Tales of Symphonia - Chapter 6: Chocolat (Behind) Bars

To begin the rescue of Chocolat, make your way to the Palmacosta Human Ranch, which if you'll recall, is far-east of the House of Salvation, around the mountain, in the middle of a forest. Upon entering, the skit "The Second Ranch" will pop-up for viewing. Neil will then reveal himself and suggest that instead of rescuing Chocolat, that the party instead, leave the area and return to the regeneration journey. Kratos and Raine will immediately recognize that this was all a set-up from Governor-General Dorr and Neil is trying to protect them from the treacherous Dorr who is working for the Desians. Despite this, the group is resolved to rescue Chocolat and you have an important decision to make. If you select: "Let's go attack!" it increases Lloyd's affection with Colette, Genis, and Sheena, but reduces Raine and Kratos'. You also immediately begin the next dungeon. Picking: "Let's return to Palmacosta." boosts Colette, Raine, and Kratos' affection, but drops Genis and Sheena's.

Regardless of your affection preferences, for completionists, it's extremely important that you choose to return to Palmacosta. If you elect not to, you will miss a one-time item. Either way, you will have to return to Palmacosta and confront Dorr eventually, but by not going immediately an item will become missable. When back in control, you can fight Whip Masters and Bowmen on the right-side of the ranch, but we'll be seeing plenty of them soon enough. Back out to the world map, wait a bit, and the skit "Dorr's True Intention" will emerge. In Palmacosta, stop by Marble's shop for a small scene with Cacao about Chocolat's abduction. Note: With Chocolat gone, you can donate Gald to the Martel church in the central plaza, but this is a fruitless effort, as we will soon find out and there is nothing to be gained from it.

Visit the inn to rest and save before entering the governmental building and descending to the basement. I also recommend that you have Raine in your party. Lloyd and company eavesdrop on Dorr and his daughter talking to a Sorcerer from the Desian Ranch. The traitor has been raising money all along to pay off the Desians in hope of removal of a demon seed from his wife, Clara. The party confronts Dorr and, despising their sense of righteousness, reveals that his wife has become a creature like Marble and he had no choice if he wanted to save her. As the two bicker, Dorr's daughter, Kilia, stabs her father in the back! The real Kilia, having already passed, was replaced by a servant of one of the Desian Grand Cardinals to monitor Dorr.

 

Kilia is probably the first troublesome boss of the game if you elected not to go to the Thoda Geyser and the Ranch before. If you brought Raine, and she's at least level 18 and can cast Photon, then this makes things a lot easier. Kilia is weak against light, so Photon and Colette's Angel Feathers will do a great amount of damage. Unfortunately, Kilia will heavily punish anyone physically attacking her, which makes Raine casting Barrier on Lloyd and/or Kratos necessary. Using a Guard Bottle, you can buy from Marble's, is of good use, as well. Watch for the boss to cast Acid Rain that reduces the entire party's defense and counter with Raine casting Barrier on the melee fighters, or at least, Recover. It's not a bad idea to set Kratos' Strategy to L-Range Magic, too, to keep him out of reach. If you have Raine and Colette in your party, try the Unison Attack of Photon Blast (Photon and Ring Whirlwind) for big light damage. For winning, the party receives a Heal Bracelet accessory, that recovers a character's HP by 10% with each enemy defeated. Not particularly great, but I switched it with Kratos' Cape.

 

Also, if you were playing for it from the beginning of the game, Lloyd will now receive the Eternal Apprentice title if he has only equipped the Wooden Blade up until this point (Eva: 40%, HP/Acc: 30%, Str/Def: 20%).

A defeated Kilia tries to unleash the monstrous Carla on the group, but Colette will be able to calm her and she escapes. Raine will be unable to save a dying Dorr, but he will give Lloyd the Card Key item and passcode to enter the Human Ranch to rescue Chocolat. If you stormed the Ranch beforehand, you will not obtain this item and it is now unobtainable. Dorr will request that Lloyd find a way to save his wife. Lloyd can choose: "Okay." to increase Colette, Genis, and Sheena's affections. Or: "That I can't do." will raise Raine, Kratos, and Sheena's affections. The party can now enter the Palmacosta Ranch, but before leaving the city, there are several new skits available to view. They are: "He's a Father", "Parental Love", and "Mystery of the Desians".

Talk to Neil at the entrance of the Ranch and he'll join you for the infiltration. Use the Card Key from Dorr along with the code number of "3341" on the non-conspicuous panel to enter the dungeon on the western-end. Immediately inside the skit "At the Palmacosta Ranch" is available. Whip Masters, Bowmen, and Raybits are found at the entrance of the Ranch. While statistically different than the ones you've fought earlier, their entries still count as the originals in the Monster Book when a Magic Lens is used. Use this opportunity to complete their entries with stolen/dropped items. Raybits still drop White Silvers if you want to pick up some for the future, which I strongly suggest, but they only appear in the very first room. If you want to farm them, use a Holy Bottle to avoid being chased by the Desian guards.

 

Note: The Palmacosta Human Ranch is a one-time dungeon and once completed you cannot return. That said, make sure to pick up all of the available items here.

 

From the stairs, move west into the open room, then northeast, and through the eastern door. Inspect the Sorcerer's Ring altar to modifier it into a radar-like effect. With it, when the screen changes to a green tint, we can find hidden items, switches, and activate warp tiles to get around the Ranch.

Return to the previous room and use the new effect to find four hidden items (That show up as sparkles) in the rooms. An Apple Gel, two Orange Gels, and a Life Bottle. One of the Desian enemies in this area will add a Memory Gem item to your inventory, too. Return to the altar and use the Ring to activate the warp north of it. There's a save point in the center, another tile to the north, and exits to the east and west.

Use the western exit and Neil will split from the group to lead the people held captive to safety. A little boy prisoner will give Lloyd the Blue Card item, also. There are no hidden items in the prison area, so return to the center and use the eastern exit.
 

In this room are several invisible, pushable blocks. Pick any two and push them south into the gaps to create a makeshift bridge to the other side. Under one of the blocks to the north is a hidden Mage Cloak that Genis should equip and in the center of the block bridge is a second EX Gem Lv2. To the upper-right of the room is a strange device that can only be activated when the room is under the effect of the Sorcerer's Ring. Use it, then cross over the newly-created bridge and down the stairs. Colette will fly up to snag a hidden Red Card that was out of reach.
 

Now, cross the block bridge to the southern room that is occupied by enemies. Use the Sorcerer's Ring to pick up a White Silver near the control panel-looking object, and then the Omega Shield for Kratos in the southern portion; also hidden. Not only vastly superior to the Wooden Shield, the Omega Shield also provides slight HP regeneration during battle when equipped. Use the similar device to the one above to create a bridge further to the right-side of the room. There's a refresher device here to instantly recover the party that also doubles as an item shop since you cannot leave the dungeon. There's a hidden Orange Gel nearby as well as an Evil Sorcerer enemy to add to your Monster List and conveniently provides you a Purple Card upon defeat. To finish this room, use the other bridge-creating device to cross over to the north to uncover a hidden Life Bottle. Once you have it, retrace your steps and deactivate all of the bridge devices; turning them off. When the last one is deactivated in the northern portion of the room, you'll see a spiral staircase form in the center, near a warp tile you cannot reach. This is required to obtain an item.
 

Return to the cross-shaped room with the save point in the center and use the Red, Blue, and Purple Cards to activate the northern warp tile. You'll then be in a frustrating warp maze with enemies, hidden items, and alarms disguised as items that throw you into battle. Thankfully, I've got you covered. In the room directly after using the colored Keys, find the hidden Melange Gel to the left and use the nearby warp tile. Note: If you make a mistake, you can always use the center tile to return to the beginning. Through the warp next to the Melange Gel item, use the western portal again, then the southern one to find a hidden Life Bottle, and use the center tile to return to the beginning of the warp maze.

From the beginning, north of the save point, use the western portal, then the northern one and look for a hidden Apple Gel. Warp to the north one more time to be out on the spiral staircase you created earlier. Snag the hidden Panacea Bottle up top, then return the way you came. In the previous room, exit south, west, then north, and search out the hidden Orange Gel, and exit west again, north, and finally west to find Chocolat.

You'll need to battle the familiar set of Desian guards to rescue her. The portal to the north is the conclusion of the dungeon, so make absolutely sure you have picked up all of the items before continuing; as stated before: you cannot return to this area after the upcoming boss fight. There is also a save point to the east. If using Kratos, equip him with the Lid Shield before continuing. Magnius and a whole host of a goons are waiting for you in the control room. He seals Neil and the escaping captives inside a room and threatens to remove their Exspheres; just like with what happened to Marble. At this point, Magnius lets the information be known to Chocolat that it was Lloyd that killed Marble. Shocked, Chocolat runs into the loving arms of the Desians instead of being rescued by her grandmother's "murderer". The Whip Masters teleport off with Chocolat and you'll have to battle a group of guards. Chocolat, unknowingly I'm sure, will have left a useful Pass item behind for you.

The party will then have to battle Magnius, a Whip Master, and a Bowman. Charge immediately after the Bowman and eliminate him to keep his bolts from interrupting your spell caster's chants. Magnius, himself, is all about fire and has several melee attacks that are either unblockable or will break your guard, and the former you'll need to backstep out of the way of or activate Guardian. He also casts fire elemental magic, which Kratos' Lid Shield will help ward him from, a little. Have Raine cast Barrier on Lloyd and/or Kratos, and assault Magnius with combos to keep him busy, then follow up with activating your Unison Attack for big damage. Genis should avoid casting any fire elemental spells, but Magnius is not weak against either ice or water, so any other element works fine. Like Botta, he will also enter Overlimit mode and becomes even more dangerous at low HP. Keep Barrier and First Aid cast and Magnius occupied with Lloyd/Kratos while your mages chip away at his HP. The party receives an EX Gem Lv1 and the Warrior Symbol accessory as their spoils of war. I equipped the Warrior Symbol, that boosts your attack power by 10%, on Lloyd over his current Leather Boots, but it works well for either Kratos or Colette, too.

Magnius crumbles to the ground, hopelessly defeated. Raine then frees the captive prisoners and the group suggests that Dirk be contacted about removing their Exspheres. Of course, all evil haunts have a self-destruct system that Raine will activate and the party retreats. Magnius is then visited by a rather ominous fellow, Rodyle, by projector and taunts him as he lay deceived and dying. Magnius finally cries out for someone named "Yggdrasil" and the Palmacosta Ranch goes up in smoke. Leaving the destroyed base, the skit "Justice and Strength" will become available. Back out to the world map, more skits, "Make Sense?" and "Someday" will also appear.

Return to Palmacosta and you can view an additional scene with Cacao about the fate of Chocolat and Marble at Marble's item shop. Also, with more White Silver in your inventory, create a second Masamune for your inventory, if you don't already have two. Lastly, there is a new, but pointless mini-game that can now be played. There's a Palmacosta soldier in the lower-corner of the central plaza where Lloyd can play Orienteering. A game where Lloyd runs around Palmacosta and talks to certain people/objects to pick up clues as to where the next is located. You can increase your time by setting the message speed to 0 and equipping Lloyd's Personal Lv2 EX Skill. In later editions of Tales of Symphonia, Lloyd can earn a title from playing, but in the GameCube version, your only reward is competing against your best time. Since it's just for fun, I'm not going to cover it much more than this, however, the fake "Wonder Chef" and his Tales of Destiny II/Eternia trivia questions are neat.

 

With the Pass item, we can reach the areas beyond Hakonesia Peak, but before that, we need to take care of obtaining the real Spiritua Statue and bringing Colette to the Seal of Water. To start, return to the Palmacosta Ranch and venture southeast to the Thoda Dock. Outside, there is a new dog, Binky, for Colette to name.

 

Head inside the building, that functions like a House of Salvation, and pay the 200 Gald fee to ride the washtubs to the Thoda Geyser. Raine, much like the trip from Izoold to Palmacosta, shows her fear of water, instead preferring to be left behind than brave the leaky washtubs! Fortunately, she still manages to make the trip with us.

 

For more washtub fun, make sure to check out another great GameCube RPG: Skies of Arcadia!
 

At the Geyser now, save your game and climb the stairs. A merchant sells basic items nearby and another stray dog needs a name from Colette here, Bob.

To the right-side of the Geyser, the group will spot the Spiritua Statue on top of a ledge nearby. Lloyd will have to play an easy mini-game where he'll need to hop across the frozen geyser before it melts and retrieve the wayward Statue. It's extremely easy to safely reach the statue: simply press the directional button for the next stone/boulder to jump to. If Lloyd succeeds, the affection for the entire party increases, but if he fails, he will be helped by whichever character has the highest amount of affection for him, and only that character will receive a boost while all other characters receive a drop in affection for our hero. With the Statue in hand, the skit "Tower of Salvation" will appear. Next, check the stone tablet to the right of where the mini-game took place to reveal the entrance to the Seal of Water. The party will cross the light bridge and enter the Seal while Sheena looks on; held back from following by Noishe!

 

New Monsters at the Thoda Geyser: Octoslime, Float Dragon, Green Roper, Water Element

Let's take a quick look at some items we can obtain from the new monsters within the Seal. The Water Element drops two rare items: The Aqua Quartz and Pellets. I wouldn't worry much about Pellets right now; their usefulness will come WAY later in the game, however, the Aqua Quartz is a bit of a rarity that can only be obtained from a few enemies in the game. Colette can also pilfer it from the Water Elements.

More importantly, the Mermaid's Tear customization item can be stolen from the large Octoslimes. We need this item for future item creation, so make sure to pick up no less than two of them while you're here. Green Ropers also carry Beast Fangs to steal if you are in need of any. Note: Like the Triet Ruins earlier, the Thoda Geyser will eventually become unavailable to return to. While we will have to return here later, and its unavailability will occur later in the game, it's in your best interest to go ahead and add all the monsters to your Monster List and open all treasure chests now.

 

After the conversation with Kratos at the beginning of the dungeon, head north along the linear path; down the stairs leading to the right-side, to spot your first treasure: a before-mentioned Mermaid's Tear. Follow the next two sets of rocky steps down to the bottom and exit directly to your south. On the left-side of the room are a scale, a pair of mysterious urns, and two torches. Use the Sorcerer's Ring to light the two torches on opposite sides of the vases.

Directly east of the torches, move behind the upper, large pillar and search around for a hidden chest containing an EX Gem Lv1. Then, there is a secret door between the two pillars that exits out to two more chests: an Orange Gel and White Silver.

Back in the large room at the bottom of the stone stairs, search the Sorcerer's Ring altar to change its effect to a water-based one, plunder the nearby chests for a Life Bottle and Circlet, then exit to the southeast.

 

In this room, a monster will drop a Memory Gem for the party. You will also come across two treasures under the archways with another Circlet and the Stun Bracelet accessory. The Stun Bracelet reduces the duration of the stun effect, but offers no other advantages, so I don't recommend equipping it on anyone.

 

Work your way down and around and into the room below where you lit the torches. Push the large block under the door you entered through and you'll hear a "click". Return to the top-most room with the torches, then use the Sorcerer's Ring's water effect on the right-sided vase. Lastly, preform this same action on the right-most vase in the bottom room to raise a platform west of the top room.. Back upstairs, make sure to save your game before using the warp tile. I also highly recommend including Lloyd and Genis and having your Unison Attack gauge filled. If you want to be ultra-conservative, you can equip Poison Charms to help protect against water, but it's hardly a necessity for the upcoming boss fight.

To release the Seal, Colette will have to undergo another test. Thankfully, if you've already been through the Palmacosta Ranch, this battle is very easy. Adulocia is the main target, with two Amphitra minions to deal with. Immediately at the beginning of battle, with the three enemies close together, charge into their ranks with Lloyd and unleash the Unison Attack of Fiery Beast with Genis (Beast and Flame Lance/Eruption). This will devastate all three and leave both Amphitras near death. From there, have Kratos casting Thunder Blade with Genis using Spark Wave/Thunder Blade if he is high enough level; if not, Eruption or Flame Lance, while Lloyd and Colette run offense and Raine heals. The Adulocia can cast Spread, which you can counter with Guardian, but its most powerful attack is blowing a series of bubbles at a character for surprising damage without a Poison Charm equipped. Overall, though, this battle is very easily won with magic assaults. You'll pick up a Mermaid's Tear for winning.

 

The Seal released, Remiel appears once again, albeit agitated at Colette for some reason, and bestows another portion of the angels' power upon her (No new spell learned, though.) You're then free to leave the dungeon, however, once again, Colette will collapse and the party will decide to camp for the night. In addition to her lack of appetite, Colette appears to be unable to sleep now, as well.

Across the sea at the Thoda Dock again, take another rest inside the House of Salvation for a skit between Colette and Kratos. Also, since word has spread that Colette is the Chosen One, you can now journey back to the Geyser via the washtubs for free. On the world map, there is a new skit to view called "Getting Bored", too.

 

To wrap things up in the Palmacosta region, bring the Spiritua Statue to Koton at Hakonesia Peak and he'll let the party take a look at the Book of Regeneration. It seems the last two seals are in the area to the north. Thankfully, Chocolat left behind her Pass for us and we can get by the guards now. Once you've taken a look at the Book, the skit "Angel Language" is available. Note: Giving the Spiritua Statue to Koton is entirely optional and not needed to advance the story, however, failure to hand it over will prevent you from obtaining one of the best pieces of armor in the game. There is no negative to parting with the Statue. Like a lot of key items (But not all), even though you used/gave it away, it still stays in your inventory! When you've finished up in the region, proceed north, past the guards, out to new lands.