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The return of the TotA game thoughts
On Guy: "Guy doesn't like women." Honey, that's strike two. But the way he shakes and whimpers when a woman touches him is adorable. Anise loves it.
On Jade: He's so full of hax, he literally knows every plot point before it happens. He just keeps a copy of the script in his pocket and periodically reads ahead. Luke's a what? Okay. Guy's from where? Gotcha. I bet he read the last page first. Who comes back? Whew.
On Luke's problems with killing people: This is one of the most compelling pieces of his character, for me. Because it's such a normal, human response. Of course he doesn't want to kill human beings; he's a civilian, he's only ever fought monsters before. Learning that a monster can think and talk was a shock to him, and immediately made him regret his actions; killing a person? Unthinkable. And he was so horrified with himself for doing it, and even after he was determined not to be a burden, he still had nightmares, weeks later into the game. It's beautiful.
It's also a fascinating contrast to him and Asch, and of course Asch preys on it by having nothing but disdain for his hesitation. Asch's life has been so much harder that he can probably hardly imagine what it'd be like to feel that kind of -- basic humanity for complete strangers who would want to kill him. Survival and grim determination are too deeply embedded in him. Asch the Bloody owns his actions completely. Luke... doesn't. (Also characteristic of him.)
On third-party-initiated romances: I wish Character C would stop telling me that Character A and Character B are in love even when there's overwhelming non-evidence, e.g. they haven't had a single conversation that indicated they feel anything like respect for one another. Luke and Tear pulling each other's hair and snarling is not a lover's quarrel when he thinks she's a bitch who lusts for the blood of his beloved mentor and she thinks he's the most spoiled stupid human being ever to walk the earth. Anise doesn't have to "get Tear out of the way" when Luke would rather sew her lips together so she'd shut up than kiss her. Just saying "LOVER'S QUARREL!!!" doesn't mean there is retroactively something loverly about them. If you say it often enough, I will not come to like the pairing before they can even hold a conversation civilly.
And it's not just Luke/Tear, it's everything ever. Stop doing this. Forever.
This was also one of the few things about Ruin that bothered me: several characters cracked all sorts of jokes about Axel lusting after Roxas long before my Axel had any interest in the kid. Normally I was happy to take creativity and roll with it (see Xigbar's girlfriend) but this one thing made me want to gnaw off my arm. I'd have had him run off with Luxord out of spite.
On Anise: Everything about her is awesome. ♥ Also, I secretly think Ion is a bitch. He just loves snickering behind her back and wide-eyed puncturing holes in her innocent routine.
On Jade: He's so full of hax, he literally knows every plot point before it happens. He just keeps a copy of the script in his pocket and periodically reads ahead. Luke's a what? Okay. Guy's from where? Gotcha. I bet he read the last page first. Who comes back? Whew.
On Luke's problems with killing people: This is one of the most compelling pieces of his character, for me. Because it's such a normal, human response. Of course he doesn't want to kill human beings; he's a civilian, he's only ever fought monsters before. Learning that a monster can think and talk was a shock to him, and immediately made him regret his actions; killing a person? Unthinkable. And he was so horrified with himself for doing it, and even after he was determined not to be a burden, he still had nightmares, weeks later into the game. It's beautiful.
It's also a fascinating contrast to him and Asch, and of course Asch preys on it by having nothing but disdain for his hesitation. Asch's life has been so much harder that he can probably hardly imagine what it'd be like to feel that kind of -- basic humanity for complete strangers who would want to kill him. Survival and grim determination are too deeply embedded in him. Asch the Bloody owns his actions completely. Luke... doesn't. (Also characteristic of him.)
On third-party-initiated romances: I wish Character C would stop telling me that Character A and Character B are in love even when there's overwhelming non-evidence, e.g. they haven't had a single conversation that indicated they feel anything like respect for one another. Luke and Tear pulling each other's hair and snarling is not a lover's quarrel when he thinks she's a bitch who lusts for the blood of his beloved mentor and she thinks he's the most spoiled stupid human being ever to walk the earth. Anise doesn't have to "get Tear out of the way" when Luke would rather sew her lips together so she'd shut up than kiss her. Just saying "LOVER'S QUARREL!!!" doesn't mean there is retroactively something loverly about them. If you say it often enough, I will not come to like the pairing before they can even hold a conversation civilly.
And it's not just Luke/Tear, it's everything ever. Stop doing this. Forever.
This was also one of the few things about Ruin that bothered me: several characters cracked all sorts of jokes about Axel lusting after Roxas long before my Axel had any interest in the kid. Normally I was happy to take creativity and roll with it (see Xigbar's girlfriend) but this one thing made me want to gnaw off my arm. I'd have had him run off with Luxord out of spite.
On Anise: Everything about her is awesome. ♥ Also, I secretly think Ion is a bitch. He just loves snickering behind her back and wide-eyed puncturing holes in her innocent routine.
no subject
Hmm. Thinking about it, I believe it's time to become a nun.
I also have this issue with rival shipping. Sasuke/Naruto? Totally believable. In most cases? Yeah, not so much. And, perversely, I tend to find it less believable when it's a male/female pair, when it should be omgsoobvious that they have tension. Or maybe that's just me going "men and women are allowed to have feelings for one another-- especially hate-- that aren't romantic, damn you all."
/...soapbox
no subject
Early!Luke/Tear is one of the latter. Although Tear is very Kate and for some reason starts falling for him anyway, Luke really genuinely doesn't seem to give a fat damn about her for the entirety part of the game that I played through. XD Even when she was blushing and flustered, Luke would just be like, "Yeah, whatever." OMG LOVER'S APATHY?
If you have never wanted to bone someone you hated, you probably should become a nun.
no subject
I agree completely on the Luke-->Tear and Tear-->Luke front, STOP TELLING ME THEY FUCKING WANT TO BONE EACH OTHER fkdmldasas. BECAUSE I DON'T BUY IT. It was, at least, one of Final Fantasy VII's charms -- unlike VIII, which kind of shoved the romance down your throat in the same way whether or not there was enough there to convince you, it remained totally ambiguous. X was a little bad too -- what happened to the Rikku option? Nope, Tidus and Yuna are definitely absolutely undeniably in LOVE.
... /end-Rant.
But, uh, word on the rest of it.
no subject
God, I've spent this whole game crying over why they couldn't have made an affection system. They did it in Tales of Symphonia to fantastic effect! And they gave me hope for it too, because early on Anise was all like, "Is Tear your type?!" and I was like, DOES PICKING NO MEAN SHE'LL STOP BLUSHING AT ME? but alas, it was just the game taunting me. I could not in fact hook Luke up with Natalia or Guy or anyone not-Tear. But it's so incredibly aggravating to be told that there's a romance by innocent bystanders -- like, "In case you're too stupid to notice, this is a lover's quarrel." THANKS, ANISE AND GUY AND JADE, BUT I DON'T THINK IT'S ROMANTIC WHEN TEAR TELLS HIM THAT EVERYTHING HE'S EVER DONE IS WRONG AND LUKE CALLS HER A WHORE. Unless this is some weird application of lover's quarrel, like, lovers = couple that's been married for ten years and stays together for the kids but argues so loudly that they cry into their pillows at night.
no subject
I was devastated to realize there wouldn't be one, because I'd loved it in Tales of Symphonia so much. I didn't feel the chemistry at all early on, nor could I understand why I was supposed to believe that from what we'd been shown either had any reason to like the other. For the reasons you've already said re: spoiled self-centered brat, cold-blooded wench who wanted to kill his idol, etc.