Couleur

Couleur
Information
Appearance	Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon (X)
Weapon	Badge
Japanese Voice Actor	•Yuko Nagashima (Drama CD) •Miki Ito (NDX)

Couleur (クルール, Kuruuru^?, "Kruelle") is a pet owned by Dio and Mel in Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon. She serves her owners as a fully playable character throughout most of the game.

History[]

Dio finds Couleur one day while wandering in the hills, taking her home for Mel to keep as a pet. Soon afterward, the children begin the Ordeal of Spirits initiated by Norn, a spiritual being who wishes to test their inner nature, and how the condition of being raised by a different family will alter their behavior and actions. As the children's personalities and attitudes shift based what they recall of the values learned from their foster parent on Aselia, Couleur proves to be influenced by their actions, allowing her to shift between three evolutionary branches as she grows in experience, altering her abilities and stat progression. For example, when Dio discovers that he had broken a flowerpot in which Mel was growing a plant, he has the option to blame Couleur for the action, which increases Dio's affinity for a dark personality. In turn, this makes it more likely for Couleur to become wild.

Eventually, Couleur is revealed to be the physical embodiment of Norn herself. The spirit took this form to allow herself to watch Dio and Mel's ordeal directly, especially after they rediscover the memories of their past selves as Dios Bandi and Meltia Bandi. After the children defeat their past selves and merge those darkened souls into their own, Couleur moves in front of them, transforming into Norn to declare that they must pass her final judgment by defeating her, without relying on her as Couleur to aid their cause.

Appearance and Personality[]

In her basic form, Couleur is a small, round, green creature with a very hyperactive attitude. Only capable of saying "kuru", she expresses her thoughts through her emphatic bouncing and rolling movements. The two children find Couleur's antics to be endearing, taking her as a pet, and they are genuinely surprised to discover that she can participate in battle. As she increases her evolutionary rank and moves among the three branches that determine her form, her appearance changes into a wide variety of designs, such as a simple bunny, a horned turtle that stands upright, and a creature with a nautiloid shell. Couleur's personality is dependent on that of Dio and Mel, which in turn is based on their costume use and the decisions made by the player throughout the game. In general, Couleur is very excitable, eager to bounce around to gain the attention of things that she finds interesting.

Fighting Style[]

In the original Tales of Phantasia: Narikiri Dungeon, Couleur has three distinct fighting styles, which depend on the alignment of personalities that Dio and Mel maintain. Based on the combination of the two children's personalities, Couleur can shift between a "Friendly" (友達「ともだち」, Tomodachi^?) form, a "Loyal" (忠実「ちゅうじつ」, Chuujitsu^?) form, and a "Wild" (野性「やせい」, Yasei^?) form. Each of these forms are associated with a preset arrangement of artes and abilities, and in combination with Couleur's evolutionary rank, they also change her appearance.

The Friendly form allows Couleur to fulfill a support-based role, granting her the ability to boost ally statistics while causing status ailments to restrict enemy action. The Loyal form gives her a wide arrangement of offensive magic which can affect multiple enemies at once, although her abilities are restricted to the cardinal elements of Fire, Water, Earth, and Wind. The Wild form greatly boosts her physical attack power and grants her with potent strike artes that are effective against single enemies, but she loses her ability to cast spells.