Tales of the Abyss #09 — Makeover!

November 22nd, 2008

 

For you and meeeeeeeee!

Well, I got tired of waiting for a decent raw, so… whatever.

Impressions:

They actually made some pretty significant changes this episode to Asch’s entire presentation. He’s already quite a bit more sympathetic than he is in the game since they cut out the three or four times he blows off Natalia on their little trip through Belkend and the Ortion Cave and also added a long dream sequence showing his kidnapping. I really liked the first part of that, but the end of it, with Asch breaking into his home only to find his family and Natalia taking care of Luke just seemed really wrong and stupid. He just claimed to the random guards that he was the true Luke, and for god only knows what reason, they thought he was a fake despite being an identical clone, and then he just wussed out instead of stepping forward and saying "Yo, real dude here." I always just assumed in the game that Van or Mohs kept him under lock and key for a year or two during the transition, letting him stew and ferment and letting Replica Luke actually take over his life. They also cut out Jade’s speech on how replicas can magically either be weaker and crappier than the original, or the original can start falling apart because of the replica, but I’m sure they’ll shoehorn that in somewhere else later.

As for the rest, they cut out the Ancylopolyp battle (NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!) and actually cut Luke’s haircut scene short quite a bit, which is sort of a mixed blessing. It’s a really nice scene for Luke, but a really horrible scene for Tear and the start of some really horrendous Tear writing in general. 
Luke: "We have to save St Binah!"
Tear: "No, you’re not mature."
Yes, Tear is saying that she’d let another couple thousand people die in order to teach Luke a lesson about maturity. At least we’ve moved away from spoiled Luke and can really get into martyr Luke for a while. Please, die for our sins. PLEASE. We’ll just ignore how next episode should reveal that the whole Akzeriuth thing was a ginormous church plot and Yulia City wanted him to do it anyway. Oops! Spoilers!

 

Posted in Tales of the Abyss | 7 Comments »

7 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Anonymous says:
    November 22, 2008 at 6:31 pm

    I cant wait to watch when Luke and Tear stat to fall for each other

  • momiji says:
    November 23, 2008 at 12:29 am

    actually, there was an asch gaiden which i presume they lifted extrapolated the dream sequence from (i’ve yet to see the raw, but the gaiden has been around a while and little asch looks exactly like he does in it). asch was always an aggressive little twerp (and i say this fondly) anyway so his breaking out at least once, i think, makes sense and explains his whole abandonment complex, which he never really gets over… much more neatly than if he had second-hand information fed to him by van.

    (also thanks to making this comment i’ve discovered both the peony gaiden and the dance gaiden. WIN!)

  • Yue says:
    November 23, 2008 at 8:20 am

    When does a Japanese fantasy RPG not involve some kind of love angle?

  • SageSoren says:
    November 23, 2008 at 3:20 pm

    I actually missed the middle piece of the episode because I could only find Parts 1/3 and 3/3, so I’ll have to see the “wtf” piece when a sub comes out. :’D

    Sounds… awkward, though.

    “Hey, family! I have memories and stuff! Please don’t ignore me!”

    Did they listen to Van or something, and not him? That’s really weird. No wonder Asch is so grumpy. D:

  • Fang-tan says:
    December 15, 2008 at 5:38 am

    The fact that you referenced Clone High makes you my favorite blogger ever.

  • keyonna says:
    July 26, 2011 at 3:23 am

    okay this episode made me angry >:( theyre acting like luke CHOSE to destro that town. am i saying that its not his fault? NO. i am saying that its only PARTIALLY his fault. they said something like, “you should have waited for us, luke. then, we could have gone as a group.” but does that really matter? van said that phrase and activated luke’s hyperresonance, whether he wanted it to happen or not. what would them going as a group REALLY accomplished?! they could have been fighting van 5 on 1, but if he said that phrase, luke’s hyperresonance would have happened anyway. they could have stabbed van in the stomach and had him as near to death as he could get, but if he said that phrase, luke’s hyperresonance would have activated, taking van and the town and luke’s friends’ lives. so does it REALLY matter??!! either way, whether they went as a group or not, the town would have been destroyed! all van had to do was say the phrase. yes, okay! luke should have listened to acsh’s warnings, but again, in lukes mind there was a choice. trust acsh, this random guy he doesn’t know or trust van, the guy who’s been with his his “whole” life. luke didn’t know he was a copy and he was trapped inside that castle his whole life, so he has NO EXPERIANCE WHATSOEVER of the outside world. everybody kept telling luke that he was naive or that he doesn’t know anything. well excuse him for being basically held against his will in a castle! and he didn’t know anything because of his “friends” inability to explain it in terms he could understand. and tears is PISSING ME OFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! why doesn’t she trust him?! its not ALL his fault that his hyperresonance activated. luke is pissing me off too!!!!!!!!!! why the fuck wont he tell them that van used a password to activate his resonance??!! goddamn it, this whole fucking show is starting to piss me off!! i never really liked nataly but it urks me that she so easily leaves luke after finding out that he’s a replica. guy, trying to help luke but nataly is all like, “but what about acsh? he’s our childhood friend.” BITCH YOU HAVENT SEEN HIM FOR 10 YEARS, STFU!!!!! at this point, im hoping every body else dies, luke saves the day, gives his “parents” back the real luke, then goes and finds a pretty lady to have his babies.

    yes, okay, luke was an asshole the whole trip, but i honestly dont think that the destroying of the twon is completely his fault.

  • keyonna says:
    July 26, 2011 at 3:27 am

    and now theyre expecting luke to change and save the day.