Lurker > NBIceman

#23 - Sophie (Graces)
It's hard to believe I was so worried for all this time. You'll never be gone, even after you die. Because your dream will live on. I have a purpose now, Asbel. I will see your dream fulfilled.

Graces was the first Tales game that I followed with any amount of dedication pre-release, and when Sophie was first unveiled, I distinctly remember being quite concerned. I dont know if it was the twintails or the watercolor aesthetic or both, but something about her felt like it belonged in Star Ocean instead of Tales. I never wouldve thought Id end up liking her as much as I did.

Sophie benefits a lot from being surrounded by a cast of characters that, to varying degrees and in varying ways, dont really come off as genuine for large parts of the game. Compared with them, the innocent and always-honest Sophie feels so refreshing.

Its odd, because shes aggressively tropey in a lot of ways. The whole living weapon thing has been done to death in every medium I could name, and giving it the form of a young, emotionless girl with a cutesy design isnt exactly any more groundbreaking. I dont like to just hate on tropes for the sole reason that theyre tropes, though, and I can forgive Sophie because she is an extremely well-done example.

Shes actually not emotionless, of course. Graces makes that clear pretty early on, and you could make the argument that shes really the most emotionally driven of the party - it just doesnt always seem that way because she has trouble identifying or understanding the emotions.

That said, shes not particularly interesting in the child arc. Once she returns in the main story, though, she settles into a rhythm with the rest of the cast pretty quickly. The affection she has for them is obvious, and when combined with her overall charming personality, its easy for the player to develop the same kind of protective instinct for her that the party does. Shes just a pleasant character. Pascals insanity and Maliks trolling have their places, and I ultimately think theyre better characters, but they dont often get the genuine smiles out of me that Sophie does.

The best part about Sophie is that shes the only character that has clear, well-defined relationships with the rest of the cast. Asbel is ostensibly the protagonist, but Sophie feels more like the main character. She sets the whole plot in motion, shes the soul of the party (literally and figuratively), and shes just more relatable. She laughs, she cries, she even makes little jokes every once in a while. The inhuman character is the most human by the end of the game, to the point that she begs Pascal to find a way to make her a real human because shes so terrified of having to watch her companions eventually die. Its all pulled off very well, and it makes her the most developed character in the game by far.

Ive grown to appreciate her design for the most part, too. The ultra-long twintails made a bad first impression and veer really close to the territory of being too ridiculous, but unlike her bestest buddy Asbels costume, they manage to stay on the side of the line where I still like it. Yeah, it looks dumb in the child arc where theyre taller than the rest of the kids on their own, but when everyone grows up its just fine, and I love her little head shaking animation with them. What bugs me is that her best look is the one that only shows up in the ending after she fuses with the Little Queen, and we dont get any costumes that are similar to that. Feels like a missed opportunity.

TL;DR: A trope done right. You just wanna give her a big hug sometimes.

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#24 - Rowen Ilbert (Xillia)
"Over the course of my career, I took the lives of thousands of soldiers. When you consider each soldier's potential, what I did was little different than destroying a world. I am well aware of my sins. But, at the same time, I also believe this: The destruction I wrought paved the way for new things to be born."

Rowens just a cool dude. He wins some points immediately by being the only old man party member in the series thats ACTUALLY a legitimately old man, and Im almost always a fan of the old retired military guy whos content to just live a quiet life but can still kick ass when needed trope.

Hes a great example of how to portray a character that everyone in-universe knows is amazing and frequently acknowledges is amazing without driving the player crazy with it, which is somewhat funny considering two of his Xillia castmates (including the one that just got eliminated) dont toe that line especially well. Were shown just enough of his feats and prowess that it balances out the ones were simply told about, and even those are much easier to accept because hes the kind of accomplished military commander that real history books are full of. And the other characters dont go overboard with it, either. Jude, for example, considers it a great honor to fight beside him, but he doesnt fall all over himself how awed he is at every turn like he does with certain others. It probably helps that Rowens much more easygoing and willing to poke fun of himself, which makes him feel genuine.

Unfortunately, all of that greatness doesnt translate to the actual gameplay. The biggest thing holding Rowen back is that he kind of sucks in battle. Hes a glass cannon mage, which is certainly a staple of RPGs and not inherently a bad thing, but generally, one of the most prevalent strengths of those characters is their ability to hit for elemental weaknesses. Thing is, every character in the Xillia games can deal elemental damage with ease, and making full use of the games Linking system really necessitates that characters are at least somewhat capable of fighting on the front lines at times. The marginal increase in damage per second you might get from his spells doesnt make up for the fact that you more or less have to baby him in fights a lot of the time. And that unfortunately sours me on the guy. I like having dedicated offensive casters in my RPG parties, but I dont like to control them, and you have to play as Rowen to make him effective. Otherwise, his benefits dont outweigh his costs.

Also, after the Nachtigal part of Xillia 1s story ends, Rowen kind of falls completely out of the plot. Almost all of his development afterwards takes place in sub-events and a couple of his character episodes in X2. Dont get me wrong, its solid development, which does help. I particularly like the one which shows that he really couldve kept Nachtigal from losing his way if hed stayed in the military - its interesting to see an instance where a character blames themselves for someone elses life going off track and is actually proven right.

Take those issues away, and Rowen is just a good, well-rounded character. He knows when he needs to be the wise, world-weary counselor of the party and when he can be the uber-troll. Hes an honorable man who has his share of regrets but doesnt let them stop him from appreciating what he has now and from dedicating himself to new purposes when they arise. I love the guy, and the fact that hes not even higher on the list really speaks to the strength of those above him more than anything.

TL;DR: Tremendously likable character held back by relative uselessness as a fighter and being mostly irrelevant to the plot of both games.

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#25 - Milla Maxwell (Xillia)
"I just find it amusing that you humans have a knack for seeing others more clearly than yourselves."

Milla might be one of the most polarizing characters in all of Tales, which is... saying something. Her fans think of her as an immensely likable character that accomplishes exactly what she was intended to as an RPG protagonist. Her detractors say shes really just a Mary Sue with very little in the way of actual personality. During the preliminary ranking and the beginning of her write-up, I leaned more to the latter side, but the more I thought about it, the more I realized that label, while not entirely unfair, kind of undersells her.

Lets just get this out of the way immediately: Milla is very attractive. If theres anything to complain about with her design, its that she maybe shows a little too much skin, but they even make an effort to explain that away in a skit. Otherwise, everything about her design gets a wholehearted two-thumbs-up from me, which wins her a lot of goodwill right off the bat.

Past that, she definitely has her problems. As I mentioned with Ludger, it gets tiring hearing every character in the game heap praise on her. Its not even just the playable cast, either. Supporting characters, the villains, and even some damn Wyverns marvel at her glory. Its the kind of thing thats annoying even for characters who feel like theyve earned it, but it rears its head long before Milla ever does. Then theres the fact that she becomes quite proficient with both the sword and magic with minimal practice after she loses access to the Four Great Spirits, which wouldve made sense if she was, in fact, Maxwell, but once its discovered that shes really just a regular human, that kind of stuff becomes more ridiculous. Throw in the fact that shes very stiff with her dialogue and overall demeanor most of the time (even if her lack of social skills and general misunderstanding of human experiences make for some funny moments), and you dont seem to have the makings of a great character.

In many ways, though, she goes through some great development. She begins with nothing but a mission that was given to her, to destroy Exodus and the spyrix they create, thereby saving humans and spirits alike. Shes determined to complete that mission, and shell put it above the safety of her companions without a second thought if shes forced into such a choice. But over time, as she starts to develop real personal relationships, she comes to understand that a god saving all of humanity is meaningless if she doesnt also try to save people in more immediate danger, whether it's a distraction from her mission or not, and she changes the constraints of that mission to include alternate avenues of solving the spyrix problem. She changes it to a mission she pursues because of her own beliefs and feelings instead of one that she follows simply because it was what was given to her. Its a nicely paced journey from beginning to end that concludes in a satisfactory way. Hard for me to complain much about that. She feels good to play as, too. Shes not nearly as broken as Jude or anything, but she feels very smooth and I like her Artes lineup a lot. Getting to use the Four Great Spirits as essentially regular attacks is a cool novelty, too.

Milla might be the cast member with the least to mention when it comes to Xillia 2 since her character arc was pretty much completed at the first games end, but theres still a few points to make. Her voice acting is much improved and her dorky traits are played up a lot more in skits, which makes her a lot more pleasant and enjoyable for the idle parts of the game. More importantly, her relationship with Jude also gets a little more focus in some of the later character episodes. I know that a lot of people, even if they like Milla, dislike this pairing, but I would comfortably list it as one of the more well-done romances in the series. She remarks early on, with a smile on her face, that Hes just so human, which is completely true, and with her fondness for humans its no wonder that she develops so much admiration for him. The Xillia games do a good job of making it clear that there are mutual feelings without shoving it in players faces at every turn, and its one of the driving forces behind much of her development. Her decision to become the new Maxwell at X1s end is driven in part by her desire to live up to the expectations he sets for her. It helps both of them grow, which again, is all you can really ask for out of a romance, and it comes to a rather beautiful bittersweet conclusion when Milla, for all of her lack of understanding about humans, wordlessly steps out of Judes sight when she has to return to the spirit realm, realizing that he wouldnt want to have to watch her leave for a third time.

So, while I certainly understand where her haters are coming from, I like Milla quite a bit. She has some issues that keep her from being a top-tier Tales character, but overall, the virtues outweigh the flaws.

TL;DR: The exaggerated focus on Milla kind of sets her up for failure as a protagonist, but it also gives her ample time to develop into a very solid character where the problems dont matter as much.

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Tales of Destiny Wrap-Up
Swordsman! You are not worthy to wield such a thing!

The massacre of one-third of this games cast in the bottom tier is regrettable, but the Swordian Masters and Friends still managed to outlast Legendia and Zestiria, both of which had much the same miserable experience, not to mention Phantasia and Eternia. Like with Phantasia, the unfortunate reality of Destinys cast is that a lot of them just dont give you much to work with, because the plot is completely unremarkable, the combat is dull, and there arent many sidequests for developing characters beyond the surface level. And with nine total characters, the main plot certainly doesnt have time for all of them. Furthermore, you can only have a maximum of six at any one time, which means only two of the four optional late game members can come along for the ride. So the highest finishers are essentially the characters who are able to make their simplicity into a strength rather than an anchor.

I guess its hard to say that I like a cast when only none of its characters even managed to quite scrape into the top 25% of this list and one-third of them are sitting in the trash heap, but I at least appreciate that, all things considered, it was an improvement on Phantasia. If nothing else, it peaks higher. Namco still hadnt quite figured out how to make their characters deep and complex yet, but they took a giant step in the right direction of making them enjoyable and at least showed that they were capable of it.

And they were never heard from again...

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xp1337 posted...

I thought that when Luke releases Lorelei that Lorelei explicitly states that Luke overturned the Score. And I mean... Lorelei basically is the Score. Trying to fit his actions into what Yulia's Score said seems like a reach when you have the word straight from the source.

I don't remember all the details - it's been a good while since I read the theory I'm thinking of and I've got 10+ Tales stories in my head since the last time I played Abyss besides - but what Lorelei says is that the future has been rewritten. The gist of the theory was that "rewritten" may not have meant that the future was technically "changed," just that the events that proceeded didn't do so in exactly the way that had been foreseen. The Score wasn't accurate, but it was still correct.

I'm not saying it's an interpretation I necessarily agree with, but I remember it being an interesting argument.

#26 - Rutee Katrea (Destiny)
Who needs a new world? Whats wrong with ours?

In a series chock full of polarizing characters, I feel like Rutee is one that pretty much everyone enjoys to at least some degree. Im also pretty sure shes the only JRPG character that says Jeepers! - how could you not enjoy her?

Shes just too fun and likable. A joy to have around in the party. She has instant chemistry with almost all of the other party members from the moment they show up, whether its the argumentative but vaguely flirtatious banter with Stahn, the targeted antagonizing of Leon, or the steadfast and heartwarming loyalty to Mary. Its clear that she truly values the relationships she has with people, even some of the secondary Destiny characters. She takes Baruks support of Hugo quite hard, for example - its nice that she has someone like Stahn by her side by that point. The one thing I find kind of silly is how much she starts sticking up for Leon once she learns shes his sister where before she had no problem badmouthing him (and justifiably so). It does lead to a good moment, though, where she aggressively calls out Marian for inadvertently insulting his sacrifice and then realizes she could probably go about that in a nicer way.

My favorite thing about Rutee is her utter lack of interest in the complexities of the universe. There are multiple instances where some other party member will try to start a dialogue with her with some philosophical question, only for her to respond with an apathetic, I dunno. Her opinions of the world and the people in it are pretty neutral. Shes a woman of action, not of abstract thought. She knows the world isnt perfect, but shes not going to endlessly wring her hands worrying about it. Its not that she isnt smart enough to comprehend those big questions, she just legitimately doesnt understand why she should care.

Shes neck and neck with Garr for my favorite Destiny design. Shes very attractive without being egregiously oversexualized. Yeah, the outfit is revealing, but it doesnt quite cross the line into being gratuitous and stupid. A thief/treasure hunter would obviously want a lot of freedom of movement, so it at least makes sense from that perspective. I usually dont even like short hair on women, but she pulls it off well. Im not in love with her as a fighter, mostly because the nature of the game lends itself to sword fatigue and she doesnt have the flash of some of the others, but shes pretty much necessary because of her healing and Atwight at least has the coolest look of the Swordians (and by the way, her casually talking about putting him into storage midway through the game is hilarious).

And honestly, I think Im a bit of a sucker for characters with a strong connection to orphanages. I dont know why that is, though, because I cant stand kids. Maybe I just identify with the sense of feeling connected to a physical place? I dont know, no one came to this list to watch me psychoanalyze myself. I guess I just think its sweet how important it is for her to support the orphanage the way she does. Its maybe not the most unique motivation, but its sweet.

TL;DR: Popular for a reason. Rutees the kind of character that just makes a habit of putting a smile on a players face, be it through feel-good moments or legitimate humor. Her direct approach to life and mouthy attitude are super endearing, and (though it doesnt affect her placement on this list), it gives me a nice warm feeling to know that she settled into a good, happy life by the time Destiny 2 rolls around.

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fpce666 posted...

So you chose hollow knight?

I didn't actually do a bracket myself, but if I had, I'd have leaned Hollow Knight. I think it'll be a fairly close match either way, though.

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xp1337 posted...

Wasn't literally everything up until Luke and co defeating Van in the final battle predestined by the Score? I thought a big part of things what that Van had more knowledge than everyone else because he was able to read a part of Yulia's Score that no one else had, with the implication that it largely covered the events of the game. It's been so long that I forget if this was the Score fragment that Ion died reading or if it was a different piece that happened to reside at Van and Tear's childhood home. All this to say that Van knew perfectly well the plan to drop the outer lands into the Qlipoth would fail but it was part of the Score and had to happen because even he's not immune to The Score since he's not a replica/he could use that fact to maintain control over Mohs's traditional faction well past the point where even Yulia City had nope'd out.

argh been over a decade since i played abyss so my memory is all foggy

By some interpretations, the Score could be considered to still be on track even by the very end of the game due to the ambiguity of the language used in it. That's what makes it so fascinating.

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Even on this site (hell, even on this board), the Tales name doesn't carry nearly the cache you seem to believe outside of two or maybe three select entries.

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Next tier will start tomorrow, but here's a Skit to hold y'all over until then.

Skit - Top 10 Antagonists
This was actually kind of a tough one to put together. As well as Tales does playable characters, a lot of the antagonists are fairly unremarkable outside of a few tremendous standouts. But there's definitely quite a few that either amuse me consistently or that I really look forward to taking down, so here's their time to shine.

10. Chlorseraph (Hearts)
Theres nothing particularly special about Chlorseraph; hes just a really well-executed minor villain. Hes a serious threat and does some damage, but it always feels like he can be overcome. I enjoy how nuts he is, his design is fairly cool, he has a bit of depth in being the only mechanoid thats actually afraid of dying, and his somewhat inadvertent role in the final downfall of Incarose was a fun twist I didnt see coming.

9. Grand Maestro Mohs (Abyss)
Its kinda funny to consider how Ions faction in Abyss, which is trying to stop a war, would be considered the radical side in the Order of Lorelei where Mohs and his cohorts are the traditionalists. The Score is an awesome storytelling device that Ill have more to say on in some character writeups, so I dont want to get too into it here, but Mohs is a really vital part of fleshing that all out, and his being such a slimy asshole through it all makes it really satisfying to take him down later on, even if its almost pitiable that he truly cant comprehend that the Score wont lead to prosperity as he believes.

8. Kurt Bessel (Graces)
Kurts primarily on this list because of how fondly I remember his boss battle. Its so dang tough, especially on higher difficulties, that it really forces you to get good at the amazing Graces battle system. I distinctly remember having much more fun with the game on my first playthrough after fighting Kurt, because I finally got it. Hes got a cool design and weapon to back it up, too, and he ends up being one of the only Graces antagonists that leaves any kind of impact.

7. Dhaos (Phantasia)
Besides the fact that everything about him is just plain pretty damn cool, Dhaos is arguably the deepest antagonist in the series. Hed be much higher up on this list if any of that actually came across through playing Phantasia itself.

6. Agria (Xillia)
Agrias the fun kind of unhinged. Kate Higgins clearly had a lot of fun in this role, and it makes things super entertaining whenever shes onscreen. Her backstorys interesting, her mannerisms are delightfully creepy, and her proverbial flipping of the bird to Leia as she falls to her death was a pretty memorably creative way for a villain to get one over on her enemy. The Fractured Dimension in Xillia 2 where she actually let Leia save her and they grew to be pretty close gives her some nice depth, too.

5. Forcystus (Symphonia)
Cool design aside, Ive always enjoyed the shade of grey that Forcystus occupies in comparison to a lot of the Symphonia villains. They actually pay some lip service to the fact that, as much as hes a plague in the eyes of humans, hes a hero to half-elves, which plays into the theme of the game pretty well. And its always interesting how, even though he tortures the people at his ranch, hes the only Grand Cardinal who isnt actively trying to ruin the lives in the nearby village on a daily basis. I wish hed been developed a little more, but theres a lot of interesting things about him.

4. Van Grants (Abyss)
Tales sometimes has a really bad problem with the main antagonists plan not making a whole lot of sense. I love how Abyss went straight at that problem with Vans discussion with the party before the final battle. He puts up a good argument, but they pretty much tear his ideals to shreds by the end, and he more or less has to eventually acknowledge the possibility that everything hes doing ultimately amounts to nothing. But he sticks by it anyway because thats the path hes chosen. Its a really cool examination of the entire theme of the game, and with the final battle itself being one of the most memorable in the series, he really leaves a lasting impression.

3. Shigure Rangetsu (Berseria)
Hes a cat person, so he gets some easy points there. Hes also probably the most badass antagonist in the series all things considered. His dynamic with Rokurou is fun, the elements of his backstory that we get reveal him as a richer character than one would think at first glance, and his role in the story, though somewhat small, is a pretty cool one considering hes the only person thats more or less neutral in a conflict thats more clearly between two opposing sides than most Tales games.

2. Yeager (Vesperia)
They really got the perfect amount of mystery with this guy. We know just enough about his backstory, the way he runs his guild, his general demeanor, and his relationship with Gauche and Droite and their orphanage to develop some real interesting theories about the full picture of the man he was without ever being able to know for sure. Past that, hes entertaining every second hes onscreen, has an awesome weapon, and his fight is pretty memorable (even if thats partly because his secret mission is so damn frustrating).

1. Sync the Tempest (Abyss)
Its kind of incredible just how much of a bastard this guy is, and also how its kind of understandable by the end. All of the important replicas in Abyss bring a different perspective to the whole idea of what life really is, and his all-encompassing hatred for the universe and everything in it, himself included, is really compelling. Impersonating Ions voice to Anise after Ion dies may be the cruelest thing anyone ever did in Tales, which is no small feat. It just feels good to hate this guy. And he backs it up by being a really fun enemy, too, with a couple of pretty awesome Mystic Artes.

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Just have Drew lose.

Simple and easy solution.

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Looks fantastic, I'll back this for sure.

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What could this mean for the tournament?! ...Oh screw this. I'm outta here!
27. Eizen (Berseria)
28. Farah Oersted (Eternia)
29. Richard Barona (Graces)
30. Repede (Vesperia)
31. Presea Combatir (Symphonia)
32. Reid Hershel (Eternia)
33. Chester Burklight (Phantasia)
34. Stahn Aileron (Destiny)
35. Gaius (Xillia)
36. Muzet (Xillia)

Ive traveled back in time from next week. Please stop throwing monsters at us.
37. Estellise Sidos Heurassein (Vesperia)
38. Alisha Diphda (Zestiria)
39. Rokurou Rangetsu (Berseria)
40. Will Raynard (Legendia)
41. Keele Zeibel (Eternia)
42. Zaveid (Zestiria)
43. Garr Kelvin (Destiny)
44. Kor Meteor (Hearts)
45. Judith (Vesperia)
46. Ludger Kresnik (Xillia)
47. Mary Argent (Destiny)
48. Leia Rolando (Xillia)
49. Claus F. Lester (Phantasia)
50. Flynn Scifo (Vesperia)
51. Anise Tatlin (Abyss)
52. Kratos Aurion (Symphonia)
53. Ines Lorenzen (Hearts)

"You're weak! You're a hack! You're wack."
54. Senel Coolidge (Legendia)
55. Rassius Luine (Eternia)
56. Max (Eternia)
57. Norma Beatty (Legendia)
58. Chloe Valens (Legendia)
59. Hubert Oswell (Graces)
60. Karyl Sheeden (Destiny)
61. Arche Klein (Phantasia)
62. Gall Gruner (Hearts)
63. Karol Capel (Vesperia)
64. Asbel Lhant (Graces)
65. Edna (Zestiria)
66. Fractured Milla (Xillia)

"No, no, no! Horrible! Terrible! Contrived! What kind of shoddy performance is this? Youre an eyesore! Get out of my sight!
67. Regal Bryant (Symphonia)
68. Kohaku Hearts (Hearts)
69. Cress Albane (Phantasia)
70. Elize Lutus (Xillia)
71. Cheria Barnes (Graces)
72. Lailah (Zestiria)
73. Kunzite (Hearts)
74. Philia Felice (Destiny)
75. Genis Sage (Symphonia)
76. Meredy (Eternia)
77. Mint Adenade (Phantasia)
78. Moses Sandor (Legendia)
79. Dezel (Zestiria)
80. Colette Brunel (Symphonia)
81. Hisui Hearts (Hearts)

The reaper and a daemon are shaking their heads at this overwrought monstrosity. Intrinsic worth, zero."
82. Chat (Eternia)
83. Grune (Legendia)
84. Mikleo (Zestiria)
85. Chelsea Torn (Destiny)
86. Patty Fleur (Vesperia)
87. Sorey (Zestiria)
88. Leon Magnus (Destiny)
89. Bruiser Khang (Destiny)
90. Emil Castagnier (Symphonia)
91. Jay (Legendia)
92. Suzu Fujibayashi (Phantasia)
93. Marta Lualdi (Symphonia)
94. Rose (Zestiria)
95. Shirley Fennes (Legendia)

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UshiromiyaEva posted...

With the confirmation that the PS5 isn't gonna play PS3 games, I finally buckled down and order a PS3, Xillia, and Xillia 2. Also have a physical copy of Eternia I've never touched, hopefully I can get into that.

Xillia and X2 are two very interesting and very different games despite how connected they are. And Eternia definitely holds up the best among the early Tales games. Sounds like you've got a lot of Tales ahead of you.

Last one for the night and for the tier.

#27 - Eizen (Berseria)
Theres nothing I hate more than someone else trying to control the direction of my life. My wheel is mine to hold. If Im not the one steering the ship, then Im not truly alive.

Im gonna do something I rarely do on this list and start by talking about the visuals here. Eizen is a contender for my favorite design in the series. He probably doesnt beat Ludger, but hes up there. It stops just short of being too tryhard and manages to stay amazing. Its an awesome combination of pirate and reaper in concept, and its just pleasing to look at besides. Berseria is really rough costume-wise, so he stands out even more. Enough about the style, though. Lets get to the substance.

Like his castmate and bash brother Rokurou, Eizen isnt a super complex character. Even Rokurou has a bit of a personal journey to go on, though, where Eizen is a fully-formed character from the very beginning. That never feels boring, though, because youre constantly learning little things about him as the game goes on as he gets more comfortable around the party and starts to show his personality more. And its not that hes even necessarily closed off in the beginning so much as hes become so used to quickly losing comrades to his curse that he probably just doesnt bother to get too attached to many of them. Its clear he appreciates them just sticking around as much as anything.

He brings a consistent humanist aspect to the game that becomes a big focal point for the whole story toward the end. His whole coin-flipping habit feels kind of symbolic, like no matter how much he understands the reality of his curse, he believes so strongly in creating his own destiny that some tiny part of him still thinks the next flip might turn up heads. And by the endgame, he simply tells the party that when it does come up tails, they just have to flip it over for him. At the same time, theres a real pervasive poignancy to his story for those whove played Zestiria and know his eventual fate no matter how much he insists hes accepted it.

Side note: I really appreciate the amount of effort the writers put into explaining the curses reach and even using it as a meta-explanation for his learning how to fight bare-handed because weapons just break when he swings them. If only hed taught himself some cooler Mystic Artes while he was at it - his are really lame.

Eizen just has a knack for making small positive contributions to every scene hes involved in, as odd as it is for someone called the Reaper. He does a ton for Berserias worldbuilding by expositing about the many things hes seen in his 1000 years. On the rare occasion he feels the need to deliver a speech before he kicks someones ass, he knocks it out of the park. Hes the focus of some of the funniest skits in the game where he dorks out about underground island tunnels and argues with Rokurou over beetle species, or when he flies off the handle (voice-crack and all) when Magilou insinuates Edna has a boyfriend (and speaking of which, he has a way of speaking about her that makes her way more likable than she ever was in Zesty proper). Berseria is one of the best Tales games at really immersing the player in its universe (and depending on where you come out on the annoyance of Abysss technobabble, it might be the best), and Eizens a huge part of that.

Not for nothing, but I wonder how he would react to Abysss world

TL;DR: Incredibly well-rounded character. He can bring the worldbuilding, he can bring the humor, and when he needs to, he can even bring the emotion. Eizens the rare party member on this list that climbed up pretty high by managing to mix together a lot of likable individual traits into a complete and enjoyable package.

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Tales of Eternia Wrap-Up
I think I now comprehend what it means to place hope in someone else.

Even though Destiny still has Rutee hanging around and thus hasnt been eliminated yet, I think Eternia has the slightly stronger cast overall, which in turn earns it the distinction of being the best of the three games that make up what I think of as the early era of Tales. Like the other two, its held back to a certain extent by multiple party members being impermanent and underdeveloped, but that group holds superiority over the equivalent characters in the other games by being especially awesome in their limited time (well, two of them, anyway).

Three-quarters of the main cast are super solid, too, buoyed by Eternias increased willingness to take moments to step back from the plot and let their relationships with each other breathe a little bit. Its not often particularly thought-provoking or anything, but theyre well-written enough that its generally a pleasant experience to just watch them talk for a little while. We even finally get hints of the humor that would later come to be so prevalent in the series.

In short, Eternia is a good but unremarkable JRPG, and its cast suits that perfectly.

And they were never heard from again...

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I guess, but none of those examples are the main antagonist, unless you want to make an argument for Shirley being one. The circumstances feel different enough to me that it seems a little hard to make those comparisons.

#28 - Farah Oersted (Eternia)
I may have been waiting for a day like this to come for a long time. It makes me happy to think that I just might save the lives of people around the world. And It makes me feel at ease.

Its kind of tough to find negative things to say about Farah. Shes very similar to castmate Reid in that her strength is in her directness. She has a pretty straightforward backstory that leads to easily understandable motivations.

Those uncomplicated premises, though, end up creating a pretty subtle but very interesting interplay between the two. Reid is more than content to live the plainest life humanly possible, even then only up to the point that things come directly to him. Farahs pursued purpose isnt any more complex, but she constantly works at it. She really just wants to help people, and shes so earnest about it that it becomes infectious, even to Reid by the end of the game, and theyre able to (somewhat awkwardly, in an endearing sort of way) find a happy medium in their respective views of the world.

It also helps that her savior syndrome is kind of parceled out in layers. In the beginning, she comes off like someone who more or less just enjoys the pure adventure feel of the journey despite the seriousness of the situation. She seems to really like the idea of being a hero, and more specifically being recognized as a hero, but in a way thats more innocent than narcissistic. Ras is the first one to recognize that her do-gooding likely comes from some great former wound, which at the time seems like a setup for an eventual eye-rolling bout of angst, especially when you take into account how common that is in later Tales offerings. Luckily, we arent made to suffer through anything like that. Her big confrontation with her past really just consists of Reid and Keele absolving her of her guilt, and it ends up being a nice reaffirmation of their friendship instead of the unnecessarily drama-laden whining that it seemed like we were headed towards. Plus, its probably worth mentioning that its essentially her influence that inspires Ras to switch sides, which was no small feat in that universe.

Its a shame Bruiser has the distinction of being the first fist fighter in the series. Farah deserves it so much more. But at least shes the first fun fist fighter in the series. Her style feels almost kung fu-inspired in some ways, giving her a unique flair. Her only real weakness is visual. The dress doesnt really seem to suit her and, color-wise, its just a little bit of an eyesore. The hair is really nice, though, and it saves the design from being outright bad. Its just less good than other things about the character.

TL;DR: Farahs placement near the top of this tier is a nice indicator of whats to come. Shes extremely likable and well-designed, contributes in a big way to the party dynamic, and strictly speaking, doesnt really have any recognizable flaws. That makes her a very good character. It doesnt quite make her special. And as we climb ever closer toward the upper 25% of this list, youve gotta bring that special hook.

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#29 - Richard Barona (Graces)
Listen, and listen well. No matter what happens, no matter how much Lambda pleads You must not Play I Spy.

Richard was another of the hardest characters on this list to rank (its just coincidence that he wound up right next to Repede) because I couldnt decide how much weight to give his role in the main story versus that of the future arc. Its a ranking of party members, so it doesnt seem entirely fair to include his time as a main antagonist as a primary factor. On the other hand, thats his role for a big portion of the story and its important for his eventual development, so itd be disingenuous to leave it out as well. But then, how much of that was actually Richard and how much was just Lambdas influence? Hes a unique case.

Hes about as enjoyable in the child arc as the others, which is to say not very enjoyable at all. He starts off just angsting about his lack of true friends and then, once Asbel defrosts him a bit, he just becomes kinda dull. Child Richard is more of a plot device than a character, since its Asbel and Sophies experiences with him in those early years that kickstart the rest of the plot.

I have precious little to say about his role in the main plot. Its insultingly obvious whats going on with him from about ten minutes after he shows up, and he hardly gets any added depth afterwards. They try to throw in that Lamdba wasnt controlling him completely and that the reason they were able to link up in the first place was their shared feelings of anger and hatred, but that happens in what is literally the last scene of the main story. I can only assume they realized with horror at the last second that they hadnt bothered to flesh out the vessel (and more visible half) of the main antagonist at all and figured they had to at least try something.

And then, in the future arc, he suddenly becomes the best character in the game. He gets some real development with his determination to atone for all the problems he caused (and the fact that hes doing such a good job that everyone in every nation loves him), his Accel mode and new lineup of artes make him an amazing caster in battle, and he starts trolling the rest of the party so hard that it puts Malik to shame. Just watch the Mask of Barona skits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DowOPqkGlFU

And thats only a small taste of how wonderfully silly he is. Its a really fun personality contrast for a guy thats otherwise one of the more grounded cast members. Regrettably, though, we ourselves only get a small taste of that because the future arc is so brief. If Richard had been a party member for the whole game, hed likely be right up there with my absolute favorite Tales characters. Instead, the majority of his screen time is eaten up by being a miserably boring antagonist and he just cant overcome that, no matter how much it pains me to judge him so much on it. Id love to have him higher, but theres too many good characters left that dont have his baggage.

TL;DR: The guy who wouldve otherwise been the games best character was the main villain for a lot of the story, which ended up kind of hamstringing both roles.

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Symphonia just kind of has too many characters in general, I think. It's not really possible to give them all the room to breathe they need with a cast that big. That's why there weren't many Symphonia reps around the middle of the list - it's really obvious by the end of the game which ones really matter and which ones really don't.

Anyway, here's a pup.

#30 - Repede (Vesperia)
"Woof!"

Pretty comfortably the hardest character to rank on this entire list. I freaking love Repede. Im an animal lover through and through. I always enjoy the concept of having an animal of some kind as a full party member in RPGs, and Tales did it right with this one. Awesome design, fun to play, fills a nice role, and above all, he protects Vesperia from the pitfall other games in the series have stumbled into of having an exceedingly annoying and/or pointless mascot character.

But, like hes a dog. Theres so many well-written, well-developed, complex characters in Tales that it eventually becomes difficult to justify putting a character that only speaks in barks and whines ahead of them, especially at this point where were really starting to climb into the high tiers with the heavy hitters.

I dont want to undersell Repede, though. Its not like he doesnt have a defined personality or even a little development along the way. He has a sense of humor that Id describe as lightly malicious, for example - he wont ever let Estelle pet him, but he lays down immediately and lets her rest on him when she faints in the Quoi Woods at the beginning of the game, so it obviously just amuses him to watch her try so hard to win his affection. His relationship with Rita is a lot of fun too, in that theyre pretty much constantly messing with each other but actually have a strong bond deep down, to the point that their AI is actually programmed to protect one another more often than with other party members. And he gets other little moments too if you pay attention, like when he sleeps right next to Whitehorses old chair away from the rest of the party immediately following his death.

But of course, his most enduring role is that of Yuris fiercely loyal companion. Were not explicitly told very much about their friendship (again, Im not counting First Strike here), but we can certainly infer a lot, and thats just a testament to how good the writing in Vesperia can be at times. Repede has an understated but powerful part in one of the games most memorable moments, where he silently watches his master strike down Ragou in the streets of Dahngrest. Insofar as dogs can have facial expressions, his would seem to communicate that, while he can see the reason behind Yuris actions, hes worried over the effect they might have on him in the long run. And that sets the stage for later events, where he immediately leads the party straight to Yuri after the latter tries to sneak off and confront Alexei and Estelle alone. He knows that could be the point of no return that sends Yuri off the deep end, and that it would take more than just him to keep it from happening.

Even reading over this write-up, Im warring with myself again. I almost wish Id put him higher. But then I read some write-ups of the next few characters and I just go back and forth over and over. I kinda hate doing it, but Ive gotta drop him here.

TL;DR: Perfectly done animal character. Fun and actually has a little depth. But being a perfect animal character can only get you so far.

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#31 - Presea Combatir (Symphonia)
You criticize and attack people for their birth and upbringing--things they cannot change. It is you who are not human.

Somewhere, Leonhart just got a little sad and he has no idea why.

It took me a long time to really get Presea, and even now she might be lower on my list than on most other peoples. Shes kind of a tough character for me to get a handle on because all the things that happen to her and around her are incredibly sad, but she herself can hardly react to them. Which in turn makes everything more sad. Its a vicious cycle. And when she does react emotionally to things it tends to accidentally come off humorous. It creates this weird disconnect where I feel more sympathetic to the larger situation than her specifically. The other problem is that, like Regal, shes pretty much superfluous. Exspheres are bad, we get it. They do terrible things. Did we really need to pack two extra characters in to drive home something we already knew? (This, incidentally, was part of my issue with Regal as I mentioned in his writeup - his only real importance is to a character thats also unimportant.)

On the other hand, though, I think shes probably the best written and developed character in Symphonia. I may rag on her and Regal for being pointless, but their relationship is still great stuff, especially on Preseas side. She wants to forgive him and knows that none of what happened was his fault, but she cant quite let go all the way, and I like that their scene in Welgaia brings that to light even if I think its kind of silly that Presea is so easily fooled by the illusion. More than that, though, the windows we get into her inner thoughts are intriguing, particularly in her Flanoir and Heimdall scenes. She thinks a lot about time and death and how they relate to her - she hates the fact that she lost years of her life, but shes terrified of dying, so she almost finds something of a silver lining in it. At the same time, she worries that her existing somewhat out of time will keep her from finding real purpose. Its heavy stuff, and its good stuff, and if you didnt have to go pretty far out of your way to see it Id be a lot more positive about what she brings to the table as a party member. Shes got a few memorable funny moments too, the best of which is her unenthusiastic portrayal of my boy Klonoa.

DotNW is kind of a mixed bag for her. Honestly, she shows up so late that I almost forgot about her on my last playthrough. Shes more talkative and casual, which is nice, and her learning how to understand Geniss stammering gibberish is the only entertaining thing that ever came out of the relationship between those two. On the bad side, she gets saddled with the stupid Paw Pad obsession gimmick, which kind of becomes her only actual personality trait for the whole game. Her role in the ending is nice, though, leaving the little figurine behind for Emil in a play off of her fears of being left behind alone forever.

TL;DR: Broadly speaking, I really do like Presea, but I dont like her quite enough to make up for how strongly I feel that she wasnt necessary and, more importantly, the fact that I just dont personally connect with her that much.

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#32 - Reid Hershel (Eternia)
Life is meant to be simple. When things stay the way they are, THATS true happiness.

I said in Stahns write-up that hes really the only Tales MC thats more or less content with himself as a person from the very start, and while I suppose you could point to Reid as a feasible argument, I would contend that his contentedness kind of manifests in a different way. My interpretation is that the original journey Stahn sets out on is motivated not by some nebulous notion of self-discovery but by such a journeys plain allure in its own context. Reid, though, doesnt even care to draw a distinction between who he personally is and what it is about life that satisfies him. In other words, Reid might take issue with my perception that Stahns desire for adventure doesnt stand in opposition to his status as a country boy. Hed say that that thirst itself precludes him from being just a country boy thats altogether comfortable with himself.

In this philosophy, Reid welcomes his simple existence as a common, small-village hunter with open arms. And were never really given a reason to think that hes being anything less than completely honest about that. Its a nice change of pace from other protagonists in the series who, despite their wildly different backgrounds, all share a greener grass mentality to varying degrees. Ambition and self-improvement are all well and good, and theyre obviously a good impetus for the epic stories of JRPGs, but I also have an admiration for the mentality that truly enjoys the simple pleasure of having a roof over their head and a predictable daily routine. Its likely that overall attitude that allows him to avoid some of the flaws of his contemporaries - hes pretty practical, and never especially reckless or overly sure of himself.

He isnt irresponsible, either, despite how much annoyance he displays at Meredys arrival and the upcoming threat of doomsday wresting him from that routine. Its perfectly reasonable of him to view it as someone elses problem - for all he knows, what can he, as one man, do that the combined efforts of folks stronger and smarter than he is cant? As the seriousness of the situation begins to set in and it becomes clearer that the eventual outcome really does rest on his shoulders, he accepts his role without any hesitation. But deep down, he hasnt changed. Even in the moment of truth, as he prepares to use his recently-acquired godlike power to stop the Grand Fall, all hes thinking about is getting back home to Rasheans and eating some of Farahs omelettes. Its a good little twist on the typical idea of the hero.

Reid has the distinction of being the first MC thats fun to play as, by virtue of Eternia being the first Tales game thats fun to play at all. Even here in 2019, though, Reid is still one of my favorites. Something about him just feels so smooth and streamlined. His artes lineup is just the right amount of flashy, capped off by the Aurora Artes later in the game that are just always a blast to use. But man, do I hate his design. I guess Cress and Stahn look so generic that they felt like they had to really switch things up, but youd think they couldve done better than a sports bra and pajama pants. Yuck.

TL;DR: As bad as his design is, its really my only complaint about him. Reids core values make him an extremely solid and likable character, and it doesnt hurt that hes (story-wise) among the most powerful characters in the series by the end of the game. Those core values also dont leave a whole lot of room for depth, though, and while I certainly dont mind straightforward characters, theyre very close to hitting their ceiling in light of all the complex characters that are still to come.

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Tales of Phantasia Wrap-Up
Phantasia just shows its age under any kind of scrutiny. You can see hints of what the Tales series would eventually become in it, but as their first effort, it's very clear that they were starting slow in an attempt to find their legs. It shows in the story, in the gameplay, and definitely in the cast. Say what you will about some of the terrible party members in the franchise, but at least they came from taking risks. Phantasia wasnt interested in taking many risks, and the result is that half of its characters leave no impression whatsoever. It manages to stand above Zestiria and Legendia by virtue of having no one I completely hate, but theres certainly no one I truly love, either.

And they were never heard from again...

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#33 - Chester Burklight (Phantasia)
Youre you. Youre not Ami. But still, I want to teach how many great things exist in this world. So many things that she never had a chance to see.

Age can be kind of a difficult concept with JRPG characters. Pretty much the whole basis of the genre rests on the idea of throwing a bunch of teenagers into extraordinary situations, and though ideally itd be nice to have them all act their ages, you can only do that to a point because, frankly, most teens are annoying jackasses and players would hate them.

In my estimation, Chester is one of the most realistic depictions of a teen that the Tales series has. Forced to grow up very fast in order to take care of his sister after they became orphans, he immediately comes off as someone with a very different outlook on life compared to the naive Cress. His response to learning that Cresss uncle sold him out to the soldiers is simply to quietly muse that people sometimes have to do things they dont like just to survive. He seems to have an innate understanding of the burden of responsibility, both in regards to a lone individuals place in the world and in the larger sense of the great conflict he finds himself in.

But that doesnt mean hes not immature at times, most notably in situations that play on his emotions. Hes hot headed and reckless, and that gets him into trouble more than once, but hes also a bit of a slave to the softer feelings in his heart. Arches offhand comment that he looks weak drives him to train obsessively through the night for who knows how long after he rejoins the party, and while its clear that thats partly because hes bothered by how the others have passed him by (this is the reason his lack of screen time bothers me slightly less than it does with other characters - its integrated into his growth), it later transpires that he also just has a thing for Arche and wants to impress her. And in the interim, like any seventeen-year-old with a crush, he just butts heads with her at every opportunity. It was a good way to write him - its realistic without being grating. Some of the late game skits reveal him to be more introspective than one would imagine, too. The protectiveness he develops for Suzu given that she reminds him of Ami is sweet. Its a nice bit of continuity that it hurts him to see her trying to close herself off from emotion entirely, given that thats pretty much the antithesis of everything Ami was.

The big problem Chester has that keeps him from climbing any further is that hes just gone for too long. He misses everything in the story that happens in the past timeline because hes laying around dead in the present, and unfortunately that great bit of development where hes insecure about his weakness shows in gameplay too, because hes at a much lower level than the rest of your party when you get him back. Once you train him up, hes an absolute beast that ends up second only to Cress in battle, but its a pain to get him that far.

TL;DR: Chesters long absence, although ultimately a net positive for his overall development, is kind of annoying because it leaves him out of focus for so long, and he ends up missing out on a lot of important story events and on the time to better develop a romance with Arche thats sort of charming but feels rushed and somewhat disappointing. Hes still the most interesting member of the cast, though, because the time we do get with him has a lot of great stuff in it.

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#34 - Stahn Aileron (Destiny)
If the world has problems, we just have to fix them.

Theres a real charming sort of simplicity to Stahn. The motivation for his journey is just seeing the world. Hes not on a noble quest to become a great protector of people or right some great injustice. Hes not a Chosen One burdened with an ancient prophecy, and his hometown wasnt ground zero for a world-altering, cataclysmic event. Even by the end of his journey, hes not an unusually skilled swordsman, which Dymlos even lampshades. Absent his ability to hear Swordians speak, which is not an exceedingly rare quality at all, hes not extraordinary in any way. Hes special because hes not at all special. Hes just an innocent country boy who wanted to go on an adventure. Thats how he starts and its more or less how he finishes. And thats pretty refreshing for a JRPG main character.

Whats also refreshing is that hes pretty content with himself as a person from the beginning. Outside of that desire to expand his world, it really doesnt bother him much that hes just a humble country boy. There are no big crises of confidence and he never feels pressured to be anything more than what he is, and even when the conflict ramps up in scale he freely admits that hes fighting more to protect the people close to him than he is for the world as a whole.

And beyond that, hes just a straight-up good dude. He gets along well with the rest of the party, except for Leon, whos just an ass and, early on, Rutee, thanks mostly to her money-grubbing ways. Once he realizes that shes not so much unscrupulous as she is just greedy, their butting of heads becomes much more good-natured, and after she confides in him her reason for it all he doesnt hesitate for a second in giving up his share of the money from the Eye of Atamoni job for her cause. Hes not totally immune to letting his emotions get the best of him, but hell let his friends talk him off that ledge, and he even has a bit of a silly sense of humor by the games end.

His design is kind of mediocre, which leaves it as one of the worst among Tales main protagonists. The only part of it thats completely awful is the mullet, but the rest is just dull and uninteresting and theres no part of it that I actively like. Its basically a redux of Cress with more blue and worse hair. I do enjoy playing as him in battle, though. Its not exactly a smooth experience because the original Destinys combat simply didnt allow for that sort of thing, but hes got a great lineup of Artes, especially once you start getting to the late game to collect some of the secret ones. Theyre just over-the-top enough to be fun.

TL;DR: Stahn is a really nice follow-up to the cookie-cutter Cress. Hes not significantly more complex, far from it, but hes much more fleshed out and complete. He feels like an actual driving force behind the plot who makes things happen rather than just being around while other characters do the important stuff. Straightforward and all-around likable, Stahn is super solid. He doesnt have the depth to go any further, though.

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Another kinda funny back-to-back here.

#35 - Gaius (Xillia)
"Leia, I'm adding your mother to the list of people I hope I don't have to fight one day. She's currently... The only one on that list."

Gaius is really carried to this placement by an overall aura of badassery and the novelty of getting to play as a former final boss.

Without those boosters (pun intended), hed be kind of a middling hit-or-miss character. Hed be one of the more forgettable main villains of the series if not for the fact that he is later made playable. His whole guiding principle of the world being divided into the strong and weak, where the former protects the latter, is a boring motivation because it doesnt connect to the theme of the game (finding ones purpose) at all. And thats really all he has. The conflict has nothing to do with a clash of ideals - its more of a matter of circumstance. His character is important within the context of Judes development since he represents the opposite extreme (i.e., such a total lack of self-doubt that hes unwilling to consider alternate options to the path he has chosen), so from that perspective its important, but hes missing a lot of what makes for memorable main antagonists. I do like that hes consistent, though - the party showing their strength through defeating him leads him to accept that there may be some merit to their ideas, and hes willing to try them rather than die out of pure stubbornness.

His upgrade to a full party member in X2, like with Muzet, was a double-edged sword. Its nice that he gets to show off some personality. His understated sense of humor immediately gives him some good chemistry with the rest of the cast. I like the direction of his character as well - the idea of learning more about Elympios and the lives of its citizens makes it feel like hes really learned something about what it means to rule. He seems to have a greater understanding that its often better to adapt to the world as best he can than to try and force it to change. Even more impressive is that they handled his integration into a regular fighter fairly well. Hes an absolute powerhouse, but he moves slow and his artes cost so much TP that you cant just play him on autopilot. Yeah, Calamity Stance is basically always an insta-kill against ordinary random mobs and thats kind of silly, but its not like those are ever any threat anyway. Why should the King of Rieze Maxia be at all troubled by them?

The problem I have with Gaius is that Xillia 2 humanizes him maybe a little too much. I dont mind the dry humor, or that hes sometimes so overly serious that its played for laughs, or that he indulges some of Muzets wildcard antics because he knows it makes her happy, but sometimes he just comes off like an absolute doofus, and thats when it goes too far. Theres a skit late in the game where some of the party members declare Rollo to be the Cat Emperor, and depending on dialogue choices, either Milla or Gaius is provoked into challenging him to a duel for his crown. For Milla, thats perfectly in character and even she seems to treat it as just a fun diversion, but it feels like it should be far beneath Gaius. It seems like a small thing, but theres a couple of other examples that, when added together, just kind of hurt his mystique and make him feel like a completely different character. His biggest draw is the sheer aura around him, so anything that hurts that aura really hurts him. Also, his character episodes themselves were boooring. I understand and like the idea behind them, but they were a chore to get through. Its a shame, because he was one of the party members that really couldve benefited from a better one.

TL;DR: Making a former final boss into a party member is hard. This particular attempt had mixed results, but the good does outweigh the bad.

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#36 - Muzet (Xillia)
"I still remember the final battle between Milla and Gaius, when Milla got Gaius in a leg-trap chameleon clutch and forced him to tap out."

One of Ludgers dialogue options in an early Muzet character episode is Muzet is so freaking weird. Yep. Truer words were never spoken.

Muzet is indeed freaking weird. Muzet is also freaking delightful, which seems crazy to say about a character who spent most of her screen time in the first Xillia trying to kill everyone. But thats part of what makes her an interesting character. Shes the most obvious foil to Jude in Xillia 1, as they both struggle with their purpose, but Muzets dependency issues prevent her from being able to find one within herself and she goes completely nuts when no ones around to tell her exactly what to do. Even then, though, theres hints that she actually has a good heart underneath it all, like in the sub-event that reveals she periodically visits a blind woman in Elympios whose daughter died years earlier and takes the time to read to her.

She gets upgraded to a full party member in X2, which both helps and hurts her. It helps because shes just around a lot more, which gives her an opportunity to show off her overall entertaining personality. If Muzets in a skit, shes probably going to say or do something hilarious. Whether its teasing Jude with an overt innuendo or pretending that the final battle from the first game was actually a one-on-one wrestling match between Milla and Gaius, its impossible to predict whats gonna come out of her mouth. Shes the most consistent source of levity in whats otherwise an extremely depressing game. I also appreciate that she hasnt completely lost her violent tendencies; rather, shes learned to direct them in a more constructive way (i.e., at people who actually deserve it). In a lot of ways, shes a much more compelling version of Grune.

What hurts her is the character episodes. They revolve around the idea that Muzets deepest wish is to be accepted by the rest of the party. I have no problem with that in theory, but it creates kind of a disconnect with the rest of the game. Its implied at times that theyre still a little wary around her, sure, but the majority of the time, everyone acknowledges that shes changed and they generally get a kick out of her antics. They certainly never outwardly object to her presence. It feels like the game is trying to tell two different stories, which kind of hamstrings the development she couldve otherwise had. This is especially annoying when combined with the fact that she never really experiences any consequences for her big murder spree in X1. If her character episodes had focused more on her trying to make amends to the villages or families shed ruined instead, it may have been something great. It feels like were just missing a step in her development in the middle somewhere.

I have absolutely nothing to say about her gameplay because I hardly ever use her in my party, and her design is nice but nothing too special. So, while I really enjoy the character, I cant justify putting her any higher than this. Shes just not well-rounded enough.

TL;DR: Tons of fun and has a few layers, but some inconsistent characterization in Xillia 2 kind of leaves her floundering.

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Ive traveled back in time from next week. Please stop throwing monsters at us.
37. Estellise Sidos Heurassein (Vesperia)
38. Alisha Diphda (Zestiria)
39. Rokurou Rangetsu (Berseria)
40. Will Raynard (Legendia)
41. Keele Zeibel (Eternia)
42. Zaveid (Zestiria)
43. Garr Kelvin (Destiny)
44. Kor Meteor (Hearts)
45. Judith (Vesperia)
46. Ludger Kresnik (Xillia)
47. Mary Argent (Destiny)
48. Leia Rolando (Xillia)
49. Claus F. Lester (Phantasia)
50. Flynn Scifo (Vesperia)
51. Anise Tatlin (Abyss)
52. Kratos Aurion (Symphonia)
53. Ines Lorenzen (Hearts)

"You're weak! You're a hack! You're wack."
54. Senel Coolidge (Legendia)
55. Rassius Luine (Eternia)
56. Max (Eternia)
57. Norma Beatty (Legendia)
58. Chloe Valens (Legendia)
59. Hubert Oswell (Graces)
60. Karyl Sheeden (Destiny)
61. Arche Klein (Phantasia)
62. Gall Gruner (Hearts)
63. Karol Capel (Vesperia)
64. Asbel Lhant (Graces)
65. Edna (Zestiria)
66. Fractured Milla (Xillia)

"No, no, no! Horrible! Terrible! Contrived! What kind of shoddy performance is this? Youre an eyesore! Get out of my sight!
67. Regal Bryant (Symphonia)
68. Kohaku Hearts (Hearts)
69. Cress Albane (Phantasia)
70. Elize Lutus (Xillia)
71. Cheria Barnes (Graces)
72. Lailah (Zestiria)
73. Kunzite (Hearts)
74. Philia Felice (Destiny)
75. Genis Sage (Symphonia)
76. Meredy (Eternia)
77. Mint Adenade (Phantasia)
78. Moses Sandor (Legendia)
79. Dezel (Zestiria)
80. Colette Brunel (Symphonia)
81. Hisui Hearts (Hearts)

The reaper and a daemon are shaking their heads at this overwrought monstrosity. Intrinsic worth, zero."
82. Chat (Eternia)
83. Grune (Legendia)
84. Mikleo (Zestiria)
85. Chelsea Torn (Destiny)
86. Patty Fleur (Vesperia)
87. Sorey (Zestiria)
88. Leon Magnus (Destiny)
89. Bruiser Khang (Destiny)
90. Emil Castagnier (Symphonia)
91. Jay (Legendia)
92. Suzu Fujibayashi (Phantasia)
93. Marta Lualdi (Symphonia)
94. Rose (Zestiria)
95. Shirley Fennes (Legendia)

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Last of the night and of the tier.

#37 - Estellise Sidos Heurassein (Vesperia)
I made the decision to begin this journey, and I have to finish what I started.

The fact that I know her full name and can spell it correctly without looking it up might be an indication that Ive played too much Tales in my life.

Anyway, my favorite Estelle moment actually happens offscreen. Ravens return to the party following Baction leads to that conga line of everyone smacking him around as penance for his betrayal. Raven later tells her about this, as she was kidnapped at the time, and her immediate response is to hit him herself, not wanting to feel left out.

That just kind of sums her up, doesnt it? Shes fun, shes adorable, shes pure. Her role in the first act of the game is to keep everything feeling like an adventure. Theres sinister goings-on in the world of Terca Lumireis, but its easy to forget about all of that when you see the earnest joy Estelle derives from the simplest of events, like Yuri giving her a nickname or just getting to see the ocean. Its cliche to say, but shes definitely the heart of the party, which makes the eventual whiplash in the plot play pretty well.

Estelles character is one of inherent tragedy. Her base desire in life is to help people, and shes seemingly blessed with a unique power that gives her the ability to do that. But when the hits start coming for her, they come one after another. First she learns the power is actually poisonous to some creatures, then that its poison to the world itself. THEN Alexei kidnaps her and forces her to use that power because Actually, Im not sure I ever really understood what Alexeis plan was.

Regardless, because Vesperias plot becomes such a mess towards the end of act two, Estelle kind of gets shoved into the background for the rest of the game and it leaves her arc feeling unfinished. Thats not to say she doesnt develop, because she does. She gets a lot better at taking initiative and thinking for herself as the story progresses, culminating in the mid-credits pictures that show her becoming a writer in Halure, but its not a very satisfying end.

The bigger problem is that shes just not interesting or entertaining when the focus isnt on her. The Vesperia casts biggest strength as a whole is how enjoyable it is to just see them chat with each other during down times, and Estelle doesnt contribute much as far as memorable quotes or moments. Shes pretty unremarkable as a fighter and I dont really care for her design or her voice, either. Shes important to the story but only to a point, and the party as a whole functions pretty well without her. Thats not a great summation for a main heroine, even if she is genuinely likable besides.

TL;DR: She needs the story spotlight on her to be interesting, and while itd be underselling her to say she ends up feeling more like a plot device than a character because of that, it also doesnt feel like a gross exaggeration. I like her a good bit, but sometimes I feel like thats more of an in-theory thing than in-practice, and really, she just doesnt deserve to go higher.

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Tales of Zestiria Wrap-Up
"... I just had a sudden, violent urge to abandon you."

As in, I had a sudden, violent urge to abandon this project when I realized it would necessitate going through Zestiria again.

My stance on Zesty since its release has been Its an average RPG, which makes it bad by Tales standards. Playing through it a second time with this project in mind, though, has forced me to reevaluate. This game is bad by any standards. Its an absolute catastrophe. Its narrative feels like about four different stories and eight different themes haphazardly stitched together into something thats just barely coherent and not at all compelling, like one of those ransom notes constructed out of magazine clippings. It never decides what it wants to be about, or what questions it wants to ask, or what possible answers it wants to give to those questions, instead choosing to just wax philosophical about any fleeting idea that catches the writers fancy at a given time without ever actually saying anything about it.

I could rant more about this, but this list is about the characters, not really the games themselves. Ultimately, though, the two are linked. The lack of direction and consistency results in a cast with nothing of substance to offer. They dont experience any compelling growth because nothing happens that they could conceivably grow from. The only one of its party members (the only permanent one, at least) that really develops and changes had to do it by showing up in another, better-written game, and even then, we have to fill in a blank or two ourselves. Skits and victory quotes and things of that nature arent even that endearing, and its sure not like the gameplay is going to win any of them any points either.

So were essentially left with nothing but fundamental personalities, and while most of those in this cast are solid to good, thats really not enough. Zestiria sucks, and it really drags down a cast of characters that, on a conceptual level, would have had some overall potential.

And they were never heard from again...

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I mean, the only punk ass thing I remember him doing was making up the stuff that led to Shigure being cast out, and Shigure didn't even really care about that. Rokurou carried his daemon status pretty well.

I've been looking forward to this two-shot of eliminations for a while because of all the speculation everyone did.

#38 - Alisha Diphda (Zestiria)
Let me see what I can do about the Hyland army. Im naive and soft and whiny enough to think itll work. Thats just who I am!

You can decide for yourself what it says about a game that the playable character that spends the least amount of time with the party is its best offering.

Alisha, first of all, has a very simple trait that the rest of the Zestiria characters are in desperate need of. Shes endearing. She has all of Soreys dorkiness without it feeling awkward and silly. She has all of Roses inner strength and determination without the messy story implications. Shes as hammy and unbridled in her enthusiasm as Lailah without it feeling like parody. You want to see her live the life she wants, and its legitimately disheartening that all the forces of the universe seem committed to making sure that doesnt happen.

Its almost amusing to me that, even if you had no knowledge of the ludicrous development problems that so plagued Zestiria, you would still realize how silly Alishas departure from the party is by how awkward and abrupt it is. Theres no prior mention of how Shepherds must choose their Squires carefully because itll annihilate their body if the Squire isnt strong enough. All of a sudden, its just Hey, Soreys going blind. Hey, thats because Alishas resonance is weak. Hey, shes leaving, alright, wheres Rose?

Her absence is felt pretty much immediately, because her chemistry with the rest of the party is so much better than Roses. To start with, she has the sort of relationship with Sorey that the game keeps trying to convince you Mikleo has with Sorey. Its really noticeable in the skits. Rose dominates every conversation as soon as she joins in because shes really loud and her personality overall just lends itself to that sort of thing. Alisha plays off other characters much better because there isnt this frustrating dogma to make her the focus of everything that happens.

And all told, Alishas fundamental characterization is just super solid. Its made implicit in an early skit that she has all the qualities to be a truly effective princess and, later, queen, if she only had any interest in doing that. The problem, if you can call it that, is that shes also a truly effective knight - her idolization of the title leads her to truly understand what it means to bear it. Despite her acute distaste for the political game, though, shes got a surprising understanding of how to play it, and once she accepts that its her duty, like it or not, she steps into it with relative ease.

It takes a lot of turmoil for her to get there, though. Her status and abilities have folks all over the place trying to use her or hold her as leverage for some other purpose, even in her limited screen time. It all leads up to Zestirias best scene, when she finally lets out her frustrations and tearfully confides to Sorey how tired of it all she is. Holy crap, inner conflict? In MY Zestiria? Now, granted, we move past that way too quick, but at this point, Im not looking for perfection, just some inclination that somebody on the development team had a vague idea of how to write fiction.

I sure dont blame her. Its pretty damn impressive that, after all the hell she went through, she never became a hellion or even came close to it. She must be really pure of heart.

But, wait... if thats the case, then why was she so unsuited to be a Squire? Oh, right, resonance or whatever Fuck Tales of Zestiria.

All that being said, Alishas kind of the poster child for lack of screen time in this series. So while Im almost tempted to put her a little bit higher, I just cant quite make myself do it. Congrats, though, Zesty. You finally got a little bit of praise.

TL;DR: Alisha remaining in her role as the main heroine wouldve had one of two effects. Optimistically, it wouldve made the game much more tolerable, and I dont care how cold a take that is - sometimes the prevailing opinion becomes so because its correct. On the pessimistic end, Zestiria couldve dragged her down to its level and ruined everything that made her good. Given that all the disjointedness started when she left, I tend to think the former is probably more accurate, but I guess well never know.

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IX - The Place I'll Return to Someday
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vW3QK6CTg2g

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Yeah, there's much less of them, and a fair number of them are just a few lines and/or amount to little more than "We did this thing, so now we need to go and do this thing."

Anyway, the answer to the burning question of "Will Berseria sweep Zestiria?"

#39 - Rokurou Rangetsu (Berseria)
Im not afraid of dying. Its more that Im afraid of not being alive.

And so the last untouched game takes its first hit.

Rokurou is a very straightforward character in a game otherwise filled with characters that are anything but, which is both a blessing and a curse for him. Not unlike his status as a daemon. Eh? Eh?

The negative aspect should be pretty obvious, especially in regard to what other characters on this list have been docked for. Simple characters are all well and good so long as theyre executed properly, but in most cases, between a well-done simple character and a well-done complex character with a lot of growth, Im gonna prefer the latter. And the regrettable truth is that when Shigures not involved in Berserias events, Rokurou really isnt either. Hes just kinda there. And particularly after Shigure dies, it becomes very obvious how little Rokurou has to do with anything else.

This sort of thing has been a death knell for some characters on this list and a big anchor for others, but for one reason or another, it kinda works in Berseria. It helps that Rokurous a pretty cool and relatable dude, so even on the periphery, you never mind having him around. But more importantly, notwithstanding the sometimes-heavy subject matter (like the depths of Kuroganes obsession or the very nature of Rangetsu clan succession), its a nice breather from the main plot while it lasts. Berserias story has some missteps along the way, but it mostly does what it sets out to do in making the player think about its themes. So its a welcome distraction to just sit back and appreciate a side story of one guy training to be better than another guy. He never launches into long lamenting monologues or angsts over his setbacks. Even his brief feelings of directionlessness after killing Shigure are solved by Eleanor in the space of one skit. Sometimes you just wish the rest of the cast could be dealt with so easily, no matter how compelling their troubles are. As it is, his story is really the only one of the partys that has a satisfying end in-game.

His biggest asset is that hes just a pleasant presence in the party. Hes always in a good mood and constantly gives off the impression of someone whos thoroughly enjoying his existence, no matter whats going on. Being a daemon (and staying that way in the ending) doesnt bother him one bit (which makes sense as its often easy to almost forget he is one). The only thing that ever seems to irritate him even slightly is Magilou, which is perfectly reasonable. I quite enjoy his relationship with Eleanor, too. Its kind of understated, but hes uncharacteristically protective of her from the time she joins, and hes the first one in the party she warms up to somewhat and the only one that she ever seems to really speak casually to. Thats the effect of a nonchalant guy like him, I guess - being able to draw out feelings of comfort from others despite his admittedly dark tendencies. I really like that hes apparently become a wandering protector of sorts in the ending as well. Hes not quite as enjoyable in battle, unfortunately. I mean, hes fine - Tales swordsmen are pretty unilaterally fun to some minimum degree - but he feels less interesting and useful than the others all things considered. I think I might be the minority opinion on that, though, so maybe I just never got the hang of him.

TL;DR: Rokurou is kind of the opposite of Will in that his biggest flaw is the fact that his castmates are just more interesting than him. Hes extremely likable, enough so that his relative simplicity is easily forgiven. But there are times during Berseria where he really doesnt feel like he belongs. Lift him out of the game and I dont think itd suffer dramatically.

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Tales of Legendia Wrap-Up
Youre late! Because of you, I had to have a really boring conversation!

So. Much. Filler dialogue. The Legendia cast has absolutely no chemistry, and the game clearly knows it because they spend a hell of a lot of text boxes directly telling players how close they all are. Legendia has to shove every bit of info about their relationships down our throats because the writing isnt good enough for us to understand it otherwise. Senel and Chloe are the only two that have a dynamic with any sort of nuance at all, and even that relationship ends up leaving a bad taste in my mouth by the end. At no point do the rest feel like they have a bond; no amount of, Aww, look at Moses and Jay fighting like brothers or Hahahaha, Will is such an old man acting like a dad to the party or Well, that was silly, but thats Norma/Grune/Shirley for you! changes that. There are no memorable funny moments or interesting internal conflicts. They are badly, badly hurt by the lack of skits. I dont know that Im confident they wouldve been particularly well-written anyway, but they desperately needed something, anything to flesh them out just a little bit more.

Its not exactly an unpopular opinion to say that Legendia is among the weakest entries in the Tales series, but I sometimes see folks saying that the game should at least get credit for their good cast. I just cant agree. If you ask me, its cast is one of its biggest issues. Its no wonder they finish up this early, and when you really get down to it, the only reason they even hung around this long is because Will had a good CQ.

And they were never heard from again...

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Gonna start the day by finishing off our first full game.

#40 - Will Raynard (Legendia)
Happiness is living together with ones own family. Asking for anything more than that is just being greedy.

If youre gonna look for me to say with 100% confidence that Will didnt get a boost to his overall ranking simply by being by far the best character out of the appalling trash fire that is the rest of the Legendia cast I cant. Its impossible to remove him entirely from that kind of context. That said, I dont want to give the impression that he didnt get to this general level based on his own merit, or that he doesnt have a good bit to offer, because he does.

Lets start with the bad here. First of all, Cam Clarke sounded like he was half asleep for most of Wills lines. I realize thats kind of his style, but its particularly bad with this character. More importantly, I really dont care for his design. Clearly they thought it was really humorous to have an obscenely jacked guy wield a giant hammer but be a mage. I, on the other hand, just find it dumb. Whats the practical purpose of carrying around a massive hammer if you barely use it? I really dont require a whole lot of explanation for stuff like this; if you want to wield a goofy weapon as a mage, just make one offhand comment about how it helps you channel your spells and Ill be fine with it, like with Geniss kendama. But they actually do the opposite and go right at the joke. Haha, it really seems like Will should be an iron eren! But hes not! Yeah, good one, Legendia. Very clever. And past that, the games overall art style makes his muscular build just look very silly, like hes every dudebro at my gym that skips leg day and Wilhelm screams while doing his terrible-form bench presses. Also, because he is indeed a mage, hes severely outclassed by all the melee fighters and is mostly useful as a mediocre healer, so he doesnt get any points in battle. Its kind of a shame, because hes got a decent lineup of cool spells.

Even past all that, WIll took quite a while to grow on me. Hes very, very dry for a lot of the game. His most prevalent trait that hints at an actual personality is his Raine-esque geeking out over history- or monster-related discoveries, which, of course, everyone else makes fun of him for because LOL HES A NEEEERD. MORE LIKE WILL RAY-NERD, AM I RIGHT?

Anyway, despite his boring beginnings, I find that as Legendia progresses, Will becomes a pretty integral part of whatever awkward dynamic the party has. I miss him when hes not around. Hes the only one of them that has any sort of perceptive or deductive ability at all, and he does a good job of grounding them when they get a little too out there, which happens relatively often. At times, the understated voice acting can actually help with this, as it makes him feel even more like a calming influence.

What helps him more than anything, though, is his Character Quest. Its no coincidence that the top-placing Legendia character is the only one that has an actively enjoyable CQ. Will being the only Tales party member to have a young child (one thats still around, at any rate) gives him some development that no one else in the series gets. His complex relationship with his daughter progresses in a natural, believable way and, along with the flashbacks involving him and Amelia that reveal a more playful and happy side to his demeanor, firmly establishes Will as a good, caring man, to the point that I dont particularly care anymore that he doesnt have a ton of depth to him beyond that. Honestly, if the CQs had been voiced, he mightve ended up even a little higher, because some of those scenes wouldve been even more impactful with even passable VA work.

Namco did something with Will that they failed to do with the rest of Legendias cast: pick a clear direction for the character and commit to it. He feels so much more complete than the other party members even if he isnt necessarily more rounded than some of them. And that adds up to make him the only one I actually like by the end.

TL;DR: Hes got some big problems and hes not always particularly interesting, but Will eventually turns out to be quite likable, and the fatherly aspects are unique enough to make him fairly memorable anyway.

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I'm not sure FE10 Shinon is very underrated, either.

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shadowysea07 posted...

There's a few more that appear out of the minor ones not counting Edna as an illusion cameo. The cat was working with the one guys older brother in berseria as a limiter similar to kenpachi's eye patch from bleach. I can't recall what the cats name was off hand but she later became the spirit lord for pendrago in zestiria. Some of the others would be spoilers so I won't mention them. And I can't recall their names besides ones off hand anyway. Oh and while we don't see her Magilous grave is shown in zesty in an optional sidequest. There's also the sneaking suspicion I have that the sword demon thing in zesty's water temple was the samurai in berseria.

I forgot about the cat. I bow to your superior knowledge of Berseria/Zestiria connections.

#41 - Keele Zeibel (Eternia)
I dislike intuition and inferences.

Absent similar voice acting troubles to those that plague the other party members in Eternia (Keeles particular tic comes in the form of an odd quirk of emphasizing the wrong syllables in words), Keele has all the makings of a really memorable character At least for the first two-thirds of the game.

Reid at one point says of Keele, He cant do much, but he sure can think. That very much feels like the basis on which the character was created. Its cool to have a character whose primary motivation for joining a quest to save the world is pure knowledge. Eternia does a pretty respectable job of demonstrating his physical shortcomings and keeping them fresh in our minds as both a sore spot in his own mind and a source of tension between him and Reid. Its never taken so far that it feels like a gimmick or stupid gag, and its never used as a contrived catalyst for a plot point beyond what it justifies the way, for example, Geniss sometimes was. Considering all that, I like it as a building block for a character. These JRPG journeys are treacherous - not everyone can have an indomitable body thats always up to the task, right? And since he consistently finds ways to contribute to the party with his cleverness and knowledge, he never feels like deadweight.

It plays nicely into the rest of his characterization, too. He takes his natural intelligence and tries to direct it in a way that ensures everybody knows about it to compensate for his weaknesses. It makes him insufferable at times, especially when he exercises his penchant for squeezing as many long words into a sentence as possible just to prove that he knows them. But the business in Inferia City early in the game humbles him somewhat. He learns that, broadly speaking, most people dont really care how smart you are. There are almost always other considerations in any situation that, fair or not, take precedence over that book learnin.

Where Keeles character loses steam is that none of his conflicts ever feel completely resolved. Reids Trials, for example, lead the two to come to something of an understanding, but we never really see much of how that friendship really works afterwards. The romantic tease with Meredy shows a bit of his soft side and plays well off his attraction to unknown and mysterious things, but its fairly paint-by-numbers in execution and never feels all that compelling. And eventually, his physical struggles sort of just stop showing up. I can buy that he got stronger over the course of the adventure and all, but itd be nice to have some actual acknowledgement of that.

TL;DR: Keele had some potential and got a great start on his development, but it seems as though they lost track of what they were doing with him somewhere along the line. It feels like his journey ended somewhere in the middle, and it leaves him as a good but unfinished character.

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Fair point about Shirley's combat but yeah, she's last place either way.

#42 - Zaveid (Zestiria)
Oh, thats rich. I can always count on the Shepherd and his posse to be a bunch of goody two-shoes, cant I.

The second of two characters, after Anise, on this list that doesnt need to actually be likable to be compelling.

Only three characters appear in both Berseria and Zestiria: Phoenix, whos exclusive to sidequests in both entries; Eizen, whos a dragon in the latter and thus barely counts; and our boy here, which means he occupies a unique position in the series as having about 1000 years worth of time to develop as a character. And the difference we see in him between those two appearances is a really interesting commentary on the world he inhabits. The Zestiria/Berseria world, from an in-canon perspective, is a really cruel and unforgiving one, even by Tales standards. Other games in the franchise generally end with the typical JRPG solving of the universes problems, but the Desolation world is aggressively cyclical, and both of its games beat it into our heads that theres legitimately no way to really stop that.

Zaveids journey, therefore, feels like one even the most ardent supporters of his original creed would go through. His uncompromising belief in protecting life and saving people is admirable (well, sort of), but if you live long enough in his world, theres just no way to cling to it forever. Its not workable. And his status as the most indiscriminate killer in the Zestiria party proves that, somewhere along the way, he was forced to take Eizens ideas of killing being a form of salvation as an unfortunate truth of life. He serves as a walking representation of the hopeless feeling that hangs so menacingly over the duology.

The flip side of this is he also gets two games to be annoying. In Berseria, this takes the form of the irritating preachy pacifist who insists hes got the moral high ground by protecting a mindless monster whos racking up one hell of a body count. He compounds this by insisting she not even be referred to as a dragon in the first place, which I have to assume is the result of some weird translation thing because otherwise its one of the dumbest character traits in the series. And then in Zestiria he becomes the token insufferable womanizer, which kind of dominates the more charming aspects of his personality. I will say that it implies, to me, that he never really got over Theodora, which is supremely sad considering how much he changed in every other aspect over the centuries.

Last thing I have to say about him is that his design kind of sucks in both games. I dont really know whats going on with his shirt in Berseria and I dont know why hes just topless in Zesty. And then he gets Dezels hat, which is a cool tribute and all but honestly looks kind of stupid on him.

TL;DR: The setting of Zestiria and Berseria is pretty definitely the weakest part of the duology (mostly because its the one thing Berseria didnt really fix or change up), but seeing how Zaveid changes over his long life gives some real weight to it, and that sort of contribution makes up for him being a fairly obnoxious character in both appearances. Its just not quite enough to make him feel complete, and I wish that Id actually enjoyed his presence somewhere along the way too.

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The Man with the Machine Gun

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#43 - Garr Kelvin (Destiny)
"I know how senseless a war can be. So, I rule my country so that we will never be involved in a war."

Garr is quite possibly the most consistent character in the entire Tales franchise. There arent a whole lot of highs and lows with him, because hes pretty much a fully-formed character from the moment he first steps onto the screen. He doesnt develop as an individual so much as the player just learns more about him as the game goes along, and there arent many Tales party members that work that way.

His willingness to live amongst the citizens of Phandaria before his ascension to the throne shows that he has an intrinsic understanding of what it means to rule, and that allows him to step into his role as King with great ease when called upon. He essentially starts where Gaius ends up around the beginning of Xillia 2. I like that he maintains perspective as a ruler, too - he knows that his responsibility is to the people of Phandaria first and foremost and never loses sight of that. If his actions and decisions end up helping other countries, great, but thats never going to be the philosophy that guides him.

He ties it all together with a bunch of great (albeit scattered) moments in the story. Hes the only one with the good sense to try and destroy the Eye of Atamoni when they get the chance. Hes the only one who actually manages to anger Baruk a bit when he confronts the party in the late game. Hes the only one whos still suspicious of Hugo when he claims mind control after the battle (which ends up actually being the truth, but its still a good shrewd moment). And hes the only member of the party to vocalize that the worlds troubles wont just magically be solved by beating Kronos - to truly win, its going to still take plenty of hard work in the future.

Its for this reason that his prolonged absence isnt as big a problem for him as it is for other Destiny characters. A large part of the reason that hes so consistently solid is that he simply doesnt get enough time in the spotlight to change, but because he is ultimately an important character to the story, he still needs to be interesting. The solution, again, was to make him a respectable, finished character right off the bat. The big disappearing act is, however, a little annoying for gameplay purposes. Hes underleveled when he comes back, which is always a pain. And then once he eventually gets a Swordian of his own, he gets caught in this weird purgatory where Im not quite sure what his role is meant to be. The other Swordian wielders take less effort than him to be effective and Chelsea ends up being a better long range option in a lot of ways.

He earns some points back for his look, though. It makes good use of the cool side of the color spectrum and the whole thing comes together in a way thats refined enough to suit a man of his status and demeanor while also being functional for all the frontline fighting he ends up doing in the story. Its either my favorite or second-favorite design in Destiny depending on what kind of mood Im in.

TL;DR: While hes not amazing from most traditional perspectives, I love the stability Garr brings to the Destiny party. Hes sure of himself all the way through and successful because of it. His wonderful castmate Leon Magnus was meant to be the coolest character ever created, but just ended up being a tryhard. Luckily, Garrs cool enough for the both of them.

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#44 - Kor Meteor (Hearts)
If an adult would sacrifice someone's life to save the world, I'm okay with being a child.

Korshing Meteor(ite) is, first of all, the funniest byproduct of the English translation with Japanese audio. I dont know why they chose to rename him and it becomes especially weird when there are so many noticeable instances of other characters literally screaming SHIIIIING, sometimes nothing else, when the dialogue reads Kor.

But whatever, thats not really important. Kor has some things going for him, starting with his design, which is probably among my favorites in the series and second only to Ludger in terms of main characters. Give me a good cool half-jacket like Squall Leonharts or Rock Howards or Kors and youll score major points. The pants add some nice flair and its all tied together with a simple but effective color scheme - Ive never seen a red/black combo I didnt like. And, in part because the Hearts battle system is great, hes one of the more enjoyable main protags to play as. Again, probably only second to Ludger.

Heres where hes not second to Ludger, and why he managed to finish just a little ahead of him. He doesnt actively detract from the games narrative, because hes, you know, actually a real character. And for the most part, hes a pretty likable one. One of the earliest lines in the game is Sydan observing that the manifestation of Kors Soma is sincerity, and obviously that sums him up pretty well. Hes very much just a well-meaning kid wholl readily risk his life to help people in need if necessary. Hes also probably the biggest doofus in Tales, which is sometimes annoying but more often endearing because he kind of leans into it - he knows hes a dim, look-before-you-leap kind of guy that will always promise to be less reckless when called out on it while also knowing full well that he wont ever actually change. I dont love the Kohaku romance but their whole awkward dynamic is admittedly somewhat charming - she cant ever come out with her feelings for him because her emotions are literally broken whereas he cant do it simply because hes a dork. Hes not a pushover by any means, though, and he gets a few memorable, more serious moments as well. Impaling his own foot to anchor himself and save Kohaku from Gardenia, while an eye-rolling moment for her character, is a pretty badass move on his part. His most interesting period comes right after Creed reveals himself, when he finally gets fed up with always being called to solve everyone elses problems and refuses to join the fight. When he does eventually get coaxed back in, he agrees more so because hes pissed and wants revenge than because he really wants to save the world. I wish that story thread had been carried out a little further, but whats there is good stuff.

His pitfalls are pretty much the same as Asbels. He has a legendarily idiotic reaction to Sapphire trying to literally murder the whole party and then he pulls the same shit with Creed at the end of the game as Asbel did with Lambda. Creed was just me without any love or bonds or whatever. Its ridiculous. Creed had bonds with Lithia and Floura and still decided to try to commit genocide. Is that what you were, Kor? A couple fewer friends away from killing billions? This dumb trope needs to go away forever.

TL;DR: Calling Kor a much less extreme and less annoying version of Asbel, actually, would be a pretty apt description. Hes still very anime and carries the same strengths and weaknesses that come with being very anime, but at least he isnt mistreating his party half the time and so he comes off far more likable. Not super memorable as a main protagonist, but I also dont have too many strong complaints about him.

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Apologies for the couple of days without an update. Been a little under the weather and super busy besides. I'm sure you were all on the edge of your seats.

Just a quick Skit for today, but we should be back to business as usual on the morrow.

Skit - Top 10 Mystic Artes
I thought about linking to timestamps in YT videos for these but then decided that'd be kinda silly. Just go watch the full videos - what do you have better to do while you're isolating yourself in your house amidst the coronavirus panic?

10. Sapphiring Squad (Pascal/Fourier)
The sheer ridiculousness of this one suits Pascal perfectly, and it's fun that it's the one she shares with her sis. Gotta love the name, too.

9. Golden Eagle (Hisui)
Shinku... HADOOOOOOOKEN

8. Tiger Blade Sigma (Jude/Milla) (Berseria version)
The versions in the proper Xillia games was cool enough, but more of a novelty. This one flows a lot better, has some more interesting effects, and does a better job showing off how in-tune these two are in battle.

7. Ancient Catastrophe (Rita)
I always enjoy the whole "four elements" effect in big spells. Throwing in a pretty badass incantation and a big ol' explosion and you pretty much have the perfect Rita arte.

6. Form 9: Final Judgment (Rokurou)
The visual effects on this one are breathtaking and the whole thing feels so damn smooth.

5. Heavenly Crusader (Ludger/Milla)
Probably my most-used MA in the series because it's absolutely destructive and some of the optional fights in X2 can be pretty damn tough. And it looks awesome besides.

4. Indignation (Jade)
Often imitated, never duplicated. This incantation will never be topped.

3. Brilliant Overlord (Guy)
Tales loves their "slash a bunch of times really fast" MAs, and this is the best of them. Finish 'em off with a black hole, deliver a cocky line, land in third place.

2. Brave Vesperia (Duke)
The idea for this one was awesome and the execution was even better.

1. Apocalyptic Sforzando (Ludger/Rowen)
Look at that name. Then look at the giant wheel that creates meteors and somehow discharges with gunfire. Then look at the massive freaking laser. Pretty much all of X2's dual MAs were tremendous, and this stands at the very top.


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Meg and FE10 Makalov are definitely not good enough if they're used to make this list.

Micaiah's a solid guess, though.

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I predict death.

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Statlander's gimmick being stupid or not stupid is really beside the point. I like her a lot and even I think it's stupid, and Ross is free to think that too.

But it's not his job to be the live arbiter of what's stupid and isn't. It's his job to get acts over. He spent years making the Undertaker feel like an unstoppable force of nature and that gimmick was even dumber.

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I think it being Ross's fault and not Cole's is a not-unimportant point, though.

And I still don't think it's comparable anyway. WWE had been around forever by the time Cole went on that run. AEW needed to present themselves as desirable to new fans as quickly as possible.

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Jakyl25 posted...

Also my trump card in this argument is NJPW Jim Ross

The counterpoint to that is I don't think NJPW Jim Ross had the casual fan reach that AEW does.

Big difference in the type of fan that's tuning in to NJPW on AXS vs the one that's tuning into AEW on TNT for the first time. Which one is going to take away a more lasting influence from JR telling them how bad the show is?

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My mind went to Tanith as well, but I figured that might just be my Tellius bias bleeding in.

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Leonhart4 posted...

Technically the Spurs' playoff streak won't come to an end if they cancel the season

Find the silver lining

I like this.

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NBA just suspended its season. NHL is fixing to do the same. WM is screwed.

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It's too bad he's being held back by crappy Angelico.

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One more for the late hour. Tomorrow is likely another skit day, but I also just might have to take a full day off because I'm not gonna be at my desk much at all. We'll see.

#45 - Judith (Vesperia)
Im afraid Im not very good at lying.

Judith is a character that I think everyone likes to at least some degree, but no one really cares about. Theres just not much to her, which makes her difficult to even discuss. She has a pleasant personality but not one thats particularly memorable. Shes important to the story in that shes the first to acknowledge the blastia issues that become integral to the plot later, but shes not actually relevant as an individual and she doesnt truly move the plot forward through her own actions most of the time. She fits well into the party dynamic but not in such a way that things would feel dramatically different if she werent around. Her story arc of the laser-focused, somewhat detached warrior on a solo mission to save the world finding a home with a group of people and learning of other ways to do things is satisfying but a little familiar.

Which, all in all, makes her just a simple, likable character who rests on the periphery of focus, and thats not always a bad thing. It makes her brief times in the spotlight feel more interesting. Shes the first to call out Estelle for dragging the party every which way for her fleeting whims, which kind of kickstarts her development, and the sisterly relationship she has with Rita by the end is a sweet one considering how it starts. Her best rapport, though, is with Yuri. They just seem to understand each other immediately upon their first meeting, and their casual banter is consistently well-written. Judith has a way of disarming people with her charm and Yuri feels a lot more grounded around her, which leads to some interesting insights into his thoughts at times.

I cant ever decide where I stand with her as a fighter. In the right hands, shes amazing, and she can certainly be fun when you get the hang of her, but it takes so much effort and time to develop her artes (not to mention her skills) to the point that they become enjoyable and smooth. Her design is interesting in that I would dislike it in a vacuum, but it suits her flirty demeanor and free-movement fighting style so well that Id actually count it as a point in her favor. Honestly, thinking about it, Judith is a good example of a character that does fanservice right - she comes off like an empowered woman who enjoys the reactions her looks and innuendos get instead of just someone whos in a skimpy outfit because its appealing on the box art. She has some of the best costumes in the series if its still not your thing, though, Into the Sky being a personal favorite of mine.

TL;DR: I never think about Judith much, but on every Vesperia run I end up enjoying her presence more than I remember. Shes just a solid character that fulfills her purpose well, but Id be lying if I said I didnt want a little more depth. It's sort of coincidence that she ends up so close to the absolute midpoint of the list, but it's a fitting spot for her.

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Well, yeah, if you actually like the Bad Ending I guess I can see why you'd say that.

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