Complete Monster: The unnamed Spot possessing Inquisitor Rommy captures Leimorneans to use them for magical experiments and to harvest their souls. Psychotic and cruel, the demonic spirit kills for fun and frames its crimes on its own innocent prisoners. Controlling Caius Qualls's father, the Spot forces him to fight his own son before it grows bored and kills him in front of Caius. Killing the heroine's parents for no reason other than to entertain itself, the Spot also enjoys twisting the heroes' trust of each other to watch the emotional turmoil. Twisted and sadistic, the Spot killed, tortured and brainwashed for its own sick enjoyment.
Contested Sequel: Half of the fandom hates this game with a burning passion seeing it as an Obvious Beta to get used to the DS technology; the other half... well, it doesn't love it, but find it at least okay. Positives listed are usually the characters, both in terms of personality and design, while the negatives centre around the limited gameplay and rushed story.
Difficulty Spike: Most of the boss fights are pretty easy and can be won pretty much by mashing attack until they die. The final boss, on the other hand, inflicts Status Effects, his main attack is a knockback, and he abuses the hell out of Teleport Spam.
They Changed It, Now It Sucks!: Many mechanics are strangely different from other Tales games (absence of world maps, small party, short playing time, etc), and of course that leads to flame. The whole "having to use Tent to see skits" thing was particularly hated.
They Wasted a Perfectly Good Character: Prince Tilkis went off alone to protect his country in a rowboat, and only took Forest with him because he insisted on going. Not only do we never get to see Senishibia, but Tilkis is probably the least important main character to the plot and only plays minor roles in other people's storylines, never getting one of his own.
Viewer Gender Confusion: It can be hard to figure out that stunner with a long ponytail, big shoujo eyes, and what appears to be a skirt is Prince Tilkis without any context.
Vindicated by History: Somewhat. The game was actually demoted to an "Escort title", and while it still is seen as the black sheep of the Tales Series, it's actually not been forgotten. Caius and Rubia regularly appeared as cameos in crossover titles. At one point, it was apparently being considered for a remake similar to Tales of Innocence and Tales of Hearts.
, played when you fight the Pope.