath is located on the Padamiyan Continent.

-The Yulia road is a Sephiroth spout that empties into Aramis Spring.


Aramis Spring

-Popping out of the Sephiroth spout, Tear never really bothers to sympathize with Luke, she just points out depression doesn’t help. This is actually very helpful for him.

-Skit: The Yulia Road

-Yulia is said to have invented most of the technology of her time.

-Guy: "About time you showed up, Luke. Hey, you cut your hair. Nice, clean-cut... Looks good."
Luke: (It's just like I saw when I was connected with Asch! Guy waited for me...)
"Guy!"
. . .
Guy: "Huh? What is it?"
Luke: "I...I'm not Luke..."
Guy: "Jeez, I don't need you talking like Asch, too."
Luke: "But... I'm a replica..."
Guy: "So? That guy doesn't like to be called Luke, anyway. I say take it."
Luke: "Take it"? Heh heh, you haven't changed a bit."
Guy: "You sure have, though. You don't have to put yourself down so much."
Luke: "I'm not! It's just..."
Guy: "Sure you are. Who cares about names at this point? You could at least look happy to see me, after I went to the trouble of waiting here for you."
Luke: "...You're right. Thanks."
Guy: !
"Luke said thanks?!"
Tear: "He says he's going to change."
Guy flees girl.
Tear: "Looks like you never do..."

-Skit: Has Luke changed?

-Guy doesn't actually seem all that happy that Luke has changed. It's funny, but I think Guy is the only person who was really okay with Luke as he was. Sure, it wasn't the Luke Guy would swear fealty too, but he didn't HAVE to be for Guy to still like him.

-Guy mentions that Van's betrayal must have been hard on Luke. I wonder if Guy feels at all responsible? He knew what sort of person Van was, that he wasn't something Luke could trust, and he certainly never did anything to discourage it.

-Despite his SERVANT fixation, Guy is really flippant about it too. “We’re friends, right? Oh, wait, I’m your servant. Sorry.” It’s quite cute.

-Skit: No matter what the Score says…

-"Do you remember? It was after the kidnapping, so I guess it was right after you were born."
"Why, did something happen?"
"I asked you if it was hard not having your memory. You said, "You can't go forward if you keep looking back." So you didn't need a past. That's what you told me."
"Hah hah... Man, I was stupid. I didn't 'not need' one-- I didn't have one."
"...Actually, I thought it was pretty insightful."

-Then Guy talks about how he was the one who raised Luke, and thus is responsible for his spoiled nature. The entire Aramis Springs thing is just like, Guy is gay for Luke time.

-Guy gets annoyed when Luke talks about giving up his own happiness in an effort to make up for Akzeriuth. “Just make everyone in the world happy.”

-Jade shows up looking for Guy at Aramis Springs. WHY? Because Mohs captured Ion and Natalia. They must have been going back to Daath, since Jade says there aren't any Malkuth forces nearby. GET THAT? Help from Guy = at LEAST a platoon of Malkuth forces =D

-"With the disappearance of Akzeriuth, Kimlasca has begun making preparations for war." Natalia was captured so it wouldn't be revealed she was still alive.

-Luke actually has very little reaction to Jade being a dick to him upon regrouping. I guess because Jade was ALWAYS a dick to him…

-Skit: A harsh greeting

-Guy's REALLY CUTE. He wants so much for people to like Luke again. He even tries to turn it into Oh Jade is just teasing and Jade is like nnnooo…

-Skit: Daath

-Yulia had ten disciples, and a mention of a Dr. Southern-Cross, all helped think up the technology that lifted the outerlands.

-Jade theorizes that the Sephiroth transfer a planetary life-force to the crust of the planet, which is why volcanoes can exist.


Field, Padamiya

-Skit: To Daath!


Fourth Monument Hill

-Fourth Monument Hill outside of Daath contains, gasp, the fourth monument of the pilgrimage.

-Daath's cathedral is really, really big. And it has these... struts that jut out from it and attach to the walls.

-It's rather sad that party Luke thinks Ingobert WOULD NOT LISTEN about Natalia being alive. Sheesh.

-Skit: Finding Anise