Part 1: It Started With A Song
It Started With A SongClick here to watch the video.
ND 2000: In Kimlasca shall be born one who inherits the power of Lorelei.
He will be a boy of royal blood, with hair of red. He shall be called: “The Light of the Sacred Flame”, and he will lead Kimlasca-Lanvaldear to new prosperity.
ND 2002: “The One Who Would Seize Glory” will destroy the island on which he was born. A land by the name of Hod.
War shall thereafter persist between Kimlasca and Malkuth for a full cycle of the seasons.
: “So, the time has come.”
: “Prepare...”
Ominous.
Tales of the Abyss is one of those games that uses a unique system of dating, and tells the player nothing about it. This would be equivalent to Monday, January the 23rd. Not really relevant, but hey.
: “Guess I'm hearing things...”Well anyway, we have control now. Let's check this place out.
: “Hello, Master Luke. Nice weather we're having today.”Holy art-shift, batman! There are a lot of characters that show up in this game that are important enough to warrant an actual character portrait instead of just a smile substitute, but don't get decent enough face shots from the game to use as one. In such cases, I'm turning to the anime to pick up the slack. So if some of the portraits look a bit off, you know why.
: “Digging in the dirt again today, Pere? Don't you get bored doing that every single day?”: “Not at all: this is my job. Nothing makes me happier than to see the flowers I grow warm the hearts of this manor's inhabitants.”: “No offense, but I'm bored as all hell of this manor. I want my freedom.”: “Yes, I can understand how being forbidden to leave the manor would cause you to feel that way. But it's an order from His Majesty himself. You just need to wait a little longer... until you come of age. I'm sure you're used to these flowers by now, but I still hope they can warm your heart.”
The Score is pretty important going forward, but for now it doesn't really affect much.
: “Good morning, Master Luke. “
None of these generic maids and guards really have anything to say.
We're not allowed to explore just yet, so all we can do is head for the entrance hall.
: “What? Master Van's coming? Today's not a training day.”
: “I've heard he's here on urgent business. I was told they'll be calling you later, Young Master, so please wait in your room.”
: “Stop calling me “young” already.”: “No, until you reach maturity at age 20, I shall continue to refer to you as Young Master.”
Ramdas has the misfortune to actually have been cut from the anime, so I can't even be clever and give him one of those portraits. Sorry Ramdas. At least we can talk to him a bit more.
: “Please stop fraternizing with the gardner, Pere. It isn't fit for you to be speaking to one of his status.”: “...I know, I know. Sheesh. And quit giving me orders!”: “My apologies.”
The guard is stopping us from leaving, so I guess it's back to the bedroom.
First, I'll save. As per the standard of JRPG's, save points are random glowing circles that are littered around the game world.
Ah, a skit! Skits are Tales series standby. Periodically while playing, a prompt will appear to hit select. Doing so will trigger a short scene of banter between party members. Some are informative, some are silly, and so on. Since all we have in our party at the moment is Luke though, he's just... talking to himself.
It's also worth nothing that like Symphonia and unlike Vesperia and Graces, skits in Tales of the Abyss are not voiced.
Skit: Another Boring Day
: *sigh*: "If they're not going to let me leave, the could at least try to keep me amused.": "If I didn't get to train with master Van, all I'd do every day is eat, sleep and hang out with Guy."
: "There's got to be SOMETHING more interesting to do around here..."
The maid that was stopping us from going further north in this room has now vanished, giving us a little room to explore.
And by explore, I mean steal! Apple Gel is a handy item that heals whoever eats it for 30% of their health. Lemon Gel does much the same, but heals for 60%, double that of an apple gel. Gels are more or less potions in the Tales games. However unlike potions in Final Fantasy which heal you for a set amount of health (ie: 50 HP) gels heal you for a set percentage. An apple gel heals 30 HP on a character with 100 HP, and 2997 HP for one with 9999 HP. This is a big deal, because it means even the lowest tier of gel never loses value as the game goes on. It doesn't make much sense logically, but it is a nice system that prevents early game healing items from becoming vendor trash in the late game.
The lemon gel is actually a very nice find: these don't become buyable (at least at a sane price) for quite a bit.
Anyway, enough petty thievery. Back to the bedroom. Upon entering...
Unknown: “Luke... fragment of... my soul... heed... my voice!”
: “Luke! What is it? Not another one of those headaches?”
: “Guy... is that you?”
: “It's okay. It's gone.”
: “You hearing things again?”: “...I wish I knew what the hell it was. It's so annoying.”: “They're getting more frequent. They started after you were kidnapped by the Malkuth Empire. What's that, seven years now?”: “Thanks to them, now I'm going crazy...”: “Well, don't worry about it too much. So, what do you want to do today? How about some sword practice?”: “Sorry, not today. Master Van's here.”: “Van? But today's not a training day, is it?”: “Apparently, something came up.”Knocking noise
: “Uh-oh. I can't let anyone see me in here. I'm out of here before I get caught. See you.”
: “Master Luke?”: “Yeah, yeah, I hear you. Come on in, it's open.”
: “All right. Dismissed.”: “Guess I'll get going.”Before that though, let's go check on Guy one last time.
Er...what?
: “Luke! Do something! Please!”: “Oh Guy, you're such a joker! You're going to go out with me later, right?”: “No, look, I've already told you, I can't really... I mean...”: “Honestly, if you keep acting like that, you'll never get over your fear of women.”
...Right then.
The guard who was in our way has kindly vacated. Before we hit the drawing room, you best believe there's one more thing to steal!
Eh. Gald is the in-game currency. Yes, they really did just replace the “o” in gold with an “a” and call it a day. 100 is... not that much. At all. Still, whatever. Let's roll.
: “You wanted to see me, father?”
: “Mmm. Have a seat, Luke.”
: “We'll have time for that later. First, we have to talk about something.”: “Dorian General Grants is returning to Daath tomorrow.”: “Huh?! Why?!”: “You know that I am a member of the Oracle knights, part of the Order of Lorelei.”: “You're their commandant, right?”: “Right. As the leader of the Knights, it's my duty to provide protection for Fon Master Ion.”: “What's a 'Fon Master Ion'?"
Oh hey, somebody else was at the table! Susanne's outfit kinda blends into the background and in the beginning shot of the room, her back is to the camera. The first time I played this, I was really confused as to where she came from.
: “It's thanks to Ion that the truce between the Malkuth Empire and our Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear is in place.”: “If Ion's predecessor, Evenos, is the hero who ended the Hod War, then the current Fon Master is a symbol of the peace that reigns today.”: “Unfortunately, Ion has gone missing.”: “Therefore, I must attend to my duty as an Oracle Knight and join the search for Fon Master Ion.”: “Hold on, you can't do that! If you go back home, who's gonna train me?!”: “Heh heh. Settle down. I'll have one of my men come here until I return to Kimlasca.”: “But I want YOU to teach me!”: “Don't be selfish, Luke. Dorian General Grants will return as soon as possible. It's high time you learned some patience.”: “Please dear! You know what this child's been through. He's still traumatized from the kidnapping. He even lost his childhood memories... the poor thing. Don't you feel for him?”Er... thank you for that exposition there, Susanne. Also why do you refuse to refer to you son by his name, and instead keep referring to him as “poor thing” and “this child”?
Also I'm sorry but: amnesia subplot? In a JRPG? Get out.
: “Susanne. You spoil him.”: “Still, a life locked inside a mansion like this is hardly easy.”: “Seriously. Why does my uncle have to keep me trapped in here? Just because he's the king, he thinks he can order people around. Makes me mad.”: “Luke, my brother is merely concerned for your safety. Just three more years, and you'll be free. Hold on a little longer, okay?”See? Was it that hard to actually use your son's name?
: “Cheer up, Luke! We'll train hard enough today to make up for the entire time I'm gone.”
: “Thank you, Dorian General.”: “I'll head on to the courtyard. Come join me as soon as you're ready.”: “Luke dear, please do be careful out there...”: “I know, I know. Jeez...”Let me stop for a second and address the elephant in the room. We're not even ten minutes into this game and we've already been thrown a lot of terms that we don't know and haven't been explained. Order of Lorelei, Dorian General, Fon Master, and so on. As I said in the OP, Tales of the Abyss goes to great lengths to flesh out its setting and so there are a lot of terms that the player needs to know. Thankfully Luke is pretty clueless and has lost most of his memories, so everybody will, eventually, explain all of this to
Skit: Sword Training
: "Man... Master Van's leaving...": "I hope he comes back after he finds that Fon Master or whoever.": "I mean, sword training's the only thing keeping me sane around here."
: "Oh, well. Guy's not to bad with a sword. Guess I'll just practice with him."
: “I'll have to leave everything to you, for the time being. The Duke, the King, and Luke's-”: “Ah, Master Luke!”
: “Guy? What's up?”: “Well, Van's a master swordsman, so I thought I'd ask for a little instruction.”: “Really? That's not what it looked like to me...”At this point the scene fades to white.
Somebody begins to sing.
: ~Tue lei zwe kuloa riou tue zwe~
: “Huh? Oh, right!”
: “Yes sir!”
: “Yeah, yeah.”
Battle!
Er..., training battle!
: “Yes sir.”: “First, movement.”
Yeah... not sure how to transcribe that. Is this what Van's actually saying to Luke: move forward by pushing the control stick?
: “Space between you and your enemy is important in battle. Watch the conditions, and respond... well I actually doubt there will ever be any need for you to fight.”Heh.
: “Humph. I want to show off some cool moves outside.”: “This is not something for you to show off. Next, attacks.”I'll be going over the fighting in a mechanics update down the road, so most of this tutorial has been cut. It's just more dry “press the square button to block!” dialogue.
So we wail on the dummy some and that's about it.
: “Good work. Oh, you will probably learn new artes as you gain more experience in battle. You can set them in the artes menu.”What was the point of throwing in the “probably” if you're then going to instruct us on how to use them? This is more blatant than 'Collete learned judgment.'
Click here to watch the video.
The singer's voice is heard once again.
: “That voice...!”: “I... I can't move!”: “That's a fonic hymn! Has a Seventh Fonist invaded the manor?!”: “Dammit, it's putting me to sleep... what the hell are the guards doing?!”
: “Tear, I knew it!”
: “Who the hell are you?!”
Unknown: “Resound...! The will of Lorelei shall reach you... and open the way!”
: “Not that weird voice again...”
: “The Seventh Fonon?!”
: “AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHGGGGGGG!”
I hope everyone is all right. This is as good a place to stop as any, I guess. I'd have like to have left off on something other than a cliffhanger, but the next area is pretty self-contained and there's no point dipping into it now. See you next time!Synopsis
A usual mainstay of the Tales series, the synopsis is more or less the game journal that tells the player where they are in the story, and where to go next. In more Tales games it's a very dry affair that pretty much just tells you what you already know. In Abyss however, the synopsis is written from Luke's perspective as it it were his journal. This means it actually has some narrative flair to it, and contains insights into events that Luke doesn't necessarily express during the course of normal gameplay. He also dates some of the entries, which gives you a good feel how long things are taking in game. I'll always drop new synopsis stuff at the end of each update.
It Started with a Song
Remday, Rem-Decan 23, ND2018
Looks like it's going to be another boring day. Not one thing has gone right over the seven years since my kidnapping. I lose my memory, they keep me confined here, I keep getting headaches and hearing things all the time...
But today, master Van came to the mansion, so maybe it won't be so boring after all. Time to head over to the drawing room to see him!
I heard some really depressing news in the drawing room... Master Van won't be able to come and train me for awhile. Apparently this “Fon Master Ion” or somebody from the Order of Lorelei disappeared, so he has to go help in the search. This really makes me mad!
Since he has to go away, he said he'd give me some training today in the courtyard.
But just as I was practicing with Master Van, I heard a strange song (a “fonic hymn,” he called it... what's that?). It made me sleepy, and then this weird girl came in and attacked Van. I tried to stop her, but all of a sudden some incredible power appeared between us, and we were thrown into a valley neither of us were familiar with.