AC Weigh-In: March 2020 - In Light of a Pandemic

What have you been doing while stuck at home?

We sincerely hope that everyone is safe during these trying times. For this month, we have the following reactors:

For this month, we have the following reactors:

a745 Head Admin, Site Designer, Founder	Khayyaam Content Writer, Social Media
Ecargmura (Grace) Content Writer	Flamzeron News Writer
Amy Content Writer

It has been a crazy past few weeks for everyone in the world. A good number of us are stuck in our homes with limited freedom. While stuck in your home, have you gone back to playing any old Tales games? Tell us a bit about that.

a745	To be perfectly honest, I haven't gone back to playing Tales games haha. I did try to play Berseria a bit, but stopped after a couple of hours. Recently I've logged in again to Tales of the Rays again, though. The Japanese version, of course. There were a lot of recent events for it for the game's 3rd anniversary, so that was fun. They had a lot of freebies.
Khayyaam	"Old" is a matter of perspective but I did boot up Graces F when I got the itch for it. It's one of the only reasons I keep the PS3 around! Otherwise... mostly just been playing Rays and other games.
Grace	I haven't, actually. I've been busy with work and other things.
Flamzeron	A little bit. I started up where I left off in Tales of Symphonia Chronicles on my PS3. Specifically, I'm right at the end of the Tethe'alla Base. I would be further, but I died at a later boss and forgot to save. Foolish mistake, I know. I also have Tales of the Abyss on 3DS and Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition on PS4 that I'd like to go back to. I still never finished Tempest or Innocence, now that I think about it. I might need to take a little extra time off!
Amy	I keep meaning to start up Tales of Hearts R again.

Not playing Tales? No problem! Have you been spending time playing other games? Or maybe watching a series? Which ones are they and how are they? Let's give our readers recommendations. (Pic from @darkhymns)

a745	Oh boy, here we go. So my Steam actually has a lot of unfinished games? Haha. I recently started The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky 3, and I'm I think about halfway through? I've also started the early access version of Supergiant Games' Hades, and as usual the music and voice acting in that is superb. From there, I think I'll start Atelier Ayesha or Shallie, since those are the Atelier games from the Dusk trilogy that I haven't finished, and they recently released the DX versions of those on Steam.
Khayyaam	I'm on my third run of Kingdom Hearts 3! I do challenge runs of bosses and make videos of them (specifically, challenges to beat bosses without moving) in that series, and all the downtime gave me a chance to finally do so for KH3. Otherwise, I've been playing Granblue Fantasy Versus! I absolutely recommend it to Tales fans, especially those who play co-op. The RPG mode plays more like a classic 2D Tales game than a regular fighting game (the cooldowns even bring Rebirth to mind). I've been doing it co-op too so it's really been scratching that 2D Tales itch for me.
Grace	I'm playing Animal Crossing now. It's very healing and it eases my stress of the current situation and work. I finally got a house!
Flamzeron	Well, I try to keep up with the latest Dragon Ball Super manga chapters. We're getting close to the big climax of the current arc with Moro. I imagine he and Goku are going to throw down within the next couple of chapters. Other than that, I am horribly behind on most of my fandoms. The Spawn DLC for Mortal Kombat 11 came out recently, so I've been at least able to keep up with those kind of things. I try to at least get all the stuff I'm trying to keep up with so I can get to them when I can. The last big game I finished was Dragon Ball Z Kakarot on my PS4. It was very fun! A few issues here and there, but not bad at all. At the moment, I've been hitting up The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion on my laptop and messing around. I'm trying to finish the Fighter's Guild but I keep wandering off and doing my own thing. I've also been keeping my eye on Saint Seiya, since Netflix is redubbing it. Lot of little things here and there.
Amy	Fire Emblem Three Houses and Final Fantasy XIV have been my main games lately.

Let's say in the boredom of your quarantine, you decided to recreate a popular dish in the Tales series games. Which dish/food item would you recreate and how would you go about it? (May go in detail recipe level or not)

a745	YURI'S LOVE FILLED CROQUETTES HAHA. But seriously, hrm, that's one of the easiest I can think of. I have a bunch of gelatin here at home so I might try to do Apple Gels or any other Gels. Maybe crablettes, too. Mabo curry's fine, too, but I've made that a few times already in the past so I'm hoping for something new.
Khayyaam	Special ROYAL Crablettes. I love seafood, I love crab, I love egg. I've never even had a crab omelette let alone a royal one. I know it's just something Pascal made up for a victory quote rather than an actual Tales recipe, but what makes it royal? Probably an absurd amount of spices and seasoning or something.
Grace	Rice Omelettes because that's the only thing I can make really well. My own recipe is basically dicing red yellow and orange peppers and onions and sprinkling salt and a bit of sesame seeds on the rice. For the eggs, I like to use 2-3 eggs and then sprinkle ground peppers to give the egg some flavor. When I'm done, I finish with ketchup. It's basic, but basic can be great.
Flamzeron	I still want to try Mabo Curry. I'm not a big curry guy, but I feel like I have to at least try it once. What I am a big guy of is noodles, so I'd hunt down as many of the Tales of noodles dishes I could find and try them all. Although not exclusive to Tales, I'd want to try the omelettes from Eternia. I'd probably just follow someone else's instructions and recipes and go from there. My only worry would be finding the ingredients. With how things have been going as of late, getting everything might be difficult!
Amy	I wanted to try this Apple Gel Juice recipe from the Tales of Link Facebook page a while ago.

Do you think the current standstill the world is experiencing will also affect the development of the games and upcoming Tales events? How so?

a745	There are already more minor Tales events that have been cancelled, so if this pandemic is really going to continue until June-ish or July-ish like the circulating prognostic timelines are saying, then there's a high chance that Tales Fes really will be cancelled, sadly. The Orchestra Concert though, there's still a chance it'll push through. Japan really just needs to take the pandemic more seriously. From what I've seen, they haven't even implemented strict home quarantine.
Khayyaam	Well, as someone who follows Rays news... I know that the cafe event has been postponed indefinitely. Otherwise, not much news from Bandai Namco... to be completely honest, it's not about if I think Tales is affected. The fact is they *are*, and we as consumers can only wonder exactly how much. Rays and Asteria are still running smoothly but I wouldn't be surprised if new content for those games started slowing down a little bit. E3's cancellation got rid of our main source of Arise news. Crestoria's completely silent. Who knows what other side projects have been silently cancelled? Hindsight is 2020... It's only a matter of time until we can see clearly what's happening. My only wish is that the wonderful people behind the series prioritize their health and safety. A pandemic's not gonna destroy tales, it's lived for over 2 decades. We're used to waiting a long time for Tales news, we can wait longer still.
Grace	Yes, given Japan's work ethics, I feel like if one person gets the virus, then there would be a major problem given how a big team is incorporated into producing a video game. We have yet to get more news on Arise and Crestoria, so if someone in the production staff were to get it, there will be huge problems. It could be a director, an animator, etc. Every staff member is a valuable member, so to lose someone important is like lowering the game's HP.
Flamzeron	Tales of Festival, definitely. I won't be surprised if within the next couple of months, the event gets canceled. As for the development of Tales of Crestoria and Tales of Arise, that may not be affected. Companies can work remotely so I think some work on the games can be done. The release date may be pushed back, but to us it won't matter since there is none. At the moment, new game announcements and updates don't seem to be affected much, so I'm sure we'll still hear about the latest news from Arise when we're supposed to.
Amy	Definitely! Even if development is still proceeding as planned, they're missing out on so many of their main marketing opportunities, like E3 and other big events that, that I think they'll probably get delayed anyway, even if just to give more time for hype to build up. I hope I'm wrong though because I really want Tales of Crestoria and Tales of Arise ASAP!

For our readers who are also stuck at home, do you have any creative recommendations on what fellow Tales fans may do to spend their time? (Except from playing the games outright. i.e. let's plays?) *Velvet cosplay by @xxfruitcakexx, photo by @WenealsPR c/o @BandaiNamcoUS

a745	If you draw, now would be a good time to draw. If you write, write up those fics! Maybe you can do let's plays, or watch some. And it doesn't even have to be about Tales - read a book, write up a book, study if you're a student. Make sure you exercise even if you're stuck at home - but STAY HOME. For all our sakes. And wash your hands.
Khayyaam	Yeah, obviously playing the games is obvious... but I still kind of recommend doing so, but in a different way. I know a lot of Tales fans haven't done New Game+ runs of the games and I suggest doing so. I think it's an important aspect of the tales experience that man people miss, so here's the chance to do so. Also, for those of you who are isolating with other people, maybe siblings or roommates, if you haven't done a co-op run of one of the games, here's another chance. That's another aspect of the series I think is underrated. Other things include playing as characters you don't usually play as, bumping up difficulties, finally getting all those sidequests and skits... and the last thing of course, is to talk about it. A lot of us still have access to the internet. Let people know what you're playing. Stream your Tales runs! Post cool or funny screenshots or clips. Tales and its fanbase will always be around, but maybe it can come out of this situation stronger.
Grace	Cosplaying as Tales characters if you're playing Animal Crossing. If not, then maybe try to draw fanart or write some fanfics. Anything that alleviates stress can help.
Flamzeron	If you're interested, you might want to try reading some of the Tales manga or watching one of the anime series. It'll give you a change to enjoy the world of Tales in a new light. There are plenty of videos as well on the series covering different subjects, so you could try that as well! There's always the option of creating stuff like fanart or even fanfiction. We've got a lot of time on our hands, so it's best to make the most of it!
Amy	This is a great time to catch up on any Tales animes you've been meaning to watch, plan out new cosplays, make an AMV... Basically just think of whatever fandom activity you always say you don't have time for. Now you have time, so give it a try!

Any suggestions for next month, or anything that you want to respond to? Feel free to share them in the comments below~

Image Credits:

• Brilliant Cataclysm - Hisui & Edna skit faces.
• CamelieMimika - Eleanor skit faces.
• Elysia - Asbel skit faces.
• Liaoriao - Jade skit faces.
• Lyrrad - Reid, Leon, Farah & Yuri skit faces.
• Tales of Answers - Kongwai skit faces.