The way the party members constantly shame him does begin to grate at some point, as none of them are saints.
Definitely agree with the world comment despite being a huge fan of the game, it was pretty inevitable unfortunately given it was Zestiria's world 2,000 years in the past so nothing had really been established yet, and what was there was just a bunch of re-used Zestiria locations. I will say I did enjoy the story for the most part though.
Act 1 was interesting in how you were assembling a crew of people who all wanted revenge, but gradually over time became a family.
Act 2....wasn't great. It literally was just a bunch of fetch quests that ultimately didn't matter to the plot, but I guess it was trying to serve the purpose of world-building.
Act 3 was fantastic though, going against the Abbey felt like I was going up against the God-Generals again, the big twist in the end actually gave some life to the world, and the character development that occurred felt so well-done and genuine.
No joke: Luke Fon Fabre is the best Tales protagonist by virtue of actually having a character arc.
That's just how it is with Tales games.I find it especially infuriating that:
Anise is LITERALLY a traitor and gets none of the vitriol Luke did, it's basically swept under the rug.
I gave up 20 hours in. For what its worth I gave up at 7 hours for Zestiria. I think I just got fed up with the soulless gameplay. Vesper is is the closest modern Tales where the gameplay is immersive enough not to feel button mashy.
Berseria is just a spamfest and you're just spamming crap with no mana expense. Felt really odd to me from what I remember of it.
That's just how it is with Tales games.Good times.Remember when Alvin shot Jude's childhood friend and everyone forgave him?
I haven't actually enjoyed Tales combat since Vesperia, including Graces which everyone else loves but I don't really. Xillia was like Vesperia but worse in terms of the combat as I recall it.
Hopefully I'll enjoy Arise as it seems to be going off reservation and trying something new.
O baby plzLegendia is fantastic, but that combat I admit was basic lol.
A lot of folks think a remake might be in the cards given how much Namco has been promoting the Legendia cast in it's mobage and merch lately.
I imagine they're trying to get Arise out at least for now.
I actually think that's one of the benefits of JRPGs in general in the sense that they mask often times real ass themes or problems behind what is decidedly "anime" moments and crazy over the top hijinks, resulting in this tonal shift that is USUALLY escalated properly. Things like Trigun for example where everything starts out silly and cheerful and goes darker and darker the longer you watch, or things like Tales of Abyss where the truth about Luke is shown, or the fact that one of the characters in XB2 wants to literally kill themselves and fools the hero into helping them.JRPGs are a pain.
In almost every JRPG are many mature, great character moments... but in almost every JRPG they are covered in so much propes and anoying anime cliches that they often get overseen.
Luke had some greate moments, but the game did not feel as if it did that much that i did not already see in other jrpgs...but i cant pinpoint to them. And the game has the most pointless "go ther then go there" runaround fetch quests that it got just so tedious after half the game. The gameplay was worse than Symphonia And Vesperia (not that i played vesperia), and even phantasia feelt kinda more fun than abyss. abyss is fine, but there were just to many things. And Luke... yeah, my problem is less with luke and more with the group of assholes that are presented as his friends.
That's just how it is with Tales games.Good times.Remember when Alvin shot Jude's childhood friend and everyone forgave him?
I don't like the Graces/Zestiria/Berseria style combat either but Abyss and Vesperia have very simple battle system and it's incredibly easy to do infinite combos in those.Glad I'm not alone in that regard. Its also ridiculously easy and heaven forbid I increase the difficulty unless I want to go up against health sponge enemies wherein its just tedious moronic design and not challenging.
Yes? Destiny 2, Rebirth, Xillia 2, Zestiria. Probably others like Graces, Hearts and Innocence but I don't remember much.If there any mainline game on this series that DOESN'T feature a traitor in the playable cast that's forgiven by everyone? The only one I can think of is Phantasia and that's only by virtue of being the first entry that predates most clichés of the franchise.
Yes? Destiny 2, Rebirth, Xillia 2, Zestiria. Probably others like Graces, Hearts and Innocence but I don't remember much.
Im mixed on this. If it works, shure. FF9 is handling it quite well i have to say, after replaying it. But more ofthen then not the depth gets held back by the anime tropes, and sometimes they go straigt against the themes they try to tackle. Or developers dont take kare of consistency in motivation and morals of characters, where its okay to do one think nut once the store needs it its not okay.I actually think that's one of the benefits of JRPGs in general in the sense that they mask often times real ass themes or problems behind what is decidedly "anime" moments and crazy over the top hijinks, resulting in this tonal shift that is USUALLY escalated properly. Things like Trigun for example where everything starts out silly and cheerful and goes darker and darker the longer you watch, or things like Tales of Abyss where the truth about Luke is shown, or the fact that one of the characters in XB2 wants to literally kill themselves and fools the hero into helping them.
I think it's something used typically to the point of excess, but I find merit in trying to hide the serious under the ludicrous or hilarious, because often the most tortured or painful moments in life are spent either trying to distract or pretend they didn't happen and often the reality of coming to grips with life being shitty is existential dread almost no one can really deal with.
I think things like FF12 that play their cards "straight" and stuff are phenomenal as well, versus FF7R which tries to kind of play its hijnks and serious moments too close back to back, but I do find it interesting when Anime and the like take what is a ridiculous set dressing and when you dig underneath it find that it's really about something like depression or just being a broken human. Shit's fun.
I find it especially infuriating that:
Anise is LITERALLY a traitor and gets none of the vitriol Luke did, it's basically swept under the rug.
That's just how it is with Tales games.Good times.Remember when Alvin shot Jude's childhood friend and everyone forgave him?
If there any mainline game on this series that DOESN'T feature a traitor in the playable cast that's forgiven by everyone? The only one I can think of is Phantasia and that's only by virtue of being the first entry that predates most clichés of the franchise.
Right there's definitely plenty of misses versus the hits, for sure. Just saying I find it endearing as a methodology. Normally WEstern Media and media people favor as "mature" almost entirely revolves around hitting one "note" of tone throughout its execution, and I find it interesting that the same game that has for example a cross dressing mercenary pretending can also address huge themes of loss and death in a way like FF7 does.Im mixed on this. If it works, shure. FF9 is handling it quite well i have to say, after replaying it. But more ofthen then not the depth gets held back by the anime tropes, and sometimes they go straigt against the themes they try to tackle. Or developers dont take kare of consistency in motivation and morals of characters, where its okay to do one think nut once the store needs it its not okay.
While where at the example of Abyss, i experienced JRPGs where at one point killing a bad guy got presented as a big thing, but all the enemies till then...yeah, lets asume every soldier that i afackte with a fire breathing dragon, thunder magic and a battle axe is just passed out... and with abyss in concrete: the main cast is so stupid in so many ways that lukes development and his remourse just looks silly. Almost all of them are bad people, that could solve half the problems at the spot if they would not wait for a convenient moment to share there backstory/motivation....
Thas also the reason why so many were fans thought Yuri was "sooo deeep"... since he was older than 6 and did react and think slightly more mature then the average anime/shonen protagonist.
JRPGs HAVE the potential... but ofthen, they lack the self awareness and restraint do pull it of in my opinion (spoken as a JRPG/anime fan that gets kindy anoyed by this stuff, since he knows how good stuff can gett)
@Trigun: long past since i watched it, but would not compare it. there were no moments where you facepalmed because vash acted against his natural progression, or characters keep secrets of stuff that could help.
No joke: Luke Fon Fabre is the best Tales protagonist by virtue of actually having a character arc.
Abyss has a great story with a great cast but the game got shit on because it released at a time when people wanted dattebayo protagonist-kuns in their anime games and not a bunch of terrible people just trying to find their way in the world.
Tales of the Abyss is one of my favorite JRPGs ever since it actually has a good story.
Every one of the 6 God-Generals had believable motivations to join the big bad guy, and had connections to the main cast and were relevant to the plot. IMO, only Berseria even comes close to Abyss in terms of story
I remember that detail caught my attention when I played the game the first time, and the cool thing is that it doesn't go away, normally one would think that Luke would get used to it with time but it's brought back near the end of the game by Jade.
Yes? Destiny 2, Rebirth, Xillia 2, Zestiria. Probably others like Graces, Hearts and Innocence but I don't remember much.
Amusingly, FF9 does it in a way more cutesy and at the same time more reflective and mature way then 7 (i love FF6-9, just replaying 7 and 8 last year and 9 now, i have seen that it does a lot of things better than FF7 in that regard... probably because death is death and no force ghost bullshit like with the extended media of FF7)Right there's definitely plenty of misses versus the hits, for sure. Just saying I find it endearing as a methodology. Normally WEstern Media and media people favor as "mature" almost entirely revolves around hitting one "note" of tone throughout its execution, and I find it interesting that the same game that has for example a cross dressing mercenary pretending can also address huge themes of loss and death in a way like FF7 does.
Opinion's can't be wrong, besides this one. Especially this one.(/s if it's not obvious) I thought his design and voice acting were both top tier for their time. Voice acting especially, Abyss in general has really good voice work for the main characters.I hated Luke so much I dropped Abyss and never looked back. What an absolutely insufferable character with a terrible design on top of it and awful voice acting
Yeah except the first character arc is "this main character sucks s hard Im probably going to quit the game in an hour"No joke: Luke Fon Fabre is the best Tales protagonist by virtue of actually having a character arc.
Haha I think my text comes off more assertive than I mean it to. I speculate that it's very interesting that Anime and Japanese media does it but I see the merits and quality of each equally when done right. And yeah 9 is my favorite FF so I could sing its praises all day haha.Amusingly, FF9 does it in a way more cutesy and at the same time more reflective and mature way then 7 (i love FF6-9, just replaying 7 and 8 last year and 9 now, i have seen that it does a lot of things better than FF7 in that regard... probably because death is death and no force ghost bullshit like with the extended media of FF7)
But your point stands, if its done good, it can be more effective than the western aproach.
Keep on mind that a protagonist like Luke was pretty rare back then, specially on this series. It was quite the novelty to play as an unapologetic prick. I continued playing the game solely because of that got me intriged.Yeah except the first character arc is "this main character sucks s hard Im probably going to quit the game in an hour"
Id love for more RPGs to have more interesting arcs that arent dependent on the character being an insufferable deuche
Yea I have to agree. Yuri didn't age as well as I thought
Cant speak for other Tales games, but in 2005 the 4 previous biggest RPGs in the world, Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX and X all featured unapologetic pricks as their main character. It was hardly new, it was more like the norm.Keep on mind that a protagonist like Luke was pretty rare back then, specially on this series. It was quite the novelty to play as an unapologetic prick. I continued playing the game solely because of that got me intriged.
Cant speak for other Tales games, but in 2005 the 4 previous biggest RPGs in the world, Final Fantasy VII, VIII, IX and X all featured unapologetic pricks as their main character. It was hardly new, it was more like the norm.