Tales of the Abyss Playthrough #5

[heliokleptic]

Daath

-The Monument in the center of Daath is the Third.

-Luke asks Tear to teach him to control his hyperresonance. I wonder how easy it is to use Strike Artes when you consider that Luke takes to those just fine but spends most of the game trying to control his hyperresonance, and never does become as good at it as Asch is, nor does he ever learn any fonic artes, even though he has the basic abilities.

-On learning to control fonons: "Don't just close your eyes. Listen for the fonons flowing through the world. Don't listen with your ears. Feel them with every fon slot in your body."

-"Fonons are a combination of air and elemental properties. It's rare to see them, but your fon slots can perceive them. They feel the vibration. Drawing those fonons into your body is the basis of all fonics artes."

-Van intended to ask Tear to be his right hand =\
But Tear shipped Van/Legretta >D

-Hm... Legretta says "but all I can offer is my meager cunning and my memory"? Does she have a photographic memory?

-"Remember that feeling of power overflowing from inside you, of your body trembling... Those are fonons.

-Ahaha. in a skit where Jade checks up on Luke to make sure he isn't falling appart due to being an isofonic replica, he thanks him at the end, and everyone takes a step back >D Luke yells at them. "Would you all quit doing that!"

-Skit: The People of Daath

-Apparently, there isn’t much of an economy in Daath. People do basic farming to take care of themselves and I assume they aren’t taxed, since Daath can basically tax Malkuth and Kimlasca at will. A lot of people don’t have businesses, and seem to be content with the knowledge that the Score protects them.

-Anise goes through a large series of emotions when she sees Luke again >D they seem to range from surprised to stupefied to irritated WTG LUKE
...a-and when she sees everyone is with him "Hey, the other are with you too. Wow! ♥ Must be Lorelei's will, huh!" God. Anise is REALLY GOOD at being cruel >D

-Maestro Tritheim is the Minister of Affairs.

-Second Monument is on the left. First on the right.


Cathedral, Daath

-Skit: Regaining Trust

-Skit: Twisted Love?!

-Oliver: Oh, hello Anise, what are you doing here?
Anise: Papa?! What are YOU doing here?
O: I just received a message from Maestro Tritheim.
A: Papa… you’d better not be getting tricked into another weird scam.
O: Hah hah hah. I’m fine, Anise. I live each day according to the Score, so my life is always good.
A: Are you sure? If you say so…
O: Of course. Just the other day, I got a letter saying I’d won a seven night, eight day trip to Keterberg.
A: What? Was that a prize?
O: I didn’t enter anything like that…
So I sent them back a message informing them they had the wrong person, but it turns out it was a present for devout followers of the Order of Lorelei. It’s a highly discounted trip – only 10,000 gald per person – so I paid at once.
A: …he’s being tricked again.
L: No kidding. What kind of trip could you take for a measly 10,000 gald?
Guy: You idiot, that’s not the kind of scam it is!
Tear: The first letter said he’d ‘won’ a trip, so why does he have to pay for it? That’s the question.
L: Oh… I see!
Jade: The perpetrator’s probably long gone by now.
A: Honestly, Papa! Why do you let people trick you so easily?!
O: It’s not good to distrust everyone you meet. Beside3s, we don’t know yet that we can’t go on the trip.
A: Of course you can’t!!
O: Even if what you’re saying is true, it must mean that person needed the money so badly he had to trick someone to get it. I think it’s better than us having it.
A: Papa!!
O: Uh oh, I can’t stay here any longer. I have to go back to work. Please take care of Anise, everyone.

-Pamela: Oh my! Anise! It’s been a while!
Anise: Mama, are you saving money like you’re supposed to?
P: Oh my, don’t worry Anise. We donate our income to Lorelei every month, just like we should.
A: Are you still doing that?! How are you going to live in retirement?!
P: Don’t worry. As long as you follow the Score, you don’t need money.
A: … *sigh* Looks like I don’t have any choice but to marry into money…

-Skit: Anise gets things done

-Personal Score reading are held each week during the mass on Remday!

-Cantor Tatlin and cantor Grants. I STILL DON'T UNDERSTAND THE RANKS IN DAATH.

-Tartarus can't be repaired for use on land due to mud from the Qliphoth getting into the gears.

-Whenever Luke remembers this part of the game, he can get back memories from ‘The Dawn of Auldrant’, all four volumes.

-From a book called The Planet Auldrant:
“Second satellite of the star Rem.
Rotation period: 24 hours.
Orbital period: 765 days (1 year)
Has one satellite, Luna.”
I sort of love how this game goes out of it’s way to tell that their year is twice as long as ours but obviously characters don’t age at the same speed. It makes sense but no sense and is just a weird little thing to throw in there that constantly throws off RPers.


Oracle Headquarters

-Getting to this dungeon is still unnecessarily convoluted.

-Due to not wanting to alert reinforcement, they have to kill any Oracle Knights they encounter in their rescue attempt on Natalia and Ion.

-Guy tells Luke that they have to do this, or else War will start and many more people will die. Luke's reaction is a Sad (I'm going to make even more people hate me...) While I don't think this is MAIN CONCERN over killing, being on the outs with all of his friend is probably having it's toll. For all Luke was a brat before, people genuinely liked him for one reason or another. Being hated sucks =\

-This is basically a sting operation. The Oracle Knights here aren’t really enemies, they are protecting their own territory and following their orders. We unfortunately have to kill them anyway!

-Skit: Protecting the Score

-Skit: The Oracle Headquarters

-The Oracle Knight's Headquarters is more or less a secret. Not quite CIA, but they don't let people who aren't soldiers in. Most soldiers are trained there, low ranking ones live there in the dormitories. Anise was trained in the headquarters, but Tear was trained personally by Major Legretta in Yulia City.

-Despite making a big deal about having to kill, after you take out someone Luke says “We better just leave them unconscious”. HOWEVER, since that really isn’t in keeping with the theme of the game which is about killing people who have different ideals than you even if no one is really evil, I am going to assume that while the group TRIED to just leave them unconscious, they actually killed a lot of them, because seriously it’s probably hard to leave someone ‘just unconscious’ when your weapons are live steel and tornadoes of fire.

-Skit: Ring the Gongs!

-Every time Luke has to kill people, he says “I’ll do whatever it takes.” After the fight. ANOTHER REASON I don’t buy the ‘we better just leave them unconscious’ bit. It seems like a weird sort of cop out after they have the main character destroy a city, too.

-The God-Generals wanted permission to take Ion from Daath, but Mohs refused to give him up. It seems that Van and Mohs go back and forth on whether or not they are working together.


Daath

-Skit: We meet again

-Skit: Tear’s no spy

-Skit: I’m hungry…

-Skit: Around the World

-God Luke's SO CUTE. "It's a great big world out there! Now I really want to protect it =D"

-"Lady Thief 001: The Star of Ispania!"

-Luke REALLY never misses the chance to comment on a girl's breast size. Which is HILARIOUS since he never seems particularly perverted about it. He really sounds like a little kid who knows it GETS to girls, and certainly has a fascination with them. But wouldn't know what to do, given the chance 8’D Oh Luke.


Fourth Monument Hill

-I always wondered why it is Luke becomes the team's 'leader'. I think it's because he's always the one saying "let's go".

-Skit: Asch, Friend or …?

-Skit: A convincing thief

-Skit: How was it?

-Skit: Mysterious thief


Daath Port

-Grand Chokmah becomes a fort during war time and the harbor is sealed off.

-Jade thinks Malkuth forces would open fire on him due to the circumstances of his disappearance (his landship was captured, all his men killed, and he disappeared only to reappear on the same landship) but given his placement in the army I find that HIGHLY unlikely. Also given Peony's personality. Couldn't we just have surrounded ourselves on a SHIP instead of walking into the city and doing it?

-None the less, party wants to dock at the busted Rotelro bridge.

-:Skit: The Tartarus takes a beating

-When Luke mentioned that he's connected with Asch and saw everything through his eyes. Jade does his little "hmmmm" thing.


Tartarus

-Skit: Cruising in Style

-haha, Natalia has a cruise ship named after her. "The Princess Natalia". Also, the men find the Tartarus comfortable and prefer it to a cruise ship >\ ...Tear wants to float on Tokunaga. >D

-Keterburg is located on the continent of Silvana. Grand Chokmah is located on Rugnica.


Keterburg Bay

-The Mayor of Keterberg is Viscount Osborne.

-Ahaha. Luke's initial reaction to being told to organize a warehouse is "no". YOU'LL LEARN TO LOVE THE MENIAL TASKS LUKE.

-After getting a bunch of treasure from the warehouse and some gald, the guy says he is inspired by me and will try to be more like me! .///. This is how Luke eventually learns to love minigames.


Keterburg

-Skit: The perfect man

-Skit: The Emperor’s love
-Peony had to give up on his first love because she was a commoner =\ But he prevents much building from happening within Keterberg because Nephry doesn't want the town exploited. However, building lots of recreational stuff was OKAY. Peony likes them.

-Rumors that Dr. Nebilim was killed by a Dr. Neis and a Dr. Balfour.

-Skit: Children caught up on politics

-Cue the start of Luke saying things that make people feel really bad for him and then not noticing and apologizing for making them sad somehow.

-Skit: Dist? A genius?

-Tear and Natalia find the casino uncomfortable. Guy expositions that the casino was built back when the area first developed as resort. There's a legend that says if you hit the jackpot on the second slot machine from the end, you win a castle (it's so obviously a lie just to attract customers) GUY WHERE DO YOU GET THIS ENDLESS AMOUNT OF RANDOM, USELESS INFORMATION?

-You can't exchange chips for money at the casino because a previous emperor felt it was immoral to gamble during wartime.

-Guy wishes he had the time to rebuild the manor himself >D

-WHY DOES THE SKIT VIEWER NOT UNLOCK FOR AVIY1!! ARRGH I can’t find any reference on the internet to anyone else having this problem 8|||

-Okay, Anise got her Tokunaga because she felt bad for Dist, who always ate alone and went to talk to him. He talked about Jade all the time even then, but made Anise's tokunaga change size in response to her fonon frequency. (DIST IS ACTUALLY QUITE SMART)

-Apparently Peony's mansion in Keterburg looks pretty awesome. Game rendering does not quite show this.

-Peony 'likes every female he lays eyes on.

-Peony was run out of the capitol as a child during a struggle for succession. No one has lived in Peony's mansion since then.

-The throne of Malkuth passes from father to son, though it requires council approval. Tear theorizes that the problems around Peony becoming emperor were because his father had enemies?

-The Emperor three generations before Peony built the casino and hotel in Keterburg. Tear thinks he's hot.


Governor's Residence, Keterburg

-Nephry thought Jade was dead.

-Jade hasn't seen Nephy since her wedding. I kind of wonder if he disapproved? Of course, it's Jade, that only matters so much.

-Nephry knew that Peony was worried about Jade. And Peony apparently didn't believe he was dead >D so cute.

-Even Nephry remarks that Jade isn't the most pleasant human being.

-Nephry herself IS the governor of Keterburg. I remember getting the impression she married the governor but I don’t think they ever mention who she married.

-Luke is so smooth ditching his party…

-Upon finding out that Luke is a replica, Nephry is compelled to tell Luke about how Jade created fomicry.

-Jade was nine when he created a replica of his sister's doll. The KEY OF THE STORY HERE is that Jade was crazy, 'normally, you'd simply buy another doll'. Nephry's REALLY HARD on Jade. "As a child my brother was a terror, a devil".

-I actually find Nephry’s way of talking about Jade kind of refreshingly human. She IS hard on him, I’m not sure she really loves him. But she also has this air of having lived with and dealt with him her entire life. Low expectations, constantly prepared for the worst, willing to divulge his personal secrets if it means warning other people of what he is capable of, difficulty accepting change. It’s really far from groundless, even if it’s a little sad.

-Anyway, Nebilim was a Seventh Fonist and because of that Jade admired her.

-Jade trying to use the seventh fonon released a fonic arte he couldn't control. He struck down Nebilim and set the building on fire.

-The fact that Jade can create replicas just ON HIS OWN is really quite stunning.

-Ironically, it's after this that Jade's talents were recognized and he was adopted into the famous Curtiss military family.

-It's thanks to Emperor Peony that Jade quit using fomicry and gave up his dream to resurrect Nebilim. All Nephry says is "those two are best friends".

-Nephry thinks Jade still wants to resurrect Nebilim. Luke has more faith in him. It's quite cute.


Keterburg

-Luke's a naughty boy for telling lies =\ Oh jade.

-Jade assures Luke that he has no intention of reviving Nebilim. The reason being that, without her memories, she wouldn't really be Nebilim.

-Jade: "I want to beg Professor Nebilim's forgiveness... so that I might feel better." God Jade is so brutal on himself sometimes.

-Jade is, basically, the recovering sociopath. He didn't understand the value of life or death, but upon killing Nebilim and being unable to bring her back, he at least understood loss, I think. Even to this point in the game, Jade is still a clinical person who fails to empathize and only seems to get genuinely agitated when it involves him or someone in specific he cares for, but he's also very capable of pointing out the stuff that he knows normal people would care about and are, thus, important. He also seems to genuinely regret his own failing to be more human, I think.

-Ahaha. Guy doesn't like Keterburg because the woman out in the cold always try to snuggle with him. Luke doesn’t like the cold cuz his tummy might freeze 8(

-For a little while, Anise turns her attentions on Jade, since Luke is a jerk and Guy isn't yet a rich lord >D

-Skit: Errors and Excuses

-Luke asks Mieu's opinion on the Nebilim thing when he wants to talk about it. It's pretty cute. Luke kinda values his opinion |D

-And then when Jade says he'll punish Luke if he tells anyone the secret, he blushes >D NOT ONLY IS THAT REALLY GAY, but Luke blushes at inappropriate times a LOT at this point of the game.