u/PutNo3974

Hello! I'm sharing my English translation of Star Ocean: Till the End of Time ETERNAL MATERIALS, originally published in 2003 by Tri-Ace and Square Enix. 

I also made the full Japanese scan available at this link.

ETERNAL MATERIALS is SO3’s official lore and design reference book, serving as a comprehensive resource for how SO3 journeyed from conception → development → release. It includes developer interviews, lore history, concept art, and comprehensive franchise timelines covering not just SO3, but SO2 and SO1 as well. 

I've also added translator's notes wherever I spotted major (or interesting) discrepancies between the original Japanese script and SO3's English localization. I was shocked to learn how much detail from the in-game dictionary got cut or sanitized for the English release (e.g., Flad's mother is supposed to be named after Judy Garland, the English version of the Church of Apris' "Ten Commandments" completely omitted the corporeal punishment requirement, + so much more). 

This was a (multi-year) labor of love - please enjoy!

SO3 strongly suggests Maria is biologically related to Fayt through one or both of Fayt's parents, Robert Leingod and/or Ryoko Leingod. This theory is especially popular in Japanese fandom - of course, Japanese fans are best positioned to parse both the original game script and Japanese interviews + supplemental material, so this makes sense.

• 'They're siblings, but please don’t make us say it outloud.' - Hiroshi Ogawa's interview for the Star Ocean 20th Anniversary Memorial Book.

SO3’s most senior directors/writers, Yoshiharu Gotanda and Hiroshi Ogawa, gave an interview for the 2016 Star Ocean 20th Anniversary Memorial Book, where they were asked this question directly:

>Q: Changing the subject to the story of SO3: are Fayt and Maria biological twins?

>Ogawa: Please, we ask that you allow us to say "no comment" on that. I'm sure some players want a direct answer, but I think there are others who prefer not to have one. How a player interprets the fragmentary information in the game is up to their own freedom. If we define it here, it becomes "official setting," and even those who dislike the idea would have to accept it. For things not explicitly stated in the main story, I think it's better not to set them in stone.

Obviously, this isn't the answer one gives if the answer is "no." If Fayt and Maria were biologically unrelated, a "no" would have resolved the matter cleanly.

Instead, Ogawa claims that "accepting" the official statement would disgust some players (because it permanently casts the Fayt x Maria ED/pairing as incest - more on this later). The truth will always live on the subtextual layer, because it allows Tri-Ace to thread the clues without alienating players (and hurting their bottom line).

• The 20th Anniversary Memorial Book explicitly hints at Maria and Fayt being siblings in Maria's character bio.

Maria's character profile for the Memorial Book speaks for itself:

>KEY PERSON: Maria Traydor

>Both Fayt and Maria had crests implanted into their genes by Robert. Given that these two share similar hair color and facial features, and the fact that Robert testified that he gave power to "his two children," it can be inferred that they are brother and sister. Maria likely wanted to meet Robert and asked for Fayt's cooperation specifically to confirm this. However, since their relationship was never explicitly stated as "siblings" within the game itself, the truth remains a mystery to this day.

• In the Japanese, Dr. Leingod says he performed the first two experiments on "his own children," not strangers.

In his Moonbase video message, Dr. Leingod states the first two "test subjects" were his own children:

>Dr. Leingod: 私の子供たち」の「男の赤子」「女の赤子」に改造を施した。
"I performed modifications on the male infant and female infant among my children."

The phrase「私の子供たち」 does not vaguely refer to "among children under my supervision" or "among the children in my research Lab." Qualified by the possessive「私の」, it means "my children." Fayt and Maria (unlike Sophia) were the "test subjects" - they were modified at the same time to test whether Dr. Leingod's theories could be put into practice. Indeed, if Maria is not Robert's child under this wording, then Fayt being Robert's child necessarily becomes insecure, because both are grammatically inside 「私の子供たち」.

Dr. Leingod doesn't use the same language for Sophia. Sophia is explicitly identified as Dr. Clive Esteed's daughter, and was chosen much later, after the researchers realized that Fayt and Maria's powers would be useless unless someone could connect them to 4D Space.

In a separate recording (that Maria shows to Fayt on the Aquaelie), Dr. Leingod states that the Lab deliberately chose their own biological children:

>Dr. Leingod: We have selected our own children to be test subjects. Jessie protested, but I believe it to be an even greater sin to use the children of others. [...] Although we are tormented by our guilt, we had no other choice. We have embedded 'Destruction' in my son and 'Alteration' in Jessie's daughter.

Maria was not a random child selected for experimentation; she was one of the researcher's daughters. Of course, we know that Maria was not Jessie's biological daughter - that's the cover story.

In the official game novels, it's made explicit that Maria's real parent "was an individual employed at the Leingod Lab," and both Fayt and Maria were selected to become test subjects "at the same time."

In the game novels, Dr. Leingod's final plea takes parental possession over the children:

>"[t]hat is only wish of us selfish, indulgent parents. We love you… our children."

• In SOA, Maria more or less declares that (at least) one of her biological parents was a Leingod.

In June 15, 2017, STAR OCEAN Anamnesis ran an event called "手向けの花畑" (The Flower Garden of Offering, or "Meadow of Offerings" in the Global version), where Maria and Rena have the following conversation:

>Maria: わたしの親は、連邦の紋章遺伝子学の権威と評される人物だった。そして、わたしは、その親に遺伝子改造を施された実験体……。
"My parent was a person reputed to be the Federation's authority on symbological genetics. And I am an experimental subject who had genetic modifications performed on me by that parent..."

>Rena: 実の子どもを、実験体に……?
“His own biological child, as a test subject...?"

Maria doesn't say she was modified by a random, anonymous researcher at the Leingod Lab. She says her parent was the Federation's authority on symbological genetics, and that this parent personally performed the modifications on her. 親 can mean "parent" or "parents" in isolation, but the predicate is singular: 「人物だった」/ "was a person." Rena's response also treats the parent as singular.

Robert Leingod is the only person ever identified as the Federation's authority on symbological genetics. The official novels also state that the Lab's research was advanced by a finite set of names: Dr. Robert Leingod, Dr. Ryoko Leingod, Dr. Clive Esteed, and Jessie Traydor.

SOA again revisits this question in 2021, in the event 忘却の聖地ワドラム 最終刻/ "Forgotten Sanctuary Wadram: Final Chapter." Maria once again discusses the topic of her biological parents with Rena, stating:

>Maria: ……そう。レナも本当のお母さんのことを知りたがっていたわね。
"...That's right. Rena wanted to know about her real mother too, didn't she."

>Maria: わたしもレナのように諦めず未来に向かって進んでいけば答えが見えてくるかしら？
"If I keep moving forward into the future without giving up just like Rena, I wonder if the answer will become clear to me too?"

The story for this event broadly focuses on familial ties within the cast, and contains chapters titled "Sister and Brother" and "Family."

• Are Fayt and Maria twins or just siblings?

SOA gave Fayt the birthdate December 26, S.D. 753 and Maria the birthdate November 19, S.D. 753, which means they were born 37 days apart. This has led to two (equally plausible) theories:

• The Leingod Lab falsified Maria's birthday when she was put up for adoption/handed off to Jessie.
• Maria and Fayt aren't twins, but full- or half-siblings (via an artificial womb or surrogacy).

Since Fayt and Maria were created for Dr. Leingod's genetic experiments, it's plausible they were lab-grown from the same genetic material (from Dr. Robert and Dr. Ryoko Leingod) but "extracted" (whether from an artificial or natural womb) 37 days apart.

• Fayt and Maria deliberately look alike.

Not to make too fine a point to it, but... Fayt and Maria look related. They share the same hair, the same eyes, similar bangs, and similar facial structure. Just take a look at their battle portraits. Fayt is Maria. In a wig.

The official Supercomic Gekijohs lampshade this: in the comic "1 Day of Maria Experiential Learning" from Volume 70, Maria slips Fayt an instant hair-growth serum in his tea. After he changes clothes, everyone on the Diplo mistakes him for Maria (which was Maria's goal all along).

More importantly, Maria, Fayt, and Fayt's mother Ryoko are the only characters in the game with both blue hair and blue eyes. This has led some Japanese fans to speculate that, if Maria is Fayt's half-sister rather than his full sister, Ryoko, not Robert, are their shared Leingod parent (more on this later, when we discuss Maria's Kenny connections).

SO3 already uses physical resemblance to hint at hidden ancestry: see discussion of Albel's secret Aquorian/Aquarian ancestry.

• SO3's AP system was designed to make Fayt and Maria's romance suspiciously one-sided.

SO3's AP system is shockingly detailed. The SO3 devs did not invest thousands of grueling hours for it to be dismissed as random. They were trying to expose nuanced character motivations/dynamics they didn't have time to explore in the main plot.

Despite having a romantic ED with Maria, Fayt has no opportunities to meaningfully increase his AP toward Maria. There's only one Private Action where Fayt can gain even a single meager AP point for Maria (PA 38, "A Strange Power.") And even then, the PA is painfully platonic.

Meanwhile, Fayt has 18 chances to raise his AP with Sophia and 8 opportunities to raise his AP with Nel. But Maria is uniquely and singularly different - the game allows Maria to develop romantic feelings for Fayt, but it's suspiciously one-sided. If Fayt/Maria were intended as a straightforward (non-incestual) romance, the AP system would be designed to support that.

• Fayt and Maria's 2P colors pay homage to another sibling-reveal pair in Gundam SEED.

Maria's 2P outfit features short blonde hair and a black miniskirt with her bare legs fully exposed, and Fayt's 2P outfit features brown hair and a darker outfit. Japanese fans interpret this as an homage to Kira Yamato and Cagalli Yula Athha from Gundam SEED (2002), another male/female pair who were revealed to be blood-related siblings, cutting off the romantic development between them.

• So then why were Maria and Fayt separated as infants?

This is explicitly answered by the source material: they were separated 1) for their own safety and 2) to avoid the Federation scrutinizing the Lab's activities.

The official novels explain that Maria was put up for adoption because her abilities manifested early and the Leingod Lab were afraid of being found out:

>"At which point, Maria’s existence itself became a liability for the Lab. Even as a small child, she produced faint phenomena due to the symbological modifications to her genes. If the Federation were to examine her closely, the truth could no longer be concealed. So the Lab nominated a researcher at the Lab, Jessie Traydor—who was soon scheduled to relocate to Federation Station #17. The director, Dr. Leingod, explained the situation to Jessie, who agreed to the request: together with her husband, she was to adopt the one-year-old Maria and depart for Station #17 as a family." (Side 3)

The Lab also realized keeping Fayt and Maria together was too dangerous, since their abilities would resonate with each other and hasten their respective awakenings. See the Moonbase recording:

>The children's power will not manifest immediately. However, once the three of them gather, the genes of their respective symbological powers should resonate with one another, enabling them to manifest their power.

• Do Cliff and Mirage know?

Japanese fans tend to interpret Cliff's early comments as evidence Cliff (and Mirage) may know more than they let on. Specifically, Japanese fans single out Cliff describing Fayt's seriousness as resembling "someone else" as a uniquely pointed, and a comparision he likely wouldn't have made if they were strangers.

Let's return to the AP system, specifically Cliff and Mirage's AP changes in PA 58, "Complicated Quark Relationships." In that PA, Marietta and Steeg gossip about how Maria doesn't reciprocate Lieber's unrequited feelings. If the player triggers this PA, Cliff and Mirage uniquely lose one AP point for Maria. This is the only time Cliff and Mirage can lose AP for Maria in the entire game. Suspicious! This could be explained by the fact that Cliff and Mirage know Maria is interested in Fayt rather than Lieber, and, well... they feel uneasy about it for obvious reasons.

The Supercomic Gekijoh comic "Bitter Spring" from Volume 71 plays with a similar idea. Lieber challenges Fayt to a series of duels to prove who is worthy of Maria's heart. Cliff, usually Fayt's biggest wingman, tells Fayt to make way for Lieber (even pleading for him to lose on purpose).

• What about Maria's Kenny relation?

Every Star Ocean has an (explicit) Kenny in it, except for SO3... or SO3 was never the exception. There's a related (and equally strong) theory speculating that Maria is related to the Kenny's - which overlaps with (and compliments) the mountain of evidence Fayt and Maria are siblings:

• Maria's long-ranged projectile fighting style matches the Kennys': Ronyx is a long-range bow user; Claude uses a phase gun, Emmerson is a long-ranged gun/crossbow fighter, Marielle uses guns, etc.
• Maria's character themes parallel the Kennys': The Kennys are repeatedly framed as Federation elites and ultra-competent space-captains. Maria belongs to an anti-Federation group, which casts her ancestry in layers of irony. The Japanese version of her last name "Traitor" probably gestures to this "betrayal" of the Pangalactic Federation and her ancestry's allegiances.
• Blue hair is a recurring inherited trait between the Kenny line (Ronyx, Marielle, Emmerson). Taken collectively, the evidence suggests Ryoko Leingod may be a distant descendant of Claude and Rena, which would explain why Ryoko is the only non-genetically engineered Earthling with blue hair, and by extension, why Fayt and Maria look the way they do.

Sharing my English translations of Square Enix/Tri-Ace's STAR OCEAN 3: Till the End of Time Supercomic Gekijohs (Final Batch).

"Supercomic Gekijoh" was Square Enix's serialized manga anthology publication that ran from 1996-2005. Each volume was devoted to a video game under Square Enix's label. SO3 got 6 volumes: 62, 63, 65, 67, 70, and 71.

Volume 70: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/1/folders/1exeXhzKwdcFHhVPRMt_ConC6tG8vaNA-

Volume 71: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1jdtjUbJ3JflsCSdzoxn7sTaelcxaaNi9?usp=drive_link

Unlike the 4koma Theaters, the Supercomic Gekijohs span everything from serious character studies, to lighthearted gags, to teasing romance between different pairings. Please enjoy!