History Headscratchers / TalesOfGraces

** Milla (Xillia/2): At the beginning of the game, she has her summoned spirits, until her [[BroughtDownToNormal Brought Down to Normal]] moment. Though Milla starts at Lv.1, her connection to the Greater Spirits gives her massive boosts to all of her stats and some of the most powerful attacks in the game, [[spoiler:and this is before she becomes Maxwell's replacement (who later becomes a summon/Mystic arte in Xillia 2.]] Arguably, she'd be in the top spot for that reason alone.

** Ludger (Xillia 2): He has three different weapons at his disposal (twin swords, twin pistols, and a mallet) of which he can switch on the fly, each with their own moveset making him one of (if not 'the') most versatile characters in the Tales franchise. His Twin Pistol Artes in particular focus on Elemental artes to compensate for their low power. While none of his three styles can use every element on their own, when combined they make Ludger the one of only four characters (alongside Jude, Milla, and Alvin) to have access to all six elements. His Support Skill, Mirror, lets him copy the Support Skill of his Link Partner as well. This alone puts him higher than any [BadassNormal Badass Normal] character so far, and this is only him early game. Thanks to his bloodline, he also has the ability to shift through fractured dimensions, where he takes a monstrous form using an ability called the Chromatus, to which he achieves its highest level form endgame. If it wasn't for the time limitations on the Chromatus, he'd be a little higher.

** Sorey (Zesteria): Early game, he'd be between Senel and Kyle. The only thing he has going for him early on is the ability to talk to seraphs. Once he becomes the Shepard, well... he gains elemental abilities (lightning on his own, and with each seraph joining a pact with him, the elemental power grows). He also holds the power to calm/purify malevolence. In battle, he wields a one-handed sword and is able to fuse together with the Seraphim in a process called Armatization doubling his power. So most of his power and abilities stem from other sources, thus putting him under Luca and possibly on equal footing with Stahn w/ Swordian. If it wasn't for the fact that he had such a blatant weakness for all of this, he'd be higher(he can be corrupted by malevolence just as easily as he can purify it. There was actually a fractured version of him (Xillia 2) in Asteria that became corrupted, not by malevolence but instead by Shwartz's dark mist in Legendia, turning that version of Sorey into the Lord of Calamity).

** Velvet (Berseria): Much like Sorey, she's really got nothing going for her early game aside from decent sword skills. She becomes a Therion (Hellion in Zesteria) later with improved combat skills on top of her daemonic left arm/claw, but that's pretty much it. Take away the claw and you pretty much have Cless.
** Kor/Shing (Hearts): Really nothing special, except for housing the soul of Creed within him, which doesn't benefit him in any way like Asbel or Sorey. He uses the Soma 'Asteria', a sword-and-shield combo, and his favored elements are Light and Thunder. He mainly uses sword techniques, and is one of two party members without inherent spells, which puts him above Yuri by a hair, but under Velvet (taking all of this into consideration.

** Jude (Xillia/2): In terms of abilities, would pretty much be the same as Senel, however he has a Mystic arte (or artes if you consider the combined Mystic artes in Xillia 2) so that gives him and edge above Senel. In Xillia 2, there isn't much of a drastic change in abilities.