Hated characters from the Tales Series who've subsequently been Rescued from the Scrappy Heap. This includes characters who were hated due to play balance (High-Tier Scrappy or Low-Tier Letdown) as well as those who were unintentionally hated for narrative reasons (The Scrappy and its related tropes).
As the Tales games are often Deconstruction Fleets, characters who initially come across as The Scrappy are frequently improved over the course of the game or subsequent spin-offs.
A No Recent Examples rule applies to this trope. This is measured from the point when the character was introduced or became hated.
- Examples that were a High-Tier Scrappy or Low-Tier Letdown due to gameplay issues shouldn't be added for 1 month.
- All other examples (e.g. characters who were The Scrappy or related tropes such as Ethnic Scrappy or Damsel Scrappy) shouldn't be added for 9 months.
- Chester was a Scrappy for some people because of his almost non-existent personality, beyond being a hot-head who was intent on killing Dhaos for murdering his little sister and barely being in the game at all, despite being the Hero's best friend. His lack of any skills and the fact that he was still the same level you last used him (around 10 vs. 40+ for the rest of the party) made him an unfit party member in the game, too. Eventually, further versions of the game gave him a handful of skills, added in scenes where he trains at night when you sleep at inns so that he can match up to the rest of your party which give him tons of free levels, put the spotlight on him a bit more and his personality was expanded upon, making him less of a one-note character.
- Woodrow was a Low-Tier Letdown in the original game due to joining your party woefully underlevelednote , requiring you waste time to grind him to a proper level if you wanted to ever use him. To make matters worse, he had a unique mechanic where he could equip either swords or bows, but this mechanic meant he was locked out of half of his abilities at any given time due to those abilities being either exclusive to swords or exclusive to bows. He also replaced Mary, a beloved character who'd only return to the party if specific conditions were fulfilled very late on. The remake of the game reworked his skills extensively, allowing him to use both his sword and bow artes and making him join the party at the same level the rest of your teammates were at. Furthermore, Mary rejoins the party more easily now, mitigating the feeling of her being replaced.
- Colette was seen as just a Sue and nothing but a lame Chosen One, whose biggest personality was being a nice and sweet girl. As the game went on, her being identified as the Chosen One has caused her to see herself as nothing but the Chosen One and her extent of being willing to sacrifice herself for the world's good was quite impressive.
- Zelos is nothing more than a shameless flirter, who takes nothing seriously. Then you learn that he's a Stepford Smiler, who hates his status as the Chosen One of Tethe'alla, merely acting carefree, while being filled with selfloathing.
- Each of the party members. Not all of them begin as Scrappies, but due to their vastly different personalities, chances are that at least one of them will annoy the player. And then the game proved them to be better in ways that did not feel like retcons or forced development.
- Luke begins the game as a spoiled-rotten, irresponsible, immature, sheltered prick who has no desire to improve himself and even lacks the effort to try to do so. Then you find out he's a replica and only 7 years old, making his immature behavior more understandable. And during the climax of the first arc, the events have caused a huge shake to his world-view and his immense guilt causes him to do his best to become a better person.
- Guy comes across as a very bland, almost unnecessary character and seems to have no real personal stake in the plot, compared to the other members. He actually infiltrated the Fabre household in a plot to kill Luke, as revenge against Duke Fabre, but over the years has turned away from that mindset and his former retainer, and friend, Van.
- Tear can be seen as very stubborn and single-minded in her need to kill Van, especially since she refuses to even think of telling the party why. Tear turns out to be so on edge about killing her brother, because she knows that his plan actually has some merit to it. And the fact that he was more of a surrogate father to her, having raised her, makes it difficult for her to go through with this. She even thinks of herself as a horrible sister when the idea of Van remaining alive does not make her happy.
- Jade is condescending, aloof and his constant sarcastic or mocking comments are just annoying to have to listen to. He's also the one behind Fomicry and is likely the Tales of character, with the greatest amount of contempt and self-loathing, he actually wishes he could go back in time and kill his former self, to prevent the world from suffering from his actions.
- Anise is the obligatorily annoying kid character. Her actions are exaggerated, as she's been a spy for years, because her parents are being held hostage and is eventually forced into going along with a plan that kills the person she is in charge of protecting.
- Natalia first appears as nothing but a snobbish, arrogant princess and casually lords her position over Guy and only got into the party, because she basically blackmailed Luke into letting her join. Then she's revealed to be the soft-touch to King Ingobert's rule, as she was in charge of most of the projects that involved social institutions, like hospitals, and is loved by most of her kingdom's people. And when she gets knocked down a peg by the revelation that she is not the biological daughter of the King, her behavior became less arrogant. It also helps that she quickly proves herself not to be a typical Princess damsel by doing such things as bringing a bow to a gun fight with Legretta and winning until reinforcements arrived, sniping Largo out of a tree the moment she's made aware of his presence, saving Luke and Guy's lives, rallying her people behind her through her kind acts alone, effectively winning a popularity battle with the king to the point that his entire country would have rioted if he didn't take her back (and making him realize how horrible he was to her in his moment of weakness) and finally, shooting her villainous father in the back to finish him off, impressing him beyond all belief. She may still use Asch as a bit of an emotional crutch, but unlike typical RPG romances, he does as well, and her character is far from just 'Asch's love interest.' She broke so many negative Princess, Female, and combat stereotypes she's effectively a fandom-loved walking deconstruction. And when Asch dies? It takes one slap from Jade to wake her up and make her get serious, gunning for Van.
- A fun example with Sophie, who was considered to be the Scrappy before the game was even released, thinking that she was nothing more than a mandatory token loli character. Upon the game's release, people realized how awesome Sophie was and then the hatred shifted over to Cheria.
- Elize got similar flak to Sophie above, being the youngest of the party. And then she turned out to be one of the few kid characters in the Tales series that actually acts her age, is overall well-written, adorable and an amazingly good party member to boot; she's become a fandom favorite. Instead, some hatred shifted over to Jude and Milla, for overall being arbitrary to the main plot and lacking empathy, respectively.
- Leia was first written off as a happy-go-lucky Childhoodfriend and nothing more, even considering her The Load of the party. She showed a lot more depth when she took care of Jude during his Heroic BSoD, even protecting him from Alvin. The fact that she was aware that she might be The Load, and was scared of being considered one, was what drove her to prove herself to the party, too.
- The English dub did this for Jude since the reception of his English voice acting made him seem more mature, and it was easier to listen to. Additionally, he receives a massive amount of character development later in the game which helped.
- The game has done this for majority of the Xillia cast. If one of the Xillia cast bugged you in the previous game, they likely became much more tolerable in this game.
- Jude Mathis' Milla-obsession was toned down to minute, subtle references in some scenes and the previous game's events have made him less naive. He also gains his own character arc that mostly revolves around establishing him as more than a Satellite Character.
- Alvin has mellowed out and is one of the funniest gadflies in the party. Various scenes and his character arc also show that he is honestly trying to make up for his previous betrayals and wants to become a man that people can trust.
- Gaius and Muzét have both taken a level in kindness and gained more character depth to them, now that both are playable, with Gaius actually having a surprisingly funny side to his personality, while Muzet actually faces consequences for her actions in Xillia and has to work to gain the rest of the party's trust.
- Milla herself, due to not being as shilled as she was initially. Which helps, since the real Milla isn't even around for two-thirds of the game. She also has a much more pleasant voice now, thanks to better voice directions or Vocal Evolution, lacking the lisp she had previously. And because of the previous game's events, she's also not as awkward when talking to people anymore.
