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azuriteSo lately I've been playing Star Ocean: Second Evolution, the remake of Star Ocean: The Second Story, only my favorite RPG of all time (originally for the PS1), and I plan on finishing up Star Ocean: First Departure, a remake of the first Star Ocean ("Fantastic Space Odyssey") for the Super Famicom, which was licensed in the U.S. before now.
There's no such thing as a perfect game that has no significant plot points or plot holes that DON'T get explained away. Every game has them, and I think that's part of the replay value. Plus, it's always fun to have a good discourse on game meta, right?
I can't remember who pointed "Tales of Sulfuric Oxide" to me (it's a pun on the common abbreviation of the second Star Ocean game, SO2), but it's hilarious in what it points out. Some of the points could actually get you thinking, if you wanted to take a breather away from the funny for a moment. So here we go:
1. Rena knows "jujitsu."
Okay, it's just called jujitsu. Point in fact, I think that was only called that in the PS1 game. I don't know if I've seen her hand-to-hand combat moves (used only VERY early in the game, when her healing isn't so top-notch, she has few offensive spells, and she is alone versus enemies) referred to in any specific way in the PSP remake. But normally I'm the first to point out you can't have things like that in a game where the countries that they refer to don't exist. It's supposed to be rare enough that a planet has life, let alone sentient life, let alone HUMANOID sentient life. You want to start bringing in food and martial arts similarities too!?
But this is a video game, and besides that, it's more like, if it were real, we'd have to imagine that the folks at Tri-Ace/Square-Enix were simply trying to translate everything from Expel and Nede to terms us Earthlings could understand. Hence, jujitsu. It's an approximation for whatever it might be called in Expellian.
2. Claude can speak Expellian. Or Nedian. Or everyone else just speaks English.
Actually, I'm opting with the Star Trek explanation here: Claude's probably got some sort of translator embedded, if not in his uniform, then in HIMSELF. It's possible, considering he's a member of the Pangalactic Federation and is from the 24th century, right? (I think SD 366 translates to the 24th century. I'm pretty sure. Maybe the 23rd?)
3. Allen Tucks' "personality changing rock" never gets explained.
It's assumed to be a piece of the Sorcery Globe, since it's making animals around the world go mad and making monsters appear out of previously-safe places. But the meteorite struck Ell, and people haven't heard from anyone or anything there. Or maybe it's possible all the monsters migrated out from there and started to bring pieces of the stone with them, infecting other animals and people along the way? Considering how sentient some of the "monsters" are, it's possible.
4. Rena knows the King of Krosse. Naturally.
It might seem a bit implausible, but consider how small the continent of Krosse is. There's Arlia, Salva, Krosse City, Marze, Kurik, and Harley. Not a very big continent, with only six cities. Plus, even the small towns have a ruler that no doubt reports on the goings-on in the city, and no doubt Rena's mysterious arrival and subsequent revelation of her abilities caused Regis to tell the King of Krosse about her. Thus, at some point when Rena was young, she was probably introduced to the King and she kept up a good relationship with him whenever she visited Krosse. It may not have been frequently, but she's certainly been there before.
5. The Krosse Cave is a pointless waste of time.
No doubt, but Celine's a manipulator of a high caliber. She was hoping for treasure and instead she got a wrinkly old scroll. The anime explains this better than the game does. Plus, it's a good way to level-up early on in the game. Beyond that, I have no idea what the game designers were thinking. This game is so huge, they probably just forgot about it.
6. Celine falls for the Prince of Krosse a little too quickly, dontcha think?
Celine spent her whole life up to this point being Miss Independent. Chris/Clyde comes along and shakes up her game. If you follow "game-time," their relationship could develop between trips to the cave and "journeying" through Krosse. Seriously, I doubt it takes a day to get from Krosse to Marze and from Marze to Harley, even if we don't see that pretty sunset effect like we do on the first visit to Krosse or the Mountain Palace. Again, the anime (and the manga) do a better job of developing this, and playing off of Claude's resemblance to the prince.
Besides, Blue Sphere (the GBC and mobile game that never got licensed for English-speaking audiences--wah!) makes this relationship canon. A scantily-clad, symbologist Queen of Krosse? Why not!?
7. Supposedly there's no such thing as healing Symbology, and yet Rena knows it. And she can perform Symbology without (she says) being tattooed, the way everyone in Marze (including Celine, who has no gumption showing it off) does. And Claude says nothing about his father being taught Symbology by Milly, the Roakian whom he fought alongside to save the universe from Jie Revorse.
Rena already knows she is different from everyone else, got to the Sacred Forest under mysterious circumstances, and that Westa isn't her real mother. All that aside, the probability of her being "special" probably doesn't surprise her. Marze might be a town of Symbology experts, but Rena's ability doesn't have to be something "by the book." She probably doesn't want to attribute it to the other weird things happening on the planet, since they all seem to be negative AND because she's had her abilities prior to the Sorcery Globe landing, but that would be a convenient excuse if she needed one. I doubt the idea of being an alien from another planet wouldn't cross her mind.... Underdeveloped planet and all, you see.
As for Claude--he might not know about his father's Symbology gifts. Seriously, he came around YEARS after the whole Jie Revorse thing, and while he may KNOW about Symbology (it didn't surprise him to see Celine doing it, but that might have been because Rena introduced him to it first), that doesn't mean he has to know his father knew it. Obviously the whole Blessing of Mana thing isn't hereditary (unless Claude's lack of it comes from his mysterious mother...but that's another topic). Anyway, at age 58 and already an Admiral/Commodore (whatever), Ronyx probably had no reason to mention Symbology to Claude. If he did, or if it was public knowledge, maybe Claude realizes that the Roakian Symbology differs from Expellian, and therefore if the people say there are no healing symbols here, there ain't no healing symbols here! Ooh, weird Rena. That and, well, what's he supposed to do? Act like he suddenly somehow knows something about Symbology when before he was Mr. Stranger-in-a-Strange-Land, not knowing anything about where he was from or where he was going (supposedly)!? Talking about Symbology on another planet would probably earn him more than a few weird stares.
8. Celine doesn't use her magic in the fight against the Salva dragons.
Celine's magic is pretty darn explosive. She doesn't seem to know very much "small" or "single-shot" magic like Rena does later in the game. Even Firebolt, Wind Blade and those kind of spells could cause a LOT of damage (personal and otherwise) in a small cramped space like a cave with two roaring dragons. And what's Rena going to do, drop a weight on Creepy's head? Yeah, right!
9. What's with the bizarre ritual to remove the dragons?
Every supposedly-bizarre quest has to have its origins. In a magical world like Expel, even if monsters appearing out of nowhere are weird, exorcisms and the like probably have their place in the lore. Hence, Marze has books on it, which is why there's a legend about a demon bird (the king!) that must cry into this treasured goblet. Think of it like our Arthurian myths. There's probably a grain of truth behind the magic, and in the world of Expel, a LOT of truth even with all the magic.
10. Stupid kidnappers.
At least in Star Ocean: Till The End of Time, Cliff and Fayt get put into a proper dungeon and have to fight their way out. Rena gets kidnapped by Allen Tucks and by the bandits in Harley and never once gets tied up or put into a locked room. What's up with that? Well, the sprites are pretty small, but it's possible that she gets tied up and, because Rena is just so darn agile, wiggles her way out easily every time. Actually, I don't think Allen Tucks would have tied her up in the mansion anyway (at least until he was deranged enough to get her to his "altar"), but the bandits...well, they just seem like a bunch of poseurs anyway. And maybe they underestimated Rena! Guys do tend to do that.
11. What's up with Precis?
Uh, loaded question, much? But presumably the idea is, Precis is out of place on Expel because of her advanced knowledge. While you could pass off Celine and Leon as being Symbology scholars (and Leon being as scientific as a Symbology-based society will allow), Precis being a mechanical expert is odd. And she seems to have inherited much of her knowledge from her father, so where'd he get it from? I seem to remember a brief one-liner in the game about this, but I can't remember what it is right now. It's possible the Sorcery Globe was part of it--it's not just a stone that alters minds for the negative, although it's possible it might have tried to, on Precis. Thing is, she claims she never had a piece of the Sorcery Globe and WANTED to find it to see what kinds of machines it could create. But who says she's telling the truth? She might be a rambunctious, precocious, obnoxious teenager, but who says liar isn't on her resume? (It's either that or a plot hole.)
12. Inter-Dimensional Gate at the Sanctuary of Linga. Yeah, that's not odd.
It's called something funky like the Gateway to the Demon World, which may ring a bell for players of the first Star Ocean game. It doesn't have to be specifically related to the Sorcery Globe, but it'd be awfully convenient if it was. However, the Sorcery Globe didn't land all that long ago, and even in that short amount of time, regardless of how powerful the globe was, would it really have caused monsters to settle in the Sacred Grounds of Linga and turn it into a portal to the demon world? Eehh... Maybe the Ten Wise Men attempted to open a portal to Expel once they'd crashed the Sorcery Globe, but they failed, so they sent out demons or pieces of the globe to corrupt the local wildlife instead. Chaos regardless of origin is still chaos after all, right?
I'm betting the Sanctuary USED to be peaceful until the monsters invaded, at any rate. Sacred Ground or Sanctuary--still should mean "no monsters," right? I mean, unless it's a sanctuary FOR the monsters....
13. Bowman names an herb that no one's ever seen before.
Bowman's a pharmacist, though, and a former royal scientist. No doubt the herb has been written about or talked about, but never seen in person, or found commonly enough to do anything with it. Either that or he actually lied about the herb and has been in the Sanctuary himself and saw the herb but couldn't get to it without having his ass beat.
14. Leon's an out-and-out Fellpool, but it never gets explained in-game.
Actually, even though his race says "Fellpool" in the status menu, he's more likely a Lesser Fellpool. He might not have the whole catboy thing going on, but full-on Fellpools--those from Roak, like Roddick (Ratix) and Millie (Milly) only have tails, not the cat-like ears. Leon has no tail, only the ears-- so at best, he's a half-Lesser Fellpool. Considering his parents, I'm betting he's the result of genetic experimentation (he's a test-tube baby), but I don't know if it ever gets explained in-game. I think there's a PA in Marze with Ernest that theorizes on his cat-ears, and I think on Noel's too, even though Noel's never show up in his character images, only on his sprite. Why they never fixed that, I don't know.
15. What's up with all the high-tech ruins?
We find out later that Eluria has become all high-tech because of the Sorcery Globe and the interference of the Ten Wise Men, but what about the Hoffman Ruins? Presumably it's something akin to the advanced ruins that the heroes later find on Edifice (in Star Ocean Blue Sphere), or that get talked about in the other games--because of the Muah (*kiss!*). Question is, who's Hoffman? Or were there a people called Hoffman? Maybe they're another former race? Actually, aside from the high-tech front door and the elevator, there's not much high-tech about the mines. So clearly it was some sort of industrial attempt gone wrong. But they don't show skeletons littering the place like they do the Krosse Cave, so...maybe they got away, a'la the Al Bhed from Home!
16. How did the Energy Stones/Quadratic Stones get to the Hoffman Ruins?
My understanding is that the Quadratic Stones are an ore, just like the other minerals. In small form (like Rena's pendant), they unlock something larger. The bigger they are, they can power a big gun like the Lacuer Hope or turn into a destructive sphere like the Sorcery Globe. The presence of the Sorcery Globe just contaminated the Energy Stones already on the planet, methinks. It's later revealed that Precis invents a purifier that gets rid of the monsters around Expel and allows the clean stones to be used for a good purpose--what later ends up becoming Creation Energy, I think. This is what jettisons Expel into the Pangalatic Federation, even before Roak, despite Federation folks knowing about Roak 20 years previous.
17. Speaking of 20 years, just who is Claude's mother, anyway?
The BradyGames guide messes this up, but Claude's birthday is January 23. He's stated to be 19 Earth-years old in-game, which takes place in SD 366. Doing the math, he was born in SD 347. The events of the first Star Ocean took place during SD 346. Some sources tell me it was the latter half of SD 346, meaning less than 6 months left in the year. That would mean Claude was conceived during or before the events of the game (if he was a full-term baby, then he would have had to be conceived in April of SD 346, assuming human gestational cycles haven't changed by then--and I doubt it. Ilia and Ronyx are both human, as is Claude himself...). Since we know his father is Ronyx and we know who Ronyx ends up falling for at game's end (Ilia), was he banging her in-game, despite the "surprising" confession of love at game's end? It's either that or Claude was a baby and his birth mother--Ronyx's late wife--died of a disease. Why Ronyx would not have mentioned such a son or have left to go cavorting on some mission is beyond me, so I'm thinking that:
a) Claude's a preemie.
b) The "latter half of SD 346" is a mistake
c) it's a PLOT HOLE~~!
18. The King of Lacuer doesn't lambast Celine for causing Clauzer to leave his daughter, Rosaria, at the altar.
But Rosaria, despite being emo in her room after the failed wedding, seemed to be pretty genial about the whole affair. No doubt word spread about what happened, but that doesn't mean the King could identify Celine on sight, or even by name. Even if Rosaria told him, what would he do? He can't force the issue, because Rosaria wouldn't marry Clauzer, knowing his heart's not in it--theirs would just be a political marriage, nothing more. Presumably the King of Lacuer wants the best for his daughter too, so....
19. Dias' heart-wrenching flashback to the death of his parents and sister is taken out of the PSP remake.
It was pretty violent and sad, and technically the dialogue does the job just as well, but I did like how evocative that was. Problem is, it supposedly only happened two years ago, and in that time, Dias has become a renowned fighter and even been in the Tournament of Arms/Armory Contest before? Seems a bit too rushed, if you ask me. The guy just didn't take a second to grieve. He's no Karate Kid, either--he didn't waste a split second becoming a master and kicking bandit ass all the way across Krosse (hah!).
Also, the original scene made Dias look a lot younger--more like a teenager than a 23-year-old, which makes more sense. But I guess the idea of him being away from Rena and the other Arlians might make him look even more callous than he already is? And maybe if it was five or 10 years, he might not recognize Rena (though I doubt it: blue hair and pointy ears? Not exactly forgettable)?
20. Beating the boss gets rid of monsters.
Well, Dias' logic might not be sound when it comes to defeating Cynne to rid the Ell continent (and presumably the others) of monsters, but the guy has been fighting monsters for a while now, and made quite a name for himself. Presumably he's learned something in those travels, and that's that, at the heart of things, these monsters are just corrupted animals, and animals do tend to follow a pack-like structure, or a hierarchy. Presumably they would look to the more powerful (and thus sentient) enemies, and if they got beaten, they'd back the hell off. The more sentient but not boss-like enemies would no doubt see whomever beat the "big boss" as a threat too, and would retreat. Makes sense to me!
21. The monsters don't see the Eluria Colony?
More like they don't care. I think the monsters left on Ell at this point are of the sentient variety, and they don't want to waste their time with a few villagers. All the other monsters have spread to the other continents by now. And if it's not that, well, use the classic game excuse: big on the world map doesn't mean huge in what would be "Expel reality."
22. Waitasec, just why did the transporter on Milokeenia take Claude to Expel, anyway?
I don't know if this is actually explained in-game, but my theory is that the Symbology Research Lab that everyone transports to via Armlock was originally on Milokeenia. I don't know if this adds up with what's stated in-game about it being on a remote planet in an uninhabited sector, or if the maps released in game guides and the like are actually ACCURATE (they tend to contradict themselves from game to game, too), but it adds up: after all, the Lab was a dome-shape, we hear Rhima say before the destruction that the blast will be contained by the dome, and the outside area of the Lab easily could have been transported or altered by the blast after Rena was sent to Expel. I'm betting Rhima had more than one transportation device, and she was working on making it bigger, but failed to do so by the time of the explosion. Regular transporters existed then (probably? I assume so, given the state of Nedian technology at the time), but not time-space transporters.
The one thing that confuses me is just WHEN Rena is from: pre-Ten Wise Men, or post? One story guide on GameFAQs I read pins it as "after," but I thought Nede ceased all symbological AND weapon research after the Ten Wise Men? They sealed their own planet and their symbology away, which is why only a few Nedians can cast Symbological spells, let alone healing! Why would they let Rhima and her crew go off to another planet and cause all kinds of mayhem?
But if it's pre-Ten Wise Men, it's also pre-Energy Nede, which means it doesn't make too much sense why Rena was able to identify the Outer Gardens when the party first arrives on Energy Nede. EXCEPT...maybe Energy Nede is a portion of the old planet Nede, not just a planetoid in another sector altogether. Maybe they transported a chunk of old Nede onto this new planetoid to make it habitable, erected their shield, and then voila! Mysterious high-energy body within orbit of Expel. Plus, Rena might recognize it if she'd been born on Nede and brought there as a baby. Who knows about Nedian baby memory, anyway? (I hear smells imprint very easily--maybe she smelled it, and then remembered the sound of her mother's voice telling her about it? Or maybe she, too, was genetically tampered with!? This is a possibility--after all, the Nedians sealed themselves away to prevent their further evolution that would result in their Taking Over the Universe, but Rena escaped that little clause, which might be why she can use Symbology and healing symbols without tattoos. But then again, so can Noel, so unless he's a genetic experiment too and/or a genetic anomaly... )
I think the secret files identify the Ten Wise Men as 3.7 billion years ago and Rena and the destruction of the SRL as being 700 billion years ago. Or was it 700 million? All those zeroes sure looked like BILLION to me, but maybe I'm mis-remembering! Either way, it makes sense that the two took place far enough apart that the Ten Wise Men didn't get their hands on Creation Energy enough to blow up a planet BACK THEN!
23. Why did Ronyx become a voice of negativity and impossibility where saving the universe is concerned?
Because he became a dad. No doubt that really changed his life. Besides, whatever life-changing experiences he had on Roax, Styx (a.k.a. the Planet Formerly Known As Stream), and so forth, he's has 20 years since then, which means his priorities have shifted. Plus, not being able to identify Energy Nede for what it is, nor having the time for Claude to explain the whole story before they can blast out of light speed is reason enough. It sucks, but it's probably the truth. And I'm also thinking Ronyx didn't tell the whole truth about his adventures to the Federation, even if he got the special rank for helping to save the world/universe from Jie Revorse.
Plus we needed major angst and tragedy to help Claude grow as a person.
24. If the Ten Wise Men and our party were transported to Energy Nede at the same time from the same place, why didn't they all end up in the same place, too?
I'm betting Nall interfered with the transport as best as he could. Or if not, it's a FREAKING NATURAL DISASTER OF EPIC PROPORTIONS, who says things have to work the way you expect them to? Also, the Ten Wise Men are way powerful and probably directed themselves to Phynal, while the party had no destination in mind and just got tossed about like Ugly Accessories along for the ride.
25. How did Chisato get to the Cavern of the Red Crystal---er, Cave of the Crimson Crystal, anyway?
She's a journalist with a press pass. That and it's CHISATO. She might be a klutz, but nothing stops her. Besides, who says the transporter's the only away to get to the place? Just because we didn't see another method in-game *koff*Psynard*koff* doesn't mean there isn't one!
26. Why do Psynards exist in a society's that got transporters, anyway?
The Nedians are super-advanced and have been trying to stagnate their awesomely-awesome abilities since the Ten Wise Men incident, but obviously globe-trotting must be done, and they simply can't deal with ships, cars, or airplanes. And they couldn't just let all their old wildlife go completely extinct and useless, hence--the Psynard. I'm betting transporters are reserved only for special places and occasions and also when psychotic Symbology-imbued murderers aren't on the loose.
27. Wait, why does harnessing the power of all the cities in Energy Nede give them enough power to alter space-time?
Uh...well, the Nedians were pretty damn powerful before they sealed everything away. And the knowledge to do everything they need is still there, but they haven't had a way to APPLY that knowledge--no heroes strong enough to defeat the Ten Wise Men, up until our party came along. They still have quadratic stones and keys up the yin-yang, no doubt, along with knowledge of Symbology and lots of technology, plus the information from the Symbological Research Lab and the Secret Files. All that combined probably gave them the ability to alter time-space the same way they created Eternity Space as a supposedly-faultless prison for the Ten Wise Men to be in.
Rewriting the Symbol of Annihilation with the Symbol of Divinity (Enchantment) also helps--doing so redirects the massive energy that would have destroyed the universe (or at least a fraction of it--presumably altering the crest can also alter the energy levels involved in invoking it), and since Energy Nede is as high-energy as it gets, it acts as a massive force-field, trapping the explosion within it...not unlike what happened to the Symbological Weapons Lab. Explosion in, Expel and all the heroes, out.
28. Just how did the Ten Wise Men break out of Eternity Space, anyway?
From the outside, apparently. My understanding was that Rena's pendant--a quadratic key--signaled to the Ten Wise Men in their Eternity Space (which is presumably everywhere and nowhere, thus Expel is both billions of lightyears away and right outside their non-existent door) that a planet close to Energy Nede was capable of breaking through the high-energy shield if only they used a big enough blast of quadratic energy. They could do that thanks to Rena's pendant, otherwise the process would have taken much longer.
I don't think the Ten Wise Men could have left Eluria Tower/the Sorcery Globe anyway, or else they would have wreaked havoc on Expel personally. Instead, they had minions do it. Only by destroying Expel and using the subsequent energy to break through Nede's barrier could they get anywhere to cause all that mayhem and harm.
29. How does Nall know that the Symbological Weapons Lab will be of personal significance to Rena, if he's never been there before?
The guy's a politician. He's a trained liar. That and the information about Rhima, what she built, and her daughter not being among the recorded dead (assuming a Creation Energy blast would even leave any organic matter behind) could have been passed on through other channels, arriving at Nall's desk without him personally going to the lab. Politicians do have lackeys, you know.
30. Just why are the Barchians on Energy Nede, anyway?
They weren't native to the original Nede, it seems, but I'm betting that the destruction of the original Nede may have taken another planet along with it. The Nedians, regretful as they were to be pulling back from their state of Ready-to-Take-Over-the-Universe-ness, probably wanted to preserve what nearby life there was on the planet, even if it wasn't sentient. That or they just realized that the LEA metal could be useful if they're going to seal away their Symbology and contact with outside planets, and why not bring the animals that more or less shit LEA metal?
Interestingly enough, the original Nede was close to a bunch of other planets. It's not too far from Roak or Milokeenia, Expel HAD to be nearby for it to be relevant to the Ten Wise Men, and in Star Ocean: The Last Hope (the fourth game which is a prequel to the first game), it's revealed there's yet another planet in the same system/sector that's of relevance to the Big Giant Plot. So yeah, it's a pretty peculiar system with lots of neat planets in it!
31. The Ten Wise Men are revealed to be Nedian creations--or Nedians that were created with symbological powers. Why didn't this get the attention of the 4D Master Beings, since they were wiping out whole chunks of the Milky Way Sector, and hey, doesn't this also sound familiar!?
It should have, but maybe this was the period when that Folstar Rood guy was working for Sphere Corp. Apparently he was a lazy guy that let godmoded characters take over every now and again, and perhaps other (retired by the time of SO3) programmers didn't know/didn't care/couldn't figure out how to stop him. And when they did his ass got fired. They figured, problem solved, no need to alert the big bosses, so life went on as normal in the Eternal Sphere.
And since the whole incident caused an entire planet to jump back into existence (but for some mysterious reason, NOT the Calnus, right? That sucks), it's possible Claude, Precis, Leon, Rena, and any others that went off-world opted not to give out all the details. If they did, though, it might explain why Symbological Genetic Research was forbidden by the Federation by Fayt and Sophia's time. I'll have to see what it said about the Ten Wise Men in the SO3 dictionary.
32. What's up with the so-called Vile Wind?
It's not mentioned in the PSP remake, apparently, even though it was in Star Ocean: Till The End of Time (SO3) as the thing that altered Elicoor's landscape so much that Executioners and Convictors started running/gliding/traipsing about rampant(ly). Basically, underdeveloped planet-speak for "thing that made all the animals go crazy and weird shit start to happen."
The end. :)
There's no such thing as a perfect game that has no significant plot points or plot holes that DON'T get explained away. Every game has them, and I think that's part of the replay value. Plus, it's always fun to have a good discourse on game meta, right?
I can't remember who pointed "Tales of Sulfuric Oxide" to me (it's a pun on the common abbreviation of the second Star Ocean game, SO2), but it's hilarious in what it points out. Some of the points could actually get you thinking, if you wanted to take a breather away from the funny for a moment. So here we go:
1. Rena knows "jujitsu."
Okay, it's just called jujitsu. Point in fact, I think that was only called that in the PS1 game. I don't know if I've seen her hand-to-hand combat moves (used only VERY early in the game, when her healing isn't so top-notch, she has few offensive spells, and she is alone versus enemies) referred to in any specific way in the PSP remake. But normally I'm the first to point out you can't have things like that in a game where the countries that they refer to don't exist. It's supposed to be rare enough that a planet has life, let alone sentient life, let alone HUMANOID sentient life. You want to start bringing in food and martial arts similarities too!?
But this is a video game, and besides that, it's more like, if it were real, we'd have to imagine that the folks at Tri-Ace/Square-Enix were simply trying to translate everything from Expel and Nede to terms us Earthlings could understand. Hence, jujitsu. It's an approximation for whatever it might be called in Expellian.
2. Claude can speak Expellian. Or Nedian. Or everyone else just speaks English.
Actually, I'm opting with the Star Trek explanation here: Claude's probably got some sort of translator embedded, if not in his uniform, then in HIMSELF. It's possible, considering he's a member of the Pangalactic Federation and is from the 24th century, right? (I think SD 366 translates to the 24th century. I'm pretty sure. Maybe the 23rd?)
3. Allen Tucks' "personality changing rock" never gets explained.
It's assumed to be a piece of the Sorcery Globe, since it's making animals around the world go mad and making monsters appear out of previously-safe places. But the meteorite struck Ell, and people haven't heard from anyone or anything there. Or maybe it's possible all the monsters migrated out from there and started to bring pieces of the stone with them, infecting other animals and people along the way? Considering how sentient some of the "monsters" are, it's possible.
4. Rena knows the King of Krosse. Naturally.
It might seem a bit implausible, but consider how small the continent of Krosse is. There's Arlia, Salva, Krosse City, Marze, Kurik, and Harley. Not a very big continent, with only six cities. Plus, even the small towns have a ruler that no doubt reports on the goings-on in the city, and no doubt Rena's mysterious arrival and subsequent revelation of her abilities caused Regis to tell the King of Krosse about her. Thus, at some point when Rena was young, she was probably introduced to the King and she kept up a good relationship with him whenever she visited Krosse. It may not have been frequently, but she's certainly been there before.
5. The Krosse Cave is a pointless waste of time.
No doubt, but Celine's a manipulator of a high caliber. She was hoping for treasure and instead she got a wrinkly old scroll. The anime explains this better than the game does. Plus, it's a good way to level-up early on in the game. Beyond that, I have no idea what the game designers were thinking. This game is so huge, they probably just forgot about it.
6. Celine falls for the Prince of Krosse a little too quickly, dontcha think?
Celine spent her whole life up to this point being Miss Independent. Chris/Clyde comes along and shakes up her game. If you follow "game-time," their relationship could develop between trips to the cave and "journeying" through Krosse. Seriously, I doubt it takes a day to get from Krosse to Marze and from Marze to Harley, even if we don't see that pretty sunset effect like we do on the first visit to Krosse or the Mountain Palace. Again, the anime (and the manga) do a better job of developing this, and playing off of Claude's resemblance to the prince.
Besides, Blue Sphere (the GBC and mobile game that never got licensed for English-speaking audiences--wah!) makes this relationship canon. A scantily-clad, symbologist Queen of Krosse? Why not!?
7. Supposedly there's no such thing as healing Symbology, and yet Rena knows it. And she can perform Symbology without (she says) being tattooed, the way everyone in Marze (including Celine, who has no gumption showing it off) does. And Claude says nothing about his father being taught Symbology by Milly, the Roakian whom he fought alongside to save the universe from Jie Revorse.
Rena already knows she is different from everyone else, got to the Sacred Forest under mysterious circumstances, and that Westa isn't her real mother. All that aside, the probability of her being "special" probably doesn't surprise her. Marze might be a town of Symbology experts, but Rena's ability doesn't have to be something "by the book." She probably doesn't want to attribute it to the other weird things happening on the planet, since they all seem to be negative AND because she's had her abilities prior to the Sorcery Globe landing, but that would be a convenient excuse if she needed one. I doubt the idea of being an alien from another planet wouldn't cross her mind.... Underdeveloped planet and all, you see.
As for Claude--he might not know about his father's Symbology gifts. Seriously, he came around YEARS after the whole Jie Revorse thing, and while he may KNOW about Symbology (it didn't surprise him to see Celine doing it, but that might have been because Rena introduced him to it first), that doesn't mean he has to know his father knew it. Obviously the whole Blessing of Mana thing isn't hereditary (unless Claude's lack of it comes from his mysterious mother...but that's another topic). Anyway, at age 58 and already an Admiral/Commodore (whatever), Ronyx probably had no reason to mention Symbology to Claude. If he did, or if it was public knowledge, maybe Claude realizes that the Roakian Symbology differs from Expellian, and therefore if the people say there are no healing symbols here, there ain't no healing symbols here! Ooh, weird Rena. That and, well, what's he supposed to do? Act like he suddenly somehow knows something about Symbology when before he was Mr. Stranger-in-a-Strange-Land, not knowing anything about where he was from or where he was going (supposedly)!? Talking about Symbology on another planet would probably earn him more than a few weird stares.
8. Celine doesn't use her magic in the fight against the Salva dragons.
Celine's magic is pretty darn explosive. She doesn't seem to know very much "small" or "single-shot" magic like Rena does later in the game. Even Firebolt, Wind Blade and those kind of spells could cause a LOT of damage (personal and otherwise) in a small cramped space like a cave with two roaring dragons. And what's Rena going to do, drop a weight on Creepy's head? Yeah, right!
9. What's with the bizarre ritual to remove the dragons?
Every supposedly-bizarre quest has to have its origins. In a magical world like Expel, even if monsters appearing out of nowhere are weird, exorcisms and the like probably have their place in the lore. Hence, Marze has books on it, which is why there's a legend about a demon bird (the king!) that must cry into this treasured goblet. Think of it like our Arthurian myths. There's probably a grain of truth behind the magic, and in the world of Expel, a LOT of truth even with all the magic.
10. Stupid kidnappers.
At least in Star Ocean: Till The End of Time, Cliff and Fayt get put into a proper dungeon and have to fight their way out. Rena gets kidnapped by Allen Tucks and by the bandits in Harley and never once gets tied up or put into a locked room. What's up with that? Well, the sprites are pretty small, but it's possible that she gets tied up and, because Rena is just so darn agile, wiggles her way out easily every time. Actually, I don't think Allen Tucks would have tied her up in the mansion anyway (at least until he was deranged enough to get her to his "altar"), but the bandits...well, they just seem like a bunch of poseurs anyway. And maybe they underestimated Rena! Guys do tend to do that.
11. What's up with Precis?
Uh, loaded question, much? But presumably the idea is, Precis is out of place on Expel because of her advanced knowledge. While you could pass off Celine and Leon as being Symbology scholars (and Leon being as scientific as a Symbology-based society will allow), Precis being a mechanical expert is odd. And she seems to have inherited much of her knowledge from her father, so where'd he get it from? I seem to remember a brief one-liner in the game about this, but I can't remember what it is right now. It's possible the Sorcery Globe was part of it--it's not just a stone that alters minds for the negative, although it's possible it might have tried to, on Precis. Thing is, she claims she never had a piece of the Sorcery Globe and WANTED to find it to see what kinds of machines it could create. But who says she's telling the truth? She might be a rambunctious, precocious, obnoxious teenager, but who says liar isn't on her resume? (It's either that or a plot hole.)
12. Inter-Dimensional Gate at the Sanctuary of Linga. Yeah, that's not odd.
It's called something funky like the Gateway to the Demon World, which may ring a bell for players of the first Star Ocean game. It doesn't have to be specifically related to the Sorcery Globe, but it'd be awfully convenient if it was. However, the Sorcery Globe didn't land all that long ago, and even in that short amount of time, regardless of how powerful the globe was, would it really have caused monsters to settle in the Sacred Grounds of Linga and turn it into a portal to the demon world? Eehh... Maybe the Ten Wise Men attempted to open a portal to Expel once they'd crashed the Sorcery Globe, but they failed, so they sent out demons or pieces of the globe to corrupt the local wildlife instead. Chaos regardless of origin is still chaos after all, right?
I'm betting the Sanctuary USED to be peaceful until the monsters invaded, at any rate. Sacred Ground or Sanctuary--still should mean "no monsters," right? I mean, unless it's a sanctuary FOR the monsters....
13. Bowman names an herb that no one's ever seen before.
Bowman's a pharmacist, though, and a former royal scientist. No doubt the herb has been written about or talked about, but never seen in person, or found commonly enough to do anything with it. Either that or he actually lied about the herb and has been in the Sanctuary himself and saw the herb but couldn't get to it without having his ass beat.
14. Leon's an out-and-out Fellpool, but it never gets explained in-game.
Actually, even though his race says "Fellpool" in the status menu, he's more likely a Lesser Fellpool. He might not have the whole catboy thing going on, but full-on Fellpools--those from Roak, like Roddick (Ratix) and Millie (Milly) only have tails, not the cat-like ears. Leon has no tail, only the ears-- so at best, he's a half-Lesser Fellpool. Considering his parents, I'm betting he's the result of genetic experimentation (he's a test-tube baby), but I don't know if it ever gets explained in-game. I think there's a PA in Marze with Ernest that theorizes on his cat-ears, and I think on Noel's too, even though Noel's never show up in his character images, only on his sprite. Why they never fixed that, I don't know.
15. What's up with all the high-tech ruins?
We find out later that Eluria has become all high-tech because of the Sorcery Globe and the interference of the Ten Wise Men, but what about the Hoffman Ruins? Presumably it's something akin to the advanced ruins that the heroes later find on Edifice (in Star Ocean Blue Sphere), or that get talked about in the other games--because of the Muah (*kiss!*). Question is, who's Hoffman? Or were there a people called Hoffman? Maybe they're another former race? Actually, aside from the high-tech front door and the elevator, there's not much high-tech about the mines. So clearly it was some sort of industrial attempt gone wrong. But they don't show skeletons littering the place like they do the Krosse Cave, so...maybe they got away, a'la the Al Bhed from Home!
16. How did the Energy Stones/Quadratic Stones get to the Hoffman Ruins?
My understanding is that the Quadratic Stones are an ore, just like the other minerals. In small form (like Rena's pendant), they unlock something larger. The bigger they are, they can power a big gun like the Lacuer Hope or turn into a destructive sphere like the Sorcery Globe. The presence of the Sorcery Globe just contaminated the Energy Stones already on the planet, methinks. It's later revealed that Precis invents a purifier that gets rid of the monsters around Expel and allows the clean stones to be used for a good purpose--what later ends up becoming Creation Energy, I think. This is what jettisons Expel into the Pangalatic Federation, even before Roak, despite Federation folks knowing about Roak 20 years previous.
17. Speaking of 20 years, just who is Claude's mother, anyway?
The BradyGames guide messes this up, but Claude's birthday is January 23. He's stated to be 19 Earth-years old in-game, which takes place in SD 366. Doing the math, he was born in SD 347. The events of the first Star Ocean took place during SD 346. Some sources tell me it was the latter half of SD 346, meaning less than 6 months left in the year. That would mean Claude was conceived during or before the events of the game (if he was a full-term baby, then he would have had to be conceived in April of SD 346, assuming human gestational cycles haven't changed by then--and I doubt it. Ilia and Ronyx are both human, as is Claude himself...). Since we know his father is Ronyx and we know who Ronyx ends up falling for at game's end (Ilia), was he banging her in-game, despite the "surprising" confession of love at game's end? It's either that or Claude was a baby and his birth mother--Ronyx's late wife--died of a disease. Why Ronyx would not have mentioned such a son or have left to go cavorting on some mission is beyond me, so I'm thinking that:
a) Claude's a preemie.
b) The "latter half of SD 346" is a mistake
c) it's a PLOT HOLE~~!
18. The King of Lacuer doesn't lambast Celine for causing Clauzer to leave his daughter, Rosaria, at the altar.
But Rosaria, despite being emo in her room after the failed wedding, seemed to be pretty genial about the whole affair. No doubt word spread about what happened, but that doesn't mean the King could identify Celine on sight, or even by name. Even if Rosaria told him, what would he do? He can't force the issue, because Rosaria wouldn't marry Clauzer, knowing his heart's not in it--theirs would just be a political marriage, nothing more. Presumably the King of Lacuer wants the best for his daughter too, so....
19. Dias' heart-wrenching flashback to the death of his parents and sister is taken out of the PSP remake.
It was pretty violent and sad, and technically the dialogue does the job just as well, but I did like how evocative that was. Problem is, it supposedly only happened two years ago, and in that time, Dias has become a renowned fighter and even been in the Tournament of Arms/Armory Contest before? Seems a bit too rushed, if you ask me. The guy just didn't take a second to grieve. He's no Karate Kid, either--he didn't waste a split second becoming a master and kicking bandit ass all the way across Krosse (hah!).
Also, the original scene made Dias look a lot younger--more like a teenager than a 23-year-old, which makes more sense. But I guess the idea of him being away from Rena and the other Arlians might make him look even more callous than he already is? And maybe if it was five or 10 years, he might not recognize Rena (though I doubt it: blue hair and pointy ears? Not exactly forgettable)?
20. Beating the boss gets rid of monsters.
Well, Dias' logic might not be sound when it comes to defeating Cynne to rid the Ell continent (and presumably the others) of monsters, but the guy has been fighting monsters for a while now, and made quite a name for himself. Presumably he's learned something in those travels, and that's that, at the heart of things, these monsters are just corrupted animals, and animals do tend to follow a pack-like structure, or a hierarchy. Presumably they would look to the more powerful (and thus sentient) enemies, and if they got beaten, they'd back the hell off. The more sentient but not boss-like enemies would no doubt see whomever beat the "big boss" as a threat too, and would retreat. Makes sense to me!
21. The monsters don't see the Eluria Colony?
More like they don't care. I think the monsters left on Ell at this point are of the sentient variety, and they don't want to waste their time with a few villagers. All the other monsters have spread to the other continents by now. And if it's not that, well, use the classic game excuse: big on the world map doesn't mean huge in what would be "Expel reality."
22. Waitasec, just why did the transporter on Milokeenia take Claude to Expel, anyway?
I don't know if this is actually explained in-game, but my theory is that the Symbology Research Lab that everyone transports to via Armlock was originally on Milokeenia. I don't know if this adds up with what's stated in-game about it being on a remote planet in an uninhabited sector, or if the maps released in game guides and the like are actually ACCURATE (they tend to contradict themselves from game to game, too), but it adds up: after all, the Lab was a dome-shape, we hear Rhima say before the destruction that the blast will be contained by the dome, and the outside area of the Lab easily could have been transported or altered by the blast after Rena was sent to Expel. I'm betting Rhima had more than one transportation device, and she was working on making it bigger, but failed to do so by the time of the explosion. Regular transporters existed then (probably? I assume so, given the state of Nedian technology at the time), but not time-space transporters.
The one thing that confuses me is just WHEN Rena is from: pre-Ten Wise Men, or post? One story guide on GameFAQs I read pins it as "after," but I thought Nede ceased all symbological AND weapon research after the Ten Wise Men? They sealed their own planet and their symbology away, which is why only a few Nedians can cast Symbological spells, let alone healing! Why would they let Rhima and her crew go off to another planet and cause all kinds of mayhem?
But if it's pre-Ten Wise Men, it's also pre-Energy Nede, which means it doesn't make too much sense why Rena was able to identify the Outer Gardens when the party first arrives on Energy Nede. EXCEPT...maybe Energy Nede is a portion of the old planet Nede, not just a planetoid in another sector altogether. Maybe they transported a chunk of old Nede onto this new planetoid to make it habitable, erected their shield, and then voila! Mysterious high-energy body within orbit of Expel. Plus, Rena might recognize it if she'd been born on Nede and brought there as a baby. Who knows about Nedian baby memory, anyway? (I hear smells imprint very easily--maybe she smelled it, and then remembered the sound of her mother's voice telling her about it? Or maybe she, too, was genetically tampered with!? This is a possibility--after all, the Nedians sealed themselves away to prevent their further evolution that would result in their Taking Over the Universe, but Rena escaped that little clause, which might be why she can use Symbology and healing symbols without tattoos. But then again, so can Noel, so unless he's a genetic experiment too and/or a genetic anomaly... )
I think the secret files identify the Ten Wise Men as 3.7 billion years ago and Rena and the destruction of the SRL as being 700 billion years ago. Or was it 700 million? All those zeroes sure looked like BILLION to me, but maybe I'm mis-remembering! Either way, it makes sense that the two took place far enough apart that the Ten Wise Men didn't get their hands on Creation Energy enough to blow up a planet BACK THEN!
23. Why did Ronyx become a voice of negativity and impossibility where saving the universe is concerned?
Because he became a dad. No doubt that really changed his life. Besides, whatever life-changing experiences he had on Roax, Styx (a.k.a. the Planet Formerly Known As Stream), and so forth, he's has 20 years since then, which means his priorities have shifted. Plus, not being able to identify Energy Nede for what it is, nor having the time for Claude to explain the whole story before they can blast out of light speed is reason enough. It sucks, but it's probably the truth. And I'm also thinking Ronyx didn't tell the whole truth about his adventures to the Federation, even if he got the special rank for helping to save the world/universe from Jie Revorse.
Plus we needed major angst and tragedy to help Claude grow as a person.
24. If the Ten Wise Men and our party were transported to Energy Nede at the same time from the same place, why didn't they all end up in the same place, too?
I'm betting Nall interfered with the transport as best as he could. Or if not, it's a FREAKING NATURAL DISASTER OF EPIC PROPORTIONS, who says things have to work the way you expect them to? Also, the Ten Wise Men are way powerful and probably directed themselves to Phynal, while the party had no destination in mind and just got tossed about like Ugly Accessories along for the ride.
25. How did Chisato get to the Cavern of the Red Crystal---er, Cave of the Crimson Crystal, anyway?
She's a journalist with a press pass. That and it's CHISATO. She might be a klutz, but nothing stops her. Besides, who says the transporter's the only away to get to the place? Just because we didn't see another method in-game *koff*Psynard*koff* doesn't mean there isn't one!
26. Why do Psynards exist in a society's that got transporters, anyway?
The Nedians are super-advanced and have been trying to stagnate their awesomely-awesome abilities since the Ten Wise Men incident, but obviously globe-trotting must be done, and they simply can't deal with ships, cars, or airplanes. And they couldn't just let all their old wildlife go completely extinct and useless, hence--the Psynard. I'm betting transporters are reserved only for special places and occasions and also when psychotic Symbology-imbued murderers aren't on the loose.
27. Wait, why does harnessing the power of all the cities in Energy Nede give them enough power to alter space-time?
Uh...well, the Nedians were pretty damn powerful before they sealed everything away. And the knowledge to do everything they need is still there, but they haven't had a way to APPLY that knowledge--no heroes strong enough to defeat the Ten Wise Men, up until our party came along. They still have quadratic stones and keys up the yin-yang, no doubt, along with knowledge of Symbology and lots of technology, plus the information from the Symbological Research Lab and the Secret Files. All that combined probably gave them the ability to alter time-space the same way they created Eternity Space as a supposedly-faultless prison for the Ten Wise Men to be in.
Rewriting the Symbol of Annihilation with the Symbol of Divinity (Enchantment) also helps--doing so redirects the massive energy that would have destroyed the universe (or at least a fraction of it--presumably altering the crest can also alter the energy levels involved in invoking it), and since Energy Nede is as high-energy as it gets, it acts as a massive force-field, trapping the explosion within it...not unlike what happened to the Symbological Weapons Lab. Explosion in, Expel and all the heroes, out.
28. Just how did the Ten Wise Men break out of Eternity Space, anyway?
From the outside, apparently. My understanding was that Rena's pendant--a quadratic key--signaled to the Ten Wise Men in their Eternity Space (which is presumably everywhere and nowhere, thus Expel is both billions of lightyears away and right outside their non-existent door) that a planet close to Energy Nede was capable of breaking through the high-energy shield if only they used a big enough blast of quadratic energy. They could do that thanks to Rena's pendant, otherwise the process would have taken much longer.
I don't think the Ten Wise Men could have left Eluria Tower/the Sorcery Globe anyway, or else they would have wreaked havoc on Expel personally. Instead, they had minions do it. Only by destroying Expel and using the subsequent energy to break through Nede's barrier could they get anywhere to cause all that mayhem and harm.
29. How does Nall know that the Symbological Weapons Lab will be of personal significance to Rena, if he's never been there before?
The guy's a politician. He's a trained liar. That and the information about Rhima, what she built, and her daughter not being among the recorded dead (assuming a Creation Energy blast would even leave any organic matter behind) could have been passed on through other channels, arriving at Nall's desk without him personally going to the lab. Politicians do have lackeys, you know.
30. Just why are the Barchians on Energy Nede, anyway?
They weren't native to the original Nede, it seems, but I'm betting that the destruction of the original Nede may have taken another planet along with it. The Nedians, regretful as they were to be pulling back from their state of Ready-to-Take-Over-the-Universe-ness, probably wanted to preserve what nearby life there was on the planet, even if it wasn't sentient. That or they just realized that the LEA metal could be useful if they're going to seal away their Symbology and contact with outside planets, and why not bring the animals that more or less shit LEA metal?
Interestingly enough, the original Nede was close to a bunch of other planets. It's not too far from Roak or Milokeenia, Expel HAD to be nearby for it to be relevant to the Ten Wise Men, and in Star Ocean: The Last Hope (the fourth game which is a prequel to the first game), it's revealed there's yet another planet in the same system/sector that's of relevance to the Big Giant Plot. So yeah, it's a pretty peculiar system with lots of neat planets in it!
31. The Ten Wise Men are revealed to be Nedian creations--or Nedians that were created with symbological powers. Why didn't this get the attention of the 4D Master Beings, since they were wiping out whole chunks of the Milky Way Sector, and hey, doesn't this also sound familiar!?
It should have, but maybe this was the period when that Folstar Rood guy was working for Sphere Corp. Apparently he was a lazy guy that let godmoded characters take over every now and again, and perhaps other (retired by the time of SO3) programmers didn't know/didn't care/couldn't figure out how to stop him. And when they did his ass got fired. They figured, problem solved, no need to alert the big bosses, so life went on as normal in the Eternal Sphere.
And since the whole incident caused an entire planet to jump back into existence (but for some mysterious reason, NOT the Calnus, right? That sucks), it's possible Claude, Precis, Leon, Rena, and any others that went off-world opted not to give out all the details. If they did, though, it might explain why Symbological Genetic Research was forbidden by the Federation by Fayt and Sophia's time. I'll have to see what it said about the Ten Wise Men in the SO3 dictionary.
32. What's up with the so-called Vile Wind?
It's not mentioned in the PSP remake, apparently, even though it was in Star Ocean: Till The End of Time (SO3) as the thing that altered Elicoor's landscape so much that Executioners and Convictors started running/gliding/traipsing about rampant(ly). Basically, underdeveloped planet-speak for "thing that made all the animals go crazy and weird shit start to happen."
The end. :)
