Part 2: Tataroo Valley

Tataroo Valley



: “Wake up, Luke!”



: “Oh good, you're okay.”

: “Where are we?”

: “I don't know. That was pretty strong. I almost thought we'd been caught in the Planet Storm.”

: “Wait, that's right! You were trying to...!”



: “Stop, don't try to move so suddenly. Are you injured? Where does it hurt?”





: “I'm Tear. It would seem that a hyperresonance occurred between us.”

: “A hyperresonance? What's that?”

Finally, some explaination!



Great, an explanation that makes no sense. Of course.

: “That would explain why the royal family is protecting you.”



: “I don't understand a thing you're saying!”

You and me both, buddy.

: “.....”

: “Well say something!”

: “First you tell me to shut up, now you're telling me to talk.”



: “You don't seem to know anything. Talking here would be a waste of time.”

: “So what are we gonna do now?”

: “I'll escort you back to your manor in Baticul.”

: “How?! We don't even know where we are!”

: “You see the sea just over there right?”



: “At any rate, let's head out of this ravine and down to the coast. If we can find a road, there should be carriages passing along. We should be able to find a way back.”

: “And just how are we supposed to get to the sea from here?”

: “Stop and listen. Hear that water flowing? There's a river. If we follow the river, we should come out to the sea.”

: “...Huh. Is that how it works?”

: “Let's go.”







Tataroo Valley is our first “dungeon”, though in practice it is a very obvious tutorial level that's pretty much a straight shot. Also please excuse the quality drop of these screenshots: the first update was taken from my PS3 before it imploded, so from here on out you'll get to see the game as it was meant to be: glorious 480i.

Skit: This Place...

: “I don't like this place. It's all dark, you can't see anything, there are monsters everywhere...”

: “Once you leave the safety of town, monsters can appear anywhere. This is no different from anywhere else. As for the darkness, well... it's nighttime. There's not much I can do about that.”

: “Well, yeah, but I mean, I get out for the first time in years, and as soon as I open my eyes, it's all dark with monsters all over the place. What's up with that?”

: “Maybe right now it is dark and eerie and full of monsters, but... I still think it's a pretty place. I mean, I've never been around this much... nature...”

: “Hmm...”





: “Monsters?!”

: “Here they come!”

: “You've got to be kidding me!”







Battle!



The boars really only have one trick, which is that they like to charge at you and deal halfway decent damage.



Not that I give him any chance to. The boar goes down easy. Also for your Tales veterans yes: I grabbed the 500hp New Game+ I'll go more into detail in the near future.

: “...Whew. Th-that wasn't so tough...”



: “Don't relax just yet. Look. There's more.”



Looks... tough?

: “If you come into contact with monsters like that, you'll have to fight them. Be careful.”

: “...Humph. Think you know everything, don't you?”

Encounters in Tales of the Abyss are not random, but rather monsters visibly roam dungeons and the world map. Most will chase you once you get into range, but otherwise you can go out of your way to avoid them. This helps because when you see a monster roaming around, the sprite used will always be the most powerful monster in the pack. So if you see a beast you don't want to fight, you can run the other way.

Skit: Tear's Purpose

: “So, are you going to tell me why you broke into the manor, or why you attacked Master van, or ...anything?”

: “I don't see any point in telling you, and I doubt you'd understand, anyway. Besides, what would you do if I did tell you?”

: “I just figured, if you're plotting something, it might be kind of risky to travel with you.”

: “...Heh heh.”

: “Hey, what are you laughing at?!”

: “I'm sorry. Don't worry, I have no intention of harming you. That's all I can tell you for now, but... will you trust me?”

: “...Fine, fine. It's just the two of us... there's no point in fighting anyway.”



Okay, let's get going.



Filifolia put up zero fight, and are the fodder of this area.



AD skills are abilities that your characters learn over time as they become stronger. Most of them are passive bonuses, but a few are active abilities that the player or AI can take advantage of in battle. Some are very potent indeed! Critical Guard reduces damage received when not moving forward. Marginally useful.

You ready for some treasure?



Decent!



Orange Gel Is the same as Apple Gel, but heals 30% of your TP, not HP. TP is essentially mana, though everybody including melee fighters pulls from it to perform special attacks.



The way down is a meat grinder. That is, the monsters are the meat and I am the grinder.



Along the way, Luke also picks up Critical Guard.

Skit: I Can't Take It Anymore

: “*Huff* *Huff*... We should be safe now that we've made it this far....”

: “...Um, Luke...”

: “*Huff* *huff* Wh...what? *huff*”

: “Please try to choose your battles. My healing artes can only go so far. If you're not careful, we could both die. Even enemies that move quickly... are you listening?”

: “*Huff* *huff* Lecturing... later... Need to... breathe... *cough*.”

: “It's hopeless...”







: “Be careful, there's more than one this time!”

: “...No way!”



To be fair, it could probably be ten of these stupid things and I'd be safe.

: “What the hell?!”

: “Luke, relax!”

: “How the hell am I supposed to relax?!”

: “When faced with multiple enemies you can change the one you target.”



I'm going to ignore the fact that Tear just explained to Luke that it is possible to look around at things other than what's in front of you.

: “Good, you can change targets to attack a weak enemy or help an ally. Adjust your target as the situation needs.”

: “How can I understand it if you yell it all out at once?!”

: “Get ready!”

: “Huh?!”



'Probably' my ass. There are multiple ways for your characters to learn new Artes, but the main way we'll be getting them is by leveling up. When you hit a certain level, characters will obtain new artes in battle when you go to attack.



Havok Strike is Luke's second arte, and it's pretty shitty. It looks cool: Luke jumps into the air and brings his boot down to curbstomp a bitch, but it has weak combo potential, does little damage, and leaves Luke wide open on all sides after. I'll use it for sake of variety, but once we get some better artes this is going out the window.

Skit: Efficiently

: “Whew...”

: “What's wrong?”

: “Nothing. Leave me alone, will you?”

: “You've gotten better at fighting. Now if you could pay a little more attention to your surroundings-”

: “Okay, okay! Excuse me for all the monsters finding me!”

: “As long as you know.”

: “There's no need to run away from every one, but no need to fight them all, either. Try to watch a little more closely for monsters, okay?”

: “Yes, ma'am.”



We're getting farther down the valley, and are close to the end. Despite the muddy graphics, I like Tataroo Valley a lot. Then again I've always loved Nighttime locations in RPG's: I liked Halure aa lot better when it was nighttime.



Mandractus are a little more challenging, insofar as they take slightly longer to die.

Skit: Stupid Monsters

: “Stupid monsters! You better keep out of my way!”

: “You're getting better at fending them off, Luke.”

: “Humph. I was just a little startled at first, that's all. I've been training with Master Van. Those wimps are no match for me!”

: “Van...”

: “Huh, you say something?!”

: “No, nothing. Let's go.”







Life Bottles Are one time revive items. If a party member is knocked out, they can be revived by a life bottle. These things are life savers against tough bosses who hit hard.



Oh hey! A Cape is an equipable item that adds-... well, let me just show you!



Capes are a defensive item that can be equipped to the accessory slot. Since Luke is (hopefully!) going to be seeing much more frontline action, we'll give it to Luke.

And before you ask, no: your badass cape does not affect how your characters look on the map or in combat.

Skit: Going Home

: “I'm sorry... I'll get you back to your manor.”

: “You damn well better!”

: “It's my fault after all... I'm very sorry.”

: “yeah well..., I don't get out all that often anyway, so I guess a little walking around won't hurt.”

: “So... do you want to go home or not?”

: “Of course I want to go home! What the hell kind of question is that?!”

: “Then stop talking and start moving. If you want to go for a stroll, wait until we're someplace safter.”

: “*sigh* Fine, fine."



Here we go. Free Run is the skill that changes everything. It is essentially the one item that redefines the battle system for the Tales series going forward, and is the major innovation that Abyss is credited for.

To put it simply, Free Run lets you run in the third dimension. You'll see more in my combat tutorial video, but in the earlier Tales games and at the start of Abyss, your character can run back and forth but is more or less stuck on a 2D plane. Free Run however lets you hold the R2 button to run in 3D. You can circle around opponents, juke out of oncoming attacks, and other such benefits a third dimension brings. Funny enough a lot of people fail to take advantage of this mechanic, which frankly is pretty stupid: you can utterly break this game by using Free Run often, because just because they put it in the game does not mean the AI knows how to deal with it.

Skit: Secretly Practicing

: “Training and real battle are way different, aren't they... I'm just now starting to get a feel for it.”

: “Well, maybe not as good as Master Van, but... hold the sword like this... parry like... that?”

: “Practicing your sword work?”

: “Whoa! W-what do you want?!”

: “...If you want more hits, you need to watch your allies movements and work on combining artes. There's only so much one person can do. Think about connecting one arte to another-”

: “Shut up! Nobody asked you!”

: “...Sorry, I suppose you're right.”

: “...What's her problem?!”



We cross the river again (for good this time) and finally make it to the end of the valley. Overall I actually like Tataroo Valley as a starting area, since it does a good job of putting the player on Luke's level. Luke has no idea where he is, what's happening, how to fight monsters or so on. Then again, neither does the player, so it works out well. You as the player feel less stupid because Luke is just as lost as you are.

: “There's the way out.”




: “Someone's coming.”



: “...The Dark Wings?”

“They're bandits: two men and a woman. But wait... there's only two of you.”

: “Humph. Don't go comparing me to some pathetic bandit.”

: “Yes, you might upset the bandits.”

: “Hey!”

: “We lost our way and found ourselves here. Who are you?”

“I'm a coachman. One of the wheels on my coach started acting up. We lost our drinking water when the jug fell off, so I came here to draw some more.”

: “A coach, perfect!”

: “Do you go to the capital?”

“Yeah, that's my last stop.”

: “Let's hitch a ride! I'm sick of walking.”

: “Yes, we don't know this area very well. Would that be all right with you?”

“To the capital, it'll be 12,000 Gald a piece. You got enough on you?”

: “That's expensive...”

: “Really? Sounds cheap to me. My dad'll take care of it when we get to the capital.”

“That's no good. I need payment in advance.”

: “...Take this.”



“Wow, this is some gem. All right, hop aboard.”

: “Huh... you got some nice stuff. Now I don't have to get my shoes all dirty.”

: “...”

Asshole.

It's worth noting that one of the things you can transfer over from New Game+ is your ending gald. It's also worth noting that having over a million gald in your pocket does not change this scene in the slightest.

“You ready to get on the coach?”

: “Yeah.”

“All right, let's go.”

Oh and one last thing before I leave you, a bit of trivia. You noticed how nice and spaced out all these skits were? And even with them all spaced out, it still seemed like quite a lot? About four of them dropped the second I got control in the area. One after another they came, including skits about Luke fighting too many monsters, despite the fact that he hadn't even fought a single one yet. That in itself is a glitch (it doesn't happen when emulating) but Tales of the Abyss in general has a bad habit of what I call “skit dumping.” That is, when you enter a new area, it throws 4-5 skits at you at the same time, rather than spacing them out at certain points. It can get a bit tiresome, so I will always try my best to spread skit dumps around an update if possible.

Synopsis

Nighttime in the Valley

The girl's name is Tear.

She keeps talking about this “Seventh Fonon” and other stuff I don't understand. She's got a pretty face, but a wretched personality. She said she'd take me back to the mansion, so we headed out of the valley.

There was a coach driver at the valley's entrance. He said he was going to the capital, so we paid the fare with Tear's pendant and got on. Whew... Finally I can relax.