LogFAQs > #961217648

CybrMonkey posted...

Laphicet may be my favorite kid character in any form of media.

tbh his storyline is so fascinating for someone his age, so I can totally see this argument. And he's likable and relatable instead of annoying. In terms of Tales... there's nothing remarkable about He Whose Name Rhymes With Penis (Symphonia) in any direction, Abyss had a certain obnoxious traitorous [expletive] who got away with murder and then some, Vesperia's Karol was more unremarkable than bad, Xillia had Elize who was made great by Teepo, Xillia 2 had Elle who wasn't even playable, and I never played Zestiria. Most of these didn't have this kind of storyline or relatability in any shape or form, and the one who did still wasn't as intriguing. Laphicet's storyline is incredibly mature for a kid and is the product of him being freed from his shackles.

As I noted before, there's also ties between each protagonist and an antagonist - just like Abyss did brilliantly: Velvet/Artorius, Rokurou/Shigetsu, Laphicet/Teresa, Magilou/Eleanor (via Bienfu), and Eizen/Melchior. Game says there will be a sixth character and if what I heard is correct, that will change this quite a bit. I wish that had been unspoiled for me, but let's be honest: Eleanor screamed "party member" from the getgo. The scene in Beardsley was not starting a villain's storyline. Her wearing her emotions so openly screamed "turncoat" right then and there, and I think us beating her and Velvet devouring her malaks and Magilou repossessing the last is what will get her to realize how much wrong she's done. If she's this sentimental, why is she using slaves like they don't have sentiments?

There's really nothing worth noting in Zekson - at least until Laphicet acts... just like the first Laphi. Velvet wishing she'd been able to travel together with her brother was a touching sentiment, and the fact that it was to #2 makes me rather... suspicious. Is Laphicet #2 the same kid, just... frozen in time and "repurposed" by fiends? I know this is the twist I'm supposed to expect, because they're being particularly obvious about it. The scouts then return and, alongside the guards, are attacked by a pendulum-heaving malak... which resembles the description of the one who abducted the captain when he went to prison. There's apparently a lot of confusion going on, which is good for us. I'm also confused, because they didn't give me a cutscene, just description.

Eizen runs off and I pursue him... I find him getting into it with this other malak, some guy named Zaveid the Whirlwind (I swear I've heard "Zavied" somewhere...). They ask Velvet to let them settle it "their way" but she doesn't want to waste time fucking around, so she and the gang beat the shit out of them both. Well that was unexpected! I win handily and get a cool new potentite that gives everyone +1 BG so long as they have +5 to their equipment. Easy to do. More Mystic Artes, baby! Zaveid heads off after the barrier shatters - did Laphicet just do that by himself...? The party doesn't think Zaveid is a killer - he seems like the "third party" type to me, and we'll have to fight him again. Also of note: Magilou is exactly what the winquotes needed. FINALLY we get some fun ones. They're still not Graces level, but still.

This place is being built on a spot with majestic energy, which is why it's not in the capital, and it's guarded by malakhim-conjured animals. After she asks for new slaves, Artorius calls out Eleanor's emotions just as I had mentioned above. Her hatred alone can't kill. Eleanor is also alarmed by the gryphon being kept in the capital, where it could break out and eat more people. Artorius dismisses her because she's not a high enough rank for the knowledge, and she doesn't seem to take this well. I think she''s starting to realize how evil the Abbey is, and thus she's complicit. It's odd that she's lived this long, honestly. One would think her emotions would've gotten the best of her by now just like Velvet has. Artorius is scared, because he knows full well that 1) Velvet knows everything and 2) that Velvet wants to kill him.

I enter the monolith and it's definitely majestic. They're using a lot of taxpayer money to build this for merely selfish reasons, not because the populace can benefit. This will probably end up being a monastery or something that's sealed off and is considered the "Sacred Grounds of the Abbey" - if the Abbey still exists by then, of course... and this place isn't destroyed by an earthquake. At any rate, I kill a ton of these pigs, rats, and Gorgons, disable the security, and don't see anything else worth commenting on. Gonna stop there.

Hope you all had a better Christmas than mine!