How are you guys doing with your playthrough? It's been a while since I've seen you update your progress. I'll try to complete the game this month now that I'll finally get some free time from work.

Nineteenth session of The Abyss: Tensions in Baticul and a blue unicorn.

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After Guy recovers his memories, the team goes back to Sheridan to see how the scientists are going with the device they need. They find the two teams of scientists bickering with each other, but they made that frequency counter, so Jade goes to get it. They tell them hat the device still needs to be stronger and more durable to be able to cancel the vivrations. The team convinces them to work together, and they go to Tartaroo Valley. There they can find another of those sephiroths. They try to reach it through sea, but some very annoying storms are blocking their path, so they have to make a detour around the other side of the world. They arrive to Tartaroo Valley, and they find that place with the flowers Tear and Luke found themselves in at the beginning of the game. Anise teases them, and both go into deny mode, all while Jade is having fun. The creatures they find there are a mix of level 1 "they fall in one hit" and some blue sprites actually annoying and difficult to kill (getto the ground already, dammit!). Anise finds "a legendary blue gorgonhod swallowtail" (just a blue butterfly), which are pretty valuable. An earthquake happens and Anise finds herself clinging for her life on a cliff. Tear and Guy run into her rescue, and th eam congratulates Guy into having apparently beaten his phobia to women. Yay! They keep going and they hear the sound of a neigh in the distance. They inmediately think it's an unicorn (sorry, an "uniceros", which is the hybrid of an unicorn and a rhinoceros?). The thing appears and it has giant feathers for eyebrows and it's a very pale shade of blue. The unicorn attacks the team, which is strange, because they aparrently are peaceful creatures. By the way, a little detail you may find funny is that, when the battle is about to start, Ion just casually goes away from the camera. Not even a hint of hurry, he just goes and leaves. The fight is long, but not that hard, apparently it has a lot of HP, but not that many attack or defense. Oce it's beaten, Tear heals it, and they discuss why did the unicorn attack them. Mieu talks to the unicorn, and it says it got irradiated with some miasma, and went mad. When the team asks where is the miasma, the unicorn says it's inside Tear's body. She says she doesn't know what is it talking about. Another twist in the making? How can a person have miasma inside its body and not die? Is she inmune to the miasma, or is she MADE of miasma? Whatever it is, I'm sure it will be mentioned later. The unicorn goes away, and the team reaches the sephiroth. Again,. nothing out of the ordinary there, some puzzles with air vents and tuning forks. By the way, there are a couple of chests on trees, and no matter how much I kick them with Mieu, they won't go down. Am I missing something there?

Anyway, they go back to the flower field of the begginning of the game, and they eat cake. Nothing really important, but I like cake, so I'll mention it. They go back to Sheridan, and the scientists tell Jade they are modifying the Tartarus so it can withstand a trip to the core. It will take some time, however, and they decide to rest in the town. Luke suddenly has a thought: because lowering all the lands is so dangerous and it will change the way the world works, Luke says they should tell that to both Kimlaska and Baticul. The team mostly agrees, but Natalia is still traumatized for the events that happened last time in Baticul. During the night, Natalia goes for a walk and Luke follows her from a distance. Suddenly, Asch appears, out of nowhere. He says he's looking for Spinoza, but I'm sure he's just there to check on Natalia. She says to him she's scared, and Asch reminds her of the promise they made to each other as children, all while a beautiful sunset happens in front of them. Awwwwww, so sweet! Luke decides to go back to the inn before they notice him, but Tear appears and catches him going back to the inn. Luke wonders what would Asch and Natalia's lives would have been if he hadn't been born. Tear tells him that those thoughts are pointless and that he should focus on his own existence.

They decide to go back to baticul. There's a constant atmosphere of tension, thinking that, at any moment, the king could launch his troops at the team. They manage to get an audience thanks to Ion's authority, and they go to the king's chambers (by the way, despite the king having renounce of Natalia, he still has a giant portrait of her in his room, a nice bit of foreshadowing). After the king's initial surprise to see them after having tried to capture and kill them, the king and Natalia have a sincere conversation about their time passed as father and daughter. Jade, I assume bored of the emotional debate, intervines and says the king can consider his position after one day thinking about it, then Jade gives a letter to the king explaining everything that is happening. Jade also makes it clear the consequences of attacking the team. The team then decides to go to the inn and rest, but i doubts any of them got any rest that day. Considering they are neer sure of the king's reactions, specially for poor Natalia. They even talk about what they should do if the King respondes by force. Natalia keeps blaming herself for letting his father be seduced by his advisors. poor girl, she can't catch a break.

The next day, they reunite with the king. He says that all of what Jade has told him in the letter must be wrong, because it contradicts the Score, and Luke says the Score is not infallible because it doesn't know about replicas and their actions. Natalia asks the king to sign a peace with Malkuth, causing all of the king's advisors to flip out and call the team traitors (even Ion, and you'd think theywouldn't want to cause a diplomatic fight with Daath). Finally, the king accepts the team's requests, and Natalia breaks down of happiness, and the king and her reunite with a big hug.  This is so sweet! And tense too, I was expecting an attack at every moment. I even grinded a bit before going to Baticul because I was expecting a full on attack from the king's part.But it seems it won't happen, which is nice. More game another day.

What kind of dungeon lasts 2 hours?

The ones where you play in Chaos. xD

Twentieth session of The Abyss: Just horror after horror. What a session.

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After talking with the kimlaskan king (and going back to the flower field to get a Miew power-up, Mieu can fly now) the team goes to Malkuth to talk with the emperor. He says he's happy their countries can stop the war, and asks for a meeting of world leaders to discuss the following measures. But because half of the land is now underground, and they need a vehicle to get them all to Yulia City, the team decides to go after the flightstone, to power up the planecopter and bring the world leaders to Yulia City. Apparently, the flystone is being hidden by Dist on Daath, so that's where they go. They reach the Chatedral of Daath, and suddenly a paper plane hits Anice. It's from Dist, who teases the group in his own bombastic way. He challenges them to a duel somewhere else, but Jade inmediately points out Jade isn't there to stop them from getting the flightstone, so they just ignore him. They hear that one of Dist's hencheman might have some info about Dist (and by info, they mean stone), so they go back to the oracle headquarters for the guy. The place is filled with soldiers, but they are easy, and the place is open, so the team finds the hencheman, and politely knocks him down. They got the flightstone, so they talk about going back to Sheridan to repair the planecopter. But first, two things: talk with Chesedonia's chef of State Astor/Waluigi, and to check with some guy that is surprised I got a black sword. Apparently it has a very powerful fonon, and I forgot about it. Just keep going.

They go to Chesedonia, and Astor tells them that the war refugees are geting sick due to the miasma, and supplies are running low. Luke is frustrated because, even if they lower the lands safely, the miasma is still going to kill everyone. After a day of rest, they go with the world leaders to Yulia City, and have a great meeting there to solve this problem. They all sign the peace treaty, they all look happy, our heroes can continue their journey... and then Guy puts a sword under King Ingobert VI!!! WHAT!! WHAT THE FUCK, GUY!! He says his mother was sent to Hod as a sign of peace during the Hod incident, and that's the reason she died. But still, WHAT ARE YOU DOING GUY?!?! Duke Favre and all the rest of politicians pull a "I am Spartacus" and say it was their fault too. Apparently Van was there too, and that is how he knew key things about hyperresonance and fomicry. Ion tells Guy to stop (thanks ION!) and Guy says he stopped wanting revenge years ago. THEN WHY DID YOU DO THAT!!??!?!? WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!?!

After that... incident, they go to Sheridan to see how the operations on the Tartarus are going. The scientists seem to be doing a great job, but even then, the Tartarus can only last so long in the center of the Earth. They reequip things, they buy some guns, and they accept the scientists offerings.

And then things go south really bad.

Inmediately after exiting the workshop, Legrietta appears with her troops and surrounds our heroes. She has followed them thanks to Spinoza's treachery, and the Oracle Knights are seizing the whole city. Out of nowhere the old lady scientist appears there WITH A FLAMETHROWER AND ROASTS ALIVE SOME OF THE ORACLE MOOKS!!! The old scientists ask the team to run to the Tartarus before it gets captured, and they run away. At every corner of the city are oracle knights trying to kill them, and there is always civilians who use themselves as a meatshield. We can see multiple killings and summary executions to civilians, very grimm stuff while the heroes are trying to escape from the city and reach the harbours. Some kimlaskan units appear and manage to create a diversion for the team to escape. We suddenly see the old lady scientists being unceremoniously killed by an oracle soldier! You fuck, it was an old lady! An old lady with a flamethrower powered by her sheer baddassery! You can't kill her! Legretta just says it's the civilian's fault the amount of dead in the streets. You bitch! Class M and Class I's first and final collaboration rests upon the hands of our team now. The team reaches the docks, and there's a huge cloud of poisonous gas, which Jade clears inmediately. It turns out that was made by the remaining scientists, who put it there to block the oracle forces.  When the team tells them the tragic news of their friends's deaths in Sheridan, Van just appears and sends a sonic wave to throw away everyone! Spinoza is with him, and it's obvious he's both guilty and afraid of Van. Jade attacks Legretta and goes to the ship, and while Van tries to kill Luke, the scientists go in his way. While all of the team goes to the ship, the remaining scientists are quickly killed by Van.

After a bit when the team shouts to themselves and argue a bit, we get a cutscene of the Tartarus using magic to enter the planet's core. Once they are there, Guy comments about a light he saw on the way there (foreshadowing incoming). They realize they can put their plan in motion because someone has erased part of the magical runes on the boat. And that person is... Sync! He apparently snuk aboard the boat and sabotaged it from within! So we have a fight! It's a decent fight, it used a lot of gels, but eventually he's defeated. His mask falls to the ground, revealing... ION!!! What!?!? Apparently, our Ion is a replica of the original Fon Master, who died of a rare disease without descendance. Sync is just a clone without the spiritual powers of the original. Ion tries to talsk to him, but Sync justs slaps him and throws himself out of the boat, effectively killing himself on the center of the planet. Everyone is shocked, Ion is crying, and they still need to remake the erased runes.

When Luke finished with the rune, he has one of his headaches and starts hearing a voice. It's not Asch, it's someone else, and when Tear is trying to see if Luke is okay, it possesses her. It turns out to be Lorelei herself, the seventh fonon's sentience! She says something is absorbing her power, and that she needs to be free to do something. Her message is cut and Tear falls almost unconscious. They decide to pick the planecopter and go to Belkend, so that Tear might get a xam after her possession (which is something I see very rarely in fiction, someone with enough common sense to go to a doctor after being possessed). When they go to that revission, the doctor tells them that Tear is poisoned with the miasma, and that she's dying. Everyone is shocked once again, Luke is trying to confort her, and Tear deals with it in her own way.

Well, that was a really bright and optimistic session! More other day, but other play like that is going to kill me! How long do I have left of the game!?

Twenty-first session of The Abyss: We fight Van. And then what?

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After checking on Tear's health and giving her some medicine, they go and ask where the remaining sepiroths are. Meggiora Highlands and Mt. Roneal seem to be the last places to check to perform the lowering procedure. They go to the highlands first, because Mt. Roneal is apparently filled with dangerous monsters (as supossed the rest of this world, right?). After a while trying to evter to the highlights, I realize I can't just fly over it, I have to go through the river. When the team is looking for the door of the sephiroth, legrietta appears and seemingly attacks the team. Really, she just wante to send Tear a message from Van, and she goes away as fast as she came. They enter on the sephiroth, and Guy starts looking at all of the fonic tech, he apparently loves all that stuff. They find a robot that keeps the machinery updated and running good, but they need to find some power battery to power up the elevators, and they fight the robot for his batteries. They continue with the sephiroh stuff, and they chat a bit about what to do with the miasma, because no matter how they save the world, the miasma is still there threatening to poison everyone (spceciallly Tear, whose liks with Yulia make her specially vuilnerable to it). After exiting, they meet with one of the remaining scientists, and while they are talking about the planecopters, they realize Spinoza is spying on them. So they follow and capture Spinoza. He seems to be genuenly sad and sorry about his old friend's deaths. The team needs Spinoza to find a way to deal with the miasma, so they accept his help, all but Anise, that still doesn't trust him. They discover a sephiroth on Mt. Zahelo, which can only be accessed through a special portal through the Daath cathedral. They find there a very angry Mohs, because Van dissapeared and took half of the Order of Lorelei with him. oooh, poor Mohs, he doesn't have his war, we only have certain destruction to deal with. They go to the library to look for the secret passage, and Anise accidentally finds it. They enter and it's some sort of volcano, with tons of archaeological equipment, probably someone was studying something here. After a bit of puzzle-solving and fighting the monsters, they finish the thing with the sepiroth there, and they continue their travels. They go to Belkend to see how is Spinoza's research. It all seems to go well, so they relax and wait for the next day.

That night, the team realizes Tear has gone away, pointing out to the Orton Caves, that place where Van experimented with fomicry. The team thinks Asch is there too, so they quickly go there. They find Van's goons moving the things to another base, and ignore the team. They find Van fighting Asch, just when the battle is over and Asch is on the ground wounded. They debate once again why Van's plans are insane. But even when Jade points out that even with all the Seventh fonons in the world, there still wouldn't be enough energy to clone the entire planet. Van says he has a plan to alter the core of the planet to get enough energy and improve the stability of the replicas. This man is insane, and it took a quarter of the game to figure it out. Van goes away, and leaves the team there. Ash is wounded, but he goes away too, grumpy as always. They rescue a cloned cheagle that was there, and go back to Sheridan. Tear tells the team she went there to check on Van's health, because he also might be contaminated with miasma. They then go to Mt. Roneal, bu before that they ned to ask for permission to Nephry in Keterburg. Once there, she tells them Dist has fallen ill there and he's in the hotel. Jade tells her to call the police, and that they'll deal with him and get some information first. They go to the hotel, and Dist is asleep, saying things to himself and muttering about Jade. Jade seems annoyed and asks everyone to exit the room, while Dist and him arestill inside. He does... something... and the God General asks for mercy, and tells them everything he knows. Uuuhhh, ok? Then the police comes and supposedly arrests Dist. That was anticlimactic, but it's Dist, so I'll allow it. They enter Mt. Roneal, and they have to be careful, because aparently there is a high risk of avalanche. Doesn't stop the team from fighting all the monsters there.  I see a green save point, so there will be a bossfight. So it's grinding time! Good grind, get 5-6 levels to everyone. So i continue, and what do I find? Arrieta, Legrieta and Largo! The remaining God Generals? Am I going to fight them? I was expecting some sort of boss rush, Megaman style, but I fight the three of them at once! And the battle is really great! Fortunately I had enough supplies to carry the battle, because Arrieta's super attack hits like a truck! Once she goes down, largo and Legrieta go down as well, but I'm exhausted. The battle causes an avalanche and apparently kills the God Generals. What? No more fights with them? That seems... anticlimactic. But the team continues thanlks to a lucky crevasse, they enter the sephiroth and stop it. Only one place left... to fight Van in the Absorption Gate!

The team goes back to Keterburg to getsupplies and rest, to prepare for the final battle. I buy all of the gels I can, get new equipment...  They are all very moody, very focused on the tasked ahead. Is this the final boss? Am I finally beating this game?  Even Asch appears, and the only reason he won't be at the final battle is because he was severely wounded in his last encounter with Van. Ion decides to stay in Keterburg, and the rest go to the Absorption Gate. After some puzzles, some earthquakes that separate the team and some deep conversations about finishing the fight, they finally reach Van. He's in some sort of organ, playing ominous music like a cartoony villain. Once again, he explains the greatnes of his plans, and how the world is addicted to the Score. I agree with the Score part, but I don't see how destroying humanity could hlp with that. So they fight. And the fight is pretty long. Not as long as the three God Generals, but decent. After he's defeated, he stabs the ground with his sword and falls on a cliff. Luke has to use his powers to bring the outer lands to the core safely, and he does. So I'm expecting a long congratulations sequence, a whrer they are now montage and the rolling credits.

But that doesn't happen.

Instead, Luke wakes up on his house, it's months latter and apparently he's bored and grumpy. Someone stole Van's sword (geez, I wonder who it was)and he decides to regroup the team. What? How long is this game? That seemed like the end. Was that the end and I'm playing the post-end game? Hello?