Tales of Crestoria Event Story Review: Panic! Library Ruckus!

Hey! I’m back with another event story review! After this review, I’ll be starting on my Chapter 5 review.

 

Contains some Innocence spoilers.

First off, look at that artwork. Ruca looks adorable. Second, I’d totally want to go to that library. As you can tell, I like writing, which also means I like reading. I love places with books and such.

The story for this event is mainly about timid Ruca wanting some way to help Illia’s dream come true. Illia wants to open up a school where anyone can attend, regardless of their background; to accomplish that, she traverses the world in order to gather money. Ruca, moved by her ambition, wants to help her no matter what. He starts his first step by wanting to go to an abandoned library for material. He meets Misella and Vicious along the way. He’s scared of them but then learns to be courageous.

This event has a lot of firsts. This is the first event where the central character (the one with the SSR stone art) is male. It’s the first event where Kanata doesn’t have the main spotlight in the Crestoria cast; Meakyu makes his first appearance in an event story too! It’s the first event where the story starts off with a flashback given that Ruca recalls Illia in his memories. It’s also the first event where the central Tales character is locked as a guest. I actually like changes like these. It makes events feel more unique.

I never played Innocence, but I’ve watched a playthrough of it on NicoNico (I need to finish watching it). I have a grasp on some of the Innocence characters, but I could be wrong—please correct me if I’m wrong with Innocence character interpretations. Ruca is the same as he is in his original game, timid and a pushover. The fact that he bought food and drinks for Misella and Vicious impulsively is a bit of a nod to how easily he gets bullied in the game—a fact that even Jude points out. He does have a kind and brave side like how he doesn’t want Jude to get harmed from his impulsive decisions and how he becomes brave and protects Misella, Vicious and Aegis from a monster dwelling in the woods. In Innocence, he develops a crush on Illia and his feelings for her are very prominent throughout the game. His crush on her retains in this universe.

Illia retains her dream of opening up a school anyone can attend regardless of family background. Her fondness of money stems from that dream—hence why she’s on a journey to collect money for her dream school and to become a principal. Illia doesn’t have much focus other than being the prime focus of Ruca’s motives for this event story.

Jude is Ruca’s classmate, apparently. They go to the same school and get along well. His medical knowledge is retained here as he treats Meakyu. Veterinary practice was something that Jude was never shown doing or knowing in the original Xillia game, so it’s interesting to see. Jude’s go-getter personality and his inability to turn away from someone in need are retained here as well. Jude actually stands up to Misella, Vicious and Aegis, thinking that they were bullying Ruca. He’s still a good kid like in his original game. This iteration of him has yet to meet Milla, which I find okay. I think that Jude was a bit too attached and reliant on Milla in Xillia, so to see him here, as his own person, feels great. Since Ruca and Jude are both fifteen years old and are interested in becoming doctors, I find their friendship cute.

For the Crestoria cast, they all retain their usual personalities here. Misella gets a bit more depth here as she’s intrigued by Ruca’s goal to help out Illia. They’re both similar in a way that they devote themselves to the person they have feelings for. I think that Ruca telling Misella to come join the school when it’s built is sweet. I’d like to see these two interact more if possible. Vicious is still his chaotic self. His honesty is shown again as he gives Ruca advice on how to be more courageous. If the Crestoria cast gets school outfits, Vicious should get a school counselor outfit—he’s great at consultation. Aegis retains his rather uptight personality as he tries to apologize for the actions of his more violent teammates. His habit of assuming first also gets him in a bit of trouble with Misella and Vicious.

The story’s fine. It’s focused on Ruca gaining courage to be able to move forward with himself and his goals. It’s nothing too complex. I think I enjoyed this a lot because of how unique it was with how Ruca gets to be a fixed guest at level 80. Innovation is great! I think that it would be cool if future events continue to do this trend in the future.

The event monster, Ravenous Pablisag, was a bit annoying with its ability to poison your party. It’s an Earth monster, so having a fire-type team helped a lot. Though, my team at the time was just multi-elemental and my main fire user is SSR Misella.

I have yet to use the SSR Ruca stone or the SR Illia stone, but I’ve seen it used often in Fire Support units. SSR Ruca’s ability is Vigor V (+18% HP). SR Illia’s is Poison Proof III (Earth), which reduces poison damage for Earth allies by 50%. I should try using SSR stones more often instead of trying to level up my R Stones. I’m doing my best to get all of them fully ascended—that’s going to take some time.

For enjoyment, I’d say that out of the four event stories I’ve reviewed so far, this one is the one that enjoyed as much as Patty’s event. Patty’s event is still on top for enjoyment purposes for me. This one comes in second.

Before I go, I’d like to mention that the official spelling of their names are Ruca and Illia. I know that some of the DS characters gets weird name spellings and changes over the years, so I am wondering how you like how their names are spelled. I personally like Ruca but I need to get accustomed to Illia’s. I know it’s spelt like that in Graces’ Magna Carta game…but sometimes when you spell out a name and another person spells it another way, it gets some time to get used to.

Tales of Crestoria
Tales of CrestoriaTales of Crestoria is an upcoming mobile title dedicated for smartphones that is an entirely new story and doesn’t focus on previous Tales of titles. The game features Kanata Hjuger, a young man branded as a Transgressor because of the crimeof “protecting someone important” to him. The game will be released for iOS and Android on 2020.

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About Grace 71 Articles
Grace is an aspiring novelist currently rewriting her novel for the umpteenth time. When not writing or playing Tales games, she stares at her laptop for hours, ruining her eyes in the process, and watching anime and Let's plays. She is also VERY scatterbrained.
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