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Welch Vineyard (ウェルチ・ビンヤード, Weruchi Binyādo?) is a mysterious recurring character in the Star Ocean series, first appearing in Star Ocean: Till the End of Time and every installment of the series since then. A cheerful inventor, she is connected to the Item Creation system, but also appears as a playable character in several games.

Entries[]

Dictionary/Encyclopedia
Till the End of Time: Welch Vineyard
The Last Hope: Welch Vineyard
Integrity and Faithlessness: Welch Vineyard
The Divine Force: Welch Vineyard
Profile

Birthplace: Myiddok, Faykreed IV
Birthday: April 1st, 519 S.D.
A self-proclaimed inventor who, day in and day out, conducts research at her laboratory in the port of Myiddok.
She can be troublesome to deal with, as she has a tendency to view all her customers as aides, even referring to Fidel as "Assistant #1."
While Welch is a very talented individual, this often goes unnoticed due to her rather eccentric personality.
There are a few individuals throughout the universe who, despite their uncanny resemblance to her, are completely unrelated.

TBA

Birthplace: Myiddok, Faykreed IV
Birthday: April 1st, 519 S.D.
A self-proclaimed inventor who, day in and day out, conducts research at her laboratory in the port of Myiddok.
In addition to being beautiful and clever, this Welch is also mature and attractive. Many have been bewitched by her ideas and achievements so she has gained a large following in the Kingdom of Resulia.
The question, however, remains of whether this lady truly exists or is simply a figment of the imagination.

TBA

TBA

Story[]

The Last Hope[]

Welch appears as the head of Item Creation, working as a support member for the Calnus crew at the Space Reconnaissance Force base back on Earth. She communicates with the crew via a holographic chamber in the Calnus, which she uses to great effect to mess with the others with things such as appearing to fly or utilizing the transparent nature of her projection. She also has a touch of a romantic interest in her, convinced that Edge Maverick and Reimi Saionji are a couple and showing interest when Lymle Lemuri Phi and Faize Sheifa Beleth accidentally share a kiss in one Private Action. She is very tomboyish but she does not seem to mind this and that much and loves getting into other's business. She is very kind at heart and wiling to help out the crew of the Calnus even when the Universal Science and Technology Administration abandons them.

First Departure[]

Welch is found by the party in a remote hut, working on her inventions. Ronyx notes that most of her inventions are far more advanced than anything they have found on Roak, making him wonder who she is, exactly. Welch doesn't care to give any details, and asks Roddick if she can travel with him. Roddick agrees, and Welch is more than happy to tag along. This is the first game where she starts showing a change in personality that differed from her Till The End of Time counterpart.

In the end, Welch is back in her hut, busy working on her inventions, where she says that her work is now done. She then laments letting Roddick get away from her, and gets angry at the thought of him getting "busy" with Millie. She then wonders how Ronyx and Ilia are doing, thinking about what would happen if they had a child, and commenting on how tough that kid would have it with Ronyx as his dad. She is often creating potions, including one that makes people fall head over heels for the user. She accidentally spills it on Roddick, causing strange side effects, annoying Roddick greatly.

Second Evolution[]

Welch can be recruited in a PA in Lacuer Castle, immediately after the Lacuer Armory Contest. She does not have a significant role in the story, mainly speaking in private actions and random events.

Integrity and Faithlessness[]

Welch appears in the town of Myiddok where she works as an aspiring inventor in a tiny workshop. Each time Fidel Camuze visits her, she has an interesting PA introducing a sidequest where he must gather materials or defeat enemies to save her shop and allow her to invent new things. Her quests grant the party all of the various item creation skills available in the game. She refers to Fidel and friends as "Assistant #1" (and up to #6) as she meets them in various PAs.

Anamnesis[]

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The Divine Force[]

Welch is the self-proclaimed beautiful merchant magnate with genius-level smarts. She orders the party to run errands for her in hopes of reestablishing the Vineyard family. She lives in the town of Delryk.

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Till the End of Time[]

Welch is found working in the Craftsman's Guild in the Trading Town of Peterny. She is found sleeping at her desk, but is thrilled when Fayt asks to sign up to be an inventor. She gives Fayt a run down on how to be an inventor, and then hands him the Compact Communicator, a device far more advanced than anything found on Elicoor II.

Profile[]

Of unknown nature, Welch always appears as an eccentric young woman, normally blonde and dressed with blue garments (Star Ocean: The Last Hope being the exception, where she exchanges blue and blonde for purple). She is always friendly and helpful to the party, in opposition to the arrogant Puffy, of similar mysterious origin. She often flirts and spends time looking for single men, due to her obsession with love. In First Departure, she flirts with both Roddick and Ronyx to annoy Millie, possibly Pericci, and Ilia the most. In Second Evolution, she does the same to Ernest, Dias, and Claude, annoying Opera and Rena the most.

It is never directly confirmed, but strongly implied, that the entity known as Welch is being controlled by or is a Fourth-Dimensional Being. This is alluded to both by her recurrence and knowledge extending beyond the game settings she is found in, though perhaps the most telling is her status as a Roddick "fangirl". Given her anomalous presence in the games compared to other such beings, she is likely operating in a capacity that other 4D beings are forbidden to.

Welch's favorite food is chocolate banana.

Gameplay[]

Welch is usually connected to the recurring Item Creation feature. In Till the End of Time, as a non-player character, she introduces the player to the Craftsman's Guild and explains about Inventors and their role in the creative process. In The Last Hope she is in charge of fulfilling Item Creation requests from the party from inside the SRF-003 Calnus. Again in Integrity and Faithlessness and The Divine Force, she is a non-playable character but she offers a series of quests for the player.

Welch is a playable character in the remakes, First Departure and Second Evolution, as well as Anamnesis. In this spin-off, she has several variants: "Welch" (her incarnation from Integrity and Faithlessness), "Weepy Welch", "Dream Welch", and her Twin Eclipse and "Summer" variants.

Quotes[]

Gallery[]

Other appearances[]

FEZ Welch clothes
Fantasy Earth Zero

Welch's clothes from Second Evolution were available during a collaboration, along with those of most of the rest of the main cast.

Trivia[]

  • Regardless of the year, Welch's given birthday is April 1, the date for the annual celebration known as April Fools' Day, likely alluding to her being a joke character.
  • The Welch seen in Second Evolution might be the same as from First Departure (S.D. 46) and Till the End of Time (S.D. 772), as she alludes to the events of both games.
    • At the end of First Departure, Welch appears to have the Eye of Truth, an OPA that possesses the ability to open portals to different locations, perhaps explaining how she moves around in the galaxy. Interestingly, only 4D beings can use these artifacts.
  • Welch's ultimate skill, Nibelungaling!, is a reference to the move Nibelung Valesti from the Valkyrie Profile series, another franchise developed by tri-Ace.
  • Welch is the only character in Second Evolution to have a special recruitment requirement having to do with how many party members (i.e. four) the player has. Every other character has to do with the plot or Private Actions.
  • It is interesting to note that her name reminds one of the company Welch's, known for their grape juices, among other items. This amusing connection is reinforced due to grapes coming from vineyards.
  • Welch's level-up quote in Anamnesis is a reference to The Simpsons episode "Treehouse of Horror VII".

External links[]


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