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star_ocean_fanHello once again, everyone, and welcome back to Ask the Star Ocean Character! Today, we have with Sophia Esteed, daughter of Clive and Kyoko Esteed.
Sophia: Hi, everyone! /smiles and waves, happy/
Welcome, Sophia, and thank you for joining us.
Sophia: Oh, thank you for having me. It's so wonderful to be here! I'm so happy that you asked me.
I can tell that you're happy to be here.
Sophia: /giggles/
So, Miss Esteed . . . or would you prefer that I call you Sophia?
Sophia: Sophia is fine.
Okay. So, Sophia, I hear you're still a high school student.
Sophia: Oh, yes! I'm in my senior year.
Wow, and you're only seventeen.
Sophia: Yeah . . . I try to study as hard as I can. My dad, as you already know, is a famous scientist. He works with Robert and Ryoko Leingod at their research lab. I don't get to see him much, so I have a lot of time to work on homework.
Is there anything else you do in your free time?
Sophia: Yeah. I like to cook and sew and little crafty projects.
Little crafty projects?
Sophia: /nods/ Yeah . . . you know, like making little plushies, charms, and bracelets.
That sounds time consuming.
Sophia: It is . . . but I enjoy it so . . .
Do you give your little projects to family and friends for things like birthdays and holidays?
Sophia: Mmm hmmm. Everyone loves them!
Will you become a crafter of some kind?
Sophia: I hadn't really thought about that . . . I mean, I do plan on going to college once I graduate high school, but I'd thought of becoming a Symbological geneticist, like my dad, Uncle Robert and Aunt Ryoko.
You're related to the Leingods?
Sophia: Not related related, but I've known them since I was a little kid. They've been like an aunt and uncle to me. /smiles/
How did your parents meet the Leingods? Was it through the Moonbase research facility?
Sophia: Actually, my mom and Aunt Ryoko were best friends before the Leingods started their research facility. They were high school best friends.
Awww, that's so sweet. Kind of like you and Fayt, huh?
Sophia: Yeah . . .
Now last week, we had Reimi Saionji on our show. She informed us that she enjoys cooking as well. Who would you say would win a cooking competition between the two of you?
Sophia: . . . . I don't . . . . know. But it sounds like fun to find out!
Maybe we can arrange it. As we did with Reimi, we had viewers submit questions. Do you mind if we ask the questions sent in?
Sophia: Oh no! Not at all!
Okay. This is from Mrs. Nox of Elicoor II. She asks, Do you own any cats, since you love them so much? I wonder if you worried about them during your journey with Fayt and the others. I'm a cat owner and I don't even like to go away for a couple of days and leave my cats behind.
Sophia: Wow! She knows I like cats? That's so sweet. /smiles/ In answer to the question, I don't own any cats right now. Our last cat died of old age. My parents got her for me when I was born. She was a black and white with really long hair, and I brushed her every day. She absolutely loved it! I really miss her, too. My parents want to wait before getting another one. Even though they're not around a lot due to work, they loved her as much as I do. /sad now/
Awww. It's sad when one loses a pet.
Sophia: Yeah . . . I really want to get another one, too . . . Are . . .are there any more questions?
/checks/ No . . .
Sophia: Oh . . .
It was still a pleasure to have you here. I do have one more question for you . . .
Sophia: Okay.
I've noticed that you seem to have a slight crush on Fayt Leingod . . . what would you do if he fell in love with another?
Sophia: . . . I don't know . . . Move on with my life, I guess.
Really? That's . . . quite mature of you . . .
Sophia: Well, Fayt is my best friend. I know he views me as like a little sister so I understand if he doesn't feel the same way that I do. Besides, it's important for the both of us to find happiness.
This is true . . . and we are now out of time. Thank you once again for joining us, Sophia.
Sophia: Thanks for inviting me! It was a blast!
Join us next week when we interview Maria Traydor, the leader of Quark and the Captain of The Diplo.
Sophia: /waving/ Bye, everyone!
* * * *
Some facts about Sophia Esteed:
Her Japanese voice actor is Atsuko Enomoto.
Her English/American voice actor is Michelle Ruff.
Sophia is one of three humans genetically altered in order to combat the Creator's Executioners and to enter the 4-D realm. Professor Leingod, his wife Ryoko, and Professors Clive Esteed and Jessie Traydor are the ones who performed the genetic etching. Clive Esteed is her father.
Her mother, Kyoko Esteed, is a surgical doctor at a local hospital.
Sophia was born in a colony on Luna, or the moon.
Her favorite book is The Special Theory of Symbology by Dr. Leon
Despite having one of the largest Symbol collections of anyone in the party (the other being Adray Lasbard), her wind-up (casting) time is one of the slowest (the other, again, being Adray Lasbard).
Her power of Connection actually has no battle inclinations. The only times the power kicks in are at the Time Gate and at the Eternal Sphere terminal in Gemity.
Like Reimi, Sophia is perhaps one of the least liked characters of Till the End of Time by many. There are some who do adore her, maybe more than Reimi.
There are three PVC figures for Sophia, each with a different pose. Two of the PVCs have color variants.
Sophia has no known trust issues.
Item Creation Skills
Smithery 6
Cooking 43
Alchemy 36
Writing 15
Engineering 3
Crafting 33
Compounding 15
Synthesis 25
Ironically, in Till the End of Time, there are no negative numbers for Item Creation. I guess no one really stinks at anything for this particular game. :)
* * * *
Character Study - Sophia Esteed
Name: Sophia Esteed
Age: 17
Hair color: brown
Eye color: green
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 105 lbs
Rank: Symbologist
Birthdate: Sometime in the year 755 S.D.
Weapon: Staff/Symbology
Favorite food: unknown
Quote: You just have to believe what you feel in your heart. Let's choose to believe.
From the game manual: A childhood friend of Fayt's, Sophia is an independent and caring girl who looks up to Fayt as a big brother. She's never afraid to speak her mind and her charming smile softens the hearts of everyone around her. She seems to be an ordinary high school girl who likes cooking and shopping.
From me: I'm sure Sophia's independent in the ways that count, but, battle-wise and quest-wise, she needs all the help she can get. She's very reliant on Fayt for protection, and she sees them living in some kind of a fantasy world as a Knight and his Princess.
I don't think she's able to charm everyone with her smile, either. Initially, I'm quite sure Maria doesn't like her, seeing her as competition for Fayt's affections (more on that when I write up my character study of Maria), and, given her personality, Albel also isn't charmed by her. If anything, she's the kind of naive person who would have someone like the Wicked One gnashing his teeth in irritation and polishing his sword for the slaughter.
From the strategy guide:
Sophia Esteed is Fayt's childhood friend and perhaps his sweetheart. Her father is a close friend and research partner of Fayt's parents, and, as a result, the two families have spent a lot of time together. Sophia has an ongoing interest in the history of Symbology, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone to learn how talented she is at it.
From me: While I will concede that there are some romantic feelings on Sophia's part, I don't see where it's coming in on Fayt's part. His concern for her throughout the course of the game is understandable - they've known each other for a very long time, the attack on Hyda IV has him worried about her safety as well as that of his parents. The only place where the strong, romantic feelings even appear is in the manga in a side story where Sophia tries to ensnare Fayt into either becoming her boyfriend, going to bed with her or even both. Since her attempts are thwarted, we'll never know. Also, while I personally haven't gotten the Fayt/Sophia ending, I have seen it on youtube, and there is nothing even remotely romantic going on between them.
Just sayin'.
From the in-game dictionary:
A human girl born on Earth who is enrolled in the Spacetime Department of Bachtein High School. Unlike most girls of the present time, she excels in various household tasks such as cleaning and sewing. There is a simple reason for this. Her parents are both busy with work, and she has had to take care of the chores around the house from an early age.
Incidentally, her father, Dr. Clive Esteed works at the same research lab as Fayt's parents, and his house is close to Fayt's house, so the two families have had a close relationship for a long time.
From me:
I love browsing the in-game dictionaries. :) While it is true that Clive works with Robert and Ryoko, the only reason why Clive even knows the Leingods is because of his wife's long-term friendship with Ryoko Leingod. While it doesn't say exactly how long Kyoko and Ryoko have known each other, it does say they've been friends since school.
What I'm finding interesting is Sophia, despite wanting to surpass her "Aunt" Ryoko in Symbological Genetics, Spacetime studies is more her dad's field. If you get into his bio in the game, that's actually part of his specialty in the area of Symbological Genetics.
The in-game entries for Till the End of Time are hard to analyze when it comes to character. It really is just background information. About the only thing we don't see in Sophia is a neat fetish, whereas we get hints of it in Reimi though the cleaning fetish isn't anywhere in her bios. I'm sure Sophia likes everything to be tidy and orderly . . . she even comments about how the animals smell compared to the holographic images of animals she's seen, and she wonders if they're being cleaned daily like they should . . . It's a bit unrealistic to clean an animal every single day when other chores need more attention.
Continued from the in-game dictionary:
In order to save the universe from the descending hand of judgment of the 4D beings, just as Fayt and Maria were given a power, Sophia was as well -- Connection. Surely it couldn't have been that much of a surprise to her.
From me:
I don't really care for the last remark in Sophia's bio about how the experiments shouldn't have come as a surprise to her. She wasn't even born when they decided to give her the power of Connection. While infants do retain memories, they don't necessarily remember such events after they've happened. Yes. It's a surprise to her, probably like a bomb hitting her.
According to the Star Ocean wikia, it's because of her powers of Connection that Sophia is so adept at Symbology. I disagree with that assessment. If it's her powers of Connection that make her such a great Symbologist, why are people like Adray and Nel so skilled at it as well? Granted, the only one's whose arsenal is even comparable to Sophia's is Adray's . . . I think the only differences in what they learn when it comes to skill manuals is the ones designated specifically for them and found in the post-game dungeons.
For the rest of my character study . . .
Sophia is the only daughter/child of Clive and Kyoko Esteed, as has been mentioned before, and, as everyone knows, Fayt Leingod's childhood friend. I estimate that she's known Fayt since she was no older than two or three years old, due to the very long-standing friendship of Ryoko Leingod and Sophia's mother. Her dad is also a research partner with the Leingods at their research facility, which has helped to strengthen that friendship.
Given her age, I surmise that Sophia is either a junior or senior at Bachtein High School. Given the average of juniors in our present day and age is 17, I'd say she's a junior, but I will also accept her being a senior. I will never say she's a sophomore. Despite my dislike for her, Sophia is an intelligent young girl who I see as wanting to keep up with Fayt as much as possible. At some point before the events of the game, she's developed some strong romantic feelings towards Fayt so it seems very unlikely she'd do something stupid enough to be held back a grade or two while Fayt pushes forward with his collegiate studies. Her dream is for her and Fayt to follow in his parents' footsteps with Fayt trying to surpass his father and she her "Aunt" Ryoko.
Sophia is perhaps one of the most sickeningly sweet characters in Till the End of Time, save perhaps for her doppleganger in Ameena Leffeld. The word "pink" comes to mind when describing Sophia and her personality, and I don't mean pink as fighting for a cure, building up awareness and celebrating the survivors of breast cancer pink, but the sweet and fluffy kind of pink that says I'm a girly girl and I want a Knight to protect me kind of pink. Though I'm sure she's an independent soul, we don't see it, and, through the interactions with her after the events at the Kirlsa Training Facility with the Vendeeni, it's very clear she's a product of her society. This is something players can find out when roaming Elicoor II and finding her in places like Arias, Peterny, and other cities. Unlike Fayt, she doesn't adapt to her given surroundings or current events. It's like a part of her believes that, once everything is over, life can go back to the way it was before the attacks by the Vendeeni and the Creator. She's too accustomed to a "lavish" lifestyle - controlled atmospheric conditions, more than modern appliances for cooking, computers, etc . . . - so it's no wonder she returns to that kind of a life after Luther's defeat.
Physically speaking, Sophia is the most pathetic character in terms of TTEOT playable characters. I realize that, once she's obtained, she starts out at Level 1 and she's primarily a Symbologist. The level one status alone is enough to make it difficult in leveling her up, especially if you're trying on Moonbase or Styx, but, even after she's leveled up high enough, she's still difficult to keep alive in battle or other characters alive, for that matter. The best use for Sophia is healing/support, but one has to turn off her offensive spells to keep her focused (or you'll be wasting a lot of fresh sage on incapacitated characters while she's casting something like Southern Cross or Deep Freeze. Also, for being primarily a Symbologist, she, along with Adray, has the slowest casting/wind-up time ever. It's only improved with an accessory which does increase her casting time by cutting it by like a third or two thirds, but it still takes some time for her to fire off a spell. If it weren't for the fact that she gets the Restoration spell, I wouldn't even bother with having her in battle. It's easier to find items that restore magic than it is to find something that revives incapacitation so . . . her learning at least one additional healing spell (Faerie Light) and the Restoration Spell are about the only reasons why I'd even consider using her in battle . . . that, and, if it's done correctly, can get a person a few Battle trophies in the process.
One thing that bothers me about Sophia is how she defends Fayt's broodiness one moment and then turns around the next and says, "It's not like you to be this way". She'd just stood up to Maria for being cold about Robert Leingod's death and to basically lay off Fayt for being sad over it. I don't understand why she'd then side with Maria (to an extent) and say it isn't like him to be so brooding. WTF? I do see Sophia as being like a little sister and his best friend. I'm sure she does understand him better than anyone else, but she also hasn't lived through what he has. She doesn't even take the time to ask him about what's happened.
Overall, Sophia is not one of my favorite characters. Her personality alone bugs me, but she doesn't bug me nearly as much as Reimi. That much is obvious.
Sophia: Hi, everyone! /smiles and waves, happy/
Welcome, Sophia, and thank you for joining us.
Sophia: Oh, thank you for having me. It's so wonderful to be here! I'm so happy that you asked me.
I can tell that you're happy to be here.
Sophia: /giggles/
So, Miss Esteed . . . or would you prefer that I call you Sophia?
Sophia: Sophia is fine.
Okay. So, Sophia, I hear you're still a high school student.
Sophia: Oh, yes! I'm in my senior year.
Wow, and you're only seventeen.
Sophia: Yeah . . . I try to study as hard as I can. My dad, as you already know, is a famous scientist. He works with Robert and Ryoko Leingod at their research lab. I don't get to see him much, so I have a lot of time to work on homework.
Is there anything else you do in your free time?
Sophia: Yeah. I like to cook and sew and little crafty projects.
Little crafty projects?
Sophia: /nods/ Yeah . . . you know, like making little plushies, charms, and bracelets.
That sounds time consuming.
Sophia: It is . . . but I enjoy it so . . .
Do you give your little projects to family and friends for things like birthdays and holidays?
Sophia: Mmm hmmm. Everyone loves them!
Will you become a crafter of some kind?
Sophia: I hadn't really thought about that . . . I mean, I do plan on going to college once I graduate high school, but I'd thought of becoming a Symbological geneticist, like my dad, Uncle Robert and Aunt Ryoko.
You're related to the Leingods?
Sophia: Not related related, but I've known them since I was a little kid. They've been like an aunt and uncle to me. /smiles/
How did your parents meet the Leingods? Was it through the Moonbase research facility?
Sophia: Actually, my mom and Aunt Ryoko were best friends before the Leingods started their research facility. They were high school best friends.
Awww, that's so sweet. Kind of like you and Fayt, huh?
Sophia: Yeah . . .
Now last week, we had Reimi Saionji on our show. She informed us that she enjoys cooking as well. Who would you say would win a cooking competition between the two of you?
Sophia: . . . . I don't . . . . know. But it sounds like fun to find out!
Maybe we can arrange it. As we did with Reimi, we had viewers submit questions. Do you mind if we ask the questions sent in?
Sophia: Oh no! Not at all!
Okay. This is from Mrs. Nox of Elicoor II. She asks, Do you own any cats, since you love them so much? I wonder if you worried about them during your journey with Fayt and the others. I'm a cat owner and I don't even like to go away for a couple of days and leave my cats behind.
Sophia: Wow! She knows I like cats? That's so sweet. /smiles/ In answer to the question, I don't own any cats right now. Our last cat died of old age. My parents got her for me when I was born. She was a black and white with really long hair, and I brushed her every day. She absolutely loved it! I really miss her, too. My parents want to wait before getting another one. Even though they're not around a lot due to work, they loved her as much as I do. /sad now/
Awww. It's sad when one loses a pet.
Sophia: Yeah . . . I really want to get another one, too . . . Are . . .are there any more questions?
/checks/ No . . .
Sophia: Oh . . .
It was still a pleasure to have you here. I do have one more question for you . . .
Sophia: Okay.
I've noticed that you seem to have a slight crush on Fayt Leingod . . . what would you do if he fell in love with another?
Sophia: . . . I don't know . . . Move on with my life, I guess.
Really? That's . . . quite mature of you . . .
Sophia: Well, Fayt is my best friend. I know he views me as like a little sister so I understand if he doesn't feel the same way that I do. Besides, it's important for the both of us to find happiness.
This is true . . . and we are now out of time. Thank you once again for joining us, Sophia.
Sophia: Thanks for inviting me! It was a blast!
Join us next week when we interview Maria Traydor, the leader of Quark and the Captain of The Diplo.
Sophia: /waving/ Bye, everyone!
* * * *
Some facts about Sophia Esteed:
Her Japanese voice actor is Atsuko Enomoto.
Her English/American voice actor is Michelle Ruff.
Sophia is one of three humans genetically altered in order to combat the Creator's Executioners and to enter the 4-D realm. Professor Leingod, his wife Ryoko, and Professors Clive Esteed and Jessie Traydor are the ones who performed the genetic etching. Clive Esteed is her father.
Her mother, Kyoko Esteed, is a surgical doctor at a local hospital.
Sophia was born in a colony on Luna, or the moon.
Her favorite book is The Special Theory of Symbology by Dr. Leon
Despite having one of the largest Symbol collections of anyone in the party (the other being Adray Lasbard), her wind-up (casting) time is one of the slowest (the other, again, being Adray Lasbard).
Her power of Connection actually has no battle inclinations. The only times the power kicks in are at the Time Gate and at the Eternal Sphere terminal in Gemity.
Like Reimi, Sophia is perhaps one of the least liked characters of Till the End of Time by many. There are some who do adore her, maybe more than Reimi.
There are three PVC figures for Sophia, each with a different pose. Two of the PVCs have color variants.
Sophia has no known trust issues.
Item Creation Skills
Smithery 6
Cooking 43
Alchemy 36
Writing 15
Engineering 3
Crafting 33
Compounding 15
Synthesis 25
Ironically, in Till the End of Time, there are no negative numbers for Item Creation. I guess no one really stinks at anything for this particular game. :)
* * * *
Character Study - Sophia Esteed
Name: Sophia Esteed
Age: 17
Hair color: brown
Eye color: green
Height: 5'3"
Weight: 105 lbs
Rank: Symbologist
Birthdate: Sometime in the year 755 S.D.
Weapon: Staff/Symbology
Favorite food: unknown
Quote: You just have to believe what you feel in your heart. Let's choose to believe.
From the game manual: A childhood friend of Fayt's, Sophia is an independent and caring girl who looks up to Fayt as a big brother. She's never afraid to speak her mind and her charming smile softens the hearts of everyone around her. She seems to be an ordinary high school girl who likes cooking and shopping.
From me: I'm sure Sophia's independent in the ways that count, but, battle-wise and quest-wise, she needs all the help she can get. She's very reliant on Fayt for protection, and she sees them living in some kind of a fantasy world as a Knight and his Princess.
I don't think she's able to charm everyone with her smile, either. Initially, I'm quite sure Maria doesn't like her, seeing her as competition for Fayt's affections (more on that when I write up my character study of Maria), and, given her personality, Albel also isn't charmed by her. If anything, she's the kind of naive person who would have someone like the Wicked One gnashing his teeth in irritation and polishing his sword for the slaughter.
From the strategy guide:
Sophia Esteed is Fayt's childhood friend and perhaps his sweetheart. Her father is a close friend and research partner of Fayt's parents, and, as a result, the two families have spent a lot of time together. Sophia has an ongoing interest in the history of Symbology, so it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone to learn how talented she is at it.
From me: While I will concede that there are some romantic feelings on Sophia's part, I don't see where it's coming in on Fayt's part. His concern for her throughout the course of the game is understandable - they've known each other for a very long time, the attack on Hyda IV has him worried about her safety as well as that of his parents. The only place where the strong, romantic feelings even appear is in the manga in a side story where Sophia tries to ensnare Fayt into either becoming her boyfriend, going to bed with her or even both. Since her attempts are thwarted, we'll never know. Also, while I personally haven't gotten the Fayt/Sophia ending, I have seen it on youtube, and there is nothing even remotely romantic going on between them.
Just sayin'.
From the in-game dictionary:
A human girl born on Earth who is enrolled in the Spacetime Department of Bachtein High School. Unlike most girls of the present time, she excels in various household tasks such as cleaning and sewing. There is a simple reason for this. Her parents are both busy with work, and she has had to take care of the chores around the house from an early age.
Incidentally, her father, Dr. Clive Esteed works at the same research lab as Fayt's parents, and his house is close to Fayt's house, so the two families have had a close relationship for a long time.
From me:
I love browsing the in-game dictionaries. :) While it is true that Clive works with Robert and Ryoko, the only reason why Clive even knows the Leingods is because of his wife's long-term friendship with Ryoko Leingod. While it doesn't say exactly how long Kyoko and Ryoko have known each other, it does say they've been friends since school.
What I'm finding interesting is Sophia, despite wanting to surpass her "Aunt" Ryoko in Symbological Genetics, Spacetime studies is more her dad's field. If you get into his bio in the game, that's actually part of his specialty in the area of Symbological Genetics.
The in-game entries for Till the End of Time are hard to analyze when it comes to character. It really is just background information. About the only thing we don't see in Sophia is a neat fetish, whereas we get hints of it in Reimi though the cleaning fetish isn't anywhere in her bios. I'm sure Sophia likes everything to be tidy and orderly . . . she even comments about how the animals smell compared to the holographic images of animals she's seen, and she wonders if they're being cleaned daily like they should . . . It's a bit unrealistic to clean an animal every single day when other chores need more attention.
Continued from the in-game dictionary:
In order to save the universe from the descending hand of judgment of the 4D beings, just as Fayt and Maria were given a power, Sophia was as well -- Connection. Surely it couldn't have been that much of a surprise to her.
From me:
I don't really care for the last remark in Sophia's bio about how the experiments shouldn't have come as a surprise to her. She wasn't even born when they decided to give her the power of Connection. While infants do retain memories, they don't necessarily remember such events after they've happened. Yes. It's a surprise to her, probably like a bomb hitting her.
According to the Star Ocean wikia, it's because of her powers of Connection that Sophia is so adept at Symbology. I disagree with that assessment. If it's her powers of Connection that make her such a great Symbologist, why are people like Adray and Nel so skilled at it as well? Granted, the only one's whose arsenal is even comparable to Sophia's is Adray's . . . I think the only differences in what they learn when it comes to skill manuals is the ones designated specifically for them and found in the post-game dungeons.
For the rest of my character study . . .
Sophia is the only daughter/child of Clive and Kyoko Esteed, as has been mentioned before, and, as everyone knows, Fayt Leingod's childhood friend. I estimate that she's known Fayt since she was no older than two or three years old, due to the very long-standing friendship of Ryoko Leingod and Sophia's mother. Her dad is also a research partner with the Leingods at their research facility, which has helped to strengthen that friendship.
Given her age, I surmise that Sophia is either a junior or senior at Bachtein High School. Given the average of juniors in our present day and age is 17, I'd say she's a junior, but I will also accept her being a senior. I will never say she's a sophomore. Despite my dislike for her, Sophia is an intelligent young girl who I see as wanting to keep up with Fayt as much as possible. At some point before the events of the game, she's developed some strong romantic feelings towards Fayt so it seems very unlikely she'd do something stupid enough to be held back a grade or two while Fayt pushes forward with his collegiate studies. Her dream is for her and Fayt to follow in his parents' footsteps with Fayt trying to surpass his father and she her "Aunt" Ryoko.
Sophia is perhaps one of the most sickeningly sweet characters in Till the End of Time, save perhaps for her doppleganger in Ameena Leffeld. The word "pink" comes to mind when describing Sophia and her personality, and I don't mean pink as fighting for a cure, building up awareness and celebrating the survivors of breast cancer pink, but the sweet and fluffy kind of pink that says I'm a girly girl and I want a Knight to protect me kind of pink. Though I'm sure she's an independent soul, we don't see it, and, through the interactions with her after the events at the Kirlsa Training Facility with the Vendeeni, it's very clear she's a product of her society. This is something players can find out when roaming Elicoor II and finding her in places like Arias, Peterny, and other cities. Unlike Fayt, she doesn't adapt to her given surroundings or current events. It's like a part of her believes that, once everything is over, life can go back to the way it was before the attacks by the Vendeeni and the Creator. She's too accustomed to a "lavish" lifestyle - controlled atmospheric conditions, more than modern appliances for cooking, computers, etc . . . - so it's no wonder she returns to that kind of a life after Luther's defeat.
Physically speaking, Sophia is the most pathetic character in terms of TTEOT playable characters. I realize that, once she's obtained, she starts out at Level 1 and she's primarily a Symbologist. The level one status alone is enough to make it difficult in leveling her up, especially if you're trying on Moonbase or Styx, but, even after she's leveled up high enough, she's still difficult to keep alive in battle or other characters alive, for that matter. The best use for Sophia is healing/support, but one has to turn off her offensive spells to keep her focused (or you'll be wasting a lot of fresh sage on incapacitated characters while she's casting something like Southern Cross or Deep Freeze. Also, for being primarily a Symbologist, she, along with Adray, has the slowest casting/wind-up time ever. It's only improved with an accessory which does increase her casting time by cutting it by like a third or two thirds, but it still takes some time for her to fire off a spell. If it weren't for the fact that she gets the Restoration spell, I wouldn't even bother with having her in battle. It's easier to find items that restore magic than it is to find something that revives incapacitation so . . . her learning at least one additional healing spell (Faerie Light) and the Restoration Spell are about the only reasons why I'd even consider using her in battle . . . that, and, if it's done correctly, can get a person a few Battle trophies in the process.
One thing that bothers me about Sophia is how she defends Fayt's broodiness one moment and then turns around the next and says, "It's not like you to be this way". She'd just stood up to Maria for being cold about Robert Leingod's death and to basically lay off Fayt for being sad over it. I don't understand why she'd then side with Maria (to an extent) and say it isn't like him to be so brooding. WTF? I do see Sophia as being like a little sister and his best friend. I'm sure she does understand him better than anyone else, but she also hasn't lived through what he has. She doesn't even take the time to ask him about what's happened.
Overall, Sophia is not one of my favorite characters. Her personality alone bugs me, but she doesn't bug me nearly as much as Reimi. That much is obvious.
