Tales of Arise Review Script, Part 2: The Cyslodia Arc (Patreon)

Arriving in Cyslodia:

Cyslodia is the polar opposite of Calaglia. Instead of dry, barren wastes of blazing heat and scorching infernos, Cyslodia is a mountainous terrain filled with ice and snow. Despite that, it’s not the realm of ice, nor water, but of light. The Renans here harvest light astral energy by diverting all the sunlight into Lord Ganabelt’s castle, where he keeps the spirit vessel and light master core. Because of this, Cyslodia has been cloaked under an eternal night presumably for all 300 years of Renan rule. This is why this realm experiences a perpetual winter, and why the sky is always dark.

This does raise some questions of, “Wait, how is anyone or anything here alive if there’s never any sunlight?” Cyslodians like Rinwell admit they’ve never seen sunlight before, yet they’re, in fact, not dead from Vitamin D deficiency, and there’s plenty of trees and vegetation buried under the snow. It’s cold, but not the kind of cold you’d expect from, say, the dark side of a tidally locked world. Personally… I don’t really care about the science of these things. I’m here for a good story, and I’m already watching anime characters do magic and fight monsters in impractical getups. I can forgive a little eternal night, especially when previous Tales games have done it before and never bothered me.

The things I care about are usually rooted in character. Like before when it came to how odd it was to not see the Renans using their advanced technology, it bothered me because it could’ve been used to further flesh out their civilization, and introduce potential storylines of how the protagonists could work around the advanced tech of their enemies. Here in Cyslodia, the oppressive gloom works for how they’ve managed to stamp out any hope or sense of community in the Dahnans. So in this case, I’m here for it. Science be damned. Besides, as a Winx Club girlie, I’m used to worlds with one kingdom that are mostly ocean, or live in eternal sunshine. I’m primed for this.

Along the journey, we stop by a conveniently placed, thankfully uninhabited cabin. I hope to God no one checks the basement for a book made of human skin. I mention this bit because the cabin comes in handy in a bit, and it also gives us a chance to learn another of Shionne’s adorable quirks: her bottomless stomach. This girl could eat three to four servings in one sitting and still not feel full. It’s kinda hilarious how casually she treats it, and the utter confusion it inspires in everyone else. Not to mention the way her gluttony clashes with her high-maintenance, diva vibes.

It’s actually quite important to her character. It’s not something you need to clock, but once you do, you kinda appreciate the way it ties into the story later on. All I’ll say right now is that it’s connected to her Curse of Thorns, and themes in this game about consumption, and I am here for all of it. The story might be rough, but usually it’s the character aspects I tend to cling to.

Alphen is kinda thankful to be away from Calaglia for now. He’s become quite popular among the Dahnans given his status as the liberator wielding the blazing sword, but it’s a status he never asked for, nor wanted. He did what he did because he believed it would make people’s lives better, not because he wanted fame and accolades. This’ll come up a few times later, but it’s something I really like about Alphen’s character, as it shows his sincerity and apprehension at the thought of taking a Renan lord’s spot, even if people seemingly want him there. And like many things in this game, I wish they did more with it.

Rinwell is quite secretive, especially when the others ask how she managed to make it all the way to Calaglia safely, since the path is long, arduous, and filled with bloodthirsty zeugles, and she’s the only scout who completed the journey. She tenses up, saying she just got lucky, but it’s clear something’s up with her, and Shionne takes note. If it isn’t clear, Shionne and Rinwell don’t exactly see eye to eye right now. Shionne takes a jab at the Dahnans turning on each other here in Cyslodia, while Rinwell gets pissed, since it’s the Renans who forced them into this situation to begin with. Rinwell’s right, but she’s leveraging all her hatred of Renans onto just Shionne’s shoulders, while Shionne is being completely oblivious to the plight of the Dahnans.

Zephyr calls them both out before their argument can escalate, especially in moments when they have bigger fish to fry. Like Rinwell, he’s no fan of the Renans, but he’s focused on liberation rather than carrying a grudge towards individual Renans. Yet he still calls Shionne out for her lack of compassion and shortsightedness. With him as the levelheaded peacekeeper, he quickly becomes the favorite for me of the group. In addition to what we’ve learned, he’s easily the most engaging character of the bunch, which kinda bites the story in the ass later.

He’s also a great mentor figure for Alphen. He tells Alphen there’s more to being a slave than just the servant of an oppressor, and that people can become slaves to anything, or anyone. Zephyr emphasizes thinking for oneself and doing what you feel is best for yourself, rather than blindly devoting yourself to something or someone else uncritically. It’s something Alphen absolutely needed to hear, given his fiery passion and naïvete could easily lead to him going on autopilot when he finds a cause that entices him.

Martial Law (lol):

Up ahead is a small village by the name of Messia 224. The 224 is a serial number, as the name Messia denotes a small village in Cyslodian territory, meaning they all have the same name. Presumably this is a means to not only catalog and track the villages, but also to remove any sense of individuality or freedom from their residents. They’re merely a cog in the Renan machine.

As we arrive at the village gates, we find that the two-hundred-twenty-fourth Messia is currently under siege by the Snake Eyes, accompanied by some Renan soldiers. Shionne doesn’t want to get involved, but Alphen asserts that he wants to liberate the Dahnans in all realms, meaning he refuses to sit this out as innocents are attacked or even killed by the Renans. Naturally, Shionne tags along since she needs the blazing sword. Rinwell is surprised by how far Alphen is willing to go for people of a realm he’s not even from, but Alphen asserts that it’s what he believes in. I do love this acknowledgment of Alphen’s sincerity and kindness, as it’s something that seems in short supply in the cynical Cyslodia… and also the real world, sadly.

The gang charges in to take on the Snake Eyes. Alphen insists he can’t use the blazing sword in such a small village, as it would endanger the villagers. But more prompting is the Snake Eye without a mask, indicating he’s a main character rather than another extra, as well as the iconic pink streaks in his hair. Zephyr seems to know him, referring to him as Law. Yes, his name is Law, and he’s basically a cop right now, get the giggles outta your system, you nerd.

Law attacks, zoning in on Zephyr, and Zephyr refuses to fight back. Alphen tries to help, but Zephyr orders him and Shionne to stay back. As it turns out, Law is Zephyr’s son, and Law doesn’t seem to be on very good terms with his father. Fueled by rage, Law gets very close to killing Zephyr before Rinwell steps in. She unleashes a burst of light from what looks to be a spellbook. While Law is knocked out, more Snake Eyes rush in, but Zephyr refuses to leave Law behind. While Alphen, Shionne, and Rinwell are forced to escape, Zephyr gives himself up to the Snake Eyes.

This feels like a nice payoff to the earlier setup to do with Zephyr’s wife. With that added context, it leaves you wondering just what the full story here is, and how Law plays into it. We won’t have all the answers until towards the end of the Cyslodia Arc, but I’m very much a fan of this storyline. It adds more complexity to Zephyr, while also effectively introducing us to our next protagonist before they’re even technically a protagonist.

Rinwell the Mage:

We regroup over at the cabin, with Shionne keeping watch for any Snake Eyes that might’ve followed us. It seems we’re safe for the moment. Rinwell notes how much of a coincidence it was to run into Zephyr’s son, which… gurl, you’re not helping your case with how suspicious you’re being. Shionne agrees, casually pointing her rifle’s reticle right between Rinwell’s eyes. My girl is nothing if not dramatic. Shionne is curious as to how a Dahnan like Rinwell pulled off that astral arte, since only Renans can do that. Yet Rinwell’s eyes didn’t light up when she cast it. Love Shionne putting the pieces together, with all that Sherlock Holmes energy. Really shows how observant she is, her lack of trust in others, and her willingness to confront someone if she thinks they might be a threat.

Of course, Rinwell isn’t pleased with being accused of being a Renan. As it turns out, Rinwell is a mage, a rare Dahnan who’s able to wield astral artes. Her people were persecuted by other Dahnans long before the Renans first arrived. This forced the mages to live in hiding, and Rinwell’s parents drilled it into her from a young age that she was never to reveal or use her abilities in front of anyone, even the Dahnan rebellions. Her astral artes are what allowed her to make it to Calaglia safely.

Shionne is bewildered as to how Rinwell would hide her powers when they could be used against the Renans, prompting another argument between the two. While it is insensitive, Shionne’s bluntness is sincere, as she doesn’t understand why someone wouldn’t do everything they can to achieve their goals. Given how driven she is to the point of betraying her own people, she likely doesn’t understand why anyone with great power would keep it hidden away. Another thing I love about characters like her? A frightening lack of people skills.

Alphen deescalates the situation, officially donning the mantle of peacekeeper in Zephyr’s stead. He’s not quite as good at it as Zephyr, especially since he can be quite broody at times himself, but I do appreciate his focus on making sure they all work together to save Zephyr. It helps to keep the party tolerable when this is probably when they’ll be the most at each other’s throats. I enjoy the conflict between the characters, but it could’ve easily become insufferable without someone like Alphen to balance out the scales.

Rinwell officially joins the party now. In a way, she agrees with Shionne: her powers will be invaluable in helping to rescue Zephyr. She uses astral artes, and is long-range like Shionne, but she’s more focused on offense and stat boosts than healing. Her Boost Strike allows her to interrupt any astral artes being built up by enemy spellcasters, and she can even steal those artes to use herself. It’s quite handy when you’re dealing with an enemy with particularly strong astral artes, yet the tutorial won’t happen for quite a while, given most of the zeugles we’ll be dealing with don’t cast any astral artes, but it’s still handy to have.

Rinwell’s also voiced by Christine Marie Cabanos, who also voices Symonne in Tales of Zestiria, and Sailor Saturn in Sailor Moon. I absolutely love how adorable yet edgy her performance is. It’s perfectly suited to Rinwell, and it’s nice to see her as more of an outright protagonist, since I’m used to her as either antagonists or morally gray supporting characters.

When we return to Messia, we learn that Zephyr was taken to the capital city of Cysloden, meaning it’s more trekking from here. Honestly, the journey to Cysloden is longer than all the events that go down in Cysloden, which is kinda wild. We at least get to learn about camping conversations here. Before bed, Alphen can speak with one of the party members, giving us a skit to bond with them a bit more. You get the chance to have a new conversation once every in-game hour. It does incentivize you to play a bit more, but I also wish they’d just let you talk to your party members whenever you like.

The first conversation is one you don’t get a choice in—shocking, I know. Alphen wants to chat with Shionne, but Shionne doesn’t understand small talk, since she’s used to only having conversations out of obligation when they’re of practical use. It would seem she’s an alumna of the Artorius Collbrande school of parlance. And also Alphen’s clearly trying to warm Shionne up to make it easier for her and Rinwell to work together, which I love. (add the line here about Alphen going, “What makes you think I’m managing?”)

Shionne admits this in a moment of vulnerability, where she seems to actively want to understand Alphen’s approach of them all at least trying to be a little more sociable with each other. Rinwell’s still distrustful of Shionne, trying to warn Alphen not to get close to her because… ya know, Renan. But Alphen insists that they all need to work together to achieve their goal.

Something really cute is that Shionne keeps the fashion stuff up, while also using it as a chance to try and bond with Rinwell. She notes the strips of fabric meant to represent the astral elements, and loves the big hood, since it looks like it can be used to carry Hootle. It’s really cute, but of course, Rinwell tells her to die in a fire. Alphen says it’s cuz Rinwell isn’t used to the attention, which is sorta true, but we all know it’s cuz Rinwell hates Shionne’s guts.

Which makes her concept art even funnier, since… she was gonna have a giant-ass gun herself. Now, I’m not a gun girlie, so I don’t know all the different types. But I am here for the vibe of a tiny gal with a giant-ass gun, probably for the same reason I love high-femm gal in a gown with a giant gun. Again, more sci-fi vibes, but since Rinwell’s a mage, I’m okay with hers being a more fantasy vibe, and I actually love her final design way more than the… rags they were gonna put her in initially? Plus, two characters with guns prob would’ve been a bit odd, at least ones that look as similar as these… to me. They might be entirely different for all I know.

The Mysterious Swordsman:

We make our way through the Rudhir Forest, which is—you guessed it—another jaunt from Point A to B, which is 25% windier than usual. I do like the treacherous atmosphere from the strong winds, as well as the low visibility from the constant blizzard, which adds to the feeling of peril as you try to navigate around all the zeugles. But again… it’s Point A to Point B, with minimal pit stops.

Along the way, we have to fight a giant wolf, because of course we do. Again, not a fan of the giant monster fights. Yes, you should expect to have to fight these kinds of things along the way in an RPG, but I tend to appreciate when these fights tie into the overarching story somehow. Berseria did that all the time, whether the plot or the characters. Arise, however, will throw tons of random giant monsters at you that have jack shit to do with anything.

And my god, these things are damage sponges. Part of Arise’s idea of challenging you is by giving enemies an ungodly amount of health, and it just gets worse as the game goes on. It makes these fights not only irrelevant, but also a slog. It turns what should be an exhilarating battle into a chore that just keeps going, and going, and going.

After killing the wolf, we encounter a sight most disturbing: a man… killing wolves. Gasp. I know, the horror of it all. Someone call PETA. Real talk, why is this a scary sight? We just spent this entire trail slaughtering zeugles. This genuinely isn’t intimidating or scary, I don’t care how many zeugles it was he killed. But for some reason, they’re all utterly petrified as they watch the carnage from behind a tree. Hypocritical much?

If anything, I’d be asking this guy if he wants to join us. He could be another traveler just like us for all we know. Maybe one of the Silver Swords, too, but Rinwell doesn’t say whether he is or not. Actually, him joining our party could’ve made for some interesting dynamics, especially considering where his character winds up going later on. I’d be here for that.

The guy spots us, and presumably feeling judged, peaces the heck out. He waves his wannabe-Sephiroth sword, then vanishes in a swirl of blue light. The man knows how to dramatically leave a party. They all comment on how powerful and skilled he is, but I’m just sitting here like, “Was it really that much more impressive than what we were doing?” At the very least, we know he can’t be a Renan lord, cuz why would a lord ever be slaughtering zeugles… we’re gonna go back to that later, but in a very dumb, roundabout way, so hang onto it.

We won’t talk about him or see him for quite a while now. He’s only known as the Mysterious Swordsman, but rest assured, this encounter was aggressively contrived. Even knowing who he actually is, there’s no reason for him to be here of all places. He was only dropped here in the middle of nowhere so he could cross paths with our protagonists. And even then, it wasn’t very impactful, so… congrats, guys. You achieved nothing.

That said, I do dig his design. I love the long, dark-blue tattered cloak with all the feathers. It’s giving Raven Branwen energy… but that also makes me deeply concerned for the future… that I know about… because I’m clairvoyant. My proof is that I totally guessed the thing with the dad in Unicorn Academy when my friend put it on in the background. Get wrekt.

The Owl Forest:

Once that pointlessness is over with, we encounter another owl, this one hanging out on a lil tree stump. When we speak to it (because we speak to owls, I guess), we’re suddenly transported to another realm free of Cyslodia’s barren cold. We’ve been kidnapped by owls, and honestly? I’m okay with that.

This here is the Owl Forest: a kind of sanctuary where all the owls of Dahna gather together once we find them. The owls are all colored for the realms we find them in. Fun fact: Dahnan owls are white like Hootle when they’re born, and their fur changes to the color of the astral energy they’re around as they get older, hence why all the owls match the color of their realms. That also means that when Hootle gets older, he’ll probably have rainbow fur to represent everywhere he’s been. Gay Hootle rights, gay owl rights.

The owls here are led by a king and queen, complete with mustache and adorable goofy crowns. Alphen and Shionne interpret for them, with Alphen speaking for the king, and Shionne the queen, in case you couldn’t tell they’re soulmates. It’s so cute when they’ll mimic the argument between the king and queen, and inadvertently wind up talking about their own relationship. I’m absolute trash for this shit, I admit.

Not only does finding owls award us with little attachments, but with every certain number of owls found, the Owl King awards us with a color palette swap for our main outfits. It’s cute, and another fun way to reward the player, but it’s also a reminder of just how few outfits are available in the base game. If you want more, you’ll have to buy DLC outfit packs… after already paying for the damn game. Truly, this era is hell. I much miss the older era of games, when Tales games would let you unlock outfits through sidequests and achieving certain titles. But as we all know, capitalism demands profits, so… suffer we shall, I guess.

As we leave, Rinwell considers having Hootle stay here with the other owls. It’s a recurring question she has through the whole game, wondering if Hootle would be better if with his own kind rather than constantly being around humans. According to Rinwell, Hootle is her only friend. They’ve only had each other… not sure if Hootle met before Rinwell’s tragic past, tho. I do love their connection, though, and how Hootle reflects Rinwell’s struggle to trust and connect with others as she opens up to them over the course of the game.

The Silver Swords:

As we approach Cysloden, after 84 goddamn years of walking, Shionne muses on her suspicions. She’s no longer distrustful of Rinwell, but she thinks there’s a chance she might be an unwitting pawn in someone else’s scheme. It is a bit convenient that we’ve been summoned to Cyslodia and encountered as much as we have on our way to its capital. And as we’ll discover later, she was entirely correct, though it doesn’t really help the main villain of this arc very much.

The Silver Swords help us sneak into the city through an underground passage. Though they seem to be friendly with Rinwell, they don’t know she’s a mage… at least, I assume they don’t. She doesn’t name any of them except for the group’s second in command. We’ll talk a little bit about her lacking role in the Silver Swords, but we also learn that the other scouts somehow made it back to Cysloden safely. None of them died on the journey, apparently? Not that we’ll meet any of them. Weird that the game that wants to be darker spared the offscreen extras though.

I love the design of Cysloden. Like all the cities, it feels like a massive step up from previous games. In particular, I really enjoy the medieval vibe going on here, with the architecture of the houses and buildings and the fortress walls. Unfortunately, it’s more, and say it with me now, one-way corridors. It’s honestly even more egregious when a town or city is designed this way. Really kills the whole “people live here” aspect.

We meet up with the Silver Swords, led by, as I like to call him, Meneck the Menace: the man who always sneers from ear to ear. And yes, it is as frightful as it sounds. Dude looks like a really derpy, maniacal snake given human form. I’m sure he has nothing but well intentions for us. The first order of business is for him to question why we’re working with a Renan. It makes sense, given the Silver Swords are bound to be distrustful of others, especially a Renan, but take note of the way he’s immediately trying to instill doubt within the party.

Alphen, of course, defends Shionne. If she isn’t welcome, he’s ready to walk out the door. It does the trick, but Shionne is surprised by how hard Alphen goes to stand up for her, since she’s not exactly used to all this kindness from other people. In any case, Meneck agrees to help find information on Zephyr, in exchange for Alphen’s group helping to liberate Cyslodia.

We learn here that Rinwell hasn’t been with the Silver Swords long, but we don’t get very clear answers on when she joined them. Something important to know about Rinwell is that she’s very hesitant to talk about her past when it comes to being a Dahnan mage. Which does make sense, but the vagueness never really gets cleared up, and this lack of history leaves us without context to better understand her past, and by extension, her character and motivations.

It makes her feel like she’s just kinda… here, just to be here. And it definitely undermines her role in the Silver Swords. She feels less like a member, and more like a business acquaintance, and a very detached one at that. It’s giving Batman being a part-time member of the Justice League, except he only clocks about two hours a week, so no one’s exactly sure why he’s still on the payroll. Except in Batman's case he's a billionaire who gets to bankroll the Justice League. Love ya, Bats, but pay your damn taxes.

Cysloden Sucks:

In the meantime, we decide to explore Cysloden a bit to get an idea what we’re up against. Life here in the city… kinda sucks. Because people are so eager to report each other to get what they need to survive from the Snake Eyes, even the slightest action catching people’s attention will get you reported and arrested.

And don’t try hiding in your house to avoid people. Stay cooped up too long, and people will get suspicious of what you’re hiding and report you anyway. Kinda wish they amplified the tech aspect of this being a hyper-surveillance state. Maybe the tech in your home listens to you, and the Snake Eyes collect that data, cuz uh… totally not something police in the real world do. Totally not. And to my designated FBI agent, Gary… how’re the kids? How’s life, Gary?

Shionne insists that we not waver and we march right to where we need to go. If we’re hesitant and hyper-paranoid, that’s likely to draw people’s attention. Keep your head down, look like you have a destination in mind, and walk like you belong there. I really love this from Shionne, since it shows her confidence and bluntness genuinely coming in handy. And I’d imagine she also had to learn this to survive the solitude of her Curse of Thorns. Of course, Rinwell still fucking hates her, throwing out Renan slurs every two minutes, but it’s what I expect.

At the city’s center is the Riville Prison Tower: Ganabelt’s castle, where the spirit vessel is held, and all the light astral energy is gathered. The surrounding towers are the floodlights, powered by Dahnan slaves who’ve been arrested by the Snake Eyes. We have no clue what kind of labor they’re being made to do, nor do we approach or enter these floodlights. It’s so odd to have them and just not do anything with them. I would’ve expected some kinda mission to turn off all the floodlights. At least then it’d make the Cyslodia Arc more engaging, and make the city feel like more than just a hallway.

We’ve yet to meet Ganabelt properly. Despite his zoom call with Balseph very early on in the game, he has the same issue of lacking presence, except somehow worse. We don’t know anything about him as a foe. Again, kinda makes me appreciate the Sly Cooper games, with how they build up their villain’s presence through their backstory in the introductory cutscene to each episode, occasional encounters through jobs before the final heist, and indirect characterization through the territory they control. And yes, those who know what’s coming, I can hear your dissent now. We’ll get to my issues with that plot point when we get there. But suffice to say, I would’ve liked more buildup to Ganabelt’s character.

Anyhow, Shionne gives us a quick lesson about astral energy. In addition to the elements of water, fire, earth, wind, and light, there’s also a sixth element: darkness. Darkness isn’t gathered for the Crown Contest, nor assigned to a realm, because dark astral energy can only be found on Rena. Likewise, light astral energy only exists on Rena. Which also means Dahnans mages like Rinwell can’t use darkness, while Renans like Shionne can’t use light. And because of all of that, it also means there’s supposedly no dark master core. Remember that.

Confronting Law:

During our tour of the city, we come across Law, who’s wandering the streets aimlessly. Naturally, we confront him in a nearby alley via a cutscene, because actually fighting him would be far too exciting. He doesn’t get why we’d go to so much effort to save Zephyr, revealing that Zephyr supposedly abandoned him. Zephyr was so focused on liberation, he neglected his family, not even making it to his wife’s funeral.

Now Law is originally from Calaglia, and I’m pretty sure there aren’t formal funeral processes there? Admittedly I’ll need to double check, but I distinctly remember a conversation later in the game about why Dahnans have no surnames, and it having to do with how they handle their dead. The story to do with Law is compelling, but it also kinda further convolutes the culture among Dahnan slaves. And yes, we will get to how he arrived in Cyslodia in a little while, and it surprisingly kinda makes Law’s character more interesting? But more in a… hypothetical way.

Alphen doesn’t get how all this would lead Law to working under Ganabelt, but Law defends himself, saying he’s trying to assuage the Dahnans’ suffering from the inside. Not sure how exactly, given the Snake Eyes just seem to torment people day in and day out. Really, it’s just an excuse for Law because he has no other place in the world, which Shionne clocks immediately.

Right now, Law is very angsty and confrontational. Which makes sense, given how much shit he’s seen up until this point, but it definitely gives me whiplash when we see his actual personality later. Shionne reads him for filth, saying he’s only running because he’s scared. In my mind, because of everything Shionne is been through, she’s acutely aware of how many people out there will use their own suffering as justification for hurting others.

Shionne may be stone-cold, but there’s a reason for it, trust me. She doesn’t intend to hurt people, because Shionne has been forced since birth to be deeply intentional about how she interacts with others. It’s a complexity that makes me utterly adore her. You go, my rude queen. And honestly, with all the weird contradictions of Law’s character that don’t at all feel purposeful, I find Shionne’s brief roast extremely cathartic, especially when Law goes to fight her, only to get shocked by her thorns. Still one of my top 10 moments of the game, not gonna lie.

Oh, and you know what makes it funnier? I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Law here is voiced by Bryce Papenbrook. A.k.a. The guy in every anime, like Eren from Attack on Titan, or Kirito from Sword Art Online, or most hilariously, Cat Noir from Miraculous Ladybug. Once you hear it, you can never unhear it, and you will never take him seriously again. I do love Bryce’s performance here. He’s kinda the perfect fit for himbo Law, but the weird edgy whiplash of his character combined with the fact Bryce is in literally everything can make it quite jarring to listen to.

Naturally, Alphen gives a speech about how Zephyr is a good man, pointing out that he refused to defend himself as Law attacked him. When Law questions why we’re going out of our way to save Zephyr, Alphen says it’s because Zephyr taught him everything he knows, including how to think for himself. It’s a genuinely cute, endearing moment, but it is hampered a bit by the breakneck pace. Again, it feels like Alphen just got the Blazing Sword… like, a week or two ago? And he’s already talking like he’s known Zephyr for a lifetime.

Anyhow, Law tells us that he doesn’t know where Zephyr is being kept right now. But the Snake Eyes are planning to execute him publicly, in the plaza in front of the prison tower. With this heads up, we head back to the Silver Swords, hoping to whip up a plan of attack with Meneck. Law, meanwhile, just continues staring at his own feet, because drama.

Sewer Level Ew (FUCKING SLIME):

As soon as we return to warn Meneck, unfortunately, the Snake Eyes descend, laying siege to the hideout. While the Silver Swords hang back to hold down the fort, Rinwell leads us down a secret escape route into… the sewers. Yep. There’s no escaping the infamous video game sewer level, not even in the ever-ambitious Tales of Arise.

Is anyone a fan of sewer levels in games? In reality, they’re fucking disgusting disease pits, but in games, they tend to be very boring, same-y looking corridors filled with sludge. Even Berseria couldn’t escape this goddamn sewer-level curse. Arise’s aren’t much different. The only interesting aspect here design-wise are the green-tinted lights, but that’s it. Thankfully the corridor itself isn’t too long, but just because it isn’t soul-destroying doesn’t mean I’m about to award it with a gold star.

But what makes this sewer level truly dreadful is the boss waiting at the end: the goddamn giant slime. This thing haunts my nightmares. It was dreadful the first time I fought it, but when I was replaying the game with my friend, it was flat-out torture. For whatever reason, this is a perfect case for how many bosses are just giant monsters that are goddamn damage sponges. It takes forever to kill this thing, meanwhile Rinwell and Shionne are dying every 30 seconds as the slime crushes their spines, and I’m forced to use all my goddamn items just to scrape by.

Just like the wolf, this slime has fuck all to do with the story. Supposedly, the Snake Eyes left it here as a trap, but if you were to remove it, absolutely nothing about the story would change. These things make up like half the bosses in the game, and they feel like obligatory wastes of time more than anything else. The Cyslodia Arc is already reaching its crescendo and finale, yet we’ve only just reached the capital, and nothing of importance has really happened since then. More happened for the plot on the 5,000-mile trek here. I much would’ve preferred some more time to deal with Ganabelt and some other character villains rather than this. Maybe we could’ve fought Law here as our last-ditch effort to try and get through to him? It would’ve been better than this.

Once we’re through, we’re taken to the Silver Swords’ backup hideout, which was secretly built by Bregon, Meneck’s second in command. Don’t worry if you forget he exists, he doesn’t matter. But no rest for the boring up in here. The Renans begin playing a live broadcast, as Zephyr is going to be executed RIGHT NOW (use the Morticia Addams meme, future self, plz).

Citizens are required to watch it at home, or be sent to prison. I assume their tech is watching and listening to them, so… SURVEILLANCE STATE. Though I do wonder what the hell else their TVs show them when this isn’t happening. Are there movies and TV shows here in Cysloden? I assume it’s all Renan propaganda, which I for one would love to see. Seriously, what a missed opportunity to flesh out the culture of the world, while also playing into all the cool surveillance state tropes that would come with this kinda cyberpunk-esque dystopia.

But on the note of the TV, this had my friend cackling when we played it. Because the sci-fi vibes were never properly established, and were never reinforced all that well, we’d gone so long without anything sci-fi that by the time we got here, she started howling. Probably because this flatscreen TV is just casually hanging in the middle of a fantasy-looking tavern complete with fantasy lanterns everywhere. It’s absolutely wild. See, maybe if Cysloden had giant screens everywhere of Renan propaganda, all Jak 2 Haven City style, we wouldn’t be having these problems.

Zephyr’s Execution:

In any case, we’ve gotta save Zephyr, so Alphen’s gang rushes to the plaza against all reason. Shionne wants us to hang back until we get a plan together, but Alphen refuses to stand by and let Zephyr be killed. Unfortunately, we aren’t able to get through the soldiers before it begins, because we need to maximize the drama of this moment.

Lord Ganabelt stands atop the castle walls surrounding the plaza like the diva he is, while Zephyr remains bound to the scaffold below. He gives Zephyr a chance to save himself if he gives up his fellow rebels. Not sure how he could though, since Zephyr is from Calaglia, and hasn’t even met any of the Silver Swords. Kinda got captured before he even reached Cysloden, my guy. But even if he did know, what matters if Zephyr would never give up his friends. So instead, he decides to give a timely speech about his mistakes and regrets, and they’re of course not what any Renan lord would care to hear. Before we begin… I’d just like to state there are no visible cameras recording this? It’s being broadcast to all of Cysloden, yet we’re not seeing how. Okay.

Zephyr recounts all the people he’s lost while focusing on the struggle to survive, including his neglect of his wife and son. He mentions someone who told him that if he was to take up this fight, there’d be a price to pay. No, they never say who this person was. But as Zephyr has realized, the people he loved the most were the payment, as he dedicated everything to rebelling against the Renans. He doesn’t regret fighting against oppression, but he does regret not being more present in the lives of those he loved, and telling them how much they meant to him.

Even as Ganabelt tries to silence Zephyr, instructing the soldiers to execute Zephyr, Zephyr continues telling the people listening to think about what it is that matters most to them. To tear down the walls holding them back, and the walls the Renans use to divide them from each other. For the little flaws I’ve mentioned, this is genuinely one of the best moments of the game, and reinforces just how much I love Zephyr’s character. The fact he’s willing to own up to his shortcomings in what could be his final moments goes to show his strength and sincerity.

Law, having been listening to this the whole time, is moved by his father’s words, and so rushes in to rescue him. Again, great moment that serves as payoff to what we know of Law and Zephyr’s relationship so far. I wish we got some more interactions with Law leading up to this, but for what it is, I really do appreciate this moment. I don’t quite care about Law yet, but I kinda care about him solely because of his connection to Zephyr.

Alphen arrives in the nick of time, though Ganabelt seems to have planned on this, even commenting that this was his true goal all along. Moreover, he seems to know about Shionne and Rinwell too, referring to them as a traitor and a Dahnan witch. Alphen asserts they’re all friends, and they’re here to take Ganabelt down and liberate Cyslodia. Naturally, Shionne hears Alphen say they’re friends, and her head snaps in shock like she’s in The Exorcist. Genuinely makes me cackle every time.

Right on cue, Meneck and Bregon arrive as backup. Strangely, Shionne’s master core begins to act up, manifesting itself and beaming with light. This is because the master cores react to each other when they’re close enough. Annoying this wasn’t set up beforehand, because we have no clue what it actually means until after the upcoming reveal, so… thanks, game. As it turns out, Meneck has the light master core, commenting on the master cores reacting to each other as he brandishes a knife. A knife which he used to stab Zephyr from behind when no one was looking.

Shionne rushes to heal Zephyr, only to realize that the knife was poisoned, meaning her healing artes won’t work. No, we don’t know what kind of poison he used. Would’ve been great to establish this poison existing beforehand, especially as something often used by the Snake Eyes in their more covert operations or assassinations. That way when this happened, it’d hit a lot harder. Maybe it comes from some kind of specific material or plant which only grows here in Cyslodia? Actually, now I’m realizing a plot element from later on could’ve been used here, but ah well.

Using the master core, Meneck reveals that he’s actually been the real Lord Ganabelt all along. I guess the Ganabelt up on the castle walls was just one of the guards or Snake Eyes disguised? Not sure. I’m also assuming that Ganabelt was able to do this through using light to create illusions. That never gets established, and this is the only time he ever creates illusions—unless you count those annoying lightning clones from his boss fight later—so… talk about a wasted opportunity.

Illusions often make for great villains, and would work perfectly for the amount of deception and treachery present in the Cyslodia Arc. Not to mention we’ve had illusory villains before, like Melchior in Tales of Berseria, a.k.a. your frightfully evangelical uncle who talks about how everyone is sinful and evil because we’re too gay. Having a similar villain like Ganabelt, who’s less evangelical and more machiavellian, would’ve done wonders. But sadly, Ganabelt could never.

I’d also like to ask, if Ganabelt has been using his master core to disguise himself as Meneck this entire time… why the hell did Shionne’s master core not light up until just now? Why wasn’t it going off the moment we first entered the Silver Swords’ hideout? Not only did this rule not get established beforehand, but it also isn’t even consistent. Oh joy. And no, the master core reactions will never behave this way going forward with the other Renan lords either. So I genuinely don’t know why they waited to introduce this until just now when they were just gonna throw it out immediately.

We also seem to take this very personally, that the Silver Swords have seemingly always been run by the lord in disguise. I’m not exactly sure when this started. Again, the world just came into existence yesterday, but it just seems odd Ganabelt would allow this? Maybe he was amused by letting the Silver Swords think they had the upper hand all this time? Maybe he thought this was a better way to keep them under control, not seeing them as enough of a threat to squash them? But we never establish any of these as the reasons why he posed as Meneck. He just… did it for the sake of this twist.

Not to mention the characters take it super personally, despite the fact we just met the man like a half hour ago? Even Rinwell admits she hasn’t known Meneck for very long, because we have no idea how long she’s been part of the Silver Swords. It doesn’t really register as a betrayal because there was never any emotional investment in Meneck to begin with. Not to mention that because of this, we lost a lot of chances to foreshadow this with his presence as Lord Ganabelt, so it suffers in both aspects. One of those “Cool idea, shit execution” things.

We’re immediately surrounded by Renan soldiers, as Ganabelt decides to let his minions do his dirty work in killing us for him. Alphen is pissed, naturally, which gives us a chance to have a quick tutorial about Mystic Artes. In Tales games, Mystic Artes are the big, flashy moves that do the most damage, which can only be triggered when certain conditions are met.

To encourage you to focus more on evasion, an Overlimit state will occur when you manage to evade enough attacks in a battle. You won’t be staggered in this temporary state, and if you string together a long-enough combo, you can press and hold two of the Arte buttons—triangle, square, and X—to use your Mystic Arte, with stronger Mystic Artes you unlock later in the game being triggered when you string together a longer combo. Mystic Artes are always a visual highlight, and I do like the emphasis on evasion here. But dear god, I hate having to press that many buttons to use it. I always find myself having to hold down all three to get it to work.

Overwhelmed and outnumbered, Law uses a smoke bomb to help us escape. This is the only time in the game he or anyone else ever uses a smoke bomb, which deeply amuses me, because it feels so aggressively first draft. Like, “Oh shit how do we get them out of here? Um… smoke bomb! Eh, I’ll make that a bit better later.” And then later never came. Ganabelt expects us to return, ordering the guards to prepare themselves to welcome them. It’s really giving that this is a convoluted scheme, and he predicted all of what’s happened down to the letter… again, kinda like Melchior. But unfortunately, Ganabelt’s not as compelling nor interesting as Melchior.

We retreat to Bregon’s hideout… not automatically, no. They instead make you walk the whole way back. Not sure why since this doesn’t really add anything to the experience. Finally making it there, Shionne indeed confirms she can’t stop the poison from shutting down Zephyr’s system. Regardless, he thanks her for trying, telling the kids that this fight is in their hands now. He can’t see anymore, not able to see that Law is by his side. He tries to say one last thing to his son as he holds out his hand, but before Law can take it, it drops. Zephyr passes away. Everyone is in shock, and Law can’t do anything but scream.

It’s a very harrowing scene. Again, for all the issues, Zephyr has by far been one of the best characters, so his death does its job in making you feel the weight of this loss. Especially now that the protagonists have lost their mentor, their guide, and will now have to handle the mission of liberation themselves. Unfortunately, that also means if you haven’t attached to any of the protagonists… this moment really sucks, in a way that makes you stop caring. My friend kinda saw this death coming a mile off, which really sucked. She likes the characters well enough, but Zephyr was the only one she genuinely loved, and I can easily see why. He’s more compelling than the rest of them at this point in the game put together.

Alphen and Law are determined to avenge Zephyr, and Law especially is ready to kill Ganabelt. Shionne tries to stop them, saying they need to come up with a plan before they go in, or they’ll be slaughtered easily. Knowing what the boss fight is like… yeah, she’s entirely correct. But Riwnell reminds us this’ll probably be our best chance at taking down Ganabelt. And so, we head off, because the Cyslodia Arc is determined to snap our necks to and fro with its alarming speed.

Falcon Punching Ganabelt to Death:

It’s here Law officially joins the party. He’s incredibly agile and all about offense, his Boost Strike allowing him to break through the defense of heavily armored enemies, so the others can finish them off. Basically, he is punch boi. Punch boi punch good. I describe him this way because under normal circumstances, Law is pure himbo energy. Like, Alphen is a himbo, but Law is a mega himbo, working on pure head-empty energy. But you’d never believe that from how he’s been portrayed so far, and how he’ll be until after Ganabelt’s demise.

It’s totally understandable why he’s like this right now, but it still causes intense whiplash when his true nature surfaces later on, which in turn can make it difficult to fully grasp his character. If you don’t have an idea of what he’s like because his personality shifts like sand constantly, then how the hell can you like him? That said, I love himbo Law. Or rather, I love the idea of himbo Law, though the whiplash his character induces, along with how little has to do in the story later on, make me understand why he’s a tough sell to a lot of people.

We make our way to the Riville Prison Tower, where we’re forced to do the runaround to get a key to Ganabelt’s office, then another key to the dungeon, and yet another key for the elevator. Yes, it is as tedious as it sounds, and no, the characters lampshading this doesn’t make it better. It doesn’t make this dungeon fun to explore. It just feels mind-numbing, and admittedly, it’s not an issue isolated to Arise. Of the ones I’ve played, most sadly fall victim to dungeons being little more than “Go from Point A to Point B.” I do recall Abyss having some puzzles, but it’s been a long time since I’ve played it.

Naturally, there’s only so much you can do with limited character movement in games focused first and foremost on being action RPGs, but I do appreciate some kind of interactivity being present. I’ve always appreciated the first Kingdom Hearts for its attempt on making levels more nebulous, forcing you to figure out what to do with light puzzle elements throughout the worlds, in addition to the combat. Perhaps pulling inspiration from other genres could help in making these dungeons feel a bit more lively and less arbitrary. I would’ve even preferred a generic, “Turn off the floodlights” mission rather than “Get first key, then second key, then third key.”

The design of the prison tower definitely isn’t helping. It’s a bunch of boring, labyrinthine corridors—by which I mean a very winding straight line that makes you think it’s a labyrinth, except it’s actually not. There’s one guard here in red that is especially awful to deal with. Not because he’s difficult to deal with, but because he has an obscene amount of health. He’s almost as much of a damage sponge as that goddamn sewer slime. Pray you get a chance to Boost Strike him to death sooner rather than later.

As we make our way through the castle, we come across a storeroom filled with strange, disparate artifacts and weapons kept within display cases. Rinwell realizes all of these items are Dahnan equipment, not Renan. She states that the designs are obviously Dahnan, though she doesn’t specify how, which… for me, kinda kills the intrigue of how Dahnan and Renan cultures differ. Still, I suppose it makes sense she’d have some form of knowledge of ancient Dahna since she grew up in a clan of hidden mages. Wish they did more with that.

We’re not sure why exactly all of this is kept here, nor whether it was Ganabelt who collected them, or a previous Cyslodian lord. Again, this could’ve been a great chance to characterize Ganabelt. Perhaps he has a morbid fascination with Dahnan culture that comes off as appropriative or condescending? Could add to why he was willing to walk among the Dahnans for so long as Meneck.

The armor specifically captures Alphen’s attention. We don’t actually know the story of the armor, nor who it belonged to, though the group theorizes it likely belonged to a Dahnan hero of ages past. Not entirely sure whether they mean a pre-invasion hero, or one who fought the Renans, but your guess is as good as mine. It’s not like it could’ve been tied into Alphen’s backstory or anything.

Finally arriving at the throne room, we confront Lord Ganabelt. Just like Balseph, he’s had hardly any presence, so I don’t really feel particularly excited to guillotine him. It’s a bit better with the angle of avenging Zephyr, but that’s less about him as a villain and more about how much we loved this character who’s no longer here to keep us invested. What I will say is that I absolutely love Ganabelt’s design. I really like the silver hair with the black-and-white coat, not to mention all the little armor pieces and floating… I don’t know what any of these things are called, with the floating lightning bolts and the weird armor behind him, but it looks cool as fuck. It feels like he’s trying to make up for the lack of sci-fi elements with his armor. It’s not doing much, but it’s something.

Not to mention, Ganabelt is fruity as all hell. He’s giving fop, which is a term used for queer-coded male villains who are usually obsessed with their appearance and behaving “properly,” and it’s reminding me a lot of some of the best classic Disney villains. When there’s so little to the character to latch onto, you bet imma cling to this. I love Ganabelt mostly for his design, concept, and attitude, which only make it hurt more that we only just properly met him, and he’s not leaving this room alive.

Anyhow, it turns out Ganabelt actually did orchestrate all of this just to bring Alphen here. He doesn’t consider any of the rebellions to be a threat to Renan domination, but he does with the blazing sword, prompting him to eliminate it as quickly as he can. This, along with some dialogue after his defeat, show that he’s focused on preserving Renan power at any cost, rather than just winning the Crown Contest.

It’s an interesting angle that… they’ll do nothing with, considering this is the last time he’ll ever be in the game. It does retroactively explain him reaching out to Balseph, but you’re several hours late on that one, game. And it can’t even allow him to work with other Renan lords in the future, because he won’t survive long enough to work with them.

They’re also really trying hard to sell Ganabelt as a schemer, but again, it falls spectacularly flat given the lack of presence, and our lack of investment in him as Meneck in the first place. Honestly, Ganabelt suffers the same problem as one of the future villains, in that his concept is utterly enthralling, but the execution fails in such a way that he ultimately doesn’t come across as that much more engaging than Balseph.

Once more, the villains continue to get the short end of the stick. You can even see this in the fact that they weren’t prioritized in the way of marketing and artwork. Important characters in Tales games will receive official artwork illustrated by their character designer, with the villains even getting their own in Tales of Berseria. In Arise, meanwhile, there is none, at least as far as I can find online. All I’ve seen are illustrations in an artbook that only came with the collector’s edition. Odd, given how many copies this game sold that no one’s bothered to share these contents online?

And also… how did Ganabelt know about all this to begin with? He would’ve had to know about Shionne stealing the master core from Balseph way back when, but that likely would’ve just happened, and Balspeh didn’t seem the type to divulge his problems with anyone, least of all other lords he considered competition. Does Ganabelt have spies in every realm? Does he send drones, or old-fashioned ravens to gather intel? Is he the most evil gossip in all of Dahna? Give me something to work with, game, I beg of you.

As Ganabelt gears up to kill us all, a crest appears on his forehead. Rinwell has a strange reaction to it. Apparently it’s a bit of a mistranslation, as her dialogue implies surprise in who this man is. It’s suggesting he’s indeed someone she’s looking for, but in reality… he’s not. In truth, Rinwell is after one of the Renan lords, but doesn’t know which one. She’ll only know who her target is by their crest. This moment here confirms Ganabelt isn’t the lord she’s looking for, which she finds odd given the fact she’s from Cyslodia. It’s also odd since… they don’t establish Rinwell having an axe to grind against Ganabelt to begin with. Not like Law, who won’t shut up about breaking Ganabelt’s jaw, or even Alphen. So it just confuses the player while also giving them misinformation.

This boss fight… sucks. It’s really hard to keep track of where Ganabelt is at any given moment, and this is also one of the very noticeable difficulty spikes in the game. Even on Story Mode, this fight was a nightmare, utterly destroying me when I was playing with my friend. The frequent deaths of Shionne and Law haunt my nightmares as I recall burning through every last apple gel, orange gel, and life bottle. Also not sure why Ganabelt can use lightning? Like… his element is light, and light and lightning have always been separated in these games? You’d at least assume if lightning had to go anywhere it’d go with wind, the way ice gets bundled with water? But okay, sure.

There is one iconic moment in this fight, though. Partway through, Ganabelt creates several illusory replicas of himself, then begins chanting an incantation that longtime Tales fans will recognize… then immediately start crying in fear. He casts his Mystic Arte: Indignation, which calls down a powerful lightning storm that strikes and nearly kills your entire party. You can stop him if you do enough damage to him and his clones, but it ain’t easy. Aesthetically, I absolutely love the tension of this moment, but it’s also infuriating when combined with the other problems of this fight.

After the fight, Ganabelt refuses to yield, gathering the astral energy from his master core for one final strike. Law won’t let him do this, however. He rushes in, punches him square in the face, and likely breaks his neck as he sends Ganabelt flying through the roof. It does pretty decent damage to the prison tower, and winds up killing Ganabelt.

Honestly… it’s more comical than anything else. Law’s over-the-top anger, combined with the goofy-looking animation of Ganabelt being falcon-punched and yeeted skyward, makes this turn into an unintentional comedy very quickly. And no, there shall be no spirit monster this time around. The spirit vessel was at the top of this room, and it just… dispersed when Ganabelt got falcon-punched to death. Kind of a shame it never got more of a role to play in this fight.

What also kinda kills the moments is the lack of connection between Law and Ganabelt. Yes, Ganabelt killed Zephyr, but that’s really all that’s here. Law has no real opinion of Ganabelt either way, seeing him only as a boss he never wanted to work for up until the whole murdered-dad thing. It doesn’t feel any more engaging than Alphen and Shionne’s showdown with Balseph, which is not the vibe that you want when you’re having the player fight one of the five Renan lords.

But now, Cyslodia is free, and the gathered light astral energy returns to the sky. For the first time in 300 years, the sun shines over Cysloden. I do love this visual storytelling for the realm’s liberation, but I do have to wonder… how is the top of that tower still floating there? Is it some kind of Renan anti-grav tech? I am confuzzled. It’s just especially funny in a game that worked so hard on the visuals specifically, more so than seemingly anything else (especially the script).

Mourning Zephyr:

Despite Ganabelt’s death, Zephyr is still gone, and the grief is finally hitting Alphen. Shionne tells him to look on the bright side of their defeating a lord. This makes Alphen snap at her, yelling about the pain of not being able to save someone they care about. Shionne slaps him, which… ya know from her, I’m not shocked, and the thorns kinda do make it an epic “Shut up and listen” moment.

But Shionne asserts that this is the price of war. They can’t expect to fight the Renans and not suffer any casualties, and she warns Alphen this won’t be the last loss they experience. She chides him by suggesting he give up if he thinks he can’t handle it, which pisses Alphen off as she walks away. And yes, I am indeed living for this conflict.

With Cyslodia freed, we’re gonna be leaving the cleanup to the Silver Swords, which… really just means Bregon. Not that anyone cares at all about Bregon. Rinwell inquires about Balseph’s crest, confirming he’s also not the lord she’s looking for. Hoping to find them, she asks to accompany Alphen and the others, pitching her abilities as a mage as invaluable in their struggle for liberation. She also mentions how it’s probably not a good idea to stay since she’s been outed as a mage, but the game hasn’t really done much work in establishing that as a struggle for her, so… okay then.

As a thank you for all the help, Bregon gifts Alphen with that Dhanan armor from the prison tower. Genuinely, he looks great, and this is easily his best look. I’m obsessed with the silhouette of the armor, and how it looks with his half mask. Alphen’s design inspiration was a dragon: an intentionally transcendental choice, given it’s the only fantasy animal used for the character designs. It works with the fantasy flair they wanted for Alphen with the Game of Thrones influence, and also for the violent, passionate energy they had in mind for him.

The little blue scarf works great as a pope of color, and is made even cuter by the fact that he added it because of Shionne’s earlier fashion advice. I love the fact Alphen took it to heart and kept it in mind for this long. Shionne doesn’t quite think it’s the glow-up Alphen was hoping for, but it’s still one of my favorite moments between them. Originally, the scarf was actually meant to be from Alphen’s mother, but it was presumably cut since we don’t know jack shit about Alphen’s life before the game. You’re probably wondering how that’s possible if we do indeed get his backstory later… just give it time, dear viewer. Give it… like, three to four more hours, I guess.

But before we leave, we go to find Law, who’s once more wandering the city aimlessly, since he has no one left at this point with his father gone, and no real purpose with his revenge fulfilled. Alphen offers him a spot in the party, which… really just kinda feels like a way for us to meet our quota of six party members. I’m not opposed to Law joining, but I wish he had more reason for joining than just Alphen’s pity. It’ll make him feel rather unnecessary for the rest of the game outside of a select few emotional moments, especially in the game’s final act.

That said, I do love Law’s design. The big poofy pants, the long flowing fabric, and the one-sided armor inspired by his father’s. I also really like this shade of purple they used for him. Purple kinda works as the best of both red and blue, capturing both red’s vitality and passion, along with blue’s serenity and wisdom. Works for the weird streak of wisdom that runs through Law’s character for the rest of the game.

Fun fact, his animal inspiration is a dog, meant to be a more amicable version of Zephyr’s wolf inspiration. Originally Law’s inspiration was gonna be a monkey, and… yeah, I can see artifacts of that with how goofy he can be. I do love the orange from his concept art, but I feel like purple was the best choice for him. I do miss the bulkier wolf’s head from his concept art, though, along with the golden designs on his pants.

Speaking of the wolf shoulder pad, there’s a fun little story from that we learn as we camp. One day, Law saw it on sale for 10 gald, and was so taken with its design he went for it. Rinwell thinks it’s idiotic. She can’t get past how it serves no practical purpose, saying it isn’t even worth 10 gald, so we know she went to the Artorius School of Tastelessness. Shionne actually loves how detailed it is and how well it suits Law, but isn’t quite sure why he wears it on his shoulder. But at the very least, Alphen thinks it’s pretty cool, and isn’t that what matters?

It’s just such himbo energy. That Law didn’t care about what purpose this cool-looking thing served, or why he wanted to wear it on his shoulder. He just did. This is truly the beginning of himbo Law, and I very much appreciate that. Too bad the whiplash that comes with it is lethal, and it’s also not even over yet. At the very least, we learn that Law managed to get to Cyslodia by sneaking onto a Renan convoy between Calaglia and Cyslodia. I do love that it suggests that Law is quite sneaky, able to move about the shadows with ease, and it works well with him being part of the Snake Eyes. It’s too bad we’ll never do anything with that again aside from a single throwaway moment in the next arc.

Before we leave Cysloden, we get a nice moment between Shionne and Alphen, where Shionne tells Alphen he can’t shoulder all the world’s problems himself. He has a problem in trying to go out of his way for others, but trying to do that for everyone will inevitably overwhelm him. It’s a very sweet, sincere moment between the two that I think works well as a message for a lot of people, myself included. This is why boundaries matter, kiddos. I also just really love that Shionne clearly cares about Alphen’s wellbeing, even if she’ll never admit it.

Onward to Elde Menancia:

So the Cyslodia Arc is… over now. And yeah, it was rushed as all hell. Say what you want about the Calaglia Arc, but it felt like we were at least taking some time to get to know Alphen and Shionne, and to get to know our surroundings. Aspects of it felt rushed, but the entire Cyslodia Arc felt like it was in a hurry to steam through every locale and plot point to get itself over with. It took longer to even reach Cysloden than it did to liberate it.

Certain themes are compelling, like the treachery between Dahnans created by the Renans, but not enough is done with them to make this arc truly great. Not to mention that Rinwell and especially Law just are not very compelling right now. They feel more like elevator pitches or character concepts than actually fleshed-out characters. Looking at it now, the Cyslodia Arc is probably my least favorite arc in the game, aside from the final act.

In any case, it’s time to move onto the next realm: Elde Menancia. And you know what that means! EVEN MORE WALKING THROUGH CORRIDORS. Thankfully, it’s not as bad this time. It’s just a quick jog through the Frozen Valley, a descent through the admittedly kinda neat Safar Sea Caves, and then a breath of fresh air with the best environments in the entire game.

Along the way, we get some more of Law’s backstory as to how he joined the Snake Eyes. Apparently, he’d made some friends when he arrived in Cyslodia, only to watch them all be brutally slaughtered by the Snake Eyes. His only chance for survival was to join their group. It’s… very out of left field, especially now that we’ve switched to himbo Law, and it’s hard to take it seriously when the tonal whiplash is this goddamn strong. Well, that and these are faceless, nameless offscreen friends who don’t matter, so… there’s that too.

Law does this a lot, where he’ll switch a dial between angsty edgy boi and unfiltered himbo. And I do get that they want him to be this head-empty jokester character who’s also this sweetheart wise beyond his years. But… again, it’s kinda similar to Alphen. The best thing I can say is that I love the big-bro-little-bro dynamic between the two of them. Especially when we learn that Law straps rocks to his arms for weight training, leading to this frightful yet hilarious skit between him and Alphen. The best part isn’t even the gay jokes, but the fact that they’re both terrified of invoking Shionne’s wrath. I love Shionne.

Oh, also important: Hootle HATES Law. Like, will attack him on sight on the regular, often encouraged by Rinwell. To be fair, Law often takes shots at Hootle and owls as a whole, so he has this coming. You go, Hootle! Scratch his eyes out!