Tales of Symphonia: Difference between revisions

''Tales of Symphonia'' is set in the land of Sylvarant, whose [[Life Energy]] ([[Mana]]) is being slowly drained away by the evil [[A Nazi By Any Other Name|Desians]]. The only way to stop the Desians is the Journey of World Regeneration, a pilgrimage around the world taken by a [[The Chosen One|Chosen One]] that, when completed, will awaken the goddess Martel and save the world.

 

 

After a few hours the storyline drops its first [[Wham Episode]] on you, after which the plot expands exponentially from a single [[Black and White Morality]] tale to a full-on [[Gambit Pileup]], with multiple sides trying to manipulate or eliminate Colette for their own purposes and Lloyd determined to do everything he can to protect her, even from herself.

 

 

The game was adapted into three four-episode [[RPG Anime|anime]] [[OVA|OVAs]], the last of which is still in production, and 6 [[Bonus Material|omakes]]. A manga was published that covered the events of the first game and its ending becomes the first game's canon ending according to the second game (See [[Third Option Adaptation]] below). There are also several [[Audio Adaptation|Drama CDs]]. It's unlikely any of this will ever be officially translated to English, but fansubs of the OVAs are circulating around the Internet if you look. It places more emphasis on the relationship between Lloyd and Colette, and is obviously a [[Compressed Adaptation]].

* [[Bonus Dungeon]]: Niflheim

* [[Bonus Material]]: In addition to the OVA's, there are 6 omakes/bonuses. They all have [[No Fourth Wall]] and are rather absurd.

* [[Boomerang Bigot]]: The Pope is fiercely anti-half-elf even though he has a half-elf daughter. Though to be more accurate, he hates half-elves ''because'' his daughter is a half-elf; he used to support the cause of half-elf equality, and even fell in love with an elf. But when their daughter was born and her mother died, he found himself growing more hateful and terrified of her differences, coming to understand the perspective of the people who hated half-elves, and he started to support them instead.

* [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]]:

* [[The Chosen One]]: Taken to its literal extreme.

* [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]]: {{spoiler|Yuan, Kratos, Zelos, and Mithos.}} This has led to the rather appropriate observation that {{spoiler|'There is no 'os' in trust.'}}

* [[Crap Saccharine World]]: [[Cel Shading|The bright, cutesy graphics]] do a great job covering the dark, nightmarish story.

* [[Critical Annoyance]]: Genis: "We're gonna die..."

* [[Crystal Dragon Jesus]]: The Church of Martel, which has a very Catholic bent to it.

* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]:

** In one of the [[OVA|OVAs]], Sheena takes Lloyd down in [[One Hit KO|one hit]] only to get owned by Kratos afterwords. {{spoiler|''You do not mess with that man's son.''}}

* [[Dinosaurs Are Dragons]]: The Dragon Rider and his noble steed, the <s>Velociraptor</s> [[Call a Rabbit A Smeerp|Velocidragon]]. In fairness, it ''does'' breathe fire.

* [[Disc One Final Dungeon]]: First there's the {{spoiler|first}} visit to the Tower of Salvation in Sylvarant, then it's {{spoiler|the Second trip to the Tower of Salvation in Tethe'alla (the third trip to the tower overall)}}. And then after ''that'', it's {{spoiler|Torent Forest}}.

** The human ranches are ''very'' similar to the Nazi concentration camps. Kvar also deserves special mention, as he draws many similarities with [[Mad Scientist|Josef Mengele]].

** And Regal is {{spoiler|The president of a major company, specializes in martial arts, and has a pretty dark past involving the death of an important person}}. How oddly [[Batman|familiar]]...

* [[Easter Egg]]: Flanoir has a statue of Pac Man beside its Bigfoot and Wonder Chef statues.

* [[Emotionless Girl]]: Presea. {{spoiler|She comes to her senses at the worst possible time, though...}} Also Colette, as she {{spoiler|begins to become an angel.}} Thankfully, {{spoiler|she gets better}}.

* [[Eternal English]]: The fact that people from {{spoiler|Sylvarant and Tethe'alla}} still understand each other after 4000 years of near-complete separation is pretty amazing, they don't even have different ''accents''!

* [[Precious Puppies]]: A sidequest involves naming all the dogs.

* [[The Exile]]: Lloyd and Genis, due to being responsible of [[Doomed Hometown|Iselia's destruction]].

* [[Fauxshadow]]: {{spoiler|The character Genis}} is foreshadowed to betray you. {{spoiler|He doesn't.}}

* [[Fight in The Nude]]: Characters will only be shown using their most basic (and generic) weapons, with a few exceptions: Lloyd's model goes from wooden swords to basic metal swords after the second town. Kratos will equip the Flamberge after a certain event. And Lloyd will have the {{spoiler|Material Blades}} after you earn them. Characters will also only use their most basic special attacks in cut scenes, because attacks are split across "Strike" and "Technical", and on top of that, you're allowed to delete known attacks, so it'll only show attacks that you can't not know. So expect to see a lot of Fireball, Demon Fang, and Force Field.

** Lloyd: [[The Hero]]

** Genis: [[The Lancer]]

** Let's not forget the teleport maze at Palmacosta ranch, or, even worse with no guide, the specific donations necessary to {{spoiler|rebuild Luin}}.

** The side quests in general, and they are only available at certain points of the game and, after you complete specific events, they become [[Lost Forever]]. Especially annoying with small side quests which take place in places you normally wouldn't go, like {{spoiler|finding and curing Clara}}, earning all the titles, and finding the relationship skits (since they're all on parts of the map where we'd normally have no reason to go).

* [[Hammerspace]]: Seles's purse. Also: Colette has true [[Hammerspace]], because her Pow Hammer-series spawn hammers out of nowhere.

* [[Heel Face Revolving Door]]:

** {{spoiler|Kratos, Zelos and Yuan.}}

** Also the heroes, from a certain perspective. Their ultimate goal is always "save the world," but pretty much every new piece of information about their situation radically alters what "save the world" even means, and how they plan to accomplish it, and sometimes whose toes are going to get stepped on in the process.

* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Much to [[The Hero|Lloyd's]] dismay, there's quite a few. Some end without people ending up dead. Others... don't.

* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Forcystus runs a Human Ranch and looks down on humans as inferior beings like the rest of the Desians, he even thinks an appropriate punishment for breaking a non-agression pact is to pit Lloyd and Genis against {{spoiler|a mutated Marble}}. What made him join in the first place? He {{spoiler|fought and defeated an army of humans who were committing genocide against Half-Elves}}! It goes beyond that, even; {{spoiler|there's a ''brief'' hint, of the blink-and-you'll-miss-it variety, where it's insinuated that he was a companion of Spiritua, the first Chosen of Sylvarant, and the one who came closest to fulfilling Mithos' needs until Colette came along; after she "failed" in Mithos' true aim, the insinuation is that Forscystus joined Cruxis out of guilt.}}

* [[Hidden Elf Village]]: Heimdall. There's also a [[Wutai|hidden Japanese village]], Mizuho.

* [[Human Resources]]: {{spoiler|Exspheres}}.

* [[Hundred Percent Heroism Rating]]: If you save a town and then donate money to rebuild it, eventually the townspeople will put up statues of you and your party members. Although...you have to pay for the statues, too.

* [[Improbable Weapon User]]:

** Genis uses a kendama, a ''children's toy''. Sheena uses cards with wards inscribed on them.

* [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]: {{spoiler|Abyssion. Nothing good ever comes from an abyss. [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Except the]] [[Tales of the Abyss|Tales of It]]}}.

* [[Never My Fault]]: Lloyd is blamed for the destruction of Iselia even though ''it was Genis'' who wanted to go to the forbidden ranch in the first place, and Lloyd was the one who tried to talk him out of it. (Possibly because Lloyd was the main one caught on camera, and the mayor considers him an outsider because Dirk's house is not located in the village.) Genis even has the gall to get indignant with the townspeople for their entirely rational anger towards their homes being burned down because Lloyd and Genis violated their peace treaty. Of course, {{spoiler|at the time everyone thought that}} the Desians had struck first at the temple, so Genis has a point here.

* [[No Export for You]]:

** The [[PS 2]] port. No Garen Zesshuugeki or Fairy Circle for you. Or any of the compound special attacks that involve Regal, for that matter.

* [[Parental Abandonment]]: All the main characters, except possibly Presea, Regal and Kratos, as well as the [[Big Bad]]. If not for the fact that the game's inherent bias towards idealism means they all get over it, we'd have a [[Dysfunction Junction]] on our hands.

* [[Path of Inspiration]]

* [[Poor Communication Kills]]: Several villagers died when Sheena was unable to form a pact with Volt, and she was ostracized for her failure, but because no one could directly communicate with Volt, they had no idea why it attacked them. It wasn't until Raine came along and could translate that Sheena could find out why Volt attacked.

* [[Power Gives You Wings]]: The strongest characters are all angels with translucent, multicolored wings. Yggdrasil even has wings ''on his wrists.''

* [[Sealed Evil in A Can]]: The Desians. {{spoiler|Subverted once we learn what they're doing during the time they're supposedly "sealed away."}}

* [[Secret Shop]]: It's in {{spoiler|Luin, after you rebuild it}}. And they sell the strongest [[Lethal Joke Item|Lethal Joke Items]] that money can buy.

* [[Set Right What Once Went Wrong]]: The party briefly thinks about doing this, once they get ahold of the {{spoiler|Eternal Sword}}, which has the power to transcend space and time. Lloyd decides against it, realizing that they don't have the right to tamper with time, especially considering the odds of messing this up even worse.

* [[Ship Tease]]:

* [[Solve the Soup Cans]]: Many puzzles revolve around this; the most blatant example is the "quest" to obtain the Ymir Fruit.

* [[Spank the Cutie]]: After finding out they skipped class, Raine proceeds to spank Genis.

* [[Spoiler Opening]]: How do you know {{spoiler|that Sheena is going to join the party and that Kratos will eventually face off with you? Simple; the cover shows Sheena, Lloyd and Zelos in fighting poses (with Colette just doing some Maiden Pose) and the trailer shows Sheena attacking and killing an enemy (like it does with all your other eventual allies) in addition to Lloyd drawing his swords in preparation for battle in response to Kratos stepping out of the shadows.}} [[Sarcasm Mode|Subtle.]]

* [[Standing in The Hall]]: Lloyd; while ''sleeping at the same time''

* [[Video Game 3D Leap]]: First game in the series to use 3D battles, although free-range 3D running didn't come until ''[[Tales of the Abyss]]''.

* [[Voluntary Shapeshifting]]: Kilia changes voluntarily from some kind of purple monster-thing into a human child and back.

* [[Wing Pull]]:

** {{spoiler|Lloyd and Kratos.}}

[[Category:Tales Series (Franchise)]]

[[Category:Tales Of Symphonia]]