History VideoGame / TalesOfTheAbyss

** [[spoiler: When it becomes clear that Luke and Asch have distinct personalities rather than merely being “clone and original,” their relationship dynamic strongly resembles that of a younger and older sibling with Luke as the Abel to Asch’s Cain. However, [[AntiHero it’s more complicated than that.]]

* ShoutOut: Typical for a VideoGame/TalesSeries game. Noteworthy examples are three of Anise's dolls being modeled after [[VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia Cless]], [[VideoGame/TalesOfDestiny Philia]], and [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Presea]]. Jade's belt buckle is VideoGame/PacMan. Nam Cobanda Island is full of {{Shout Out}}s to various Namco games. There is one replica in Daath who comments that [[spoiler:"Zelos died,"]] which is a possible way that VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia can end.

** The entire Contamination Sidequest revolves around how Auldrant's laws of physics are as unforgiving as [[MohsScaleOfScienceFictionHardness our own]], when Jade has to come to terms with the fact that despite all his determination and genius [[spoiler:it's simply not possible for him to save Luke any more than he can bring back Professor Nebilim.]]

->''"Into this world sustained by [[PropheciesAreAlwaysRight the Score]], a [[SpannerInTheWorks stone]] has been thrown. The ripples will soon try to instigate a gigantic change."''

* {{Expy}}:
** First reaction to Luke's character design: "Hey, doesn't he look like [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Zelos]]?" Though in personality, that would be Anise, [[spoiler:right down to being a spy and beraying the team]]. She's basically a 13 year old female gold-digger version of Zelos.
** Getting back to Luke, he resembles an older [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Genis Sage]], as he is a [[spoiler: literal KidHero at seven years old and does act his age initially.]]
** Tear is [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Sheena]] as the lead heroine. Being the most voluptuous of the Jade Gang, a trained assassin, and has a hidden feminine side that slips on occasion. Minus the violent temper.
** Jade is the precursor to [[VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia Yuri Lowell]] albeit with blonde hair and is a spellcaster.
** Notably, [[VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia Flynn Scifo]] reuses the same design as Guy. Although Guy's character is closer Lloyd, albeit more mature, right down to having a [[spoiler: KidHero]] as his best friend. Also like Lloyd, he is outed as the AccidentalPervert in their respective Hot Spring/Bath scenes.
** Natalia is the only one in the group without any notable expies.
** In-universe, [[spoiler: Luke and Asch.]]
** Fon Master Ion is [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Colette]] as a boy.
** In one of Jade's flashbacks, Gelda Nebilim sure looked an awful lot like [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Raine Sage.]] Nebilim even became a teacher just like Raine was. It doesn't help that Gelda Nebilim's [[Creator/TaraPlatt Voice Actress]] in the U.S. version is the same one who played Raine in [[VideoGame/TalesOfTheWorld Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology]] and [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World]]. In the [=OVAs=], at least, they have the same Japanese [=VA=].

** Notably, [[VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia Flynn Scifo]] reuses the same design as Guy. Although Guy's character is closer Lloyd, albeit more mature, right down to having a [[spoiler: KidHero]] as his best friend.

** In-universe, [[spoiler: Luke and Asche.]]

** Tear is [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Sheena]] as the lead heroine. Being the most voluptuous of the Jade Gang, a trained assassin, and hidden feminine side that slips on occasion. Minus the violent temper.

** Notably, [[VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia Flynn Scifo]] reuses the same design as Guy.

** Fon Master Ion is [[VieoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Colette]] as a boy.

** Notably, [[VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia Flynn]] reuses the same design as Guy.

** Getting back to Luke, he resembles an older [[VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia Genis Sage]],as he is a [[spoiler: literal KidHero at seven years old and does act his age initially.]]

** Getting back to Luke, he resembles an older [[VideoGame/TalesOf Symphonia Genis Sage]],as he is a [[spoiler: literal KidHero at seven years old and does act his age initially.]]

** Getting back to Luke, he resembles an older [[VideoGame/TalesOf Symphonia Genis Sage]]. As he is a [[spoiler: literal KidHero at seven years old.]]
** Jade is the precursor to [[VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia Yuri Lowell]] albiet with blonde hair and is a spellcaster rather than a swordsman.
**

* DeconstructionFleet:

* {{Deconstruction}}:
** Although it's not as big as the game's DeconstructorFleet attitude towards destiny tropes, the game still takes a stab at the MartyStu cliche through Jade by showing just how dangerous a Marty Stu-type character would be. When it comes to fonic artes and science, nobody can match Jade. Period. He created the first replica at an improbable age (nine!) and mastered artes adults found difficult without any hassle. However, while brilliant, he's also a complete sociopath with no emotional attachment to the world. Jade reflects on this later in the game when he realises that, despite having the most incredible mind in the world, he considers his lack of consideration nothing short of inhuman and comes to believe that his intellect has been nothing but a blight on the planet. This culminates in him expressing a wish to [[spoiler:go back in time and kill himself as an infant]].

* DeconstructorFleet: The game tears into the concept of TheChosenOne and every trope relating to destiny and fate. It takes the nature of the setting, and shows just what kind of society would evolve due to the fact that a comprehensive prophecy that is ''always right'' exists, completely revolves around it, and takes it very close to its horrifyingly logical conclusion.

** LockedOutOfTheLoop is hit with this as well. Luke gets locked out of several conversations early on by the other characters on account of them either thinking he was too stupid to understand what they are talking about, or because they just don't really care if he knows or not, and this makes him (rightfully) angry because most of the time, nobody explains why they are not including him in the loop. Eventually it gets to the point where the only person Luke can trust is his mentor Van, which ends up making it easy [[spoiler:for Van to manipulate him into trusting him, leading Luke to destroy Akzeruth by accident]]. Basically, the game shows how utterly stupid locking someone out of the loop is when the loop directly relates to them. In addition, it also deconstructs the trope in another, more subtle way as it relates to Luke's amnesia. Specifically, due to how high functioning he is, many characters often forget that he is amnesiac and as a result doesn't tell him of things he really should know, thinking it is something so basic that he should already know this. This comes to ahead when [[spoiler:Luke get's a message from Lorelei and doesn't understand it's full meaning as he was never taught ancient Ispanian]].

** LockedOutOfTheLoop is hit with this as well. Luke gets locked out of several conversations early on by the other characters on account of them either thinking he was too stupid to understand what they are talking about, or because they just don't really care if he knows or not, and this makes him (rightfully) angry because most of the time, nobody explains why they are not including him in the loop. Eventually it gets to the point where the only person Luke can trust is his mentor Van, which ends up making it easy [[spoiler:for Van to manipulate him into trusting him, leading Luke to destroy Akzeruth by accident]]. Basically, the game shows how utterly stupid locking someone out of the loop is when the loop directly relates to them.

* PrizedPossessionGuveaway: [[TheHeroine Tear]] gives up a pendant she was wearing to a carriage driver in order to get herself and [[TheHero Luke]] back to his home town after she accidentally ended up getting them both teleported out of the city. She later reveals it was the last thing she had left of her mother, prompting Luke to go and find it during a side quest.

** Princess Natalia is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=li8xgS8NeZE&feature=related text]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nTw_a-wNgo&feature=related book]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3G6DSi3MArI&feature=related example]], and to a lesser extent, so is Luke.
*** A bit of GameplayAndStorySegregation, as when either Natalia or Luke are actually used to make meals for the party, they're no more likely to fail at it than any other member of the party.
** While Jade is a decent chef, according to skits he uses his cooking as "non-lethal" experiments on the group. It's usually mild things like putting in disliked ingredients or testing their tolerance for spiciness, but it probably wouldn't be the smartest thing to have him cook while you're in Mushroom Road.
*** You don't even need skits to know what Jade is like at times- look at what he adds to some of the food in the optional ingredient section, or read what he makes when it tells you; for instance, when asked to make pizza after he gets his first or second star on the recipe, he makes Potato Pizza, provided you have potatoes on hand, as they are his choice ingredient for this one. Though, this might just mean Jade has BizarreTasteInFood.

* LetsSplitUpGang:
** Happens twice more: first during the TimedMission in the Meggiora Highlands, and again when the party [[spoiler:attempts to warn the civilians and military as the Shurrey Hill area is about to fall]]. At least during these, you get to choose who goes in which party; the former has you choose between Guy and Jade, and the latter between Natalia and Jade (again).
*** Actually, you don't HAVE to pick between Guy and Jade- you can leave them with Tear and get three skits about being worried for Luke, and take Anise and Natalia if you want. You can still split the teams as you desire there. The latter, however, does force you to choose.

* LockedOutOfTheLoop: Jade figures out early that [[spoiler:Luke is a replica of Asch]] but doesn't tell him... it's not like its an important part of the BigBad's plan or anything.
** It's worse than that; everyone except Natalia is keeping some kind of secret from Luke and all the others when the game starts:
*** Tear tried to kill Van because [[spoiler:she overheard him talking to Legretta about his plans which would destroy the world...but because [[VillainWithGoodPublicity everyone loves him]], she [[CassandraTruth doesn't think they'd believe her]] if she tells them so outright.]]
*** Guy has been conspiring with Van for years [[spoiler:to kill Luke in front of his father as revenge for his own family's death at Duke Fabre's hands,]] although he is unaware of Van's other plans.
*** Anise [[spoiler:[[TheMole is spying on them for Grand Maestro Mohs]], reporting on all their actions, and is basically the reason the God-Generals always know where they are, because Mohs has her parents hostage so she can't disobey him.]]

* LoveHurts: Really bad.

* ThePromise: Subverted and Deconstructed by Asch who pointedly states that he thinks making promises is meaningless. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, [[HeroicSacrifice he never keeps his promise]] to Luke at the end of the game.]]

** Guy and Sync aren't counterparts, although the game spends a lot of time making one think that is going to be the case. [[spoiler:He singles out Guy for his curse-slot, and Guy is the first one to see the face under the mask; his shocked reaction makes one think Guy knows him. Both turn out to be red herrings. Rather, Sync has more in line with Ion and ''Anise''. His Akashic Torment attack is the same as Ion's Daathic Fonic Arte (seen in Luke's Radiant Howl extension), and a number of his hand-to-hand artes mirror Anise's moves, including Stone Dragon Ascent. Meanwhile, his role in-story has him mirror Ion and antagonize Anise.]]
*** Meanwhile, we find out that the actual counterpart to Guy is [[spoiler:Van himself. Both are survivors of Hod who swore revenge, but Guy, having let go of his hatred, represents a rejection of everything Van wants to achieve.]]

* RealityEnsues:
** Luke is constantly LockedOutOfTheLoop by everyone, except for his mentor Van. Instead of this leaving Luke confused but focused on moving ahead on the journey, it makes Luke extremely angry because the others keep treating him like TheLoad. [[spoiler:This makes it easy for Van to exploit Luke to cause the destruction of Akzeriuth, since Van used Luke's trust to make himself seem like he cared for him.]]
** The antagonists attempt to cause a FalseFlagOperation by having their troops dress up as both soldiers from both factions and have them attack the other with suicide bombers. The heroes don't fall for it, and neither do the leaders of either faction. Jade points out that no sane military would use suicide bombers as a tactic; it's a massive waste of resources and soldiers. Even when Natalia seems to fall for it, she looks into the issue first before jumping the gun; it doesn't take much convincing for her to see that the entire thing was a set-up.
** Luke's sheltered upbringing means while he has been trained by Van to know how to fight, he has never actually been in a real fight. While he is able to kill monsters with ease, once he fights a human and kills him in self defense, he momentarily goes into a HeroicBSOD because killing a man is a much more difficult thing to live with than monsters or animals. For the rest of the game, Luke is plagued with guilt over having to do so, and even in the late game, admits he thinks about how many people he's had to kill in self-defense. Also, while he struggles with it, the others don't, and thus makes it harder for them to discuss the issue with Luke because they are pretty much [[ItGetsEasier desensitized]] to it.
** A PlayedForLaughs example during the optional HotSpringsEpisode. Jade decides to be a troll and push Guy into the girls bath to rile them up. The girls all are startled by it like you would expect, making it appear the UnprovokedPervertPayback trope will be in play. The girls instead calm down almost right away and tell Guy not to apologize because they understand he suffers from [[CannotTalkToWomen gynophobia]] and would not of entered on his own free will.

* FamousAncestor: None other than Yulia Jue for Tear and Van.

* FantasyGunControl: Averted by Legretta; played straight with everyone else.
* FearfulSymmetry: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] and abused by Luke and Asch.

* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Just think Akzeriuth. [[spoiler:Luke had Van's betrayal coming from a mile away.]] {{Justified|Trope}} when one takes into account [[spoiler:Luke is just seven and looks at Van as his father figure.]]

* IdiotHero: Luke. My God, Luke. [[spoiler:This is {{Justified|Trope}}, {{Deconstructed|Trope}}, and {{Averted|Trope}} when you take into account the fact Luke is actually seven; he's an idiot because he really only has seven years worth of knowledge (and is expected to act 17 at minimum), this leads to a lot of grief (especially as everyone fails to properly account for his true age), and when one really considers all Luke does over the game, he's actually quite smart for his age.]]

* JamesBondage: Ion, who manages to get himself kidnapped more times than most female [[DamselInDistress damsels]]. [[spoiler:{{Justified|Trope}} by him actually being two years old.]]

* ManChild: Luke, because of his complete amnesia (''complete''--he had to relearn how to ''eat'') seven years ago. He's basically seven years old. Can be seen as a {{Deconstruction}}, as his childish acts eventually piss everybody off before he gets his CharacterDevelopment. [[spoiler:This is also [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] as he actually ''is'' seven as a replica and his amnesia is just him starting as a BlankSlate.]]

* NeverMyFault: [[spoiler:Luke absolutely ''refuses'' to accept that Akzeriuth his fault in the immediate aftermath. His eventual admittance that it ''was'' his fault, and his desire to atone for it, are major points in his CharacterDevelopment. Of course it's [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] considering he's actually seven and ''hates'' killing people; the way it's portrayed makes it clear he's in denial because if he accepts it he'll break. Which he does when he's forced to by Asch.]]

* OverratedAndUnderleveled: Jade and Asch. Both are [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]: in Jade's case when he first joins the group he's as impressive as his reputation. Then he gets hit by a [[PowerLimiter fon slot seal]] and spends a good chunk of time unlocking it. While in Asch's case, [[spoiler:investigating things will reveal he's going through the Big Bang and thus being weakened as a result of his slow death from that.]]

* PowerLimiter: Jade has 2. The [[AppliedPhlebotinum fon slot seal]] Largo used on him early-on in the game to even out his level with the other characters, and through an [[GuideDangIt easy to miss sidequest]], you learn that [[spoiler:his glasses prevent the fonons gathered in his eyes from destroying himself and whatever happens to be nearby.]] The first one [[JustifiedTrope justifies]] his [[LevelUp leveling up]] as him slowly breaking the seal by himself, which is described as breaking a lock whose combination is constantly changing while underwater wrapped in chains and weights. It's implied that he's actually grown stronger over the course of the story, as the skit where he finally breaks the seal doesn't appear until around level 50; Jade was level 45 when the seal was applied.

* RealIsBrown - Bright colors are used, but their tone very rarely goes beyond into bright glaring pastel in the game's graphics. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]], though, as bright colors would create a lot of MoodWhiplash.

* SmallAnnoyingCreature: Mieu. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] by Luke getting pissed off at his hyper-cutesy speech patterns the second he starts talking and calling him "Thing" for the first half of the game.