Tales of Graces/Headscratchers

Why is Asbel x and Sophie so popular?

No, this isn't another Ship-to-Ship Combat argument (Pascal's the only girl for Asbel, anyways) I just don't know why so many western fans think Asbel and Sophie is a good (well, better than him and Cheria, anyway) pairing. The American fanbase has had a reputation for despising the lolis in the series (especially Anise and Patty), so I don't really understand why they seem to all side with Sophie? And as for the whole "whose baby is that?" argument, why does the strong implication that it's Cheria's spark so much ire? Sophie looks about thirteen, so procreation instantly enters Squick territory there and since she's an Artificial Human / Energy Being, is it even possible for her to crossbreed with humans anyway? Is it just a matter of people not liking Cheria, or is there something more to it? I'm just not sure I really understand what it's all about...
- I can think of a few reasons:
  - Western fans generally prefer Action Girls. Then again, they usually also prefer tsunderes like Cheria over ingenues like Sophie...
  - Cheria is a rather bland and underdeveloped character. The plot revolves around Sophie, so naturally she gets more development. Also, she's very cute.
  - Asbel/Cheria isn't very well developed. Asbel stays oblivious to Cheria's feelings till the very end, even in sidequests. Cheria's crush on Asbel isn't explained either. We never get a flashback or some sort of explanation of why she likes him. Sophie and Asbel on the other hand, interact quite a lot and have some very sweet scenes that could be interpreted as romantic.
  - Sophie is pretty much The Not Love Interest. Much of Asbel's character development revolves around her and she's his motivation for trying to protect everyone.
  - At least they managed to put more skin to Cheria and Asbel relationship in the extra part of the story in Tales of Graces F.
    - Doesn't Asbel adopt Sophie as his daughter? That makes the shipping a bit creepy.
- I can offer one other reason, that ties into how underdeveloped Asbel x Cheria is. While "childhood friends become lovers" is such a popular plot device in japan that it may as well be a fetish, it's just not as popular in the west, and thus there's no inborn preference to allow people to forgive the lack of development in the main game. Also, while Sophie is the Token Loli of the game, her age difference compared to asbel is negligible. (bear in mind, I don't like any asbel ships, and from my personal experience if anyone developed the most romantic chemistry with Sophie over the course of the game, it was Malik. Now THAT'S squick.)

Why does Richard order the execution of Cerdic's soldiers?

Okay, I know he was possessed by Lambda but both of them are actually pretty peaceful beings at heart, albeit with Dark And Troubled Pasts. So, was it just that Lambda had done his Neutral Heel Turn before then, prompting Richard to become more ruthless or was there something else at work?
- As far as I understand it, Lambda's possession brings out Richard's negative emotions. He hated Cerdic and the soldiers, but under normal conditions, he could control his hatred. Lambda isn't all that peaceful either. Not after centuries of hiding from humans and Sophie.
- Lambda is essentially a voice whispering in Richard's ear that cultivates Richard's feelings of loneliness and mistrust. It gets to the point where Richard isn't even sure which thoughts are his and which belong to Lambda.

"Decide Sabre"? Really?

Pretty much self-explanatory, really... I mean, Bamco tends to have surprisingly good English for BC names, but this? Come off it...
- It's actually meant to be "Deicide Sabre", but the pronunciation got screwed up in Japanese.
  - The line is re-recorded in Tales of Graces f and now sounds a bit more like Deicide Saber. Still, it's an awkward name.
    - Are you kidding? God-Killing Saber sounds Badass and makes sense considering what Emeraude did to Lambda.

When Asbel is trying to sacrifice his life, why did Cheria...

Already break down to tears? I mean, wasn't she supposed to cry after not before he has sacrificed his life? It's really very not logical for anyone to do that if you ask me, everyone except herself stands up and says Asbel's name but she is the only one that cries when Asbel is dying, seriously on that scene i keep thinking "...He's still alive you know...", so yeah...?
- Probably because he was dying and there was nothing she could do to stop it.
- Yeah, she doesn't do anything to stop it and just cries. Perfectly logical if you ask me. Then again Cheria isn't exactly a character with a gut in the first place.
  - Did you read the part where they said there was nothing she could do to stop it? It sounds to me like she was crying that he was dying and she was crying because She felt utterly useless. Heck, I know people who woud cry if something like that happened!
  - But what bothers me is that she didn't even bother to stop or do anything about it, i saw many similar situation but this is the first time i see someone just give up and scream like that, even most weak willed heroines like Yanagi from Flame of Recca can spare some time to tries to stop Recca. So i guess...Cheria is just really that desperate,huh?
  - Come now, aren't you just hating on Cheria? Sure, the crying is a bit overly dramatic but would you really have preferred it if everyone just stood there and went "No!"? I mean, no one else did anything either. And even if we ignore that fact, what could she possibly do? She can't throw a knife at it or zap it or whatever. She could try to pull Asbel away but he is stronger than her and would be actively resisting.
  - Not to mention the fact that it's quite jarring. Not only will it possibly undo all the hard work they had just done, she knows exactly what will happen if Asbel gets possessed. Don't forget, THEY'RE AT THE CORE. They're also all exhausted from fighting the final boss. No one is capable of stopping Lambda doing what he wanted to do in the first place and destroying Asbel's body.

Anyone else think They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character with Cheria?

You're not the only one. The problem with Cheria can be boiled down to the fact that she is Out of Focus. Her Character Development stops dead after her issues with Asbel are (hurriedly) resolved early in the story, and afterwards she doesn't contribute anything to the plot. It's a shame because she starts as a vicious Deconstruction of the I Will Wait for You trope.

The Mystic Artes/Blast Caliburs

What just bugs me a little bit is the fact that for pretty much most of the game, you only have your level 1 blast calibers. (Unless you're Pascal. You can get all three of her mystic artes before everyone even gets their second.) I can understand the placement of the first and the third, but why'd they give you your second Mystic Artes so darn late? By the time you get it, you're maybe 80% of the way through the game, with the side-events for the level 3 blast calibers right around the corner.
- Honestly, I think they originally intended for the game to be much longer. You don't get access to the world map until right before the final boss, and the story is wrapped up rather abruptly. Not to mention 40 hours is VERY short for a Tales game. It seems like the Legacies epilogue was originally supposed to be part of the main game, but something - time, money, the producer's patience - ran out, so they were forced to quickly wrap it up with what they had. Thus, everything gets dumped very quickly at the end of the main storyline. Then, when the Play Station 3 rerelease was in development, they quickly retooled everything that would have gone into the main quest into a 10 hour epilogue.
  - That's a lot of conjecture.