RPG Reviews: Tales Of Symphonia, Part 5: I BELIEVE I CAN FLY!!

Last time, we begun our journey through a brand new world and captured a prisoner. This in turn grants us our final Party Member.

Regal Bryant:

CV: Otsuka Akio/Crispin Freeman

Regal... well he's a bit of an odd one. His manner of playing is more among the line of a fighting game character, with his whole deal being based around chaining many of his Artes together. It's hard to pull off, but he can dish out some of the highest amounts of Damage in the game. He's also part of that Side Party alongside Presea I mentioned earlier. Oh, and all his skills should be kept to the T Branch. Eagle Rage in particular is borderline broken.

The Fighting Game analogy even works with the way his Artes are split: Ground, Anti-Air, Air, and one Special called Force (Also some healing spells). Force needs to be used a 100 times to activate his Limit Break, which even has its own combo besides you having to be in Overlimit: You need to throw a each type or Arte in quick succession before finishing it off with Force, and to be fair Fanged Finality is a pretty good finisher. Oh and I forgot to mention, in Japan Force is written as 発. Does that Kanji look familiar? Take a look at this:

Regal is a Nen User Confirmed!

Actually being a Nen User really does explain why he's so fucking awesome...

Anyhow, we finally make our way to Ozette, though not before I did some grinding for Regal. Once we get there, she has a small talk with a certain Half-Elf that just screams bad news, and we learn exactly how bad her whole condition is: Her house is a wreck and there's a guy in a bed... who's dead. Has been for a while, likely. And she doesn't even realize it.

Anyhow, the Party decides to leave her alone for now, going to Altessa's house instead. And inside it we find... a blonde girl who speaks in a weirdly robotic way?

Atlus, did you copy someone's homework?

Anyhow, this girl, Tabatha (Played by Fujishima Kousuke and Kim Mai Guest) introduces us to her Master, Altessa... and he's a grumpy old asshole who wants nothing to do with Presea. Tabatha explains that it's probably out of guilt or something among those lines, but the gang is ultimately forced out of the house.

Anyhow, we need to go get an Inhibitor Ore for that Key Crest. Notably, in spite of seeming quite concerned for her, Regal continues to express there is no relationship between him and Presea. And Zelos' comments on having probably met him before do not help matters at all. But whatever, time for a new dungeon:

Toize Valley Mine:

Indiana Jones would like to have a look at this.

Unfortunately, to go in, we must bust through the gate in a fight. Oh well, not too difficult. However Regal has formed an opinion on the group that can best be summarized in the following Clip.

Anyhow, there are only two noteworthy things about this place. First is its gimmick, with lets you drop bombs on some rocks to make them break, which is pretty darn satisfying. The second is that you should probably bring a Mizuho Potion here, as you'll find a Gnome that will ask you for a potion. You should give it to him, it's important for a dungeon later on.

What does matter though is a sequence towards the end. A man named Vharley pops up, and it's clear he and Regal share a past, though the specifics are not stated. What we can infer, however, is that Regal made some kind of deal with the Pope to have this man imprisoned (He's an Exsphere Dealer) and he would give himself in for the authorities because, well, he did actually kill someone. This being the Pope, however, he did not go through with this.

That said, Vharley leaves, with Regal deciding to leave the story of his imprisonment for some other day. Whatever the case may be, I decided to grind for Colette a bit after neglecting her for so long... and as soon as they walk into Ozette, some random NPC sells them out.

But yeah, the Pope's three knights aren't much of a challenge anyways. Sadly, once this is all over, Colette gets a really heavy feaver, but it's okay, Presea is around!... Except not as, well, she knocks Colette out and hands it to the guy she was talking to earlier. Jesus Christ, there are already a bunch of traitors, and now one of them was a Party Member!?

Mind you, she is ultimately tossed aside, as the Evil Desian introduces himself as Rodyle, the most cunning of the Evil Desian Generals... yeah, how long will it be until we kick his ass, anyways?

So yeah, he takes off with Colette. That said, Lloyd still ultimately gives Presea her new charm... and naturally she is more than a bit disgusted with what she's done, ultimately finally laying her father's corpse to rest. It also turns out she has no other family left. She apparently has a little sister, but no one knows where she is. Thus, she decides to stick around in order to atone, and Regal also decides to join in as it's clear there's a relationship between Vahrley and the Evil Desians (Vharley was the one who took her to the Imperial Research Academy in the first place).

And then Kratos pops up to admit this isn't actually part of his plan. Oh no, Rodyle is acting outside of it right now, and sadly right now the Chosen One is useless to them so it's not as if they're in any need of an alliance of any sort. Still though, guys at Mizuho should have located the Rheairds by now, so at least they have that. Also, Genis tries to be cool in front of Presea but since he's taking too long Lloyd decides they should get out already. 

Oh come on, this one totally isn't his fault!

I should mention that at this point you can finally make progress on obtaining Presea's Limit Breaks. But yeah, Kratos is right, the Rheairds have been found, but there's a slight problem: They still need to make a pact with Volt... and Sheena isn't exactly okay with this.

See, a few years prior to the game's start, Sheena actually tried to make a contract with Volt... and it failed miserably. In fact, that whole incident is why the actual Village Chief is in a coma. Hell, a whole fourth of the population had died... though surprisingly no one seems to hold it against her besides her. I dunno, I kinda would've expected at least some villagers to hold a grudge against her.

See? Something like that.

Anyhow, Lloyd manages to cheer her up, and the Vice-Chief then tells us to go to the Temple Of Lightning. Oh and in a Skit we learn that all members of Mizuho basically have two names: Their real Names (Only known by their parents, village chief and whoever they marry) and a second name of sorts, so no, Sheena is not her actual name. What is her actual name then? Who knows... except Zelos.

Well, I mean, who knows? Maybe he's right.

Unfortunately this leads us to... a less than enjoyable Dungeon.

Temple Of Lightning:

Oh, if only the opposite was so easy...

This place sucks. Setting aside the multiple lightningbolt related puzzles, there are some very badly lit rooms that you need to walk on tight corridors on so as to not fall and wait for the lightning to come down to light things up a bit. Apparently the re-releases actually made it worse: In the Gamecube Version, you could at least brighten up your TV so that you could somewhat tell where you were going. All other Versions? Yeah, I still can't see a damn thing!

Anyhow, eventually Volt comes down... and for some reason he's speaking the Language of the Ancients. And Mithos was here too. Damn that troll... anyhow, he has no real plans to make another pact, so he decides to deal some divine retribution which... yeah gives Sheena a bit of a panic attack. Now I can't help but wonder how it could get worse...

Well... goodbye Corrine... too bad I didn't give too much of a damn about you.

Thankfully, Lloyd makes sure she doesn't get killed in the middle of that, and that gives her enough time to build up her resolve and face the wannabe Thunder God.

Volt:

Volt is not an easy enemy. Most of his attacks hit multiple people, and more than a few of them can inflict Paralysis on your Party Members. That said, I never really found him frustrating. He's a fair challenge that's ultimately fun to fight, and that's all that matters. And hey, once you beat him, you have all the right to say this.

That said, once the pact is made, something weird happens. Undine pops up and claims that due to two opposing forces merging from the two worlds, part of the Mana Flow has been severed. No one really knows what this will mean in the long run... but for now it seems as if there really is a way to sever the whole system the two worlds are built upon.

Still though, there are other news: They have found the Rheairds!... And they're in another Renegade base. Here we go again...

Tethe'Alla Base:

I hope you get used to seeing this place...

This dungeon is a giant maze. The main gimmick here is trying to get three Passwords and then putting them on a computer. Not too bad if you know what you're doing but don't be surprised if you get lost for a bit. Still though, eventually you will reach the Rheairds... and not just Botta waiting you for a fight but also...

Yuan Ka-Fai:

CV: Morikawa Toshiyuki/Chris Edgerly

As you might expect, this fight is a bit of a pain. While they have less health than most other bosses, these two are relentless in their assault. I better have Zelos have Healing Wind or Healing Stream by this point, as they'll save your life more often than not.

Still though eventually they'll go down, with Yuan noting something's off about Lloyd's Exsphere... but before he can say anything else there's an Earthuake, which gives our heroes the perfect chance to run off. And thus Noishe and that stupid boat are now useless, as the skies are us to travel through. Truly, a feeling that is hard to surpass.

And you know what else makes it fun? The music!

Yeah, I haven't mentioned it all that much, but the soundtrack in this game is really great. Anyhow, Colette's in some flying rock in the sky, but before that I took a small detour towards Altamira... that for some reason Regal refuses to enter. Huh... anyhow, got some new weapons and gear plus restocking on items so it's time to save our damsel.

She's in some sort of energy cage, and Rodyle is so much of a coward he isn't even there in person, instead deciding to send his pets at us. Thus, it's time to go Dragon Slaying!

Meat...

NOT THAT DRAGON!!

But yeah, it's three dragons for the price of one, and we murder them all. Yippie!

Well, in this case we killed the children as well, so we're directly guilty.

But yeah, through some Magitek jumbo-mumbo Colette's Mana is used to trap us all in place, but Presea manages to push foward just enough to save her. Good job Presea!

And thus, the day is saved, although now our heroes are aware of the fact that Rodyle is making some Mana Canon and for some reason Colette's crystal is useless for it. And hey, once she wakes up, Presea finally smiles!

PROTECT THAT SMILE!!!

So yeah, time to separate the worlds... but we're living that for another day. At long last, the Fellowship has finally united, and it is thus time to save these worlds. How that will turn out however, will be shown next time...

RPG Review: Tales Of Symphonia, Part 4: The Dawn Of The New World... NOT THAT ONE!!

Last time, our heroes left Sylvarant and headed off towards a new world, and their journey continues... by crash landing because they ran out of fuel.

Hey, they couldn't have seen that coming.

Mind you Sheena could just Summon Volt and refuel them... but she kinda doesn't have Volt so that's out of the question. Also, apparently the two worlds share the same ancient history and a Tower Of Salvation. Wonder what that's all about...

Anyhow, after leaving the mountain, now the question becomes where to go. Sheena says to go to the Imperial Capital, Meltokio, which seems like their best bet for now. That said as soon as they get there, Sheena admits she's gonna have to leave. She is part of a group of Ninjas after all, so she has to admit that she has failed to her chief, though she does give the group a letter they should give to the king.

Oh, and on the way there, they come across one of the Evil Desian generals who basically comes in to say hi before leaving.

But whatever, they make their way up the stairs... and come across the best character in the game.

Indeed, such amount of swag could not be contained. So after flirting with Raine for a bit, he leaves with all his other hunnies, but not before she notices he has an Exsphere. Now, this guy may seem like an arrogant jerk... because he is, but hey, anyone who shares a voice with this idiot can't be too bad.

Anyhow, back to the plot. We are currently banned from seeing the King as apparently he's ill, so he's not seeing anyone. Stupid Nobles with too much free time... anyhow, we head to the Church... where we see some little girl calmly carrying some big lump of wood. Genis' reaction?

This is actually a running gag, so get used to it.

As Genis is off on wonderland, we find out  that this girl, Presea, has an Exsphere, and also that the wood she's carrying is going to be used to do some prayers for the king. So naturally the gang decides to just ask Presea for help, a plan Genis is all too okay with...

As they get out she's talking to someone, but after that's done with, our heroes ask for her help... and surprisingly she agrees. And even the guards are easily fooled. Man, Tethe'alla's security really sucks, huh?

Oh come on, this is an JRPG, of course children are doing all the work!

But whatever, they're inside now. And since they can't really do anything else now, Presea is tagging along with them. Speaking of her...

Presea Combatir:

CV: Kuwashima Houko/Tara Strong

Presea is a freaking tank. She moves slowly for sure, but if she lands a hit, it'll hit like a goddamn truck. She wasn't part of my Endgame Party, but she was part of a sort of Side Party alongside another Party Member I'll be talking about later on. As for general Type Recommendations, I'd say T for everything but the Devastation line, as its final evolution, Eternal Devastation, is locked to the S Type for some reason.

Her Limit Breaks are ridiculous though, in both the best and worst ways you could imagine. Infernal Ruin is pretty normal by the standards of the PS2 Exclusive Limit Breaks, all you need to do is to have used Beast 100 Times, be in Over Limit, have the P Charge EX Skill and that's it, but then there is the almighty mess that is Crimson Devastation. Get ready folks this is gonna be a doozy. Not only do you need to have used Beast 200 Times, have the Overcharge EX Skill (Basically P Charge but stronger and doesn't work half the time), be in Over Limit and must have 10% or less health but she must also be the last Party Member standing!

I mean, to be fair it can probably one-shot the Final Boss and do some massive damage to the Secret Bosses but... Jesus Christ, talk about overkill! Although it must be said, in order for her to actually be able to use either of her Limit Breaks, a certain story event must happen first. I'll point it out when we get there.

Anyhow, we get into the King's chamber... and Zelos is there. Why? He's the Chosen of Tethe'Alla of course!

Oh I wish I was kidding. Thankfully the moment the king learns they have a letter from Sheena he agrees to listen in spite of his less than stellar health right now. The Pope does try to have Colette killed but he's not exactly successful. Thus Raine strikes a deal:  They want to turn Colette back into a human. The Pope wants Tethe'Alla to remain flourishing. The two goals actually go together to and alliance is simply logical.

So the Pope agrees, though under the condition Zelos must watch over the group 24/7, which they agree with.

Although he is a massive asshole. Anyways, we have to leave Presea in her hometown, but since the Imperial Research Academy is around the same place anyways, they might as well go there first. And thus, Best Boy joins the Party.

Zelos Wilder:

CV: Onosaka Masaya/Shiloh Strong

Zelos is functionally identical to Kratos and that's not an exaggeration. He learns many of the same Skills, has similar stats, hell, they even share a Limit Break. He does however have one Limit Break Kratos doesn't have (Divine Judgement) so technically speaking he's the better of the two. Naturally, he was part of my Endgame Party. Oh and he too can learn Judgement.

Otherwise, same type recommendation as Kratos.

As said before, he shares a Limit Break with Kratos, Shinning Bind (I refuse to call it Holy Binds) and it has much less lax activation conditions, as not only must you be in Over Limit, but you must have used Demon Thrust (A pretty high Level Arte for him) at least 100 times. Thankfully his second Limit Break, Divine Judgement, onl-

... Okay, I had that one coming. Anyhow, all you need is to be in Over Limit and have used the Arte That Shall Not Be Named 20 times. I guess the low number is because you only get it once you use Shinning Bind for the first time, and you can't use Shinning Bind until right after one of the last dungeons.

Also, his Personal EX Skill makes it so whenever he talks to a woman for the first time, he gets an Item.

Whatever the case may be, we need to cross a long, long bridge first. Like... really long. Like... MGS3 Stairs Long!

As we arrive in Sybak however, Presea makes it clear she doesn't like this place, but I'm sure that won't be in any way relevant... Anyhow, over at a lab, we find out exactly what's happening. Basically Exspheres and Cruxis Crystals are basically parasytes; if you don't contain them, their energy will go out of control and affect one's body, which is basically what's happening to Colette. Thankfully the actual process of fixing this is just getting a Key Crest.

And wouldn't you know, a junk dealer has one! And Zelos nabs it for free. There's just one problem: It doesn't work. So yeah, to Sylvarant it is, and while Zelos protests against it, they then point out he can just come with them, so he relents. Unfortunately the Papal Knights then kidnap the gang.

Yeah, the pope is an asshole, in case you couldn't tell. That said, due to some technology stuff Tethe'Alla has, Genis and Raine being Half-Elves is exposed. Lloyd doesn't seem to really care, but the problem is that over in this world, Half-Elves are treated as the lowest of the low, and if guilty of crime are immediately executed.

The Human Members of the party are taken to some random lab, and we also learn that Half-Elves that work here aren't even allowed to leave. No wonder the atmosphere is so damn moody! That said, one of the researchers, Katem does recognize Presea as... well... she kinda was the subject for an experiment to fuse a Cruxis Crystal into a human body.

Said scientist is intially perplexed by his behavior, but Best Girl has come to the rescue. How did she get there? 'Cause Ninja Magic, shut up!

Still more of a ninja than these idiots...

Whatever the case may be, they escape and are able to figure out that the Pope was behind the experiments on Presea. Unfortunately, after crossing the long ass bridge, they are too late...

Then again when you can Summon a Water Elemental, that does take care of most of the issues.

So yeah, our heroes beat the guards up and save the day. Quite the happy ending huh? And hey! Lloyd and the rest admit they don't really care whether or not Genis and Raine were Half-Elves anyways!

Although Presea does know how to ruin the mood...

Anyhow, we need to fix Rheairds, so Sheena has to make a pact with Volt... which she doesn't seem to happy about. Still though, Zelos does point out that they need to get them first, and he has just enough resources for that, so off to the mountains it is! That said, on the way there, he does say this:

Needless to say, there's more to him that meets the eye...

But yeah, time to make our way up the mountain... and... well...

Yeah, the Renegades saw this coming. So naturally they prepared themselves for this situation.

Presea is in charge of most of the game's snark, by the way.

However, things go from bad to worse, as Pronyma (One of Yggdrasil's generals) pops up... and it turns out she and Yuan are working together. She says she's been sent her for Colette, something Yuan doesn't mind because, well, he's more interested in Lloyd right now. Nontheless she goes for her... and suddenly the Key Crest starts working and Colette's back to normal!

She thus saves the rest of the gang by being clumsy as usual, thus it's time to settle the score.

Pronyma:

CV: Makishima Yuki/Masasa Moyo

She would be a threat... except she's weak to light, so as long as Raine or Colette are in your party, it's not gonna be too hard. Needless to say, spamming Photon Tempest will be useful for this fight.

Naturally Lloyd then moves in to finish Yuan afterwards, but a new challanger appears!

Not a fan of this outfit, I must say.

Yeah, Kratos is here too. And Yuan's working for Cruxis as well. He leaves with his shiny angel wings, and Kratos then tells the group to stop wasting their time, because Yggdrasil's fine with the way the world is so they should stop bothering to change it. Thus Lloyd makes a statement: If Yggdrasil doesn't change the world, he will.

Kratos leaves alongside the chick we just beat up, and we cut to Colette, who's better than ever! All of the effects of Angel Toxiocis are gone, and she gets to keep her Angel powers! Mind you, they still need to take Presea home, but they kinda can't cross the bridge. But it's okay, Sheena has some contacts in Meltokio that could help them out, and Zelos has a secret entrance there!

Thus leading to... the second worst dungeon in the game.

Meltokio Sewers:

Because every videogame needs a sewer level!

Ugh, this place sucks. Dull environments,  bad music (Which is weird because most of the music in this game is really great), and boring, time consuming puzzles, not helped at all by an annoying shrinking gimmick. It's not even a hard dungeon, just an annoying one.

Anyhow, plotwise, someone has been here before, so they need to open doors that were previously opened up. In the end it turns out it was a bunch of prisioners nabbed by the pope, who promised them their freedom if they killed the party. They fail, obviously... and then some new guy knocks Zelos out.

Needless to say, this blue haired master of Tactical Espionage Action kicks Zelos' ass, although he does fall back when he sees Presea, the rest the retreating. And thankfully with that we're out of that nightmare, and we even unlock a fast travel option so we never have to go through that nightmare of a dungeon ever again.

Over at the research facility (In which there's also some dude named Kuchinawa) the gang finds out they'll have to use an Elemental Cargo (EC for short) to pass, basically being treated as package, and the scientist want to use that for some Mana experiment or something like that. Not too big a deal but a bit cumbersome, especially for Raine.

Oh and from now on Zelos will sometimes introduce Lloyd as his Bud. Which as I now know from some research, in the original Japanese Version it was "Hunnie" instead.

Bu yeah, the next morning they set off, though Colette's shoulder is feeling a bit stiff but it's probably not that big a deal. So they go to the bridge and Kuchinawa shows them what we're stuck with for now, as well as seeing the country bumpkins who are those Sylvarant Brats messing around with Tethe'alla's amazing shrinking technology, so it's time to go!

Did I mention Sheena is Best Girl?

Yeah, the guy gives her a charm or something before leaving but whatever. Sadly the EC is a pain to control, with its strange, momentum based physics and awkward acceleration. Although sadly in Sybak they come across Kratos (In his old outfit, thankfully) although he's not here to fight. He does however warn Colette to remove that Key Crest if she wants to live.

Anyhow, Kate confirms, what happened to Presea was part of the Angelus Project, and explains that should something not be done soon, she'll flat out die. Thus they need to go to a dwarf named Atlessa so that he can make a special Key Crest for her. Oh and for some reason she tells the Party not to insult the Pope. Weird... anyhow, onto the next Dungeon!

Gaoracchia Forest:

Because of course there's a forrest level.

Well, I call it a dungeon, but that's technically a lie. It's more like one really big passageway. It's honestly not too bad and even somewhat enjoyable, all things considered. Whatever the case may be, the moment you get there, you face off against some of the Pope's Knights, who aren't too much of a biggie.

However, as we reach the end, Solid Snake appears once more. He claims he's just here to talk to Presea and that he doesn't mean to kill anyone, but they don't buy it and thus a fight ensues. He's not too hard, but be careful when he attacks, as often he'll just chain his Artes together. Thankfully he'll eventually fall.

Shut up Campbell! But yeah, that happened. Anyhow, unfortunately more Papal Knights are coming, so Sheena's taking us to her village. And no, it's not Konohagakure, it's Mizuho (And by extension, no, it's not Kirigakure). Anyhow, our dear prisoner wakes up, and has enough common sense to not start a fight given his condition.

The Vice Chief then confronts our heroes (The actual Chief is in a coma, as we later learn), and while initially pessimistic, Lloyd's idealism ultimately wins him over, agreeing to help so long as they help to move the people of Mizuho to Sylvarant, with Sheena having her profession changed from being an observer to a representative of the village.

As for our beloved prisoner, whose name is actually Regal, well, they realize they need all the help they can get so they're gonna have him stick around. And besides, so long as Presea is around, he won't try anything fishy.

Thankfully, he is a man of honor.

And thus this is when we're gonna take a break for now. A new world has opened up to us, and our search for a way to solve this conflict has finally begun. But for now, the conclusion to this will be a story for another day...