Not only am I the perfect spy, I’m also the perfect…dirty sneak of a thief, heh…
This episode felt like I was in a spy thriller. Playing as Gaspard was like being Loid Forger for an hour; I’m also having a blast watching Spy x Family recently. I totally recommend people to watch it if you enjoy a blend of action and comedy. Moving back to the topic, Gaspard’s story highlights how interesting he is overall as a character and his story.
As a character, Gaspard has this front that makes him seem like an open book, but there are hidden pages that contains complex information about him that makes him very mysterious underneath that upbeat façade. There are clues about him scattered across the episode. First with a supposed abusive childhood and the second is with the relationship he has with his boss, Past.
Gaspard has a frenemy-type of relationship with his boss. Past acts as mission control for him, but he’s absolutely terrible at his job. His boss likes to abuse his authority to his subordinate, giving him crazy objectives in vague meanings. It’s obvious that Past does care for Gaspard, but he does it in a sadistic way. Past has a very interesting design. I wonder what sort of person he is.
As a spy, Gaspard has to put up a front. To the villagers, he’s Gaspard, the jobless deadbeat. In reality, he’s a Federation spy. The difference in his treatment from the beginning of the episode and the end of the episode is like day and night. The villagers joke around about his joblessness, but once they realize who he is, they condemn him. It makes it almost bittersweet in a way as Gaspard roamed freely in the beginning but walked slowly by the end.
The story of this episode focuses a lot on Gaspard’s espionage heists. It shows why Gaspard is five steps ahead of everyone in the game. In Leo Episode 1, there was this weird instance where he showed up ahead of Leo and his friends despite leaving after them. It’s shown how that happened. Gaspard has a unique ability that allows him to become invisible. I am unsure if it is due to his Embleo or a special mechanism given to him by Past. The invisibility and intel gathering is like 80% of the gameplay for his episode.
The stealth missions are okay. I just don’t like how slow he walks when invisible. A trick to avoid the soldiers while in stealth mode is to stick to the walls. The soldiers never touch the walls. Secret missions that involve the stealth are ridiculous because you have a time limit and Gaspard walks like a snail in stealth mode. The one with the gummies are fine, but the one with double amount of soldiers than in the actual game? Yeah, I am not doing that.
Gaspard’s gameplay is honestly nothing too notable. It’s not good, but it’s not awful either. I just wish there was more variety. I mean, the good thing about his gameplay compared to Lisette is that Gaspard has the move where he throws crystals onto the ground and uses a shadow binding of sorts to stun his enemies. At least that’s unique, but other than that, it’s pretty much shooting bullets.
My last gripe is the final portions of the chapter. While Gaspard spent the first half of the episode sneaking around, he spends the last half of the episode fighting. The last portions, the one with the enemy rush, is extremely tedious. The game gives you five enemy rushes and Gaspard, the character with not that much variety in move pool has to deal with them. I didn’t even know that there was a timer until I got to the fourth rush. Once the enemy rush was done, I was just skedaddling. Enemies who? PB Crystals who? I only care about trying to complete this episode.
While Gaspard is an entirely fun character, there’s someone in this episode that stole the show even more than him. No, it’s not Lucien who only appears last minute in Chapter 4. That character is the Breadist Lady. She is the breakout character of this episode. Her zany attitude and constant bread puns makes her such a memorable character. She gives Gaspard 3 recipes while maintaining her bread loving self. In the ending, she yells out, “You’re not a breadist, you’re just ill-bred!” Gotta love her puns even until the end. Whoever voiced her needs a raise and more roles, ASAP. Make her the 23rd character! The 22nd spot honor goes to Frederick.
In terms of other characters, Lisette, Vanessa and Lucien show up as the Federation vanguard. Lucien shows that he can detect Gaspard’s presence, meaning there’s a lot more to him than meets the eye. Also, the post-credit scene shows that the Le Sant village tragedy is a Federation secret. Meaning that it’s most likely that the Federation is at fault and Gaspard can use that information to his advantage.
What I anticipate the most in Gaspard’s story is how he is going to use information as his main weapon. What is his ultimate goal in doing all of this? Why does he work for Past? What is the organization he works for?
I haven’t ranked my favorite Luminaria characters yet, but I know Gaspard is in the top 5.
Tales of Luminaria is an upcoming Tales of Series original title for iOS and Android released November 2021. The game was first announced during Gamescom Opening Night Live. Unlike the recent Tales mobile games, Luminaria has been reported to have its own original world with only original characters and no previous Tales characters, as well as an English dub. Unfortunately, the game has announced termination of service worldwide on July 19, 2022.
Info Page | News | Gallery | Official Website (EN) | Official Website (JP)
