WILL Talks GAMES: Tales of the Abyss

TALES OF THE ABYSS

I am far from an emotional person; I can go to funerals, listen to sad music, and have things die before my eyes, and while I may get sad, I don't show it that well.  I don't cry, I don't blow my nose - none of that.  I think it's because I usually take things at face value; if no detail or briefing of any kind regarding the tragedy is thrown at me beforehand, then I guess I feel like I have no reason to be sad.  At least, I guess that's how it goes.  I still don't really understand my psyche in that department.

This game, though - this piece of software that's simply made to convey a story - this game has welled up more emotions in me over the past three weeks of playing it than I've really felt in the past year.  Tales of the Abyss for Playstation 2, and most recently, re-released on the 3DS, is among one of the most powerful stories I've ever witnessed, and is among the most elite of all RPGs I've ever played.

This is Tales month, I guess, because alongside the revival of this blog (I need to focus on actually writing articles, rather than the same format of analysis over and over again), I'll be reviving an old series that I started around this time last year.  That being said, I'm ready to talk about Tales of the Abyss, after a week of it sinking in!

The game plays like pretty much every Tales game: you play as a protagonist in the midst of his daily life, until something happens that changes the course of their life.  Alongside trying to solve a tiny obstacle, numerous plot points pull the main character and their other friends into a crazy plot concerning saving the entire world.  Throw in some environmental and character development alongside heavy political fiction in the plot, and you've got the basic outline of a game from this famous Japanese series.

Ladies and gentlemen: Luke Fon Fabre. Can't you
already tell that he's a pompous asshole?

You take the role of Luke Fon Fabre, a bitter, selfish, and defensive nobleman who is the heir to the throne of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear.  Luke's country is currently at war with the rivaling country in power, Malkuth, in an effort to fulfill a prosperity-enriched prophecy known as the Score, which was written by a goddess named Yulia, and engraved and represented on magical stones, called fonstones, by a collection of supernatural matter called Lorelei.

Luke is a sheltered boy who only wants to practice his swordplay, in which he's instructed by his teacher, Van Grants.  Luke knows nothing about the Score, the war between Kimlasca and Malkuth, or the powers of the seven different fonons (Which, by the way, are sound waves that can be harnessed and manipulated to create fonic artes, which are pretty much magic spells), so you can imagine Luke's confusion and irritable reaction to being swept away by a hyperresonance (two seventh fonons colliding) caused by making contact with a seventh fonist named Tear who was set on killing Van herself.

From here, the main meat of the game develops, and Tear sets out to get Luke back home, so that the two can stop annoying one another and just go back to their business  Along the way, the two encounter many other folks on their journey around the planet of Auldrant: Luke's servant, Guy; a Malkuth military general named Jade, a loud-mouthed bodyguard of the international pope named Anise, and Luke's arranged wife, Natalia.  the six of them set out for their own goals, and as the story develops and the problems are finally revealed to all come from the same root, they agree to team up and stop the force from destroying mankind.

One thing that really stood out to me in this game was the combat: the first comment I could make about Abyss' battle system was how similar it was to both Symphonia and Vesperia in terms of combat.  The game looks like it runs on a fairly fast-paced system like Tales of Symphonia does, but when I see all the different passive skills and Over Limit ability in the game, I'm instantly drawn to referencing Tales of Vesperia.  The combat felt fresh, and that's probably one of my favorite parts about this game series: grinding and combat can get extremely tedious in a typical JRPG (Final Fantasy, Dragon Warrior, Pokemon, etc.), but the tight, quick, and active Fighting game-style fluency of the series' battle system makes getting through a 45-hour game a cinch, and a very fun and rewarding cinch, at that!

Secondly, the character dynamics are fantastic in this game.  I don't think the characters were as consistently interesting as they were in Vesperia, but hell, the scenes in Abyss are a hell of a lot better than in Symphonia.  Tales of the Abyss takes a dark and morbid turn fairly early in the game, and I think the build-up and timing of revealing Luke's identity as a replica to be perfect; no bullshitting around and waiting like in Vesperia, but not getting right to the wrist-splitting and Linkin Park like in Phantasia or Symphonia.  This game's story was structured well, and the pacing was perfect; in a matter of about 40 minutes of playtime, I went from absolutely hating Luke as much as the other characters, to sympathizing with his struggle to change and supporting him like Tear did.

The last night that Luke and Tear spend with one another for
two years. Not a single physical sign of affection - words
are all you need to feel this scene.

Let's get into that now: the relationship between Luke and Tear.  Heh heh, c'mon, you know you saw it coming, if you've ever played the game before.  This is probably the best relationship I've seen between two characters in any Tales game, any RPG, any video game - fuck, I'll say it openly and honestly: in any piece of media I've ever experienced.  And that's saying a lot - that puts on-par with shit from Titanic and Cinderella Man, AKA, goddamn classics.

Look, maybe I've still got a case of the hype bug from this game, but I seriously cannot get over the passionate development between these two: they care about each other, they show concern, they sympathize with each others' obstacles and struggles - they start out hating one another, and by the end, they come to understand one another, and that flourishes into a very powerful love between the two characters.  And hey, this is all developed through dialogue and rising actions.  There isn't any crap that's like, "OHHHH HAHAHAHA OMG THEY KISSED THEY'RE IN LOVE".  No.  No kiss.  Not even a hug-- lemme reiterate:

NOT EVEN A SINGLE FUCKING HUG.

And y'know what?  It works!  It really freaking works.  Luke and Tear go through so many emotions toward one another: the hate, grudging, and annoyance in the beginning; then the sympathy and debuted friendliness after Luke destroys Akzeriuth; then the concerns they exchange for one another when Tear and Luke both face medical issues that could potentially kill them.  Oh, don't even get me started on that part where Luke confronts Tear about her condition.  The very moment that cutscene starts is when you really start to feel the chemistry between these two characters.

"You can't possibly be okay with this! You always try to act tough!

Say you were at least a little scared or sad or something. 

If you'd just tell me how you really feel..."

"It's not an act...I'm sorry. Please let me be alone for a while."

"No. I'm staying right here."

"Luke, please - I don't want anyone to see me like this..."

"...Then I'll turn around."

And he just turns around, never leaving the room.

Uh-uh.  Nope.  That's too much for this little pansy boy.  Seriously, how do you not feel yourself starting to melt when reading that dialogue?  Girls: how touched and amazed with a guy would you be if they were this intent on wanting to make sure they could always be checking on you; to make sure you're okay?  And guys: how much do you think this would mean to a girl?  The very idea of thinking this scene out in real life is the magic behind it: it's not just some hammed-up Hollywood thing with dramatic camera angles and violin music.  This scene would be genuinely touching under any circumstance.

I must also add that I enjoyed many of the locations in the game; you can walk along towns and cities in the game and always hear of townsfolk speaking words about these strange places you haven't visited yet.  All of the discussion you hear hypes you up to see the locations, and when you finally do, you have this sense of wonder and familiarity with the location.  If you've only a vague idea of what I mean, the best analogy I can come up with is the equivalent feeling of reading a brochure about a vacation spot in Italy or something, and then deciding to go to Italy.

the first location you visit in the game is also one of the
most beautiful! Just look at those flowers and the dark
blue tint applied to everything in Tataroo Valley! Whimsical!

The landscapes are lush, colorful, and expressive! I could see that Tales of the Abyss was trying to push a line of Anime-like atmosphere to the graphics - something they could pull off in a "meh" fashion beforehand.  Personally, I think Vesperia pulled off this Aesthetic best, but Abyss came really close, and with the game being on a console from the generation before Vesperia, that's a great achievement!  You get your fiery world, your forests and jungles, your river areas, an industrial place - this game has a wide variety of locations, and throughout the entire game, there might've been only a couple times I got annoyed by the environments, and on those occasions, it was due to the fact that I was backtracking.

All of this sounds fine and dandy, but there were a couple things about this game that I had problems with.  I'm fine with the flaws, but they're still there, so I'll bring them up and see what others think!

I absolutely hated some of the characters in this game.  I know that it's normal to have characters you hate in RPGs, which is why I didn't really care, but some of them only meagerly contributed to the story, meaning they were there...because...?  Anise served a pretty large role in the flow of the game's story, since she's the bodyguard of Fon Master Ion, the pope and peacekeeper of the entire planet.  Still, I just wish she wasn't such a narrow-minded, immature gold digger.  Everything about her character is just shady and unlikable.  Even in the latter half of the game, when the bulk of Anise's character and true intentions are brought to the surface (she was a spy for Grand Maestro Mohs), I still think she's plain unlikable.  There's simply little reason for her to be in the group: she has a poor family at Daath, Ion had no problem following Luke and Tear without Anise around, and after Mohs is confirmed to be evil, I doubt he had any intentions on holding Anise's parents to their debt, AKA, Anise has no reason to be in the game for more than about 15 hours of it.

This is what you see before you burn in Hell.

Natalia also ticks me off.  As I played through the game, I literally substituted her name, "Natalia" for, "Bitch".  Seriously.  When Luke had to talk to Natalia or something, I'm find myself saying out loud, "Oh hey, what's up, Bitch?".  I seriously fucking hated this character: she's a demanding, spoiled, arrogant little schmuck that nobody should like.  She acts a lot like Luke before he decides to change.  I was so glad to see that Luke wasn't going to be a brat anymore, but then my notions were foiled when I saw Natalia find a way back into my party.  I was one annoying bitch less than before, but an annoying bitch is still an annoying bitch.  There's a whole subplot about Natalia trying to discover what her real lineage is, since...I dunno, someone told she was adopted, so you gotta piggyback the lump of meat around the world, still trying to save the world, while she just slows the team down from time to time.  Is any of this stuff overly important to the story's events?  No, not at all.  Just shitty development for a shitty character.

Lastly, my final and biggest complaint with the game is the execution of Asch's character, who's one of the six God-Generals in the game.  Essentially, these six warriors are the leaders of the Malkuth forces, or something like that.  To be honest, I forget their position.  All you have to know is that they're the bad guys.  Asch, however, goes rogue and decides to help Luke & co. out against the efforts of the God-Generals.  Asch looks exactly like Luke, of course, because Luke is a replica of Asch, the real heir to the throne; the real Luke Fon Fabre.  Throughout the game, as Luke tries to delve more and more into the plot of the enemies and his own existence, Asch becomes more and more of both an asset to the story, as well as an equivalent prick, constantly putting Luke down for being his replacement.  I can see his point of view, okay? Asch was kidnapped and replicated as a child, then when the Kimlascan forces found the replica Luke and brought him back, they kicked Asch out of the house to fend for himself, leaving behind his life, his home, and Natalia, his fiance.

My single problem with Asch, aside from him just being a flat-out douche to Luke, is the impact he has on the ending of the game.  For those that know it already, I'll make the explanation quick: Luke uses the Key of Lorelei to fix all of the broken fonons in Auldrant.  Luke parts with everyone else, Tear confesses her love to Luke before he's sent to die for world salvation, blahblahblah.  When Luke falls into the core, protected by a barrier, Asch's dead body from before falls into the bubble with him.  Lorelei congratulates Luke, and mixes his and Asch's fonons together to become one combined being again.  Now, let me highlight a few issues I have with this plot movement because, while it was neat at the time of watching, the choice looks more and more idiotic as I examine it:

Behold: the silent killer of all previously-established morals and
values of the current story.

• Asch is dead; Luke is not dead.  Why is Asch's conscience suddenly mixed with Luke's, just because their fonons were combined?

• Luke already gets power from Asch beforehand, and he stays the same, psychologically.  Why does this scene need to take place, if Asch had already done his job to help the team out?

• Tear is Luke's love interest, not Asch's.  Wouldn't this mixing of personalities be awkward for her?

• The whole point of Luke's inferiority complex after he decides to change is because he has trouble separating himself from Asch as an individual. Throughout the game, there's a recurring theme among the replicas that show that, just because they look similar, doesn't mean they're the same person; fuck, it's openly mentioned several times that Luke is trying to become his own person rather than trying to live up to Asch's approval.  This single scene in the ending contradicts all of that theming set in the whole game: If Asch and Luke are back to being the same person, then was all of Luke's effort to change for nothing? What about Asch? Their feuding? Was all of this development of characters made completely pointless?

This is still a minor flaw in the game, and I'm sure that many people who played the game either ignored this point or just never read that deep into the story structure itself.  From an Entertainment viewpoint, it's still an exciting conclusion that shows that Asch isn't just dead and forgotten, but in a structural, professional perspective, it was a pretty big fuck-up.

Still, I absolutely loved this game, and I'd love to play an RPG that tops this one, because that'd be one damn-good game: the controls during combat are tight, the story is perfectly paced so you never get bored, the characters are funny and interesting, the visuals are colorful and expressive, and the game holds a story that will blow you socks off and put you into a gaming depression for a week, or even longer - it depends whether you want to write an article on it or not, in order to collect your feelings and ideas, and lay them out to finally come to terms with your own reflection on the game and calm yourself down...Yep.  Play this game, because you'll love it.

"WILL DIDN'T LIKE THE ENDING TO THIS MASTERPIECE? WHAT THE FUCK IS THIS KID'S PROBLEM,?!"
And in case you missed the memo: Guy has a phobia of women. Laaaawl.