#expheres

[ciryze]

I made a thing. Blame @mannatea :)

I do have a lot of things to say about one of my favorite hyperfixating topics that is not Raine which is Expheres because they are exellent worldbuilding and stuff.

If you are ever interestend in my other ToS AU/theory/worldbuilding stuff, feel free to check out this drive folder of mine too. It involves my planned Emperor Kratos AU as well as A SHITTON of Raine-headcanons. And a synopsis of The Broken Ones :)

I love doing stuff like this, so if you ever need to scream at someone about theories, make sure to ring me up either here on tumblr or hit me up at my discord (which is also @ciryze)

#tales of symphonia #meta #expheres #cruxis crystals #key crest #I got it all #also lowkey related to Raine anyways #I do have a TON of AU specific stuff for this kind of things too #like how elves and halfelves mutate differently from humans

[mappingway]

“noishe doesn’t like strangers but seems comfortable around you”

kratos is lloyd’s dad isn’t he.

#rainbow plays: tos #they're both brown haired/brown eyed. tones are different #also exphere users at beginning of the game

[ninthcompanion]

6 and 11!

[ Character Development Questions: Hard Mode - Accepting ]

6. Does your character have recurring themes in their dreams?

He tries not to. Kratos has grown not to enjoy sleep, partly because it becomes disorientating to wake up, but partly it's the dreams.

If he's going to dream, it often features people he's lost and either culminates in his losing them again or he wakes up and experiences the pain of the loss anew.

He also dreams of war.

11. In what situation was your character the most afraid they’ve ever been?

At the moment that Anna's exphere was removed, Kratos felt a kind of hopeless fear he had never felt before and has never felt since. Having to defend his son and Noishe from his wife was the worst situation he's ever had to navigate. There was no way to win. There was no way to save them both.

And through his inability to kill his wife, he lost the rest of his family.

#isaaccecilbryant #kratcanons #character development

[kisant]

Annon-Guy: You're quite welcome. I'll keep that in mind. BTW, what're your thoughts on the "Richter and Me" Skit? I know Emil loves Marta, but was that supposed to imply Emil was in love with Richter despite what he said?

I've rewatched the skit, and my thoughts on it is that Emil is basically trying to make sense of his circumstances and find solutions to his current problems by drawing comparisons to the experiences his companions have already gone through. In this case, he's just heard the story of Regal and Alicia, in which Alicia turns into an exphere monster, attacks Regal, becomes a danger to innocent townspeople, and is tragically slain by her lover as a result.

So, when he listens to Regal's past, he is reminded of Richter. Why? Because Richter is a sympathetic antagonist, just like Alicia after being unwillingly turned into a monster. Richter is someone who is deeply involved in Vanguard's operations and has repeteadly tried to kill Marta and Ratatosk (and later revealed to be the true mastermind that turned Vanguard from a group of activists and rebels into a terrorist organization and a useful puppet army that would advance his own goals), but he is also the first person who was kind and encouraging towards Emil.

And he hasn't stopped being kind and encouraging towards Emil even after they have long become enemies, to the point of accepting Emil's help if he comes alone and the quest is nothing that would actually reveal Richter's true objectives.

So Emil listens to the tale of Regal and Alicia, and basically puts Richter in Alicia's role (sympathetic enemy), himself in Regal's (the person who wants to save the sympathetic enemy) and then realizes that Regal and Alicia were a romantic couple, upon which he becomes flustered and confused, because the similarities weren't a perfect match from the start. After all, Richter didn't become a "monster" unwillingly (his actions were always his own, not influenced by outside forces), he doesn't lose control of himself even after he actually ends up taking a more monstrous form, and while Emil has to face and fight Richter, he hasn't been forced to kill him in order to save innocents, and didn't seek atonement through imprisonment after the fact.

The circumstances of Regal/Alicia and Emil/Richter have some superficial similarities, but once you think deeply about it, the two situations are very different, and the most glaringly obvious point of difference is that Regal and Alicia were an established romantic couple, while Emil and Richter are not one at the point of the skit. It's a moment in which Emil realizes that he is starting to put his own foot in his mouth by not thinking through the implications of drawing comparisons between two different sets of people and situations, set up to be read a humorous.

Can the moment be read as shippy and as a reason for Emil to question whether or not he has romantic feelings for Richter rather than platonic ones? Sure, but that would veer heavily into headcanon and fanfiction territory.

Also, an interesting detail is that Emil's comparison is actually wrong. Because he's drawing similarities between himself and Regal, and Richter and Alicia. However, knowing the context of Richter's actions, he's not the tragically dead love interest, the Alicia of the situation. That would be Aster. Richter has much more in common with REGAL himself than with Alicia. The difference is that, after the tragic loss of a loved one in which they blame themselves, Regal and Richter react in opposite ways.

Regal decides to atone by renouncing his position in society, his riches and his freedom. He places restrictions in himself (he refuses to use his full power by keeping his hands bound). While Richter is the opposite. After Aster's death, Richter throws away all of his physical and moral restrictions in pursuit of revenge. He makes a deal with demons to gain enough power to kill Ratatosk. He twists Vanguard and Marta's father into his pawns. He is willing to kill an teenage girl, to enable mad scientists, to allow a demonic invasion, to destabilize goverments, to get a lot of people killed as collateral (Decus attacks on Palmacosta and the northern town, the growing tension between Sylvarant and Tethea'lla).

However, this is information that Emil does not have at the time the skit happens in the plot, and that's part of the reason the comparison quickly gets away from him.

And Emil himself may look very similar to Aster, but they are not the same person. In fact, in this comparison, Emil would actually be the Presea. Just like Presea looks like Alicia, but she’s not Alicia herself, Emil looks like Aster, but he’s not Aster.

BTW, I've received your other messages, but I may take a little longer to respond to everything :)

#tales of symphonia #dawn of the new world #annon-guy

[rodyle-is-a-catboomer]

Luna Bittik

Lately I don’t have time to continue my fics and stuff because of college and getting ready for my new job as a programmer, but once I finish inktober (yeah I know it’s November but I want to finish it anyway, better late than never) I hope I can continue writing my stories.

I don’t know if I’m ever going to post them anywhere or just share them with some friends but I think it could be fun to talk a bit about some of my OCs now and then.

So well, the first post will be about Luna Bittik.

She’s a half-elf born in the human ranch of Palmacosta, daughter of two Desian soldiers (a mage named Samuel and a lancer called Undyne). She inherited some kind of unknown magic from her father, but didn’t specialize in magical training because her parents wanted to prevent her from fighting and risking her life, so she studied a lot and became an archives scholar. However they didn’t actually have the time to raise her and gave her affection. As a consequence she grew up as a lonely kid and then she spent her youth surrounded by very old books, scrolls and digitalized files and became very attached to her mentor, Rachel Griffin. Luna’s lack of affection and social experience brought her to idealize Griffin and confuse her admiration for her with a romantic love that was never reciprocicated, since Rachel just saw her as her younger coworker.

Luna had never left the Ranch and only knew about the world outside from books. She had never interacted with humans either and just thought of them as beasts that didn’t catch her interest. 

Rachel introduced her son’s Paul to her with hopes of them dating. Luna made the effort to know him just to please Rachel. Paul was a soldier who went to Palmacosta quite often to collect taxes from humans. He was secretly fascinated by them and questioned what the Desians did but never dared to do anything. As a consequence he struggled with guilt and was depressive, but constantly pretended to be fine. Rachel was openly ashamed by him because he was “just a soldier” (unlike her, who was a scholar) and spent too much time outside. Luna and him didn’t work as a couple (he was always wanting to be affectionate to her, which Luna felt uncomfortable about, and he also wanted to talk about his adventures outside, which Luna didn’t want to hear about, and he didn’t read any books, which Luna found unacceptable) and got distanced. Years later Luna heard from a very disappointed Rachel that Paul had “fallen for a human and he even had a child with her, what a disgrace!”. However, he didn’t actually get to leave with her. Later, it was found out that he even had a second child with another human woman.

Luna kept with her work in the archives and eventually met a guy called Timun Moore. He was an engineer who, like her, had nothing to do with the outside world and was uninterested in humans. He only cared about designing efficient software and playing card games. Luna enjoyed his company and they became friends who played cards together after work. Some time later two young soldiers called Scott Azure and Yurin Garik joined their games. Luna felt disdain towards them because of their lower status, but she grew up fond of them as time went by, especially with Scott, who had a shy, meek personality and always talked to her with a timid smile.

One day, the hero Kyle Rice and a human named Iseo Selis came to play with them. Luna vaguely knew that Kyle had volunteered to an experiment to enhance his abilities with expheres in order to fight an enemy of Lord Magnius, and apparently he was considered a hero because of that, but she was uninterested. For reasons she didn’t understand, their lord was giving special treatment to that human, and she carried a baby from him. Kyle was her personal guard. Luna had never interacted with a human before and could only think of her as stupid and boring. Yurin seemed annoyed by her presence too, and Timun didn’t show any signs of interest towards her. But surprisingly, Scott was openly excited and curious about the presence of both, since he admired Kyle and had never spoken to a human either (he had only become a soldier to follow his friend Yurin, and was just starting his training).

Iseo didn’t come back to play with them. Luna heard she had her baby.

Rachel Griffin was struck with the news that Paul had died. It appeared that he had commited suicide. She was overwhelmed by guilt and sadness and she was unable to work anymore, so Luna took care of her as well as she could. That is, very lackingly, without knowing what to say, just trying to remind her to eat and terrified by the thought of ever brushing her hair. She felt sad about Paul’s death too but never talked about that.

Eventually, Luna became accidentally involved in an act of treason. She didn’t know of the details, but apparently Kyle had helped Iseo escape from the Ranch with her baby. As a consequence, Magnius punished him, Scott, Yurin and Blake (Kyle’s partner) and Kyle gravely hurt him in self-defense. Fearing for the consequences, they ran away and took Luna, Timun, Rachel and Scott’s father (also named Scott) with them. They didn’t know if their lord was alive but didn’t want their loved ones to be hurt too. 

They found Iseo, her baby and her grandpa because Kyle considered they were in danger too. They wanted to cross the mountains to Asgard, where someone the grandpa knew had a house where they could hide. A confused Luna, who didn’t even care about any of this, met the cold of the forest, which contrasted with the ranch’s heat. She, Timun, Scott and Yurin became sick very soon. All because of that stupid human, Iseo.

Luna decided the logical course of action was to ask for help in Asgard Ranch. Timun followed her while the others told her she was being risky. They were also scared she would tell Lord Kvar about them and be hunted down. She promised she wouldn’t say a thing, because she appreciated them. It was just that she thought their goals had nothing to do with her. She knew nothing of the world and was scared and sick. She tried to convince Rachel to come with them but she said she didn’t want to come back to the place that had killed her son. Luna and Timun left while Blake cursed them for their cowardice and her friend Scott was sad but couldn’t stop them.

They were attacked by human bandits on their way and were gravely hurt. They survived because Luna released her powers with Timun’s help, which instantly killed their aggressors. Then they both fainted. When Luna woke, she found they had been helped by two human young siblings, Kat and Toby. They were the children of doctors and Kat had medical training. She told Luna that their parents had been killed by the Desians and that she had only saved Timun and her because as a doctor she didn’t want to make distinctions when helping people. Toby, on the other hand, wanted to leave them to die and was bitter all the time. Luna was shocked by this. Until now, humans were merely a concept to her. Yes, there was Iseo but they had only exchanged a few words and she had only caused trouble to them. This was the first time she was talking face to face with one of them, looking at her eyes and seeing the pain and the conflict and her noble heart despite all. She was looking at someone who had strong feelings and ideals. Someone who had saved her life. A person, like her, not a beast like she had always thought. 

Luna told Timun about her feelings and doubts as they continued their way to Asgard Ranch. He was also reflective and concluded that maybe they had been mistaken about humans. For him, they were just data in the programs he made, but maybe there was more after all.

When they arrived to the Ranch Luna lied to Kvar and said they were just on a vacation travelling around the world. She did talk about the bandits and how Kat and Toby had saved them. Lord Kvar didn’t even react to this and said the siblings were just exceptions among the beasts. Luna and Timun were allowed to stay. They were also offered to work for him, since according to Palmacosta’s reports, they had good careers (Magnius was still recovering and his role as a grand cardinal was temporarily covered by his son, Jeremy, who hadn’t said anything about the incident involving Kyle and the others).

Kvar was also interested in Luna’s powers and how she had killed the bandits. To her surprise, he told her he was planning to have a descendant and that she seemed a suitable candidate to carry his child, given her powerful magic, her perfect curriculum and her beauty. He offered her a large amount of money (a million gald) for the inconvenience. Luna was disgusted by the idea. He was the responsible for the death of Kat’s parents and she definitely didn’t want to be a mother. However, that money... She thought that she needed to compensate Kat... Maybe she could give her that money? She couldn’t bring her parents back, but at least she could solve her life...

So she accepted. She would give birth and then leave. She didn’t want to be a Desian anymore, or have anything to do with them. She could live among humans. It sounded terrifying but also the right choice. Maybe Kat could help her figure out how the world worked? She wanted to learn and be better, be as noble as her. She had not ever cared about anything and her life had been empty and meaningless but now she felt determined. She told Timun about her plan and he said he would leave with her. He didn’t seem so bothered to stay in the ranch, but she was his only friend in the world and would support her no matter what.

Luna thought someone like Kvar would want to have his child artificially, as he seemed cold and uninterested in anything that wasn’t research or intellectual discussion, but he told her he preferred the traditional way. However, he was very clumsy and anxious everytime they tried. It was supposed to be a chore, but he actually seemed to be very affection deprived. Luna was surprised to find him vulnerable, struggling to hug her without knowing how to, with his arms and legs covered in many scars that he wanted to explain but couldn’t find the words. She felt very drawn by this facet of him, and at the same time it was like looking at herself in the mirror. She was also cold and a mess expressing her own feelings, never able to open her heart to Rachel, or be affectionate to Paul or to her friends, wanted to be loved but always shut in her own world of academia and strict rules, which was sadder but more confortable than the idea of touching someone’s hand and being rejected. It was painful to see him wanting to touch her so badly but not knowing how. She also felt the growing urge to touch him too, but refrained. He was Kat’s enemy. Therefore he was her enemy. She lied on her back and grabbed him sharply and helpped him finish his task. No caresses; she didn’t want to even try and found herself trapped in her thirst for someone like him. She was only there to had his kid, grab the money and leave.

Luna became pregnant and Kvar became painfully but shyly desperate for her to stay with him, since she had told him she would leave after giving birth. He behaved weird when he was with her, his mask of coldness not very stable anymore. It was so weird to see someone as powerful and dangerous as him being so confused around her. He told her she could stay if she wanted to. That they could marry if she wanted to. His hands trembled everytime he touched her growing belly. It was the only time he was able to allow himself to touch her affectionately. Luna tried to have her mind empty everytime he did it. She didn’t care about him, obviously. She didn’t care about that baby. She didn’t want to know what names he had thought for them. It was just work. He touched her belly with his hands covered in gloves and still felt warm and close and she craved for feeling that touch in her face. But she didn’t want to think about that. Everything would be left behind and would not matter. She felt the weight of that baby inside her but obviously they weren’t hers. It was just Kvar’s. That baby would grow and became a mini tyrant like him, and she didn’t want to have anything to do with that. The baby was doomed and was irreparable but it was not her problem. She only wanted to leave and help Kat.

The baby was born. It had been so painful. What was the use of that pain? She was going to leave them. She didn’t want to hold them. She didn’t want to see how Kvar held his child as if they were the most valuable thing in the world. His mask finally broken with that very small copy of him. Obviously, they only looked like him. His hair color, eye-shape... Yes the baby was dark skinned like her, and she heard Kvar say they had her eye-color, but she didn’t care. Kvar told her he had named their daughter Aska, like the light spirit who worked with Luna, the other light spirit. 

What would happen to Aska? What kind of person would she be as she grew? Would she be as emotionally damaged as her parents? Unable to touch the skin of others, to show her very heart to her loved ones? Luna didn’t want to know. So she left and took Timun with her. Her loyal friend was leaving his safety and a well-paid job for her, and she realized she had never hugged him either. 

They found Kat and Toby.  Luna gave them the money, all of it, without any proper explanation. Kat looked at her and noticed the weight that weird (ex)Desian was putting on her. Her desperation and her clinginess. Luna was paying her to find meaning in her life, to compensate the crimes her people had done, and Kat felt overwhelmed and creeped out by this. She didn’t want to be the center of Luna’s purpose. That money (which probably was full of blood) was like a curse. She didn’t want to keep it. Luna insisted and Toby grabbed it because they needed it. They had nothing, after all, because of those monsters. Kat told her to leave. She didn’t want to be involved with Luna and see her again.

And Luna left with a lot of pain and confusion. She somehow had expected that Kat would be grateful and would help her. But of course, Kat was right to be suspicious. She was trying to buy something intangible. Just as Kvar had tried to buy her love but failed. She had paid with money that was not only made with the child of Kat’s enemy, but also with people like her parents’ suffering, with their deaths. It was normal that Kat didn’t feel comfortable with her appearing and paying.

But that meant Luna and Timun were all alone in a world they didn’t understand. Luna didn’t want to be a Desian. Maybe her attempts to make a friend among the humans had failed, but she was determined to keep with the side of goodness and justice. They would have to struggle, but Timun and her would never touch bloodstained money again.

The following years, Luna and Timun tried to live in Luin. Luna did shitty works where she was constantly harrassed and insulted for being a half-elf, but at least she could paid a tiny house for them. TImun stayed at home, too overwhelmed to face the world and look for a job. The room where they slept was so small and cold that Luna eventually found herself hugging her friend at nights to keep herself warm. She cried many times thinking about her past life, her books, her friends, Rachel, the card games, the confort of living inside the ranch. Now she was always hungry. The humans didn’t accept her. They obviously didn’t know she and Timun used to be Desians (she now was sure they would hurt them for that) but they resented and distrusted half-elves in general. And Luna understood that. But it was so painful. She herself resented her own decisions. And resented Timun because he barely left their house while she was working countless hours the jobs no one wanted to do. She shouted at him frequently, and insulted him, and then hugged him because he was all she had. 

She often wondered how her life would have been if she had stayed with Kvar and Aska. But then she would have been an accomplice. And not a minor one, like she used to be, but the wife of a monster. Would her daughter become a monster too? But at least she was warm, and had food and safety... Did she like reading, like her? She couldn’t afford books anymore and didn’t have the time to go to the local library anyway. How would feel to hug her, to hold her in her arms and brush her hair and talk about the books they loved? Did her father hug her? She was sure he did, because he held his baby so dearly. Her heart ached but she repeated to herself that she had done the right thing.

One day, just when Luna was getting ready to work, someone knocked the door. Luna opened and found a teenager girl. She wore a hat that covered her ears, and a long coat. She had long straight hair, almost white. Her eyes were purple and almond-shaped, and her skin was brown. The kid seemed very nervous but also excited. Luna was sure she was a half-elf. And that she was also... No, it couldn’t be... Obviously it wasn’t possible...

- A-are you Luna Bittik? -said the teen nervously.

- Yes... -Luna managed to reply.

- I'm... Aska of the Tempest... Your daughter... I’ve always wanted to know you...

#oc #my oc #luna bittik #tales of symphonia au #kvar #desian #this was meant to be just a short explanation of luna's background and it ended up being this #i didn't expect it to be this long #i decided to cut it here because the part that comes after that is long #i was just waiting while this version of unity installed but here i some hours later without no work done

[mrcatlion]

I heard about chosen swap AU and I’m HERE FOR IT

#tos #tales of symphonia #zelos wilder #Colette Brunel #i realize how ooc this kinda is #but i imagine either she was able to get more time to learn how to use an exphere #or the cool landing was entirely unplanned

[tales-of-sweets]

Tales of Symphonia Thoughts Pt. 4

Not much has happened cuz I've mostly been grinding but its time for a Symphonia update. Also, from now on I will be tagging all of my posts with Jun Plays Symphonia so block that tag if you don't want my random playthrough thoughts/updates. Gonna put it under the cut from now on because it's long👇🏾

Anyway, the most important matter: I HATE THE SHIP SO MUCH, I HATE IT! THIS IS HORRIBLE, THE CONTROLS ARE SO BAD AAA! Secondly, I am on day 3 or so of wanting to waterboard Zelos. I really do not like him so far but I keep telling myself that he's probably going to turn into a favorite because the same thing happened with the two other flirty, self-praising characters I used to hate (Vespy Raven and Persona 2 Eikichi, the latter of which he reminds me of more). At least he is kinda funny, and he's not wrong, he IS pretty. He keeps saying some concerning stuff on occasion though, I think he needs a therapist and some warm milk or something.

I was informed by my friend that in Japanese it actually says "hunny" any time Zelos says bud. We love a bisexual king always but also sir you are very embarrassing and imma need to ask you to stop. Regal is a precious little blueberry muffin of a man, there is nothing I wouldn't do for him. When he made that pun to the secret notebook guy and then started blushing afterwards I wanted to punch a hole into my TV screen and yank him out of it and shake him around (affectionately). I guess I like the characters that are quiet and look sad because him and Kratos are my favorites atm. I wonder what his connection to Presea is. I'm torn between "That's his little sister" and "He wants to get close to her so he can betray us and try to hurt her". Keeping an eye on him... Also I don't exactly know how I feel about us taking him prisoner? Like, I know he is already a prison and he also tried to attack us but taking him prison, forcing him to fight for us, and blackmailing him with not being able to talk to Presea if he doesn't do what we say feels kinda messed up. Also I hate his stupid little bra shirt. What sort of weird prison was he in with a uniform like that?? I was left muttering "What the fuck" to myself over and over after finding out Presea has been living with the corpse of someone she doesn't even realize is dead. Like they've just laid there decaying for lord knows how long and she didn't even notice, that's so... I am at a loss for words. Yikes. I miss Kratos so much. I wish they showed a bit more how Lloyd was feeling about all of this, he seemed like he was getting close to Kratos. I want to know what him and his beautiful evil friend are up to. I get the sense that he whatever it is he doesn't really want as much of a part in it as he seems to have to play.

I'm a little worried that something is wrong with Colette again... she also tripped and fell and reacted strangely at one point. I think Kratos also mentioned something about wanting to remove her keycrest. I wonder if it's having some sort of weird effect on her or if it's not actually strong enough to keep things in check for long. Also the whole concept of exphere's in general is very disturbing. It isn't just a piece of technology, it's a parasitic infection that can completely take over your body/mind and turn you into a grotesque being. That and the fact that they're made from dead people aren't even enough to keep them from being produced and people don't even seem to have any clue at all about what they are attaching to their bodies. Freaky. I think that's all for today! More grinding before I go into the mines, I have been abusing the holy bottles a little too much 😅

#jun plays symphonia #tales of symphonia #tales of symphonia spoilers #symphonia #tales of series

[blackswanndraws]

@protobnhaweek ;; PROTOVERSE WEEK - DAY 5: FANTASY AU

So this design i’ve had as a wip for several months whegejwghe this is good as any a chance to finish and post it. Anyway, this is ACTUALLY his tales of symphonia verse design. He’s a half-elf that was experimented on by Desians and was part of the Angelus Project. His right eye was replaced with an exphere in his right eye until it shattered and now there’s just—nothing. His best friend is Kaminari, another half-elf!!

He was rescued by one of the officers overseeing the project and took him to Izoold, a village by the ocean. He has amnesia and his caretaker is ironically the daughter of the officer who rescued him. Kaminari and Mikumo are idiot bros 😔 (he’s also extremely short but thats bc of his half-elf genes being unstable, oop)

#protobnhaweek #yamikumo #akatani mikumo #tales of symphonia #bnha #mha #boku no hero academia #my hero academia #fantasy au #ToS #talea of symphonia au #vitiligo #birb art

[parapara9974]

Finished Symphonia!

Ok, so I probably should have written this some time ago (like, December last year), but I was kinda busy.

Warning! Spoilers

First of all, I want to say that Symphonia was my first Tales game. I bought it with part of my birthday money in 2015. At that time, I found the synopsis interesting and the art style cute. In fact, I had read more about the DotNW story and characters than this one and was eager to play ToS just so I could play the sequel. People on the Internet said good things about it (and not-such-good things about DotNW). I seriously thought that the game was going to be a cute, fluffy, child-like story with some fighting and plenty of colors. I mean, even the opening song was cute.

I was wrong. So very, very wrong...

Let me tell you Tales of Symphonia is really good at deceiving the player. The story starts with some children listening to class at school. You control Lloyd, the “protagonist”, a good-hearted and kinda annoying guy who lives in Iselia with his friends Genis and Colette. The latter is the Chosen of Mana and is supposed to set on a journey to save their world, Sylvarant, which has been hit by a series of catastrophes. Everybody in the village sees her as some sort of heroine that will bring balance and prosperity. They cheer her on and urge her to start her pilgrimage as soon as she receives the oracle. Nothing wrong so far...

What if I told you that the price for that peace is Colette’s life?

And on top of that, what if I told you that nobody knows that, except for Colette herself and a few select people. That this is part of a system driven by an organization with its own agenda. That this system includes racism and experiments on people. On top of that, there’s a whole other world out there called Tethe’alla whose survival depends on Colette’s failure on her journey (and its authorities will use any means necessary to ensure that), but neither she nor anyone else on Sylvarant know. Oh, did I also tell you that basically everything concerning the balance of both worlds (around 70% of the story) happened because of a guy’s plan to revive his sister?

This is the reason I love the story. It gives the player lots of interesting stuff to think about, from the meaning of sacrifice to what racism is and how it affects people. Other interesting topics include the reinforcement of stereotypes, how institutions follow their own agenda instead of doing what’s best for their people (and how, in doing so, they choose to keep citizens ignorant of important matters), how people have to flee from their homes because of persecution, and the meaning of family. There’s probably more, but this is all I can remember right now.

The game is full of memorable quotes such as this one. “Those who don’t accept those who are different are to blame! They are cowards and lack empathy and heart!” (Sorry, I don’t remember the exact English quote.)

In the end, after fighting Mithos and the “Farewell, my shadow, you who stand at the end of the path I choose not to follow.” scene (seriously, that quote is freaking epic, I want to thank the writers/translators for it) his cruxis crystal is destroyed. Lloyd restores both worlds using the Eternal Sword and the Great Seed (it becomes a tree with the mana from Derris-Kharlan). He becomes an angel, apparently. Also, a spirit named Martel appears to protect the tree.

Lloyd gives a new name to the Giant Kharlan Tree, but it’s never mentioned on camera. I hope DotNW will tell us.

Then the party goes their separate ways. Genis and Raine travel the world to promote acceptance of the half-elves. Sheena goes back to her village to promote its way of life and is then chosen as an emissary of peace by Zelos. Presea visits Alicia’s grave and Regal tells her he ordered the destruction of the Toize Mine, so no new expheres will be created. Both are going to help in the reconstruction of the world. Kratos goes back to Derris-Kharlan, so Lloyd leaves his sword in front of Anna’s grave. Speaking about Lloyd, he and Colette (who is no longer referred to as “Chosen One” by her family :) go on a journey to destroy collect all the remaining expheres (Thanks texanona for clarifying that. I’d totally forgotten about it.).

Colorín, colorado, este cuento se ha acabado. This is the ending screen you get before saving the game and starting a new one.

After starting a New Game+ you get the sound test files for everything, including voices and background music.

I liked the characters, although I still don’t have a favorite. They are all OK to me, and I like some in certain roles. Lloyd is probably the easiest to control, although his personality got on my nerves at the beginning of the game (he was OK by the end, though). Speaking about moves, Genis is probably my favorite because of his elemental attacks. Even if the graphics are more than ten years old, I loved how the bottom of the screen got inundated, covered in lava, etc. He also has some memorable quotes by the end of the game (”I’m the same as you, so I can’t judge you.”), even if he is kinda bratty in the beginning. Zelos has some good moves too (a mixture of physical, elemental, and some healing), but I don’t like his personality. Personality-wise I like Raine because she is the “responsible adult” (so relatable) of the group (though I personally don’t like how she spanked the kids, you don’t hit someone half your size). She’s a good supporting character because of her healing abilities, but only has two offensive moves, so she’s not so great to control. I also like Regal, he’s such a gentleman, but his moveset is kinda tricky to master if you aren’t used to making combos and linking attacks. Colette is another character I like because of her clumsiness (so relatable omg) and sweet personality. She also has a good moveset, but you have to get used to her range (she’s better in the middle of the group, not in the frontlines).

Lloyd (AKA the character I controlled for about 80% of the game) with his “Noble” title.

Verius (AKA Korin) at the Temple of Martel in Iselia. His design is awesome.

Stuff I like:

The story, for the reasons mentioned above.

The characters, for the reasons mentioned above.

The battle system, which is really easy to master, especially if you have played JRPGs before. If you haven’t, it will give you a good idea of how JRPGs work in general.

The skits (I would have loved to have them dubbed, too).

Both the English and Japanese audio and how easy it is to switch languages in the menu. I started with the Japanese audio to listen to the skits, but ended up playing most of the game in English because that’s the language I understand the most.

The music in general, especially the first opening (Starry Heavens).

The few mystic artes I managed to activate. Indignation Judgement is my favorite, though.

How the game will usually give you hints about where to go or what to do in order to get most events. The lesson it gave me for future games is basically: if you need to do something to trigger an important event, the game will usually tell you, so pay attention to your surroundings.

Stuff I don’t like:

How tricky some dungeons (like the lightning, ice, and shadow temples) are. Some puzzles will take you quite a lot of time if you don’t have a guide. Also, the AI for the little ghosts in the shadow temple can be pretty dumb and you need to have lots of patience in order to guide them all to the bottom (they can get stuck in corners or far away from the group by accident).

Some chests, events, and titles are easy to miss if you don’t have a guide.

#video games #tales of symphonia #lloyd irving #colette brunel #genis sage #raine sage #zelos wilder #presea combatir #sheena fujibayashi #regal bryant #korin #tales of symphonia dawn of the new world #starry heavens ver. 2013 #stuff i should have posted a long time ago

[darkmeditation]

@mithosofcruxis continued from X

“There is no reason for you to know that. Nor should it matter to a tool.” To project some light, Yggdrasill fluttered his wings, feathers casting sparkles of light across the room. They twirled and fell at the dark one’s feet, on her head, in her dried pool of blood on the floor. shadows cast from several directions, illuminating the gauntness in her cheeks, the sunken hollows of her eyes.

In passing, he decided he should feed her more. She must be missing blood, and they needed that to continue production.

There was something to be said in all this; the real dangers of dimensional travel on your own for starters. None of her teammates knew where she was, or even how to find her if they did. This place... Derris-Kharlan. It was nearly impenetrable. 

Each breath was labored, and her stomach yearned for something substantial to keep the pains of hunger at bay. Every three days, hey drained more blood. She had her suspicions of what they used it for, having heard them talk of hi-expheres and untapped potential. 

She could feel pain, not her own, but the pain of hundreds of others. She was the only one they could use to harness this power, but she was not alone in the experimentation and torture.

“You think yourself so wise. So high and mighty.” Raven strained against her chains, sitting higher on her knees, though her legs still shook. “Yet you are nothing but a child. A thousand year-old infant.”

#mithosofcruxis #au #tales of

[0genkimi0]

After the two worlds become one once more Zelos followed Lloyd in his quest to get rid of al the expheres that where left in the new world still can’t believe expheres where made of human lives “ but it’s not like the death will come to life so no need to get glomy all over it ….right ?” Photographer: @tomtwyfordphotography this amazing eddit was done by : @_celestial.crowshe truly knows how to make colors pop !! ❤️

#tales of symphonia #zelos wilder #cosplay #gamecosplayer #gamecharacter #zelos wilder cosplay #tales of crestoria

[ciryze]

Small headcanon-time which I might end up using for a whole other ff eventually:

While humans turning into Exbeluas is a purely physical mutation caused by expheres, those with elvenblood (halfelves especially) experience a mixture of physical and mental mutations. The Expheres leach into mana, making it leash out of control and making magic users in particular having problems controling their powers.

On the other hand, if you can sucessfully use magic, you're able to fight back the Exphere's influences... for a bit. (I am debating if you could probably even be able to "talk" to it)

#tales of symphonia #expheres #exbelua #raine sage #It's still whumptober it counts

[ciryze]

Well.... I guess have another AU-Raine design. I actually really like this one, but if I end up using it eventually, I'll probably change a few things lol

Meta-content under the cut

It's basically a mashup of all the AU-Raine's I've done so far (Odin, Hydra and Pandora) and it's based on the idea around a mirror that does show the alternate universes (think about the late game scene where Raine's confronted with her mother unless she's your chosen route)

The "travel marks" are significant parts of the AU versions (Odin's implant, Hydra's Exphere, Pandora's markings sprouting from the spot on her back), which start showing eventually. They blend into her skin when she's not actively using the AU-version's powers.

The pactstone is given to Raine by Odin via a series of things. It's basically an exphere, but instead of enhancing her already existing powers, it grants her access to the alternate universe's powers (Like Odin's angelic powers or the flames of the broken from Pandora). However it blends memories over as well.

#tales of symphonia #tales series #tales of #tales of series #digital art #sketch #alternate universe #fanfics #ao3 fanfic #raine sage

[ciryze]

Butterfly Effect turns 1 year old today :D (I pushed the release date on AO3 back in the day but it counts!)

For all 3 of you actually following the story, have a cute family picture <3

Also some Butterfly-Funfacts under the cut :)

The actual "Butterfly Effect" is actually not Raine turning to look for her mother in the prologue, but Kloitz holding Genis instead of Virginia doing so.

The flashback chapters are intentionally scrambled through the actual timeline as Raine doesn't exactly remember the order of events herself

Zelos did return several times to the spot where he met Raine for the first time. However at that point, she was already with Pronyma

Presea is still alive in this story. However she is held in the underground research lab in an isolated container, making her crystal grow under similar circumstances as Expheres do in human ranches. She dies during Raine's first test-run with Odin in Sybak.

Regal is also absent in this story. Mithos has him executed in order to take over his company

The spelljammers (both Tethe'alla and Sylvarant) are made and built by Lezareno company. The ones in Sylvarant are brought over by Cruxis and built by Desians

There's a total of 6 human ranches in Sylvarant (the original 4 as well as one in Triet and one in Hima. Both these locations were suggested by Raine

Sylvarant is much heavier regulated by the Desians. With several large borders, it's harder to manuver around, so most rebel groups are local to their respective city.

Raine manipulated the Cardinals enough so that they raised the minimum age for new recruits. She also made them offer childcare and education in their ranches. Kvar thinks it was all his idea though

Raine still caries a scar on her back where the flames of the Broken sprouted originally in The Broken Ones. It looks like a shard of broken glass.

Zelos made several trips to the Meltokio slums in his life, disguised under rags and looking for Raine

Both Zelos and Colette have elvenblood in them

The higher ups in Tethe'alla have their children operated on if they turn out to have even slightly tipped ears. It's common procedure, although it was made less painful after a few years. Zelos had a particular bad case of tipped-ear-syndrom which is why his ears seem unnatural if you look close enough

Raine in this story is nonbinary, preferes the 'she/her' pronouns though. She occasionally goes around as "Ray" having he/him pronouns

Raine is also demisexual

Zelos is pansexual. He's also the only one thinking of Raine as nonbinary, thus avoiding any pronouns for her as well as he can, which is also the reason he calls her 'Master' instead of 'Mistress'

Kratos is genuenly interested in Raine up until the Altamira incident

Although not explicitly said, Sheena tries to convince Zelos to leave several times while they are still in Sylvarant

The heavy accent Raine has naturally is a mix between her growing up with elvish and the accent they carry in Sybak. It sounds remotely like russian

#tales of symphonia #tales of #tales of series #tales series #digital art #sketch #alternate universe #canon divergent au #butterfly effect #raine sage #zelos wilder #zelaine #pronyma #forcystus #kvar #magnius #rodyle #yuan ka-fai #well tiny angy yuan #he's upset at not getting enough attention #meta

[ciryze]

Yes I'm writing that Exphere/Keycrest essay bear with me

#i can not be stopped #personal

[ciryze]

Butterfly effect - Raine age sheet

May or may not be refined in the future, just wanted to get it out of my head.

Explanations and spoilers under the cut!

Otherworld Gate: - Initial travel gear from being on the run with her parents. Originially from Kloitz and based on the design of the halfelves in Meltokio-slums - Very much too big for her as an attempt to let her "grow into it"

Academy arc: - Uniform based on the exchange program Sybak/Meltokio and based on Sybak universities uniform - Much more fitted, but very old due to the halfelves in the program passing down they uniforms to the next generations - has lots of fixed up rips and is very washed out - bright red and yellow stripe on the pants to immediately indicate "Halfelf" beside the branding mark on hand

Manablocker: - The universities way to surpress mana usage of halfelves - this version is highly experimental and actively regulates mana-flow instead of just surpressing it - ultimately responsible for Raine's fucked up sense of time and blackouts

Academy/Prison time: - plain straight ripped up uniform - old and dirty prison rags gaining "easy excess" to back, arms and sides for beatings - Also worn during the sterilization/operation process - Academy clothes are only 'earned back' by obeying and getting back on track. Otherwise prison clothes are worn around the premise

Laboratory arc: - Stained and dirty, hardly washed labcoat and lab uniform (shirt, pants, shoes) - Everything is way too big - Hair's not been cut or cared off for weeks or months at the time - Raine decides to wear everything as long as possible to hide the marks of abuse

Desian/Training arc: - Straight up Desian male uniform for trainees - Too big while with Forcystus, but quickly got herself a fitted one for her needs - Uniform is made not to conduct electricity - First instance of her wearing gloves in public - Keepsake red cloth is worn on her arm or under her jacket - Sometimes exchanges the jacket for a labcoat while with Kvar/Rodyle

Early Cruxis: - Mostly worn around Welgaia - Made from high quality materials and made to show of Exphere - Infused mana regulates her sometimes fucked up body heat and stabelizes her mana - Worn pre-Implant

Cruxis: - Worn around Welgaia and on official Cruxis-businesses - Play on a design-mix from game Kratos/Yuan/Yggdrasill - Very high materials which hardly rip or get stained - Studded with crystals/gems to help with magic - Very tight and fitted, but very easy to move in, made for quick movement

Travel gear: - Mostly worn while traveling through Sylverant/Tethe'alla - Mix between Game-Design and Desians Uniform - Looks easy and run down, but is actually very high material - Mana infused, so helps with heat regulation and acts as mana stabelizer - Carries a wingpack which contains rations, hammock, travel gear and a fuckton of books. Also contains a Rheaird

#tales of symphonia #tales of #tales of series #tales series #digital art #sketch #alternate universe #canon divergent au #butterfly effect #raine sage #design sheet