Welcome back to Tales of The Abyss where it has been rightfully brought to my attention by the kind @vetrena that Luke is technically only 7 years old.
To be fair, I’m not entirely sure what that means in this context for several reasons. Sure he’s a clone that was created to be 10 years old at the time and everyone says he had no memories, but what counts as memories?
Like, what counts as “square one” when they were raising clone Luke? Like, when he was recovered was he basically a baby? Did they have to, like, teach him walking, talking, and continence? Or was clone Luke created with those basics in mind? Is it even possible to do that?
Because no one is clear on what condition he was found in.
And you know it’s funny, that Guy and Natalia blame themselves for how Luke turned out? Well, Natalia blames Guy because she’s a spoiled princess of course she sees “the help” is the one truly responsible. But she puts a little on herself too. Which is bizarre to me, they’re like, the same age he is more or less, they have no obligations towards how Luke is raised whatsoever.
Luke is garbage because of whatever system his aristocrat garbage family had him develop in. Which technically Natalia had a hand in but only so tangentially that it’s virtually meaningless.
And they had this conversation right after I had assumed everyone was just going to forget about him. Because the game made it seem like once everyone found out Luke was a clone he didn’t matter anymore and they could just ignore him.
And literally as I was thinking this Guy and Natalia have a skit where they’re worried Luke will feel like they abandoned him.
So, the writing was a little weird there. It sort of showed no indication that they were conflicted about leaving him until they were already back on the surface world.
This is bad pacing but I’m not going to chide the game’s writers for not being perfect at all things, even if this is a bit of a major emotional and characterization oversight.
Like I was genuinely led to believe everyone just stopped thinking about Luke after the reveal. But no, it looks like they still care about him even though he isn’t the person they thought they knew for the first 10 years of their lives. I’m genuinely surprised, that’s really big of them.
Frankly I’m surprised the writers didn’t make bad decisions like having them feel angry and betrayed because Luke was a fake even though absolutely none of that is Luke’s fault.
You know how often that happens in stories, where characters are just so incredulous and betrayed over something a character has literally no responsibility for? Often enough to think that this is refreshing. This is like a narrative dream come true. I have to beg and plead for good character reactions like that and never get it.
But yeah anyone else think it’s super gross that they’re thinking this way? Since you know, Guy is a servant to all these rich good for nothings with their kingdoms and stuff? They’re just freaking kids.
No, not really. She barely has a point. Asch has had a life. Yes he’s gone through some horrors but he’s actually 17, has his own life and agency, and seems to have nothing but contempt for the two of you.
Luke, as much as I loathe to sympathize with him, is a mere child and he has consistently demonstrated he cannot fully care for or think for himself in a capacity that truly matters.
