Light Spear

Light Spear (閃空裂破) is a classic technique of the Tales series. This is one of the most well-recognized swordsman artes of the entire series, despite the changes to effects in nearly every game.

Arte Description and History
This attack has appeared several times throughout the history of the Tales series, but it has had many variations in both effect and appearance. In addition to these frequent changes, the arte itself has had a pronounciation change in the original Japanese reading of the kanji name. In the original release of Tales of Phantasia for the Super Famicom, this arte is voiced as "Senkuuretsuha", but in all later games and ports use the standardized reading of "Senkuureppa". Both forms are written in the same way in Japanese text.

In all versions of Tales of Phantasia, Cress Albane lifts the enemy with an upward slash, calling forth a blast of fire in front of him as he follows through by spinning around once, finishing with a powerful thrust. The Game Boy Advance port of this game replaces the blast of fire with a blast of light, changing the elemental property of the arte, but the execution of movement is identical to the other versions.

In the original Tales of Destiny, Stahn Aileron's weapon becomes a long spear of light, which he thrusts at the enemy several times, raising his weapon to a higher angle with every strike to push the enemy upwards. In the remake versions, Stahn's Senkuureppa allows him to spiral upwards and around the enemy, followed by a downward strike onto the ground, which causes light to shoot upwards at the enemy. However, Stahn also obtains the new arte Senkoureppa, which is identical to his version of Senkuureppa from the original game, in which he performs the same rising thrusts to the target with a spear of light.

As it appears in Tales of Eternia, Reid Hershel performs a horizontal spin that leaves a spiraling trail of light from his weapon while he jumps into the air. He follows through with by a strong downward thrust into the ground at an angle, causing the battle field to shake upon contact with the ground. This pattern of movement is now the current standard for the arte, since similar actions are used for this attack and its more powerful forms in most later games. On the other hand, during the exhibition battle at the Inferia coliseum, Cress retains the original motions of his version of the arte, localized as Spiral Destruction to emphasize the difference between the attacks while keeping the name similarity. Additionally, if Reid uses this arte at the precise moment that the Cyclone spell is cast, both artes combine to form Earth Divide, one of four Team Skills that combine artes from two characters into one powerful elemental arte.

In Tales of Symphonia, the arte is executed with the same movements used in Tales of Eternia. But in addition to this, exclusive to the PlayStation 2 version of the game, a Wind elemental property can be added to Zelos Wilder's attack through the use of the "Opal" accessory, the S. Seal: Wind arte, a Wind elemental weapon, or the "Green Quartz" item, to replace Senkuureppa with the more powerful Wind-based arte Dankuuken, if Senkuureppa has been used over 200 times. This elemental variant can be used only by Zelos, despite the nearly identical moveset he shares with Kratos Aurion. This new arte does not appear in the GameCube version of the game.

Mothership Titles
Tales of Phantasia - Cress Albane Tales of Phantasia (PSX) + Full Voice Edition (PSP) - Cress Albane Tales of Destiny - Stahn Aileron (Light Spear) Tales of Eternia - Reid Hershel (Spiral Attack), Cress Albane (Spiral Destruction) Tales of Phantasia (GBA) - Cress Albane (Light Spear) Tales of Symphonia - Kratos Aurion, Zelos Wilder (Light Spear) Tales of Destiny (PS2) + Director's Cut - Stahn Aileron Tales of Innocence - Ruca Milda, Spada Belforma Tales of Vesperia - Repede, Zagi, Radiant Winged One, Traitor to Heaven (Light Spear) Tales of Xillia - Alvin, Ivar Tales of Innocence R (VITA) - Spada Belforma

Escort Titles
Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2 - Cress Albane Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3 - Cress Albane, Kratos Aurion Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology - Swordsman class, Magic Knight class, Stahn Aileron, Reid Hershel, Kratos Aurion (Light Spear) Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World - Zelos Wilder (Light Spear) Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 2 - Swordsman class, Magic Knight class, Twinsword class, Cress Albane, Stahn Aileron, Reid Hershel, Kratos Aurion, Zelos Wilder, Spada Belforma Tales of VS. - Cress Albane, Stahn Aileron, Kratos Aurion Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology 3 - Swordsman class, Magic Knight class, Twinsword class, Cress Albane, Stahn Aileron, Reid Hershel, Kratos Aurion, Zelos Wilder, Spada Belforma

Fan-Translated Names
Tales of Phantasia (SFC) (DeJap Translations): Magma Rift Tales of Phantasia (PSX) (Absolute Zero): Shining Strike, Senkūretsuha Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 2 (Kajitani-Eizan): Light Spear Tales of the World: Narikiri Dungeon 3 (Kajitani-Eizan): Light Spear Tales of Innocence (Absolute Zero): Light Spear

Tales of Phantasia
Japanese Description: 闘気を上空高く巻き上げる回転突き Romanization: Youki wo joukuu takaku maki jougeru kaiten tsuki Translated Description (DeJap Translations): "Open a hole from the center of the earth, creating a sudden lava sprout."

Tales of Destiny
Localized Description: "Fires off repeated bursts of piercing, spear-like light."

Tales of Phantasia (PSX)
Translated Description (Absolute Zero): "Knock the enemy upward with a powerful blow and finish with a rotating thrust."

Tales of Eternia
Localized Description: "The enemy is sucked into a violent spin and thrashed."

Tales of Phantasia (GBA)
Japanese Description: 闘気を上空高く巻き上げる回転突き Romanization: Youki wo joukuu takaku maki jougeru kaiten tsuki Localized Description: "Spinning thrust that lifts attack power high into the air."

Tales of Symphonia
Localized Description: "Lv. 2 Sp. Attack: float target with a sword swing and thrust."

Tales of the World: Radiant Mythology
Localized Description: "Master: Lift an enemy with a spinning slash, finishing with a powerful thrust."