Musical greetings, friends and virtuosos !
In today’s making-of, we’re tackling some lore questions submitted by the community of players on our Discord server (link in the store page !).
Thanks again for your submissions and let’s start !
Q : Can we get a short introduction to Philemon's fellow founders (i.e. their names, instruments, and relations )?
A : Philemon founded the realm together with three fellow musicians, and each of them was a virtuoso, playing on a different family of instruments (Strings, Percussions, Brass, Woodwinds). Their names and other characteristics have yet to be revealed, however, we know that they were playing together as an orchestra in their native realm. They were eventually expelled and had to wander around until they founded Symphonia.
Q : What's with the founder's vanishing? Did something happen to them or did they go willingly?
A : As mentioned in the opening sequence, the founders disappeared when “something happened". We didn’t want to deliver that information in Symphonia, because it is not a key information for the main narrative. However, I can say that they didn’t leave willingly, and they are not just living somewhere else : they actually did vanish from the world, and it comes from a catastrophe that they triggered themselves. I am hoping I can say more about that in future works !
Q : What are the circumstances of the Heart stopping? Is it directly related to the vanishing? Was it sabotaged? Did it literally just stop one day?
A : The Heart is powered by musicians, and its function is to amplify music and direct it to all areas of the realm at the same time. The music as a lifeforce, allows the realm to prosper and the automatons to keep functionning. Knowing that, the explanation is simple : after the founders vanished, the prodigies tried to work together as a new orchestra, but couldn’t find a way to work together, and parted ways. Left without an orchestra, and feeding on the resentment of the prodigies, the Heart started to decay.
Q : Can we get names for the new orchestra's members? Or are epithets all they have?
A : As you might have noticed, the prodigies in Symphonia are automatons, created long ago by the founders. They don’t actually have birthnames so, feel free to give them some if you wish !
Q : Are there like confirmed ages or an age range for the NPCs and Philemon?
A : The vanishing of the founders occurred a very long time ago, at least several decades, and it is safe to assume that the foundation of Symphonia was closer in time to the vanishing than to the events played in the game. We can safely say that the founders were grown adults when they vanished, and had not lived longer than typical humans. The prodigies, as automatons, lived even longer than them, since they are still around. When the events of the game start, the realm has spent more time in decay than in prosperity.
Q : What happened to the area representing percussion?
A : It is hinted in the game that there is an area dedicated to percussion, as Philemon takes the place of the percussion prodigy during the last concert. However the Bandmaster does not mention the percussion prodigy when meeting Philemon. That’s because the area has become inaccessible and the prodigy is thought to be lost. We initially wanted to include this area in the game, but we couldn't find a way, for production reasons. Maybe they will come back at some point if the opportunity rises ?
Q : How come the Trickster is the only one without any robot subjects? Did the plants kill them or did they just get run out because of the plants?
A : We planned to have animal automatons in the Woodwinds Glasshouse, they are just kind of hidden from the player unfortunately, as we didn’t have enough time to create and integrate them. It is canon that the Trickster is the only “human” automaton in the area, though, as his solitude plays a big part in his character development.
And that is all for today ! To finish with, I’d like to thank again everyone who delved deep into the world of Symphonia, whether it is here on Steam, or on other platforms and consoles !
Oh, and do not hesitate to have a look on gamefairy.io, as we’re preparing an exclusive, limited edition for Symphonia on a famous red and blue console…
Take care and see you in the next article ! =)
Sunny Peak 🌄