The Rival Walter Delques has fans in Japan, but in the west he is hated for being a jerkass racist that belittles the party at every moment he can.
Anti-Climax Boss: A lot in the beginning, where the difficulty is barely challenging. Then Stingle pops out as a suddenly challenging boss, while Vaclav doesn't pose much of a threat.
Arc Fatigue: Arc Stall example. The game is particularly bad about its pacing in the Character Quests section. Not only do you do nothing but retread the same dungeons you've already cleared until The Very Definitely Final Dungeon, but there's no voice acting, which makes it seem like even more of a drag.
Go Shiina's soundtrack was pure awesome. Every. Single. Track. of it.
The tracks of the two, brief cutscenes when the cannon is first fired. And they're really brief.
What really helped was the motif of the game, the sea, as well as the general atmosphere just plain fit with the soundtrack. The usual composer(s) of the Tales Series and their adrenaline-rush type music (much of which is done by series veteran Motoi Sakuraba, who was absent for this installment) really wouldn't have worked, just as Go Shiina's serene soundtrack wouldn't have worked in the pumping games.
Breather Level: The Sixth Chapter — the Quiet Lands and the four Monuments — is much easier than the previous ones for having short and repetitive levels, no puzzle booths, and a Recurring Boss in the form of the four Gaet monsters. The Earth Monument doesn't even have random encounters, for the most part.
The melees are top tier because spellcasters don't get nearly as much return on their spells as they should to keep pace. It certainly doesn't help that melee fighters can use the Extreme Symbol, which skyrockets physical attack power in exchange for cutting defense in half. The trade-off is so very worth it; the character equipped with the symbol will deal absolutely absurd damage. For example, Senel using the symbol and wielding a elemental weapon that an enemy is weak to can easily break 10,000 damage with a single throw move. Spells tend to top off at about 2000-3000 damage, and take a lot of time to cast. Casters in general are Overshadowed by Awesome, mostly used for utility of playing to elemental weaknesses. You need at least one spellcaster for the sake of healing, but it's the melee fighters who will be doing most of the damage.
Shirley, a hybrid between caster and ranged fighter, ends up as the bottom-tier character because she's a Master of None. Most of her spells are already known by Will, Norma, and Grune, and the few unique spells that Shirley gets aren't acquired until very late in the Character Quests. In other words, she isn't that useful until the very end of the game, by which time the other characters can do what Shirley does and do it better.
Common Knowledge: There is no dub in the Character Quests part of the game because the localization team ran out of money to dub the entire game, so they elected to only dub the first half. The rumor is that it was because the team thought the second half of the story was optional, which is simply not true.
Complete Monster: Vaclav Bolud, the third prince of the militaristic Crusand Empire, is defined by his ruthless ambitions. Properly ineligible for succeeding the throne due to his lineage, Vaclav leads an independent military unit in the hopes of eventually discovering a means to violently overthrow the Crusand monarchy. Vaclav, discovering the continental Legacy at sea, deciphers the secrets behind the ship's Nerifes Cannon and kick-starts a global search for the fabled Merines to activate its dormant powers. When Vaclav's child protege Senel Coolidge finds the Merines and abandons him out of love for the Ferines people, Vaclav years later discovers Senel's location and launches a genocidal campaign against the Ferines. Although Vaclav fails to capture Senel and the Merines, he succeeds in killing or capturing most of the Ferines. Seeking an alternative to the runaway Merines, Vaclav began horrific human experiments to produce an artificial Merines, indiscriminately murdering hundreds. Though Vaclav is ultimately defeated, he uses the last of his strength to indiscriminately fire the Nerifes Cannon upon the mainland, laughingly proclaiming the world shall be destroyed if he cannot have it.
Contested Sequel: Those who have played Legendia either love it due to the cast's cohesion and interesting story, or hate it for the drastic change in gameplay from Symphonia. There is no in-between.
Harriet violently forces Jay to take a medal and he fearfully obliges. It's funny at first, until you get to his character quest and realize just what he's been through...
The theme song, already a massiveTear Jerker about friends parting ways and specifically, Grune having to leave the party in the end, was on the very last single the band Do As Infinity produced before one of their members left and they broke up. (The other two members did reform the band in 2009, happily.)
Hilarious in Hindsight: A few people familiar with Final Fantasy: Unlimited saw similarities with the character designs, especially with Grune and Fabula, thanks to the fact that these share the same character designer. Turns out they have a lot more in common.
Moses and Jay. Their relationship, however, is questionable to the point in which it can be taken in several ways.
Elsa and Chloe. Elsa gets very excited about Chloe, and once insisted that she and Chloe were out on a date when they were talking a walk ("because we're living under the same roof!") Chloe does not return Elsa's feelings, but doesn't seem to be too weirded out...
Shirley and Fenimore:
Fenimore: So, I have to teach you what friends are like. You'll like it. I just acted like you... Ahh... That isn't like me at all...
Norma and Grune also seem to have this air about them, as do Norma/Shirley and Norma/Chloe to a lesser extent.
Love to Hate: Maurits and Walter, when they're the villains. The former is a Magnificent Bastard, and the latter is The Rival, both of which provide some decent boss fights while having at least understandable reasons to do what they did. Shirley gets some of this too after her own Face–Heel Turn once she gives in and becomes the Merines. Even some people who hate Shirley as a hero think she's a great villain, either because she had understandable reasons to snap or because it makes her a far more complex and compelling character. Contrast these with Vaclav and Solon, who are usually just plain hated.
Magnificent Bastard: Maurits Welnes, leader of Village of the Ferines, exhibits a helpful and kind personality that belies a casually manipulative old gentleman. Foreshadowing his skills when he disguised Ferines within Vaclav's ranks to save Senel and his party, Maurits continues to hide his hand while building good rapport, performing a Rousing Speech to motivate an ally army and solemnly paying respect to Stella. Convincing Shirley to perform the Rite of Ascension, Maurits deliberately prevents Walter from helping her friend Fenimore Xelhes from death so as to give Shirley the final nudge into becoming the Merines. Calm and affable even when explaining the real history and why he wishes to return the world back to the ocean, Maurtis blocks Senel's attempts to prevent Shirley from activating the Wings of Light with an Awful Truth he strategically withheld for such an occasion. Eventually bested alongside his god Nerifes, Maurits undergoes a change of heart and endeavors into creating a peace pact.
Memetic Molester: Half of the fans of Legendia fans probably think this is half the role Solon is meant to play in the game.
Misaimed Fandom: There's a bit of it regarding Senel and Shirley playing a role in the latter's gradual acceptance of the idea of the Merines, albeit in a way that causes both characters' motivations to come off differently than what was intended by the story.
While she has her flaws as a character, a lot of Shirley's criticism comes from people misinterpreting what happens with Shirley's role as the Merines. Some players think that Shirley willingly set out to destroy the world as the Merines due to Senel rejecting her Love Confession the previous night. And while that certainly didn't help, Shirley had lost the memory of what becoming the Merines would mean, and she gives in to bring people happiness. It's only after the Merines transformation has already started that Shirley remember that Nerifes wants humanity to be exterminated, but now it's too late for Shirley to back out. Plus, Fenimore had just died a tragic death right in Shirley's arms, which badly skewed Shirley's decision-making. On top of that, Maurits and the Ferines just let Fenimore die when they could have potentially saved her, knowing that Fenimore's death was going to push Shirley over the edge. It wasn't just that Shirley's love confession was rejected, it's that she suffered a large amount of emotional trauma in a very short period of time. After a rejected love confession, repressed memory coming to the surface, a friend's brutal death, and being bared down on by enemies who explicitly wanted blood, anybody would have snapped. And yet, there's still some fans who treat Shirley as an Apocalypse Maiden who wants to bring about The End of the World as We Know It because she's a Yandere, which is simply not true.
Shirley: I see... so that was it. I remember now, Fenimore... why I failed the Rite before. I realized what would happen if I completed the Rite of Accession. So I refused. I failed on purpose. If I completed the Rite... If I awakened as the Merines, it would mean... That I would kill my brother.
So Okay, It's Average: Nowadays, Tales fans are a little more forgiving of this game, knowing it was done by neither Team Destiny or Team Symphonia. The story in particular, while usually not listed among the top contenders for the franchise, has been given a bit more leeway for its character focus and emotional depth, even if the battle system remains a point of contention.
Moses's Character Quest; especially the ending, where he has to say goodbye to Geit before he turns feral and attacks Moses.
The Wham Episode in the center of the game, featuring Fenimore's death and cementing Shirley's Face–Heel Turn. Fenimore even tells Shirley to be happy before she dies, and it just breaks the poor girl's heart, knowing that Shirley most likely won't listen.
The private scene between Senel and Shirley, before the aforesaid Wham Episode. Senel is so focused on Stella being The Lost Lenore that, even though Shirley gives him a Love Confession, he flat-out rejects it. Senel clearly hates having to do it, knowing it's going to break Shirley's heart when he does, but feels like he has no choice because of what he's done.
Visual Effects of Awesome: Tidal Wave. Sure, the effect is more of a fountain than a wave, but it follows one of the best incantations in the game and, against late-game enemies, is pretty effective. Either it sends enemies flying, or if they get trapped in the center, will take a bunch of damage they're weak to.
Tough Act to Follow: This game released in North America in 2006 - about a year and half after Tales of Symphonia. Being made by neither Team Destiny or Symphonia, people thought Legendia was quite a step down due to the Super-Deformed artwork and the 2-D battle system. While not entirely fair to Legendia, the fact that Symphonia went on to be one of the greatest games in the Tales series meant that Legendia was already starting on the back foot.
Compared to the rest of the soundtrack, the dissonance is downright disturbing (albeit fitting, given the situation), so much so that famous video game countdowner Josh Scorcher put it as #1 in his 2021 list of disturbing soundtracks in non-horror games