Tales of Hearts: Difference between revisions

In the distant past, [[The Heartless|parasitic monsters known as Zerom]] ravaged the world, feeding on the hearts and emotions ("Spiria") of all living things. To defend the world, weapons called "Soma" were developed, allowing weapon-masters to physically enter the Spiria of an infected victim and eliminate the Zerom directly.

 

 

Not long after the Hearts wash up on the shore of Shibul and meet Shing, Incarose catches up to them, killing Zex and cursing Kohak into a deep sleep. With no other way to save Kohak, Shing takes up Zex's Soma and enters her Spiria. There he finds an infection of Zerom, encounters a beautiful emerald-haired girl straight from a famous nursery rhyme, and witnesses the Spirtune that forms the core of Kohak's Spiria shatter into pieces.

With Kohak reduced to an [[Emotionless Girl|emotionless doll]], Shing takes responsibility and embarks on a [[Call to Adventure|worldwide quest]] with Hisui to track down the missing pieces of Kohak's Spirtune and restore her to normal, one emotion at a time. Of course, it's never as simple as that: a new wave of Zerom infection is sweeping the world, several factions from the local Empire and Church are [[Gambit Pileup|fighting against Shing and each other]] over the pieces of Kohak's Spirtune, and just when it looks like everything might turn out for the best, the story takes a [[Wham! Episode|hard right turn]] and reveals another [[Big Bad]] whose plans extend to the origins of the Zerom themselves.

 

 

''Highly'' recommended if you can make it through the moonspeak. Otherwise, ''Tales Of'' translator [http://www.blade2187.com/ Kajitani Eizan] is working on a full translation. Kohak is also the very first ''Hearts'' character to appear in an official localization through the Cameo Battle in ''[[Tales of Graces]] f'' ([[Dub Name Change|renamed as 'Amber']]).

 

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* [[Alien Sky]]: Standing on the "white moon" Quartzia, the sky is the same, but with a blue "moon" instead.

* [[Anime Theme Song]]: "Eien no Ashita" by DEEN, previously responsible for the ''[[Tales of Destiny]]'' opening.

** Later, the line comes back in a [[Meaningful Echo]].

** On Shing himself, threaten the well being of his friends or just merely being 'Incarose' ([[You Killed My Father|his grandpa's killer]]) is enough to put Shing into rage. {{spoiler|[[Unwitting Pawn|Unfortunately, that's what Incarose plans]] to bring Creed back, so she gleefully pressed it in any available moments.}}

* [[BFS]]: Chalcedny's Wahrheit, Innes' Folseus.

* [[Combos]]: The title of "Combo Beginner" is awarded for a ''25'' combo.

* [[Do-Anything Robot]]: Kunzite's supposed to be a Guardian Knight. What's with all the random sensors? Combat scanners and internal compasses are understandable, but a body fat analyzer?

* [[Dual-Wielding]]: Kunzite quadruple-wields katars, thanks to his Vex incorporating an extra pair of tentacle arms on his back; Chalcedny gets to [[Dual Wield]] briefly {{spoiler|when Peridot tosses him her sword.}}

* [[Dub Name Change]]: The translation patch renamed Kohak and Hisui as the literal translation of their original names (Amber and Jadeite). When Kohak reappeared in ''[[Tales of Graces]] F'', dubbed, she got her name changed to Amber as well.

* [[Mad Artist]] (Beryl)

* [[Meaningful Name]] ([[Word of God]] says Shing's name is meant to mean "heart weapon". Soma have their own names, like "Asteria" based on Greek for "star" or "Elrond" being short for "Elpis Rondo", which means "dance of joy". To say nothing of the ''evolved'' Soma names, like Asteria's being named after stars, comets, and constellations, Gale Arc's after winds and mythical birds, etc.)

* [[The Messiah]] (Shing is competing with [[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Tea]] for sheer force of Friendship Speeches)

* [[Morality Pet]] (Spin and co. for Peridot, Lapis for Silver)

* [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old]] (Quartz and Mechanoids by default; the three living Quartz in the game have had their bodies in suspended animation since the destruction of Quartzia 2000 years ago, and most of the robots have been in storage and/or asleep. In particular, Richia strikes up a relationship with Hisui in the latter half of the game.)

* [[Relationship Values]] (The game never misses a chance to raise them, from minor skits to important plot points; characters get "X's Soma Link with the party has gone up" to wrap up their character development scenes, and particularly awesome moments are capped with the notice: "''Everyone'''s Soma Link has gone up.")

* [[Ridiculously-Human Robots]] (Kunzite, {{spoiler|Incarose}}, Corundum, Chlorseraph/Clinoseraph; Kunzite spends half the game [[Tin Man|denying this]] and [[Become a Real Boy|then gets "Like Human" as a title after coming to terms with himself]])

* [[Royals Who Actually Do Something]] (Marin after she stops being a spineless puppet ruler)

* [[Sexy Backless Outfit]] (Kohak, wearing a backless dress/shirt/whatever)

* [[Shout-Out]] (A huge list of cameo Link Attacks from other games in the series and even other titles produced by Namco)

** Colonel Silver uses Loni's hiougi, Final Prayer, as an attack.

* [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] (The Quartz)

* [[That's No Moon]] (The black moon, {{spoiler|the giant Queen Zerom Gardenia}})

* [[Verbal Tic]] (Does Innes have one of these, I wonder?)

* [[Whole-Plot Reference]]: The first arc can be best summed up as ''Tales of [[Princess Tutu]]''

* [[Years Too Early]], gloats Peridot if you lose to her solo fight.

* [[You Gotta Have Blue Hair]] (You'd think it would keep it normal when hair color is a plot point twice (Richea and Creed), but Peridot and Byrocks have hot pink and bright teal hair for no good reason. Most of the other Celreid have normal-ish hair, the weirdest being Marin's dark blue, Innes' platinum, and Chalcedony's bleach blond.)

* [[Your Princess Is in Another Castle]]: Right as the final Spirune is returned to Kohak...

 

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