Small Talk Is a Big Deal - A Tales of Analysis

Skits have become a prominent staple in the Tales of franchise, but what purpose do they truly serve? This video aims to answer that question by doing a deep dive into how skits have affected the series over the years.
Thumbnail by Hotcyder:
/ @hotcyder
Video Editing by The Gaming Pilgrimage:
/ @thegamingpilgrimage
Stephen King voice over by AesirAesthetics:
/ @aesiraesthetics

[@SchnozMeister]

I remember being slowly mind-blown by the skits in Vesperia because it was legit the first time I had ever seen a story heavy game have dedicated little moments for miscellaneous character interactions. I was pretty young at the time so maybe I was easily impressed, but even to this day I don't think I've skipped a single skit in any Tales of game I've played.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Nah, I replayed Vesperia recently and the skits still slap.

[@abc4781]

That's how I felt about Tales of the Abyss

[@LvlJake]

"The fact that Jennifer is a skank because her ass is too fat." "Death by a thousand cuts.. Life by a thousand hugs." - Daniel the Maniel This was too good. It's like the content I've always needed to see to really pull me into the series. I didn't realize how hard these skits go, I'm always pining for more "casual" discussions between characters in an adventuring party to feel their bonds grow more naturally, and have more texture and nuance to their personalities. Man, really fucking great video bro.

[@QuestingRefuge]

I've never played a Tales game but the skits sound amazing. I couldn't help but think how in FFXV one of the best parts was just them being bros and chatting. I also loved the chit chat in FF7R. It's comforting and just gives them so much more personality

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

You should definitely give the series a shot!

[@liberty1212]

yep! my sentiments about ff7 too. i enjoy good combat but i can't enjoy a game without a good cast of characters and story. tales and ff are perfect for me because of the rich character development we see beyond beyond key plot points and battles

[@DewMan31]

I'm glad someone could verbally display why skits are such a great addition to rpgs. Making your characters feel more alive is key to making players more attached to them. It's why you get similar elements in Final Fantasy XV or Xenoblade, because it helps further engage players. People just learning to be themselves around their group is what people want most out of their casts... most of the time.

[@zsblack7063]

I was sure you were gonna make a “depth by a thousand clips” pun but I also like the life by a thousand hugs

[@S_Hyde]

I hope someone did finally teach Jude about bazongas

[@HybridAngelZero]

I've coin in term trying to explain why stories that are super serious at all times don't tend to emotionally engage me, "If I can't laugh with these characters, how can I cry for them?" and Tales is one of the best series for making well-rounded, lovable characters, and having characters pick on each other or just stand around chatting about nothing makes emotional scenes go from intense to hitting you like a ton of bricks. Xenoblade is also great at this, especially with XC2 and 3, and I love that skits are a thing in underrated RPG classic Arc Rise Fantasia (which had some Tales staff working on it). On a more personal note, when I played Symphonia and Vesperia for the first time, I didn't really have any meaningful close relationships, but I am phenomenally lucky that now I do have a lot of great friends who I've made memories with just talking junk about nothing for hours, and when replaying both games in recent rereleases, the skits mean so much more to me now than they did in previous playthroughs

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I still need to get around to playing Xenoblade 1 and 3 one of these days. I played a couple of hours of the first one and I liked what I played of it.

[@HybridAngelZero]

@@DanielSantosAnalysis I love all three of the games (as I'm sure you're likely well aware xD) I hope you love the games, too. I definitely recommend playing XC1 before 3, there will be some moments that will hit different for sure It's also very nice that the whole series is on a single console. Feels good to recommend games to someone that aren't on 15+ year old hardware

[@timoth4529]

@@HybridAngelZero "whole series is on a single console" me as a Xenoblade X enjoyer: >:3

[@Icychill240]

This was an excellent video Daniel. I don't know you, but I know we have somethings in common. Journey before destination.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I'm glad you enjoyed the video ;)

[@dafff08]

skits do a lot for atmosphere, comradery and the feel of a game. if the story is the main course, lets say a steak, combat would be the side dish, which works hand in hand with the steak. while the skits are the spices enriching the flavor. some people like things more raw and natural, so making skits optional gives you the freedom to do so. that said, i love skits. they add a good chunk of immersion. i watched a 9 hour long video on berserias main story because i wanted to relive some of the memories, while avoiding combat, since i find it rather dull. altho it was a good experience, i did miss the skits and banter between the cast quite a bit. without them its just not the same. like a pure steak without salt or anything. its decent, but not as great as it could have been.

[@LeMasterofSwords]

I love the skits so much. It’s fun to see the characters mess around like friends

[@chimeratcg07]

Skits is one of the many reasons why the Tales of series is amazing.

[@Zxcas]

I love this kind of videos analising some very specific aspect of a game Keep going my guy

[@ratoftoska7497]

I grabbed a few Tales games on sale and I'm playing Tales of Vesperia as my first one. I'm really enjoying the skits and how they flesh out the characters.

[@Chelaxim]

We need a remaster or romhack that restores the skits into Tales of Eternia. That game having only 6 party members with 4 being mandatory and 3 of those 4 knowing each other their whole lives...i know we missed out on a bunch of interesting skits.

[@ratoftoska7497]

Oh shit my dad is narrating for Stephen King!

[@abenator5303]

yooo! a new drop. thats one thing I love about tales games, the small talk.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Sometimes I feel the skits don't get enough credit for how much they add to the experience, glad to see others enjoy them as much as I do.

[@russcurt]

Great video! Thanks for sharing your work, I’m a fan

[@ivanbluecool]

The small talk scenes are nice breaks between the game. I don't like the much longer ones unless they are very special as short bursts are more fun to not make you put down the remote immediately Abyss and graces are probably my favorite ones for graces being very funny at times and actually fit into the plot well while abyss really shows the development Luke goes through seeing how he started to how he ends up

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I always appreciated how Graces made me look forward to finding landmarks and other stuff in the environment that stood out, gave me a chance to learn about the world and see the characters talk about what they know.

[@ivanbluecool]

@@DanielSantosAnalysis yeah and it keeps you from missing them of you can't beat Hubert or Sophie first time around. Graces feels the most fleshed out due to having 3 parts of the game with the children normal and sequel stories

[@TheMiyazakiMan]

You read my mind.... the combat, the characters... but number 1 is the amount of merch I can buy for Tales of series in Japan! ^^

[@Mr._Matt]

That was an excellent analysis! The skits may well be my favorite part of Tales games. Berseria's darker tone of party made for some interesting exchanges, and it's why I love that one so much. I think skits also explain why other JRPGs like FFVII for the PSX (PS One) kinda fall flat with me. There are a couple of light-hearted moments here and there, but they're interwoven into the mandatory narrative. I still haven't touched the remake as I don't feel like carrying around a bunch of emotionless dead weight outside of the rare narrative moment. Thanks for more fun Tales coverage. 😁

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Thanks for the praise! That said, you should consider giving FFVII another shot, but with the Reunion fan translation. It honestly cannot be understated how butchered the original localization is, the English is barely coherent at times.

[@Mr._Matt]

@@DanielSantosAnalysis I'll have to consider it. Part of what I disliked so much about the original FFVII was how things didn't make sense, like "Sephiroth clones" that aren't really clones at all, and other weird statments of "fact" that are fallacious. With so many localization/translation errors, it's like having a story delivered to you and you don't know if you can trust it...and not in the good, mind-bendy writing sort of way. For now, though, I need to try to muster the willpower to continue Tales of the Abyss. I started it based on your recommendation and got to a snowy port town a little while after a rather big uh-oh narrative event and regrouping with the party. Sometimes I just fall off of whatever I'm playing. I didn't really have much in the way of gripes about the game. I quite liked the turn-around for Luke that started after that big narrative moment. I definitely prefer Berseria still, but it's quite good.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

@@Mr._MattLike I said, the localization was just bad even by the standards of the time, FFVII has so much going on narratively and thematically, it truly deserved better. If it helps, there aren't really any literal "clones" in the traditional sense, it was moreso about trying to create SOLDER's that were on the level of Sephiroth, not that they were literal genetic clones of his. Also, you should finish Abyss before deciding if you prefer Berseria or not 😉

[@Chelaxim]

Skits is one of my favorite things about the series and skit like systems in other games like Xenoblade Chronicles, Arc Rise Fantasia, Granida,Bravely Default,Trails,Persona, Final Fantasy IX and Star Ocean is one of my favorite things in those games as well. It's nice hearing things from the characters that don't necessarily have to do with the MSQ. Look at Final Fantasy XII as an example, that cast would be improved if it had something similar. Instead characters only talk when it's absolutely necessary leading half the cast turning into silent protagonists for most of the game. Does Ashe have a problem with people of a lower class? She only talks to Vaan a few times and NEVER talks to Penenlo...she literally only acknowledges Penenlo's existence once.

[@TianZhaoHeavenlyFortune]

That ending part where you shared your personal life and all that… man I totally relate to you! 100%!

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Hah, I was hoping that part would hit home for people, glad to hear it resonated with you.

[@femtrooper]

Great discussion and wonderfully put together video!!! I really enjoyed this as someone who is new to the series and *still* not a fan of the skits. It was nice to see why you liked them and honestly, it makes sense. I'm the weird one for not liking them haha I just don't like the way they are presented I guess - half animated in boxes...just not my style. I would much prefer a bunch of small cut scenes than the way they do it in Tales of but that's just me!!! Who knows, maybe one day I will find a Tales of game that really speaks to me.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I'm glad you liked the video! If you're not a fan of the presentation, you might prefer how they look in Tales of Arise since they're closer to small cutscenes rather than the little animated portraits.

[@juandsilvad6380]

I think the tales of games that shows precisely why skits are so powerful is tales of destiny DC, the first half is well paced, the overall story is not big deal but the character interactions through skits were what made me go through it, after clearing the first half and getting into the second one, the story got more serious and better but there were less skits and dungeons were too long, making it feel less enjoyable than the first one

[@lebonk8081]

Abyss and legendia are my favorites

[@civilwarfare101]

I only played Xillia and that was back in 2016 but I do agree with you in any case. When I first found out about the skits in Xillia, the first thing that came to mind was, "wow I never actually noticed that most RPGs don't actively let the party actively converse with one another" so when it was a nice detail I noticed in that game. It was just cool that a game actually addresses that whole thing. Regarding what you said about friendship in general, most bonds I have now are with my family and I have too many abdonment issues to even want to make new ones or reconnect to my old ones but over the years, I get why people do like stories about friendships in JRPGs and shonen anime, I used to scoff at the friendship tropes found in those stories and while I do have with have my issues with how they are discussed and the fans of them act, I can't deny the idea of seeing a fictional friend group going through trials and tribulations can be pretty endearing, just the whole idea of having a group of friends who are willing to stick around with each other even after the toughest of times and always have time for one another is something I can't help admire the characters for even though it's fictional. Watching Dragon Ball all the way to GT really did show me that. It does depend on execution at the end of the day, but over time I don't roll my eyes nearly as much over stories that have friendships that don't involve rarely ever seeing each other or ending in a stab in the back.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Yeah there are definitely bad examples in anime where the friendship tropes are cringe inducing, but I think the Tales series largely does a good job of making it feel genuine.

[@civilwarfare101]

@@DanielSantosAnalysis I need to play more of those games. Right now I am planning to go through Berseria, Vesperia and Arise.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

@@civilwarfare101 Tales has the king of friendship tropes: Graces F. You know what the F stands for? Some say it's future, but I say it's friendship. If you like a good friendship trope, look no further.

[@civilwarfare101]

@@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309 I am not sure if I am a big enough fan of the series to want to play that.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

@@civilwarfare101 It has arguably some of the best combat in the series, but the writing isn't nearly as strong compared to Vesperia or Berseria.

[@CynicalGamingBlogTerry309]

It felt weird going from the full anime character body skits in Graces only to go back to the portrait in a box skits in Xillia. I think making heavily character driven experiences is great and all but sometimes I feel that silence too can be impactful in some games. Sometimes completely eliminating dialogue from an experience or limiting it to the necessities can make it better. I feel that for these types of games, I need to be in a certain mood to play them. Even though the skits are optional, I found that in Vesperia especially that the dialogue was way too much and having to press A each time to move past the bombardment of text boxes was kinda annoying. Like when you enter a dungeon in Vesperia and everyone starts talking about the dungeon and all of that stuff before actually going into it, it feels like it should have been put in a skit. There are also games that aren't JRPG's like First Person Shooters that have to have that sidekick character that is always making small talk with you through comm chatter and it drives me insane, like why? Like the whole topic of this video actually made me think about Grandia 2 more than Tales. Perhaps it's because I have a strong affinity for its characters and its way of making interactions with NPC's and dinner scenes mostly optional and full of great moments. I suppose Star Ocean as well with its private actions kinda give that same experience and brought about some interesting side events too. There are a lot of different ways that games have tried to incorporate these systems and it's kind of interesting to me how there have been so many different methods explored to achieve this. When I look at Tales Of Symphonia, I see it what Star Ocean 3 should have been, the implementation of skits in Symphonia made up for the lack of character interactivity in Private Actions in Star Ocean 3, the EX Skills allowing for more character management to make up for Star Ocean 3's dumbed down alternative and the flanoir scene being a stand in for the multiple endings. I can't help but feel that the skits brought about the character interaction that Star Ocean 3 was lacking due to its shoddy implementation of private actions.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Definitely do not agree with you on Vesperia, but it's interesting for you to bring up Grandia since it had the campfire and hotel segments where characters had a chance to chat with each other. While I always enjoyed those, my issue with how Grandia handled it was that they felt too few and far between.

[@Devil-Joe]

Yo Mindo Cool I missed you man where have you been

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Don't call it a comeback, I've been here for years!

[@anacreon212]

basically skits basically show off what the characters are like during down time. What is on their mind at the current point in time, the dynamic between characters. Skits are like seasonings/ sauces not really needed but they just enhance the overall story.

[@matth1641]

Good video, agree with your take on skits for sure. Definitely one of the more enjoyable parts of the Tales series as a whole. Arise was the only entry where I had issues with the skits and ended up just skipping them altogether. Your point about Symphonia being the first Tales of game to have characters bounce off of each other instead of just talking about where to go next in the game is probably off. Destiny 2, which came out before Symphonia, also had those same type of skits and were quite enjoyable. I say probably off because I haven't played any of the PS1 titles lol.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

Tales of Destiny 2 is a Japan only PS2 release, so you might be right, but since I can't read Japanese so I can't confirm. That is unless you were referring to Tales of Destiny II released in the west, which is actually Tales of Eternia, it was renamed for marketing reasons in the west (although was re-released in PAL regions on the PSP as Eternia). In the case of Eternia, the "skits" play out similarly to how they did in the PS1 versions of Destiny and Phantasia. That said, I did say that there was a little more to the skits in the earlier titles, they didn't *only* give directions as there was some banter, just that giving direction was the primary function of them. As far as I know at least, Tales of Symphonia is where the format for skits truly began to take shape.

[@kylescott2235]

Sorry to be that guy but why is there no 480p option?

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I honestly have no idea.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I know it's like a week later, but I just checked and the 480p option is there now, lol.

[@xenosanctum2531]

Correction on your video, Tales of Destiny 2 (not Symphonia) was actually the first game to have the modern skit format. Besided for that grate video, shame on the low view count, I find my Tales videos do poor as well. It sucks that too few people play this series.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

In my defense, Tales of Destiny 2 was only released in Japan, thus I never played it, but thank you for the clarification all the same.

[@xenosanctum2531]

@@DanielSantosAnalysis Well if your intrested I have done retrospectives on Destiny 2, Rebirth, Destiny PS2, Tempest, Innocence and Hearts DS on my channel if you want to know what the JP games are like.

[@goncaloferreira6429]

1- more tales content is always good. 2- with that said the script is too long and not enought to the point. Quite fitting as that is a problem with many tales games stories. 3- Tales is yet to have a great story. Symphonia is probably the closest thing to it. 4- skits are great but not all. they connect tales to anime/manga and visual novels. on the other hand final fantasy is much more on the cinematic school of storytelling, going for short and consize. Very effective specially when paired with bettern cinematic scene direction and quality " graphics"

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

1. Agreed 2. Respectfully disagree, the script was as long as it needed to be. 3. Also respectfully disagree, and even if I did agree that Tales was yet to have a great story, I would not cite Symphonia as the closest to it. 4. The point was not that skits were the most important element of storytelling, but that it serves as a key component that goes underappreciated.. Regardless of our disagreements, I'm glad you took the time to watch the video and give a response.

[@ultimateamv4216]

Skits aren't as good in Arise though. Also Arise isn't as good as people think it is, apparently Arise wasn't even going to be a Tales game which explains alot.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I agree that the writing quality of the skits in Arise is not on par compared to previous entries, what I was praising however was the presentation style, which I do think is good. Also, it's not really cool to tell people that something "isn't as good as they think it is" like, it's fine not to like it, I had my issues with Arise, but chill my guy.

[@ultimateamv4216]

@@DanielSantosAnalysis Yeah your right got kind of carried away there but it's good to see that Shintai has returned oops I mean MondoCool oops I meant Daniel Santos. Off topic here but I'm surprised I don't think you ever talked about Persona on this channel. Anyway hoping to see more Tales Discussions on this channel and maybe some other games like Trails. Also some Anime Discussions would be cool too I'm out of touch with current anime right now.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

@@ultimateamv4216 I actually started playing Trails in the Sky recently, good game so far, not sure if I am gonna do a video yet since it's too early but I am digging it.

[@ultimateamv4216]

@@DanielSantosAnalysis You should probably beat Sky 1 & 2 first then do a video on it because it's basically two parts of a whole like Digital Devil Saga. 3rd is cool too from what I've heard.

[@DanielSantosAnalysis]

I cant promise I'll do a video, I need to find a specific angle that I find interesting and unique that compels me to want to do a video on a subject, but if I do make a video it will definitely be after I finish both of them.