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Fictional Women Around the World: Terra Branford · Stuff Mom Never Told You

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  Speaker 1: Hey, this is Sanny and Samantha and welcome to Stephane
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  Speaker 1: Never Told You production of iHeart Radio. And today we
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: are back with another sub sub sub sub whatever, segment
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  Speaker 1: of fictional women around the World. I haven't found the
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  Speaker 1: alternate title like activists around the World, but I'm still
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  Speaker 1: thinking about it. I'm still thinking about it. And do
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  Speaker 1: you know what, I'm very happy today because we are
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  Speaker 1: taking it back to one of my very faves, one
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  Speaker 1: of my very first favorite fictional characters, Tara Branford from
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  Speaker 1: Final Fantasy three slash six. And yes, that is confusing.
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  Speaker 1: I always when I was growing up, I always knew
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  Speaker 1: it as three, so that's probably what I'm gonna call it,
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  Speaker 1: but um I I understand that it's more traditionally known
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  Speaker 1: at six. So well, we're just gonna roll with him.
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  Speaker 1: And once again, Samantha is gonna be kind of courting
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  Speaker 1: me as I as I trying to explain this, but
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  Speaker 1: always feel free to ask any questions. I have no
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  Speaker 1: idea what this game is at all, Like I know
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  Speaker 1: the name, but that's the end. And there could be
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  Speaker 1: a lot of questions because the Final Fantasy series is
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  Speaker 1: a bit daunting to explain. Yes, and that's like the
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  Speaker 1: understatement of the century perhaps, and a part of that
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  Speaker 1: is because it is a series that was created in
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  Speaker 1: Japan originally, and some things for we're sure got lost
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  Speaker 1: in translation, like the whole years that three years it
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  Speaker 1: six thing um, or the fact that in the Japanese
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  Speaker 1: version of this game, Tara's name is Tina and apparently
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  Speaker 1: when they did test American markets, everyone the name. Kind
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  Speaker 1: of similar thing with Aris slash eris like in the
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  Speaker 1: one I grew up with, the character's name was mistranslated
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  Speaker 1: to Aris as opposed to Arith. And this is a
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  Speaker 1: character from Final Fantasy seven who is another favorite of
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  Speaker 1: mine that we will definitely come back to. But okay, basically,
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  Speaker 1: these games are generally role playing games that take place
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  Speaker 1: in fantasy worlds, some more fantastical, some more technological slash futuristic, um,
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  Speaker 1: some a mixture of both. They are not connected storyline wise,
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  Speaker 1: unless you're looking at Final Fantacy Tin and Tin two
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  Speaker 1: or thirteen and thirteen two something like that. But Final
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  Speaker 1: Fancy three was one of my absolute favorites as a kid.
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  Speaker 1: We had it on the Supernintendo, which meant we only
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  Speaker 1: have three safe slots, and even though me and my siblings.
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  Speaker 1: I have two brothers, so there's three of us. Seems
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  Speaker 1: like it should work. No, they would erase my game
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  Speaker 1: all the time for their quote special runs brothers. Also,
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  Speaker 1: this game does have a big Star Wars connect like
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  Speaker 1: there's characters same bigs and Wedge, There's an emperor, things
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  Speaker 1: like that, so I loved that. Also. Um Tara is
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  Speaker 1: the first playable character in Foul Fantasy three Slash six
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  Speaker 1: and a necessary character for the first half of the game.
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  Speaker 1: UM some characters are optional, she is not, and not
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  Speaker 1: only that, she is a required party member for most
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  Speaker 1: of the game. When the game starts, she is an
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  Speaker 1: eighteen year old magic user that has been captured and
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  Speaker 1: enslaved by the Castralian Empire. Magic users are pretty rare
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  Speaker 1: in this universe, and her powers are an enigma. When
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  Speaker 1: you first start, you know her as a question question
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  Speaker 1: question of course, of question mark, a bunch of question marks,
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  Speaker 1: and a later girl because they've stripped her of her
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  Speaker 1: name and her identity. UM. As the game opens, she
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  Speaker 1: and some Imperial soldiers are in these like Meccannis walkers
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  Speaker 1: hunting down a mysterious esper, which are these powerful magical
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  Speaker 1: mystical beings, and when they find the asper, a strange
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  Speaker 1: reaction takes place between it and Tara, knocking back the
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  Speaker 1: soldiers and freeing Terra of the device he used to
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  Speaker 1: control her. Once she has freed, she struggles with amnesia
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  Speaker 1: and experiencing emotions to the point that she's afraid that
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  Speaker 1: she cannot feel love. She is rescued by an anti
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  Speaker 1: imperial activist who enlist a thief named Locke to get
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  Speaker 1: to safety, and from this point Tera embarks on a
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  Speaker 1: journey across the continent, which I would kind of describe
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  Speaker 1: this world as maybe a more fantasy and land based
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  Speaker 1: version of Star Wars. I know, I always prepare everything
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  Speaker 1: to Star Wars. It's just a good reference point for me.
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  Speaker 1: Um where You've got your evil empire, even complete with
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  Speaker 1: evil emperor betrayed by his apprentice. You've got your rebellion,
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  Speaker 1: You've got your magic, your different worlds, your mysterious power
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  Speaker 1: crystals mostly extinct, magical race, rogue, smugglers, spies, traders, kings,
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  Speaker 1: the whole thing. Also, like with most games, you can
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  Speaker 1: give characters other names if you want, and I used
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  Speaker 1: to use the name King Edgar. I would name his
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  Speaker 1: character after my brother because there was the whole scene
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  Speaker 1: or Keska, who is this villainous clown essentially Darth Vader.
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  Speaker 1: I guess I was cursing about and I loved it.
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  Speaker 1: So I would be like using my brother's name and
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  Speaker 1: calling him like all these insults and I would just
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  Speaker 1: leave it laugh. And he didn't know that. Yeah, he
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  Speaker 1: didn't know that until I told him sently and it
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  Speaker 1: was a nice you know I used to raise my
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  Speaker 1: game was not sane, but a little one up, a
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  Speaker 1: little one up on him. Okay, So back to Tara.
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  Speaker 1: Tara is confused and lost without her memories or her emotions,
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  Speaker 1: so she follows Lock to meet up with the returners,
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  Speaker 1: who are this is the underground Resistance movement. As they arrive,
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  Speaker 1: they learned that the Emperor's second in command, an unhinged
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  Speaker 1: gesture named Kevka, is about to launch an attack on
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  Speaker 1: a city they just fled to claim the expert. That's
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  Speaker 1: so affected Tara, so they rushed back to try to
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  Speaker 1: step Kafka, and Tara suddenly transforms into an ethereal being,
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  Speaker 1: screams and flies away, and the scream is very haunting.
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  Speaker 1: By the way, um, it's one of the I think
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  Speaker 1: only two sounds she makes in the game because this
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  Speaker 1: was you know, early game, and you can look it
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  Speaker 1: up on her like fandom page and you can play it,
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  Speaker 1: and it gave the goose bumps. The game goose bumps.
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  Speaker 1: Lock and the crew pursue her and find her being
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  Speaker 1: healed and her memory restored by another expert, who reveals
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  Speaker 1: that she is the hybrid daughter of an expert warrior
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  Speaker 1: and a human mother. Uh Their hidden world was attacked
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  Speaker 1: and both the parents perished. The Emperor killed Tara's mother
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  Speaker 1: and kinnapped Tara. He took her back to the Empire
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  Speaker 1: and experimented on her, using her to create the magic
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  Speaker 1: Armory weaponry called magic Tech that allowed for their continued
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  Speaker 1: dominance of this world, and Tara herself was used as
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  Speaker 1: a living biological weapon. To control her, Kevka placed a
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  Speaker 1: crown of enslavement on her and ordered her to kill
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  Speaker 1: fifty soldiers in Magicitech armor. She completed the order in
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  Speaker 1: three minutes. With her memories restored, she can now access
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  Speaker 1: her esper abilities and I guess by the way, when
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  Speaker 1: espers die, they turned into these crystals that the Empire
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  Speaker 1: has been using to power their technology. They call them
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  Speaker 1: Magic Site However, Tara is hamstrung by the memories of
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  Speaker 1: what the Empire made her do and being made into
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  Speaker 1: a weapon again, so she's a recurring theme throughout. She
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  Speaker 1: is constantly questioning people's motivations. She's always wondering if they're
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  Speaker 1: just using her for her magic. She helps the Returners
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  Speaker 1: locate the hidden world of the Espers, but when released,
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  Speaker 1: they start eventually attacking the Empire without thought, and this
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  Speaker 1: forces the hand of the Emperor and he makes a
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  Speaker 1: deal with the Returners um and they partner to bring
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  Speaker 1: peace between the Espers and humanity. But alas it was
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  Speaker 1: all a big scheme by the Emper and Gefka, and
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  Speaker 1: they betray the alliance, of course, killing their on liaison
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  Speaker 1: to Leo I Remember and several Espers. In their betrayal,
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  Speaker 1: they attack the Esper world to get their hands on
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  Speaker 1: the source of their power, an arcane object the Emperor
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  Speaker 1: intends to use to grant him god like abilities. However,
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  Speaker 1: another betrayal, Keefka, kills him, pushes the artifact out of
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  Speaker 1: alignment to destroy the world, and of course gives himself
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  Speaker 1: god like powers. This brings us to part two. Now
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  Speaker 1: in the most apocalyptic world where Tara is optional and
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  Speaker 1: I find this interesting because um an Empire spy named
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  Speaker 1: Sellis who's kind of like an endemy of yours at
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  Speaker 1: some point, but switch Sides is the one trying to
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  Speaker 1: round up party members in part two, and I love Zellis.
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  Speaker 1: I want to come back and do an episode on
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  Speaker 1: her as well. She's got a whole opera scene that
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  Speaker 1: I love anyway. Sellis finds a weekend to Tara, no
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  Speaker 1: longer able to access her powers, and is now the
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  Speaker 1: surrogate guardian for the children of a town kept burned
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  Speaker 1: for he burned it down for defying him. Uh. Selli's
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  Speaker 1: aids Tara and fighting a fire demon and if Tara
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  Speaker 1: does not accompany you, it will attack again until she
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  Speaker 1: rejoins the party. Tara is able to use her power,
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  Speaker 1: but cannot revert back into her human form until she
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  Speaker 1: realizes that the children who were initially afraid of her
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  Speaker 1: esper appearance are still able to love and hope even
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  Speaker 1: though the world is so dark at this point, and
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  Speaker 1: that leads her to realize that so is she. She
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  Speaker 1: can still love and she can still hope after all
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  Speaker 1: of her fears around that she entrusts the children to
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  Speaker 1: the oldest of the group, who promised to watch over
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  Speaker 1: them until she returns. The group goes to fight Kafka,
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  Speaker 1: who has multiple like jibes and monologues about life not
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  Speaker 1: being worth living, and the group, including Tara, provide many
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  Speaker 1: excellent counterpoints. They defeat Kafka, but in doing so banished
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  Speaker 1: magic and espers from the world. Tara is informed she
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  Speaker 1: will disappear to unless she has learned how to love.
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  Speaker 1: She begins to vanish, but it's pulled back at the
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  Speaker 1: last minute, saved by the love for her friends and
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  Speaker 1: the children. Life returns to their world as Tara goes
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  Speaker 1: back home the end. Despite this being an ensemble game,
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  Speaker 1: she's the main protagonist. Some people like to disagree, but
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  Speaker 1: she is on the cover. She's in the original logo,
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  Speaker 1: her theme is the main theme. She's appeared in other
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  Speaker 1: games too, and I have I loved her costume. She
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  Speaker 1: um I always wanted to do it at Dragon Con.
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  Speaker 1: So she has like green hair, so I'd have to
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  Speaker 1: get a green wig or dime my hair, I guess,
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  Speaker 1: and a pink jumpsuit. It's kind of hard to tell
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  Speaker 1: because the This was an early game, so that the
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  Speaker 1: animation was a little you know, clunky, they're little sprites.
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  Speaker 1: But I always thought she looked so cool as an Esper.
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  Speaker 1: She had this like wild green hair. Um usually she
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  Speaker 1: was naked, but the hair covered everything. Anyway, I digressed.
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  Speaker 1: Tera wasn't supposed to necessarily be the protagonist, but I
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  Speaker 1: think that she is. They wanted to showcase her arc
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  Speaker 1: from a somewhat passive go with the flow character to
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  Speaker 1: actively choosing her destiny. Hints why the second half starts
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  Speaker 1: without her, um And there's certainly a bigger conversation that
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  Speaker 1: we could have and have had about the whole like
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  Speaker 1: giving up of being esper my magical abilities two to stay,
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  Speaker 1: which is a storyline we see a lot with women,
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  Speaker 1: but like the whole world got rid of all of
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  Speaker 1: their magic anyway. Um. As a character, Terra is fairly
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  Speaker 1: versatile in both magic and combat. She's able to use
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  Speaker 1: things like swords and daggers. There is a whole classification
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  Speaker 1: of things called female exclusive equipment that I want to
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  Speaker 1: return to someday and do a whole episode on. So
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  Speaker 1: these are like items that only women characters can use.
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  Speaker 1: So in this game, it's like hair bands, mystery veils, tiaras,
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  Speaker 1: the white dress, the regal gown, the Minerva Minerva bustier,
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  Speaker 1: and the Princess ring. So yeah, one day there's also
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  Speaker 1: items women can't use, so I could be a whole
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  Speaker 1: fun episode. Nonetheless, Terra was really powerful and well balanced,
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  Speaker 1: and I always wanted her in my party. And again
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  Speaker 1: she can transform into an esper with her signature power
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  Speaker 1: trance or morph, which was pretty good. I gotta say
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  Speaker 1: the character was originally conceived as a young man, but
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  Speaker 1: that idea evolved, and when this game came out in
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  Speaker 1: the ninety nineties, a main woman character like that just
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  Speaker 1: wasn't that common. Um, and she is well love. She
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  Speaker 1: frequently pops up at the top of the list and
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  Speaker 1: has many essays written about her character and why it
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  Speaker 1: was important. People have argued she helped pave the way
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  Speaker 1: for many video game heroines after her, and that she
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  Speaker 1: had a complex and moving story that was rare and powerful.
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  Speaker 1: Also kind of I guess worth noting Ters never coupled
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  Speaker 1: with anyone romantically, but it was definitely implied that Locke
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  Speaker 1: and King Edgar were interested. Um. But yeah, this game
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  Speaker 1: was really formative for me. I no joke, think about
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  Speaker 1: it all the time. I use it when I write stories. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: It's got a lot of really fun elements like a
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  Speaker 1: castle that compare itself, switching po vs, haunted trade and
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  Speaker 1: haunted painting, and opera, vicious octopus, a frightening clown fishing
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  Speaker 1: which was surprisingly fun. Um. But mostly it was a
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  Speaker 1: really good story with an awesome character like Tara and
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  Speaker 1: her path for self discovery being at the helm of it.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm super excited to talk about her today and
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  Speaker 1: now I so desperately want to play it again. Uh,
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  Speaker 1: and I you know what, I just might, I just
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  Speaker 1: might Well As always, listeners, if you have any suggestions
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  Speaker 1: for this segment, please let us know. You can email
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: us at stefan your mom stuff at I hurt mea
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: dot com. You met us on Twitter at mom Stuff
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: podcast or Instagram and stuff I Never told you. Thanks
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: It's always to our super producer Christina. Thank you Christina,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: and thanks to you for listening Stuff I Never Told
• 13:33
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• 13:34
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• 13:38
  Speaker 1: your favorite shows.