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star_ocean_fan) wrote2016-07-19 09:24 am
star_ocean_fan) wrote2016-07-19 09:24 am
Entry tags:
Throwback Tuesday Conversation Rehash
Back on January 30, 2012, the inaugural entry of The Star Ocean Universe, I wrote about the reasons of why Fayt Leingod and Maria Traydor's powers manifested in the way that they did and the differences between the two of them.
Here is the original entry.
"As most people who've played Till the End of Time know, the characters of Fayt Leingod, Maria Traydor, and Sophia Esteed are the ones chosen by a group of scientists (their parents) to save the universe. They are given the following powers: Destruction - Fayt, Alteration - Maria, and Connection - Sophia. I'm leaving Sophia Esteed out of the equation due to how and when her powers manifested in the game. Unlike the situations for Fayt and Maria, Sophia's situation for manifestation isn't severe. It's more of getting to the right point in the game when her powers trigger. The reasons for her power manifestation are completely different from those surrounding Fayt and Maria.
To start off with, let it be noted that both situations surrounding Fayt and Maria are quite extreme. For Maria, she's sixteen at the time (shown via a flashback in which Maria relates her story to Fayt), and the ship she's on is in danger of being destroyed. For those of you who haven't played the game, Maria is on an anti-Pangalactic Federation ship known as The Diplo. This anti-Pangalactic Federation organization is known as Quark, and Quark is founded by a Klausian man named Cliff Fittir. Cliff is also on The Diplo at the time of the attack, and, with his ship's engines down and very little hope of being able to return fire and get rid of this pesky Federation ship that's out to destroy them, he leans back and says something about giving up. Maria, flashed back to a painful childhood memory where she's lost both of her parents in the same fell swoop, declares, "No! We can't ever give up!" She then gives the order to fire the torpedoes, and they hit their mark. At the same time, her powers have manifested, symbols glowing bright from the center of her forehead. It is an extreme situation where lives are on the line, including the life of Maria Traydor. It is that situation that calls forth her powers of Alteration. Once the other ship is destroyed, Maria falls unconscious and fellow Quark members Mirage and Marietta run to her side.
Now, to possess the power of Alteration means that the one with said power is able to manipulate the matter of all kinds of objects. In a demonstration of her powers to Fayt, Maria singles out a vase in the castle of Aquaria and destroys all but that vase with a single shot from her phase gun. Fayt is stunned and wonders how it's even possible. At this point, I should mention that Fayt knows nothing about the research performed by his parents and their scientists friends. In fact, the group of scientists involved in this kind of research is quite small - Fayt's parents, Maria's mother, and Sophia's father. Maria discovers bits and pieces of the truth by hacking into the Pangalactic Federation's computers. It's how she learns about Fayt and decides she wants to meet him.
Rewind to several minutes before in the game where a decisive battle has been fought but not between enemies Quark and the Pangalactic Federation. Rather it's being fought between two kingdoms on an under developed planet called Elicoor II. Star Ocean 3 fans will recall this moment quite well. The fighting between Airyglyph and Aquaria is over land, and it's reaching a culmination, only to be ended by the arrival of what everyone dubs a celestial ship. That is, everyone but Cliff and Fayt dub it a celestial ship. They know it to be a vessel belonging to a shark-like group of aliens called the Vendeeni, and the Vendeeni are not out to play nice. They're firing indiscriminately at Glyphian and Aquarian alike, raining havoc and death on the land. The only thing the Vendeeni care about is capturing Fayt, and Cliff lets it slip as the two run for the village of Arias and witness as someone they know is caught in the crossfires. When he realizes what's happening, Fayt becomes not only frustrated but angry that the Vendeeni would not only hunt him down the way that they have but attack and kill innocent people. Cue Fayt's manifestation and the complete and utter destruction of the Vendeen ship. There isn't even space dust left. Exhausted, Fayt falls unconscious, white feathers floating to the ground where he lays.
As one might guess, both situations are extreme. One might even surmise that their lives were in mortal danger, and that is why their powers manifested as strongly as they did. In fact, in the manga for Till the End of Time, Maria says out loud her theory that their powers are triggered as self-defense mechanisms since their bodies are those of living weapons.
I disagree with this theory.
While it is true both situations where the full manifestations are extreme and fraught with danger, only Maria's life was truly in danger in her situation. She is the only on a ship that's in danger of being annihilated. It helps that there are others on board The Diplo in as much danger as she, but the truth remains her life was the one truly in danger. I argue the exact opposite is true for Fayt, and here's why.
The first major boss of the game isn't on under developed planet of Elicoor II, but rather on under developed planet Vanguard III. Naturally, those playing Till the End of Time run around as Fayt Leingod. The story revolves mostly around him anyway, and the one thing that I find fascinating is the first attempt at Fayt's powers to manifest.
You see, Fayt is trying to keep a low profile on Vanguard III. He's escaped two hellish situations on Hyda IV and a Federation transport ship called The Hellre. Both have been attacked and nearly destroyed by the Vendeeni, and his escape pod has landed on Vanguard III with a distress signal being emanated for the search and rescue teams. He heads for the nearest village for safety, and hoping that those who find him will understand his motives for doing so and not press charges against him. He returns to escape pod so he can repair a music box for the little girl and her older brother who helped to save his life, only to find the escape pod has been torn apart. The next day he finds the older brother has gone missing. Fayt finds him in the "tender" care of another off-worlder, a man by the name of Norton. When Norton laughs and brags about how he's going to build his own kingdom on Vanguard III, regardless of who he has to kill to do so, Fayt is one POed camper, so much so, the center of his forehead begins to glow and symbols start to form. The only thing that saves Norton from complete annihilation is the appearance of Cliff Fittir. (Yes, people who have never played the game before, the same Cliff Fittir who founded Quark.) While it can be argued that, yes, Fayt's life was in danger from Norton, it wasn't his life he was worried about when he faced off against the other man before Cliff's arrival. It was the wanton killing of innocent people and his anger towards Norton that started to trigger his powers. Also, let's fast forward to the Vendeeni event on Elicoor II. While it's true they're firing at everyone on the ground, they're also taking great pains to avoid hitting Fayt. At this point in the game, their ultimate goal is to capture Fayt because of his powers. They're firing at random and yet not at random. They're trying to entice him to appear so that they can capture him. It's his anger, once again, at the wanton destruction and killing, that causes his powers to manifest.It's also the knowledge that they're doing so because they're after him and he doesn't understand or even know why that triggers such a strong emotional response in him.
Please understand, my fellow Star Ocean fans and people who have yet to play the games, this is just a speculation and a bit of a character study for both Fayt and Maria on my part. The situations that caused their manifestations to trigger are, indeed, different, as are their emotional responses to those situations. I'm not entirely sure what the writers' goals were with Maria and perhaps Sophia, aside from the romantic interests for Fayt at the end of the game and the fact they're needed in order to crossover from three-dimensional space over to four-dimensional space. (Sophia is the connection, Maria is able to unconsciously alter anyone with her as they cross over.)"
So, there we have it. The original entry as it stood the first day I started this entry. I do want to expand upon this some.
Mainly, I want to talk about the extreme emotional triggers for Fayt and Maria. Sophia truly doesn't have anything. Her powers are actually quite touch and go, and they only occur when she's reached the Time Gate and when her curiosity has gotten the better of her. Oh, and when they get the Sacred Orb from the Shrine of Kaddan.
Anyway, back to the emotional responses in Fayt and Maria.
Part of what triggers Maria's response in the attempt to destroy The Diplo are her mother's last words to her. "Don't ever give up" before she stays behind on the ship that ultimately ends Jessie Traydor's life. The alarm klaxons are blaring, Maria's only sixteen, and, while the incident is like four to six years old by this point, I'm guessing no one ever thought to put Maria through pyschological and grief counseling. If anything, she was raised on The Diplo by pretty much everyone in Quark. It's a bit of an oversight on the storywriters part, to not have a ship psychologist on hand, but, hey. That's something that will make for great fanfiction fodder.
Also, by this point, Maria has been hacking into the Pangalactic Federation's database. She's learning about the experiments on her, on Fayt, and about the Leingods in general. Her hacking is what has probably prompted such a severe response from the Pangalactic Federation in the first place. Maria has a very strong desire to live. You don't survive what she has and just give up somehow. Her actions are self-preserving and protective all at once. She had, in her mind, too much riding on her shoulders. Giving up wasn't an option, not in the dead of space.
End result with Maria is what she did was admirable, shocking, and basically catapulted her into leadership. Cliff does step down as the leader of Quark not just because Maria is leadership material - she does have some small amount of charisma for that - but because she is dangerous. The best way to temper her powers is to put her in command. This is a topic, however, for another time.
Back to Fayt here, who also manifested his powers due to extreme emotional triggers. Again, I will not point out these ongoing differences. Fayt was extremely angry with Norton. He flat out says it in the beginning before Cliff shows up. Fayt does not like bullies. What's been done to the residents of Vanguard III is unacceptable. Yes, Fayt is in danger at this point. Norton has no qualms about eliminating him in order to keep his foothold on the planet. However, it isn't fear or the need to survive that starts to trigger Fayt's powers. It's anger. It's extreme anger, and it's probably compounded by the fact he's witnessed the destruction of Hyda IV and The Hellre. He's separated from family and friends, and he's frustrated. He wants to go home as well because, well, he's clueless at this point. He doesn't know what he is.
The same goes for when his powers finally do emerge on Elicoor II. He's not only angry, he's confused. What the hell is actually going on? Why are the Vendeeni chasing after him, why are they killing indiscriminately to get him, and why has Cliff kept secrets from him? This confusion exasperates his anger over the situation, and, well, there we go. An extreme emotional state of anger.
I'm also going to point out, as it's just now occurring to me, that their powers are tied to different emotional states. Yes, protection of the "vessel", as it were, is necessary but then why not appear during childhood when perhaps Fayt is getting bullied by others or watching others be bullied? Why not when Maria is suddenly and inexplicably orphaned? Yeah, there were blocks put into place to keep such things from happening, but it would still be in defense.
In truth, my theory is the responses just weren't extreme enough. In Maria's case, I believe it's because she was desperate enough to want to try something, anything to alter the course of fate playing out before her. The destiny of The Diplo, at the time her powers emerged, was to be destroyed, in fact. She was desperate to prevent that from happening.
For Fayt, it takes a lot of anger to want to destroy something. He's got the perfect target in the Vendeeni ship as the commanders are killing very indiscriminately. The ship is also the only target he truly needs. It takes a lot of anger in a person to actually destroy, and let's not forget he's the embodiment of destruction. Maria embodies alteration. Their given situations actually make it perfect for their powers to emerge.
And that's the updated topic on the manifestation of powers. I have a new topic for the upcoming week. Actually, two because I want to delve now into the powers bestowed upon Edge, Reimi, and Crowe, even though we don't get to have Crowe as a playable character.
Here is the original entry.
"As most people who've played Till the End of Time know, the characters of Fayt Leingod, Maria Traydor, and Sophia Esteed are the ones chosen by a group of scientists (their parents) to save the universe. They are given the following powers: Destruction - Fayt, Alteration - Maria, and Connection - Sophia. I'm leaving Sophia Esteed out of the equation due to how and when her powers manifested in the game. Unlike the situations for Fayt and Maria, Sophia's situation for manifestation isn't severe. It's more of getting to the right point in the game when her powers trigger. The reasons for her power manifestation are completely different from those surrounding Fayt and Maria.
To start off with, let it be noted that both situations surrounding Fayt and Maria are quite extreme. For Maria, she's sixteen at the time (shown via a flashback in which Maria relates her story to Fayt), and the ship she's on is in danger of being destroyed. For those of you who haven't played the game, Maria is on an anti-Pangalactic Federation ship known as The Diplo. This anti-Pangalactic Federation organization is known as Quark, and Quark is founded by a Klausian man named Cliff Fittir. Cliff is also on The Diplo at the time of the attack, and, with his ship's engines down and very little hope of being able to return fire and get rid of this pesky Federation ship that's out to destroy them, he leans back and says something about giving up. Maria, flashed back to a painful childhood memory where she's lost both of her parents in the same fell swoop, declares, "No! We can't ever give up!" She then gives the order to fire the torpedoes, and they hit their mark. At the same time, her powers have manifested, symbols glowing bright from the center of her forehead. It is an extreme situation where lives are on the line, including the life of Maria Traydor. It is that situation that calls forth her powers of Alteration. Once the other ship is destroyed, Maria falls unconscious and fellow Quark members Mirage and Marietta run to her side.
Now, to possess the power of Alteration means that the one with said power is able to manipulate the matter of all kinds of objects. In a demonstration of her powers to Fayt, Maria singles out a vase in the castle of Aquaria and destroys all but that vase with a single shot from her phase gun. Fayt is stunned and wonders how it's even possible. At this point, I should mention that Fayt knows nothing about the research performed by his parents and their scientists friends. In fact, the group of scientists involved in this kind of research is quite small - Fayt's parents, Maria's mother, and Sophia's father. Maria discovers bits and pieces of the truth by hacking into the Pangalactic Federation's computers. It's how she learns about Fayt and decides she wants to meet him.
Rewind to several minutes before in the game where a decisive battle has been fought but not between enemies Quark and the Pangalactic Federation. Rather it's being fought between two kingdoms on an under developed planet called Elicoor II. Star Ocean 3 fans will recall this moment quite well. The fighting between Airyglyph and Aquaria is over land, and it's reaching a culmination, only to be ended by the arrival of what everyone dubs a celestial ship. That is, everyone but Cliff and Fayt dub it a celestial ship. They know it to be a vessel belonging to a shark-like group of aliens called the Vendeeni, and the Vendeeni are not out to play nice. They're firing indiscriminately at Glyphian and Aquarian alike, raining havoc and death on the land. The only thing the Vendeeni care about is capturing Fayt, and Cliff lets it slip as the two run for the village of Arias and witness as someone they know is caught in the crossfires. When he realizes what's happening, Fayt becomes not only frustrated but angry that the Vendeeni would not only hunt him down the way that they have but attack and kill innocent people. Cue Fayt's manifestation and the complete and utter destruction of the Vendeen ship. There isn't even space dust left. Exhausted, Fayt falls unconscious, white feathers floating to the ground where he lays.
As one might guess, both situations are extreme. One might even surmise that their lives were in mortal danger, and that is why their powers manifested as strongly as they did. In fact, in the manga for Till the End of Time, Maria says out loud her theory that their powers are triggered as self-defense mechanisms since their bodies are those of living weapons.
I disagree with this theory.
While it is true both situations where the full manifestations are extreme and fraught with danger, only Maria's life was truly in danger in her situation. She is the only on a ship that's in danger of being annihilated. It helps that there are others on board The Diplo in as much danger as she, but the truth remains her life was the one truly in danger. I argue the exact opposite is true for Fayt, and here's why.
The first major boss of the game isn't on under developed planet of Elicoor II, but rather on under developed planet Vanguard III. Naturally, those playing Till the End of Time run around as Fayt Leingod. The story revolves mostly around him anyway, and the one thing that I find fascinating is the first attempt at Fayt's powers to manifest.
You see, Fayt is trying to keep a low profile on Vanguard III. He's escaped two hellish situations on Hyda IV and a Federation transport ship called The Hellre. Both have been attacked and nearly destroyed by the Vendeeni, and his escape pod has landed on Vanguard III with a distress signal being emanated for the search and rescue teams. He heads for the nearest village for safety, and hoping that those who find him will understand his motives for doing so and not press charges against him. He returns to escape pod so he can repair a music box for the little girl and her older brother who helped to save his life, only to find the escape pod has been torn apart. The next day he finds the older brother has gone missing. Fayt finds him in the "tender" care of another off-worlder, a man by the name of Norton. When Norton laughs and brags about how he's going to build his own kingdom on Vanguard III, regardless of who he has to kill to do so, Fayt is one POed camper, so much so, the center of his forehead begins to glow and symbols start to form. The only thing that saves Norton from complete annihilation is the appearance of Cliff Fittir. (Yes, people who have never played the game before, the same Cliff Fittir who founded Quark.) While it can be argued that, yes, Fayt's life was in danger from Norton, it wasn't his life he was worried about when he faced off against the other man before Cliff's arrival. It was the wanton killing of innocent people and his anger towards Norton that started to trigger his powers. Also, let's fast forward to the Vendeeni event on Elicoor II. While it's true they're firing at everyone on the ground, they're also taking great pains to avoid hitting Fayt. At this point in the game, their ultimate goal is to capture Fayt because of his powers. They're firing at random and yet not at random. They're trying to entice him to appear so that they can capture him. It's his anger, once again, at the wanton destruction and killing, that causes his powers to manifest.It's also the knowledge that they're doing so because they're after him and he doesn't understand or even know why that triggers such a strong emotional response in him.
Please understand, my fellow Star Ocean fans and people who have yet to play the games, this is just a speculation and a bit of a character study for both Fayt and Maria on my part. The situations that caused their manifestations to trigger are, indeed, different, as are their emotional responses to those situations. I'm not entirely sure what the writers' goals were with Maria and perhaps Sophia, aside from the romantic interests for Fayt at the end of the game and the fact they're needed in order to crossover from three-dimensional space over to four-dimensional space. (Sophia is the connection, Maria is able to unconsciously alter anyone with her as they cross over.)"
So, there we have it. The original entry as it stood the first day I started this entry. I do want to expand upon this some.
Mainly, I want to talk about the extreme emotional triggers for Fayt and Maria. Sophia truly doesn't have anything. Her powers are actually quite touch and go, and they only occur when she's reached the Time Gate and when her curiosity has gotten the better of her. Oh, and when they get the Sacred Orb from the Shrine of Kaddan.
Anyway, back to the emotional responses in Fayt and Maria.
Part of what triggers Maria's response in the attempt to destroy The Diplo are her mother's last words to her. "Don't ever give up" before she stays behind on the ship that ultimately ends Jessie Traydor's life. The alarm klaxons are blaring, Maria's only sixteen, and, while the incident is like four to six years old by this point, I'm guessing no one ever thought to put Maria through pyschological and grief counseling. If anything, she was raised on The Diplo by pretty much everyone in Quark. It's a bit of an oversight on the storywriters part, to not have a ship psychologist on hand, but, hey. That's something that will make for great fanfiction fodder.
Also, by this point, Maria has been hacking into the Pangalactic Federation's database. She's learning about the experiments on her, on Fayt, and about the Leingods in general. Her hacking is what has probably prompted such a severe response from the Pangalactic Federation in the first place. Maria has a very strong desire to live. You don't survive what she has and just give up somehow. Her actions are self-preserving and protective all at once. She had, in her mind, too much riding on her shoulders. Giving up wasn't an option, not in the dead of space.
End result with Maria is what she did was admirable, shocking, and basically catapulted her into leadership. Cliff does step down as the leader of Quark not just because Maria is leadership material - she does have some small amount of charisma for that - but because she is dangerous. The best way to temper her powers is to put her in command. This is a topic, however, for another time.
Back to Fayt here, who also manifested his powers due to extreme emotional triggers. Again, I will not point out these ongoing differences. Fayt was extremely angry with Norton. He flat out says it in the beginning before Cliff shows up. Fayt does not like bullies. What's been done to the residents of Vanguard III is unacceptable. Yes, Fayt is in danger at this point. Norton has no qualms about eliminating him in order to keep his foothold on the planet. However, it isn't fear or the need to survive that starts to trigger Fayt's powers. It's anger. It's extreme anger, and it's probably compounded by the fact he's witnessed the destruction of Hyda IV and The Hellre. He's separated from family and friends, and he's frustrated. He wants to go home as well because, well, he's clueless at this point. He doesn't know what he is.
The same goes for when his powers finally do emerge on Elicoor II. He's not only angry, he's confused. What the hell is actually going on? Why are the Vendeeni chasing after him, why are they killing indiscriminately to get him, and why has Cliff kept secrets from him? This confusion exasperates his anger over the situation, and, well, there we go. An extreme emotional state of anger.
I'm also going to point out, as it's just now occurring to me, that their powers are tied to different emotional states. Yes, protection of the "vessel", as it were, is necessary but then why not appear during childhood when perhaps Fayt is getting bullied by others or watching others be bullied? Why not when Maria is suddenly and inexplicably orphaned? Yeah, there were blocks put into place to keep such things from happening, but it would still be in defense.
In truth, my theory is the responses just weren't extreme enough. In Maria's case, I believe it's because she was desperate enough to want to try something, anything to alter the course of fate playing out before her. The destiny of The Diplo, at the time her powers emerged, was to be destroyed, in fact. She was desperate to prevent that from happening.
For Fayt, it takes a lot of anger to want to destroy something. He's got the perfect target in the Vendeeni ship as the commanders are killing very indiscriminately. The ship is also the only target he truly needs. It takes a lot of anger in a person to actually destroy, and let's not forget he's the embodiment of destruction. Maria embodies alteration. Their given situations actually make it perfect for their powers to emerge.
And that's the updated topic on the manifestation of powers. I have a new topic for the upcoming week. Actually, two because I want to delve now into the powers bestowed upon Edge, Reimi, and Crowe, even though we don't get to have Crowe as a playable character.