The squares are arranged in the center of the screen, showing only the characters who are involved in a given scene. Character portraits are displayed within framed squares with a plain background, featuring each character's face. The PlayStation remake version of Tales of Phantasia features the introduction of the most widely used face skit format, known in Japan as Kaodra ( カオドラ, kaodora ?, "face drama"). Furthermore, due to the limitations of the PlayStation console, there is no available space on the world map screen for subtitles, and as a result, no official translation was made for these scenes. All of these scenes were removed from the North American release of Tales of Destiny, as no English voice actors were hired for the game. This process repeats itself until there are no more scenes, at which point the characters simply start dancing or performing other actions. This window features the magnified sprites of all of the characters in the active battle party, and after idling for a set amount of time, these characters start to chat with each other about various mundane topics. The forerunner to the modern implementation of skits exists in the original Tales of Destiny, appearing as part of the Active Party Window ( アクティブパーティウィンドウ, Akutibupaatiuindou ?) at the bottom-left corner of the screen, when the party is on the world map. After viewing skits in the game, they can be seen again by the Skit Library, and in some games it is possible to unlock non-viewed skits through the Grade Shop.Īppearances in Original Titles Tales of Destiny (PlayStation) Most skits are fully optional, often requiring a button input to activate any given skit, although some games have incorporated skit elements into story dialogue, such as Tales of Legendia and Tales of Hearts. Some skits can provide titles and affect relationships with characters within the party. These scenes feature party members engaging in idle banter about various subjects, often involving topics that do not directly relate to the story, which serve to flesh out the characters and their interactions with their companions. As they chat with each other, the portraits change to reflect their emotion. When a skit is triggered, the music volume is reduced considerably and portraits of the party appear on screen.
Skits give the players a sense of what happens in the group and how they feel during their travels. In earlier localizations, voice-overs were cut from most skits to reduce costs for voice acting due to their optional nature, but the practice has been dropped in newer installments.
2.12 Tales of Xillia and Tales of Xillia 2įirst appearing in Japan with the original PlayStation version of Tales of Destiny, and in North America with Tales of Eternia, skits have become a staple of the Tales series, appearing in some form or variation in every game since, including all of the escort titles.