Part 4: The Man Who Works
Part IV: The Man Who WorksSo yeah, the end of the last update *could* have gone better for us. Let's see if we can turn things around after the apocalypse...

Washed up




Hm. Well, seems the world is still in one piece, but no sign of Elle, Rollo, Jude, or really, anyone we met on the train. Guess we'll need to talk to the fashionably dressed man who seems to be waiting for us.


Well, I suppose we might as well figure out where we are and how we ended up here. L1 it is.



Oh, cool. Jude's fine, too.





Jude gets a buzz on his cell phone...


Ludger notices Elle's pocket watch is on the table, and decides to pick it up...



Seems there's a bit of confusion going on with this watch, however. Julius has one that looks exactly like it, but when Elle first arrived in Trigleph, and in the first anime cutscene, we clearly saw Elle had one. Still, L1 it is. R1 increases her affection, however.

Despite punching him in the leg, Ludger shrugs it off and pockets the watch anyway.








Why did we have to get saved by THIS guy? Ugh, I hope he won't be around for much longer...





Hey! Wasn't this girl that one who got a sword thrown through her? She bounced back pretty fast, but hey, might as well check in with our old friend and see how she's doing.


I'm with Ludger here... Whoever that person was, it wasn't the same person we see before us. But then, of course, that begs the question: who exactly did we see?



Well, he's blocking the door, so we have the choice of accepting the loan, and not doing anything...
By the way, checking out the TV will let you find this, hidden away.

Well, guess we could keep it safe for a rainy day. I think Ludger is old enough to drink. I mean, I don't think the game ever specifies his age, but I think he's over 21. Anyway, you have to talk to Rideaux to continue. When you do...


The pits
As much as I'd prefer to avoid talking or otherwise interacting with this guy again, but thou must...
Oh, and I can't have been the only person who played this game who thought by choosing R1, you'd get a different conversation. But no, all it does is return you to wandering around the bar until you agree to sign the contract for the loan.











So, if you choose to interpret spyrix as fossil fuels (as you should), then spyrites are clean energy sources. Essentially, spyrixes are responsible for the death of spirits, at the cost of high technology (like Rideaux mentioned). Spyrites essentially do the same thing, but without the cost to the spirits. However, as just mentioned, Jude still has not found a way to make spyrites work.
In essence, the conflict between Jude's group and the main antagonists of the first game (Gaius and Muzet) boiled down to the spyrix vs. spyrites issue. The former believed that the Schism (the separation of Rieze Maxia and Elympios that the former Maxwell was responsible for) should be dispelled, and that the development of spyrites could save both worlds. Gaius believed in maintaining the Schism long enough to wipe out all spyrix, whatever the cost to Elympios, and Muzet assisted him in this vision.
Neither had the particular moral high ground over the other, with Jude's group being the eventual victors. Gaius finally conceded and chose to support the union between worlds after the end of the Schism, believing that Jude's vision is possible. He has since taken up leadership of all of Rieze Maxia as its king. Muzet has been MIA since the end of Tales of Xillia.
Basically, what I'm getting at is Gaius is a hardcore badass who has the great distinction of being the only Tales main villain who not only survived the events of the game he was the main enemy in, but moved UP in the world since then.



Low blow...

Ludger signs the contract. The deal with the devil is done...




Oh Rollo... You're a good cat. Maybe not 5,000,000 gald good, however...


The Emo Glasses really have made these last two updates, honestly. alchargia chose wisely.



I'm getting some comments from Elle and Jude here because of information I've carried over via the Library. Anyway, there's no need to hang out in this dive any longer. We need to get back home to Trigleph!

Speaking of the Library, let's take a quick look at it.
Event List is basically a short synopsis of various story-related events thus far, as well as subquests. About all there is to say about that.
Titles are various achievements you get by playing through the story / gameplay accomplishments. I've already done all of them, so there's not much need for me to ever come back here.
Battle Book is just text-based gameplay tutorials.
Xillia Encyclopedia is pretty rad for people who didn't play the first game, or who played it but can't remember a whole lot about the story / setting / characters. Basically for characters, events, things, etc. etc. that are referred to in this game but were introduced in the first game, this is your one-stop shop. Luckily I remember the first game fairly well, so you (probably) won't need to go further than asking me if you want to know anything I don't otherwise explain.
Enemy Data is your standard enemy encyclopedia. Says all the enemies you've fought, how many times you've defeated them, where they are, and what they drop, with everyone divided into helpful categories.
Item Data is basically the same thing, but with, you guessed it, items.
Skits are a record of all the skits you've viewed, with the option to replay any of them (however, only skits acquired through normal gameplay will gain you affection points. No grinding affection levels from playing the same skit over and over again). Because I carried it over, I can view every skit from this very early moment in the game.
Records is just that, gameplay records. Again, not something I'm terribly worried about at the moment, but hey, might as well check it out for posterity sometime.

Moving on, Duval is a pretty small / seedy town. Not sure I want to hang around here... (Oh, and the crescent moon icon indicates an inn. Rest there to restore all HP / TP).

What to do next






Ludger does a pretty mean







Huh... I kinda doubt the Land of Canaan is on the Trigleph line. So the only reason Elle's father would have told her to get on that train in particular (remember, he even specified the time), would be if he intended Elle to be in the same place as Ludger and company...
It would really help if we knew who the masked man was, but I guess we'll leave it at that for now.


Well, Elle's in a lot of trouble, so let's be nice guys and choose L1. Increases her affection, you see.




Well, I mean, he looked like Julius and sounded like him, but that demonic countenance...







Jude definitely is, but he's a bit more cynical than the latest Tales protagonist, Sorey. Sorey's entire thing is being almost-impossibly earnest and good-natured, but it works out.





Repaying the Debt (L1 increases Elle's affection)

By the way, Nova's gonna be chatting with us a lot this game, and like Samuel Johnson and London, I say, he who is tired of Nova is tired of life.
Fun fact: Nova is voiced by Christina Vee in English, and she *may* have been in a few other threads of mine. Just spitballing here, though.
Oh, speaking of VAs, Ludger is voiced by Josh Grelle, which I only mention because his name has "Elle" in it, so one could say (not that I would necessarily) this role was fate. Elle is voiced by Brina Palencia, who as I recall is a pretty good voice actress, and she does a similarly good job as Elle.
Jude is voiced by Sam Riegel, who has played another Tales hero in the distant past (it's not Flynn. Not main hero, doesn't count). Cookie for whoever can name which hero he voiced and what game he appeared in. Anyhow, let's press on...

The main street of Duval, with all the attendant storefronts. The far exit leads to Alest Highroad, which leads back to Trigleph. But Ludger is not much of a walking man, and anyway, the train is faster.

Ah, before we head to the station, let's upgrade our equipment a bit. The amount of money you should be swinging at the moment will roughly be the same as mine, so let's get better weapons for our two heroes (from this point on, Elle is the team's official cheerleader. She's basically Ludger's voice in battle). You could pick up better armor, but there's not much need at the moment.
Oh, explanation of stats: P. ATK and P. DEF are physical attack and defense respectively, and A. ATK and A. DEF is arte attack / defense. Should be pretty obvious what everything is. Anyway, after you're done shopping, go to the train station and try to buy a ticket.

A man restricted
Ah, I remember those cards from my recent trips to Japan. Really convenient. Unfortunately, it gives our friend Ludger some trouble.



Nova calls and she's up for gabbing. By the way, for another bit of Tales trivia, can anyone name what Ludger's ringtone is? I mean, I know what it is, but just want to check if anyone else knows.






So yeah, I'm going to be LPing Student Debts: The Video Game, I hope you enjoy it.
Nah, the debt isn't *that* big of a problem in this game, mainly thanks to something we'll be introduced to pretty soon (as in, the very next scene). Besides, not to spoil too much, even though your debt is formally 20,000,000 gald, you DO NOT have to pay all that back to finish the game. I forget exactly how much you have to pay, but you'll be going through... I dunno, maybe 8-10,000,000 all told to actually finish the game? Something like that.
That's not to say something cool won't happen if you pay it all back, but yeah. You can formally say "I beat Tales of Xillia 2" after paying back only a certain percentage of the debt. Anyway, let's move on to the job mechanic.

After this skit, just move down the street, and...






Jude's such a nice guy. Ludger is the guy who signed the contract, so Jude technically has no obligation to help here. He could probably just catch a train and leave Ludger in the dust, but hey, that's not how Mr. Do-Gooder rolls.

So yeah, in a mechanic that seems to be only getting more popular in JRPGs in the last five years or so, we can take a variety of jobs as our primary money-making avenue (for really the entire game), and of course, for paying off our debt. You'll find a job board in every major city in this game, but in some cases it's a little more well-hidden than others. Because Duval is so small, here it is. In any case, let's take a look at the postings.

The game also explains it, but here's my lowdown on jobs in this game. First, all jobs fall into three specific categories: any job with a green exclamation point, these jobs usually have a specific cutscene (never voiced, from what I recall, and require certain people to be in the party to complete) or event attached to them for completing them, any job with a monster's head, simple bounty hunting, and any job with a blue bag is a gathering quest for specific item(s).
However, you cannot accept up to five jobs willy-nilly. First you need to see if you have the required level to take it. For example, Jolyne's Plea - Part 1 requires you to be at Wooden Badge level to accept / complete it. That's where the "Title" part comes in. Completing jobs gives you Merit Points (indicated in the job details box), and when you level up, you can accept higher-level jobs.
Now, while generic jobs (in white) cycle in and out, depending on how many you complete (and they refresh occasionally), jobs in the red color are special, and, I believe, will never go away until you complete them. For now, let's accept this job, Percise Measurement (1 Fossilized Shell), You On an Adventure? (defeat two Alest Chirpees), Grandfather Crab (1 Land Crab), and Defeat Alest Plant (defeat 3 of them, actually). Time to hit the bricks. Everything you need to complete all five can be found in the Alest Highroad, which is the only exit to Duval that we can take right now).

Yeah, so a lot of Xillia 2's locations are just trails like this that lead from one distinctive town to the next (in this case, from Duval to Trigleph).

I will probably include post-battle conversations as videos in the future. A lot of them are just too amusing not to include (in this case, it's Elle complimenting Jude's ability to dodge enemy attacks with Snap Pivots, before asking him rapid-fire questions about his abilities, and Jude concluding that Elle's questions seem to be the one thing he can't dodge).

Once you've completed a job (in this case, it's the crab one), you'll get this pop-up, which is the only indication I believe that you've completed a job. It's to this game's detriment, quite honestly, that you can't check the status of jobs from the menu, or, if you can, it's very well-hidden.
Oh, and the sparkle indicates a random material pick-up you can get for free. Only materials monsters in the area you're fighting drop, however.

Whereas this sparkle indicates Elemental Ores you can get. You'll get anywhere from 2-20 in this part of the game. Maybe it increases further into the game, can't remember.
And for bags someone very rudely left lying around everywhere, you'll get any number of basic consumables / cooking items (like, this one contained a Sandwich. I'll explain how cooking works a bit later), or small amounts of gald.

Skills are learned in the exact same way as artes, but instead of new moves, you buff your characters / change their abilities in any number of ways. Skills are divided into three categories: Parameter (indicated by a yellow arrow), Action (indicated by an orange man), or Linked (indicated by a purple heart). We don't have any of the third category at the moment, but the time will come, yes.

Character status screens contain all the typical information you might expect from a status screen, but there is one special thing with Ludger: checking the affection level of the entire party at a glance. Jude's almost at level 1, as you can see, with a maximum level (read: get all the benefits of that character's affection level), being a very distant dream at the moment).

Every now and then, a random monster in the field will be designated as a "Dangerous Monster" or something and be worth considerably more gald and experience for defeating. It's just the parameters, though, so Alest Plants, dangerous or no, are still first-rate chumps.

And, in many cases, there will be little tunnels on sides of the map. Be sure to comb trail areas like this from top to bottom, as caves usually have a nice little bonus in them.

Obviously, despite what this guy says, this guy is here to make sure the player can't sequence break. Funnily enough, there's actually not an invisible wall where these guys are. You can walk all the way past these guys to the Trigleph border, but you can't actually enter it. Anyway, whatever jobs you took on, between enemies and pickups, you should have completed most of them. If not, just do a little more grinding, and return to Duval.

I'm going to count this as a skit, but it activates under a certain condition: get Jude's affection to level one. So, how did I do this, without any choices to increase his affection since that first skit in Trigleph? Well, when you perform linked artes with a certain character, their affection level goes up by a minute amount, which is what finally put Jude up to level one for me.
Jude gives you a skill book that unlocks Assault Step, which, if turned on, lets a character's front step do a little damage and cause the enemy to flinch, which is pretty good for starting a combo off on, especially since you don't have much else to spend SP (Skill Points) on right now.

Of course, if you already have all the items and it's a gathering quest, you can turn in gathering quests as soon as you see them on the board.

Once you have enough money for a debt payment, Nova will automatically call you up and prompt you for payment. You don't have to pay her at first, but you can't stockpile too much money before she'll call you, and you can't back out until you do pay her. You can also call her up any time you want by pressing L2. You can pay in one lump sum or spread out, but it's generally better to pay her all at once.

After this first payment, you can either continue the story, or continue paying more of your debt. There's really no point in doing the latter at this point in the story, but, if you do pay more than the required debt (you can earn extra money in-between the debt repayment and continuing the story), you can earn extra goodies (costumes and special consumables and such) that will be sent to Ludger's apartment's mailbox, where you can pick them up.
But, don't worry. There is absolutely no chance of you missing out on extras because you didn't pay enough at a certain point in the game, so don't worry about that at all. Anyway, the much smarter thing to do right now is head back to Trigleph via Duval Station.

There is one more job we can complete, but you can't from the job board. You need to get something from this girl before it counts.


























Betrayed... Anyway, she hands over Girl's Job Report, which allows us to actually finish this job. NOW we're headed back to Trigleph.

It's like we never left. Anyway, neither choice matters this skit. However, I do like how Jude just casually drops "Oh yeah, we were fighting on a different plane of existence, not a huge deal when you're me."
Anyway, it's been a long day, so we're headed back to the apartment.

Home again


Well, Ludger kinda IS a freeloader, so...








I'm with Elle on this one, and Elle's pretty passionate on the topic of tomatoes, so I'm siding with her on this one (increases her affection, you see).

Pretty much how I feel.
Then again, I'm pretty much the only person on this planet who dislikes tea, coffee, tomatoes, and bacon. It's lonely here at the top of the "taste in food" pyramid.

There's a few things to find in Ludger's room / apartment. Investigating the fridge gives you some cooking materials (as it should, really).

Ludger's desk gives you this. Guess Ludger has retro tastes, and that's cool. A treasure chest just behind Ludger has a Cape in it (which is, sadly, not a fashion accessory), and his closet has his pajamas in it, which is the outfit I'm currently wearing. Let's go make some damn food already.











Whoa! Was he there in the corner the whole time?


















Ah, Tales of Symphonia callbacks. Good times.










Yeah, I'm thinking ol' Bisley here is not exactly giving us an option. We might as well go along with reality, and increase his affection.









Bisley, Ivar, and the woman file out...





So yeah, we have another skit, but I guess I should explain who the hell Ivar is for people who didn't play the first game. Like Jude mentions in this skit, Ivar was Maxwell's, then known as Milla, handmaiden, but quite frankly, he never did a particularly great job of it, and even acted in defiance of Milla's wishes on several occasions.
Ivar has a particularly strong dislike of Jude, and attempted to kill him several times. Now with Milla being on a different plane of existence, Ivar is out of a job, and I guess he hooked up with this bunch. He's mostly played as comic relief, but he'll be around for a while. The patience of Jude and Co. toward Ivar, however, is nothing less than saintly.
Anyhow, our debt payment this time is for 7000 gald. Might seem like a lot, but let's stop by the job boards to get started.

Kitty Krisis












Suddenly I feel very tired... Like all of my energy has been drained. I'll see you all next time...
Update 4 alternate choices compilation