I spent the past week at Seton Hill University for my fifth Writing Popular Fiction residency. (My time as a graduate student is almost over!) The residency was fanastic, as always. I learned a lot and came back with new story ideas.
Two events I looked forward to were non-academic: the book signing I previously announced and the costume ball, both part of the alumni’s In Your Write Mind writing conference. The costume ball ties back to a promise I made earlier this year, that I’d soon try my first cosplay.
This year’s theme for the costume ball was “comics.” So of course, I decided to do a Tales of Symphonia cosplay.
I cosplayed Martel. Since the Church of Martel was very obviously inspired by the Catholic church, I made sure to take pictures in Seton Hill’s beautiful chapel.
(Edit: I have since realized I made an embarrassing mistake with my cosplay, so some day in the future I will have more accurate photos to share!)
I commissioned the costume from Cosplay1, and I was really happy with how it turned out. The wig, I bought from Amazon, and had the bangs trimmed at a local salon.
Yes, after one standing shot as Martel, I decided some praying pictures were in order. Who exactly does Martel pray to? Now there’s another question a Symphonia prequel could answer…
The costume was a big hit at the ball (I even won a prize!), too, although I haven’t included the costume ball photos here. Overall, I really enjoyed my time as Martel, and I’ll definitely do it again sometime.
Let’s backtrack to the day before the costume ball, when I attended the In Your Write Mind book signing with three of my books. That was also a success!
I specifically chose my Resident Evil shirt for the book signing.
I completely sold out of my comedy The Accidental Zombie, which you can buy here. It seems the humorous misadventures of two NOT-mad scientists appeals to people more than my romance or horror story, although Love Under the Mistletoe earned several sales and a lot of attention (probably because of the cover).
“Rokurokubi” fared the worst, although that may be because the cover of Wicked Words Quarterly makes it less clear what sort of content is inside. If you’re interested in horror stories, such as my yokai horror story, do check it out.
In addition to the book signing itself (at which I bought books, as well, of course), the event was also a great opportunity because I got to meet Steve Saffel of Titan Books. That was really cool.
The entire residency was fantastic. I came home with stories, ideas, inspiration…
Friends recommended the JRPG Tales of Symphonia to me for years, but I never really acted on it. For one thing, the original Gamecube version is rare and expensive. So when the Chronicles collection came out for the PS3, I finally decided to give the game a chance. That just left me with my other reason for hesitating: it couldn’t possibly be as good as my friends say it was.
Yes it could.
I started playing Tales of Symphonia sometime in January, just finished it on Saturday, and loved every moment in between. The last game I felt that much love for as I played it was… well, Professor Layton vs. Phoenix Wright, and we know how THAT turned out, even if it was still a great game. Tales of Symphonia, I’m happy to say, did not betray my expectations. I loved everything about it.
Let’s start with its gameplay. A lot of people will tell you that Tales of Symphonia is “aged” or “outdated.” Well, maybe it is, in which case I adore aged, outdated mechanics. Sure, the combat wasn’t flashy, but it was easy to learn and oddly relaxing (save for the boss battles that got me so upset I forgot basic concepts like how to use menus). Some of its sidequests are kind of obscure and easy to miss, which on one hand annoyed me but on the other hand pleased me because I felt I really had to work to find everything the game had to offer. Best of all, it had a World Map!
I want World Maps back in RPGs. Classic overworld style, bonus points if I get to manually fly some sort of airship around. Really, when I started Symphonia, I was thrilled to death to have a World Map.
Next, let’s talk about its plot, which I loved. I knew next to nothing about Tales of Symphonia going into it, so I really didn’t know what it was about. I expected a lot of plot twists and had fun thinking up theories–some of which were spot-on accurate and others of which were dead wrong. I liked that. It had enough foreshadowing for me to pick up on some things, but enough surprises to keep me guessing.
Its plot twists were great, and they never felt forced. After a while, I started to dread plot events, because they always left me feeling drained… which takes us to the characters!
The character interactions endeared me to my first Tales game, Tales of Xillia, and they were even better here. Overall, I like the cast of Symphonia better than the cast of Xillia. Even those I started out disliking, I liked by the end.
Genis Sage.
Anyone who messes with Genis will feel my wrath.
Sure, it had some characters that were just awesome (*cough*Kratos*cough*), but it also had characters I just became really attached to. I really cared about Symphonia’s characters. I grew to love them so much, Tales of Symphonia became the fourth addition to the ranks of video games that have made me cry.
…I’m STILL not over that scene!
And while Tales of Symphonia’s cast was working its way into my heart, I had to give serious credit to the villains. Villains can make or break a story for me, and Tales of Symphonia’s helped make it. Unlike in Tales of Xillia, where I had consistent trouble picking someone out as a true villain, Symphonia gave me villains it was easy to hate–and love, even at the same time!
Everything I want in my villains was there, even a mad scientist! Only one thing disappointed me…
Click for spoiler
I so wanted the main villain to be redeemed in the end…
On the other hand, if this is still upsetting me, I can’t say the game did a bad job with him, now can I?
Besides, there was subtle implied redemption, maybe, a little bit…
These characters, good and bad, have all taken up residence in my head for the time being. They’re up there with the best of the best!
I loved the music, too. I loved everything about this game!
If you haven’t played Tales of Symphonia… you really should. If you HAVE, there’s a good chance you played on the Gamecube, so did you know that Tales of Symphonia Chronicles (because it is based on Japan’s PS2 port), has some new stuff?
Here are two of the new additions I consider to be the most notable. …I didn’t actually find either of them in my own playthrough, because you have to go out of your way for one and beat an insane bonus dungeon for the other.
Note: both of these scenes contain major spoilers.
Important backstory clarification
Memories from the past
Make sure you watch the scene after the battle, too, for the maximum amount of heartbreak.
Genis, just be glad it wasn’t an even worse question like, “So what am I like these days?”
I haven’t talked about Tales of Symphonia nearly enough. Honestly, I could go on all day about it. Don’t even get me started talking about it in comparison with Ace Attorney (really), Silent Hill (seriously), or Professor Layton (more for laughs). I played it for over 90 hours, and I consistently loved it during that time. I can’t let go of it. As usual, when I enjoyed a story this much, I want to write fanfiction about it… but I don’t know where to start. I don’t want to disrupt something so wonderful. I’d feel bad turning to my old habit of forcing redemption through a psychological beatdown, because Symphonia as it stands was great!
Right now… I would name Tales of Symphonia as my favorite game of all time. I liked it that much. And that’s why I consider it to be “perfect.”
So again, give this game a chance if you haven’t. Chime in with all your Symphonia thoughts in the comments and let me know if you loved it and its characters as much as I did!
Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to figuring out my Symphonia cosplay…
