Tales of Graces f: DAY FIFTEEN

[sincere]

Let's finish this bizns. I think I'm close to the endddd. And then -- I think I may take a break before trying the future era...


Starting from: Leaving Fodra with mah derris bit.

Comments

[sincere]

SKIT! Sophie thinks that if she talks like Hubert, people will listen to her more. Poor Sophie. That's unfortunately not been how it works.

Sophie: If you love Asbel, why don't you just tell him?
Cheria: HIAAAA WHERE DID YOU HEAR THAT
Sophie: The Captain told me. :D
Asbel: I heard a scream, what--
Cheria: GET THE FUCK OUT AND MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS, ASBEL
Asbel: WHAT DID I DO, JESUS
Sophie: Is she angry because she's sad? Feelings are so hard...

Sophie is adorable. Cheria is still not allowed to talk to Asbel.

[temples]

... Tee hee.

[sincere]

It's time to walk around and interact with my party members! I'm literally almost afraid to talk to some of them because they might get shippiness on me.

[sincere]

Hubert is standing at His Window in Aston's office.

After the war, he will ask the Strahtan forces to withdraw from Lhant, and then Asbel gets to be lord for realsies, because he's the only actual choice. For some reason.

"The next time I visit Lhant, I'll come as family." Tsun tsun you're a very troublesome older brother.

I rate this conversation a B-.

[sincere]

Addendum: Hubert goes to see Mom! He tsuns some and pretends he was never angry at her and they have tea. Marginal cuteness.

[sincere]

Sophie is checking out the sopherias she planted. When will they become a blossomgale? Asbel is too dumb to know that, we'll have to ask Mom. She used to garden a lot, though she hasn't been since Dad died; he was the one she was gardening for. And Asbel didn't even know he liked flowers.

Sophie: ...are you sad that your father died?
Asbel: It's... complicated.

I am frankly surprised the game didn't just have him say "Yes. I cry every night. He was a hero. Love love love." He says he's sad to have lost the chance to understand his father. We've talked about this before.

Hey, this has been all about Asbel! When we get back we'll see the blossomgale, Sophie.

I will give this conversation... a B+. Only because why is the most relevant thing we could think to talk about the thing that happened to Asbel first thing when the adult era began? And an obvious thing, at that? Yes, he's sad. We've actually had this conversation -- I think twice before. Why couldn't we talk about some of Sophie's feelings? Or Richard? Or anything relevant?

[sincere]

Addendum!

Asbel stubbornly reaffirms to the sky that all of them are coming back -- Sophie and Richard too.

[temples]

I bet the sky feels a whole lot better knowing Asbel is on the case.

[sincere]

He's its hero.

[sincere]

Malik is on the bridge. Asbel asks him if wanting to save both Sophie and Richard is asking for too much.

Malik: It's important to feel compassion for others in order to save them. I learned that too late. That's why I couldn't save Kurt.

...whaaaaat?

Aaaand that was the end. Great. Thanks for nothing.

[rainfall]

D+.

[sincere]

Yeah, pretty much. It was so abrupt and stupid I forgot to grade it.

[sincere]

Pascal is sitting on the ground with Poisson hovering over her. She's tinkering with a machine. Fourier volunteers to finish it for her so she can go to sleep. Pascal coos over and admires her and Fourier frets over Pascal.

I give this conversation a B-, because I don't care about or really like Pascal. But it wasn't unbearable. It could've been much worse.

[sincere]

Cheria is by the railing at the edge of town, and Bailey is with her. He tries to ask her out, because everyone is in love with Cheria, and then Cheria's other suitor arrives! Jadia and Bailey are rivals over who can sound more over-the-top in love with Cheria, I guess.

Jadia grovels before her apologetically, literally getting down on one knee and flailing with his arms. Please come back to Strahta with me!! I will build you a mansion!! He calls her a prisoner? I don't know why that's a thing.

Asbel is staring up at the sky from his hiding place. Sigh. Cheria looks reasonably terrified, which is fine, because Jadia is terrifying.

Bailey is like, I just wanted to know if you would lead up our relief organization...

Cheria turns them both down. What she really wants from her life is: ASBEL Spoiler redacted. She won't tell them. Because it's Asbel.

As they pass Asbel's hiding place, Bailey tells him to take care of Cheria. Die in a fire.

Asbel: You're enslaving poor Raymond now?

He asks her what she wants, because he wants to help her get it! And she dodges the question and asks him what he wants. Asbel wants Sophie to be happy and to live here in Lhant.

Cheria says she wants to continue her relief work. But Bailey offered you the chance to be Queen of Relief Work, and you turned him down. It involves traveling the world, so good, get away from Asbel for a while.

This was a C- because it doesn't make sense and it involved way too much NPC fawning over Cheria.

[rainfall]

Side note: I have never seen a female character labeled as beautiful like this who was actually what I would have called beautiful. Cheria rates a pretty, and I frankly think she and Sophie have IDENTICAL faces with the exception of Sophie being a little younger.

Is she beautiful because of the pink hair? The short skirt? The goth lolita outfit? Inquiring minds want to know.

[temples]

That sounds about the most unsubtle thing to ever be unsubtle. >:

[sincere]

It was pretty painful, I won't lie.

[canavasary]

THIS. So much. God, I've never dreaded anything so much.

[sincere]

Okay. It's now the next day. Literally everyone we know has come to see us off. Bailey and Jadia hang around a lot now, huh? I guess it's all that bonding over what an angel Cheria is.

[sincere]

We get some titles. Cheria's is just a huge fucking lie. "She flatly denies any man who approaches her. Such is the resolve of a woman in pursuit of a dream."

No. I would respect her if she said, no, I don't need a goddamn man, I'm going to live out my dream. I have shit to do. What you did, game, is have her turn down men that she comically had zero interest in. That's not the same thing.

[rainfall]

Also the dream appeared during the scene.

All those sub events, and no sub event spent on Cheria's mysterious dream. Probably because it was a huge lie to Asbel.

[canavasary]

+1

[sincere]

Seriously. If she turns down Asbel (genuine proposal or clueless offer, either way) to pursue her dream, then I will give her all the props for starting to grow up a little.

She doesn't get any goddamn credit as an independent woman for turning down the melodramatic propositioning of a guy she's only spoken to twice since he held her hostage for political sabotage. That's just what a sane person would do. And I don't even understand how she turned down Bailey when his offer was the same thing she wanted to do.

[rainfall]

Malik literally just said I KNOW YOU'RE PROBABLY TIRED OF HEARING THIS, BUT THE FATE OF THE WORLD RESTS ON OUR SHOULDERS

and I don't know how to take that. Is that a joke? 8|a

[sincere]

Okay, so now it's late. A ton of subevents have opened up, but I'm not sure. I might just leave a save point so I can come back some other time, and beat the game without doing any of them. I'm normally a fiend for subevents but this game has made them all so distasteful.

Like, the bathing suit costumes! I love those! But is there any chance this won't turn into "everyone drools over Cheria because she is the most beautiful girl anyone has ever seen" and "Hubert gets an inexplicable boner over Pascal"? I just can't deal with that right now.

So... finish the game tomorrow, move on with my life, go back and poke at it some more later.