Tales of Symphonia: Regal Character Guide -------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS [ToC] -------------------------------------- 1: Table of Contents................[ToC] 2: Introduction.....................[Intro] 2.1: Contact Information.........[Contact] 3: Version History..................[Version] 4: Regal FAQ........................[Regal00] 4.1: Regal Character Information.[Regal01] 4.2: Regal basic breakdown.......[Regal02] 4.3: Regal's Pros................[Regal03] 4.4: Regal's Cons................[Regal04] 4.5: Regal's Arte breakdown......[Regal05] 4.6: Advanced techniques.........[Regal06] 4.7: Recommended Set Up..........[Regal07] 4.8: Do's and Don'ts.............[Regal08] 5: Legal Mumbo Jumbo................[Legal] 6: Conclusion.......................[Conc] -------------------------------------- INTRODUCTION [Intro] -------------------------------------- Hello, my user-name is dagoldenclip2 but everyone simply calls me Clip. I started playing Tales in 2003 with Tales of Symphonia, but I didn't gain higher technical insight until I started getting into solo and challenge runs. With many runs and character understanding under my belt over the years I've managed to gain a good grasp in terms of how to effectively master the vast amount of characters in the series. Many fans are average players who simply enjoy the experience and move on. However, there is a small fraction of the fan-base who engage in higher level Tales game-play. The wide-spread misinformation amongst the fan-base has slightly motivated me to correct this with character and mechanic guides to explain everything I learned over my development as a Tales player. This FAQ is here to specifically detail Regal and all of his capabilities. This FAQ is not here to debate between characters in this game or other characters in the series. It's here to guide new players or old who may want to get some understanding of how Regal plays. -------------------------------------- CONTACT INFORMATION [Contact] -------------------------------------- Considering I'm a human being (I think) there will most likely be mistakes. This is all of the information I feel is worthy to note so any additions you feel are necessary can be voiced in a PM sent on Youtube. www.youtube.com/dagoldenclip2 If you decide to PM me be clear in what you feel needs to be added or questioned. If you take the time to ask irrelevant questions you will be ignored. I ask that you title the PM "Regal Information" or something to that effect so I know what you're talking about. Any negativity will be ignored so don't bother venting any personal frustrations you may have with how I operate. -------------------------------------- VERSION HISTORY [Version] -------------------------------------- Version 1.00: Finished but subject for future updates -------------------------------------- REGAL FAQ [Regal00] -------------------------------------- Let's get cracking then. So you decided you wanted to step up your Regal or simply wanted to see more in-depth information on Regal. You're at the right place. If you want to see Regal in action I recommend you check out my solo of Regal. It includes Clip Insight so you can get a slightly deeper understanding from yours truly on why I do some things and how I approach each specific boss. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSeHNaASeaUqr3R20zjZvpsPjX2c3lbSB -------------------------------------- REGAL CHARACTER INFORMATION [Regal01] -------------------------------------- Origin: Altamira Age: 33 Weight: 187 lbs Height: 6'2 Weapon: Greaves Role: President of Lezareno Company JPN VA: Akio Ohtsuka ENG VA: Crispin Freeman If you want to know more about Regal and his role in the plot...play the game. -------------------------------------- REGAL BASIC BREAKDOWN [Regal02] -------------------------------------- Alright, now that the introduction is out of the way we can get to the main course. Regal is a front-line unit with the sole purpose of bringing a physical confrontation to the enemy. Like Farah before him, he relies on a different tier-chain versus the standard base -> arcane chain used by other characters. Regal utilizes ground -> anti-air -> mid-air chains for combo potential. However, Regal isn't limited by just that tier chain. Tier Chains Ground -> Anti-air -> Mid-Air Anti-Air -> Mid-Air - Ground Mid-Air -> Ground -> Anti-Air The most common tier chain used is his default ground -> anti-air -> Mid-air. Most of his artes kind of push in that direction, but with proper understanding of his artes you can play around a bit and change your possibilities. Regal's basic attacks consist of simple kicks. However, a few of his basics are good for positioning purposes. Neutral - A simple kick. You can add a 3rd kick by equipping the "Add Combo" ex skill. Down - A sweep kick. Great for setting up anti-air artes since it has a small juggle. It also serves as great hit confirm due to the speed and higher guard breaking tendencies. Up - A jump-kick that sets up for quick mid-air artes if your inputs are fast enough. You can follow up with two aerial kicks instead of a mid-air arte if you so choose. Many times the second kick will reliably break enemy guard Jump - If you jump and attack Regal does up to 3 aerial round-house kicks. The hortizonal movement is great for dodging some spells or making escapes after baiting an opponent to attack. -------------------------------------- REGAL'S PROS [Regal03] -------------------------------------- + High Damage Output + High DPS [Damage per Second] + Slightly more options [Arte Tiers] + Great guard pressure abilities + Self-sufficient Healing Spells + Can double jump + 1 of 2 characters with access to glory Overall, Regal is a solid character. His high damage output works well with his guard pressure abilities. Many of his artes can shatter guard even when facing the enemy. With double jump or glory he finds easier opportunities to either get behind and enemy or negate stagger to consistently punish the enemy. With healer and grand healer he can provide emergency healing and support himself in a solo situation. His arte tiers give him a tad bit more freedom; not much, but enough to make it a positive characteristic of his usefulness. He shines best when controlled by the human player since they can capitalize more on his positive aspects. He plays best as the main front-line unit with a support character who can more or less stay efficient longer. -------------------------------------- REGAL's CONS [Regal04] -------------------------------------- - Higher TP Cost - Out-shined by other cast members depending on need - Healing spells are distant dependant unless healing self - Larger learning curve? Apparently, many players consider Regal to be difficult to pick up. Personally, I consider something like that a positive, but in this scenario it hurts Regal overall. His high TP cost hurts his performance as a secondary front-line unit. His AI will do chains fine, but many gels will be spent attempting to keep Regal in fighting condition; Or resources like rings and symbols have to be plugged to Regal to keep him efficient. Thus overall hurting the cohesion of the party unit. His healing spells get incredibly weaker if the target is far away. This is a negative simply because characters like Zelos/Kratos can throw quicker first-aids and actually heal.Regal's AI doesn't try much to take account to the distance of his target. In a party scenario Regal is on the lower-end in terms of secondary units. He is out-shined by Zelos in terms of healing or Presea in terms of damage and support due to TP cost. This can be slightly overridden if you dedicate accessories to him, but with other characters in more need for TP Regal will most likely sit in the inactive section. -------------------------------------- REGAL'S ARTE BREAKDOWN [Regal05] -------------------------------------- If you would like to get a visual of Regal's artes I suggest you check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAZ3_IYpnRw I will use abbreviations of his artes here during the insight portion. They shouldn't be hard to figure out. My insight is based on solo usefulness. Just about every arte is useful in a party scenario as there are little risk. Spin Kick 裂蹴æ’￾E Clip's Insight: Only useful if you want to end a combo with a ground arte -> hi ougi. It's simply not an reliable arte to follow-up or start a combo. At best I believe you can use it after Eagle Rage/Fall. I don't recommend this arte Triple Kick 三散è￾¯ Clip's Insight: Much more reliable than S.K. It has more use as a combo-ender after a mid-air arte since the recovery frames are short. It works fine as a beginning combo arte as well. Wolverine 牙狼連濤æ‰￾E Clip's Insight: Unless you want to style on an enemy the only use for this is after a mid-air arte to finish a combo. Unfortunately, Regal can't follow up after the flip, rendering this arte virtually useless for anything else. Heaven's Charge 天崩æµ￾E Clip's Insight: The invincibility during the initial frames is nice, but it falls short in reliability when it comes to knock-down and the small distance travelled. I feel they should of increased the range just a small bit, but the arte isn't completely useless. Not worth any of the arte slots in the end. Mirage 飛葉翻歩 Clip's Insight: Not bad, but not too good. I would of preferred if Mirage was simply a side + X input instead of an arte here. If you're quick you can follow-up with crescent moon for a higher chance to break enemy guard; or any anti-air arte. Souryuu Rengadan 爪竜連牙弾 Clip's Insight: Fantastic arte. It's great in any combo slot and the immense guard breaking properties slides S.R into one of Regal's best artes. It severely punishes any enemy that attempts to guard as the 3rd or so kick is guaranteed to break guard from what I notice. A must have arte if you're using Regal. Retsuenshuu 裂ç￾Eè¹´ Clip's Insight: Why are you still using spin kick. Only useful for trolling around with Plantix. Crescent Moon 天月旋 Clip's Insight: Another must have anti-air arte for Regal. It has great guard breaking properties if used behind and its positioning gives Regal better options even if an enemy is guarding. I always have this arte equipped. Swallow Kick 飛ç￾ãè„￾E Clip's Insight: Not too bad of an arte. It finds most use around the time Regal joins for its low TP cost. I find this arte most useful after a sweep kick. It gets out-shined rather quickly though. Swallow Dance 飛ç￾ã連è„￾E Clip's Insight: Another good arte. I typically use this when Regal joins the party since it provides an alternate to C.M. The TP cost isn't too bad either, and the horizontal distance does well for positioning purposes. A good alternate to equip alongside C.M Dragon Dance 飛竜é¡￾E Clip's Insight: Eh, I never stray to Regal's strike side because of artes like this. The knock-back ruins any combo potential outside of corner abuse. Pass it up. Rising Dragon å‡￾E¾￾æ￾E Clip's Insight: A pretty good alternate to S.D or C.M if you want. It does the job well for an anti-air. Used alongside Eagle Rage/Fall can bring Regal to the ground faster than the enemy since the kick pushes them up a bit. Dragon Fury å‡￾EŠŠé¾￾æ￾E Clip's Insight: Same deal as R.D except the push is a bit greater. A useful alternative for an anti-air if you feel the need. Dragon Rage å‡￾E¾￾è¡￾ç ´æ˜￾E Clip's Insight: Hm it's virtually the same as D.F except its on the strike side. Unless you're tech-glitching on the GC version its an arte that got unfortunate. Pass it up. Crescent Dark Moon 月è￾¯æµ￾Eº￾E Clip's Insight: Not too bad. It makes an interesting use for a ground arte, but following up after the end can be a tad awkward. I don't use it too much, but in a party scenario go for it. Super Swallow Dance 飛ç￾ã連天è„￾E Clip's Insight: It has knock-back on the end that completely ruins its usefulness. Again, you have to dedicate an accessory to access this arte as Regal does not have wind element greaves. Hishou Tenshuubu 飛翔天襲èˆ￾E Clip's Insight: Another great arte. Once you have a good accessory set-up this move should take the place of your alternate anti-air arte. It has the same great guard breaking properties as C.M and includes S.D in the same animation. Two for one deal. Hienraikyaku 飛ç￾ãé›·è„￾E Clip's Insight:If you're willing to sacrifice an accessory slot then this arte isn't too bad. Mainly for visual appeal if you want to use it. Eagle Dive 鷹爪蹴æ’￾E Clip's Insight: Like S.K I recommend you pass it up as soon as you get 50+ hits. The hit-stun is rather bad and leaves Regal vulnerable upon landing. Eagle Rage 鷹爪猛襲è„￾E Clip's Insight: The superior arte of the eagle family. It hits multiple times on the way down and absolutely shreds enemy guard. Use alongside C.M to give the enemy little chance of blocking. Eagle Fall 鷹嘴襲è￾½ Clip's Insight: If you went strike then this option isn't too bad. The last hit knocks the enemy up which provides some use. After a spell cancel you can follow up with D.R or something. Triple Rage Kick 三è￾¯çŒ›è¹´è„￾E Clip's Insight: A great mid-air arte. It has great use after basic jump attacks or after most anti-air artes. However, it has a chance to whiff certain sized enemies. A great option to end a combo on if you choose to do so with a mid-air arte. Hatsu 発 Clip's Insight: Only needed when attempting to use a hi-ougi. Otherwise if you just want to style and explode on an enemy for a finisher then go for it. Healer 治癒功 Clip's Insight: Its ok. Out-shined by Grand/Chi healer. Chi Healer 発氣治癒功 Clip's Insight: Gives the best options for spell cancelling and heals a nice bit to boot at 35%. If you find time to use it of course. In a party scenario it does fine since I believe distance doesn't matter for it. Bastion ä¸￾剄 Clip's Insight: If you find yourself in a situation where you can't avoid a magic spell then go for it. Otherwise, save the TP and double jump. -------------------------------------- REGAL'S ADVANCED TECHNIQUES [Regal06] -------------------------------------- In retrospect I shouldn't of dedicated an entire section to this, but it is what it is. The main advanced technique you want to master for Regal is spell cancelling. In order to spell cancel all you have to do is cast -> guard immediately -> attack/arte. In the PS2 version you have to max a spell for the most effective SC'ing and in the GC you can SC from the get-go even without max usage. With Chi/Grand Healer you can only SC after a mid-air arte. You cannot SC after a full chain if you include ground artes. You can also SC after basic attacks for quick guarding in a pinch or quick back-steps. Triple Rage Kick isn't great to SC after since you can't follow up with anything. The best arte for SC'ing is Eagle Rage. If you want more advanced combos for Regal then SC'ing is the way to go since his moves are quick enough to infinite enemies until technical downs kick in. These next few combos are based on the technical-side. If you went strike then..go technical. For example Basic: Anti-Air -> Mid-air -> SC - Anti-Air - Mid-air -> SC -> Rinse. Intermediate: Anti-air -> Mid-air -> SC -> Basic Attack (hit confirm) -> Rinse. Advanced: Basics/Anti-Air -> Mid-air -> SC -> Anti-Air -> Mid-air -> Ground Fill those in with different arte combinations and you can get very nice looking Regal combos. Swallow Dance -> Eagle Rage -> SC -> Swallow Dance -> Triple Rage Kick Crescent Swallow Dance -> Eagle Rage -> SC -> Crescent Moon -> Eagle Rage -> Wolverine Rising Dragon -> Eagle Rage -> SC -> Sweep Kick -> Jump Kick -> Triple Rage Kick -> Heaven's Charge Some stuff off the top of my head. Never did the last one, but I'm sure it would work. Hey, this is your chance to test it! On the strike side there are too many artes that knock-back so your options are limited. -------------------------------------- RECOMMENDED SET-UP [Regal07] -------------------------------------- My usual EX skill set-up revolves around Aerial Jump. -Add combo -Flash -Sky Combo -Vitality That gives you -Aerial Jump -Combo Force -Counter This set-up allows you to jump over everything and counter hits if you find yourself boxed in. Combo force also takes care of damage mitigation early so you can the most damage out of your combos. In a solo scenario at times I add glory to the mix if I'm fighting multiple opponents. It depends on the situation, but remember you still take full damage with glory. Don't neglect to block. In a party scenario you can equip "Guilt" for boosted stats with Presea in the party. I don't feel the boost is worth mentioning but the option is there. For accessories I typically equip Regal with emerald ring as soon as I get it and the spirit symbol after Celsius. If you're going to commit him to a secondary unit at least give him the TP ring for some TP benefit. After you get the Faerie Ring feel free to promote him to the emerald ring. Or you can give him the Faerie Ring since everyone else in the party lacks TP issues around that point in the game anyway. You can always mitigate that issue by grinding TP herbs in the Temple of Darkness. With a Colette set-up it doesn't take long at all to max TP reserves for everyone. -------------------------------------- DO'S AND DON'T [Regal08] -------------------------------------- + Do use Regal if you find time. He is a great character overall. + Always go Technical with Regal. Strike side is far too useless + If you use Regal then you have to master SC to get the best and then some. - Don't get impatient and abuse artes so early. You'll find yourself with no TP. - Don't get too comfortable and abuse glory. You still take full damage if you don't guard. - Don't use Triple Rage Kick on small enemies. Unless you follow up after Crescent Moon. It whiffs a bit if you follow after swallow dance. It does fine most of the time after Crescent Swallow Dance - Don't use Wolverine in the beginning of a combo - Don't hesitate after using Mirage. Delay defeats the purpose of using said arte. + Do play around with his artes to see what you can do with spell cancelling. - Don't give up if you find Regal difficult to master. It's really not hard so keep trying. -------------------------------------- LEGAL MUMBO JUMBO [Legal] -------------------------------------- All characters and Tales material belong to Namco. The links provided in this guide belong to myself or Vercsase. youtube.com/Vercsase Arte names and Character Information was taken from Aseliawiki. As long as credit is given this guide can be hosted just about anywhere. I ask that you PM me if you intend to host this guide anywhere. Use of this guide for profit is plain crazy and just don't do it. -------------------------------------- CONCLUSION [Conc] -------------------------------------- Special thanks to... Vercsase for uploading a Regal arte exhibition. Helps with the visual aspect for anyone reading this guide. Thanks to those who contributed at aseliawiki. A shout-out to Tickingdeath for motivating me to do a guide even if he wasn't aware. Gamefaqs for hosting said guide Kouli since his guides over the years kept me interested in the series. Namco for making said series You for reading it. One