Tales of Zestiria Discussion (SPOILERS)

I mean a game doesn't have to have a main heroine, Tales usually does but it's not mandatory, they still put Alisha in a place most characters don't get revealed in, I guess they'll learm from that. I really feel like at least for me personally I wouldn't have a bad taste if she had been revealed in the character line-up as any other character. I do like how independent she is and how she

Spoiler:

I'm excited for the DLC episode despite its shady points that have been brought up.

It annoys me that people think main heroine means solely love interest, it is often times, but we do have Estelle, Sophie, and Elle. It just means story impact and main character support. The whole way they treat Mikleo on gamefaqs in general annoys me. Everyone remind me next time a game comes out there's a solid reason I don't get my news from gamefaqs boards. >.>

ShivKH wrote:

It annoys me that people think main heroine means solely love interest, it is often times, but we do have Estelle, Sophie, and Elle. It just means story impact and main character support. The whole way they treat Mikleo on gamefaqs in general annoys me. Everyone remind me next time a game comes out there's a solid reason I don't get my news from gamefaqs boards. >.>

Shippers in general are terrible. Shippers on sites like GameFAQs are even worse.

I'm still mad the fake!spoilers claimed that Zaveid fell in love with a human dude and then he kinda lost it because that dude grew old and died, making him canonically gay.

I mean, I don't even know what his real story is. Does he even have one?

... Err, to clarify, I'm not mad that he's (most likely) not gay, I'm mad because that sounded like such a great, heartbreaking backstory. Besides, actual canon homosexuals/lesbians are hard to find in Tales games, so I got really hopeful in terms of the future of Tales games and what their characters could be.

DLC enemies? lol

http://tokrin.com/archives/50876752.html

I'd love canon queer characters, my qualms with the Mikleo shipping over there is just the way they do it, as if you can't be close with other males when you're male without some sexual attraction element >.> shippers can ship I don't have a problem with what people do in their own heads for their own enjoyment

I was also disappointed the fake spoilers about Zaveid were false

ShivKH wrote:

I'd love canon queer characters, my qualms with the Mikleo shipping over there is just the way they do it, as if you can't be close with other males when you're male without some sexual attraction element >.>

Sadly that's a very common misconception about any two people, real life or otherwise, atleast in my home state. You're BFFs with a girl? You wanna bang her. BFFs with a dude? You two are banging constantly. It's really stupid and annoying.

Also, that fake spoiler about Zaveid is interesting if nothing else. I wonder how exactly the game would handle it had it turned out to be true.

That is very true that does happen in a lot of places.

I just looked over the DLC, I'm actually so down for the Starfish Rangers DLC LOL, it even comes with attachments <3 DLC enemies like that I'm pretty okay with, just fun little things, I mean obvious money grabs that's what DLC is but they didn't make the main cameos DLC so I'm happy. I feel like this is worthy of my money. I also love the little chibi main cast attachments! Its good to see them doing costume bundles as well!!! That makes things really easy for me, I was actually going to get all the swimsuits this time because I like them better than the cameo outfits I'm still going to get Cheria and Milla Maxwell probably, maybe Leon and Elize. I'm debating on school costumes still.

I think its worthy of noting they gave the swimsuits a battle theme now too (and its pretty rad)

Welp, we got at least one confirmation that Rose can wear Alisha's school outfit, so presumably also the swimsuit. And presumably it's a vice versa thing, meaning Alisha could wear Rose's school/swimsuits. And the same might count for Dezel and Zaveid, but no info on that yet.

Looking very hopeful on the 'stuff Rose into Alisha's Cheria outfit' front.

Just wanted to drop in and complain about how BS the second part of the final boss battle is.
Can't manage to knock him down fast enough? Too bad. Dead.
I did beat him, but man, it took a lot of tries.

The Katz Village BGM is the secret best music in the game. Being completely sarcastic, of course

ShivKH wrote:

I mean a game doesn't have to have a main heroine, Tales usually does but it's not mandatory, they still put Alisha in a place most characters don't get revealed in, I guess they'll learm from that. I really feel like at least for me personally I wouldn't have a bad taste if she had been revealed in the character line-up as any other character. I do like how independent she is and how she

Spoiler:

I'm excited for the DLC episode despite its shady points that have been brought up.

It annoys me that people think main heroine means solely love interest, it is often times, but we do have Estelle, Sophie, and Elle. It just means story impact and main character support. The whole way they treat Mikleo on gamefaqs in general annoys me. Everyone remind me next time a game comes out there's a solid reason I don't get my news from gamefaqs boards. >.>

Oh yeah, I hate it when the heroine is automatically considered to be a love interest. There's an anime series that recently came up on the board that I don't want to spoil where the main character gets romantically involved with somebody other than the deuteragonist and it's not even like a love triangle kinda thing.

I gotta admit though, Alisha's kind of a strange case. The fact that she kind of has her own self-contained story on the side (even before the DLC was announced) is kind of strange for a Tales game and from what I'm hearing, doesn't have a firm resolution (which the DLC hopefully alleviates.) Kinda reminds me of Seth from Phantasy Star IV who joins you for one dungeon, except Seth was never thought to be a core party member.

Have any other Tales games featured "guest" party members or permanent departures not involving death?

Finally beat the game \o/

Meowzy wrote:

Welp, we got at least one confirmation that Rose can wear Alisha's school outfit, so presumably also the swimsuit. And presumably it's a vice versa thing, meaning Alisha could wear Rose's school/swimsuits. And the same might count for Dezel and Zaveid, but no info on that yet.

Looking very hopeful on the 'stuff Rose into Alisha's Cheria outfit' front.

Rose&Alisha and Dezel&Zaveid share all their costumes, even their in-game ones. It's pretty awesome and I hope there'll be more costume sharing between party members in the future. It'd be fun to dress everyone the same lol

Also I love the Katz Village BGM, it's hilarious XD

No but, hang on. Does that mean that Dezel can wear Zaveid's default outfit? And can Alisha wear Rose's defaults?

Yup. Well idk for Dezel since

Spoiler:

but I don't see why it wouldn't be the case; Alisha can definitely wear Rose's defaults (I gave her Rose's color variation in my game x3) and other costumes like her Wind's Bones one.

Yume Hanabi wrote:

Rose&Alisha and Dezel&Zaveid share all their costumes, even their in-game ones. It's pretty awesome and I hope there'll be more costume sharing between party members in the future. It'd be fun to dress everyone the same lol

I've been hoping for this ever since Symphonia.

Finally!

I am going to enjoy this game so much :3

edit:
I read through your entire summary Yume.
It was nice.

Spoiler:

Thing is, Zaveid's bare chest is very recognizable as being, well, Zaveid's. That's why I'm curious. Plus, his body build is different from Dezel's. If you were to put Dezel in Zaveid's default, he might look like he's suddenly on steroids.

Note that you only get the costume once you've had its original wearer in party (unless it's DLC). That's why Alisha can wear Rose's school costume (for example) at the beginning but not her default, while Rose can wears Alisha's default when she joins. Considering what happened, I didn't have the occasion to check how Dezel would look with Zaveid's default. That'll be for second playthrough.

By the way, I have so many questions that I think the game left unexplained, but I'm not sure. I'll try asking here to see if anyone knows.

1a) First up, this whole hyouma thing confuses me. So when people have darkness in their hearts, they turn into hyouma and only the seraphim (and Sorey and his fellows) can see them for what they really are, right? But then what's the deal with Renard/Lunarre? He's a hyouma, right? Does that mean he was once human? What do normal humans see when they look at him?
1b) Also, what's the deal with the monsters on the field map? I think those are also referred to as hyouma...? Do normal humans just assume they're cannibalistic bandits?

2a) What's the deal with the seraphim's clothing? The seraphim themselves are invisible to the human eye, but why is their clothing invisible too? Is it like with the spirits in Xillia and they're really naked? Is it made of special fabric? Do the seraphim exude some sort of natural invisibility field that envelopes everything inside it? If Dezel's holding a puppy, would the puppy appear to be floating to normal humans?
2b) So on that note, if it's possible for seraphim to influence their environment by pickings things up and writing letters and being physical enough to poke normal humans, how come humans doubt their existence at all? Any seraph could just go up to a human, place a hand on their shoulder and shove a note in their hand that reads: "Surprise, b*tch. Bet you thought you'd seen the last of seraphim."

3) This one bugs me so much: Why is it that Rose can use Kamui mode and Alisha couldn't? I understand that apparently having a pact with Rose is less of a strain on Sorey because her heart is purer or something, but if Rose can enter Kamui mode just by making that pact, couldn't Alisha technically do the same thing? It's not like they knew how much of a strain it was putting on Sorey at first, so why didn't she try?

4) Another one that really bugs me: How could Rose not notice Dezel's been stalking the group for so long? I mean, come on, he was using his wind powers to teleport her to safety and things like that. And every so often, he'd use his wind powers to teleport right in front of her, like in that inn in the diseased village. Did she think she was being followed around by a very convenient little tornado or what?

1a) Normal people see a normal guy when they see him.
1b) Humans are not the only ones who can become hyouma: seraphs and animals as well. Most monsters are probably animals.

2a) Their own things are invisible I think, but they can make things visible or invisible with some spell (that's why Gramps' pipe is now visible to humans so that Sorey can sell it). And yeah Dezel holding up a puppy would make the puppy look like it's floating in the air. Something like that happened when Mikleo was carrying Sorey when he fainted.
2b) I think the spell to make things visible/invisible is not that easy. Plus humans will always find "rational" explanations for paranormal activity anyway. I don't think most seraphs would be interested in showing their existence anyway.

3) It's less to do with pure hearts or whatever and more with spiritual power. Rose has high spiritual power, while Alisha doesn't have enough to completely wield Sorey's power. Rose had the ability to see seraphs to begin with, she'd just been repressing it because of her fear. Alisha needed to rely on Sorey's power to even hear them. And they knew it was going to put a strain on Sorey at first - at least Lailah and Sorey did (that's what she whispered to him just before he agreed to let Alisha make the pact). And Lailah would know how dangerous it would have been for Sorey to let Alisha try out kamui (not to mention that she might not have been able to handle it. Sorey, with his high spiritual power, slept for three whole days after his first time after all).

4) I don't remember the inn scene, but didn't he teleport her when she was unconscious?

Thanks for taking the time to answer!

1a) Huh... But we're never shown what his 'normal guy look' is like, right? Not even in flashbacks? I mean, he was a member of Rose's assassin's guild, so I imagine they must've been close before the hyouma thing happened, right?
1b) Seraphim who turn into hyouma are invisible to the human eye though, so if there's any of those roaming the field map, people would be getting ripped to shreds by something they can't even see. )=

2a+b) This whole thing reeks of convenient plothole, hahahaha...

3) Ohhhh! Okay, see, that makes a lot more sense. I guess that also explains why Rose could later hear Mikleo's voice without her even holding Sorey's hand. By that point, she'd already charged back into battle (against an enemy she couldn't see, hahaha) and would've been more open about it instead of repressing. But if Rose could see them to begin with, does that mean she could see Dezel and his bff before that incident happened right in front of her eyes?

4) This scene right here, starting around 11:15 minutes. I mean, she just stands there while the seraphim talk to Dezel and then Sorey gives a sort of answer that I guess could apply to both Dezel and Rose. And then Dezel teleports himself and Rose out of there.

1a) There was a scene talking about his involvement with the guild but I wasn't paying much attention so I don't remember. I don't think they were really that close though, iirc. Though yeah, I don't think we're shown what he looks like.
1b) I guess but most monsters are animal-based, so they're just being attacked by strong boars and the like from their PoV.

3) Yep, she says she could see them when she was little, but she'd forgotten about it until the incident with Symonne. She probably repressed those memories. idk when exactly she stopped seeing them though.

4) And yeah lol that's weird. I don't know what she made of it. There's a scene or skit where they discuss Dezel's stalking tho iirc, but I don't remember what it said. I'll try looking for it when I have time.

1a) What a missed opportunity! I think his human form would look pretty badass. Also, I think when his character was first announced, they described him as a 'member' of the assassin's guild. How many members does that guild even have? Ten at the most? In a logical sense, Rose and her buddies should've known him and cooperated him. I hope we'll get a novel or something about that. That'd be pretty sweet.

3) Wasn't the repression because she saw a seraph get killed by a hyouma right in front of her? And then she forgot for a while until that scene where Simone makes her and Dezel remember? Just a hypothesis, but it seems like the most logical one.

4) There's always second playthroughs!

5) I'm adding a five now, just because. Is it ever said how old any of the seraph party members are and how their age influences their appearance? Because I get the feeling that Edna is much older than Mikleo, who is the same age as Sorey and grew at the same pace. I'm particularly curious about the age difference between Dezel and Zaveid, because I think at one point it's said that Zaveid knew Dezel when he was a kid? Or maybe I misunderstood that particular scene.

2) Probably something like that. They do know him, and Rose was shocked to learn he's a hyouma. But iirc he wasn't with them for long.

3) Maybe. I think I know what scenes I have to rewatch, but yeah, gonna wait for second playthrough where I can revisit everything in details.

5) I didn't find any clear number but judging from the way they talk etc: Lailah's probably one of the oldest. Edna's pretty old too, and probably Zaveid as well considering he knew her brother. Dezel is said to be young, and Mikleo of course is the youngest, as he was born the same day as Sorey. And yeah Zaveid knew Dezel. Zaveid's backstory is scattered throughout scenes, sidequests and skits, so I'll have to put all the pieces back together, which is for 2nd playthrough.

Goodness gracious, Zaveid has a backstory after all? Interesting! And I'm kind of saddened that they didn't just give us the exact ages with the characters when they were first announced. We already knew they were seraphim, so it's not like an age of >100 years would've been surprising.

ikr. We don't even know the humans' age! And that's driving me crazy because those flashbacks about Rose and Dezel has Rose with her current model, so... that means she's probably in her twenties, because a teenager changes a lot in five years. Unless they were just lazy and didn't make a new model even if she's supposed to be, idk, let's say 13 in those flashbacks... Maybe it's a good thing we don't have actual ages then, so we can pretend XD

Maybe the guides will give us ages. I hope we get a World Guidance like Xillia did. Can't wait for a timeline though, I've already started gathering stuff like how some months are called and stuff, but it's easier when the guides put it all together with a nice explanation.

If she was 13 in those flashbacks it'd be very horrifying, because she was supposed to marry that prince dude, right? And then afterwards he told her to be his concubine? It's hilarious that Dezel himself actually does look younger in the flashbacks, but it's probably because of his choppy mop haircut.

Speaking of younger Dezel, here's one more. Was he born blind or did that happen because of Simone as well?