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BASICS

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puddle_of_petals
COMPLETED GAMES: Abyss, Vesperia, Symphonia, Xillia, Zestiria, Berseria

RULES

1: Comment moderation is ON; IP address logging is ON.
2: Posts tagged with #critical are exactly what they say on the tin. Don't read an entry with this tag if you don't want to see negativity about your blorbo or whatever.
3: I post translations, but due to Fandom Experiences, they are now all locked to members only. Note that this community's main focus is not translations, so you're not missing out on much.
4: Please don't share my posts/essays to sites like bluesky, twitter/x, or reddit.
5: Posts are not queued or on any schedule; I post whenever I want.

CREDITS

JOURNAL LAYOUT: Fragment by

myrtillenne
PINNED CODE:

10billionghosts

puddle_of_petals

Got a question but think I've already answered it? Check here first, if you want.

Anything that isn't covered/if you still have questions, feel free to comment.

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( rip tort )

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Disclaimer: This is NOT an attack on the voice actors or localization associated with Tales of Vesperia. It is, however, an opinion, and as such, not everyone is going to agree with it. That said, please do not cite this post when attacking "poor/bad" localizations. It is also not meant to dictate HOW the game should be localized for western audiences.

Back when I was new to the "Tales" fandom, I stumbled upon a post on X/twitter saying this (not 1v1): "Why is the Vesperia dub so angry? lol".

At first, I went "huh? What do you mean 'angry'?". But on a NG+ and after diving deep into Tales "spinoff" games like Radiant Mythology 2/3, Rays, and Reve Unitia, I started to see what they meant.

Make no mistake that I think the English casting for Vesperia is Good with a few exceptions. But there were discrepancies that began to pile up such as a dubbed line not at all matching the character's face. When it comes to Vesperia's dub, I can be very critical towards Yuri Lowell specifically. I don't dislike the voice itself. Personal opinions aside, Troy Baker is a good actor and deserves praise when it's warranted. Unfortunately, the 'flawlessness' of Yuri's English voice gets muddied a bit when you do a little digging into the behind the scenes.

But while dub!Yuri is a target of my ire, I've a bone to pick with dub!Flynn, too.

( bicycle bicycle i want to ride my bicycle )

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I don't like the idea of Brave Vesperia's founding members (ie: Karol, Yuri, and Judith) living together in a "guild base" established in Dahngrest. I know, this is the complete opposite of 90% of the fandom since you'll be hard pressed to find a fanfic where they're living on their own.

Going by the epilogue novel, the Vesperia end credit stills, and the conversations on the Night Before the Final Battle, we have this:

( heavy endgame spoilers (obviously) )

puddle_of_petals

For those who are subscribed to the community, I sincerely apologize if revising my posts caused an onslaught of messages in your inbox whether it's on the site itself or through your email. For those who followed a link to one of the essays posted on tumblr, welcome. I have some news to share regarding the

mystearicas community going forward.

The biggest change you'll know is that my posts are out of order. You can't backdate on community posts, so what you're seeing as the "latest" entry is actually one of my earliest. Look at the dates on each post if you're confused about something. Unfortunately, this means a lot of links I've posted are now officially dead and lead to blank pages.

Second, I have removed my translations regarding Judith's light novel. These will be limited to Access Only (meaning you'll need to be a member). My reason for doing this is because a person was reblogging/saving my translations all while block-evading and stalking my social media accounts via 3rd party platforms. While I have 0 issue with people blocking others, I do take issue when someone is obsessively tracking you down. I am not in fandom for drama. Please leave me out of it.

Lastly, the posts will be uploaded from the account

puddle_of_petals. No, this is not a new handle for social media or ao3. I'm using this account primarily for the community and thus cutting off ties to my main for my own peace of mind. Because of this, certain entries can no longer be found without community access. The reasons for this are listed in the above paragraphs.

Thanks for understanding.

puddle_of_petals

All in-game screencaps were taken from Fair Play's Abyss playthrough on youtube. Please view the actual video.

The main girl in Tales of the Abyss (TotA) has a hell of an intro: She walks into Fabre manor putting everyone to sleep by singing a song in a fictional language. Of course, there’s also the whole animated cutscene with her stepping into the portal in Yulia City and going, “It’s time” and all, but I’m talking about when she really gets down to action, what is her establishing moment.

Tear Grants interrupts Luke fon Fabre’s sparring session with Van Grants not by simply walking in like a normal person. Instead, she stands on the friggin’ roof, jumps down, and declares, “I’ve finally found you, Vandesdelca! ...Prepare to die, traitor!”

If that’s not an Establishing Character Moment, I don’t know what is.

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(Note: This post was compiled from three separate twitter threads that I made at different times. So if it reads very choppy, then that's why.)

Flynn is a knight through and through, but this got me wondering just how dedicated he is to his career path.

( spoilers for act 2 )

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Guy and Tear's relationship wasn't something I gave much thought to on my first playthrough of Abyss. In fact, I was more into LukeTear and GuyLuke. But after beating the game and listening to a few Drama CDs and realizing some of their Titles match (i.e: Tear's maid outfit and Guy's bartender outfit), I thought, "Huh..."

I don't plan on covering much meta for these two since they're an OTP and I'd rather focus more on creative energy than analyzing them. However, I'm pleased to say that I did stumble upon this scene on my NG+ and it was the final nail in the coffin for me.

(Content below is cross-posted from tumblr)

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“Fixed” is a very interesting word choice here, since I don’t think Yuri has a whole lot that needs “fixing.” He’s popular for a reason and is different from most Tales of protags, but he’s also a main character who’s got a dropped character arc and honestly? He could’ve used it.

The main issue with Tales of Vesperia is how it had multiple writers. It seems to set up a political conflict of justice and light vs dark... before dropping that or hand-waving resolving it to make room for the Entelexeia and aer. Unfortunately, Yuri’s characterization is tied much more closely to act 1/part-of-act 2 than it is act 3. In fact, I dare say Yuri's purpose comes for pushing other characters’ development and screen time than his own.

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I doubt I’m the first one to say this, and I don’t think I’ll be the last:

If I played Tales of Vesperia when I was a teenager, I don’t think I would’ve connected to Yuri Lowell as much as I do now. In fact, I see more of my teenage self in Rita Mordio, which personally, is extremely frustrating knowing that I was so much like her when I was younger. ...Yes, that heavily, heavily includes the exhausting tsundere behavior that is so deeply rooted into her personality. If I could kick 15-year old me in the ass for being an utter brat, I would do it in a heartbeat.

...I digress.

Unlike most RPG-protags, Yuri is an adult. Most of his growing is already over and done with. He doesn’t have to learn about the meaning of birth like Luke fon Fabre. We’re seeing Yuri right in the middle of an existential crisis. He’s the type of character you’re going to see in yourself after you’ve lived a little. And by live, I don’t mean absorbing politcal, activism bullshit on twitter or social media. I mean gone out and got slapped around a bit by Real/Offline Life.

But before I get into that, we need to look at Yuri a bit closer:

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Ryuutsukai (Judith Light Novel) Inconsistency w/ Game

Is Flynn Scifo Harsher in English?

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Tear Grants - Soldier Persona vs. True Self

Flynn Scifo's Indecisiveness

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