sincere | Tales of the Abyss 3DS

/turns up the 3D

/to look at Luke's abs in 3D

/...still just as good in 2D

sfsd;kflskl;;lk

Please note: setting aside all of the times during skits when he refers to this being the first time he's been out of the manor, here it is, during the game, an unmissable scene, when Luke tells Tear, I have never been out of the manor before, ever.

I really shouldn't be reading your posts on your TotA playthrough. My Luke voice keeps wanting to make comments on them.

You really shouldn't. He might end up trolled.

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canavasary - 2012-02-21 06:55 (UTC) - Expand

Tear has selective hearing. I'm pretty sure this is borne out over the course of the game. >_>

Okay. We're all geniuses going in the wrong direction, so we'll get out and walk to Engeve.

Can we have that pendant back? Since you took us only about a quarter of the way to a place we didn't want to be? No? Not even going to ask?

Still geniuses!

It's rice ball time!

Luke is not impressed.

I miss the games where people's personalities dictated what they put in foods. Like, oh, Genis isn't a big fan of meat, he doesn't add meat to his dishes. In Vesperia they're just like, "Here's some random things that may or may not be added to whatever. And if Judith makes vichyssoise enough times, she will eventually learn pork miso soup, because those are two really related ideas."

We have arrived at Engeve! And the guy who greets us is a New Yorker. How quaint!

Luke: Fuck yeah, my first time in a city!!
Tear: ...A city? Well, I've forgotten that you told me you've never been outside your manor, so I'm just going to not ask and pretend I didn't hear that.

Edited 2012-02-21 07:05 (UTC)

orz

And take note: A random NPC in Engeve can be the first person who assumes Luke and Tear are married. Ugh.

/snort XD

The rest of the party will just have to loudly ship it to make up for not getting there first.

Okay, let me just state everything that I hate about this apple cart situation. Because I hate so many things about it.

Luke walks up to a vendor and takes an apple and just bites into it.
The vendor goes, uh, dude, you owe me money.
And Tear is like, you have to pay him!!
And Luke goes, but the manor will pay him! Oh, wait. :|a

So, okay, right there, in this conversation, in case you missed the other two mandatory conversations and the several skits, is the reminder that he's never been outside before.

Tear tells him that paying is normal.
Luke says, but I don't have any money.

I would like to disagree. I have 1200 gald. I think I can cover the apple. What is it? 44 gald? I think I've got this, you guys.

Tear reminds him that the monsters dropped money.
Luke is like, oh yeah, I forgot all about that, since it isn't gold, which is apparently a huge quantity of gald. :D
And the grocer is all, I'll arrest you if you don't pay!
And Luke goes, look, I'll pay. Just explain to me how paying works.

Tear sighs and puts her hand to her head and goes I CAN'T BELIEVE HE DOESN'T KNOW THIS. ARE ALL ARISTOCRATS LIKE THIS?

No, Tear. Just the ones that have explained to you five times in the last hour that they have never been outdoors before.

We walk away from the grocer and over to the inn, where the people are conversing about stolen food.

Luke is like, "Who cares enough to steal food? Just go by some more! Whatevs."
Therefore, logically, Luke is the thief, because Luke doesn't understand why food is worth stealing, and ate an apple off someone's cart right in front of him and then pay him.

Tear concludes that letting Luke get arrested will help him, so she'll just allow this! Maybe it'll do him some good.

Because she's psychotic. I can only assume that she equates "not knowing how to shop at a store for reasons I have been explained previously but chosen to ignore" with "arrogant little bastard who enjoys dicking around and aggravating people more than paying for things".

What the hell, game. What the hell. How could Luke possibly have made clearer, especially to Tear but to everyone else too, that he has no fucking idea? Is it too much to ask that when Luke states he has literally never seen a shop before and doesn't understand how paying people works, that they could then understand that? No? His own party members have to punish him for things completely 100% beyond his control and not his fault?

La-di-da, I wonder why he is so happy to screw you guys over the first time anyone actually sympathetic to his situation tries to lure him into his van (haha) with candy.

/an opinion I will probably voice several more times before he does it
/I like long-haired Luke, though, so, ymmv

Luke: See? I told you I wasn't a thief.
Tear: But you did eat that apple before paying. You need to learn not to do things that will make you look suspicious.
Luke: How was I supposed to know? I didn't know I had to pay.

Emphasis mine. :D

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sincere - 2012-02-21 07:37 (UTC) - Expand

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walking_forward - 2012-02-21 13:08 (UTC) - Expand

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sincere - 2012-02-21 15:55 (UTC) - Expand

THIS.

Also.

And Luke goes, look, I'll pay. Just explain to me how paying works.

He was willing to pay for it, people.

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walking_forward - 2012-02-21 13:13 (UTC) - Expand

THIS OMG [dead]

No one is especially impressed by the villagers accusing Luke of being the thief, least of all Luke, so good work on teaching him a lesson there, Tear. Luke makes to blurt out his family history to the first person who asks, and Tear reminds him that his dad is called a fucking butcher here, so let's tread lightly. Then she shoves him out of the way so the grown-ups can talk.

"He's Luke. I'm Tear. Hi Jade."

The grown-ups and Ion, of course! HE'S SO TINY AND CUTE, I WANT TO SQUEEZE HIM. LISTEN TO HIS LITTLE VOICE.

/also a grown-up

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sincere - 2012-02-21 07:42 (UTC) - Expand

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temples - 2012-02-21 09:55 (UTC) - Expand

And as we go to bed in an inn and Tear peers creepily at Luke while he sleeps, I too will go to bed! And will return to play more tomorrow.

I can't wait until you get to the second arc of the game, where Tear lambasts Luke for things, and then ten minutes later does the same things herself.

That...

...is a totally real and amazing part of the game. /sobs

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slayerofgod - 2012-02-21 23:43 (UTC) - Expand

I just wanna take a moment to say that I think I can sort of see part of what's going on with The Party re: Luke for much of the game and I relate it back to Luke's hostility towards Mieu.

I REMEMBER when I first started playing the game, and I looooved that Luke hated Mieu. I loved that he called him "Thing". I loved it because, if Luke hadn't been so hostile, I would've been kind of annoyed by this adorable marketable sidekick, too. Luke's hostility, Luke's tendency to KICK Mieu and cause Mieu to make sad sounds... I lived vicariously through them.

And later in the game, when Mieu becomes the only friend Luke has in the party and tries to cheer him up, there's one really POIGNANT line where Mieu says he understands what Luke is going through, since of course he was responsible for an awful thing that caused HIM to be exiled from his tribe.

That for me is the real turning point where I started to feel sympathy and affection for Mieu. On subsequent playthroughs, the rest of it still works for me, because Luke is such a brat that he can hate Mieu and you feel sympathetic for Mieu but you don't (or at least, I don't) resent Luke for his treatment.

And I feel like the party's attitude towards Luke is a similar tactic: they fight the player's initial resentment for such a disagreeable character by making EVERYBODY kick him for about 80% of the game. But I think they really screwed up with the attempt, because........

......Luke's party isn't supposed to be made up of people like Luke. Jade has a Freudian excuse for being mean to him, and of course Guy has... Guy's plot twist! But that's pretty much it. Tear doesn't have an excuse for being mean to him. Natalia doesn't. Anise doesn't (although if you wanted to, you could say she has a similar Freudian excuse re: her parents and Luke's naivete). So when you're playing the game on a second playthrough, their treatment of Luke for things that legitimately aren't his fault gets very tiresome very quickly. It's frustrating, because these people are supposed to be intelligent, or nice, or just plain people who care about Luke! They aren't supposed to be obnoxious brats who would kick a puppy for shitting on their floor because they never potty-trained him.

...so yeah. There's some thoughts. :|a

I feel like maybe I'm the odd one out - I only really got to like him as short-haired Luke. I have a lot more appreciation this time around, but I can see why other party members wouldn't.

Tear spent ages with Legretta having it drilled in how to be not-a-girly-wuss, so she doesn't automatically have sympathy for a guy, who's older than she is, being quite this incompetent. Debateable how much of an excuse or reason that is - but she's also just had to give up her pendant to get them a ride, and he's contributing nothing but additional trouble.

Natalia... has the fact that Luke isn't the boy she fell in love with. She's spent years wanting that person back, and Luke hasn't really cared about her expectations or memories, because he doesn't share them. So for me, Natalia's frustrations with Luke made a lot of sense. Not his fault, but understandable?

I don't think it's the same as kicking a puppy- a puppy looks like what it is, and you can probably judge its training level. Luke looks like he should be old enough to know better, and for the first third of the game they don't know he's a replica. Plus, they do discuss the outside world in front of him in the Fabre Manor, and he's completely dismissive of it. He doesn't care who the fon Master is, just about being able to practice with Van.

He improves once he's out in the world, but he's still really rude to everyone for a long time. I got the impression the 'let him get arrested' thing Tear pulled was more about his attitude than his knowledge base.

From inside Luke's pov, you can tell when things are his fault and when they aren't, but it wouldn't be that clear to the rest of the party. I don't think they're being pointlessly mean.

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rainfall - 2012-02-22 03:49 (UTC) - Expand